The Boston Celtics already had their hands full on Monday night. No Paul George. No reprieve on the second night of a back-to-back on the road. Then came Marcus Smart.

Former beloved friend of the program, Smart embraced his new Houston Rockets uniform. Like a gray wolf circling wounded prey, he watched his former team struggle through a miserable 38.6 percent shooting performance before sinking his teeth in at every opportunity. Whenever the Celtics tried to put out the fire, Smart poured kerosene on it, leading Houston to a 109-93 victory and bringing Boston’s Eastern Conference-best five-game winning streak to an end.

“He woke up everybody’s ass,” Rockets teammate Alperen Şengün told Ryan Hollins postgame.

It didn’t take long for Smart to make his presence felt.

After noticing Jayson Tatum expressing his frustration with referee Matt Kallio with 3:11 left until halftime, Smart immediately fled Houston’s bench and instigated, urging the official to issue Tatum a technical foul. He was all laughs, while Tatum — considerably less amused by the antics — remained visibly frustrated as he stared Smart down for a brief second and walked back to Boston’s bench.

Smart was still all smiles, as he put his arm around Mike Conley and began plotting his scheme.

In the third quarter, Smart got Tatum again. He drew a charge on Tatum, handing him his fourth personal foul. Seconds later, Tatum was whistled for a second straight offensive foul, bringing his total to five and forcing Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla to remove him with 1:39 remaining in the frame. Tatum, visibly frustrated once again, made another unhappy trip to Boston’s sideline.

Payton Pritchard also fell for Smart’s bait, earning a third-quarter offensive foul himself. Smart did his signature Shawn Michaels-inspired kip-up to get back on his feet.

By then, it was official. Smart’s plan was in full effect.

Much like the menace who wore No. 36 for nine seasons in Boston, Smart reminded the Celtics why it’s great to play alongside him and a pain in the ass to compete against him. He went scoreless in the first half and missed his first seven shots before finally making Boston pay.

Rockets head coach Ime Udoka kept Smart on the floor to begin the fourth quarter, and the 13th-year veteran rewarded that decision with two timely shots.

Smart drained back-to-back 3-pointers, extending Houston’s lead to 90-79 with over eight minutes remaining. He raised both middle fingers in celebration, later claiming the gesture was directed at a select few seated on Boston’s bench.

“Just a lot of pent-up, I guess you can call it emotions,” Smart told reporters. “Plus, certain guys on the (Boston) bench was talking. Didn’t know who. I just heard them say something, so I let them hear it back.”

Smart finished with eight points, four rebounds, four assists, and two steals in over 19 minutes.

“You always wanna do good against your former team,” Smart added, “and show them that you still can go out there and do what you do, right? So it definitely felt good. Energy was there. They know what I can do, and I reminded them again tonight.”

The energy Tatum once benefited from having alongside him had finally come back to haunt him. Smart’s swagger was contagious, and everyone in Houston fed off it.

The Rockets shot 40 percent from three and 54.4 percent overall, having their way with Boston.

Meanwhile, the Celtics couldn’t get anything to go.

Boston’s top outside-shooting threats — Pritchard, Derrick White, Sam Hauser, and Baylor Scheierman — combined to go 4-for-21 from beyond the arc. Luka Garza, coming off the bench to play over 17 minutes, was the Celtics’ leader in 3-point makes (four), although that contribution was largely overshadowed by the rest of the team’s shooting woes.

They were a hair better from three (29 percent) than they were 24 hours earlier (27 percent) against the Orlando Magic on Sunday night.

Tatum went 1-for-7 from distance and 5-for-16 overall, finishing the night with 19 points and a season-high five turnovers in Houston.

It’s difficult enough to play two games in two nights, especially on the road, but Tatum believes the Celtics didn’t do themselves many favors either throughout the game.

“Everybody plays back-to-backs,” Tatum told reporters, per NBC Sports Boston. “We’re not the only team that’s gotta travel and play a back-to-back. Are they tough? Yeah. But a lot of us been doing this for a long time. There were moments where we cut it to six or seven (points) and couldn’t get a rebound, and they hit a three. It’s moments like that where we gotta dig deeper a little bit.”

It’s been three years since the Celtics traded Smart, originally sending him to the Memphis Grizzlies. In the years since, the 32-year-old has struggled to make his former team pay, whether because of his on-court performance or availability. But Monday night in Houston, Smart finally got his get-back, and Boston felt it.

In a push to get more people out to the ballot box, for the fourth time in five years, the entire NBA will go dark.

The league did not schedule any games Tuesday, Nov. 3, the day of the fiercely contested 2026 U.S. midterm elections. Because the first slate of polls close on the East Coast at 6 p.m. ET, with many more at 7 p.m. ET, holding games would severely interfere with the ability for people who choose to vote in person to do so.

It’s one of the three days that the NBA typically avoids scheduling games, joining Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve.

The NBA has also published a website with several resources for fans interested in voting to learn more about their polling sites, ballots, and the league even has a link to check voter registration status.

Although the entire league is off Tuesday, each team played Monday, Nov. 2. And at each of those 15 games, players wore T-shirts that said “VOTE” across the chest.

The Wizards are warming up in “Vote” shirts before tonight’s game pic.twitter.com/MBeMIuwMMs

— Greg Finberg (@GregFinberg) November 3, 2026

“No games have been scheduled for Election Day (Tuesday, Nov. 3) as the league will encourage fans and the broader NBA community to make a plan to vote and to participate in the civic process,” the NBA said in August when it issued its official release announcing the schedule.

Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr spoke on the importance of voting before their game against the Phoenix Suns on Monday, Nov. 2.

“I hope everybody votes," Kerr said. "I voted today, dropped my ballot off in a ballot box near my house, and, you know, I always encourage everybody to get out there and vote. And sometimes there's a tendency to stay away in the midterms and only vote in the presidential elections, but there's a lot of really important issues here in California.

"I hope everybody gets out there and cast their ballot. 
That's what democracy's about.”

The NBA first began the initiative of not scheduling games on Election Day in Nov. 2022. At the time, the league also encouraged its teams to promote voting initiatives. The NBA also declined to schedule games on Election Day 2023 and 2024.

And since Tuesday will be an off night, the league will return to action in full force Wednesday, Nov. 4, with a slate packed with 14 games.

Contributing: Marcus Smith

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Why are there no NBA games today? League promotes the midterm vote

A Golden State Warriors season doesn’t truly begin until Draymond Green gets kicked out of a game. This year, they have Charles Bassey to pick up the slack.

Bassey scored a career-high 19 points and collected eight rebounds, holding down the fort inside as the Warriors erased a 17-point deficit to beat the Phoenix Suns, 116-113. Golden State put up 42 points in the third quarter, Steph Curry exceeded 30 points for the third straight game, and De’Anthony Melton made two huge defensive plays late to lock down the victory.

Let’s get the ejection out of the way early. It’s become exhausting to write about Green losing control on the court, which coincidentally tends to happen when he’s playing badly or the Warriors are losing. Early in the third quarter, Green took exception to contact from second-year Suns center Khaman Maluach, which left him on the ground. To be honest, it looked like Green was flopping for a call.

Green jumped up, grabbed Maluach around the waist, and threw him to the ground. When his longtime nemesis Dillon Brooks ran in to defend his teammate, Green grabbed Brooks by the jersey and jammed a fist into the side of his neck. The result? One technical foul for Brooks, and two for Green, which meant his 23rd regular-season ejection (he’s been kicked out of two playoff games and suspended for two more). He finished with four points, four rebounds, and two assists.

Brooks claimed he was running in to de-escalate the situation, something Brooks is known for never, ever doing, but he really wasn’t in the wrong there. I’ve watched the replay multiple times and I strongly support anyone who would grab Draymond and yell, “What are you doing?” at him. There’s no word that Maluach was injured in the altercation, but he also didn’t really play afterward.

After the game, Curry said Green’s ejection “lit a fire beneath us,” but what lit up the Warriors right away was Bassey’s energy. They missed their first two shots after Green’s ejection, but Bassey tipped in a miss and drew a foul, then found Curry for one of his four third-quarter triples.

Bassey scored six points in the quarter and 10 after halftime, getting to the line for five free throws and making four. He was opportunistic, setting screens and rolling hard to the rim while also taking advantage of mismatches with smaller Suns defenders.

Of course, Steph Curry scoring 18 points in the quarter was a pretty big factor as well. He shot 6-for-9 in nine minutes, putting up double-digit points in the third quarter for the third time in his last four games (he had 8 in the other one). In the four games Curry played during the Warriors’ five-game winning streak, he’s scored 55 points in the third quarter, perhaps because he’s gone back to his old habit of reading critical tweets about his first-half performance during halftime.

Graham Ike played seven minutes and twenty-three seconds Monday night and did not record a single stat. That’s officially known as a “7 trillion,” with the seven referring to Ike’s minutes, followed by 12 consecutive zeroes in the other categories. He was -1 in those seven minutes, which means that while Ike did not have an individual moment statistically regarded for posterity, at least he didn’t foul, turn the ball over, or get in the way of better players. Plus, he had a sweet hockey assist on Curry’s corner three.

Curry finally missed a free throw in the final seconds of the game, one that could have iced the game, but it’s hard to judge him too harshly when he started the season 51-for-51. Curry is also averaging 8.7 free throw attempts per game, which is 37% more than his previous single-season high. Maybe the referees are finally showing some respect to the baby-faced assassin Dangerfield.

The Warriors got Green and Curry back after they sat out Sunday’s win over the L.A. Clippers, while Will Richard made his first start of the season in place of the injured Gui Santos and the too-slow-to-guard-Devin-Booker Georges Niang. Or Steve Kerr simply wanted The Minivan to run all over the Suns’ reserves, as he did by shooting 5-for-6 and putting up 13 points, finishing +20 in his 23 minutes.

It was a rough start, mainly because the Warriors kept settling for, and missing, three-pointers, finishing 2-for-15 from behind the arc in the quarter. A typical slow Warriors start involves a lot of turnovers, reckless fouling, or indifferent defense, but this one was simple: They could not buy a bucket, even with just two turnovers. It could have been worse, but Bassey drew some fouls and hustled his way to seven points.

Phoenix blocked the Warriors’ first three-point attempts of the second quarter, meaning they started the game going 2-for-17 from deep. After a Miles Bridges three, Phoenix led by 17 points with 8:29 to play. Even after Yaxel Lendeborg made two threes, Phoenix was still up by 16 points with 3:45 to go in the quarter. After Devin Booker (26 points) hit a short jumper, Kerr called timeout, Curry and Green came back in the game, and ESPN declared the Suns had a win probability of 88.6%. Do they do election predictions?

The Suns wouldn’t make a field goal the rest of the half, as Brandin Podziemski (20 points) led a 12-0 run that got the Warriors firmly back into the game (Suns win probability down to 62.3%). Kerr also won a challenge after Curry forced a turnover and the referees awarded Phoenix the ball, which was reversed and turned into a Curry bucket on the ensuing inbounds play.

Golden State finally tied the game in the third quarter on a Curry bucket, but didn’t take the lead until early in the 4th, on a bucket from (who else?) Bassey.

The game went back and forth throughout the final quarter. The Warriors led by as many as seven points, then lost their lead, and finally went ahead for good on a Niang three-pointer with under four minutes to go. The rest of the way, they did it with defense.

Curry stole the ball from Booker. Melton stole the ball from Jalen Green. Then, with the Warriors clinging to a five-point lead, Melton drew an offensive foul on Booker, his sixth. Not a great closing effort for Booker, who had the same number of turnovers as points in the 4th: Two.

The Warriors made it interesting, of course. After Booker’s ejection, Lendeborg blocked a Jalen Green layup out of bounds, but the Suns got a dunk after inbounding the ball. With 20 seconds left, Curry traveled, and the Suns, who were out of timeouts, cut the lead to a single point on Green’s dunk. But Curry made two free throws, Green missed the rim entirely trying to miss on purpose, and Collin Gillespie’s last-gasp 37-footer missed at the buzzer.

Curry is always the MVP of this team, but honorable mentions for Monday go to Bassey, Podz, and the security guy who dragged Draymond to the bench before he could start throttling Brooks’ windpipe.

Brooks had 18 points, with four turnovers. Jalen Green had eight assists, with four turnovers. Miles Bridges had 21 points and four steals and remains a domestic abuser who has no place in the NBA. However, he did only turn the ball over once.

It was a big win for the Warriors, who didn’t win five straight for all of last season. It was also a big win for Warriors assistant coach Frank Vogel, who has seen the Dubs defeat the two most recent NBA teams to fire him within four nights. You’re next, Orlando Magic and Indiana Pacers! They didn’t want you, Frank!

More accurately, the Miami Heat are next, coming to town on Thursday. I have a feeling Draymond Green won’t be in uniform for that one.

The Golden State Warriors won an odd game on Monday, beating the Phoenix Suns 116-113. They once again dug themselves a first-quarter hole, and this time it took them a bit longer to climb out of it. But a win is a win is a win, and the Warriors have now won five straight … something they didn’t do at any point last season.

It was a game that featured some great performances and some awful ones, so let’s grade them! As always, grades are based on my expectations for each player, with a “B” grade representing the average performance for that individual.

Note: True-shooting percentage (TS) is a scoring efficiency metric that accounts for threes and free throws. Entering Monday’s games, league-average TS was 57.2%.

Will Richard

28 minutes, 6 points, 5 rebounds, 1 block, 1 turnover, 3 fouls, 2-for-7 shooting, 2-for-5 threes, 42.9% TS, -17

Richard got the start in this one, for the second time this season. It was a play to get more perimeter defense on a team starting Jalen Green, Devin Booker, and Miles Bridges, and Richard took turns defending all three. As we’ve grown accustomed to, he played good defense, though it wasn’t the best he’s been on that side of the ball. There were definitely plenty of moments where he got beat, or was a little over eager and out of position.

He did some good things on offense, but not too much. He’s there for defense, though, and he played it.

Grade: B
Post-game bonus: Worst plus/minus on the team.

Yaxel Lendeborg

29 minutes, 16 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 2 turnovers, 4 fouls, 3-for-10 shooting, 2-for-6 threes, 8-for-9 free throws, 57.3% TS, -11

Poor Yaxel. Sunday was the first time this season that I didn’t write a grades article and, fittingly, he had his best game of the season. Obviously that’s his biggest concern, so I’m sorry, Yaxel. Please know that you would have gotten an A with two plus signs had I penned some grades.

For this game the grade has to be a little bit lower, though. Lendeborg got off to a slow start (as did the entire team), and picked up two quick fouls while struggling to get anything going on offense.

As the game went on, though, the rookie picked things up considerably, and he ended up having a very strong second half. I remain in awe of his restraint: you just don’t see a lot of rookies who are so comfortable picking and choosing their shots, and not hoisting an unnecessary number of jumpers. Critically, even after his tough start, the team turned to him on multiple possessions down the stretch, and he very often delivered, while also having a glass-check block late in the game that was probably the defensive highlight of the contest.

I’m still struggling to grade him, though, because I’m struggling to figure out what my expectations should be. This guy genuinely might be the first rookie All-Star since Blake Griffin, so how do I grade him? With all respect to Draymond Green and Brandin Podziemski, Lendeborg is far and away the second-best player on the team (until Jimmy Butler III returns, at least, and maybe after, too), and that makes grading difficult. But who cares, the show is a hell of a lot of fun to watch.

Grade: B

Draymond Green

17 minutes, 4 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover, 1 foul, 1-for-2 shooting, 2-for-2 free throws, 69.4% TS, -6

Oh, Dray. We were doing so well!

The Warriors over the last week have had the best vibes they’ve possessed since the first round of the 2025 playoffs. And Green put that in jeapoardy. Two minutes into the third quarter, he got into it with Phoenix center Khaman Maluach. After being pushed to the floor, Green got up, committed a hard foul, and kind of threw Maluach to the floor. What followed was an altercation with Dillon Brooks, in which Green shoved Brooks around the neck area. He received a technical foul for each act, and was subsequently ejected for the first time this year.

Ejections come with the territory with Green, and I’m usually one to defend him more quickly than others. After all, these are grown adults playing a high-stakes contact sport … some pushing and shoving and yelling never hurt anyone. But this was too far, and, while not as bad as his incidents a few years back with Rudy Gobert, Domantas Sabonis, and Jusuf Nurkić, these started to cross over the line from “aggressive basketball” to “violence.”

Thankfully for Green, the team responded to his absence well, but it didn’t need to go that way. His absence didn’t end up costing the Warriors the win, but it could hurt them down the road, as it’s possible he’ll get a one-game suspension for his actions.

I’ve giving Green a harsh grade for taking himself out of the game and possibly the next one, and not playing particularly well before then, either. But it’s worth noting that the Warriors players spoke after the game about how Green’s ejection fired them up, so … take that for what it’s worth.

Grade: D for disappointing

Brandin Podziemski

33 minutes, 20 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 3 turnovers, 2 fouls, 7-for-15 shooting, 3-for-8 threes, 3-for-4 free throws, 59.7% TS, -4

The Warriors, over the course of this nice winning streak, have developed a habit of starting slow and finishing strong. And Podziemski completely embodies that. Podz has really been struggling out of the gates lately, but as soon as he emerges from the locker room at halftime, he’s a completely different player.

That was again the case in this game. He couldn’t get anything going in the first half, and then he was bailing the Dubs out time and time again in the second. If he had paced his performance over the course of the game, I’d probably give him a “B” for a very solid, if not noteworthy performance. But because he had so many big plays on both ends of the court with the game on the line, we’ll bump him up a half grade.

Grade: B+

Steph Curry

33 minutes, 34 points, 6 rebounds, 7 assists, 1 steal, 3 turnovers, 2 fouls, 9-for-21 shooting, 5-for-13 threes, 11-for-12 free throws, 64.7% TS, +21

I’m sure that when the game ended and the Dubs retreated to the locker rooms, Green was waiting with a big hug for Curry. Golden State was losing when Green was ejected, and had the score held, the biggest story — maybe the only story — would have been Draymond’s transgressions. Instead, Curry went ballistic as soon as Green left the court, and scored 18 points in the third quarter alone as the Dubs rattled off 42 in the frame to tie things up.

Curry looks better this year than in the past few years, and this was his third consecutive game with at least 30 points and five made threes. He seems energized, and that’s a joy to behold, and a harbinger of how good this team can be.

Grade: A
Post-game bonus: Led the team in points and assists; best plus/minus on the team.

Gary Payton II

20 minutes, 2 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 2 turnovers, 4 fouls, 1-for-3 shooting, 0-for-2 threes, 33.3% TS, +3

Not surprisingly, GPII got a lot of run against a team with Booker, Green, and Bridges. And also not surprisingly, he handled those assignments really well. He hasn’t had one of his bursts of offense yet this season, and he had a few sloppy plays in this one, but overall, solid performance.

Grade: B-

Georges Niang

22 minutes, 13 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 foul, 5-for-6 shooting, 1-for-2 threes, 2-for-3 free throws, 88.8% TS, +20

Well that was a damn fine performance. Niang showed everything the Warriors are looking for from him: he drained open shots, passed to the open man, played strong defense while guarding a variety of positions, crashed tho glass, made the smart play, and hustled. He’s very quickly building a strong rapport with Curry, which is huge; the result is that he’s a very trustworthy player to have on the court down the stretch.

It’s not always going to work this well, but when it does? Yeesh.

Grade: A+

De’Anthony Melton

28 minutes, 2 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, 2 fouls, 1-for-9 shooting, 0-for-5 threes, 0-for-1 free throws, 10.6% TS, 0 +/-

Remember when I said, just a few words ago, that it isn’t always going to work this well with Niang? Well, that’s the case for all players in that sort of role … and Melton is living proof. Melton has had some really good games lately but this one was a bit of a clunker … at least scoring the ball, as he could not get any shots to fall.

He did some other good things though. He took care of the rock, rebounded really well, and played decent enough defense. But it’s hard to impact the game when you shoot 1-for-9 from the field, and he just looked a step behind on a lot of plays.

Grade: C

Charles Bassey

23 minutes, 19 points, 8 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 turnover, 4 fouls, 7-for-10 shooting, 5-for-6 free throws, 75.2% TS, +10

What a performance by Bassey! His role has been very undefined this year, which makes sense. He’s still trying to carve out a role in the NBA, he’s recovering from a preseason injury, and the Warriors needs fluctuate based on who they’re playing, how Green and Lendeborg are performing, and whether or not Al Horford is playing.

But Bassey got a decent-sized role in this one, and then that role expanded because he was playing so damn well. He was crafty around the rim, finding ways to contort his body to score around and through contact, en route to a career-high 19 points. He not only grabbed a bunch of boards, but did so emphatically, patrolling the paint every time a shot went up.

He even had a great memeable moment, when the ball went out of bounds and he hugged a fan.

Re-signing him is just one of many fantastic moves that the Warriors made this offseason. Hindsight is 20/20, as no one was saying they made good moves a few months ago!

Grade: A+
Post-game bonus: Led the team in rebounds.

Graham Ike

7 minutes, 0 points, -1

Ike somewhat surprisingly got some run in this game, especially after Green was ejected. He didn’t do anything statistically — he didn’t log a single stat — but I liked what we saw from him on defense.

Grade: B

LJ Cryer

39 seconds, 0 points, 0-for-1 shooting, 0-for-1 threes, 0.0% TS, 0 +/-

Cryer briefly got onto the court for an end-of-quarter offense situation, but that was all we saw of him.

Grade: Incomplete

Monday’s DNP-CDs: Malevy Leons

Monday’s inactives: Jimmy Butler III, Al Horford, Moses Moody, Kristaps Porziņģis, Gui Santos, Brandon Williams

LOS ANGELES — If an 82-game season can guarantee a team one thing, it’s disruption. And the Lakers have already had their fair share in just eight games.

Los Angeles forward Ziaire Williams missed the last three games with left foot soreness before being made active ahead of their 138-117 win against the Miami Heat on Monday. Williams, who impressed in the starting lineup to open the season, came off the bench for Jake LaRavia.

It could have been injury management. It could have also been matchup-dependent against the ever-so-powerful Giannis Antetokounmpo. LaRavia started in Williams’s place during the three games he missed. Not only did the starting lineup with LaRavia hold up, it outperformed the opening night lineup.

Head coach JJ Redick is aware of what the numbers say, but assures that it’s more about the team’s overall balance rather than LaRavia simply being a better fit with the lineup than Williams.

“I just feel like there’s balance with those lineups,” Redick said pregame on Monday. “With Luka [Dončić] and [Austin Reaves] being the primary creators and [Walker Kessler]‘s rim rolling and running. The other guys being able to guard multiple positions. … It’s not surprising to me that Jake being in that lineup with those guys is good for us, because there’s intrinsic knowledge with what we’re trying to do. Just having another guy out there who knows our stuff has been helpful.”

It’s the balance Redick has been trying to manage since the Lakers turned over their roster this offseason: meshing the new with the old. It’s a process that will take patience and time, as he’s been lamenting so often this season.

But the results have been good nonetheless. In 51 minutes over four games when Williams shares the floor with the starters (Dončić, Reaves, Kessler and Matisse Thybulle), the Lakers have a 135.5 offensive rating and a 115.1 defensive rating for a 20.4 net rating. When LaRavia has been in Williams’ spot, those numbers surge to a 144.3 offensive rating, a 90.0 defensive rating and a 54.3 net rating in 37 minutes.

Folks, those numbers are ridiculous.

For all the talk of balance and lineup optionality, it really all just boils down to Dončić continuing to be the best player in the world. The “supernova” — as Redick called him on Sunday — added another 42 points and 13 assists to his season total on Monday, dicing up every look Miami gave him on offense.

Dončić is now averaging 38.8 points, 8.1 assists and 21.3 assist points created in seven games, meaning Dončić is responsible for 60.1 points per game.

Redick added on Dončić postgame, “It’s a really good offense that we’re playing right now, and a lot of that, of course, is Dončić and what he’s able to do. Bend the defense and his shot making creates a lot of problems, and then he can make every pass.”

Williams, who scored nine points in fifteen minutes against Miami, is one of the biggest beneficiaries of Dončić’s galatctic playamking. In Brooklyn last season, without a player of Dončić‘s shot-creating ilk, Williams shot 34.3% from deep with an overall 3-point shot quality that ranked in the league’s 49th percentile, according to BBall Index.

In five games this season, Williams is shooting 47.6% from beyond the arc.

“Very easy looks. Way easier than in the past,” Williams said Monday. “They’re sending two to Luka, two to AR every time. So, it’s just swing, swing, one more, and I get to set my feet, get to square up the ball. And I put a lot of work in this summer. I trust my work. I’m confident in my shot, my shot feels great.”

It’s not just Williams. Kessler is averaging 14.4 points on 71.4% from the field, the best percentage since his rookie season. Thybulle is on pace for a career-best season from on 3-pointers (45.9%). Reaves is putting together the best shooting splits of his career (53.9/44.4/86.5), taking advantage of the pressure Dončić attracts.

Los Angeles’s offense is humming at a rate that rivals any other in the league. It’s spearheaded by perhaps the best player in the world and bolstered by a bevy of guards, wings and bigs that can shoot, pass and dribble.

Rob Pelinka and Redick’s had a clear plan this offseason, but even they may not have imagined it working this quickly and this effectively.

You can follow Connor on Twitter at @cmorenoNBA.

According to Michael Scotto, the Utah Jazz declined the team option for Isaiah Collier.

Like Scotto mentioned, Collier has averaged 9.9 points, 6.6 assists, 3 rebounds, and 1.0 steals in three seasons. This season, Collier is averaging 7.5 points, 4 rebounds, and 5.7 assists while shooting 36.8% from the field. It’s been a dissapointing start to the season for the Jazz, and a dissapointing one for Collier, who has been the focal point of Will Hardy’s bench unit all season. Collier’s assist numbers have been impressive, but he’s never been able to find a playstyle that is cohesive with the players around him, and Utah has rarely won the bench minutes with him leading the team. It’s a bummer because Collier has a lot of promise and brings a lot of energy and competitiveness, but he just hasn’t improved his game enough for the Jazz to keep investing in him.

Not everything comes down to shooting, but Collier hasn’t made a single three this season, and it allows opposing defenses to sag off him, making things difficult for everyone around him.

This isn’t the end for Collier, he’ll definitely have some interested teams looking to give him a chance, but he’ll have to find his shooting stroke to stay in the league long term.

Utah now comes away with two players in the 2024 draft that have not panned out, the only one remaining is Kyle Filipowski.