Category: Basketball

After being taken by the Bucks with the 60th pick in the 2026 NBA Draft, Malique Lewis is expected to reach a deal with the NBL’s Cairns Taipans for the upcoming season. Of course, Lewis knows the league well, having spent the last two seasons with the Southeast Melbourne Phoenix; last year, he averaged 6.9 PPG, 4.3 RPG, and 2.0 APG to go with nearly two stocks.

Malique Lewis is nearing a deal with the Cairns Taipans, sources told ESPN. Discussions between the Trinidadian forward and Taipans are in the advanced stages; there’s confidence a deal will soon be agreed for #NBL27. Lewis would be an import, and Cairns’ final roster spot.

— Olgun Uluc (@OlgunUluc) August 20, 2026

As I’ve mentioned, the 21-year-old made real strides last season and started to look at least vaguely like a player who one day might play in the NBA. He’s a three-and-D player who can’t do much else—which caps his ceiling—but if he does that role well, which he did, there might be a role for him. Lewis took a huge step back in Summer League—as we noted in our player grades—but hopefully he can reclaim some confidence in a league he knows well and come back next year looking much better.

Crucially, Lewis will now be classified as an import, not an NBL Next Star, which was his classification for the last two seasons; once a player is drafted, they can no longer hold the Next Star title. For those who don’t know, the Next Star program is an NBL initiative that lets NBA prospects bide their time in the NBL instead of college or other overseas opportunities. They do not count as imports, nor does their salary count against their team’s payroll. As we know, Lewis is not the only Buck to have gone through the program; Ousmane Dieng was a Next Star, as was ex-Buck AJ Johnson.

Best of luck, Malique.

In the first episode of Season 3 of How I Met Your Mother, the primary storyline revolves around breakups, and the idea that every time two people split there is a winner and loser. 

If the 2026 offseason was HIMYM, the big breakup that occurred this offseason would be the divorce that transpired between the most storied franchise in league history (the Los Angeles Lakers) and (probably) its greatest player (LeBron James) after eight years of being happily married. 

To most people, it seems like James won the breakup. After all, the Philadelphia 76ers, James’ new significant other, just assembled the league’s latest superteam in a conference that is much more manageable. Meanwhile, the Lakers are left to deal with the two behemoths (the San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder) out West. 

However, I’m here to tell you that, by losing James, the Lakers got way better, and, in turn, won the breakup. 

How The Lakers Got Better Without James

Listen, this isn’t some Skip Bayless inspired anti-James propaganda. As I noted before, James is probably the best player to ever grace the hardwood, and he was certainly the most productive 41 year old of all-time last season. 

With that said, we have enough of a sample size now to say that James and Luka Doncic were an imperfect fit. According to PBP Stats, the Lakers were better when only one of the two jumbo ball handlers was on the floor than when they shared the court together. 

At the end of the day, both James and Doncic are better when a team is being molded in their likeness, rather than when they need to placate to others’ wants and needs. 

We saw a couple of years ago when the 2023-24 Dallas Mavericks went to the NBA Finals what the Platonic Ideal for a Doncic team would look like. A second fiddle who knows how to oscillate between playing on and off the ball (Kyrie Irving), wings/forwards who will do Doncic’s dirty work (Derrick Jones Jr., PJ Washington, Josh Green), shooters (Tim Hardaway Jr.), and centers who can protect the rim and catch lobs (Daniel Gafford and Dereck Lively II).

The Lakers haven’t perfectly imitated this formula (more on this in a bit), but they have come pretty close. While not possessing quite the same resume, Austin Reaves does a pretty serviceable Irving impression. Quentin Grimes, Matisse Thybulle, Cameron Carr (an excellent choice by the Lakers with the 24th overall pick, by the way), and Jarred Vanderbilt are all excellent athletes with the desire to do Doncic’s bidding on defense. Grimes, Collin Sexton, and Sandro Mamukelashvili are all ready to let it rip from downtown (Sexton also gives you some nice regular season innings eating as a creator). And Walker Kessler, Los Angeles’ big ticket signing, is going to do his best to replicate the value of Doncic’s former twin tower pick-and-roll partners. 

i've got two words for you. luka doncic and cameron carr. must see TV pic.twitter.com/uFZYMmnPTJ

— Ben Pfeifer (@bjpf_) June 24, 2026

Last season, the Lakers’ best lineup that played over 200 non-garbage time possessions featured Doncic, Reaves, Marcus Smart, Rui Hachimura, and Deandre Ayton. That group outscored opponents by 23.3 points per 100 possessions (92nd percentile, per Cleaning the Glass). 

Doncic and Reaves are still there, and it wouldn’t take much arguing to convince someone that a trio of Kessler/Grimes/Carr (or whoever you prefer in that fifth spot) wouldn’t be more potent than the triumvirate of Ayton/Hachimura/Smart. Plus, you no longer have to worry about laboring through minutes where Doncic is forced to share the floor with another uber-high-usage ball handler. The bottom line is that we already have proof of concept that the model the Lakers have built is conducive to winning. 

The Lakers Will Be Better Than The 76ers Next Season

According to FanDuel, the 76ers odds of winning 50 or more games this season are set at -115 (an implied probability of 53.5%), while the Lakers are set at +250 (28.6%). So, the consensus view seems to be that the 76ers are better than the Lakers. 

I will concede that the 76ers have more raw talent than the Lakers. But to win in this league, you need talent, depth, and fit. So many times over the last few years we’ve seen teams try to stack stars, only to crash and burn because their skillsets overlapped too much and they sacrificed so much of their salary cap to put them together that the players behind them aren’t good enough to fill the cracks. 

This iteration of the Lakers isn’t a super team, but they do have a top five-ish player, a borderline All-Star, and a cavalcade of versatile chess pieces to slot around them. Their roster certainly makes a lot more sense than the team that James left them for. Now, I’m not saying that they are a lock to be better than the 76ers, but where oddsmakers currently have these two teams does not paint the proper picture. 

Are The Lakers A True Inner Circle Title Contender?

The Lakers are going to be really, really good. They have a good blend of talent, depth, and fit. The issue is that a handful of other teams have a better mix of those three variables. 

As of right now, I’d say that the Spurs, Thunder, New York Knicks, and Toronto Raptors (if the Kawhi Leonard trade ends up going through) are all firmly better than them. I’ll also hear arguments for the Denver Nuggets, Houston Rockets, Boston Celtics, Minnesota Timberwolves, and Indiana Pacers. 

The big thing holding this group back is their lack of a true power forward. One who can hit open shots, attack closeouts, handle various wing assignments, and use their size and length to offer some secondary rim protection. They’ve managed to almost perfectly copy that Mavericks team that won the West in 2024 (Doncic, Reaves is Irving, Grimes is Jones Jr., Kessler is Gafford/Lively), but they need their own version of Washington. 

Vanderbilt can check those boxes defensively, but he’s a complete negative on the offensive side of the floor. Ditto with Thybulle. Mamukelashvili has size and skill, but lacks the lateral mobility to be trusted shadowing high-level forwards. Carr is too short and too unproven. 

Until this problem is addressed, either via trade or unexpected emergence, the Lakers will be a tier below the true inner circle of title contenders – meaning that they will need more than a couple of lucky bounces to reach, let alone win, the NBA Finals. Still, this team projects to be pretty darn scary, which should be enough for them to win their breakup with James. 

The Suns surprised just about everyone (including me) by winning 45 games in 2025-26 despite losing their second-highest-paid player (Jalen Green) for most of the season. There are hopes, and even expectations, that the Suns will win even more with a year of continuity, fewer injuries, the addition of Miles Bridges, and development by young players Ryan Dunn, Khaman Maluach, Rasheer Fleming, and Koa Peat. Conversely, this optimism should be tempered with 5 reasons why the Suns could easily regress this upcoming season.

Poor roster balance

The Suns enter the season with Devin Booker, Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks, Miles Bridges, and Mark Williams as the nominal starters. The problem is that two of them are shooting guards, two are small forwards, and none is a point guard or power forward.

I have written about this before, but the Suns were at their best last year when they played Collin Gillespie next to Booker, and the Suns’ best season with Booker was when he was paired with Chris Paul. Conversely, the Suns were a much worse team when Jalen Green came back. They were also a much better team when they played a true power forward (Isaiah Livers or Rasheer Fleming) at that spot, even if neither of those players was exactly setting the world on fire with their box score statistics.

The Suns are going to be forced to choose between playing guys out of position and being a worse team for it or putting their highest paid players on the bench in order to avoid handing favorable mismatches to opponents. We saw last year that they’d rather be a worse team than let their star money ride the pine and sulk. I don’t expect this year to be different unless they reach the All-Star break and it has become clear the roster clearly isn’t working (and I think this is a strong possibility).

Three-point shooting percentages

The starting lineup of the Suns is terrible from three-point range. Keep in mind, the league average is 36%, and that Mark Williams has attempted a grand total of five three-pointers in his NBA career.

Player	2025-26 3PT%
Booker	33.0%
Green	31.3%
Brooks	34.4%
Bridges	33.3%

The results are likely to be disastrous. Without a three-point threat, defenses will sag, and none of the supposed “penetration” abilities of Green and Bridges will matter. It’s also worth noting that those abilities look pretty overrated when viewed through the lens of actual statistics and metrics. It’s difficult to understate the value of spacing as offensive magic.

It’s why Channing Fry was either first or second on the team during the Nash-era in on-court/off-court per 48: spacing meant almost as much to the team as having Steve Nash on the court. There might be three-point shooters on the bench who are great like Luke Kennard and Collin Gillespie, but then you run into the same problem as issue number one: you’re paying guys a lot of money (looking at Green and Bridges again here) to park their butts on the bench in order to field a viable team.

The new tanking rules

This one has a simple explanation: the Suns were basically the worst team that was still trying to win games last year. Basically everyone else was tanking hard. The Suns were 24-7 against teams that were below .500, and 21-30 against teams above .500. They also tended to blow out lottery-bound opponents, like the 45-point win versus the Pacers in November of 2025. With the new NBA anti-tanking rules in place next season, a lot of those easy Suns wins are going away. That could easily shave five or six wins off their total.

Rebounding/size and roster composition

This is something of a corollary to number one, but one of the consequences of playing small forwards at the power forward position is a lack of rebounding and interior defense. The Suns were 8th-worst in the league in opponent field goal percentage by allowing 65.8% shooting inside five feet. They were the 10th-worst in the league in defensive rebounding percentage. Over the offseason, their solution was to replace one small forward playing power forward with another.

It reminds me of the Suns’ decision to just throw Hedo Turkoglu (who spent his entire career as a small forward) at the power forward slot and hope for the best back in the 2010-2011 season. It was an unmitigated disaster. The Suns finished 40-42 in Nash’s last season with the team. Turkoglu got ragdolled every game, looked miserable, and promptly departed in free agency.

The only true power forward on the roster is Rasheer Fleming (Koa Peat is a tweener rookie who can’t shoot the three ball). They will be a lot better on the court when he plays, but those opportunities will be limited because every minute he plays takes away minutes from Brooks and Bridges.

Young player development

One of the assumptions is that the Suns’ young players will make a difference. However, there are significant barriers to this theory of improvement.

We already know that Ryan Dunn has struggled to find minutes because his three-point shot never developed, and his other offensive skills aren’t coming along enough either. Koa Peat is a 19-year old tweener SF/PF whose three-point shot is also suspect, and is fighting for minutes with Brooks, Bridges, Dunn, Highsmith, and Fleming as a developing player on a team intent on winning now.

I’ve already discussed how Fleming probably should be starting, but won’t because the team is already paying almost $60 million a year to a pair of SFs who expect to start. (Side note: nothing is a morale killer quite like getting paid less and being kept off the good projects than being better than the under-qualified, over-paid rock-stars). So, again, poor roster construction is going to impede this part of team success as well.

Finally, Khaman Maluach looked like the best player in the summer league. But he’s also competing for minutes with Mark Williams and Oso Ighodaro. Maluach’s three-point shot means he could probably play alongside Oso if he slid to the PF spot, but again, this takes away minutes from Bridges and Brooks. Additionally, Ighodaro is the best defensive big on the team, with top-tier abilities to switch, pass, and slip screens. It is unclear how Man-man will get minutes outside of injuries or sitting players paid three times what he is making.

Conclusion

National media was not a fan of the Suns’ offseason, particularly the Miles Bridges trade, and it’s not hard to see why. They went from playing a $10 million per year small forward at power forward to a $ 25 million per year small forward to do the same thing, but with a much worse three-point percentage. The roster is a mess of duplicative shooting guards and small forwards. Their starting lineup can’t hit threes, and as a group they’re probably going to lose significantly more games to lottery teams than they did last year. If the Suns regress towards .500 or slightly below, it should not come as a complete shock.

Welcome to Volume II of our “Choose Your Own Adventure” starter series, where we explore the Milwaukee Bucks’ options at each position. Read along, make your choice, and share your pick in the comments—if you dare!

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This season, the Bucks will start their best shooting guard in a decade.

Marinate on that.

For a franchise coming out of arguably its best-ever era, this is no small feat.

A decade ago, the Bucks hadn’t won a second title. John Hammond was GM. Jason Kidd was head coach. Jabari Parker averaged 20 a game. So did Giannis—for the first time in his career.

Over the last ten years, in reverse-chronological order, the Bucks’ primary starters at the two have been AJ Green, Andre Jackson Jr., Malik Beasley, Grayson Allen, Donte DiVincenzo, Wes Matthews, Malcolm Brogdon, and Tony Snell. Brogdon and DiVincenzo aside—and there are even arguments there—the archetype has been clear: 3-and-D, low usage spacer. Considering the staples in the other starting slots, this was logical. Of course, in reality, it’s more often than not been 3-or-D, especially over the last five years. And, honestly, the Bucks haven’t had a whole lot of options.

Now, Milwaukee has an abundance of choice. Need a 20-plus per Boy Wonder, who can create off the dribble and hit from the logo? They’ve got that. Rather unleash a blue-chip rookie with the potential to become a guy? Got that too. What about rolling with a secondary playmaker, circumventing traditional wisdom for an overpaid vet, or reverting back to the status quo with someone who can snipe from the farm and sky? Check, check, check.

But with so many options, who should it be?

_{Disclaimer: Ryan Rollins isn’t listed below. Perhaps he should be, he can certainly play the position. But it’s a safe enough bet that he’ll be starting at the point—at least as far as I see it.}

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Start your adventure, go on to OPTION 1.

1. The whodidit: Tyler Herro

The logic for starting Tyler Herro is simple: he’s instantly the best two-guard the Bucks have had since Michael Redd and the best option the Bucks currently have as a go-to offensive option. A flat-out scorer, Herro can and does hit from everywhere on the court—70% from 0-3 feet, 56% from 3-10, 52% from 10-16, 42% from 16-3P, and 38% from three (per Basketball-Reference)—leading to an elite true shooting percentage of 60%. But he’s more than just a shooter. Herro is also a legitimate shot creator for others, especially in a secondary playmaking role (career 21% assist percentage), and turns it over less frequently (10.2% turnover percentage) than all of the other ball handling guards on the roster—and even AJ “I don’t dribble” Green.

Stats aside, Herro is the most proven commodity the Bucks have at the two and you just know he wants a revenge tour after being the subject of trade rumours for what feels like the entirety of his career. Fostering that, inflating his output leaning on his winning tradition and monetising celebrating his homecoming, might be the best long-term play for the Bucks too.

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If you need someone to talk to (especially online), choose Herro. If not, turn to OPTION 2.

2. The blue-chipper: Brayden Burries

I’m not one to spit hyperbole—or overreact to summer league—but if you’ve seen Brayden Burries in action with a Bucks jersey on it’s hard not to fall in love with his game. Dude just has it. On or off ball, Burries is a straight killer—a wrecking ball on the way to the cup and a marksman from deep.

“Buzzer-Beater Burries” already showed he’s not afraid of the moment. And with offence so sweet you can see him morph into Book and defence so mean you might confuse him with Jrue, he’s the perfect guy to build around moving forward. He just needs the time—and a starting gig. In fact, Burries has so much potential that he should only ever be written about in future tense.

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If you’ve got a ladder to get to his floor, choose Burries. If not, go to OPTION 3.

3. The secondary playmaker: Kevin Porter Jr.

Talk about a whirlwind. After being traded for MarJon Beauchamp before the trade deadline in 2025, Porter has gone from backup to starter to injured on opening night to playing out of his mind to injured again to balling out (but forgetting how to shoot) to being shut down for good to the operating theatre. Caught your breath?

Now, with the Bucks reloaded in the backcourt, Porter finds himself on the outer once again. In fact, despite being arguably the team’s best player last year, his decision to pick up his player option was a curious one, with the general feeling of (a) surprise, thinking he could have gotten something more lucrative (salary or duration) elsewhere, or (b) disenchantment, thinking we’ve had that experience and it’s time to move on.

Anyway, I digress. Porter is a Buck and he’s still one of the most talented players on the roster (if not the most). And while not the shooter you’d like to see at the two, he’s perhaps the best combination of scorer (17.4 PPG), playmaker (7.4 APG, 33.8% assist percentage), and defender (2.2 SPG, third in the league; 4.3 DRPG, 14.6% defensive rebounding percentage) the Bucks have at the position. Now that’s a reason to start him.

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If youlike your offence with a side of chaos, stick with Porter. If not, turn to OPTION 4.

4. The Klutch one: Gary Trent Jr.

This time last year, Gary Trent Jr. was the third-ranked Buck in our Ranking the Roster series. As it turns out, it was for the worse. But while we were wrong—so, so wrong—Trent isn’t the drongo he showcased last season, either. And, in case you missed it, he did just re-up with Milwaukee for four years and $64m—so at least someone in the Bucks front office thinks he’s pretty good too!

Realistically, Trent shouldn’t be the Bucks’ starting shooting guard. But he might be the purest two on the squad, at least in the traditional sense of the position. And this is his case. Herro certainly has more positional versatility, having played significant portions of his career at the point (51% of playing time in 2023-24; 38% in 2024-25) and at small forward (20% last season). Burries and Porter are far more suited to ball-dominant roles too. Trent, however, is purely an off-ball threat, recording a lower average time of possession than every Buck sans Gary Harris, Thanasis Antetokounmpo, Amir Coffey, and Alex Antetokounmpo. It’s a good thing too—have you seen him try to break guys down off the dribble? At his best, Trent is also better than AJ Green and he has come up Klutch clutch in the playoffs, which is why we all ranked him so highly to begin with.

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If you’ve got a firm handshake, choose Trent—just know it might come back to bite you!Otherwise, move on to OPTION 5.

5. The status quo: AJ Green

Some scares are of the jump variety—they catch you off guard (pun intended) and you can’t do anything about them. AJ Green starting at the two for the 2026-27 Milwaukee Bucks would be one of those.

But first the positives. Green is an elite shooter and floor spacer and, somehow, he always seems to find himself in the most effective Bucks lineups—Giannis, Green, Porter, Bobby Portis, and Ryan Rollins five-man lineups recorded a net rating of +30.7 last year, while Giannis, Green, Rollins, Myles Turner, and Kyle Kuzma recorded a +28.3. And before you ask, it’s not all Giannis either; Green, Porter, Portis, Rollins, and Jericho Sims lineups recorded a +20.8. It’s also important to acknowledge that, last season, Green was put in too many disadvantageous situations where he was miscast as a three.

Still, having him start at the two over Herro or Burries or even Porter would be quite the shock to the system and a terrifying sign of things going awry in Milwaukee.

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QUICK! Make a decision, you’re near the end. Choose Green if you’re stuck in the past (and don’t like any of the alternatives). Otherwise, pull a rabbit out of your hat and tell us who it is in the comments.

THE END

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On April 21^st, 2001, the Dallas Mavericks officially broke the seal on the NBA Playoffs after a lengthy hiatus. Dallas had missed the Playoffs for 10-straight seasons, including a near miss in 1999-2000 when they went 40-42. Following that campaign, Dallas improved their win total by 13 games to finish 53-29 in 2000-2001, leaving no doubt they had arrived on the postseason scene.

Not only was the +13 win total impressive in and of itself, but for context, the Western Conference was stacked. All but one of the eight West Playoff teams won 50 games (the 8 Seed Minnesota Timberwolves won 47). The 1 Seed San Antonio Spurs grabbed 58 wins, just five games better than a Mavericks team that was a postseason afterthought for so long.

Dallas’ 53 wins were good enough for the 5 Seed and a matchup against the Utah Jazz. Utah was just a few years removed from back-to-back Finals appearances and still featured NBA legends in John Stockton and Karl Malone, yet the two teams were nearly dead even during the regular season. Each team won two of their four regular season matchups. Both teams went 14-10 against the other (now defunct) Midwest Division teams. Utah however, performed better against the Western Conference at large and therefore got home court advantage in the best-of-five series.

Lucky charms fall short

The Mavericks did something that teams often do when they’ve broken through a wall. In this case, the Mavericks decided they would celebrate their return to the Playoffs with an overt show of unity – they wore nice blue socks to match their blue road uniforms. Meanwhile, the more experienced Jazz team needed no such demonstrations.

In game one, Dallas took a one-point lead into the fourth quarter, which generally spelled doom for the opponent. The Mavericks were 46-2 during the regular season when leading after three quarters, including a 21-1 road record in those situations. Despite that, and despite their lucky socks, Dallas found themselves down by a point in the closing moments. Dirk Nowitzki was stripped on a drive that would have given Dallas the lead with roughly three seconds remaining in the game, had he converted. Utah made a free throw, giving Dallas the chance to win on the final shot, but Michael Finley’s three-point attempt was off target and the Mavs were down 0-1 in the series.

The Mavs were roundly beat in game two, losing 109-98 after being outscored in all but the fourth quarter. As a result, they were on the brink elimination. Upon their return to Dallas, they ditched the socks and found a reversal of fortune.

Evening the series

Home cooking was good for Dallas, as they pulled out a tight game three, 94-91 behind a strong first quarter. Finally, Dallas staved off elimination and got their first Playoff win since 1988. With the best-of-five setup, they were just a single win away from forcing a deciding game back in Utah. Game four ended up doing just that. The Mavericks started slow, trailing 24-17 after the first quarter, then collectively went insane, outscoring the Jazz by 37 points the rest of the way. The 107-77 victory gave the Mavs a chance to close the deal back in Utah in game five.

Calvin Booth plays the hero

Utah showed their veteran savvy in game five, getting off to a strong start, particularly in the second quarter. Carrying a 71-57 lead into the fourth quarter, it appeared as though the upstart Mavericks had met their match and would be going home after a valiant effort to force a deciding game. Dallas had other ideas.

Calvin Booth started the fourth quarter despite coming off the bench to start the game. The decision by Don Nelson proved to be an excellent one. The Mavericks slowly chipped away throughout the fourth quarter, with Booth turning away multiple Jazz shots at the rim.

The final two minutes were a roller coaster. Trailing by one, the Mavericks forced a turnover, courtesy of Booth’s quick hands. The ball ended up with Finley, who got it to Nash, who made a great pass from a few steps inside halfcourt to Dirk Nowitzki under the rim. Unbelievably, Nowitzki missed the reverse layup and Malone got the rebound. On the next possession, Dallas played terrific defense, forcing Danny Manning to attempt a shot clock beating jumper with none other than Booth defending him. The shot missed and Nash took it the other way. Finley hoisted a three that didn’t go down, sending Dallas back on defense. Malone missed a turnaround jumper and Nowitzki grabbed the board. Nash got the ball and took off, then slowed it down to set up the offense. Finley got the ball and backed down Stockton. Manning came over to double-team Finley with four seconds left on the shot clock. Booth slipped through on the baseline, Finley (who played every minute of the game) rose up, zipped a pass to him, and Booth turned to hit a layup – his first and only made field goal of the game. In the final 10 seconds, Utah missed a three, got the offense rebound and then missed a buzzer beater. The Mavs had won.

Booth’s entire 2000-2001 season consisted of 15 regular season games with the Mavericks and nine Playoff games. Despite his limited time on the team, he will forever be linked with an amazing Playoff comeback in a deciding game that put the Mavericks in the second round, kicking off a span of 12-straight seasons that Dallas made the Playoffs. Booth returned in 2004-2005 for a second stint. Despite his relatively short tenure with the Mavericks, he left an indelible mark on the franchise. Taking full advantage of Nelson’s intuition, Booth had a major impact across the deciding quarter of the deciding game.

I invite you to follow me @_80MPH on X, and check back often at Mavs Moneyball for all the latest on the Dallas Mavericks.

Next stop in The Annual Statistical Doppelgänger Machine Tour: Switzerland. Well, kinda. No skiing or fancy-schmancy watches or neutrality — just a look at which players in NBA history had seasons that looked the most like what Kyshawn George did last season.

For those who haven’t memorized the birthplaces and childhood homes of every Wizards player, George was born and raised in Switzerland.

To my eye, the broadly favorable view of George’s performance got ahead of his actual performance. He looks good out there, he does many good things, and he does plenty of negative things as well.

To me, the biggest positive is his confidence. It also might be his biggest weakness. There’s good three-point shooting (38.1%) on above average volume, and 7.3 assists per 100 team possessions (well above average). He’s a competent ball handler, he’s tough, and he plays with a relentlessness and physicality that’s at times admirable.

He also commits a ton of turnovers (4.3 per 100 possessions — compare to a league average of 2.8) and fouls (5.8 per 100 possessions). George’s shot selection inside the three-point line was…well…let’s call it “adventurous,” and that sense of adventure contributed to shooting just 48.6% on twos — compared to a league average of 55.0%.

He finished well when he got to the rim (73.1%). The issue: lots of floater range attempts at a 35.7% conversion rate.

The good and bad tallied to an 87 score in my PPA metric. League average in PPA is 100. That’s fine for a second-year player who’s just 22-years-old picked 24th overall. The point here is merely that he still needs to make significant improvements to earn a starting role with the Wizards going forward.

Let’s get to the doppelgängers. And, unlike the comps for Bilal Coulibaly, you won’t need to take safety precautions for these:

1. Justise Winslow | 2018-19 | Miami Heat | Age: 22 — This was one of Winslow’s (rare) healthy seasons. He played 66 games — two fewer than he did the following season. This was his best overall performance, tallying to an 85 PPA. He was a talented player who never stayed healthy long enough to show what he could do. Gotta think (hope?) George will be healthier, though I have to mention George has played in 68 and 48 games respectively in his first two seasons.
2. Cole Anthony | 2022-23 | Orlando Magic | Age: 22 — Anthony is basically the little-guy version of George. Tough as nails, all-out effort, plenty of positives, and bit negatives.
3. Taurean Prince | 2017-18 | Atlanta Hawks | Age: 23 — Prince’s second season. He played all 82 games, though it was not a harbinger of his future health and availability. The 87 PPA he posted that season was also the best mark of his career.
4. Kevin Porter Jr. | 2021-22 | Houston Rockets | Age: 21 — I’m not a big Porter fan, but he’s been reasonably productive, albeit with enough issues that teams seem happy to move on from him. I don’t think that’ll be the case with George. The profile is there, though — talent enough to generate positives, enough judgement issues to produce negatives (hi there, turnovers) that can hurt the team.
5. Reggie Jackson | 2013-14 | Oklahoma City Thunder | Age: 23 — Another maximal effort, maybe a bit nuts, little guy. Jackson spent most of his career as a pain-in-the-neck backup guard who was part of some winning teams.

Some honorable mentions:

• Keldon Johnson, San Antonio Spurs — age 24 season
• Jaden Ivey, Detroit Pistons — age 21
• Kyle Kuzma, Los Angeles Lakers — age 22
• Caris LeVert, Brooklyn Nets — age 23

My eye test comp was Dillon Brooks, but the closest Brooks season ranks around 260th.

My sense is that The Machine’s comps have the right overall type — competitive, hard-nosed, physical reserves who had value to good teams when they could rein in the fouls and turnovers. I think George is reasonably likely to be better than any of those five turned out to be, though it’s worth a reminder that player development is not linear.

I have the same kinds of neat career arc graphs most stat goobers do, but those are averages. There’s a lot of variation, and things get messy with individuals.

Next through the machine: Trae Young.

I moved to San Antonio (technically back to San Antonio) from New York in the summer 2013. The Spurs had just been upset in the Finals. I immediately plunged into my fandom and embraced the team I grew up adoring.

Somewhere over the next couple of years, the Spurs beat the Portland Trail Blazers. When they did, Bill Land and Sean Elliott announced that with that win, the Spurs had a winning record against all 29 NBA teams. Even over the next decade when the Spurs faced some losing seasons, they have still managed to maintain that feat.

But what I didn’t know was Tony Parker is the only player in NBA history to retire while maintaining a winning record against every team in the league.

Tony Parker didn’t just build a Hall of Fame career, he built a winning record against everyone.

He is the only player in NBA history to retire with a winning record against every active franchise.

A legacy built on winning. pic.twitter.com/n2SoBzJk56

— Spurs Nation (@SpursNationCP) August 18, 2026

I noticed in the comments section of this post, some fans mentioned that they thought Tim Duncan also accomplished a winning record with every team. While that may be true, Duncan only has a winning record against 29 of the 30 teams in the NBA. Keep in mind Parker spent his final season with the Charlotte Hornets who beat the Spurs in both meetings that year. That means he got the best of all 30!

So while Duncan and Manu Ginobili have winning records against the 29 teams not named the San Antonio Spurs, Parker swept the league.

And he’s the only one.

Or is he?

When I searched “What former NBA players have winning records against every team?” a second name came up.

Kawhi Leonard.

*The above post stipulates that Parker is the only player to retire with a record over 30 teams. Leonard is still an active player…in theory…for now…we assume.

According to StatMuse, Kawhi does also have a better record against all 30 NBA teams. He is the only active player with superstars like LeBron James (29), Stephen Curry (28), and Kevin Durant (28) a few teams shy.

But if anyone gets an honorable mention for Tony Parker’s and Kawhi Leonard’s accomplishment, it is Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, Gregg Popovich, and the myriad players and assistant coaches who made the Spurs such a dominant force.

Without them, neither Parker’s nor Leonard’s career could have shined as they did in the time they spent in San Antonio.

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Last week, the NBA finally released its schedule for the 2026-27 NBA season. With its release, it allows everyone to map ahead what the 2026-27 season looks like for the Atlanta Hawks and identify where the good times or more challenging times lie across the 82 game-schedule. Immediately, there’s a key difference in this year’s edition of the schedule compared to last year for the Hawks, with many home tipoffs returning to a 7pm Eastern Time start, for the first time, I believe, since the 2015-16 season.

As we have done so for, perhaps, the last eight seasons now, we’ll break down the schedule month-by-month, examining the trends, fixtures of note, and the difficulty of each month (calculated by averaging the average winning projections of each team by way of Bet MGM.

Let’s look ahead to the beginning, the month of October:

Total games: 7

Home games: 3

Road games: 4

Back-to-backs: 2

Three-in-fours: 3

Longest road trip: 2 games (twice)

Longest homestand: 2 games

Average projected opponent win total (based on Bet MGM win totals): 42.5 wins

A competitive beginning to the season on paper for the Atlanta Hawks. Two games on the road against Southeast Division rivals Orlando Magic (who should be very motivated to begin strongly after the disappointment of last season) and Charlotte Hornets should provide an early test for the Hawks.

Charlotte will be an interesting matchup, who are running a much-changed roster which, for the first time in six years, will not be led by LeMelo Ball, which will provide a very different dynamic to this fixture. Following that, the Hawks’ home opener also represents the first of a home-and-home with the Houston Rockets. Hawks rookie Kingston Flemmings will not have to wait long to return to the state of Texas, where he played with Houston in college as the rookie begins his NBA career.

The stiff opposition continues in the form of Miami and Cleveland, but will at least take place at State Farm Arena before the Hawks head on the road to face the New Orleans Pelicans. Two back-to-backs, a couple of three-games-in-four-nights sleds as well for the Hawks will prove a challenge in addition to the level of competition. Now, moving onto a jam-packed November!

Total games: 12

Home games: 5

Road games: 7

Back-to-backs: 1

Three-in-fours: 1

Longest road trip: 3 games

Longest homestand: 3 games

Average projected opponent win total (based on Bet MGM win totals): 41 wins

November sees the return of NBA Cup action, every Friday! The Hawks’ cup schedule is actually pretty kind to them, with the majority of those games, on paper, certainly winnable — the Celtics on the road represents the toughest game in the cup by some margin.

Elsewhere, the Hawks tackle some high-profile games such as the Lakers at home, the championship winning New York Knicks on the road, and of note for several of the Hawks’ new additions, a trip back to OKC to take on the Thunder. The reception for Aaron Wiggins and Lu Dort will be very warm for their former champions and is sure to be emotional night for those involved. Elsewhere, the Hawks will face Trae Young and the Wizards twice, and a game against the Detroit Pistons at home should also prove to be an interesting measure of the Hawks in the Eastern Conference.

A little less intense overall compared to previous Novembers not only in terms of games played, but back-to-backs and three-in-fours aren’t too prevalent here. However, this is not to last as we move to December:

Total games: 14 (TBC, pending NBA Cup outcome)

Home games: 7 (TBC)

Road games: 5 (TBC)

Back-to-backs: 2

Three-in-fours: 2

Longest road trip: 3 games

Longest homestand: 2 games (three times)

Average projected opponent win total (based on Bet MGM win totals): 44 wins

December isn’t quite complete yet, as two games between December 4th and December 11th have yet to be determined by the NBA as it relates to the outcome of the group stage of the NBA Cup, so while 14 games will take place in total, the number of home/away games is not currently known.

Outside of this, an interesting opening to the month in the form of Miami and Indiana: two vastly different looking teams from last season. Miami now boasts the talents of Giannis Antetokounmpo, while the Pacers welcome back Tyrese Haliburton from injury and reinforcement through Ivica Zubac. The Hawks were able to finish above both teams last season, but will face a much stiffer challenge resisting these teams this season. Again, they represent a great opportunity to measure themselves in the establishing Eastern Conference playoff hierarchy.

A three-game road trip to the Western Conference lies ahead for the Hawks, the most challenging coming in Denver to finish. A difficult back-to-back follows, with a home game against OKC on the second night of that back-to-back one of the more challenging games of the month. A home game against Detroit wraps up the action before the holidays, before a back-to-back after the holidays — including heading on the road to San Antonio. A lighter end to 2026 in the form of Chicago and Milwaukee should provide some relief after a potentially challenging December.

Moving to 2027!

Total games: 15

Home games: 8

Road games: 7

Back-to-backs: 3

Three-in-fours: 3

Longest road trip: 4 games

Longest homestand: 4 games

Average projected opponent win total (based on Bet MGM win totals): 45 wins

2027 opens by welcoming back 2024 first overall pick Zaccharie Risacher and the Dallas Mavericks to Atlanta. Other notable home games in January include the Spurs and Victor Wembanyama, the newly stacked Philadelphia 76ers — armed with Jaylen Brown and LeBron James — in addition to Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors, and the Knicks to end a four-game homestand. The January 18th game against the 76ers of course representing one of the most important games for the Hawks as part of MLK Day, and an afternoon tip. A four-game road-trip ends the month of January, featuring difficult fixtures against Miami, New York, and Detroit.

While three back-to-backs isn’t too strenuous, three three-games-in-four-nights is a bit more intense as the fixtures and fatigue rack up in January as the NBA edges closer to its halfway point and towards the NBA All-Star break

Moving to February!

Total games: 13

Home games: 8

Road games: 5

Back-to-backs: 3

Three-in-fours: 3

Longest road trip: 3 games

Longest homestand: 7 games

Average projected opponent win total (based on Bet MGM win totals): 38.7 wins

A relaxing in the schedule in terms of projected difficulty of opponents, and a home-heavy schedule with eight home games in total, a seven-game homestand, and a eight-home-games-in-nine-games stretch. A seven game homestand is certainly one of the longest single homestand stretches the Hawks have enjoyed in recent memory, and a number against — on paper — very winnable games. In general, due to the nature of the new NBA Draft lottery rules, the overall projected total games won is a little higher this year compared to previous years, so this should be taken into account.

Moving onto a very quirky March! A March which I’m dubbing ‘All the Western Conference teams you haven’t seen yet.’

(Seriously, I’m not joking!)

Total games: 16

Home games: 7

Road games: 9

Back-to-backs: 3

Three-in-fours: 3

Longest road trip: 6 games

Longest homestand: 2 games (three times)

Average projected opponent win total (based on Bet MGM win totals): 35.7 wins

First appearances of the season for the following teams: Memphis, Minnesota, the Jazz, and the Clippers…all twice! And all of those teams, with the exception of Minnesota, are projected to have low win totals, so while the schedule is intense in terms of number of games, the projected level of opponent isn’t quite as intense. In saying that, a six-game road-trip out West will be a challenge, no matter who the opponent is, but to make up for this, the games the Hawks do play at State Farm Arena are all very winnable games on paper. In short, though, it’s a very Western Conference heavy month!

Onto the final month of April!

Total games: 5

Home games: 2

Road games: 3

Back-to-backs: 0

Three-in-fours: 0

Longest road trip: 2 games

Longest homestand: 2 games

Average projected opponent win total (based on Bet MGM win totals): 49.5 wins

A tough end to the season: all of these teams project to win, at the very least, 45 games, and are all in the Eastern Conference. These could be key in determining playoff seeding, of which the Hawks will want to return rather than go back through the Play-In tournament. Of course, some seeding may already be set at this stage, and it’s entirely possible any one of Boston, Philly, and New York could be top-seeded or locked into a top-4 seed and may use the opportunity to rest key players.

Overall, the Hawks — more recently — have had schedules that are typically more difficult at the front-end of the season and lighten at the back end of the season. I’d argue that both cases are true here. In March, it’s a very road-heavy, Western Conference schedule but against opponents who are not projected to compete for the playoffs. April, short as it is, is a difficult schedule at a very important time of the season and will likely determine elements of the Hawks’ seeding.

In any case, the Atlanta Hawks’ path for the 2026-27 season is set! If you enjoyed the 7:30 home tips, my commiserations, I believe there’s only three (November 7th against Brooklyn, January 2nd against the Dallas Mavericks, March 4th against Memphis). If you prefer 7pm tips, then this is going to be a great season!

Until next time!

NBA history spans 80 seasons, and as CelticsBlog readers well know, the Boston Celtics have won a league-high 18 championships. This month, we are recapping each of those title years.

“Anyone who tells you they knew Bird would be as good as he turned out—including me—is a liar.”

Red Auerbach

After the Celtics won their thirteenth title in 1976, the team sort of fell apart. The merger between the ABA and the NBA brought new talent into the league, and in any case, championship success was difficult for any team to sustain in the 1970s, a decade in which eight different teams won titles (only the New York Knicks and Boston Celtics won more than a single title). Havlicek was past his prime, and the Celtics were basically a one-man team, relying on the tough-as-nails but undersized Dave Cowens to carry them at both ends of the court. A young Cedric Maxwell had been drafted in 1977, but he was still coming into his own as a player.

The Celtics lost in the second round of the playoffs in 1977, coming off a pedestrian 44-38 record, and they fell even farther the following season, one in which Tommy Heinsohn was replaced as coach by Satch Sanders, who was himself replaced by Dave Cowens the following season, all to ultimately disastrous results. Boston’s 29-53 record in 1978/79 was the worst of the Red Auerbach era.

The unsettled coaching situation and on-court struggles were accompanied by front-office turmoil.

Red had stockpiled three first round picks in the 1979 draft, with the goal of rebuilding the Celtics, but Boston’s new owner, John Y. Brown had other ideas. On February 12, 1979, he traded Tom Barker and those three picks to the New York Knicks for Bob McAdoo.

An incensed Red gave Brown an ultimatum. Either you go or I do.

The threat had teeth. Red had been approached by the Knicks and had an offer in hand to take over basketball operations for the franchise.

Brown backed down almost immediately.

The Celtics had been passed from owner to owner since Walter Brown’s death in 1964—John Y. Brown’s consortium was the eighth in 14 years—and the one constant through all those changes was Red Auerbach.

Brown knew that if he kept the Celtics, he’d probably be burned in effigy on the Boston Common—in fact, that would probably be the most anodyne outcome of forcing Red out—plus he had acquired a sudden urge to run for governor in his home state of Kentucky.

By the end of March, Brown was ready to close on a deal proposed by minority owner Harry Mangurian, and the Celtics were back in the hands of ownership that was willing to leave the basketball decisions in the hands of the most capable guy in league history when it came to those things.

Now Red may have lost those three picks in the 1979 draft, but things turned out alright in the end.

In 1978, Red drafted Larry Bird, despite knowing that he had no intention of leaving school before the end of the 1979 season. It was a calculated risk. The catch was that the Celtics had to sign Bird to a contract before the 1979 draft, otherwise he could re-enter it, and the odds were that he would be picked before Boston had a chance to grab him—and as it turned out, the team ended up with no first round picks in that draft in any event. “I knew this was my shot at him,” Red would tell John Feinstein years later, “I was thinking long term.”

The team also hired Bill Fitch as head coach; Fitch was Red’s first hire from outside the Celtics family, and his coaching pedigree was far from elite. Fitch was in his ninth season with the Cleveland Cavaliers, who had hired him out of the college ranks in their first season. His cumulative record was 304-434 for a less-than-impressive .411 winning percentage. But there was something about him that Red liked.

The combination of rookie Larry Bird and an experienced hand on the bench galvanized the Celtics, who went from 29-53 to 61-21 in the 1979/80 season. The Celtics lost to the Sixers in the Eastern Conference Finals, and the Sixers, in turn, lost to the Los Angeles Lakers, as Magic Johnson’s rookie season ended in a Finals championship.

1979/80 was Dave Cowens’ final year with the team, leaving the Celtics in need of front court talent, but Red, who had all his 1979 first round picks traded out from under him, figured out a way to land a pair of low post Hall of Famers with his picks in the first round of the 1980 draft.

The Celtics had gotten involved in a goofy situation with Detroit. They signed M.L. Carr, which meant that the Pistons were owed compensation, but instead of sending Detroit a draft pick—the usual procedure—the Celtics arranged to send them Bob McAdoo—a Hall-of-Famer who just never fit in with the Celtics. However, since McAdoo was more valuable than a draft pick, the Pistons agreed to send Boston two picks in the 1980 draft.

This was not a good deal for Detroit.

The Pistons ended up with the worst record in the NBA in 1979/80, and a coin flip gave them the first pick overall.

At the time, there was a clear consensus that the best player coming out of the draft was a center, Joe Barry Carroll from Purdue.

Red, however, saw things a bit differently. He wasn’t as impressed by Carroll as the rest of the league was. He didn’t want Carroll, he wanted Minnesota’s Kevin McHale.

Now the Golden State Warriors had the third pick in the draft, and they had a center Auerbach liked, Robert Parish, so Red reached out to Al Attles—who was Golden State’s coach and GM, and offered both of his picks in the first round for the Warriors’ number three pick. And, since the Warriors were going to be drafting Joe Barry Carroll, they probably didn’t need Robert Parish anymore, so maybe they could send him along as part of the trade as well.

One can only imagine Al Attles’ glee at the thought of getting the player he wanted and another pick in exchange for, essentially, a backup center, provided Carroll lived up to expectations. This is the thing about so many of Red’s masterpiece trades: it almost always seemed, from a certain perspective, that Red was getting ripped off—like when he traded two future Hall-of-Famers for a center who couldn’t really score, but who would win eleven championships nonetheless.

Thus, on June 10, 1980, the Celtics added Kevin McHale and Robert Parish to Larry Bird and formed one of the most impressive front courts in NBA history.

Joe Barry Carroll? Well, suffice to say that Globe columnist Ray Fitzgerald was not wrong when he mentioned concerns about Carroll’s motivation the day after the Celtics traded their number one pick to the Warriors.

This is where things stood at the start of the 1980/81 season…

The Regular Season

The Celtics cruised to a 62-20 record, marking a one game improvement from the previous season. They racked up winning streaks of 12 and 13 games bracketing a single loss for a stretch of 25-1 play in the middle of the season. Apart from a somewhat surprising three game losing streak that straddled the All-Star break in January and February, the Celtics never lost two games in a row.

The rookie Kevin McHale appeared in all 82 games, but started just one, making him the latest sixth man in the Celtics’ long tradition. His contributions were just a slim indication of the player he’d become, as he averaged ten points on 53.5% shooting from the field and just 67.9% from the line.

In his second year, Larry Bird finished second in MVP voting and made first team All-NBA. Nate “Tiny” Archibald gave the Celtics standout play from the point guard spot, and the Celtics ended the season with five players averaging double figures. Bird, who played power forward in his early years in the league, led the team in rebounds at almost 11 per game, a total that topped Robert Parish’s 9.5 per game. Although remembered mostly for his offense these days, Bird was an extremely capable two-way player before injuries limited his role to a primarily offensive one.

Boston had the league’s best record, but they weren’t at the top of the league in any statistical category. Their best stat was a defensive one, where opponent points per game, at 104, was good for second in the league.

The Celtics did all this with a rather young team. Bird was in his second year, McHale was a rookie, Parish had four years’ experience coming into the season and Cedric Maxwell had three. Tiny Archibald was the team’s only real veteran, with nine years in the league.

Eastern Playoffs

The Eastern Conference looked to be a meat grinder. The Celtics were tied for the best record with the Philadelphia 76ers, and the Milwaukee Bucks, coached by old friend Don Nelson, weren’t far behind with a 60-22 record.

The NBA had expanded the playoffs to three rounds in 1975, with the two division champs getting byes from the best-of-three opening round. This meant that Boston, which held the tiebreaker over Philly, got to take a breather while waiting for their second round opponent to be decided.

In that first round, the Chicago Bulls, who finished with a 45-37 record made quick work of the higher seeded Knicks, sweeping New York 2-0. This set them up to face Boston.

Things did not go well for Chicago. They lost in four. Boston’s average margin of victory was 8.25 points as they finished +33 for the series. Larry Bird led all players in points, rebounds, assists, and steals, with a 23.5/13/7.3/3.0 stat line.

The Eastern Conference Finals were a rematch from the previous year. Once again it was the Sixers and the Celtics—a rivalry from this era that is sometimes lost beneath the Lakers/Celtics rivalry. The Celtics and Sixers faced off four times in the playoffs during the Bird era—more times than the Celtics matched up against the Lakers, albeit for lower stakes.

Boston’s series against Philly was an absolute classic.

The teams had finished the season with identical records, so the matchup figured to be close and entertaining, and the first game delivered on both counts.

In game one, the Celtics rallied from a ten point deficit and were clinging to a one point lead with less than four seconds left when Billy Cunningham drew up a play for Sixers rookie Andrew Toney that sent him baseline. He got past Cedric Maxwell who felt that it was better to foul him than give him two easy points from a layup.

Toney stepped to the line and delivered the equalizer and the game winner in succession. Final score? 105-104, Philly. The Sixers had seized home court and put the Celtics in a 1-0 hole.

The man who would, with justice, become known as the “Boston Strangler” had introduced himself to the Garden with an exclamation point.

Game two went Boston’s way without much drama as the C’s tallied a 19 point victory, 118-99. Toney led all scorers with 35, but Bird was a close second with 34.

Game three went to Philly, putting the Celtics in a 2-1 hole with the next game being another road contest.

Game four looked to be all Philly as well; the home team had an 18 point lead in the second half, forcing the Celtics to claw their way back into the game. They were down four points, 107-103, when they turned their defense up to maximum. They caused a 24 second violation, which was followed by a bucket from Tiny Archibald that gave them a real shot. The score was 107-105 Philly with just over a minute remaining. The score stayed there until there were eight seconds left in the game. The Celtics nabbed a rebound off a miss by Bobby Jones, and while Bill Fitch signaled in vain for a time out, Archibald began to push the ball up court. Jones reacted to his miss by running the length of the court, figuring that Archibald would send the ball into Bird who was standing near the opposite basket.

His instincts were correct, and Jones snatched the pass before Bird could get his hands on it, sealing the victory and putting the Celtics up against the wall.

Boston wasn’t facing just one ‘must-win’ game. They were looking at three of them.

A team that had struggled mightily against the Sixers in three of the first four games would need to figure out how to beat Philly not just once, but three times in a row.

It’s not much of a spoiler to say that they did. After all, this is a column about a championship season, not an exit from the Eastern Conference Finals.

But those games… Oh, those games… The Celtics won three in a row by a total of five points. Each victory was by just about the thinnest margin possible.

Over those three games, Larry Bird scored 80 points and hauled in 38 rebounds. He dished out 14 assists, and logged ten steals. He was turnover prone in the first two of these three games, but in the decisive game seven, he logged five steals and only one turnover.

In game five, the Sixers had a six point lead with just over a minute and a half left in the game, but they failed to score the rest of the way as Boston went on a 7-0 run that featured a block by Parish, a layup and a hustle play that secured a loose ball from Bird, and three clutch free throws by M.L. Carr. Philly, on the other hand, couldn’t handle the pressure from Boston’s defense, as they missed multiple chances to put the game—and the series—away.

Game six, in Philly, was another two point affair.

Once again, Philly seemed on the brink of closing out the series. They had a 17 point lead in the first half in an environment that was beyond hostile to the Celtics.

Decades before the ‘Malice in the Palace,’ Cedric Maxwell was charged by a fan with a pointed object of some sort in the third quarter; retaliation by Maxwell, Archibald and Chris Ford took them five rows deep into the Spectrum crowd. Nobody was ejected. Nobody was suspended. It was a different time.

Somehow, somehow, the Celtics turned that deficit into a fourth quarter lead. As the clock wound down, Andrew Toney found himself up against Kevin McHale with the game on the line. McHale was trying to lure Toney into shooting the ball because the alternative was having Toney dump the ball into Darryl Dawkins, and McHale didn’t have high hopes of stopping the massive Sixers center.

McHale succeeded in luring Toney into a shot that he leaped up to contest, and he ever so slightly “ticked” the ball, pushing it off target and into his hands. “I was hoping somebody would foul me,” McHale said after the game, but the Sixers opted to let a bit more time run down before fouling Tiny Archibald, who sealed the Celtics victory with a pair of free throws.

The series was tied 3-3 and headed back to Boston for a decisive game 7.

Once again, the Celtics found themselves in a hole.

With 5:24 left in the game, Philadelphia had a 89-82 lead.

Bear in mind that the final score of this game was 91-90

The Celtics held the Sixers to just one point—and no field goals—over almost five and a half minutes of absolute desperate, must-win basketball.

It’s one thing to clamp down on a team during a regular season game when there’s not much on the line, but here, for both teams, everything was on the line.

The Celtics forced five turnovers—of which three were steals by Larry Bird—and the Sixers missed all six field goals they attempted during that span.

“Inspired, determined—maniacal” was how Bob Ryan described the Celtics’ defense to close out the game and the series.

With a minute to go, Bird gave the Celtics the game winner, capping a 9-0 run. He’d come out of a scrum under the basket with the ball, “I wanted the ball in my hands,” he said after the game, “that’s the only place in the world I wanted it.” He ran it coast-to-coast, delivering a layup that sealed the game.

The Sixers, who outshot the Celtics 48.8% to 38.2%, sent the Celtics to the line 35 times during the game, where Boston’s abysmal shooting nonetheless gave them a more than sufficient margin, as they made 22 free throws against just 12 by the Sixers.

The Western Playoffs

On the opposite coast, there was an open rebellion in Los Angeles. The defending champs were chafing under coach Paul Westhead, and although they did well enough in the regular season, winning 54 games, they were bounced in the first round of the playoffs by the Houston Rockets, who finished the season with just a 42-40 record.

The Rockets proceeded to knock off 52-win San Antonio in the second round of the playoffs, which set them up to face the Kansas City Kings. The Western Conference produced not one but two Cinderella teams that year, as the Kings, who finished the season with a sub .500 record (40-42) knocked off the Suns, who were the number one seed in the West, in seven games in the semis.

This was almost certainly the weakest Western Conference Finals matchup in history, as the teams were a combined .500 for the season.

The Rockets prevailed in a gentleman’s sweep; they were never seriously challenged by the Kings, who wouldn’t breathe this rarefied postseason air for another two decades.

The Finals

This contest was somewhat anticlimactic. The series went six games largely due to the play of Houston’s Hall-of-Fame bound center, Moses Malone.

But there was no real contest here. Maybe you could chalk up one or both of the Celtics’ losses to fatigue from having to battle back from a 3-1 deficit to the Sixers.

In this era, the Finals started just two days after the Eastern Conference Finals ended.

The series was in no way as close as the 4-2 win total might suggest. The Celtics won games by margins of 23 and 29 points, while the largest margin of victory the Rockets could manage was a five point gap in game four.

Today, Larry Bird’s play in the Finals gets a bit of scrutiny, and it’s true that the Legend did struggle to score, and if he had performed better, it’s unlikely that the series would have gone six games, as Boston’s losses were by a total of seven points, as opposed to a cumulative 66 point margin of victory across all four wins.

But that’s not the whole story. Bird led all Celtics with 92 rebounds and dang near nabbed as many as Malone—who grabbed 94 for the Rockets.

Bird led all players with 42 assists for the series, a total that was nine more than Tiny Archibald for the Celtics, and 17 more than the Houston’s leader in the category. His 14 steals also led both teams.

Even though Cedric Maxwell won the Finals MVP, it was clear that Larry Bird had arrived, and along with him, another Celtics dynasty.

Turning Point

The turning point was M.L. Carr’s clutch free throws at the end of game five of the Eastern Conference Finals. Carr capped a furious comeback that kept the Celtics alive and set up two more games that were, at least to Celtics fans, classic examples of the grit and resolve of their team. I wouldn’t want to speculate on how Sixers fans view those three games that they failed to finish.

It Wasn’t Over Until

Larry Bird scored the game seven winner against Philly and introduced himself to the big time with an epic performance that featured three steals in the final five minutes of the game to go along with a game high 23 points, eleven rebounds and five assists.

Tune in tomorrow for the matchup everyone was waiting for: Bird vs. Magic.

Ideas around rebounding in the NBA have changed a lot in recent years.

It used to be far more common in a star player’s profile. Think former Houston Rockets star (?) Charles Barkley. His game was partly predicated on his ability to create easy opportunities in transition, which was partly predicated on his ability to grab boards.

Think Andre Drummond. He was kind of not that good at a lot of basketball stuff, but he was among the best rebounders in NBA history, and that was enough for him to earn an All-NBA nod.

That type of star doesn’t exist anymore.

Go look at the NBA’s rebounds per game leaders. Perhaps Nikola Jokic fits the Barkley archetype, but if anyone wanted to call him the “Round Mound of Rebound”, it would be weird. The Massive King of Passing would be more appropriate.

Otherwise, the list is littered with guys who you’d just expect to get rebounds. Nobody really sticks out – it’s just a bunch of guys grabbing 10ish rebounds per game because that’s their function. It’s less that they’re the league’s best rebounders, and more that the league’s best rebounders often don’t have enough ancillary skills to keep themselves on the floor.

Enter Oscar Tshiebwe.

Rockets build on identity with Tshiebwe signing

Rebounding from individual players has been devalued, but for a while, even team rebounding had lost some luster. Teams were largely opting to pass on even attempting to corral offensive boards in favor of defending transition.

Not the Rockets.

Their 38.8 Offensive Rebounding % in 2025-26 led the league by a country mile. Their overall 54.9 Rebounding % was league-best as well.

So why not add the best rebounder in G-League history?

Tshiebwe’s robust 19.0 rebounds per game in 2024-25 were the best mark ever recorded. This man can collect a board.

He’s only 6’8″, but he’s 255 pounds of pure granite. His 7’3″ wingspan is also helpful. Tshiebwe is not afraid to throw his weight around, and few players can outmuscle him.

So what should the Rockets expect from him?

Tshiebwe can find a role with the Rockets

Rebounds!

Jokes aside: Clint Capela wasn’t great last year. It was fun to see him back with the organization, and he wasn’t…awful…but the Rockets should be in the market for a better third-string, “break in case of Steven Adams-related emergency” backup big.

Tshiebwe has a chance to be that guy. At his size, his lateral quickness is subpar. He can be a defensive liability, although securing the glass is part of defense too, and Tshiebwe is one of the best in the NBA on that front.

That’s one thing that has always mattered.

The Utah Jazz have had an incredible offseason by all accounts. Whether it was the luck of winning the lottery and getting Darryn Peterson with the second pick, or getting an incredible haul for Walker Kessler in a trade that took advantage of a desperate Lakers squad. With the recent ownership drama with the Lakers, it’s feeling like a better trade every single day. It’s starting to feel like the Jazz were not only taking advantage of Luka Doncic wanting them to trade for Kessler, but likely ownership trying to set the team up long-term for the massive sale as well.

It looks like the Jazz are not done as well. According to Tim MacMahon, the Jazz will be looking to fill the void left by Walker Kessler leaving.

From MacMahon:

Finding a long-term solution at center will be a priority for the front office, but it will probably require some patience. The Jazz will keep an eye on the trade market, and at some point, they’ll likely use some of the draft capital acquired in the Kessler sign-and-trade to target his replacement

Losing Kessler will obviously cost the Jazz some wins in the short term, but Utah can then find a replacement that fits better with their roster. At some point this season, Utah may find an opportunity to find a “long-term” solution. There could be a team out there that needs to offload assets and Utah will have the ability to take advantage. The biggest weapon for Utah is that they don’t have to rush things. Not being under pressure will allow them to wait for the best possible option.

It’s been a frustrating off-season for the Cleveland Cavaliers — or perhaps it was. They lost starting small forward Dean Wade in free agency to the Philadelphia 76ers, and then waited nearly a month for LeBron James to follow him there.

While the rest of the Eastern Conference was improving, the Cavs were mostly sitting idle. That changed this past week as Cleveland sent Dennis Schroder to the Charlotte Hornets to free up cap space, and then traded Max Strus, an unprotected 2031 first-round pick, and a second-rounder for Peyton Watson and Cam Whitmore.

After a month and a half of waiting, the Cavs have finally made their big move — one that could vault them back into the title conversation.

First, we’ll start with what the Cavs gave up.

The 2031 first-rounder is valuable both as a trade chip and as a useable asset.

The lottery reform starting next season doesn’t reward tanking as it has for the past several decades. Instead, simply missing the playoffs — as long as you weren’t a play-in team — gives you a better chance of landing the first overall pick than having the worst record in the league. Additionally, all lottery picks will be drawn instead of just the top four. We don’t know where the Cavs will be in 2031, but there’s a chance that could be a valuable top-five pick even if they don’t bottom out.

More than that, there’s an opportunity cost with this move. The 2031 pick was the first one they could trade away, considering the 2027 and 2029 picks are still owed to the Utah Jazz from the Donovan Mitchell trade. Now, the only first the Cavs can move for the next two seasons is their 2033 selection. And considering how far into the future that is, and how their team is aging, it’d be unwise to do so. That 2031 first was essentially the last first-rounder Cleveland could trade away to help boost this core.

There’s an on-court cost to this as well.

Losing Strus will hurt. His shooting and ability to play with and without the ball opened up the offense.

There’s more to spacing than just raw shooting ability. Strus knows when to cut, when to come off screens, and when to act as a decoy. That intuition — even more than the shot — is what made him so valuable to Cleveland’s offense alongside his ability to run second-side actions as a ball handler. Those are things the Cavs will desperately miss.

That said, Strus wasn’t necessarily an ideal fit for this team due to his size and contract.

At 6’5”, he didn’t have the necessary height and strength to cover larger opposing wings. That wouldn’t necessarily be an issue on most teams, but it was in Cleveland.

The Cavs have long had too many shooting guards and not enough small forwards or point guards. Strus is squarely a shooting guard. His expiring $16.6 million deal is $7.5 million more than Sam Merrill’s, who largely fills the same role on offense. For those reasons, moving Strus makes sense. Whether Watson was the player to trade him for remains to be seen.

Both iterations of Cleveland’s core four have desperately needed a wing to connect the dynamic backcourt and two-center frontcourt. De’Andre Hunter was thought to be the answer in 2025, but came up short, resulting in him being dealt before the last trade deadline. Watson fits that same archetype, but there’s reasons to be hopeful that he’ll succeed where Hunter didn’t.

Watson has shown to be an incredibly efficient outside shooter. He connected on 41% of his three-point looks last season, putting him in the 84th percentile for wings. This included knocking down 52% of his outside looks from the corner (97th percentile).

That skill set should be useful on a Cavaliers team that we assume will rely heavily on high pick-and-rolls. Having someone who is that efficient from the corner should keep opposing defenses honest, opening up room to attack the basket.

Despite the impressive shooting efficiency, Watson isn’t the high-volume three-point shooter someone like Strus is. Watson took just 3.6 outside shots per game last season, landing him in the 9th percentile for three-point volume from a wing. For context, that was less than half a shot more than Evan Mobley attempted last season (3.2), which isn’t ideal.

There are legitimate questions about what kind of offensive player Watson is outside of his three-point shot.

Watson mostly relied on his teammates — mainly Nikola Jokic — to create clean looks for him as a scorer. Nearly three-fourths of his field-goal makes were assisted. That suggests that he is comfortable fitting into an offense, but also isn’t a shot creator.

Creating for others isn’t exactly his specialty either. Watson was in the 11th percentile in assist-to-usage rate (0.48), 35th percentile in assist percentage (9.4%), and in the 30th percentile for turnover rate (13.1%) last season. While there are signs that point to Watson growing into a more well-rounded scorer — mainly his impressive free-throw rate — there isn’t much to suggest that he has untapped potential here.

Not being a proven offensive initiator is a concern. Shooting and playmaking are shortcomings for any lineup that includes two traditional centers. Watson fills one of those holes, but the playmaking responsibility will still be primarily on the guards. The ideal starting small forward for this group would be one that could provide a bit of both.

Defensively is where Watson fits best. He offers the size, strength, and athleticism that should pair well with Jarrett Allen and Mobley.

Watson is 6’8” and plays defense like he is. He’s a good rebounder for his position, can comfortably switch one through four, and has been in the 98th to 100th percentile for block percentage throughout his career.

Those defensive skills allowed him to split his time between the three and four last year. This makes him the ideal Wade replacement as he’s perfectly suited to slot into the starting lineup at small forward, and shift up to power forward when either Allen or Mobley are out of the game. This is what differentiates him most from Hunter, who struggled defensively and wasn’t an ideal option at power forward.

The Cavs were never going to find the perfect starting three for this group without ginoving up a member of the core four. As such, any move that they made would need to be a gamble of some kind.

You can quibble about Watson’s fit with this group. There’s certainly reasons to be skeptical, and he most certainly isn’t an A+ match. But considering the cap space and draft capital the Cavs had available, you’d be hard-pressed to do better.

Watson is the perfect type of player to roll the dice on. He has the size, athleticism, and shooting that this group desperately needs. And he also has upside to grow into a more complete offensive player. Whether or not he does will determine if Watson is a long-term solution at small forward.

Koby Altman came into this summer with his hands tied behind his back considering the cap situation. Not only has he gotten the Cavs under the first apron, but he’s also addressed one of the team’s biggest weaknesses. We’ll see if it’s enough to make the Cavs true title contenders. At the very least, they’re in a far better position now than they were at the start of the offseason.

Grade: A-

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Jonathan Kuminga landing with the Los Angeles Lakers seems inevitable at this point.

On Tuesday, it appeared Kuminga had three suitors remaining in his free-agent sweepstakes: the Minnesota Timberwolves, Cleveland Cavaliers and the Lakers.

And on Wednesday, the Cavaliers seemingly took themselves out of contention by instead acquiring Peyton Watson in a three-team trade with the Los Angeles Clippers and Denver Nuggets.

The Lakers have always been the most logical fit for Kuminga, but the two parties haven’t been able to reach an agreement all summer long. The Lakers initially offered the forward a deal for around $10 million annually under the framing that he’d be starting alongside Luka Doncic in Hollywood.

But Kuminga and his camp wanted double that amount, which has since created an ongoing stalemate between the 23-year-old and the Lakers.

Another possible outcome is a sign-and-trade with the Atlanta Hawks to bring Kuminga to LA.

There’s even a chance the Lakers acquire Kuminga on a cheaper deal because the other contender in the mix, Minnesota, can only offer him a $6 million taxpayer mid-exception.

The forward has spent a majority of the summer weighing his options, and now one of Kuminga’s best alternatives in the Cavaliers pivoted and landed Watson.

The Lakers still need a versatile wing defender.

A few days into free agency, general manager Rob Pelinka had already spent a majority of the team’s cap space on free agent additions like Walker Kessler, Sandro Mamukelashvili, Collin Sexton and Quentin Grimes.

That left the Lakers with little money to spend on a backup center and a versatile wing defender.

The Lakers already took care of the former by signing Kevon Looney, but the squad is still missing a key piece of its roster with less than two weeks before September.

Kuminga would solve that problem for the Lakers, and it’s clear his market is quickly shrinking.

The Peyton Watson saga has reached its conclusion.

The Denver Nuggets are trading the 23-year-old wing to the Cleveland Cavaliers in a multi-team deal that sends Max Strus to the Los Angeles Clippers, and a 2031 Cleveland first-round pick and 2032 Kings second-rounder back to Denver, two people with direct knowledge of the transaction confirmed to USA TODAY Sports.

The people spoke under the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss terms of the deal.

Watson, a restricted free agent, will sign a four-year, $88 million contract with the Cavs.

The Clippers are also sending a 2027 second-round pick to Cleveland, acquiring Strus via a trade exception. The Cavaliers are then flipping that second rounder and Tre Mann, who they acquired via trade last week for Dennis Schröder, to the Washington Wizards for Cam Whitmore while Julian Reese heads to the Nuggets. The Schröder deal will also be part of this transaction, per ESPN.

Watson is coming off a breakout season in 2024-25 in which he started 40 games in the prolonged absences of Nikola Jokic and Aaron Gordon. Already known for his defense, the Long Beach Poly High School alum emerged as a versatile, athletic wing on the offensive end of the floor as he averaged 14.6 points, shooting 49.1% from the floor and 41.1% from long range, 4.9 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 0.9 steals − all career-highs − and 1.1 blocks per game.

The trade puts an end to months of speculation regarding Watson's future with the Nuggets as he was heavily linked to teams with cap space in need of length and athleticism, such as the Clippers, Los Angeles Lakers, Milwaukee Bucks and Portland Trail Blazers, among others.

Contributing: Lorenzo Reyes

Peyton Watson trade details

• Cavaliers get: Peyton Watson, Cam Whitmore
• Clippers get: Max Strus
• Nuggets get: 2031 first-rounder, 2032 second-rounder, Julian Reese
• Wizards get: Tre Mann, 2027 second-rounder
• Hornets get: Dennis Schröder

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Peyton Watson traded to Cavaliers in deal that includes Nuggets, Clippers, Wizards