The first two 50-point games of the NBA season came on Sunday but there have been plenty of other big games so far this year. Who had the best? NBA fans were treated to the first 50-point games of the season, just hours apart. First, Darius Garland did everything he could to make up for
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The Hawks are winning games but passing less than any team in a decade. Will a lack of offensive dynamism hurt them as the season goes along? The Atlanta Hawks made one of the biggest moves of the offseason, trading Danilo Gallinari, three future first-round picks and a pick swap to the San Antonio Spurs
The Houston Rockets have the worst record in the NBA but their young roster has been an absolute terror on the offensive glass. There haven’t been a ton of bright spots for a Houston Rockets team so far this season. They’re off to a 2-10 start and rank in the bottom five in the league
The Lakers have been one of the worst 3-point shooting teams in modern history to start the season. Is the problem talent or random variance? If you’re an NBA fan with a hunger for schadenfreude, the Los Angeles Lakers have been a veritable feast this season. They’re off to a 2-8 start with the worst
Six seconds is more than enough time for full dramatic arcs in NBA basketball. Here are the most exciting tiny stories, with exposition, action, resolution. Basketball moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop to look around once in a while, you could miss it. The average NBA possession this season lasts 14.3 seconds and each
This wasn’t the easiest week to be a fan of the NBA but there were still a few things bringing joy amidst all the scandals. As an NBA fan, this was one of the most discouraging weeks I can remember. The Spurs released promising young wing, Josh Primo, over the weekend for what turned out
Stars like Donovan Mitchell and Dejounte Murray aren’t the only NBA players who changed teams this offseason and are thriving in new places. Many of the biggest names to change teams this offseason have been thriving in their new homes. Dejounte Murray is averaging 22.0 points and 7.8 assists and has helped shore up the
The New Orleans Pelicans beat the Dallas Mavericks without two of their biggest stars, thanks to Trey Murphy III and a surprisingly deep bench. The Pelicans have gotten off to an impressive 3-1 start to the season but picked up their most important win Tuesday night, defeating the Dallas Mavericks 113-111 without Zion Williamson (hip
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has exploded as a scorer thanks to his relentless drives, which no one has figured out how to stop yet. This was supposed to be another rebuilding year for the Oklahoma City Thunder, particularly after No. 2 overall pick Chet Holmgren was lost for the season to a foot injury. The Thunder had
Pascal Siakam has taken another leap, adding to his offensive game and giving the Raptors an offensive engine they can rely on. At the end of last week, I collected one key stat for each NBA MVP contender but it seems I may have made a mistake in leaving out Pascal Siakam. Through seven games,
Myles Turner would apparently like the Pacers to trade him to the Lakers. But there are a lot of moving parts that could prevent this deal from happening. A weird NBA weekend — Josh Primo released by the Spurs for allegedly exposing himself to multiple women, Kyrie Irving angrily defending his own obviously antisemitic behavior
Bennedict Mathurin is just five games into his NBA career but he’s already making a difference with his skill, polish and advanced scoring tools. Unsurprisingly, Paolo Banchero looks like the early favorite for Rookie of the Year — averaging 24.0 points, 7.6 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.6 blocks per game for the Orlando Magic. But
A week into the season, the NBA MVP race looks wide open. Here’s a look at one key stat for each of the top candidates so far. By the time we get to March and April, the NBA MVP race will have likely winnowed to one or two key frontrunners. But for now, the field
Damian Lillard has been nearly unstoppable but he’s not the only player off to an impressive start in their comeback seasons. One of the most fascinating storylines coming into this season was the abnormally large number of players returning from injuries or other circumstances that caused them to miss all or most of last season.
The Los Angeles Lakers and Philadelphia 76ers both went winless in the first week of the NBA season. Which team is in deeper trouble? The Lakers have been effective on defense, allowing just 103.4 points per 100 possessions, the second-best mark in the league. Their offense has just been an absolute disaster. You’ve probably seen
Cade Cunningham has the skill to be literally anything for the Detroit Pistons. How will the pairing with Jaden Ivey shape his future? Cade Cunningham’s bag, as the kids would say, is deep. He’s got the step-back 3. The mid-range pull-up game. He can get himself to the tin. Bully smaller players in the post.
The Orlando Magic have to love what they’re seeing from Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner and Wendell Carter Jr. so far this preseason. The Orlando Magic have gotten off to an impressive preseason start, winning three of four games and notching wins over the Mavericks and Grizzlies. You obviously need to take all preseason results with
With Chet Holmgren off the board and preseason action rolling, who are the top candidates for NBA Rookie of the Year this season? Chet Holmgren’s injury took a huge name off the board in what was a very crowded field of potential Rookie of the Year candidates. But the first batch of preseason games have
Victor Wembanyama and Scott Henderson faced off in a showcase of two top NBA Draft prospects. They were every bit as good as advertised. ESPN was likely hoping for something dramatic when they arranged to televise an exhibition game between the G League Ignite and the French team Metropolitans 92 — featuring a matchup between Scoot
NBA preseason stats are notoriously unreliable especially if there is only a game or two to draw from. But there are still important things to watch for. Just a handful of teams began their preseason schedules over the weekend and only the Golden State Warriors and Washington Wizards have actually played multiple games. But even
Over the past few years, no one has taken charges as frequently as Kyle Lowry. But as he heads toward retirement his charge record could eventually be in jeopardy. Amid all the hoopla of LeBron James moving up the career scoring list last season, another historic milestone was reached. On Dec. 19, 2021, Kyle Lowry
With a potentially loaded NBA Draft class looming, which teams are most likely to sacrifice the 2022-23 season for a brighter future? Gregg Popovich has a legacy of incredibly blunt comments and he was completely on brand during Spurs media day, saying: “Nobody here should go to Vegas with the thought of betting on us
Russell Westbrook seemed to indicate he’s willing to come off the Lakers’ bench this season. Could a 6th Man of the Year campaign be coming? In an interview with ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski publish last evening, Russell Westbrook seemed to express an openness to come off the bench for the Los Angeles Lakers this season. Maybe that’s as
The back-cut is among the simplest but most spectacular plays in basketball. Gary Payton II and Bruce Brown are two of the best practitioners of this art form. There is something aesthetically captivating about the back-cut and the way it unfolds. Time slows for a second. From the bleachers or our couches, we can see
Ayo Dosunmu is one of a handful of second-year players who appears ready to build on a strong rookie season, heading for a big second year. Last year’s NBA rookie class was a revelation, with a three-way race for Rookie of the Year that went right down to the wire and a deep crop of
Becky Hammon led the Las Vegas Aces to a WNBA championship with largely the same roster as the year before. What can NBA teams learn from their evolution? On Sunday, the Las Vegas Aces won their first championship in franchise history, defeating the Connecticut Sun in four games. It was a fitting coronation for the
The Whiteboard is The Step Back’s daily basketball newsletter, covering the NBA, WNBA and more. Subscribe here to get it delivered to you via email each morning. The shadow of a Kevin Durant trade still looms over the NBA offseason and Adrian Wojnarowski added an extra dose of chaos last night with a report that the
The Whiteboard is The Step Back’s daily basketball newsletter, covering the NBA, WNBA and more. Subscribe here to get it delivered to you via email each morning. As Summer League winds down and the NBA offseason questions funnel to Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and, maybe, Donovan Mitchell, it’s time to step back and assess. As rosters
The Whiteboard is The Step Back’s daily basketball newsletter, covering the NBA, WNBA and more. Subscribe here to get it delivered to you via email each morning. Several NBA rookies have already debuted in the smaller Summer Leagues run in Sacramento and Utah. But with the Las Vegas Summer League kicking off last night, we’re about
The Whiteboard is The Step Back’s daily basketball newsletter, covering the NBA, WNBA and more. Subscribe here to get it delivered to you via email each morning. Player comparisons are an inevitable part of the NBA Draft conversation, a handy shorthand for communicating a large amount of information about a player’s physical tools, skills, possible NBA
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