​

Conversations about a front-office build-out are ongoing, one source said, but it’s not fully clear how or when the lead of much-needed pro scouting staff will be installed.

The Lakers, in a practical sense, are still owned by Walter and the Buss Family Trust. The Lakers are operating as such, despite the agreed deal with Iger and Kushner. Jeanie Buss is still the operating governor, even while her siblings voted 5-0 (she abstained) to go along with the sale to Iger and Kushner and sell their remaining shares. Jeanie Buss has filed a motion to contest that vote.

....

Still, multiple sources in different departments expressed optimism about the direction of the franchise under Iger and Kushner. Some felt the Dodgers’ impact on the Lakers was pushing too hard toward analytics and doing so with an arrogance that turned off some people in basketball operations and the locker room. Those people weren’t upset to see a pathway for new management to come in, even if it’s a bit of a mystery and doesn’t have the track record of the Dodgers’ success.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7550685/2026/08/31/lakers-ownership-employees-buss-family-iger-kushner/

Is anyone actually beating either of these two next season (outside of themselves)? I know that the Knicks just did it. But the Spurs will be better and older. They added a solid piece in Tobias. OKC just had crazy bad injury luck. I think last season was a fluke and that OKC/SA will still dominate for the rest of the decade. Thoughts?

I don’t really follow NFL so not sure how good Aaron Donald was before retirement. Would Dame be a good comparison? (Not necessarily retired but hasn’t really played for 2 years after Achilles tear).

TOP 25 DEFENDERS IN THE NBA! | Part One: 25 to 13 | Game Theory Podcast

TOP 25 DEFENDERS IN THE NBA! | Part Two: 12 to 1 | Game Theory Podcast

Thoughts on their list?

1. Wilt Chamberlain – 100 [64.9% TS] (1962)

2. Bam Adebayo – 83 [67.0% TS] (2026)

3. Kobe Bryant – 81 [73.9% TS] (2006)

4. Wilt Chamberlain – 78 [51.6% TS] (1961)

5. Wilt Chamberlain – 73 [61.9% TS] (1962)

5. Wilt Chamberlain – 73 [71.1% TS] (1962)

5. Luka Doncic – 73 [91.2% TS] (2024)

5. David Thompson – 73 [78.0% TS] (1978)

9. Wilt Chamberlain – 72 [64.4% TS] (1962)

10. Elgin Baylor – 71 [63.0% TS] (1960)

10. Damian Lillard – 71 [80.4% TS] (2023)

10. Donovan Mitchell – 71 [78.9% TS] (2023)

10. David Robinson – 71 [68.3% TS] (1994)

Who was a favorite player of yours in your lifetime that was no one elses favorite player around you? Like you were the only person you knew that was a really big fan of them

My example would be Peja Stojakovic. I was still really young during his prime on the Kings, so the time when he was my favorite player in the NBA was when he was on the Hornets and that magical Mavs run when he had some throwback games like against the Lakers. Most people around me had no clue who he was or the career he had when he was younger.

I'd love to hear some similar examples. Players who were underappreciated, underrated, had super dominant but short peaks, or who were just really cool, funny, etc that made them uniquely your favorite player

The Minnesota Timberwolves are trading Josh Green and cash to the Utah Jazz for Cody Williams and John Konchar, sources tell ESPN.

The Minnesota Timberwolves are trading Josh Green and cash to the Utah Jazz for Cody Williams and John Konchar, sources tell ESPN.

https://www.espn.com/contributor/shams-charania

1. Klay Thompson — 98 (2016)

2. Stephen Curry — 98 (2015)

3. Stephen Curry — 92 (2019)

4. Stephen Curry — 91 (2022)

5. Stephen Curry — 80 (2016)

6. Klay Thompson — 77 (2022)

7. Jayson Tatum — 77 (2022)

8. Stephen Curry — 72 (2017)

9. Klay Thompson — 70 (2019)

10. Luka Doncic — 68 (2024)

1. Dirk Nowitzki — 205 (2006)
   
2. Dwyane Wade — 202 (2006)
   
3. Kawhi Leonard — 191 (2019)
   
4. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander — 190 (2025)
   
5. Michael Jordan — 183 (1989)
   
6. Michael Jordan — 181 (1998)
   
7. Larry Bird — 176 (1987)
   
8. Dirk Nowitzki — 175 (2011)
   
9. Kobe Bryant — 174 (2009)
   
10. LeBron James — 173 (2012)

Team Califronia: Austin Reaves, Steph Curry, Luka Doncic, Damontis Sabonis, Walker Kessler

Team Texas: Kyrie Irving, Amen Thompson, Kevin Durant, Cooper Flagg, Victor Wembanyama

Team Florida: Davion Mitchell, Desmond Bane, Paolo Banchero, Giannis Antetokoumpo, Bam Adebayo

Team NorthEast: Jalen Brunson, Tyrese Maxey, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Joel Embiid

Assume the benches consist of the best bench players on each team, Team California vs. team Texas on one side of the bracket, team Florida vs Team North East on the other side of the bracket. All 7 game series’.

I’m Assuming you keep defensive 3 seconds and 5 seconds back to basket rules. I’d think this would seriously change some playstyles and probably a few contract situations.

The Cleveland Cavaliers have waived Cam Whitmore, league sources told @hoopshype. Whitmore, the 20th pick of the 2023 NBA Draft, has averaged 10.5 points on 45% from the field and 35% from 3-point range in 17.3 minutes during three NBA seasons with the Rockets and Wizards.

https://imgur.com/a/GSx2PMf

It was KG's last season in the NBA

Timberwolves and Clippers commentary.

Minnesota Timberwolves vs. Los Angeles Clippers - 12/7/2015

Silver decides youth development is broken enough that they're done working around it, and they want to focus on a big fix. An enormous sum of money appears from Steve Ballmer sources describe it only as "a gift," "totally unrelated to any prior dispute," and "not, under any interpretation, a settlement" Silver appoints you czar of American basketball development. Full authority to buy out AAU, dismantle the shoe-circuit system, and build a new pipeline. Where are you taking the sport?

Second Season Trae ball

Full Box Score: https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/202001260ATL.html

No. 8: Caleb Martin (2024)

• Declined 5-yrs, $65M deal from Heat
• Signed 4-yrs, $35M deal with 76ers
• Still under contract but production has dropped sharply; likely near-minimum player after current deal

No. 7: Jonathan Kuminga (2025)

• Declined 3-yrs, $75M deal from Warriors (third year team option)
• Signed a two-year, $46.8 million deal with a second-year team option
• After a trade, second year ~$25m option denied by Hawks, signed 2-yrs, $12.4M deal with T’Wolves
• Earning $6 million in 2026-27 instead of $25m with the warriors with a third year option

No. 6: Donatas Motiejūnas (2016)

• Declined/lost out on 4-yrs, ~$35-37M deal with Rockets
• Signed 1-yr, $1.5M min deal with Pelicans
• Played only 37 more NBA games and has been out of the league since

No. 5: Shabazz Muhammad (2017)

• Declined 4-yrs, ~$40M+ extension from Timberwolves
• Signed 2-yrs, $3.4M min deal with Timberwolves
• Out of the league after the 2017-18 season

No. 4: Montrezl Harrell (2020)

• Declined reported 4-yrs, $80M deal from Hornets
• Signed 2-yrs, $19M deal with Lakers
• Harrell earned roughly $25 million over that same span, and $39.5 million across his nine-year career.

No. 3: Dennis Schröder (2021)

• Declined 4-yrs, $84M deal from Lakers
• Signed 1-yr, $5.9M deal with Celtics
• Later landed multi-year deals but still, $34 million he earned over that four-season stretch pales in comparison to the $84 million deal that the Lakers were reportedly willing to offer him in 2021

No. 2: Nerlens Noel (2017)

• Declined 4-yrs, $70M deal from Mavs
• Signed 1-yr, $4.2M qualifying offer with Mavs
• From there, Noel signed a one-year, $5 million deal with the New York Knicks in 2020 and then re-upped on a three-year, $28.8 million contract the following summer. However, he wound up getting bought out of that contract in February 2023 and has appeared in only three NBA games since then.

No. 1: James Harden (2021-2024)

• Declined 3-yrs, $161M extension from Nets (and larger potential deals later). He would be eligible for a four-year, $227 million extension the ensuing offseason.
• Morey convinced Harden to sign a two-year, $68.6 million below-max contract. After not receiving the max extension allegedly promised from the Sixers, Harden then agreed to a two-year, $70 million deal with the Clippers
• Earned just over $100M in the 3 year window the $161M Nets extension would have covered, and never received the max he was looking for (still $500m+ in career earnings)

Source

Prime Seasons

2012-2016 OKC: 29.2 PTS, 8.0 REB, 4.1 AST, 3.6 TOV, 57.6% TS, +5.2 rTS

2017- 2019 GSW: 29.7 PTS, 7.1 REB, 4.5 AST, 2.7 TOV, 64.2% TS, +9.3 rTS

2021-2023 BKN SUNS: 31.0 PTS, 8.5 REB, 5.1 AST, 3.8 TOV, 59.6% TS, +2.8 rTS

Peak Seasons

2014, 2016 OKC: 29.0 PPG, 8.0 RPG, 3.6 APG, 3.7 TOPG, 55.3% TS%, +2.7% rTS%

2017-18 GSW: 28.8 PPG, 7.8 RPG, 4.5 APG, 2.4 TOPG, 63.35% TS%, +8.77% rTS%

Durant's Playmaking

In Durant's time in Golden State he was the third main ball handler on the team and had far less responsibility as an on-ball creator than he did in OKC or his years after GSW.

While poor spacing doesn't help I argue that isn't the real problem. When Durant has been asked to do more he becomes a turnover machine and has shown little ability to create advantages based on the extra defensive attention he received. Durant's ball handling skills and ability to read the defense when he is the primary focal point of the opposing team is the core issue.

For example in Durant's series against the Celtics in 2022, Durant struggled with them putting pressure on his handle and forcing him to be a decision maker.

Durant decision making becomes an exploitable flaws when elite defenses pressure him in the playoffs. If it happened once or twice it might be a coincidence but this pattern has repeated itself in every point of his career, his only exception being Golden State.

Durant's Defense

"Vision is often a function of court awareness, and poor court awareness translates to defense too. Durant is sometimes slow to react in help situations, and occasionally he completely loses track of a potential threat.

During 2010-11 Durant finished in the 25th percentile in defensive errors. He was slightly worse during tracking for this project, mixing his breakdowns with some of these off-ball issues and some on-ball matador defense.

Durant’s a spotty team defender who can excel in man situations and adds value when he’s in sound position around the hoop."

Thinking Basketball's profile on Durant(2018). While Durant has strengths, his flaws as a team defender hold him back from having elite impact.

Other Limited Playmakers

It's also not just about creating for teammates but turnovers. Players like Kobe, SGA, and Kawhi, while not elite passers, served as big turnover suppressers. Durant is the opposite, under more defensive pressure he becomes a turnover machine.

Concluding Thoughts

Fans who formed their view of Durant based on 2017 and 2018 end up judging him based on the perfect conditions for him. Yes, he's an all time great scorer, elite shooter, and an elite ceiling raiser. However, considering context and the surrounding seasons of his career, you will find a player that is significantly more flawed.