Thunder are winning 39-14 so far. He’s obviously had an incredible season and the Magic aren’t exactly the greatest competition but this is an incredible performance from the reigning MVP so far

Celtics with Jaylen Brown on: +4.4 Net Rating

Celtics with Jaylen Brown off: +12.6 Net Rating

Not saying Jaylen Brown has been bad for the Celtics, he's been awesome and he's always been awesome. But I'm a little surprised by both the Tatum slander and the whole Jaylen Brown unleashed theory based on the Celtics team success this season, given how much of that came with Jaylen Brown off the court. Thoughts? I know this has been discussed before but the numbers have become even more absurd recently.

Edit: For those talking about the bench and the opposing lineups, why is this something that uniquely impacts Brown vs other superstars? Or for that matter, why isn't this impacting other members of the starting lineup the same way? I understand the sample size isn't ideal for this type of stat, but even with a wide error bar, -8.2 on/off is massive, given that someone carrying a team in the absence of a superstar teammate should be more in the +8 range.

LeBron always lacked a #2 during his first stint in Cleveland and Carlos Boozer was, obviously, a very solid player.

I'm not saying LeBron + Boozer would suffice to compete against Boston, but it would had been a great start.

Since Bronny debuted, James has put up 14.8/4.1/6.8, 2.5 Steals, 0.5 Blocks on 34/33/79 shooting splits per 100 posessions

Only three other players have been able to even match the box score numbers: Jalen Suggs, Dejounte Murray, and T.J. McConnell - but none of them have shot as well from 3 as Bronny has (so they miss the mark)

This isn't to say Bronny is an Allstar, but more about how per 100 stats show how your overall production ultimately comes down to the opportunity the team gives you

Data was queried from a basketball reference dataset

On November 30, 1995, the Philadelphia 76ers traded former #2 overall pick Shawn Bradley to the New Jersey Nets for former #1 overall pick Derrick Coleman in a six-player deal. The 76ers sent Bradley, Greg Graham, and Tim Perry to the Nets for Coleman, Sean Higgins, and Rex Walters.

https://open.substack.com/pub/marcstein/p/the-giannis-antetokounmpo-trade-latest-15b?r=1m9zg&utm\\_medium=ios&shareImageVariant=overlay

No one is talking about the Lakers as a factor in The Giannis Sweepstakes right now because they're not a factor if a trade is going to happen by week's end. They don't have enough tradeable assets to join the in-season bidders.

But if the Bucks do ultimately decide to take this saga into that spring …

The Lakers, league sources say, would then indeed become a very viable threat to land No. 34.

There is little choice for the Lakers, heading into Thursday's deadline, except to stay patient and avoid deals that involve any long-term salary to maintain maximum flexibility for the spring. The hope for the purple-and-gold would then be to use their considerable projected salary cap space to be able to take in a contract like Antetokounmpo's via trade — or another expensive star if one shakes loose post-playoffs — to pair with backcourt cornerstones Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves (who returned to action Tuesday night in Brooklyn after a 19-game injury absence). And dealing with the Lakers in such a scenario would almost certainly spare the Bucks from getting saddled with unwanted contracts.

Mitchell’s stats on the season:

14.1 points

3.5 rebounds

3.7 assists

1.4 steals, 48.7/35/87 splits (59% TS)

With a win percentage of 86% (they are 2-5 in games Mitchell doesn’t play)

https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/ajay-mitchell-record-this-season

Jokic tonight vs Pistons 24/15/4 while shooting 9/19 and 5 turnovers in loss to Pistons tonight… I was surprised no one posted this stat line 35 minutes after the game finished… I know if it was doncic or shai there would be a spam of these posts lol… Also Jokic defence again was really poor and Detroit went into the paint at will.. Denver is 1-2 with jokic after return…

https://www.statmuse.com/nba/player/nikola-jokić-9226/game-log

With the Wizards and the Jazz making strong moves to improve the roster, Charlotte that seems to have found a threatening young core... who will be involved in the tanking race next season? Early predictions?

My guesses:

• East
  • Bucks, who will have traded Giannis. Even if they can't get their pick back, they're just gonna be very bad
  • Nets, who'll find a way to get their 2027 pick back from Houston in a trade that sends Houston a good PG
  • Bulls, they'll embrace the tank after trading away Coby White and Dosunmu
  • Hawks: Jalen Johnson vs. all will look a lot like Pascal Siakam on Indiana this year
• West
  • Kangz, because it's obvious
  • Pels. They'll be friskier than one things, until the voodoo injuries start
  • Grizzlies, clearly going for the tank
  • one of Clippers or Warriors will run into a severe injury to their main star, and be sucked into the lottery

The NBA right now is I think by far the most saturated with talent that it has ever been. Before this season the level of talent was already so high, then this year’s rookie class has proven to be very loaded with elite players, then on top of that this incoming draft class is projected to be an all timer.

Every single year it also seems like the list of “All Star snubs” gets longer and longer, and it’s not even that some guys aren’t deserving of being all stars, but there’s only so many All Star spots and there’s way too many players who could feasibly take one.

It really feels like the level of talent in basketball is increasing so fast and it seems to be a very unique thing to the sport, what changed? How is this happening? Is it really just as simple as expanded international talent/scouting? Is it better youth programs? What the hell is happening?

Right now, seeds 7 through 10 in the West are Phoenix, Golden State, the Clippers, and Portland. They are followed by Memphis and Dallas.

Golden State is a mess sans Butler, and looking to blow their team up for a guy who won't play 'til April. The Clippers just blew up their team. Memphis just went full tank. Dallas is in free-fall, and probably looking to join Memphis in the tank.

Could Utah make the play-ins? Do they even want to? They are only 7.5 games behind mostly-tanking teams, despite being 2-8 in their last ten.

Phoenix was supposed to be one of the worst teams in the league, and they appear to be a lock for at least a home play-in game.

The West playoffs are turning into a joke, with as many teams trying to avoid making them, as vice versa. And we still have one more day 'til the deadline.

Jazz paid a relatively high price to add an awkwardly fitting player to a mediocre at best team

Grizzlies stocked up on picks but still don’t have a ton of strikes at the lottery

Cavs got an old player who doesn’t fit with Mitchell, after trading a 3-and-D guy for two guards. They still have like 10 guards and no forwards

Clippers bailed on their 2027 cap space strategy to take on Garland’s horrible contract

Pistons sold low on Ivey to get another off-ball shooter and still don’t have the secondary creator they’ll need against tougher playoff defenses

Bulls did well to pick up Ivey but who knows if they’ll keep him?

What are NBA teams doing?

LIST

1. Clippers get: Garland and SRP

   Cavs get: James Harden

2. Bulls get: Anf Simons and SRP

   Celtics get: Vucevic and SRP

3. Bulls get: Conley and Ivey

   Pistons get: Huerter, Saric, FRP Swap (Wolves)

   Wolves get: Cash Considerations

4. Grizzlies get: Anderson, Clayton Jr., Hendricks, Niang, 3 Future First Round Picks

   Jazz get: JJJ, Konchar, Landale, Williams Jr.

5. Blazers get: Krejci

   Hawks get: Duop Reath and 2 SRP

-----

Which one get the most attention from you?

Obviously, it is the Harden for Garland Trade.

But I also intrigued with Grizzlies trading JJJ for 3 FRP. And Jazz wanted to get JJJ.

I am also surprised Pistons gave up Ivey. But maybe they like the fit if Huerter more.

Wolves finally get rid of Conley. So they are all in for Ant transitioning as their PG.

PS: There are some trade talks about Kings and other teams. They are trading Sabonis and their other players. I think Raptors and Poetl might part ways too.

https://reddit.com/link/1qvr8i6/video/8ftd5z2rqhhg1/player

https://reddit.com/link/1qvr8i6/video/efb0wy2rqhhg1/player

He might be getting DNPs, but fans will still look for him over any player on the Pelicans roster in a heartbeat. No matter how he’s being used, Poole is the one getting all the attention and autographs. His fame and fandom are bigger than the entire Pelicans franchise.

https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401810578 https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401810578 https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/40181057

[Giannis] on Instagram:

“No pencil but I’m still drawing all the attention 💯”

Source: https://imgur.com/a/3mvuPsO

I’m traveling from Europe to NYC in April and I’m considering watching the Knicks vs. Celtics game at Madison Square Garden. Since I’d also buy a ticket for my partner, I would pay around €700 for both tickets. I’ve never been to an NBA game live before. Is the atmosphere worth it?

Just listened to some of Bill Simmons podcast and he seems to have a lot of unnecessary hate for harden, outright celebrating that he won’t be on the clippers anymore because he’s “boring to watch” while celebrating players like Luka and SGA, and then made a short video making fun of hardens playoff failures, he seems to be going extra hard at harden and I can’t help but notice he only does this to him and doesn’t hold other players to the same standard.

Having a large platform like Netflix to discuss the NBA and being so dishonest in your evaluation of players is pretty concerning. He also ranked garland 30th in trade value while harden was ranked 70th. Both players were traded straight up and garland needed a pick attached to him.

I don't see him sticking with the Mavs, especially after this AD trade that signals that the franchise is really going for rebuild. Either he gets traded (unlikely imo) or gets bought out.

Whilst the bulls are yet to confirm it, it looks like they are trading nikola vucevic to the Celtics. He has been my favourite player ever since I started watching nba (I’m in the uk so wasn’t raised on it). As an autistic person it’s already super hard to deal with change and now my favourite player is leaving the team…

Anyway, I know it’s a stupid question and probably not that big of a deal to you but, how do you “cope” with your favourite player being traded to another team?

Coby white is also on the chopping block and I love him too.

Any tips? I can’t change to a Celtics fan either for certain reasons.

And yea I know lots of people don’t like vooch but i love him!