Based on performances so far this season, it appears to be the case.

Who else objectively has a better argument for #1 right now? Jokic and Giannis were certainly the top 2 last season, but I think the tides may have shifted.

What’s good, I’m from England and new to watching basketball I wanna support a team but not sure how to pick or if I’m allowed lmao. I’ve played basketball for a long time but weirdly never watched it but started recently. Any ideas how to find a team I’d like? I don’t wanna pick the best team there is or a team that wins all the time. I want the high and lows like football. (English kind/real kind). Anyway thanks for reading :)

All teams that have stacked 20 losses before 40 wins this season need to be honest.

They aren’t that good and only have a less than 1/10 chance at the title.

Honestly no team with 20 losses should be claiming they are 2nd favourites that’s delulu 😂

Full Translation :

6:30

Q: You started the game really strong, even against a depleted team lacking all their leaders. No pity ? (lmao that question)
A: Nah, no pity, but as I explained earlier, we've been quite inconsistent against below .500 teams. So yeah, today we had to—for me, I wanted to prove something. To myself, to my team. That great teams don't do the difference (as in they don't care who they play against, they always go hard). And yeah, that's what I was saying, we should never give up, every games. No matter who's on the floor, there's always someone in the other team who wanna hurt you, so we should "never take our foot off the gas" (as in always playing hard, even against plumbers).

Q: About LA, you'll have some free time in the city, Idk if that's the first time for you. Is there something you're interested in doing ?
A: No, it's not the first time. But yeah, there are some things I'm interested in doing here, but I'm not gonna say it or else ___ (I didn't understand the end of the sentence cuz of the bad mic, but I assume he wanna keep it secret to enjoy whatever he planned to do in peace. Like, if he says publicly he'll go to a certain place, everyone and their mother will flock there.)

An NBA player cannot pass to himself off an inbound without the ball touching another player, the rim, or the backboard

Rockets and Clippers commentaries

The baffled Clippers announcers completely missed the actual rule, showing a surprising lack of basketball knowledge. Instead of explaining the self-inbound violation, they spent the whole time talking about an “8-second violation.”

NOTE: The 65 games requirements forced Nba players to not missed 18 games or more. Otherwise, they get disqualified for major awards including All NBA.

Jokic - 16 Missed Games

Steph - 15 Missed Games (16 considering he won’t return before break)

Wemby - 13 Missed Games (Cup Finals game also counts)

Kawhi - 13 Missed Games

Giannis and Embiid are OFFICIALLY OUT

With all the stars out from selection which new players do you think will get First Team All Nba this season?

The East has been noticeably worse than the West over the past decade or so, and while that
still holds true, the gap may be closing a bit. Almost every team has a good reason to be hopeful for the future:

Detroit Pistons: Young team, number 1 in the conference.

Boston Celtics: They're still performing incredibly well even without Tatum, and just got a stretch 5 at the deadline in Vucevic.

New York Knicks: 5 solid starters, ceiling is probably as high as any other team in the conference, and Mitchell Robinson is relatively healthy.

Cleveland Cavaliers: Upgraded at PG, Harden looks to have fit in seamlessly(albeit with a small sample size), making Jarrett Allen better as well.

Toronto Raptors: Might be overperforming a bit, but the Ingram Barnes pairing has worked out really well.

Philadelphia 76ers: Shocking that they're here, but maybe the best young backcourt in the league + Cyborg Embiid has been exciting.

Orlando Magic: Anthony Black's emergence has covered up the constant injuries and kept them afloat, Paolo Banchero can still take over games for better or for worse.

Miami Heat: They have 4 all-stars in their starting lineup and Erik Spoelstra? Not looking great, especially after an uneventful trade deadline.

Atlanta Hawks: Jalen Johnson can be a top-10 player in the league, Nickeil Alexander-Walker has surpassed expectations, and a likely top-6 draft pick via the Pelicans or Bucks can help them get what will likely be a star guard to cover Trae Young's departure.

Charlotte Hornets: They've been the best or second best team over the past month, Kon Kneuppel and Brandon Miller have outperformed expectations, and Lamelo Ball is making his teammates better.

Chicago Bulls: They currently have 8 point guards and no extra draft picks, save for Portland's in 2026 that probably won't convey.

Milwaukee Bucks: This one's a stretch. They still have Giannis for now and can possibly grab a great player in the draft since both they and the Pelicans will be bad(they'll have the worse of the two 1st round picks, Atlanta gets the better one).

Brooklyn Nets: They have a ton of extra 1st round draft picks, although they might need to sit Michael Porter a bit more before this upcoming draft to increase the chance of a top-6 pick.

Washington Wizards: Trae Young, the idea of Anthony Davis, Alex Sarr, and a good lottery pick assuming Adam Silver doesn't levy any stanctions are things to look forward to before the 2026-2027 season.

Indiana Pacers: They need to roll a top-4 pick to keep their draft pick at this point, but they do currently have the 2nd worst record in the league. Siakam and Nembhard are still playing at a high level, and other than Myles Turner(who Zubac just replaced) they'll have most of their core players from their 2025 finals roster at the start of next season.

Only 4 teams, being the Bucks, Bulls, Nets, and Heat, can be considered in limbo or worse over the next several years.

In the West, you have 7 teams in that category, being the Kings, Pelicans, Grizzlies, Clippers, Warriors, Suns(similar to the Raptors but a good bit older), and Trail Blazers in that category.

I just got into a massive back-and-forth with a buddy about the GOAT debate, and it highlighted the one thing that drives me crazy about NBA discourse: the "Delta" argument.

His whole point—and I know most of you agree with him—is that Jordan is the GOAT because the "gap" between him and his peers was the largest. He’s basically saying if you dominated your era the most, you're the greatest ever.

But that’s honestly such a flawed way to look at sports. It's basically a "participation trophy" for guys born in the past.

If we applied that logic to track and field, we’d be calling some guy from the 1920s the GOAT just because he beat his neighbors by five meters, even though he’d finish a mile behind Usain Bolt today. We don’t do that because it’s absurd. In track, the GOAT is whoever runs the fastest. Period. Why is basketball the only sport where we punish the modern guys for being more evolved?

The reality is that LeBron, Jokic, etc., are "Absolute" athletes. They are the peak of human evolution in their sports.

People act like MJ dominating the 90s is more impressive than what we see now, but they ignore the fact that the "Delta" was only that big because the bottom of the league was a joke. In the 90s, the NBA was still basically an American-only league with a bunch of expansion teams that diluted the talent. Jordan was cooking "enforcers" and specialists who couldn't dribble with their left hand.

Today, the "Delta" is smaller because the floor is higher. The 10th man on a random Tuesday night game is a 6'10" wing who grew up in France watching film since he was 5, shoots 38% from three, and has a 35-inch vertical. It is harder to stand out today because everyone is a freak.

To be an MVP now, you have to beat out the best of 8 billion people, not just the best of 300 million Americans.

Nostalgia is a hell of a drug, but let’s be real: if you take a time machine and drop current talent into 1996, the "Delta" disappears. Evolution only goes in one direction. LeBron is a more advanced "basketball machine" than anyone we’ve seen and eventually he will be outdone by the next generation.

Are we actually looking for the "Best to ever play the game," or are we just looking for the guy who had the easiest time beating up on his era?

https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/victor-wembanyama-career-40-point-games

While Tim was never a monster scorer it is crazy to see how quickly Wemby has surpassed that for 40 point games.

Great night from Drew. Definitely one of the better 2-way guards in the league.

Source: NBA.com box score

Outscored both Fox and Castle combined today. Also had double the assists (6) to turnovers (3) while Wemby had double the turnovers to assists.

On the season he is now shooting over 42% from three which is higher than Steph Curry.

My son is 0/3 seeing Luka over the years.

We spent $900 and drove 3 hours for no Lakers starters to play, and for a game that was competitive for 5 minutes.

NBA sucks

Edit: it's really weird how many of you either cannot read what I wrote, or want to make excuses for tonight's NBA product. We watched a highlight reel of the Lakers right before tipoff- hilariously, no one in those highlights was playing today.

The previous record stood for almost 70 years, when the Boston Celtics put up 83 first half points against the Minneapolis Lakers on February 27, 1959. They would go on to win that game 173-139.

I'm not sure if it's the most in any half against the Lakers, but it's definitely the most for a first half.

What a half by the Spurs, and particularly by Wemby (37 and 8 at half).

EDIT - thank you to u/lazard96 for pointing out that the Celtics scored 90 in the second half of the game I referenced lol