Tonight's Coast 2 Coast Tuesday NBA action tips off with a San Antonio Spurs vs Houston Rockets showdown at 8:00 PM ET, followed by a matchup between the LA Lakers vs Denver Nuggets at 10:00 PM. Live coverage begins at 7:00 PM on NBC and Peacock. See below for additional information on how to watch both games and follow all of the NBA action on NBCSN and Peacock. Peacock will feature 100 regular-season games throughout the course of the 2025-2026 season.
The Lakers are coming off a 110-93 victory over the Toronto Raptors on Sunday night. Luka Doncic finished with 25 points and 7 assists, while LeBron James had 24 points and 7 assists. The duo has carried the team in the absence of Austin Reaves, who has missed 15 of the team's last 17 games with a calf injury.
Doncic, who is in his first full season with the Lakers, leads the league in scoring with an average of 33.3 points per game.
The Denver Nuggets fell 110-87 to the Charlotte Hornets on Sunday, snapping the team's four-game win streak. Jamal Murray led the Nuggets with 16 points in the loss. The veteran guard has remained a key contributor for the Nuggets, who have been without three-time MVP Nikola Jokic since he suffered a hyperextended knee and bone bruise on December 29.
Murray is on pace to average career highs in scoring (25.9 ppg), assists (7.3
apg), rebounds (4.4 rpg), field-goal percentage (49.0%), and three-point percentage (44.7%) this season.
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The Mavericks were 3-1 this past week and moved to 12th place in the West, but are just two games back of 10th. They lost to Denver (118-109) before beating Utah twice (144-122, 138-120) and then traveled to New York, where they dismantled the Knicks (114-97). Max Christie led the team in scoring this with 24 points per game. P.J. Washington and Daniel Gafford played in just one of the four games due to ankle injuries and personal reasons. Cooper Flagg missed two games with an ankle sprain as well, while Max Christie missed two with an illness. Kyrie Irving (knee) and Anthony Davis (finger) remain out.
Grade: A-
The Mavericks had a good week! They lost to a Denver team that got its key pieces (other than Nikola Jokic) back recently, but ran the table after that. Both wins against Utah came in bizarre blowouts, where the Jazz looked like they didn’t care about hiding their attempt to tank. Then, with whiffs of January 25th, 2010, Dallas blew the Knicks out of the water in one of the most shocking wins in recent memory. It was a double-digit spread in the Knicks’ favor, but the game was over by halftime. Max Christie hit six threes in the first half, leading the Mavericks to 75 points and a 28-point halftime lead. It was never close, and the Knicks looked helpless against a Dallas team that had Dwight Powell and Moussa Cisse as its only two available centers.
Naji Marshall continues to be incredible. He averaged 20.3 points and 4.3 assists this week and did not cool off, shooting 54.2 percent from the field. Brandon Williams played marvelously, scoring 16.5 points a night in electrifying fashion. A lot of guys, including Dwight Powell, stepped up with regular starters out of the lineup. With games against the Warriors, Lakers, and Bucks this upcoming week, it was good to gain momentum before the schedule toughens up.
Straight A’s: Jason Kidd
As much as Jason Kidd frustrates fans to no end with his experimental style, the one thing you cannot take away from him is his ability to get guys to play hard. The Mavericks started four different starting lineups in as many games and won their last three by an average of 19 points. Caleb Martin, who averaged less than three points in 47 games for Dallas before this week, looked serviceable in a starting role and even scored 14 points against Utah. The 144 points last Thursday against the Jazz were the 10th most points in franchise history, and they did it with no Cooper Flagg and 10 different guys playing 20-plus minutes. Hell, they signed Jeremiah Robinson-Earl the day of that game, and got 55 solid minutes from him in three subsequent appearances. Dallas’ goal of pairing Flagg with a top-five pick in this upcoming draft is in jeopardy, simply because this team will not lie down while Kidd is at the helm.
Currently Failing: Jaden Hardy
Unfortunately, it is so over for Jaden Hardy. In three blowout wins this week against Utah and New York, games in which the Mavericks won by 22, 18, and 17 points, Hardy was a team-worst minus-13 and shot 37.9 percent from the floor. He has not played much this season, but with opportunity presenting itself via the injury bug, he completely dropped the ball. Hardy was given the starting nod in chapter one of the series against Utah, and the fact that he did not start the second installment while playing just 17 minutes total in that game should tell you everything you need to know. The following two-minute appearance against the Knicks seems to signal that Kidd is done with the fourth-year guard. I don’t blame him; I have had enough of watching him.
Extra Credit: Klay Thompson
Klay Thompson shooting the ball is a beautiful thing. The beauty increases tenfold when the shots go in, and did they ever this week. Thompson hit 18 of his 38 threes (47.4 percent) and 25 of his 50 shots (50 percent). He went nuclear in the first half of the Saturday matinee against the Jazz, scoring all 23 of his points in just 14 minutes. At times, Thompson plays like he is on his way out of the league. But he still has stretches of greatness in him, and it is a magical thing to witness when it happens.
The All-Star break is creeping up, with the league’s best and brightest set to descend on Southern California and the Intuit Dome on February 15. As for the format, your guess is as good as mine. Something involving USA versus the World, or some other experimental twist the league cooked up in a boardroom. The details are still fuzzy for me, which somehow feels very on brand for the event at this point.
What was not surprising at all was the list of starters. Devin Booker was not on it. When the league made things official yesterday, his name was nowhere to be found.
Devin Booker finish in 2026 NBA West All-Star starter vote (50% fans, 25% current players, 25% media).
9th players, 12th media, 16th fans.
Top 5 West starters. NBA head coaches pick reserves.
NBC/Peacock announce reserves Feb. 1 at 4 p.m. MT before Sunday Night Basketball… pic.twitter.com/F49IR7mp0J
Booker is not the type of player who racks up a massive fan vote by bouncing from franchise to franchise. You can be annoyed that he pulled in only 418,652 fan votes, sure. If everyone in the greater Phoenix area, roughly 5.19 million people, clicked his name one time, he would have walked in as a starter. That is not how this works, and I am fine with that.
I do not ever expect him to be voted in as a starter. Not in a conference loaded with former MVPs and international stars who carry the weight of entire countries behind them. We have seen this movie before. The Yao Ming years taught us that lesson loud and clear. If you are an international player, the fan vote is going to lean your way.
To the league’s credit, they have tried to balance the popularity contest. Starters are now decided by 50% fan vote, 25% player vote, and 25% media vote. It helps. It does not change the reality. Booker has never been about the pageantry. He has always been about the work.
And that is where this conversation gets interesting.
Booker finished 16th in fan voting in the West, but 9th in player vote and 12th with the media. That tells you a lot. For one, this is a brutal field. The Western Conference is stacked, and sorting through fringe All-Stars is not an easy job for anyone. Devin Booker lives right in that space this season.
I still believe he should represent the Suns. The All-Star Game is not only about raw numbers. It is about stories. About freezing a season in time and remembering what mattered when you look back years later. And the Suns are one of the best stories in the league. Full stop.
That said, this is not a classic Devin Booker statistical year. We have covered that ground. His value shows up in the margins, in how he impacts winning beyond the box score. But when you stack that against other fringe cases, like Jamal Murray doing what he is doing in Denver, especially without Jokic, it becomes a real debate. Not disrespectful. Not dismissive. Just complicated.
The player vote is the part that really jumps out to me. It is the reminder that your favorite player’s favorite player is Devin Booker. He is a hooper’s hooper. The guys who actually play this game respect what he does and how he goes about it. That is why he landed 9th in the Western Conference among players.
Now we wait for the rest of the picture. The All-Star reserves will be revealed at 4 p.m. Arizona time on February 1, with the remainder of the roster announced on NBC and Peacock. That is when we find out whether Booker gets his spot.
And for anyone keeping score at home, Dillon Brooks finished 21st in the player vote and 24th in the fan vote.
If you watched the Kansas City Royals last year, you knew that second base was a problem. Sure, the outfield–held together last year by duck tape, Elmer’s glue, and some gumption–was the biggest problem, but the free agent class of outfielders was rather thin. Acquiring an impact player who played the infield would be easier.
Kansas City was of course connected to (and ended up acquiring) several outfielders, but they were also reported to have been interested in infielders such as CJ Abrams and Brendan Donovan. The pie in the sky perfect fit for the Royals, though, was Bo Bichette. Bichette had hit free agency and had alerted teams that he was comfortable moving to second base. He would cost a lot of money, but a combination of injury history and a lower ceiling limited the average annual value (AAV) that he’d command to some extent.
Or so we all thought, because Bichette signed three years and $126 million, a whopping $42 million a year, from the New York Mets.
This happened just days after the Los Angeles Dodgers punched the hornet’s nest again by signing Kyle Tucker to a four-year, $240 million contract. There’s some deferred money because of course there is, but it comes out to a present-day AAV of an eye-watering $57.1 million. That’s not all, folks, because the Dodgers’ luxury tax situation means that they’ll end up paying–sit down if you’re not already–$119.9 million annually for the privilege of having Tucker roam the outfield.
While the Tucker deal is absurd, there’s usually one of those every year. Last year it was Juan Soto. The year before that it was Shohei Ohtani. The year before that it was Aaron Judge. Small market teams simply cannot devote the average of $40 million a year (or more!) it takes to secure the biggest names on the market.
The Bichette types, on the other hand, have been a theoretically obtainable asset, because small market teams can pay $25-$30 million a year for a difference maker. We don’t even have to look to other teams; the traditionally stingy Royals did so to extend Bobby Witt Jr. And at the start of free agency, Bichette was projected to be in that $25-$30 million a year range over six to eight or so seasons. The Phillies ended up offering seven years and $200 million, which Bichette declined. But at $42 million AAV? No matter if it’s for fewer years, that functionally places guys like Bichette outside the possibility for 80% of the league.
Nobody should fault Tucker or Bichette for taking those deals. They’re interesting deals where both players can have their cake and eat it too, because both players will have the ability to test free agency again after their age-30 seasons.
Likewise, nobody should fault the Dodgers or the Mets for doing what they did either, and for the spending sprees that they have done. In fact, more teams should be more like them. The biggest reason why the Dodgers can spend so much money is that they pull in gigantic amounts of revenue. As far as the Mets, well, Steve Cohen is the richest owner in Major League Baseball by a substantial amount, and they also happen to play in, you know, New York City. Both teams spend because they have the money, in other words.
I think you can absolutely blame teams for not spending to their best ability. Some owners are notoriously cheap (cough Pittsburgh cough) and cry poor all the time, hoping that we trust them even though they refuse to open their books. But this doesn’t solve the core problem at hand: that some teams make orders of magnitude more than other teams, and even more equity between the teams does not mean full equity.
To an extent, baseball has always been somewhat like this. But I think this is all building to a head. The Dodgers’ continued dominance has brought out the flaws of a system that does not distribute wealth. Baseball relies on so many players and, unlike football or basketball or hockey, you cannot build an entire team around a star player at a key position. What should be happening is that the turnaround time for down-on-their-luck teams should be short, and that anybody can win the championship.
That is not the case. MLB has become a pay-to-play league; over the last decade of the World Series, the median participant–median, mind you–had the fifth-highest payroll of their season. A full 80% of participants ranked in the top 10 of payroll. Nobody in the bottom third of MLB payroll has won a World Series since the Florida Marlins in 2003.
Yes, an unremarkable squad can go on a cheeky little run and maybe play in a league championship series. Yes, small market or cheap teams can knock off large market, big-pocketed teams in the postseason. Yes, you can make the playoffs on a shoestring budget.
But I don’t think it’s very interesting that teams with lots of money are the ones snapping up all the best free agents and are the ones duking it out to hoist the Commissioner’s Trophy. I think it’s stunting the growth of the league when there are only so many landing spots for the big players. And if players like Bichette and Tucker are going to take shorter deals to take them even further from the realm of possibility for even middle class teams, well, it sure seems that we’re tumbling forward into a work stoppage that, while unfortunate, might just need to happen to land on a solution that’s not the status quo.
In this edition of our birthday series, we take a look at a player who reached the top of his abilities in his very first chance in the big leagues, never to reach that mark again. Kevin Maas was a late draft pick for the Yankees in the mid-’80s, and found his way to the Bronx by unfortunate circumstances. Despite that, he took full advantage of the situation and shined brightly for a brief period.
Maas’ career was not ultimately that long or historically significant with the Yankees, but he was still able to make his mark. Particularly true when considering that he provided some excitement in a stale point on the Yankee timeline.
Kevin Maas Born: January 20, 1965 (Castro Valley, CA) Yankees Tenure: 1990-93
In the 22nd round of the 1986 amateur draft, the Yankees selected Kevin Maas, out of the University of California. From the beginning, the 6-foot-3 left-hander impressed at the professional level. He first appeared at low-A in ‘86, and slowly worked his way through the Yankees system through the late ‘80s.
Come 1990, the Yankees didn’t have a whole lot of things break their way. But, if anything could be counted on, it was their star first baseman Don Mattingly. But even he couldn’t help things in the Bronx, as the injury bug began to bite for the first time in his career, and the lefty experienced his first real down season. He was banged up for most of the year, and when he did play, his power at the plate had all but disappeared. Luckily for New York, Maas provided a major spark as a rookie.
After a solid start in the minors, the 25-year-old first baseman was called up in late June of that season and hit the ground running. The lefty notched his first hit in his big league debut, and swatted his first home run just a few days later. The rest of the campaign would be a dream for the rookie. The first homer was just a taste of what would come, as Maas and the right field seats became very familiar with one another.
That season, despite appearing in just 79 games, Maas belted 21 homers and hit to the tune of a 150 wRC+. He would set some rookie records, including the fastest rookie (by plate appearances) to get to 10 home runs (a record that has since been broken by a couple other Yankees in Shane Spencer and Gary Sánchez). Despite standing in for the face of the franchise, Maas made a memorable first impression, and it would be hard not to give the rising star an opportunity going forward.
Maas was given just that for the 1991 season, as he appeared in 148 games and racked up nearly 600 plate appearances. Unfortunately for him and the Yanks, he did not reach nearly the same level of success. He did set a new career-high with 23 homers, but did so as a roughly league-average bat, seeing drops in nearly every category as he slashed just .220/.333/.390. Coming off of his electric, albeit brief rookie campaign, Maas was largely disappointing in his sophomore effort. Fairly or not, that would be his last shot at regular plate appearances with the Yankees or elsewhere around the majors.
Between the 1992 and ‘93 seasons, Maas never played more than 98 games, playing roughly a full season in total during that stretch. Once again, the lefty hit 20 home runs in those 158 games, as a league-average bat (98 OPS+). Not that production of this level is necessarily bad, but as a first baseman, and one that is behind the team’s captain on the depth chart, it is not enough to justify regular time on the field.
Maas was released by the Yankees just before the 1994 season, and would take until 1995 to make his way back to the major leagues. He did so with the Twins, in an underwhelming 22 games worth of baseball. It was easily the lowest point of his career in the bigs, as he slashed just .193/.281/.316, and at 30 years old, that was the end of the road for Maas in The Show.
Just five years after Kevin Maas burst on to the scene as an electric replacement for the injured Mattingly, his time on a big league field had come to an end. He came up relatively late, and was unable to repeat his rookie performance — and at a premium offensive position, his time was limited. With that being said, he contributed an exhilarating rookie campaign, as few storylines are as exciting, and Maas provided just that in a particularly grim time for the Yankees.
There is always something to be said for any Major League Baseball career, and that of Maas had moments of real potential and excitement, a real accomplishment on its own.
See more of the “Yankees Birthday of the Day” series here.
Going into the 2025 season, left-handed starting prospect Gabriel Reyes was one of my picks for an unheralded prospect to break out. As it turned out, the stuff was willing, but the body and the command were not. Reyes spun his wheels at Single-A Lakeland despite good results, and now he’ll head into his age 22 season in real need of a big season that will carry him to the upper minors.
The Dominican born Reyes signed with the Tigers back in the 2020 international signing period. He immediately tore the DSL up with five dominant short starts and then came stateside at 18 to pitch in the Complex League in 2021 and 2022. Injury trouble cost him the 2023 season, but he moved up to Single-A Lakeland in 2024 and showed off dominant stuff and good control for a young southpaw. He punched out 33.9 percent of the hitters he faced across 11 starts. His only blemish was such aggressive strike throwing that he occasionally left a few meatballs over the heart of the plate that got whacked.
So we were excited for his 2025 campaign. It just didn’t pan out well. First, Reyes reportedly came to camp in sub-optimal shape. The Tigers held him back for a few weeks before turning him loose again for the Lakeland Flying Tigers. Reyes had a good year on paper. He made 16 starts, got more ground balls and cut down the home runs, producing a stellar 2.40 ERA. His walks ticked up, but for a young pitcher he still shows a very good ratio of strikes thrown. And yet the Tigers never decided to promote him to West Michigan. The problem was more erratic pure stuff than he showed in 2024, and it showed as his strikeout rate dipped to 22.5 percent. They may also just have wanted to keep working with him at their main camp to make sure he was 100 percent ready for the move out into the farm system.
Reyes stands 6’1” and while he appears pretty strong and athletic for his size, he has a pretty reedy frame with an official weight of 170 pounds. He’s added some muscle in the past two years, and while he may get a little stronger he’s pretty close to maxed out physically.
The big calling card is a slider with a lot of sweep that is a plus pitch much of the time. He really turns the slider over and is quite adept at burying it on right-handed hitters’ back foot. At the Single-A level he can also pour it into the zone with impunity as long as he doesn’t leave too many above the belt, and he will get a lot of called strikes with it.
The fourseam fastball has a cruising speed of 92-93 mph and Reyes can run it up to 95 mph when he wants it. He’s a short-armer who doesn’t get a big stride, so the velocity plays down maybe a half a mile per hour, but the funk counterbalances that factor. When he’s up in the 94-95 mph band it’s at least an average fastball, which argues for an eventual move to the bullpen if he can’t ultimately build up to sustaining that velocity. He’s also developing a solid changeup but that pitch is still pretty hit or miss for him in terms of command.
Reyes has some funk, as he throws out of a low three-quarters arm slot, but his stuff doesn’t move the way hitters expect from that slot. Simply put, he has the arm slot of a guy that would usually pronate more and produce a lot of tailing action on the fastball and changeup. Instead it’s a true fourseamer that throws hitters off by defying the look of his release and sinking more than moving horizontally. He has started mixing in some actual sinkers with more tailing action as a change of pace to both right and left-handed hitters, but the fourseam is still accounting for about three-quarters of all fastballs thrown.
All told, Reyes looks like a potentially good lefty reliever. A lot would have to go right for him to reach the majors as a starter and I doubt he’ll get much more leash in that role. His size and delivery scream reliever. Presumably if there isn’t a big breakout this year the team will convert him and try to fastrack his move into the upper minors. He’ll be 23 next summer and it’s time to get a move on and conquer the High-A level this year. Expect him to start with the Whitecaps, and the Tigers will decide to adjust based on how he progresses by the end of the year.
Here’s a look at his six inning, 9 strikeout performance from back on August 17.
After the Mets lost out on Kyle Tucker, with the outfielder signing a mammoth contract with the Dodgers, the main question was where would the Mets turn next? The Mets, through trades and free agency, lost many lineup mainstays, and while they still had Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto, they were looking for another major addition to their offense. And with Tucker off the board, their options became that much more limited.
Turns out, that question did not go unanswered for long. Less than 24 hours after missing on Kyle Tucker the Mets signed free agent infielder Bo Bichette for a three year contract worth $126 million. And while there are opt-outs that could lead to an early exit from Queens, the fact of the matter is that, at least for 2026, Bo Bichette will be a New York Met.
Bo Bichette has spent the entirety of his career playing for the Toronto Blue Jays. He was drafted in the second round of the 2016 MLB draft, and made his debut in July of 2019, forming a formidable homegrown duo with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. In his seven seasons in Toronto, he hit .294/.337/.469 with 111 home runs, 437 runs batted in, and a career 122 wRC+. He accumulated 20 fWAR in his time in Toronto.
In his last season in Toronto Bichette hit .311/.357/.483, hitting 18 home runs and driving in 94 runs. He had a 134 wRC+, his second-best career mark, just after his abbreviated 2019 after his call-up. He accumulated 3.8 fWAR, which was short of what he probably could’ve gotten given a late season knee sprain that cost him the final month of the season and most of the playoffs. He was able to make a miraculous return in time for the World Series, where he had an incredible showing. In seven games he hit .348/.444/.478, with one home run and six runs batted in, adding up to an incredible 165 wRC+.
Now before last season’s excellence, he had the worst campaign of his career in 2024. He hit an abysmal .225/.277/.322 in 81 games, with just four home runs and 31 runs batted in. He was 30% worse than league average with a 70 wRC+, and was worth just 0.3 fWAR. But he also had two separate stints on the injured list that year, including one that cost him multiple months of the season, so he might not have been able to get his footing underneath him with all the injury issues.
He’s not a flawless player. He has never been a player who draws a lot of walks, with a career BB% of 5.7%, and last year had the second highest mark of his career with 6.4%. Over his seven seasons he’s struck out 19.4% of the time, though last season he brought that down to a career low 14.5%. And he’s getting progressively slower each year, only being in the 21st percentile of sprint speed last season.
He’s also never been a great fielder. He’s spent almost his entire career at short with the exception of last year’s World Series when he played second base. His high marks as a fielder were in 2020 and 2024, when he was worth 1 OAA in both seasons (both abbreviated seasons for Bichette as well). Last season he was worth -13 OAA, with all his games at shortstop.
But now he’s going to be playing third base, with Lindor to his left. And his major issue has been his range, not his arm, since he’s had a 0 run value for his arm over his career (which is better than the extreme negative of his range). So if he has to focus less on covering a ton of ground and has Lindor to help him (and Marcus Semien to help cover up the other side of Lindor), he might just be alright at his new position.
After missing out on Kyle Tucker, the Mets quickly pivoted and brought in Bichette to play third and help solidify their lineup. While on paper he’s yet another middle infielder on a team chock full of them, his impending move to third makes the team more flexible and stronger at the plate. There are some concerns to be had about his defense and potential to turn out a clunker of a season, money’s on Bichette being a welcome addition to a Mets team looking for a new identity in the wake of the dismantling of their core.
The tippy top of these lists are very outfield heavy, with Josue De Paula, Zyhir Hope, Eduardo Quintero, and Mike Sirota dominating the top four spots. De Paula and Hope were all over top-100 prospects lists MLB-wide last year and will be again this year. We’ll dive more into MLB top-100 lists later this week as those begin to drop.
Baseball Prospectus and FanGraphs each had De Paula the top Dodgers prospect followed by Hope and Quintero, in that order. Baseball America went with Quintero at the top followed by De Paula, Sirota, then Hope as their top four.
“Ultimately I found Quintero to be the most well-rounded player, and the most likely to stick in center field,” Josh Norris said on a Baseball America podcast last week. “Mike Sirota had the injury that he had, and I want to see what he looks like when he comes back.”
“He’s a guy who’s going to shoot up these rankings because of the swing, potential for growth in the swing, potential for growth in the body, the all-around skillset,” Norris said of Quintero. “He doesn’t have a 70 on the card [on the 20-80 scouting scale] like some of the other guys, but he’s got a lot of 55s and doesn’t have any 40s either.”
In addition to those top-four outfielders, three more prospects were ranked in the top 10 of the Dodgers system by all three of Baseball America, Baseball Prospectus, and FanGraphs — shortstop Emil Morales, who ended last season in Class-A Rancho Cucamonga and turned 19 in September; infielder Alex Freeland, who made his major league debut with Los Angeles in 2025; and outfielder Charles Davalan, who was drafted out of Arkansas in July with the No. 41-overall pick, which was also acquired in the Lux trade.
In all, a total of 17 prospects were ranked in the top 10 of the Dodgers system in at least one of these lists.
The Chicago Bulls will welcome the red-hot Los Angeles Clippers to the United Center tonight, who have won six straight games.
James Harden's playmaking is at a high level, but my Clippers vs Bulls predictions are eyeing Chicago’s defense to keep him in check.
Read more in my NBA picks for Tuesday, January 20.
Clippers vs Bulls prediction
Clippers vs Bulls best bet: James Harden Under 8.5 assists (+102)
Los Angeles Clippers veteran James Harden is showing shades of his old self this season, posting averages of 26.1 points, 8.1 assists, and 4.8 rebounds. While he has cashed the Over in dimes in three of his last four, the Chicago Bulls do a good job of containing opposing guards from facilitating the rock.
Chicago is allowing fewer than eight assists per contest to point guards and shooting guards. Harden is also averaging just 7.3 dimes on the road, compared to 8.9 at home, and he’s finished Under 8.5 assists in two of his last three away appearances.
The Beard always makes an impact as a passer, but Chicago will contain his ability to drop dimes here.
Clippers vs Bulls same-game parlay
Coby White is averaging 18.1 PPG as one of the Bulls’ go-to options. The former UNC standout has played worse at home, though, averaging 16.4 points compared to 20.1 on the road.
White has cashed the Under in points in four of his previous five appearances at the United Center, and the Clippers are flourishing as a whole at the moment.
Los Angeles heads into this contest as a +140 underdog on the moneyline, which screams value. The Clips haven’t lost since January 7, and four of their six victories during this unbeaten run have been on the road.
Clippers vs Bulls SGP
James Harden Under 8.5 assists
Coby White Under 18.5 points
Clippers moneyline
Our "from downtown" SGP: Vooch Struggles From Deep
Nikola Vucevic has cashed the Under in converted triples in four of his last five games
The Clippers have hit the 1H Moneyline in 26 of their last 40 games (+14.40 Units / 23% ROI). Find more NBA betting trends for Clippers vs. Bulls.
How to watch Clippers vs Bulls
Location
United Center, Chicago, IL
Date
Tuesday, January 20, 2026
Tip-off
8:00 p.m. ET
TV
FDSN Southern California, CHSN
Clippers vs Bulls latest injuries
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This article originally appeared on Covers.com, read the full article here
We've reached the midpoint of an NBA season that has been filled with surprises — Detroit and Boston lead the East, San Antonio is second in the West — and also far too many injuries to stars. It's also given us jaw-dropping moments, and not just the ones Victor Wembanyama seems to deliver us on a nightly basis.
The midpoint also means it's time to take stock of the NBA postseason awards. All week long, I will make my picks for some of the NBA's top awards at this point in the season, plus get betting angles from NBC Sports experts. Today: Defensive Player of the Year.
NBA Rookie of the Year: Victor Wembanyama
2. Rudy Gobert 3. Chet Holmgren
Analysis of Defensive Player of the Year race
It's not a question of whether Victor Wembanyama should be the midseason winner of this award, it's whether he should qualify in games played (and if he will qualify for the 65-game threshold at the end of the season). He has missed 14 games this season (and had one game of less than 20 minutes played), if that number gets above 17 he will not qualify under the league's (ridiculous) 65-game rule. That said, with midseason awards this year, I am taking the position that if the player has not yet reached 17 games missed, he qualifies. In Wemby's case, he has said the timing of his return from injury was partially in hopes of qualifying for postseason awards.
Wembanyama's case is easy to make. It's not his 2.6 blocks per game (which leads the league), or the fact he has blocked six 3-pointers already this season (and has 41 blocks at the rim), or the fact the Spurs defense is 8.8 points per 100 possessions better defensively when he is on the court (and his replacement at center when out, Luke Kornett, is a quality defender in his own right, so that number is not artificially inflated), or his incredible rim protection numbers, or even that he is the anchor of the league's third-best defense. None of that. It's simply the Wemby effect when he is on the court — no player makes opponent rethink their decisions and dribble out of the paint, or pull up early and take bad shots, or just alter everything more than Wembanyama. He simply changes the geometry of the court on defense like nobody else.
If Wembanyama does not qualify, I would go with Rudy Gobert for DPOY right now — he has lifted an otherwise unimpressive Timberwolves defense (bottom three in the league when he is off the court) to a top-10 defense when he is on it. His rim protection stats are elite, but more than that, he has been the defensive anchor that has helped the Timberwolves play like a contender for a couple of months. He has been incredibly impactful as a defender. This would be Gobert's fifth DPOY for good reason.
Holmgren deserves credit for being the anchor of the league's best defense and lifting it to a new level this season, but when he is off the court the Thunder are still a top-three defense in the league. Holmgren shouldn't be blamed for being on a good team with a lot of defenders, and he has shown he can do more than drop back and protect the rim, he can switch out and guard on the perimeter when asked. Still, I would have him third in impact behind the two men above him.
There are other names worth mentioning here. Ausar Thompson got serious consideration from me, sort of as the representative of a very good Pistons defense (Isaiah Stewart would be a good representative, too, but might not make the games requirement). The versatile and underrated Bam Adebayo deserves a mention here, he has been fantastic for the No. 3 defense in the league. Derrick White, Amen Thompson, Evan Mobley and Scottie Barnes all deserve a mention here as well.
Betting Defensive Player of Year Race
We reached out to the NBC Sports betting experts for their thoughts on the DPOY race and how they might bet it.
Jay Coucher, NBC Sports Lead Betting Analyst
If Wemby qualifies, he should win the award handily— he is in a tier of his own for defensive impact. If he doesn't qualify, it's likely Chet v Gobert, with the edge going to Chet for making last year's clear #1 defense even better this year.
Drew Dinsick, NBC Sports Betting Analyst
Qualification is the name of the game in this market. The low probability of Wemby qualifying would likely find him the winner. If not Wemby, Chet is the clear most likely choice as the standout of the amazing Thunder defense. The availability of Chet is far from a certainty, however, which would create a black swan event like we had last season for this award. Best guess would be Rudy Gobert taking home his fifth DPOY in that instance but his price at +300 now means you are counting on at least a 25% chance that Chet does not qualify which seems like a reach at this time.
We've reached the midpoint of an NBA season that has been filled with surprises — Detroit and Boston lead the East, San Antonio is second in the West — and also far too many injuries to stars. It's also given us jaw-dropping moments, and not just the ones Victor Wembanyama seems to deliver us on a nightly basis.
The midpoint also means it's time to take stock of the NBA postseason awards. All week long, I will make my picks for some of the NBA's top awards at this point in the season, plus get betting angles from NBC Sports experts. Today: Defensive Player of the Year.
NBA Defensive Player of the Year: Victor Wembanyama
2. Rudy Gobert 3. Chet Holmgren
Analysis of Defensive Player of the Year race
It's not a question of whether Victor Wembanyama should be the midseason winner of this award, it's whether he should qualify in games played (and if he will qualify for the 65-game threshold at the end of the season). He has missed 14 games this season (and had one game of less than 20 minutes played), if that number gets above 17 he will not qualify under the league's (ridiculous) 65-game rule. That said, with midseason awards this year, I am taking the position that if the player has not yet reached 17 games missed, he qualifies. In Wemby's case, he has said the timing of his return from injury was partially in hopes of qualifying for postseason awards.
Wembanyama's case is easy to make. It's not his 2.6 blocks per game (which leads the league), or the fact he has blocked six 3-pointers already this season (and has 41 blocks at the rim), or the fact the Spurs defense is 8.8 points per 100 possessions better defensively when he is on the court (and his replacement at center when out, Luke Kornett, is a quality defender in his own right, so that number is not artificially inflated), or his incredible rim protection numbers, or even that he is the anchor of the league's third-best defense. None of that. It's simply the Wemby effect when he is on the court — no player makes opponent rethink their decisions and dribble out of the paint, or pull up early and take bad shots, or just alter everything more than Wembanyama. He simply changes the geometry of the court on defense like nobody else.
If Wembanyama does not qualify, I would go with Rudy Gobert for DPOY right now — he has lifted an otherwise unimpressive Timberwolves defense (bottom three in the league when he is off the court) to a top-10 defense when he is on it. His rim protection stats are elite, but more than that, he has been the defensive anchor that has helped the Timberwolves play like a contender for a couple of months. He has been incredibly impactful as a defender. This would be Gobert's fifth DPOY for good reason.
Holmgren deserves credit for being the anchor of the league's best defense and lifting it to a new level this season, but when he is off the court the Thunder are still a top-three defense in the league. Holmgren shouldn't be blamed for being on a good team with a lot of defenders, and he has shown he can do more than drop back and protect the rim, he can switch out and guard on the perimeter when asked. Still, I would have him third in impact behind the two men above him.
There are other names worth mentioning here. Ausar Thompson got serious consideration from me, sort of as the representative of a very good Pistons defense (Isaiah Stewart would be a good representative, too, but might not make the games requirement). The versatile and underrated Bam Adebayo deserves a mention here, he has been fantastic for the No. 3 defense in the league. Derrick White, Amen Thompson, Evan Mobley and Scottie Barnes all deserve a mention here as well.
Betting Defensive Player of Year Race
We reached out to the NBC Sports betting experts for their thoughts on the DPOY race and how they might bet it.
Jay Coucher, NBC Sports Lead Betting Analyst
If Wemby qualifies, he should win the award handily— he is in a tier of his own for defensive impact. If he doesn't qualify, it's likely Chet v Gobert, with the edge going to Chet for making last year's clear #1 defense even better this year.
Drew Dinsick, NBC Sports Betting Analyst
Qualification is the name of the game in this market. The low probability of Wemby qualifying would likely find him the winner. If not Wemby, Chet is the clear most likely choice as the standout of the amazing Thunder defense. The availability of Chet is far from a certainty, however, which would create a black swan event like we had last season for this award. Best guess would be Rudy Gobert taking home his fifth DPOY in that instance but his price at +300 now means you are counting on at least a 25% chance that Chet does not qualify which seems like a reach at this time.
The Associated Press national player of the week in men’s college basketball for Week 11 of the season:
David Coit, Maryland
Coit averaged 36.5 points in two games last week, including an XFINITY Center-record 43 points in a 96-73 win over Penn State. The 5-foot-11 guard nicknamed "Diggy" tied a school record with nine 3-pointers and became the first Maryland player since Gene Shue in 1952-53 to have multiple 40-point games in a season.
Coit had 30 points in the first half against the Nittany Lions and became the first Maryland player since Nick Caner-Medley in 2006 to have consecutive 30-point games after scoring 30 in a loss to Southern California. Coit shot 23 of 41 from the field and 13 of 26 from 3-point range in the two games.
Runner-up
Cameron Boozer, Duke. The 6-9 freshman averaged 25.5 points, 13.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.0 steals, while shooting 63.6% from the field in road wins over the ACC's Bay Area schools. Boozer finished with 21 points, 13 rebounds and three assists in No. 5 Duke's 71-56 victory at California. He followed with 30 points, 14 rebounds, four assists, four steals and a blocked shot in an 80-50 win over Stanford.
JT Toppin, No. 12 Texas Tech; John Blackwell, Wisconsin; Eric Pratt, Stony Brook.
Keep an eye on
Delrecco Gillespie, Kent State. The 6-8 forward averaged 8.1 points per game last season, but has become one of the nation's best scorers this year. Gillespie has increased his scoring average to 19.8 points per game this season while grabbing 12.6 rebounds. He had 29 points and 13 rebounds in a win over Toledo last week, then finished with 20 points, 15 rebounds and five assists in a win against Buffalo. Kent State is a game behind No. 25 Miami (Ohio) in the Mid-American Conference and hosts the RedHawks on Tuesday.
With Andruw Jones being the talk of the town with the HOF vote this week, it seems like a perfect time to reflect on notable for players of the Atlanta Braves franchise who had solid careers but could not quite get the votes needed to be enshrined.
The purpose of this exercise is not to argue who should or should not be in, because at the end of the day it is subjective to those members of BBWAA. What we can do is see how these players have faired in comparison to their peers.
It is easy to say “well if player X is in, then this player should be in”. Let’s get away from that line of thinking for a minute and look more at averages. There have been some fun tools to be able to do this over the years. You can find them easily on Baseball Reference.
We could spend an entire article just explaining these measurement tools, but let’s keep it short and sweet. If you want further explanations on the measurements, you can see them here. In a nutshell, black-ink is league leading stats. Gray-ink is similar but accounts for being in the top ten. Both of these are slightly flawed since it is easier to lead a league before the leagues expanded.
There is the Hall of Fame Monitor test that tries to assess how likely a player will get in, with one-hundred being a “good possibility”. Then, there is the Hall of Fame Career Standards Test which another test used by accumulating points based on key stats. The average HOFer is fifty. Another newer test is to look at WAR. Love it or hate it, we can still use it as a piece of the puzzle.
Let’s look at some former Atlanta Braves that did not quite make the cut but had solid careers.
Murphy is likely the first player to come to mind with his two MVP awards, and cemented Braves legacy. Murphy finished his eighteen-year career with a slash of .265/.346/.469 with a 46.5 bWAR and two HRs shy of four hundred.
Looking at the measurement tools we talked about earlier, we see how he measures up to other HOFers.
Black-Ink: thirty-one (average HOFer has twenty-seven)
Gray-Ink: one-hundred-forty-seven (average HOF has one-hundred-forty-four)
HOF Monitor: one-hundred-sixteen (likely HOFer is one hundred)
HOF Standards: thirty-one (average HOFer is fifty)
Murphy is 27th all-time among CFers in bWAR with 46.5. There are nineteen primary CFers in the HOF and they average a career 71.3 WAR.
Murphy was eligible back when players could stay on the ballot for fifteen years and remained on the ballot all fifteen years. His highest percentage was in year fourteen with 23.2 percent. He also has been on the Veterans committee ballot three times but was not elected.
It may be a stretch to put Lofton on this list because he only played the 1997 season with the Braves, but it was a solid season for the Braves in the peak of his career. Lofton played seventeen seasons where he accumulated 68.4 bWAR showing his five-tool presence. His final career slash-line of .299/.372/.423 is impressive. His voting may have been hampered due to lack of power in an age where power was a huge deal. He only hit one-hundred-thirty.
Now to look at how he measures up to other HOFers.
Black-Ink: thirteen (average HOFer has twenty-seven)
Gray-Ink: sixty-two (average HOF has one-hundred-forty-four)
HOF Monitor: ninety-one (likely HOFer is one hundred)
HOF Standards: forty-three (average HOFer is fifty)
Lofton is 10th all-time among CFers in bWAR with 68.4. There are nineteen primary CFers in the HOF and they average a career 71.3 bWAR.
Lofton’s value was not flashy in the time frame he played. Defense was typically put on the backburner by voters. That is not to say he should have been a HOFer, but it is a shame that he fell off the ballot on his first year of eligibility while accumulating the tenth most bWAR as a CFer.
If you don’t remember this name, it is okay. No one on planet earth was alive when he played. He played for Boston way back from 1881 till 1885. Boston would eventually become what is now the Atlanta Braves. Whitney was a two-way player that pitched and played 1B and OF. In only ten seasons he accumulated 56.0 bWAR to include one of the best single seasons of all-time in 1883 where he had a 11.4 bWAR season. For his career he pitched 3496.1 innings with 1571 strikeouts, 2.97 ERA, and a 1.147 WHIP. With the bat he had just over twenty-three-hundred PAs while slashing .261/.313/.375.
His bat alone was not great, but factor in his pitching and was extremely valuable.
Black-Ink pitching: twenty-eight (average HOFer has forty)
Gray-Ink batting: nineteen (average HOF has one-hundred-forty-four)
Gray-Ink pitching: one-hundred-sixty-one (average HOF has one-hundred-eighty-five)
HOF Monitor pitching: one-hundred-eleven (likely HOFer is one hundred)
HOF Standards pitching: thirty-one (average HOFer is fifty)
HOF Standards hitting: six (average HOFer is fifty)
As an SP he is 101stth all-tim in bWAR.
Obviously, he is unique since he was a two-way player so these measurements are not one-for-one. That being said, it is a bit puzzling that he did not get more HOF love. He was an early player, so this was well before the voting process we know today. He was never on a ballot.
Evans was one of the more underrated players in Braves history. In his twenty-one-year career he spent nine seasons in Atlanta. For his career he had a slash line of .248/.361/.431 while accumulating 58.7 bWAR along with four-hundred-fourteen HRs.
He clearly did not win over voters due to his low batting average, but he did have a solid career. Here is how the two-time all-start stacks up.
Black-Ink: eight (average HOFer has twenty-seven)
Gray-Ink: eighty-two (average HOF has one-hundred-forty-four)
HOF Monitor: forty-two (likely HOFer is one hundred)
HOF Standards: forty (average HOFer is fifty)
He is 22nd all-time among 3B in bWAR with 58.7. There are eighteen primary 3B in the HOF and they average a career 68.9 bWAR.
He fell off the ballot in the first year he was eligible with 1.7 percent of ballots.
Alright, so technically Torre is in the HOF, but not as a player. Torre could be argued to be the best catcher the Braves have ever had while 33.3 of his career 57.7 career bWAR and with the franchise. That being said, He did play some 1B with them as well but was primarily a catcher at this time with the franchise.
Torre finished his career with slash of .297/.365/.452 with two-hundred-fifty-two HRs. He stacked up as a solid career while comparing him to his peers.
Black-Ink: twelve (average HOFer has twenty-seven)
Gray-Ink: seventy-one (average HOF has one-hundred-forty-four)
HOF Monitor: ninety-six (likely HOFer is one hundred)
HOF Standards: forty (average HOFer is fifty)
He is 26th all-time among 1B in bWAR with 57.6. There are twenty-five primary 1B in the HOF and they average a career 64.9 bWAR.
Torre is an interesting case because he basically split his career between catcher, which is a premium defensive position, and 1B which is the opposite. He also spent some time at 3B as well (23.3 percent of his time) , and four games in the OF. If he could have stayed at catcher for his entire career, it would have been interesting to see if the voting would have been different.
Torre was on the BBWAA ballot as a player all fifteen years reaching his highest rate of 22.2 percent on the final year. He was eventually voted in as a manager in 2014.
There are many more interesting players that played for the Braves at some point that never made it. Put some in the comments!
Cedric Coward was never going to be your average rookie.
Drafted No. 11 overall at 21 years old, Coward’s path to the NBA was anything but conventional. There were no USA Basketball camps, no high profile AAU circuits, no McDonald’s All American games. Instead, his journey ran through Division III Willamette University, then Eastern Washington in the Big Sky, before a short six game stint at Washington State that was cut short by injury.
That unconventional background has not slowed his introduction to the league. If anything, it has accelerated it.
Rather than being eased in, Coward has been thrown straight into the deep end by Memphis, starting games and taking on real responsibility at the defensive end. Night after night, he is asked to guard players with more size, polish, and NBA experience than he had ever previously encountered. And yet, he has handled the challenge with a level of composure that belies his rookie status.
“It’s been great,” Coward said. “I done got my *** busted a couple times, but I’ve also played guys pretty well at the same time. You’re learning multiple things at one time.”
What has separated Coward early is not just that he survives these matchups, but how he impacts them. For a player listed as a shooting guard, his shot blocking stands out immediately. Coward offers a level of rim protection that is rare for his position, rotating from the perimeter to contest at the basket with timing and length rather than reckless gambling.
Head coach Tuomas Iisalo sees that defensive profile as both unusual and foundational.
“He’s a very unique defender for his position,” Iisalo said. “He’s basically a shooting guard or off guard and offers for that position a ton of rim protection, a ton of length, and also defensive rebounding, which is often the importance of that is maybe marginalised.”
That combination shows up in the numbers and on film. Coward is one of only two rookies to post both a positive offensive and defensive Actual EPM, according to Dunks and Threes, alongside VJ Edgecombe. Context matters. He is not being sheltered. He is defending primary options on the perimeter, then sliding into help situations where his length can erase mistakes at the rim.
Those plays are not accidents. They reflect preparation and awareness. Coward studies tendencies, understands angles, and rarely overcommits. He is willing to concede a difficult pull up if it allows him to stay in position to contest the next action at the rim.
Memphis ranks as a top 15 defensive team overall, but the Grizzlies are 4.4 points better defensively when Coward is on the floor. That improvement is not accidental. His presence changes what lineups can attempt defensively, allowing more pressure at the point of attack because there is unexpected rim protection behind it.
Iisalo is careful not to frame Coward’s early success as a finished product.
“Every rookie has a lot to learn,” Iisalo said. “He’s had a lot of early success in the league, but it’s very important to think about like the best years are far ahead. It’s just constant learning and no better way to learn than to be in the deep end. Against great players and just having different type of matchups.”
For Coward, progress is defined less by perfection and more by response.
“I think for me, it’s just always making sure whatever mistake I made, you try not to make the same mistake twice.”
During the third quarter of the NBA London game, Coward was guarding Franz Wagner and pre-empted a screen, momentarily giving up a clean driving lane to the rim. Once he realized the mistake, he did not give up on the play. He recovered to get back into the action with a rear view contest that slowed Wagner’s gather. That split second mattered. It gave Jaren Jackson Jr the time he needed to shift over and protect the rim. Plays like that explain why the trust is already there. Despite his rookie status, Coward has been empowered with one of the most demanding roles on the roster. Guarding elite wings while also serving as a secondary rim protector is rarely a task handed out lightly, yet Memphis has not hesitated.
“To be able to have the opportunity to do that,” Coward said, “and to be able to have the team believe in me to do that, it gives me more faith.”
For a player who arrived without the traditional pedigree, Coward’s early NBA story has been defined by substance over reputation. The learning moments are still coming, sometimes painfully so, but the defensive impact is already real. And for Memphis, that blend of uncommon skill set and long runway may be the most encouraging sign of all.
Lakers vs Nuggets best bet: LeBron James Over 12.5 rebounds + assists (-120)
LeBron James has no problem doing the little things that win basketball games.
Through nine games this month, James has beefed up his assist and rebound rates significantly, averaging 7.6 in both stat categories in January.
His rebounding chances have increased from 8.6 to 10.9 in that span, while LeBron's potential assists have grown from 10.7 in the first three months to 13.6 in January.
The Los Angeles Lakers superstar has blown through his combo prop market in those nine contests, eclipsing his rebounds + assists total in seven of those games.
Meanwhile, the Denver Nuggets are walking wounded at the moment. Nikola Jokic is the most significant loss, especially when it comes to keeping opponents off the glass, as Denver has allowed nearly eight more rebounds per game since Dec. 29.
LeBron's projections range from 12.4 rebounds + assists to 14.7 combined. My number sits closer to 14 boards + dimes for the "King", which makes the Over 12.5 on this combo prop playable even at -145.
Lakers vs Nuggets same-game parlay
The Nuggets have run into some rotten teams lately, picking up wins over Milwaukee, New Orleans, Dallas, and Washington. Los Angeles is a step up.
James is averaging both 7.6 assists and 7.6 rebounds over the last nine games.
Luka Doncic can inflict damage from downtown, especially with the Nuggets having to help inside with an undersized interior.
Lakers vs Nuggets SGP
Lakers moneyline
LeBron James Over 12.5 rebounds + assists
Luka Doncic Over 3.5 threes
Our "from downtown" SGP: Hollywood Knights
Los Angeles is getting healthier while Denver’s lineup limps into Tuesday.
James has gone Over his rebounds + assist prop in seven of his last nine games.
Luka’s projections lean toward four makes from deep against Denver.
The Nuggets' defense has taken a step back without Jokic, which is saying something.
Lakers vs Nuggets SGP
Lakers moneyline
LeBron James Over 12.5 rebounds + assists
Luka Doncic Over 3.5 threes
Luka Doncic Over 3.5 threes
Lakers vs Nuggets odds
Spread: Lakers -1.5 (-110) | Nuggets +1.5 (-110)
Moneyline: Lakers -125 | Nuggets +105
Over/Under: Over 227.5 (-110) | Under 227.5 (-110)
Lakers vs Nuggets betting trend to know
The Nuggets are 27-16 to the Over/Under this season. Find more NBA betting trends for Lakers vs. Nuggets.
How to watch Lakers vs Nuggets
Location
Ball Arena, Denver, CO
Date
Tuesday, January 20, 2026
Tip-off
10:00 p.m. ET
TV
NBC
Lakers vs Nuggets latest injuries
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This article originally appeared on Covers.com, read the full article here
Raphielle Johnson
Kurt Helin
