In the fourth and final meeting of the regular season between the Eastern Conference rivals, the Philadelphia 76ers will face the Boston Celtics at TD Garden in NBC Sports' Sunday Night Basketball.
The 76ers and Celtics played three times in three weeks last fall with Philadelphia winning two of the three (117-116 in the Oct. 22 season opener and 102-100 on Nov. 11). Boston won 109-108 in the NBA Cup on Oct. 31.
The Celtics fell to 5-7 after their most recent loss to Philadelphia and have since gone 33-12 to move into second place in the East behind the Detroit Pistons.
This will mark the 591st meeting between the Celtics and 76ers (including playoffs), an NBA record for games between two franchises. They also have played in an NBA-record 22 playoff series (Boston leads 15-7)
See below for additional information on how to watch the 76ers-Celtics matchup and a breakdown of the game. Also check out the schedule for the NBA on NBC and Peacock. Peacock will feature 100 regular-season games throughout the 2025-2026 season.
Jaylen Brown (on pace for career highs with 29.2 points per game, and 4.9 assists per game) continues an MVP-caliber season in the absence of Jayson Tatum, who could be returning soon from a torn right Achilles in last year's playoffs.
Tatum has been working out with the team, including a recent 5-on-5 session, but he also said "nothing is set in stone" and he has yet to practice at an NBA level.
“I think it’s just important that I’ve worked this hard to just kind of get myself in a position where it could be a conversation," Tatum said Feb. 21. "And I think we’ve done a really good job of that ... It’s something that’s very serious. The injury that I had, it’s a long journey, so, for me, it’s just a lot easier to just take it one day at a time and see how I progress from here.”
Boston has slowed down the tempo with 95.6 possessions per game (one full possession less per game than any other NBA team) and also averages an NBA-low 12.1 turnovers per game.
Tyrese Maxey. who has missed only two of 59 games, leads the 76ers and the NBA in total points (1,657), minutes (2,190), minutes per game (38.4), field goals attempted (1,239) and made (576). With five 3-pointers in the 76ers' 124-117 victory win over the Miami Heat, Maxey broke Allen Iverson's team record and now has 887 3-pointers in his career. Maxey is on pace for career highs in scoring (29.1 points per game, fifth in the NBA), assists (6.7 per game), rebounds (4.1 per game) and steals (2.0 per game).
Guard VJ Edgecombe (the third overall pick from Baylor) leads all rookies with 35.3 minutes per game and 1.5 steals per game. He's averaging 15.3 points per game (behind rookies Cooper Flagg and Kon Knueppel) and 4.0 assists per game (behind Flag and Derik Queen). Seven-time All-Star center Joel Embiid has started the past two games for the 76ers after missing five consecutive with knee and shin injuries.
Philadelphia is battling for the sixth and final guaranteed playoff spot in the East after missing the postseason last year (and snapping a seven-year streak).
Peacock NBA Monday will stream up to three Monday night games each week throughout the regular season. Coast 2 Coast Tuesday presents doubleheaders on Tuesday nights throughout the regular season on NBC and Peacock. On most Tuesdays, an 8 p.m. ET game will be on NBC stations in the Eastern and Central time zones, and an 8 p.m. PT game on NBC stations in the Pacific and often Mountain time zones.
Check local listings each week. Both games will stream live nationwide on Peacock. NBC Sports will launch Sunday Night Basketball across NBC and Peacock on Feb. 1, 2026. For a full schedule of the NBA on NBC and Peacock, click here.
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NBA on NBC 2025-26 schedule:
Click here to see the full list of NBA games that will air on NBC and Peacock this season.
‘The professional game must evolve if it is to thrive’
Promotion and relegation from rugby’s top flight is to be scrapped as part of a major restructure at the top of English club rugby after the Rugby Football Union council “overwhelmingly” voted to approve a move to a franchise model.
From next season’s 2026-27 campaign, automatic promotion and relegation between the Prem and Championship will be replaced by a criteria-based expansion and demotion model with 12 teams planned to be in the division from the 2029-30 season.
The NL East could have several strong teams this year. The Phillies appear to be in win-now mode. The Mets have made major changes. The Braves should recover from a down year in 2025. Even the Marlins could make some noise. The Nationals? Well, they are here.
Atlanta Braves
Key departures: Jarred Kelenic, Marcell Ozuna, Pierce Johnson, Nick Allen
Key arrivals: Mauricio Dubon, Mike Yastrzemski, James Karinchak, Martin Perez, Jonah Heim
The Braves had their first losing season since 2017 last year, largely because of massive injuries to their starting rotation. Bryce Elder was the only Braves starter to make more than 23 starts and he had a 5.30 ERA and… well, I think you can see the problem.
Otherwise Atlanta returns pretty much everyone, including re-signing closer Raisel Iglesias. They’ll have a full year of Ronald Acuña Jr., which should help.
Key departures: Valente Bellozo, Joey Wiemer, Eric Wagaman, Edward Cabrera, Ryan Weathers, George Soriano
Key arrivals: Zach Brzycky, Pete Fairbanks, Esteury Ruiz, Owen Caissie, Chris Paddack
The Marlins won 79 games last year. That might not sound too great, but it put them just four games out of the last wild-card spot and they seem improved this year, despite trading Edward Cabrera to the Cubs for Owen Caissie and prospects. Caissie gets a chance to play every day. This, hopefully, is a trade that helps both teams.
The key to Marlins success this year will likely be Sandy Alcántara and whether his first full year back from Tommy John surgery is successful. Overall his numbers don’t look great but over his last 12 starts he posted a 3.13 ERA and 0.991 WHIP, with 18 walks and 69 strikeouts in 77.2 innings. Keep that up and the Marlins could be a wild-card contender.
And they could look very different by the time the Cubs face them, which won’t be until September.
At Wrigley Field: Sept. 22-23-24
At Miami: Sept. 4-5-6
New York Mets
Key departures: Pete Alonso, Edwin Diaz, Brandon Nimmo, Starling Marte, Jeff McNeil, Ryan Helsley, Cedric Mullins, Tyler Rogers, Gregory Soto, Ryne Stanek, Richard Lovelady, Drew Smith, Frankie Montas
Key arrivals: Marcus Semien, Luis Robert Jr., Devin Williams, Jorge Polanco, Bo Bichette, Luke Weaver, Jose Rojas, Carl Edwards Jr., Vidal Bruján, Austin Barnes, Craig Kimbrel, Ben Rortvedt
The story of the 2026 Mets is those two lists. The Mets finally admitted that what they had been doing the last couple of years wasn’t working and blew it up. You’ll definitely need a scorecard to ID most of these new Mets.
The thing is, they traded for and signed a lot of guys but… some of them are going to be playing out of position. They expect Jorge Polanco to be their first baseman and he has played exactly zero MLB games there. Bo Bichette’s going to third and… well, same, zero MLB games at third.
Maybe it’ll work, maybe it won’t. It will sure be interesting to watch.
The Phillies are running back much the same crew that won 96 games last year and 95 the year before. They’ve made the postseason four straight years, but haven’t gotten back to the World Series since they lost to the Astros there in 2022.
Kyle Schwarber seems like he can still keep hitting homers for some time, though, and the Phillies rewarded the free agent DH with a five-year deal, so he’ll likely finish his career in Philadelphia. That’s a monument to Jed Hoyer’s worst decision as Cubs POBO.
As you can see here, the Cubs will face the Phillies seven times in an 11-day span in April and then not again until… well, maybe the postseason. That’d be fun.
Key departures: Zach Brzykcy, Jose A. Ferrer, MacKenzie Gore,
Key arrivals: Harry Ford, Warming Bernabel, Matt Mervis, Joey Wiemer, Gus Varland, Sergio Alcántara, Richard Lovelady, Andre Granillo, Miles Mikolas
I am not sure what the Nats are doing here, but yikes, look at that “arrivals” list. It looks like a random August waiver-wire list. They haven’t had a winning season since their World Series win in 2019.
And they have replaced MacKenzie Gore in their rotation essentially with Miles Mikolas, who I thought was going to retire at the end of 2025. Instead we could see Mikolas at Wrigley Field in the season-opening series.
The only really interesting thing the Nats did was trade for Harry Ford, a former No. 1 pick of the Mariners who was blocked by Cal Raleigh in Seattle. Ford hit .283/.408/.460 with 16 home runs in just 97 games with Triple-A Tacoma last year. He turned 23 last week and will be installed as Washington’s No. 1 catcher. He’s a Rookie of the Year candidate. So the Nats have that, if nothing else, as they are a candidate to lose 100 games this year.
Feb 25, 2026; Salt River Pima-Maricopa, Arizona, USA; General view of the field prior to a game between the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Los Angeles Dodgers at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick. Mandatory Credit: Matt Kartozian-Imagn Images | Matt Kartozian-Imagn Images
After revealing the Purple Row community’s Colorado Rockies top prospect list over the last several weeks, it’s time to show the whole list at once with some voting stats. I’ll also have some thoughts on the state of the system as a whole soon to conclude the series.
Without further ado, here is the full pre-season 2026 Top 30 PuRPs list, including some voting stats:
Rank
Player
Total
# Ballots
High Ballot
Mode Ballot
Position
ETA
1
Charlie Condon
563
19
1 (12)
1
1B/OF
2026
2
Ethan Holliday
554
19
1 (6)
2
SS/3B
2029
3
Brody Brecht
511
19
2
3
RHP
2028
4
Cole Carrigg
476
19
3
5
OF/SS
2026
5
Jared Thomas
476
19
3
4
OF
2026
6
Robert Calaz
470
19
3
4,6
OF
2028
7
JB Middleton
409
19
4
11
RHP
2028
8
Sean Sullivan
398
19
4
7
LHP
2026
9
Zac Veen
388
19
4
9,11
OF
Now
10
Griffin Herring
368
19
6
10
LHP
2027
11
Roldy Brito
352
18
3
16
OF/2B
2028
12
Gabriel Hughes
340
18
1 (1)
12
RHP
2026
13
Sterlin Thompson
314
19
6
13,14,15
OF
2026
14
Roc Riggio
294
19
6
13,14,26
2B
2026
15
Max Belyeu
293
19
8
9
OF
2027
16
Jackson Cox
284
19
4
13,16
RHP
2027
17
Welinton Herrera
282
19
7
18
LHP
2026
18
McCade Brown
275
18
3
19,20
RHP
Now
19
Carson Palmquist
201
16
13
14
LHP
Now
20
Ashly Andujar
197
18
13
15,17,20
SS
2029
21
Jordy Vargas
161
14
16
18,20
RHP
2027
22
Yujanyer Herrera
115
15
12
25,26,28
RHP
2027
23
RJ Petit
115
12
14
23
RHP
Now
24
Wilder Dalis
93
11
14
14,27
SS/3B
2028
25
Michael Prosecky
89
12
20
21,22,24,25
LHP
2027
26
Cole Messina
86
14
17
23
C
2027
27
Riley Kelly
79
10
17
17,21,22,28
RHP
2029
28
Konner Eaton
75
12
21
24
LHP
2027
29
Ethan Hedges
58
12
19
30
3B
2028
30
Oscar Pujols
55
9
15
27
RHP
2030
Charlie Condon, first baseman/outfielder and Colorado’s first round pick in 2024, received 12 of the 19 first place votes to top the list. That bested Colorado’s 2025 first rounder, shortstop Ethan Holliday, who got six first place votes. Pitcher Brody Brecht, outfielder Cole Carrigg, and outfielder Jared Thomas rounded out the top five, with number 12 Gabriel Hughes receiving the other first place vote.
As a reminder, 30 points were granted for a first place vote, 29 for second, etc. Until a player was named on seven ballots, his vote totals were modified on a sliding scale to avoid an individual ballot having too much say over the community forecast — though that wasn’t a factor this time around in the top 30. There were two ties on the top 30, one of which was broken by number of ballots and the other by the mode ballot tiebreaker. Other ties were broken for non top-30 players according to voting rules. Polling concluded in early January right around the time of the Josh Grosz trade (for Jake McCarthy), so his votes were allocated elsewhere.
The top 18 players were listed on at least 18 of the 19 ballots — 15 were named on each ballot. Beyond that, the entire top 22 was listed on at least 15 of the 19 ballots.
55 players received at least one vote for this PuRPs list (down from 65 last time), 46 got mentioned on multiple ballots (down from 50), while 31 were named on at least seven ballots (and therefore were unmodified). Here is a link to the polling thread.
In this edition of the PuRPs list, there were eight new names compared to the mid-season 2025 list, all of which ranking 22 or lower.
Among those who were on the mid-season list, the biggest risers were Roldy Brito (up 18 slots) and McCade Brown (up 8 slots), while there were no big fallers with a large amount of new slots available.
Breaking the list down by position, there are 16 pitchers (two of whom are definitely relievers; ten are righties, six are southpaws, only one is in the top five, and just five are in the top half of the list), two corner infielders, seven outfielders, four middle infielders, and one catcher — there’s some positional flexibility in there of course.
I’ll have more on the overall system in my concluding post soon!
SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA - SEPTEMBER 26: Nick Kurtz #16 of the Athletics walks off the field in the top of the fifth inning against the Kansas City Royals at Sutter Health Park on September 26, 2025 in Sacramento, California. (Photo by Justine Willard/Athletics/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Morning A’s fans and happy Friday! Ready for a relaxing weekend with some A’s baseball?
The front office has been busy in recent months working out long-term extensions with key members of this core. First beginning with Brent Rooker’s 5-year, $60 million contract in January 2025, the team then turned to outfielder Lawrence Butler and came to a deal with him just a couple months after Rooker’s deal, inking Butler to a 7-year, $65.5 million contract. Things went quiet during the season but extensions continued this winter, first with left fielder Tyler Soderstrom signing a 7-year, $86 million extension and then with shortstop Jacob Wilson getting his own deal just a few weeks ago, a well-deserved 7-year, $70 million payout. This has been the largest and most expensive investment the front office has ever done for a core. While it’s a fantastic development and a great achievement to be locking down these guys, there was one name that A’s fans have been hoping to see sign his own extension sooner rather than later.
Getting first baseman Nick Kurtz locked down would be the cherry on top of all of these recent extensions, and the front office has reportedly been working on a deal all offseason long. There’s been some skepticism regarding Kurtz and an extension with the A’s, mainly because of agent Scott Boras. Boras isn’t known to advise his clients to sign early-career extensions, though that hasn’t been a hard-and-fast rule and he has seen some of his clients ink long-term deals before hitting the free agent market.
Kurtz could be the newest member of that small group. The lefty slugger is reportedly “definitely open and interested” in a deal to remain with the A’s and be a building block when the team opens the new Vegas stadium. Seeing all of his teammates get their money and getting comfortable seems to have made Kurtz a little jealous/anxious to get his own money coming his way soon. That is music to A’s fans ears because there’s little doubt that Kurtz prices himself out of the A’s budget in five seasons if they go year-to-year with him.
The front office recognizes that, which is why it’s no surprise that they’ve reportedly already made the first baseman a contract offer:
The A’s have made a long-term extension offer to AL ROY Nick Kurtz, according to 2 sources. I received no word on the likelihood of getting it to the finish line. The A’s over the last year have done pre-arbitration extensions already with Butler, Soderstrom, Wilson.
While none of the details have leaked out, it’s fair to assume it’s into the $100 million range. The record for a player with less than a full year of service time is Seattle Mariners center fielder Julio Rodriguez, who bagged himself a 12-year, $210 million in guaranteed money (with the potential to increase to 17/470 with bonuses and options). That comes out to $17.5 million average a season, which is looking like a steal of a deal at this point. Rodriguez was coming off his own Rookie of the Year campaign and also placed 7th in MVP voting. Kurtz’s rookie slash line was better in every category and he finished 12th in the MVP race in just over half a season, but he’s also a first baseman compared to a premium position like center field. Rodriguez’s deal might be a good idea of what it might take to lock Kurtz in for the long haul.
It’s important to remember that the A’s aren’t technically in any sort of time crunch to get a deal done. While he’s set to be earning the league minimum for the next couple of seasons, thanks to winning the American League Rookie of the Year award he was awarded a full year of service. That takes away some bargaining power but still means the Athletics have five seasons of control over their prized hitter and have time to work out a deal. The longer they wait though the more expensive any contract will likely become.
The 22-year-old later added near the end of his comments, “It’s just about timing.” If he’s one of those players that doesn’t like negotiations taking place during the season then any contract extension would be coming in the next few weeks. Signing Kurtz to a long contract would be a franchise-altering move. Fingers crossed we can see him put pen to paper before March 26th, which is just under a month away.
A chain of islands in the hemisphere of his choosing, diplomatic immunity, one of those pre fab Amish cabins on instagram named after him & his own brand of hand churned butter. https://t.co/BYX3Vdb46N
SEATTLE, WA - OCTOBER 16: Matt Brash #47 of the Seattle Mariners pitches during Game Four of the American League Championship Series presented by loanDepot between the Toronto Blue Jays and the Seattle Mariners at T-Mobile Park on Thursday, October 16, 2025 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Rod Mar/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images
I received live play-by-play updates via text for this one from my dad, who, like many of you, makes a regular pilgrimage to the Phoenix area this time of year. My conversation with him reminded me of my childhood tradition of always getting Krispy Kreme donuts (doughnuts?) with him after games at Safeco. We’d call them “celebration donuts” if they won and “misery donuts” if they lost, so there was always an excuse to get them.
Do you have any pregame or postgame traditions when you attend Mariners games in-person? Are there any traditions you had in the past?
In Mariners news…
Matt Brash has been slowed down this spring due to a cracked tooth, from which he is mostly healed but is still suffering from some swelling. Ryan Divish at The Seattle Times has the report.
Jesús Cano at Baseball America spoke to M’s farm director Justin Toole about what Kade Anderson and Ryan Sloan have been up to this offseason and what his impression of them is as games get underway. ($)
Around the league…
Eight members of Team Cuba were denied entry into the United States for WBC games, though the team still plans to participate in the tournament. Evan Drellich at The Athletic has the report. ($)
Baseball Savant already added a dashboard for ABS challenge data. It will be fun to track which players end up being the most successful in this new aspect of the game.
Eno Sarris, Dan Hayes, and C. Trent Rosecrans at The Athletic looked into the data to determine which pitchers will benefit the most from the ABS challenge system. ($)
Longtime Angels correspondent Sam Blum is leaving the Anaheim beat to shift to a national baseball reporting role for The Athletic. While it’ll be nice to read Sam’s coverage of national news, I will miss his insight into the league’s most chaotic franchise. ($)
The Red Sox are kind of a mess, but the vibes appear to be better than they were this time last year.
Caltrain, a California public transportation system, won an award for a commercial posted last summer that dunked on Dodgers fans.
If you have teenage daughters, you may know this already, but torn ACLs are rampant among that particular demographic. Craig Welch at The New York Times dove into the data behind this unfortunate trend.
Man, how about that The Traitorsfinale? I will say no more to avoid spoiling folks, but you can check out this link if you’re curious what happened. Two part question for you all:
1. What did you think of the finale and Season 4 as a whole? (NOTE: Please be extremely generous with spoiler tags and clearly label your comment as a The Traitors post if answering this prompt in the comments)
2. Which Mariner (past or present) would make the best Faithful? Who would make the best Traitor?
PITTSBURGH, PA - DECEMBER 30: Ben Kindel #81 of the Pittsburgh Penguins skates against the Carolina Hurricanes at PPG PAINTS Arena on December 30, 2025 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Joe Sargent/NHLI via Getty Images) | NHLI via Getty Images
The injury to Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby is obviously not ideal. The time of the year, the playoff race, the fact he is going to miss a couple of weeks and just the simple fact he is Sidney Crosby and there is not really an easy way to replace him all add up into an unfortunate situation the Penguins are going to have to navigate for a bit.
While all of that is true, it is also a big opportunity for rookie center Ben Kindel to keep establishing himself as a big-time player.
He is doing exactly that.
He did not appear on the stat sheet in the Penguins 4-1 win over the New Jersey Devils on Thursday night from a goals or assists or points perspective, but it does not matter. He was still one of their best players. In fact, other than starting goalie Arturs Silovs (who was sensational), I thought he was their best overall player. That has also been a recurring theme over the past few weeks of games.
Over the course of the game he had a couple of those “wow” moments where you watched him play and had to say to yourself, “okay, this guy has it.”
There was the play in the first period where he overpowered Nico Hischier, threw him to the ice, stole the puck, and then went back for an odd-man rush to set up Justin Brazeau for a grade-A scoring chance. It did not result in a goal, but it was an incredible play.
There was the one zone exit in the second period where he confidently spun around one New Jersey forechecker and smoothly went up the ice to help establish possession in the offensive zone.
He was everywhere. He has been everywhere.
In the middle of the season he seemed to hit a little bit of a slump offensively, which was always going to be expected given the fact he is an 18-year-old playing in the NHL, but has quickly played his way through it. Over the past 10 games he has six goals, seven total points and is a plus-11 overall. When he is on the ice during 5-on-5 play during this stretch of games, the Penguins have a 13-2 goals advantage (best on the team among players that have played at least 100 minutes during that stretch) and own 58.9 percent expected goal share (fourth-best on the team among players that have played at least 100 minutes during that stretch). He has only had three individual games during that stretch with an expected goal share of under 59 percent, and only two under 50 percent. He has been over 60 percent five times, including one game against the New York Rangers where he posted a 98.9 percent expected goals share.
Just incredible stuff for an 18-year-old center.
Players that age, at that position, do not just step right into the NHL and do this in their draft year unless than are a top-two or-three pick. Even then they do not always drive possession and have this good of a defensive game so quickly.
His presence, as well as his overall development as this season has progressed, and especially his play over the past 10-or-so games, is a big reason why I think the Penguins have a really good chance to maintain something close to their current level of play with Crosby sidelined. He is also a big reason why the long-term math with the Penguins has changed so much. He might not be a Crosby or Connor McDavid level star at his peak, but his potential looks to be even higher than anybody could have reasonably hoped for or anticipated when the Penguins called his name.
Fort Myers, FL - February 21: Boston Red Sox pitcher Payton Tolle throws a pitch. The Red Sox played the Minnesota Twins at Hammond Stadium on February 21, 2026. (Photo by Barry Chin/The Boston Globe via Getty Images) | Boston Globe via Getty Images
With Garrett Crochet taking the mound yesterday, I was reminded of how exciting it was to have two new stars on the 2025 Red Sox. Getting to know a new star — particularly an ace pitcher — is one of the most exciting things baseball fans get to do over the course of 162 games.
The Red Sox have brought in a lot of new talent for 2026. But I’m not sure the term “exciting” is a good fit for any of Sonny Gray, Ranger Suárez, or Willson Contreras. They all fall closer to the “very good” bucket than the “great” one, and they’ve all been around for so long that most Sox fans are already pretty familiar with them. For a player to be truly “exciting” I think there has to be an element of the unknown, a sense that watching that player carries the possibility of discovery.
So the question of the day is: which player are you most excited to watch on the 2026 Red Sox?
The easy answer is probably the guy most of us expect to be the best player on the 2026 Red Sox: Roman Anthony. And in this case, the easy is probably the right answer. But it’s worth considering that we did already get an extended look at Roman last year, and we already got a reasonable idea at just how good he already is. He’s not necessarily an unknown. There’s arguably more room for the possibility of discovery in guys like Marcelo Mayer, Ceddanne Rafaela, and Wilyer Abreu, all of whom have more question marks in their game than Anthony.
Maybe the answer is, once again, Garrett Crochet. There’s less to discover with him, but he also has the potential to be the single best pitcher on the planet, which is what made Pedro the most exciting player on the Red Sox for years.
Payton Tolle’s debut against Paul Skenes last year was easily my favorite game of the season. And while his subsequent struggles show that he’s not quite ready to be penciled into the top half of a big league rotation — and likely won’t even start with the big league team — I’ll be glued to every pitch he throws in hopes that we’ll see more of that magic from him. This is the guy I want to watch more than anyone else.
Talk about that and whatever else you want and, as always, be good to one another.
GOODYEAR, AZ - FEBRUARY 25: Aaron Zavala #79 of the Texas Rangers celebrates with teammates in the dugout after hitting a home run during the game between the Texas Rangers and the Cleveland Guardians at Progressive Field on Wednesday, February 25, 2026 in Goodyear, Arizona. (Photo by Zach Gardner/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images
ELMONT, NEW YORK - FEBRUARY 03: Stuart Skinner #74 of the Pittsburgh Penguins warms up prior to a game against the New York Islanders at UBS Arena on February 03, 2026 in Elmont, New York. (Photo by Steven Ryan/NHLI via Getty Images) | NHLI via Getty Images
Kyle Dubas operates on his own timeline for making trades, often culminating deals out of nowhere and sending out players in surprising ways and with trade partners that were unexpected. That almost colors recent reports that Stuart Skinner’s name is in the trade rumors. Other teams might be a little looser with information and the media could be finding out details from the other side of things (the media sure is in the dark in Pittsburgh until moves happen!) but it almost seems like if it’s out there, it doesn’t happen with Dubas. Then when it’s least expected, boom, big moves happen.
So everything can be taken with a grain of salt these days, yet it probably means something that Skinner’s name is somewhat out there in the NHL rumor mill, albeit it seems to be emanating from the singular source of Frank Seravalli at this point.
Frank Seravalli: Re Stuart Skinner: His name has popped up here in trade talks…I'd say over the last couple weeks – Frankly Hockey (2/25)
Frank Seravalli: Re Stuart Skinner: There's a bunch of teams that are saying, well, if the price was right and if there were no strings attached…then yeah maybe; Montreal; maybe the Sens make sense; what about the Hurricanes – Frankly Hockey (2/25)
Skinner is an impending unrestricted free agent. Given the timing that Brett Kulak — the other player (also a free agent this summer) involved in the Tristan Jarry deal was traded earlier this week — the grand plan to accumulate more assets from that Jarry deal could be coming into light.
On the ice, Skinner did not start the Penguins’ first game after the break last night. That went to Arturs Silovs, who has now given up two or fewer goals in six of his last eight starts. Pittsburgh also has wonderkid Sergei Murashov waiting in the AHL. Murashov made the AHL All-Star team and has a .924 save% in 28 games with Wilkes-Barre this season. Sooner than later, in one form or another, the Pens are going to need to move on from one of the current NHL goaltenders to open up a spot for Murashov with the way that is trending.
Whether or not now is the right time remains to be seen and will be the major question for Dubas to weigh. Goalies don’t tend to carry a ton of value on the trade market, which has always been an oddity given the major importance of the position. Skinner still has a checkered reputation on top of that which could add more reluctance for a suitor to be looking for “the right price” instead of showing a ton of interest. Dealing Skinner would also mean chugging along to the playoffs with a 24-year old Silovs and a 21-year old Murashov, unless another goalie was coming back in any potential Skinner trade.
To this point much of Dubas’s strategy has been to trade away veterans when their contracts are close to expiring, doing so recently with Jake Guentzel, Marcus Pettersson, Drew O’Connor, Lars Eller, Anthony Beauvillier and recently Kulak. Giving out contract extensions to players in that circumstance, like for Blake Lizotte earlier this winter, has been more of the exception than the rule. In the grand scheme of things Dubas will have to decide if it’s better for his team to keep an experienced goalie like Skinner (who has 50 career NHL playoff games under his belt, even if not all of that experience has been individually successful) or flip him out to even further extend the list of assets that stem from the Jarry trade.
Seeing some smoke in trade rumors doesn’t necessarily indicate a fire, though at this point on the heels of the Kulak trade it’s only natural to wonder what the immediate future could hold for Skinner, the other player involved in that trade. The NHL trade deadline is coming up quickly, one week from today on the afternoon of Friday March 6th. By then Dubas will have set his course for the rest of the season, what those plans with Skinner are going to be will certainly be near the top of the list for areas to watch as the week goes along.
SAN DIEGO, CA - MARCH 30: Former professional football player Drew Brees waves to the crowd as the San Diego Padres face against the San Francisco Giants on March 30, 2024 at Petco Park in San Diego, California. (Photo by Matt Thomas/San Diego Padres/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Four of the five groups that have submitted bids to become the new owners of the San Diego Padres have been identified, but the fifth group or individual is unknown. It was reported Thursday that former San Diego Chargers quarterback and NFL Hall of Famer Drew Brees is a part of one of the groups that have submitted bids. The sale process is expected to move quickly and the new owners reportedly could be in place sometime soon after the start of the 2026 regular season.
Padres News:
The Padres lost to the Cincinnati Reds 11-10 on Thursday, but Manny Machado was the story. The third baseman crushed two game-tying home runs, one of which was a grand slam. Sung-Mun Song recorded his first hit as a member of the Padres and Nick Pivetta made his first start of Spring Training. San Diego continues play today with a matchup against the Colorado Rockies.
David Morgan is already established as another elite arm in arguably the top bullpen in baseball in San Diego. However, he is looking to improve his standing in the bullpen with a strong Spring Training.
Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune reported that Joe Musgrove had a solid outing in a simulated game and that he could be close to making his first start since his Tommy John surgery.
Dennis Lin of The Athletic answered questions from readers regarding the Padres. He touched on multiple topics including the sale of the team, A.J. Preller’s contract extension, salary and free agency and the catching position.
TAMPA, FL - FEBRUARY 20: Carlos Rodón #55 of the New York Yankees in action during spring training at George M. Steinbrenner Field on February 20, 2026 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by New York Yankees/Getty Images) | Getty Images
For many teams, it would be a death sentence to lose their ace for the season before games had even begun. However, when the Yankees lost Gerrit Cole for the entirety of the 2025 campaign to Tommy John surgery, their pair of co-deputy-aces stepped up in a big way, Max Fried and Carlos Rodón pitching brilliantly as two of the best starters in the AL when it came to durability and run prevention. Fried is almost certainly this year’s Opening Day starter, while offseason elbow surgery for Rodón clouds the start of his season, creating some uncertainty for the 33-year-old southpaw as he enters his fourth season in pinstripes.
2025 was undoubtedly Rodón’s best season with the Yankees, continuing a pattern of the lefty improving dramatically in each subsequent campaign with the team. He posted for the entire regular season, logging a career-high 33 starts and 195.1 innings, allowing him to rack up over 200 strikeouts for just the second time in his career. Home runs had been an issue his first two seasons with the Yankees, but he slashed those down to yield right around one per nine innings, allowing him to post a sub-four FIP and xFIP for the first time in pinstripes.
This success accompanied a philosophical shift from a pure power pitcher to a more well-rounded starter with more ways to get hitters out — a shift that began in 2024 as a way to prevent a repeat of his disastrous debut season with the Yankees. Last season saw Rodón continue to deepen his arsenal, deploying the changeup and sinker at the highest rate of his Yankees tenure in exchange for reducing his four-seamer usage rate. With this more varied repertoire, Rodón was one of only a handful of starters in the league to place in the 90th percentile or higher in fastball, breaking ball, and offspeed Run Value as measured by Statcast.
Rodón’s slider remained one of the best in baseball, tying for the fifth-highest Statcast Run Value at +12 runs by racking up an impressive 40.3-percent whiff rate, 39.2-percent strikeout rate, and 32.7-percent chase rate. His changeup became elite in 2024 and that remained the case in 2025, with a 35-percent whiff rate, 22.6-percent strikeout rate, and 38.7-percent chase rate. The pitch that intrigued me most was the sinker, used significantly for the first time since 2018 with the White Sox, and it looks like a serious weapon to neutralize lefties, limiting same-handed batters to a .119 batting average, .143 slugging, and .208 wOBA.
Becoming less predictable allowed Rodón to mitigate the batted ball woes that plagued his first two seasons in the Bronx. Relative to those first two seasons, Rodón’s exit velocity dropped from around 91 mph to 88.6 mph, his barrel rate slashed from about 11.5-percent to 7.5-percent, and his expected wOBA on contact from roughly .400 to .335. Most importantly, Rodón cut down significantly on the rate of pulled fly balls he allowed, going from about 22-percent between 2023 and 2024 to 15.3-percent in 2025. This evolution into a more complete pitcher is the number one factor in why I believe Rodón can maintain this level of performance in the upcoming season and well into his 30s.
However, the multi-million dollar question for Rodón (and Cole) is when he will make his return from offseason elbow surgery and what version of pitcher that will end up being. He underwent a procedure in mid-October to remove bone spurs and loose bodies from his pitching elbow, and it is worth wondering what effect that ailment had on his shelling at the hands of the Blue Jays in Game 3 of the ALDS. He and the team are targeting a late-April return, and by all accounts this spring he is right on schedule with that timetable. If all goes according to plan, he could miss just three to four starts, giving him an outside shot at making at least 30 starts for the third year in a row.
The projection systems can’t agree on the amount of time Rodón will miss. ZiPS provides one of the more pessimistic forecasts, skeptical that he will even reach 25 starts or 130 innings pitched. I suppose one saving grace is that they and the other projection systems expect him to pitch with the same effectiveness as last season when he returns. I also feel that none of the systems give Rodón proper credit for suppressing hits the way he did in 2025 — his .187 opponents’ batting average allowed was the lowest among any qualified starter in the AL — and this plus personal optimism over an on-schedule return to play lead me to remain bullish that Rodón’s 2026 can look at lot closer to his 2025 results than ZiPS predicts.
ATLANTA, GA - FEBRUARY 26: Anthony Gill #16 of the Washington Wizards drives to the basket during the game against the Atlanta Hawks on February 26, 2026 at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2026 NBAE (Photo by Adam Hagy/NBAE via Getty Images) | NBAE via Getty Images
The Tuesday night loss to the Atlanta Hawks was bad. The loss last night was worse. The Wizards fell behind quickly, made a first quarter run when the Hawks slacked off early, and then got their doors blown off. Again.
I’ve now written several versions of a sentence that communicates the idea that the competitive portion of this game ended early. They all landed wrong because in truth, there was no competitive portion. The players wearing Wizards uniforms tried. I have no reason to think Brian Keefe and his staff didn’t give a professional effort on the coaching front.
Anthony Gill goes for a bucket in the Wizards’ loss to the Atlanta Hawks. | NBAE via Getty Images
But the roster — designed to lose and lose badly — was missing several of its best players, and against a semi-competent team playing for something, there was no hope.
Less than four minutes into the game, Hawks legend/broadcaster Dominique Wilkins said it was going to be a blowout win for Atlanta. The score at the time: 14-2. It would be another minute of game time until Tre Johnson hit a three, which was Washington’s first field goal of the game.
Acknowledging the above is not complaining. Well, it is complaining because I love watching good basketball. This kinda begs the question of why I’ve spent so many years watching the Wizards and Bullets, and I don’t have a satisfactory answer. Over the past couple decades, I’ve taken to saying that I jumped on the bandwagon in 1978, and the exits are poorly marked.
In this one, the Wizards were annihilated by CJ McCollum and Corey Kispert — who they traded to Atlanta earlier this season for Trae Young, who may one day take the floor for Washington.
McCollum took his former teammates to school, pumping in 25 points on 19 shots in 26 minutes. The NBA mantra he got what he wanted was invented for games like this. Wizards defenders tried to slow McCollum. He was just better — routinely maneuvering them where he wanted to go and then pulling the trigger on the shot he wanted. If he’d actually been hot (9-19 from the floor and just 2-8 from three), the damage would have been worse.
Speaking of getting hot and causing worse damage, Kispert feasted on open looks to score a career high 33 points, including 22 in the first half — tying his career-best scoring output for a half. Kispert kept getting wide open threes, and I kept rewinding the action to see why.
Examples?
With about a minute left in the first quarter, the Hawks had the ball in transition — two Hawks running up on offense vs. two Wizards back and in position to defend. Justin Champagnie picked up the ball. Will Riley for some reason just drifted back towards the basket — ignoring Kispert (a dangerous three-point shooter, especially in transition) sprinting to the corner. I jotted KYP (know your personnel) in my notes, which is pretty ridiculous considering these guys were teammates who went through training camp together.
The very next possession — a Hawks transition possession — Anthony Gill was on an island needing to defend two. As the ball went to Kispert on the wing, Gill took his first step…towards Jock Landale in the corner. He redirected quickly, but Kispert got another open look (which he hit).
To start the second quarter, Atlanta ran a basic pindown for Kispert. Jaden Hardy was trailing, but Gill was dropped way into the lane, so Kispert got yet another open shot.
The Wizards did react. About a minute later, they overplayed Kispert at the three-point line, and he responded with an easy drive for a layup. That bucket gave him 19 points with more than 10 minutes left in the second quarter. He’d been on the court for about seven minutes of playing time at that point.
Thoughts & Observations
Tre Johnson has been guilty of holding the ball and not passing to open teammates when routine passes could initiate the offensive flow. Tristan Vukcevic gave a classic (but muted) “WTF?” gesture Tuesday night. Last night, other teammates had similar reactions. In addition to get the offense moving passes he missed, he either didn’t recognize or chose not to make simple passes to teammates wide open at the three-point line. Not something to worry about, but perhaps something worth monitoring.
The Hawks had a giveaway going, which they decided to do by laying out t-shirts on seats. The result: pink seat backs that served to highlight how many empty seats there were.
The Hawks broadcast is an often entertaining product at the intersection of interesting basketball insights, poor preparation, and mistakes.
Atlanta play-by-play man Bob Rathbun (who I knew a little when he was calling games for Old Dominion University) very carefully mispronounces Vukcevic’s name. For the record, it’s VOOK-suh-vitch. Not VOOK-eh-vitch. Not VOOCH-eh-vitch. VOOK-suh-vitch.
After saying the game would be a Hawks blowout, Wilkins watched as the Wizards went on a run. When they got the score to 20-18, Wilkins said, “I didn’t see this coming.” Atlanta immediately responded with a run of their own, and the game was never close again.
At the 4:44 mark of the first quarter, Bilal Coulibaly hit a pullup midrange jumper. According to play-by-play data, about 4% of Coulibaly’s shots have come from that distance this season.
Another Wilkins comment: “Riley has no idea what he’s doing on the floor right now.”
More ‘Nique? After Johnson drove and dunked, Wilkins said, “He’s standing there posing. You just want to say, ‘Young man, you’re down 17.‘ ”
At the half, Rathbun had a good line: “The old Wizards are sticking it to the new Wizards.”
The Wizards developed a theme in my notes at the end of the first half and start of the second — “dumb” fouls. They included a pointless push by Johnson that resulted in a McCollum four-point play, an inexplicable take foul by Coulibaly, and then a non-flagrant foul that should have been a flagrant on Johnson.
Bub Carrington is not a good lob passer.
No one from the Wizards actually played well last night. Gill led the team in total production with a below-average 80 PPA. Johnson was the only player to crack average, and his game was just a 103. Average is 100.
Four Factors
Below are the four factors that decide wins and losses in basketball — shooting (efg), rebounding (offensive rebounds), ball handling (turnovers), fouling (free throws made).
The four factors are measured by:
eFG% (effective field goal percentage, which accounts for the three-point shot)
OREB% (offensive rebound percentage)
TOV% (turnover percentage — turnovers divided by possessions)
FTM/FGA (free throws made divided by field goal attempts)
FOUR FACTORS
WIZARDS
HAWKS
LGAVG
eFG%
43.1%
53.3%
54.3%
OREB%
19.6%
25.0%
26.1%
TOV%
13.3%
12.4%
12.8%
FTM/FGA
0.160
0.319
0.208
PACE
105
99.5
ORTG
91
120
115.4
Stats & Metrics
PPA is my overall production metric, which credits players for things they do that help a team win (scoring, rebounding, playmaking, defending) and dings them for things that hurt (missed shots, turnovers, bad defense, fouls).
PPA is a per possession metric designed for larger data sets. In small sample sizes, the numbers can get weird. In PPA, 100 is average, higher is better and replacement level is 45. For a single game, replacement level isn’t much use, and I reiterate the caution about small samples sometimes producing weird results.
POSS is the number of possessions each player was on the floor in this game.
ORTG = offensive rating, which is points produced per individual possessions x 100. League average so far this season is listed in the Four Factors table above. Points produced is not the same as points scored. It includes the value of assists and offensive rebounds, as well as sharing credit when receiving an assist.
USG = offensive usage rate. Average is 20%. Median so far this season is 17.7%.
ORTG and USG are versions of stats created by former Wizards assistant coach Dean Oliver and modified by me. ORTG is an efficiency measure that accounts for the value of shooting, offensive rebounds, assists and turnovers. USG includes shooting from the floor and free throw line, offensive rebounds, assists and turnovers.
+PTS = “Plus Points” is a measure of the points gained or lost by each player based on their efficiency in this game compared to league average efficiency on the same number of possessions. A player with an offensive rating (points produced per possession x 100) of 100 who uses 20 possessions would produce 20 points. If the league average efficiency is 115, the league — on average — would produced 23.0 points in the same 20 possessions. So, the player in this hypothetical would have a +PTS score of -3.0.
Players are sorted by total production in the game.
Feb 26, 2026; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Atlanta Hawks forward Jonathan Kuminga (0) dunks next to Washington Wizards forward Anthony Gill (16) during the second half at State Farm Arena. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-Imagn Images | Dale Zanine-Imagn Images
For the second time this week, the Atlanta Hawks squared off against the hapless Washington Wizards in front of their home fans at State Farm Arena. After beating Washington handily on Tuesday, Atlanta delivered an equally emphatic 126-96 victory last night — though with Jalen Johnson (left hip contusion) and Nickeil Alexander-Walker (left foot sprain) watching this one from the sidelines, the manner of victory looked a little different than it did on Tuesday.
The Wizards have been one of the worst teams in the NBA this season, ranking 29th in offense and 28th in defense, still, with the Play-In race in the Eastern Conference heating up, it was important that the Hawks took care of business on Thursday evening.
Corey Kispert led all scorers with a career-high 33 points on 11-for-19 shooting from the field (6-for-11 from three) against his former team, while CJ McCollum added 25 points in 26 minutes of action. Dyson Daniels had a nice night, filling up the stat sheet with 13 points, 11 assists and five steals. Jonathan Kuminga, logging his first start in a Hawks uniform, chipped in with 17 points, nine rebounds and three assists.
McCollum had it going early on, scoring eight out of Atlanta’s first 14 points as the Hawks jumped out to an early 14-2 lead. A cold spell from Atlanta saw Washington cut the lead to two, before the Hawks pulled away towards the end of the quarter — thanks in large part to Washington turning the ball over four times over the final 3:00 of the period (and Corey Kispert going nuclear).
Here, after a chaotic sequence, Daniels pokes the ball free from Jayden Hardy leading to a Kispert triple after some nice ball movement by Atlanta.
A few plays later, Landale gets a paw on the entry pass, leading to a fastbreak opportunity for Atlanta and another Kispert three ball.
On the very next possession, a wayward entry pass from Anthony Gil leads to another Daniels steal. He finds Kispert with a nice hit-ahead pass for another open triple.
Adding insult to injury, Mo Gueye capped off the quarter with a steal and slam, and Atlanta took a 37-26 lead into the second quarter.
Another defining factor in the first quarter was the frequency with which Atlanta was getting out in transition and generating quality early shot clock looks while preventing them on the other end, with the Hawks outscoring the Wizards 16-0 in fastbreak points in the opening frame.
Here, Daniels grabs the rebound, races the other way and finds Kuminga for a wide-open corner three.
In the play below, Daniels glides right by Champagnie for a pretty transition finish off of a Washington miss.
In the second, Atlanta extended their lead to 20, facing little resistance from the visiting team. While they continued to shoot the ball well from the outside (with McCollum and Kispert knocking down two three-pointers apiece), they also did a good job attacking the paint — shooting 8-for-12 from the interior in the second.
Here, Daniels goes to his trademark spin move before dropping in the floater over Bilal Coulibaly.
In the play below, Risacher gets the handoff from Okongwu, then finds him underneath the basket for two.
A few minutes later, Daniels finds McCollum cutting to the basket for a silky smooth finish at the rim.
Even Zaccharie Risacher, in the midst of a rough February shooting-wise, got in on the action, throwing down a mean lefty slam over Coulibaly in transition.
Still, while the Hawks took a commanding 76-56 lead into the halftime break, it wasn’t all perfect in the second quarter, with the team suffering a handful of defensive breakdowns towards the end of the period.
Here, Risacher gets caught in no-man’s land, leading to a Coulibaly slam. After Carrington rejects the screen, Risacher has to try and shrink the floor, ideally positioning himself by the nail so he can keep an eye on Coulibaly and play the pass to Vukcevic. Instead, he’s out of position when Carrington passes to Vukcevic, and Coulibaly loses him with a backdoor cut.
Here, Tre Johnson loses McCollum around the screen from Vukcevic. Okongwu is in good position to wall off the drive while CJ recovers, but he abandons his spot way too early (rotating onto 28% three-point shooter Tristan Vukcevic camped out on the perimeter) and Johnson takes it right to the hole for a slam with Atlanta’s rim protection out of the way.
Here, Leaky Black clears McCollum out of the way before Coulibaly beats Kuminga off the dribble, taking it to the cup for an easy two. Far too easy.
The third quarter lacked the shot-making prowess that we were treated to in the first half. Atlanta — ahead by 20 — looked quite lethargic coming out of the break, managing just 22 points on 7-for-21 shooting from the field (7-for-11 at the free-throw line), while turning the ball over seven times* in the period.
*They turned it over just twice in the first-half.
Here, after the air-ball from Risacher, Kuminga tries to thread the needle but throws it away.
A few plays later, Okongwu commits a careless turnover in the back-court leading to an easy two points for Washington, prompting Quin Snyder to call for timeout with the Wizards only trailing by 14.
Fortunately for the Hawks, Washington continued to struggle shooting the basketball in the third (10-for-28 from the field, 2-for-10 from three) and couldn’t find a way back into the ball game despite the lack of verve from Atlanta. A Kuminga-led flurry to close the quarter saw Atlanta take a 98-80 lead into the final period.
The fourth quarter was hardly competitive. Atlanta got the period started on a 6-0 run and led by 24 with just under six minutes remaining. Meanwhile, the Wizards kept up the miserable shooting (6-for-24 from the field, 0-for-9 from three) and managed just 16 points in the final frame.
When the buzzer sounded, the Hawks went home with a resounding 126-96 victory.
Searching for some overarching themes from this one, one big difference between the two sides was seen in the amount of free-throws the Hawks were able to generate, with Atlanta finishing the game with 37 free-throw attempts (29-for-37) — tied for the fourth most free throw attempts they’ve taken in a game this season — while Washington finished the game just 15-for-16 at the line.
Jonathan Kuminga, who has routinely ranked near the top of the league in shooting fouls drawn (per cleaningtheglass) over the course of his career, put a ton of pressure on the rim in this one*, tying his season-high with eight free throw attempts, converting six of them.
*Something Atlanta have desperately needed since the McCollum and Kispert additions.
Another difference was that despite these two teams ranking near the top of the league in ‘pace’, the Hawks were the only ones able to consistently generate quality early shot clock looks, outscoring Washington 24-11 in fast-break points.
Of course, it was always going to be difficult for Washington to overcome the massive shooting discrepancy (58.7% true shooting percentage (TS%) for Atlanta vs. 47.5% Washington), but the fact that they were unable to gain on edge on the glass or in the turnover margin sealed their fate.
Postgame, Quin Snyder had the following to say on how the team responded to a difficult third quarter.
“I think the way we started the third quarter. I didn’t think we defended as well, but also, we missed some shots, and that makes it harder because they were in transition. But those are the times where we’ve talked about, we just can’t give up big runs, so we did a good job responding to that. NBA games get competitive, and I was just happy with the way we defended throughout the course of the game. We’ve got to do a better job on the defensive glass, and I didn’t think we crashed the offensive glass as consistently as we need to. So, that possession game is just crucial for us, and we need everyone to do it.”
On getting out to a fast start in the first quarter, Snyder said:
“We had a couple guys shoot it well in the beginning of the game, and Corey throughout the game, but you can’t count on that all the time. You need to be able to rely on getting stops and rebounding. That’s where our focus needs to continue to go.”
On Jonathan Kuminga’s second game in a Hawks jersey:
“The thing that’s impressed me as much as anything is just, his work. You saw that previous to him getting healthy and I think that’s carried over. There are some plays defensively where his strength stands out and he’s been focused. There was a — he lost it out of bounds — but there was a big play out of a timeout. I thought we needed to dig in, [and] he did a really good job just denying the entry pass and he almost had a dunk. So that to me is more impressive than the actual dunk — I know he can dunk. So those little things on the defensive end, he can be impactful”
“Then I think he’s really focused on moving the ball and being unselfish. I thought he made a couple passes tonight that were really impressive, just looking the guy off and seeing the court, and as he plays more, he’s going to be more instinctive.”
On Corey Kispert setting his career high in points (33), and if there were any conversations about feeding him the ball to help him get there.
“We weren’t talking about his career high. I don’t think he was focused on that. We were talking about him doing a good job spacing, which is I think where a lot of his shots came early. He’s someone that we’ll run an ‘ATO’ for because, those are opportunities that you get to take a stab at a three, or if someone overplays the situation, you get high percentage shots. But I don’t think anyone was thinking about that. Frankly, I wasn’t aware of it until you just said it.”
Snyder also spoke highly of Kispert’s ‘determination’ and ‘pride’ when asked about the chase-down block he had in the third quarter, which helped snap the Hawks out of their funk.
Looking ahead, Atlanta has one more game remaining on their homestand, taking on Vit Krejci and the Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday evening. Tip off for that one is at 6 PM EST.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 28: Ryan Rollins #13 of the Milwaukee Bucks heads for the net as Mikal Bridges #25 of the New York Knicks defends at Madison Square Garden on November 28, 2025 in New York City. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The Milwaukee Bucks play host to the New York Knicks tonight at Fiserv, eager to complete their third three-game win streak of the season. As I’ll get to, the Knicks haven’t looked like themselves lately, while the Bucks are flying. The season series between these two sides sits at one game apiece, with Milwaukee taking the first contest just four games into the season, and New York taking the most recent one.
Where We’re At
The Bucks have won eight of their last 10. Most recently, they lost handily to the Raptors, but responded by beating the Heat and (zombie) Cavaliers on a back-to-back. Not to demean anyone else, but Milwaukee’s return to winning has come primarily off the back of three players: Kevin Porter Jr., Ryan Rollins, and Jericho Sims. Porter and Rollins have been doing a great job of creating for themselves and others (while Porter, at least, has kept his turnovers down). Over the back-to-back, the Porter-Rollins duo racked up 91 points and 26 assists. As for Sims, he’ll never fill up the stat sheet, but anyone who’s been watching recently can tell how much of an impact he’s made as a defender and rebounder. This is evidenced by the fact that, over the past 10 games, the Bucks—who’ve been a bad rebounding team for most of this season—have the fifth-best defensive rebounding percentage and the 15th-best offensive rebounding percentage. Much of that credit goes to Sims, who’s had 10 O boards in the last three games.
The Knicks, on the other hand, are sputtering. Their overall record lately, going .500 over their last eight games, doesn’t look too bad on the surface, but context is needed. They lost to the Pacers, very nearly lost to the Bulls, beat the Rockets after Houston crapped the bed up 18 in the fourth, and got annihilated by the Pistons twice and Cavs once. They have the 15th-best net rating in the NBA over that eight-game span. Having said that, this team won eight in a row right before this most recent eight-game streak (which followed a horror stretch before that!). In short, New York has an equally low floor as it does a high ceiling—anything could happen tonight.
Injury Report
For the Bucks, Giannis (calf) and Taurean Prince (neck) are both out. For the Knicks, Miles McBride (core) is out.
Player To Watch
Let’s keep rolling with Jericho Sims. Going up against the rebounding beast that is Mitchell Robinson, Sims will need to keep doing what he’s been doing on the boards. Jericho actually seems like a decent matchup to cover the pick-and-pops from Karl-Anthony Towns (probably better than Myles Turner, at least). The bigs will play a huge role in who wins this game.
How To Watch
FanDuel Sports Network Wisconsin at 7:00 p.m. CST.