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Tyrese Maxey has done nothing but get better year in and year out. In his rookie season, Maxey was every bit the part of a small guard drafted outside of the lottery. He had a few brilliant flashes, but only started eight games in 2020-21 and averaged just over 15 minutes a night.

While he became a starter in his second season in Philadelphia, the 17.5 points per game that he averaged in 2021-22 were still a far cry from the 28.3 points per game he just averaged this past season. His scoring averages have improved every season as have his totals in lots of statistical departments. There’s a reason Maxey has become such a fan favorite in Philadelphia. He works hard, gets better all the time and isn’t satisfied with just making it to the second round.

But as we head into the offseason, it’s fair to question what kind of ceiling a team built around Maxey and his backcourt mate VJ Edgecombe will have. The Sixers didn’t just get swept by the Knicks due to a lack of depth. Their bench problems might have been the most jarring concern and the single biggest reason Daryl Morey got fired, but their starters were also outplayed by New York’s starting lineup. Therefore, it’s fair to surmise that a deeper Philadelphia roster in seasons ahead could be more competitive in the second round, but still lose in the same round if Maxey can’t ever be the best player in a series of that caliber.

For what it’s worth, during the media session after Game 4 against the Knicks, Maxey did admit that the finger injury flared up again in the Knicks series. He indicated that it had been an issue late in the regular season, then started to feel better by the play-in tournament and in the Boston series, only for it to become a nagging issue against New York. Maxey, the consummate professional he is, did however quickly admit that the finger issue was not an excuse for his inefficient performances against the Knicks.

The big thing the 2020 first-round pick out of Kentucky can take from getting swept out of the playoffs in the second round is the way New York defended him. If Maxey is going to be the straw that stirs the drink for the Sixers in future postseasons, he’ll have to get used to some of the looks he saw from the Knicks and find better ways to combat them.

“I saw multiple bodies every single night, like every single pick-and-roll,” Maxey said of New York’s defense. “It was the trap. Every single Brunson action. It was a trap. Every single time I got downhill. The entire team was in the paint. I was trying to kick out and I gotta really watch because I think this was definitely one of the hardest series I played in for just myself, and I had to be better for my teammates.”

It should be noted that this was probably a first for Maxey when it comes to being the offensive focal point of the Philadelphia attack. Certainly an argument could be made that a lot of respect was paid to him in the 2024 series against the Knicks, but Joel Embiid was playing at a higher level then, having had a 50-point game in that series. In the 2022 and 2023 postseasons in which Maxey was a regular in Philly’s starting lineup, James Harden was also handling the ball a lot.

Heading into 2026-27, there is no doubt that Maxey is going to have to be the primary option for the Sixers offensively, and really the player that makes the entire engine go for the Sixers. Everyone knows at this point that Embiid can’t be counted on to be the team’s best player on a nightly basis. If Paul George is back with the Sixers next season, it’s also abundantly obvious that George is best suited as a 3-and-D wing who isn’t handling the ball a ton. It all went through Maxey for most of 2025-26 and that’s going to have to continue moving forward. The question for Maxey will be if he can continue to improve as the team’s A-lister.

One thing that should be helpful for Maxey is the comfort and peace of mind he can take from knowing that Edgecombe will be a fixture in Philadelphia’s starting lineup for years to come. The two-time All-Star noted that improving his play off the ball will be an area that he’ll look to focus in on during the offseason. Maxey implied that the drafting of Edgecombe started to allow him to handle the ball less in 2025-26 and that continuing to improve as an off-ball guard will allow the Sixers to throw different looks at opposing defenses.

It might feel hard to believe, but Maxey is entering his seventh season in the NBA come the fall. He sure sounded like a leader as well after Philly’s season ended. There’s a lot of focus pointed in Edgecombe’s direction and understandably so. But Maxey made references to the invaluable experience that younger players like Justin Edwards and Adem Bona got having appeared in playoff games for the first time in their careers. There’s no doubt Maxey carries himself like a leader off the court. As we approach the summer, he’ll need to figure out the next step that comes with being at the top of the opponent’s scouting report. 

Through two games, the Western Conference Finals could not be any more evenly matched. The Thunder have outscored the Spurs by a mere two points, with both contests coming down to the wire. OKC made smart adjustments in Game 2, and now the onus is on Mitch Johnson and the Spurs to counter.

Ultimately, this series will be determined in two areas: the number of turnovers the Thunder force, and the matchup between the bigs down low. It’s a battle of strengths between the two teams, and whoever can impose their will should emerge victorious.

Let’s start with the turnovers.

The ball is lava!

So far, OKC has forced 44 turnovers to just 25 for San Antonio, and the Thunder have outscored the Spurs 55-27 off those opportunities.

Stephon Castle has become the whipping boy for San Antonio’s turnover issues, and for good reason: he has thrown the ball away 20 times in the first two games, which accounts for over 45% of their total turnovers and is the most by any player in a two-game span in NBA history. It’s quite evident that his issues have been exacerbated by the Spurs’ depleted backcourt depth, as the sophomore guard has been overburdened by having to be the primary ballhandler with Fox injured and Harper missing at least half of Game 2. If one or both of them are out for Game 3 and beyond, San Antonio will need to put the ball in the hands of Jordan McLaughlin and their wings more often, while being very selective with the types of plays they’ll run in the halfcourt.

One option is to set high screens and attack with speed. This would force the Thunder’s point of attack defender to worry more about getting over screens or switching than going for steals, while also giving the ballhandler an open runway to the paint. Using Wemby as one of the screeners could force OKC’s bigs out of the paint, and even if one of Chet/Hartenstein is still roaming down low, they’ll be forced to rotate and make it easier to throw the Alien a lob.

The following drive from Harper is a perfect example. San Antonio needs to create advantages using simple plays that get the defense scrambling, thus minimizing the potential opportunities for a turnover to occur.

The Spurs also need to get their wings more involved. Even with Julian Champagnie’s shooting prowess, OKC has been comfortable having Chet Holmgren roam off of him because they know he’s the least involved in San Antonio’s offense. They’ve been right so far, and the Spurs need to counter by using him as a screener who can flare out for threes, which could cause confusion for OKC’s defense and create open driving lanes, or force Chet to guard out in space.

San Antonio could put the ball in Devin Vassell’s hands more too, but only in specific spots. He’s not a great playmaker and shouldn’t be relied on to bring the ball up, but he’s one of the Spurs’ best players at attacking advantages. For example, San Antonio needs to hunt Jared McCain and any of OKC’s “bad” defenders whenever the opportunity arises, like what Vassell did below. Involving the Thunder’s bigs should be prioritized since they always play a drop, and any daylight for an open shot is a win for the Spurs offense.

Goliath vs. … goliath?

San Antonio has shot 43-68 at the rim to just 28-47 for OKC — a similar percentage, but the discrepancy in attempts is the bigger story. As usual, Wemby’s presence alone has made the Thunder hesitant to shoot, while his gravity on offense creates easy rim attempts for his teammates. However, his own offensive game has been made harder, especially in Game 2.

Playing Wemby using a traditional big like Hartenstein made it difficult for the Alien to get to his spots in the paint, which wasn’t an issue in Game 1 since he was defended by smaller guards. Even so, San Antonio took advantage by utilizing Wemby on the perimeter to open up the paint. Mitch Johnson used the Alien as a decoy on multiple possessions, with the play below being the best example of some innovative play calling from the Spurs coach.

However, this also resulted in tougher shots for Wemby, as he attempted seven threes and only two free throws as opposed to two threes and 13 free throws in Game 1. There were fewer lob attempts because Isaiah Hartenstein pushed him out of his usual spots, plus being on the perimeter made it easier for The Extender Tony Brothers and company to swallow their whistles. OKC has shown that their game plan to defend pick-and-rolls involving Wemby is to have their bigs show and recover, which gives the Spurs a fraction of a second to throw a bounce pass or lob.

You can see this in the play below, where both Lu Dort and Hartenstein briefly flashed at Castle before the big man recovered back to Wemby.

The Spurs could counter by running double drags, or using off-ball actions that start in the corner. They did just that to open game three in the Wolves series, by utilizing Vassell’s threat as a shooter to get Rudy Gobert to commit, putting Wemby in position for a lob. On the very next possession, San Antonio then used Wemby as the screener and immediately threw the lob, and the defense couldn’t help since they needed to be glued to shooters in both corners.

It’s easier said than done given that this Thunder team is elite at picking off passes, but the Spurs should have enough tape to know exactly when and how they can thread the needle to get Wemby on the roll.

Defensively, OKC used some big-big action to get easier looks at the rim. Chet and Hartenstein connected on multiple lobs, and the Thunder used ball movement and screens to get one going downhill, putting Wemby in no man’s land.

More importantly, playing Hartenstein diminished the Spurs’ dominance on the glass. San Antonio outrebounded the Thunder 61-40 in game 1, and the difference was cut down to just 45-41 in game 2. Hartenstein grabbed eight offensive boards alone, almost singlehandedly raising OKC’s offensive rebounding percentage from 19.7% in game one to 36.7% in game two. Given the Spurs’ injury concerns and their lack of frontcourt size besides Wemby, Harrison Barnes and Carter Bryant should get more minutes to mitigate some of San Antonio’s rebounding issues, and they would likely be matched up with one of the Thunder’s bigs if they decide to go with a twin towers lineup.

Another adjustment the Spurs could make is to have Wemby roam off of Chet in the corners as opposed to Alex Caruso or one of OKC’s guards on the perimeter. This would keep Wemby closer to the rim, and although Chet is shooting 37.8% on almost four attempts a game, he’s a much more hesitant outside shooter than any of the Thunder’s guards and has a slower release too. The other Spurs should sag off Chet and dare him to shoot so they’re not caught flat-footed if OKC makes him a driver like in the play above.

Lastly, the health of San Antonio’s guards and Jalen Williams plays a huge role in the X’s and O’s. Having Dylan Harper would help the Spurs’ point of attack defense and prevent easy drives for the Thunder, which would allow Wemby to stay in the paint more often. JDub would give OKC another body to throw at the Alien, and Fox’s speed on offense would create more room for San Antonio and relieve some playmaking burden from everyone else.

Let’s pray that they all return from injuries soon, as it will only add to the intrigue.

Lakers superstar LeBron James had over a week to reflect on his team’s 2025-26 season ending with a four-game sweep to the Thunder in the Western Conference semifinals. 

It was just the fourth time in James’ career – and the earliest in the playoffs – a team that had him on the roster was swept in James’ 19 appearances in the postseason. 

How James saw it, the Lakers didn’t lose the series to the defending NBA champions because they didn’t match the Thunder’s physicality. Or weren’t prepared.

They simply didn’t match the Thunder in talent. 

“I have the passion and the [aspiration] to host the Larry O’Brien Trophy up every single year, but also have a realization of what particular team I have been a part of in that particular year,” James said during the latest episode of his “Mind The Game” podcast, which he co-hosts with NBA legend Steve Nash. “And understanding this year, we fought and we played to the maximum ability of our team. But ultimately, if we’re being completely honest, we were out-talented.”

The Thunder were without 2025 All-Star and All-NBA third team honoree Jalen Williams during the second round matchup.

But the Lakers had an even more significant absence: superstar guard Luka Doncic missed the Lakers’ entire postseason run because of a left hamstring strain he suffered April 2 in Oklahoma City. 

Doncic was the NBA’s scoring champion for the second time and three seasons, averaging 33.5 points during the regular season. 

He finished fourth in the voting for league MVP, which Shai Gilgeous-Alexander won for the second consecutive season, and will likely be an All-NBA first team honoree for the sixth time in his eight-season NBA career. 

“We were not outworked,” James said. “They didn’t out-physical us. They didn’t outsmart us. I feel like we were just out-talent[ed] by OKC. At the end of the day, we failed in talent. OKC just possessed so much more talent than us. You could tip your cap to them in understanding that.”

With Doncic sidelined and star guard Austin Reaves out for the Lakers’ first four games of the playoffs because of a strained oblique, James led the Lakers to a six-game first round playoff series victory over the Rockets.

The Rockets were without their leading scorer, Kevin Durant, for five of the six games in the series.

James averaged 23.2 points, 8.3 assists, 7.2 rebounds and 1.3 steals in the first round against the Rockets. 

“For our team to win a playoff series, that was a huge accomplishment,” James said. “Obviously my aspirations [are] much bigger than just one playoff series. I’ve won a lot of playoff series and one is never enough. But under the circumstances of what our team went through and what we were going through at that time: AR did come back and was able to play some good basketball like the last few games, but he was still trying to find his rhythm. Obviously, we never got Luka back.

“But for our ball club, under the circumstances that it was in, to win a playoff series in the Western Conference, I give a lot of respect and a lot of kudos to our guys and to our coaching staff of mentally, physically preparing us for that matchup. It was a pretty good season.”

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Some problems have multiple solutions. Other problems have no solution, and that’s why competing hypothetical solutions seem viable to different people.

It’s hard to say which of those two types of problems the Houston Rockets have right now.

The two 2025-26 NBA Western Conference Finalists are lightyears ahead of Houston. Some fans are waving the white flag. Others are annoyed by the white flag that’s blocking their view. Everybody thinks they know what the team ought to do.

It all comes back to “the window”. It’s the ubiquitous metaphor used to describe a team’s title odds in terms of both probability and duration. As it stands, the Rockets have an extremely narrow title window that stands to be open for a long time. The two prevailing solutions to the problem (the problem being that this team has no chance to beat the Thunder or Spurs short of major injuries) are to either widen the window at the expense of length or lengthen the window’s openness at the expense of width.

Let’s simplify. Forget the window. The Rockets are not in the same league as the Thunder or the Spurs. They can either acquire a superstar that might put them in that league, or acquire assets that might keep them just outside of that league for a long enough time to capitalize on some luck (re: major injuries).

What is the solution?

Rockets’ superstar pursuits could be in vain

Firstly, we need to look at the available options. The Rockets cannot manifest a superstar player. Is the right guy even available?

Donovan Mitchell? Pass. Small guard. It would be more prudent from an asset management perspective to see how Sheppard develops. Mitchell and Fred VanVleet in the same backcourt should be a non-starter. Mitchell doesn’t even get the Rockets in the same zip code as the Thunder or Spurs.

Jaylen Brown? A bit more tempting. There are still reservations. Running Amen Thompson as the nominal two guard (while he functions as a wing) allows the Rockets to lean into size. If you bump him to the three to put Brown at the two, now you’re 6’6″ at the two and 6’7″ at the three. Now, you’re not especially large with 6’10″ish Alperen Sengun in the middle.

Is being big the be-all, end-all? Not in general, but for the Rockets, it might be. Ime Udoka wants them to bash and bruise their way to the top. Whether you think he’s an inmate running an asylum or…a warden?… There’s some logic in that approach. The Rockets are extremely unlikely to build the most talented team in the NBA by virtue of the fact that Victor Wembanyama is one of one, and so are the Thunder. Realistically, that’s the entire premise of this article.

Now, if Thompson can continue to develop as a point guard, there’s some appeal here. A Thompson/Brown backcourt is the biggest in the league. That said, based on what we saw in 2025-26, the safe money isn’t necessarily on Thompson as a long-term point guard.

It should also be noted that Brown doesn’t solve many of Houston’s pressing problems. Ball-handling is his biggest weakness. There’s a world where acquiring Brown improves the Rockets’ championship equity while building on their identity. There are likely more worlds where that move gets Houston into the Conference Finals once, only to get stomped by whichever of the aforementioned powerhouses didn’t suffer a major injury.

Take every word written about Brown, apply it to Kawhi Leonard, and then add that he’s old and will probably get hurt. Pass.

Then, there’s Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Entire manifestos have been written on the issue. Let’s keep this brief. Antetokounmpo is comfortably the best player the Rockets could acquire this summer. His inability to shoot makes him a tough sell alongside Thompson (or Sengun, but he’d presumably be in the Antetokounmpo deal).

You could acquire him and then also flip Thompson. For argument’s sake, let’s say you turn Thompson into Trey Murphy III. Let’s say you sign Brook Lopez (yes, I know he’s very old) so that Antetokounmpo has his stretch five.

Fred VanVleet / Trey Murphy III / Kevin Durant / Giannis Antetokounmpo / Brook Lopez. That team can compete with anyone. That’s a real title window.

Yet, it’s probably, shockingly, still not enough to beat the Thunder or Spurs. It could be. It’s feasible. But it won’t make the Rockets the 2026-27 presumptive title favorites. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it. It’s defensible.

It’s the second-best (possible) solution to this (possibly unsolvable) problem.

The Rockets should prioritize the future

I think the smarter move is to continue to build towards the future while fielding competitive teams. The Rockets have the luxury to do that with so many of their future first-round picks coming from other teams.

That doesn’t mean complacency. The Rockets could give the current iteration one more year to see what they can accomplish with VanVleet and Steven Adams back in the fold, or not. Let’s say they do. It seems like they want to.

If the fit issues between Sengun, Thompson, and Sheppard persist, you don’t need to go all in on a sub-top-ten superstar. You trade one of these guys (hint: It’s Sengun, because he’s the one that presents fit issues with both) for a lesser, better-fitting veteran and assets. You keep drafting.

At a minimum, you can build a team that’s a playoff fixture for a decade. That’s not the fantasy most of us lived in before now. The Rockets are picking in the lottery for time immemorial. It’s a foolproof way to build a dynasty!

No, it’s not. Such a method does not exist. As it turns out, even being a playoff fixture for a long stretch is something. There are NBA teams that have not been in that position for a long time.

Here’s the secret: Sometimes, those teams do actually win NBA championships! The ’04 Pistons. The ’11 Mavericks. The ’19 Raptors (who did make a major trade, but spent much longer than the Rockets have with a sub-championship core).

The calculus is basically this: Instead of buying one lottery ticket with a $10 million payout and a 0.000000342% chance of winning, buy ten tickets with a $1 million payout and a 0.05% chance of winning. No, you’re probably not winning either way, but giving yourself a larger number of chances maximizes the odds.

Of course, we can’t quantify NBA title odds as precisely. If you’re reading this and thinking the hypothetical Giannis and Trey Murphy III lineup has better odds than I’m suggesting, fair enough. Ultimately, there’s no singular, clear-cut solution to the problem:

If there’s even a solution at all.