Not only did the Lakers end their experiment with Russell Westbrook, they also improved the team's depth and flexibility, held onto one of their coveted future first-round picks and laid the foundation for a more sensible path forward. Read more »
Basketball Analysis
Lakers Were Among Deadline Winners With Their Backup Trade
The Nuggets Verging On True Heavyweight Status
Denver's loss in Philadelphia was meaningful not because of how it impacts a tired MVP conversation, but how it showed a crack in the overall project for the Nuggets ahead of the trade deadline. Read more »
You Partially Remember, Or Not At All
There's been a discussion, both lately and near-constantly over the past seven or eight years, about how carefully the minutes of most NBA stars are managed. Your experience watching these games, or not, exists beyond the plane of problems and solutions. Read more »
The Bucks, Sixers, And Their Quiet Thriving
Teams like the Bucks and Sixers have become boring to NBA fans who thirst for interpersonal conflict and player movement, but it won't be when the playoffs hit. Read more »
The Very Different Vibes Surrounding Walker Kessler, Rudy Gobert
Walker Kessler was thrown into the Rudy Gobert trade and has emerged as a shot-blocking force for the Jazz. Meanwhile, Gobert has become the avatar for Minnesota's disappointing season. Read more »
The History Warp Of The NBA's Scoring Explosion
Litanies of singular players forged a basketball art and consciousness too important to be expressed in numbers. Scoring totals have always been flawed historical pegs in the long story of the NBA. Read more »
The Blossoming Of The Indiana Pacers
The Pacers have developed an exciting, under-noticed style- they are near the top of the league in both pace and three-point volume, relying on Tyrese Haliburton's control of the machine but also on their considerable armada of shooters. Read more »
Cavs Remain More Cute Than Contender, For Now
Against the transformation of Donovan Mitchell, the Cavs are broadly unsettled. This is mostly a good thing. Read more »
Aaron Gordon, Nikola Jokic, And The Contender Nuggets
After two years of Jokic carrying a largely sundry crew through the woods, the Nuggets have finally formed back into a true showcase squad, worthy of many more grand stages. They are a basketball team worth falling in love with. Read more »
Raptors And Knicks, Ships Passing In The Middle Of The East's Night
Whether the Raptors try to regroup with what they have or make a rebuilding step backwards will have a lot to do with how difficult they think the battle is to win, and whether it's even worth fighting while the Bucks and Celtics peak. The Knicks, ever-beleaguered, are just happy to be where they are; as they should be. Read more »
A Glossary For The New NBA Season
Understanding The Mystery Box teams, The Cereal City Assassin, Beamlessness, Vulture Mode and more. Read more »
The Bulls Are Making Disappointment Their Home
It seems fair to say that Zach LaVine probably needs to play next to a different kind of running mate: one who runs an offense instead of bails it out; someone whose primary management he can play off. Read more »
The Distinct Experience Watching The Raptors
The Raptors play in a way that emphasizes their length. They appear in your imagination as a mass of adolescent sycamores with limbs like an interstate highway system. Read more »
Minnesota's Twin Tower Problem
The Sixers recently tried and failed a Twin Towers experiment, but were able to quickly dig themselves out of the hole. With the Wolves trading away all of their future draft capital, fixing their Gobert/Towns mix will be even more challenging for them. Read more »
Now We're Going To See How The NBA Handles Gender-Based Violence
Maybe we're at a course-correction point and there will be a real and rehabilitative process for Bridges, Primo and Udoka. Or, more cynically, this could just be the same public-relations playbook we've grown used to seeing in the NBA being run once again. Read more »
Luka Doncic And The Upside And Perils Of Radical Heliocentrism
Luka Doncic is playing to the point that he's consumed Dallas' entire universe; at a certain point, he ceased being the Mavs' star and transformed into their entire solar system. Read more »
The Time For The Thunder Is Now
What happens when you're "collecting assets" but you already have a star where keeping him happy is likely more important than marginally increasing the odds on your NBA Powerball ticket. Read more »
NBA City Edition Uniforms: A 30-Team Review
Reviewing the hits and misses of the 22-23 City Edition uniforms. Read more »
The Nets Are A Blob Of Cultural Anxieties
Most organizations cannot handle even one man who is capable of destabilizing everything going on around them, but in Kevin Durant, Ben Simmons, Kyrie Irving, and potentially Ime Udoka as well, the Nets could have four. Read more »
Kyrie Irving Provides Nothing To Engage With Beyond The Initial Provocation
It is immensely sad and angering when rich and famous people poison the cultural water supply because they are bored, or unwell, or the morphine drip of public attention has slowed, and they are itching for engagement. Read more »
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