Brooklyn Nets

The Denver Nuggets have spent most of the season chasing something that once felt routine. Not wins, not rhythm, not momentum. What they have been chasing is availability.
For months, Denver has navigated injuries, absences, and constant lineup changes that disrupted continuity and delayed any chance of building sustained chemistry. The last time the Nuggets were truly complete dates back to November 14, a moment that now feels distant considering everything that followed. Key pieces missed time, rotations shifted, and roles expanded and contracted out of necessity. There were nights when Denver simply had to find enough bodies to compete, let alone execute at a championship level.
And yet, through all of that instability, the Nuggets never lost sight of the bigger picture. Now, for the first time in months, they are whole again.
With Peyton Watson returning to action, Denver finally has its full complement of talent available. It is a development that arrives at the most critical point of the season. With the playoffs approaching, the Nuggets are no longer trying to survive. They are preparing to contend. There is a difference between those two mindsets, and for much of the season, Denver has been forced into the former.
This is a roster that has already proven it can reach the summit. The blueprint exists, and the belief never left: the only thing missing was health. Now that it is back, so are expectations.
<h3>Nikola Jokic remains the center of everything</h3>
At the heart of it all is Nikola Jokic, who continues to perform at a level that has almost become normalized despite its historic nature.
Jokic is once again playing at an MVP level, quietly putting together another season that demands attention. He is averaging a triple-double, leading the entire league in that category, and dictating every aspect of Denver&rsquo;s offense with precision and control. What once felt extraordinary now feels routine, which says more about the standard he has set than any statistic ever could.
There is a tendency to overlook sustained greatness when it becomes expected. Jokic has reached that point. His ability to control tempo, create advantages, and elevate everyone around him has become the foundation of the Nuggets&rsquo; identity. Every possession runs through his decision-making. Every read he makes has a ripple effect on the entire floor. Everything begins with him, and everything ends with him.
He is the system, the engine, and the safety net all in one. His presence ensures that Denver will always have a functional offense, regardless of circumstance. Even during the most injury-riddled stretches of the season, Jokic kept the Nuggets afloat when he was on the floor. He simplified the game for his teammates, created high-percentage opportunities, and absorbed defensive attention without forcing the issue.
When surrounded by a fully healthy roster, that functionality turns into something far more dangerous and the ultimate weapon in the league.
Opposing teams absolutely cannot load up on Jokic without consequences. The return of multiple scoring threats forces defenses into difficult decisions. Help too much, and shooters are open. Stay home, and Jokic will methodically dismantle single coverage. It is a dilemma that few teams have consistently solved, especially over the course of a seven-game series.
As long as Jokic maintains this level of dominance, the Nuggets remain firmly in the championship conversation. In a playoff environment where adjustments determine outcomes, his ability to adapt on the fly gives Denver a strategic advantage that cannot be overstated.
<h3>Jamal Murray&rsquo;s long-awaited leap</h3>
Alongside Jokic, Jamal Murray is putting together what can be described as the best season of his career.
For years, Murray&rsquo;s postseason performances have defined his reputation. He has built a reputation as a player who rises when the stakes are highest. This season, however, he has brought that same level of impact into the regular season. The result is his first All-Star selection, a recognition that reflects both his production and his consistency over a larger sample size.
Murray is scoring at a career-high level while posting some of the most efficient shooting numbers of his career. His shot selection has improved, his decision-making has sharpened, and his ability to control the pace of the game has taken another step forward. He is no longer just a secondary creator. He is a co-engine of Denver&rsquo;s offense.
More importantly, he has found a rhythm that complements Jokic without overlapping responsibilities. Their two-man game remains one of the most effective partnerships in the league, built on timing, trust, and an intuitive understanding of each other&rsquo;s tendencies. They do not just run plays, they read defenses together and they have been lethal in doing so.
When Murray is operating at this level, the Nuggets become significantly more difficult to defend. Jokic no longer has to shoulder every offensive burden, and defenses cannot key in on a single option. Instead, they are forced to navigate a dynamic that punishes overcommitment and hesitation alike.
This version of Murray elevates Denver from contender to legitimate threat. It also provides a level of offensive security that becomes critical in late-game situations, where execution often determines outcomes.
<h3>Role players finding their rhythm and rounding into form</h3>
Health has not only restored the Nuggets&rsquo; core, it has also allowed their supporting cast to rediscover form and purpose.
Aaron Gordon and Christian Braun have both worked their way back from injuries that interrupted their seasons. Their return stabilizes Denver&rsquo;s defense, bringing back two of the team&rsquo;s most versatile and physical contributors on that end of the floor. Both players are capable of guarding multiple positions, switching across matchups, and providing the kind of physical presence that becomes essential in playoff basketball.
Gordon continues to expand his offensive range, adding more confidence to his perimeter shooting while maintaining his effectiveness as a cutter and interior finisher. His chemistry with Jokic remains one of Denver&rsquo;s most reliable sources of easy offense. Braun, meanwhile, has embraced a more aggressive approach, actively seeking scoring opportunities and applying pressure in transition. His willingness to attack has added another layer to Denver&rsquo;s offensive versatility.
The addition of Cam Johnson has been a story of patience. There were stretches where his shot was not falling, raising questions about his purpose after trading away Michael Porter Jr. Recently, he has begun to find his rhythm, knocking down perimeter shots with greater consistency. If that trend continues, his floor spacing will become a crucial element in Denver&rsquo;s playoff offense. His ability to stretch defenses opens driving lanes and creates cleaner looks for others.
The return of Bruce Brown adds another layer of familiarity and versatility. Brown understands the system, the expectations, and the details that matter in high-stakes moments. He can screen, cut, handle the ball, defend multiple positions, and connect lineups that might otherwise struggle to function cohesively. Players like him often determine the margins in playoff games, where a single possession can shift momentum.
Off the bench, Tim Hardaway Jr. provides instant offense. His ability to heat up quickly from beyond the arc gives Denver a scoring option that can swing momentum in short bursts. In a playoff setting, that kind of scoring punch off the bench can be the difference between maintaining a lead and surrendering it.
Then there is Spencer Jones, whose emergence has been one of the quieter developments of the season. Stepping into a larger role during periods of injury, he has earned the trust of head coach David Adelman by replicating aspects of Gordon&rsquo;s role. His energy, defensive activity, and willingness to do the small things have secured him a place in the rotation. Those contributions often go unnoticed, but they are essential in a playoff environment where depth is tested.
Beyond the primary rotation, the Nuggets have depth they can rely on when needed. Veterans like Jonas Valanciunas and Tyus Jones offer stability and experience, while younger players such as Jalen Pickett, Julian Strawther, Zeke Nnaji, and DaRon Holmes provide energy and situational impact.
For the first time in months, all of these pieces are available at the same time. That alone changes the equation, and their continuity allows roles to settle. It allows chemistry to build and allows the Nuggets to play the way they were designed to play.
<h3>Peyton Watson&rsquo;s emergence adds a new dimension</h3>
While health has restored the Nuggets&rsquo; structure, the emergence of Peyton Watson has expanded it.
Watson&rsquo;s development has been one of the most compelling subplots of Denver&rsquo;s season. During stretches when the roster was depleted, he was forced into a larger role. Instead of merely filling minutes, he produced. Instead of deferring, he attacked. That stretch of responsibility accelerated his growth in ways that might not have been possible under normal circumstances.
There were moments when Watson operated as a primary option, and he delivered with confidence. That experience has translated into a more complete offensive game. He has shown the ability to score at all three levels, knocking down perimeter shots, attacking the rim off the dribble, and creating space for midrange attempts. His willingness to take those shots has changed how defenses approach him.
What makes his emergence particularly significant is how it fits within Denver&rsquo;s existing structure. The Nuggets have always relied on movement, cutting, and unselfish play. Watson enhances all of those elements. He remains an active cutter, a vertical threat, and a willing participant in the flow of the offense. He does not need to dominate the ball to be effective, which makes his integration seamless.
Defensively, his impact has not diminished. He continues to apply pressure on the ball, rotate effectively off it, and provide secondary rim protection. That combination of offense and defense gives Denver a player who can influence the game in multiple ways without disrupting its balance.
The Nuggets have not had a player with this exact profile in previous seasons. Watson introduces a new layer, one that raises the team&rsquo;s ceiling and gives them another option when primary actions are taken away.
His contractual situation, with restricted free agency on the horizon, will be a storyline for another time. For now, his focus is clear. He is part of a team with championship aspirations, and his role within that pursuit continues to grow.
<h3>The emotional weight of being whole again</h3>
There is also an emotional component to Denver&rsquo;s current position that cannot be ignored.
Championship teams are not just built on talent. They are built on continuity, trust, and shared experience, and injuries disrupt all of those elements. They force players into unfamiliar roles and prevent the team from establishing a consistent identity. For months, the Nuggets had to operate without that sense of stability.
Being healthy again restores confidence in rotations, and it will be crucial for the Nuggets moving forward. Players know where they belong. They understand their roles. They can anticipate each other&rsquo;s movements. That level of familiarity allows teams to execute at a higher level, especially in high-pressure situations where hesitation can be costly.
For a team that has already experienced the highest level of success, that familiarity carries even more weight. The Nuggets know what a championship run requires. They know the adjustments, the physicality, and the mental resilience needed to navigate four playoff rounds.
Now, they have the opportunity to tap into that experience once again.
<h3>Health remains the ultimate variable</h3>
For all the talent, depth, and momentum the Nuggets now possess, one question still defines their season.
Can they stay healthy?
It is a simple question with a complicated history. Injuries have already shaped their journey, forcing adjustments and testing their resilience. The front office has assembled a roster capable of competing with the best teams in the league. The coaching staff has managed rotations under less than ideal circumstances. The players have adapted to changing roles.
Now, the final requirement is continuity.
If the Nuggets can maintain their health, they have everything needed to make another deep playoff run. They have the best player in the world in Jokic. They have a proven second option playing at an All-Star level. They have defensive versatility, shooting, experience, and depth. More importantly, they have a shared understanding of what it takes to win at the highest level.
The memory of their 2023 championship run is a reference point. It is proof that this group, when whole, can navigate the demands of the postseason and emerge on top. The Nuggets are finally healthy again, and that is what makes this moment significant. In a league where margins are thin and timing is everything, that might be the most important development of all.

The Nuggets are finally healthy, with Nikola Jokic leading an intact roster into the playoffs as they aim for another deep title run.

Healthy at last, Nuggets ready to chase another NBA title run

There are championship teams, and then there are dynasties. The Chicago Bulls of the 1990s were the latter, a franchise that didn&rsquo;t just win titles but fundamentally changed the way the world understood professional basketball. In a candid conversation with veteran sports journalist <a href="https://scoopb.com/2026/03/from-chicago-bulls-last-dance-dynasty-to-deans-list-the-resilience-of-jason-caffey/">Brandon &ldquo;Scoop B&rdquo; Robinson</a>, former Bulls forward Jason Caffey pulled back the curtain on what it was really like inside one of the greatest teams ever assembled, revealing the tensions, the relationships, and the moments that defined an era.
<h2>The Jerry Krause Problem</h2>
Every dynasty has its fault lines, and for the Bulls, much of the internal friction ran directly through general manager Jerry Krause. Caffey didn&rsquo;t mince words when Robinson asked about the tipping point between players and the front office.
&ldquo;When I came into the situation, the guys NEVER got along with Jerry Krause. He was just a shrewd businessman. God rest his soul, but Michael would sit there on the bus and call him &lsquo;the sloop.&rsquo;&rdquo;
What followed those bus rides painted a vivid picture of a locker-room culture shaped from the top down or, in this case, from the back of the bus. When Michael Jordan set the tone on Krause, the rest of the roster followed suit. Scottie Pippen, still simmering over a contract that underpaid one of the best players in the world, added his own fuel to the fire. The result was a front office that existed in a kind of cold war with its own players, a dysfunction that somehow coexisted with six championship banners.
It speaks to the complicated legacy of that Bulls run. Chemistry doesn&rsquo;t always mean harmony. Sometimes it means a shared adversary.
<h2>Learning From a Silent Beast</h2>
If Krause represented the tension within the Bulls organization, Dennis Rodman represented something entirely different, a quiet, relentless standard of professional excellence that left a permanent mark on everyone around him.
Robinson asked Caffey about the mental preparation required to play alongside Rodman&rsquo;s unique and electrifying personality. The answer was both surprising and deeply instructive.
&ldquo;Dennis was a great guy to learn up under. He didn&rsquo;t say three words the whole year but, one of the first guys at practice, he&rsquo;s gonna ride the elliptical an hour before practice. He&rsquo;s gonna practice the ENTIRE practice.&rdquo;
Caffey, a young power forward trying to earn his place among legends, described practically having to beg Rodman to step off the floor so he could get reps with the first string. The image is remarkable, a future champion so consumed by preparation that his teammates had to negotiate for practice time. Rodman&rsquo;s silence wasn&rsquo;t disengagement. It was a focus.
Now 52, Caffey credits that experience directly for his continued commitment to physical fitness. The lessons absorbed from Rodman, Jordan, and Pippen didn&rsquo;t expire when the final buzzer sounded on the dynasty. They became a life philosophy.
<h2>The Trade That Stung</h2>
Perhaps no moment in Caffey&rsquo;s career carries more emotional weight than his 1998 trade to the Golden State Warriors, a move that arrived just before the Bulls pursued what would become their sixth and final championship of the decade.
What made the departure sting even more was what happened behind the scenes. Both Michael Jordan and Dennis Rodman publicly advocated for Caffey to remain in Chicago, a gesture that clearly still resonates deeply with the veteran forward.
&ldquo;It was awesome that my teammates trusted me at that time and they wanted me on the team. For him to step up and speak on my behalf in a good manner really made me feel proud of myself.&rdquo;
In a dynasty defined by Jordan&rsquo;s will and Krause&rsquo;s calculated maneuvering, having the greatest player in the world go to bat for you meant everything. For Jason Caffey, that loyalty is the championship he still carries with him.

Jason Caffey reflects on his time with the Chicago Bulls, Jerry Krause, and the trade that prevented a third championship.

Jason Caffey on Bulls Dynasty & Costly Trade

There is something quietly remarkable about Gary Payton II. In a league where legacies are inherited as readily as surnames, he has spent the better part of a decade carving out something that belongs entirely to himself,&nbsp; a reputation built not on bloodline, but on relentless effort, defensive tenacity, and an unmistakable hunger to prove that he is more than a footnote to his father&rsquo;s Hall of Fame story.
In a recent interview with journalist <a href="https://scoopb.com/2026/03/id-request-a-trade-immediately-gary-payton-ii-on-a-seattle-sonics-return-the-1996-finals-against-mj-carving-his-own-path-beyond-the-gloves/">Brandon 'Scoop B' Robinson of ScoopB.com</a>, Payton II pulled back the curtain on a childhood that was equal parts privileged and complicated, and a future that, if he has anything to say about it, might one day circle back to where it all began.
<h2>Growing Up Payton in Seattle</h2>
Robinson asked Gary Payton II what he remembers about his father&rsquo;s playing days, and his face likely lit up the same way it does when he&rsquo;s locking down an opposing guard on a big defensive possession. &ldquo;A lot of Seattle days,&rdquo; he told Robinson. His memories are vivid, warm, and tinged with the kind of wonder that only a child standing inside a professional locker room can fully understand.
Kevin Garnett is coming over for dinner. Allen Iverson and Vince Carter are dropping by. George Karl&rsquo;s coaching staff roams the halls of practice. For most kids, these names are posters on bedroom walls. For a young Gary Payton II, they were the men at his family&rsquo;s dinner table. It was an extraordinary upbringing, one that provided access few could imagine, while simultaneously placing expectations on his young shoulders that were nearly impossible to carry.
That duality, the gift and the burden of growing up a Payton, shaped the man he would become. By openly acknowledging the mental battles of his youth and the bullying that came with bearing a famous name, Payton II has done something that many sons of legends rarely do: he has been honest about the cost. His current success is not a product of entitlement, but of survival, persistence, and an internalized version of his father&rsquo;s legendary competitive fire.
<h2>Memories of the &rsquo;96 Finals</h2>
Even the most storied chapter of his father&rsquo;s career,&nbsp; the 1996 NBA Finals against Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls, lives in Payton II&rsquo;s memory not as mythology, but as lived experience. He was only four years old, and he&rsquo;s the first to admit the details blur. But certain images remain: the crackling atmosphere inside KeyArena, the electric energy of a city gripped by basketball fever, and the unforgettable moment of going to see Jordan after a game.
&ldquo;Just going up against Mike,&rdquo; he said, was the defining memory of that season. The SuperSonics may have ultimately fallen to Jordan&rsquo;s Bulls in six games, but for a four-year-old Payton, the Finals were not a loss, they were magic.
<h2>A Trade Request Waiting to Happen</h2>
Perhaps the most telling moment of the Robinson interview came when the conversation turned to the long-discussed prospect of Seattle reclaiming its NBA franchise. Payton II didn&rsquo;t hesitate. &ldquo;I would probably request a trade immediately,&rdquo; he said, laughing, but the laughter barely concealed something genuine underneath it. The desire to play for a Seattle team, to pull on a SuperSonics jersey before his career ends, is real and runs deep.
It is a sentiment that resonates far beyond one player. Seattle&rsquo;s NBA wound has never fully healed, and Payton II,&nbsp; son of its greatest player, serves as a living symbol of what the city lost when the Sonics departed in 2008.
<h2>A Legacy Distinctly His Own</h2>
What the Scoop B interview ultimately reveals is a player who has made peace with his name while refusing to be defined by it. Gary Payton II has secured a legacy built on lockdown defense, championship contributions, and a genuine love for the game that mirrors his father's yet remains independent of it. Whether or not<a href="https://landonbuford.com/nba-expansion-update-seattle-las-vegas-teams-targeted-for-2028/"> Seattle </a>ever calls him home, he has already answered the only question that ever truly mattered,&nbsp; and the answer, emphatically, is yes. He belongs.

Gary Payton II reflects on his Seattle roots, the 1996 NBA Finals, and the dream of a homecoming tied to the Sonics legacy.

Warriors' Gary Payton II on Seattle Roots & ’96 Finals Dream

Some stories from the golden era of the NBA exist in that fascinating space between confirmed history and beloved lore,&nbsp; too detailed to be invented, too strange to be mundane. The tale of what happened in an elevator at the 1998 NBA All-Star Game in New York City sits squarely in that territory. It involves a teenager named <a href="https://rg.org/news/basketball/phil-handy-jordan-kobe-lebron-goat-debate">Kobe Bryant</a>, a 270-pound veteran named Jayson Williams, a near-brawl in an enclosed space, and the intervention of a man who would eventually become the 45th and 47th President of the United States.
The confined space of an elevator is the last place you want to be when a 270-pound professional athlete decides he has been disrespected enough. According to Williams's account, one he has told many times over the years with the kind of vivid detail that only a born storyteller can summon, that is exactly where things stood between him and a young Kobe Bryant during All-Star Weekend at Madison Square Garden.
A Future President Steps Between Two Giants
Williams reportedly swung at Bryant, and what started as a locker room tension between a veteran who felt disrespected and a teenager who refused to back down threatened to become something far worse. This is where the story takes its most improbable turn. Donald Trump, then a New York fixture and real estate mogul who had turned celebrity into its own kind of currency, did not step back. He stepped in.
Trump later confirmed the incident during an interview with Jake Paul, offering a characteristically direct account of what happened. "That was a long time ago. Yeah, well I was breaking up a fight, which sometimes is more dangerous than being in a fight," Trump said. "But I like Kobe. Kobe was having a hard time with somebody, and it worked out fine. But yeah, I broke it up,&nbsp; probably not a smart thing to do. Historically, it's never good to break up fights."
According to the account that has circulated since, Trump physically grabbed Williams and told Bryant to get out. The elevator doors opened. Kobe walked. A potential disaster for the NBA's rising star, a teenager still finding his footing in the league, was averted in one of the most unlikely moments in sports history.
"I was breaking up a fight, which sometimes is more dangerous than being in a fight... I like Kobe. Kobe was having a hard time with somebody, and it worked out fine." <a href="https://nypost.com/2026/03/14/sports/donald-trump-confirms-breaking-up-fight-involving-kobe-bryant/">said Donald Trump</a>
<h2>Charles Oakley, the Witness Who Doesn't Quite Remember</h2>
Every great piece of basketball lore needs a credible voice to place it in context, and Charles Oakley, one of the toughest and most respected players of that era, provides exactly that, even if his account comes with a caveat. Oakley, speaking with Yahoo Sports, was measured: he doesn't personally recall being in the elevator that day, but he has absolutely heard the story, told by Williams himself, on multiple occasions to multiple people.
"He had told it to some people that I was around," <a href="https://scoopb.com/2026/03/exclusive-the-night-trump-saved-kobe-inside-the-1998-elevator-brawl-with-untold-accounts-from-jayson-williams-and-charles-oakley/">Oakley said to Brandon 'Scoop B' Robinson</a>&nbsp;"Jayson, he liked to be a story. He's a storyteller. I told him, 'Jayson, I mean, you 55, 57. You probably told that story 50 times.'" When I spoke with Oakley separately, he echoed that sentiment. While he couldn't personally account for the specifics of the elevator incident, he was quick to note that Williams tells it with extraordinary conviction and color. "Jayson is an awesome storyteller who brings these moments to life with incredible detail," Oakley said. That endorsement, from a man who has no incentive to embellish, carries its own weight.
<h2>Jayson Williams and the Locker Room That Made History</h2>
Williams's connection to the 1998 All-Star Game runs deeper than one elevator encounter. He has vivid memories of walking into the locker room at Madison Square Garden and locking eyes with Larry Bird, who was coaching the Eastern Conference that weekend. The history between them stretched back to Williams's second game in the league, when Bird, still active and relentless, had torched him for 45 points while repeatedly demanding that the coach put the rookie back in so he could keep going.
"He just looked at me and said 'Your minutes are on the board'... And I said 'Thanks Coach' and he goes 'You f---n' rookie!' This is Larry Bird and he remembered that for 25 years!" Williams said. "He's one of the biggest and best smack talkers but he can back it up. All the time though!"
And then there was Michael Jordan, the loudest presence in a room full of legends. Williams describes Jordan's energy that day as laser-focused and entirely intentional: MJ was announcing to anyone who would listen that he wanted the ball every single possession. "He was coming in there letting us all know that he wasn't going to take the ball out because you know in the All-Star Game when you take the ball out you don't get it back," Williams explained. "He's MJ baby! He's the best who ever did it."
<h2>Why This Story Still Matters</h2>
The 1998 NBA All-Star Game produced a box score and a winner. But the stories that live from that weekend, a future president breaking up a fight in an elevator, Larry Bird's long memory for a rookie he once torched, Michael Jordan manufacturing motivation in real time, are the ones that remind you why the human element of professional basketball is as compelling as anything that happens between the lines.
Jayson Williams may have told the elevator story fifty times. But fifty tellings of a story this strange, this specific, and this perfectly placed at the intersection of basketball and American history is not repetition. It is preservation. And now it belongs to the record.

A veteran who felt disrespected. A teenager who refused to back down. A future president who stepped into the middle of it. The story of one of the NBA's most surreal untold moments — set against the electric backdrop of Madison Square Garden in 1998.

Donald Trump Stopped Kobe Bryant–Jayson Williams Elevator Fight (1998 NBA All-Star)

The Los Angeles Lakers paid tribute to one of the most influential figures in NBA history on Feb. 22, 2026, unveiling a bronze statue of Hall of Famer Pat Riley outside Crypto.com Arena in Star Plaza.
The nearly eight-foot statue &ndash; capturing Riley in one of his signature Armani suits with his right fist raised &ndash; cements his legacy alongside Lakers immortals like Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.&nbsp;
Riley, 80, was present for the ceremony as dozens of Lakers legends, family, friends and NBA icons looked on. The statue depicts the coach in mid-leadership pose, a nod to the famed &ldquo;Showtime&rdquo; Lakers&rsquo; signal for Magic Johnson to fire the ball toward Kareem&rsquo;s skyhook &ndash; a symbol of his era-defining offense.&nbsp;
Riley&rsquo;s statue stands between those of Lakers greats Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in Star Plaza, making him the eighth individual in franchise history to be so honored. During his time in Los Angeles, Riley coached the Lakers from 1981 to 1990, leading them to four NBA championships and seven Finals appearances while crafting one of the most iconic styles of play in league history.&nbsp;
Lakers governor Jeanie Buss, whose father Jerry Buss promoted Riley to head coach in 1981, called him &ldquo;a guardian angel for this franchise,&rdquo; emphasizing his unwavering commitment to excellence and his role in shaping Lakers culture. Longtime teammates and former players &ndash; including James Worthy, Jamaal Wilkes, Norm Nixon, Bob McAdoo, A.C. Green and Byron Scott &ndash; joined the celebration, sharing memories and honoring Riley&rsquo;s impact on and off the court.&nbsp;
Also in attendance were figures from Riley&rsquo;s post-Lakers career, including Dwyane Wade, who won three championships under Riley&rsquo;s leadership as Miami Heat head coach, and acclaimed actor Michael Douglas &ndash; a longtime friend who spoke about Riley&rsquo;s influence on his own career and style.&nbsp;
While Riley&rsquo;s coaching career spanned multiple teams &ndash; including deep playoff runs with the New York Knicks and an NBA championship with the Miami Heat &ndash; it was his role in the Lakers&rsquo; 1980s dynasty that forged his lasting imprint on NBA history. The &ldquo;Showtime&rdquo; era revolutionized the league with its pace, flair and strategic innovation, and Riley&rsquo;s leadership was at the heart of it.&nbsp;
Now immortalized in bronze, Riley&rsquo;s likeness will stand as a reminder of a transformative chapter in Lakers history &ndash; inspiring future generations and preserving the legacy of one of the game&rsquo;s great architects.

The Los Angeles Lakers honor legendary coach Pat Riley with a bronze statue outside Crypto.com Arena.

Lakers honor franchise legend Pat Riley

<div>Every February, LeBron James has been wondering why he didn't participate in the Slam Dunk Contest for more than two decades, one of the NBA's great what-ifs. Fans have debated the topic in barbershops, on sports radio, and across social media.</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
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<div>Brandon 'Scoop B' Robinson's recent interview with former <a href="https://bookmaker-ratings.ru/tip/sport-types/tip-nba-tips/">NBA </a>forward and 1992 dunk champion Cedric Ceballos has given new life to the conversation, even though some parts of the past need to be addressed.</div>
<div>Ceballos didn't just suggest that LeBron skipped the contest because he wasn't interested.</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>He defined it as something deeper: the preservation of the brand.</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>&ldquo;He had a chance his rookie year and he didn&rsquo;t,&rdquo; <a href="https://scoopb.com/2026/02/cedric-ceballos-talks-vince-carters-springs-anthony-edwards-rise-and-why-lebron-james-skipped-the-dunk-contest/">Ceballos told Robinson</a>. &ldquo;After that rookie year, anything after that would damage his credibility and his career. It&rsquo;s not really if he wins it &mdash; because he&rsquo;s supposed to win it &mdash; it&rsquo;s that if he loses it.&rdquo;</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>
<div>According to Ceballos, the risk outweighed the reward. LeBron had already become too big, too famous, and too accustomed to dominating. Winning would be the standard operating procedure.</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>Losing would be a headline that would follow him forever.</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>To reinforce his point, Ceballos referenced LeBron's high school years.</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>
&ldquo;He lost in the McDonald&rsquo;s All-American Game,&rdquo; Ceballos said, claiming that a then lesser-known Shannon Brown outshined LeBron in the dunk contest. &ldquo;Shannon Brown beat him, but he was a little bit not as famous as LeBron and they gave it to LeBron.&rdquo;
The story fits neatly into Ceballos&rsquo; narrative: LeBron experiencing early proof that even one loss could dent his aura.
The problem? It didn&rsquo;t quite happen that way.
&nbsp;
<h2 data-start="1601" data-end="1646">What Ceballos Was Really Arguing</h2>
Ceballos' fundamental basketball critique was evident, even though his memory was spotty. According to him, LeBron is a powerful power dunker - one of the best in live action - but not a specialist in dunk contests.
&ldquo;LeBron dunks on a lot of people,&rdquo; Ceballos implied, &ldquo;but trickery, suaveness &mdash; no.&rdquo;
<div>LeBron's remarkable abilities are attributed to his speed, strength, timing, and rim violence, not to his choreographed creativity. In the past, the Dunk Contest has awarded both flair and force equally.</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>The basketball argument is fair. Michael Jordan, Dominique Wilkins, Vince Carter, and Zach LaVine were legends of the contest, blending athleticism and innovation.</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>Windmills, free-throw line glides, props, timing, and theatrical moments all play significant roles.LeBron's game has always been about efficiency and dominance, not pre-planned artistry.</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<h2>The McDonald&rsquo;s Contest Reality</h2>
Officially, LeBron James won the 2003 McDonald&rsquo;s All-American Slam Dunk Contest in Cleveland. The other finalists were Shannon Brown and J.R. Giddens.
However, the nuance matters.
Many recaps from that night noted that LeBron&rsquo;s dunks were solid but relatively basic &mdash; powerful, clean, but not jaw-dropping. Brown, on the other hand, pulled off one of the most impressive single dunks of the event but missed multiple attempts afterward, hurting his overall score.
LeBron benefitted from consistency, hometown energy, and others&rsquo; miscues.
So while Ceballos is wrong that LeBron &ldquo;lost,&rdquo; he&rsquo;s not wrong that the perception afterward was more complicated than a dominant victory.
Even as a teenager, LeBron was learning something crucial: when you&rsquo;re the most famous player in the building, expectations distort everything.
<h2 data-start="3213" data-end="3356">The Real Risk for Superstars</h2>
This is where Ceballos&rsquo; brand argument actually lines up with reality.
For a player like LeBron James, the Dunk Contest was always a high-risk, low-reward proposition.
If he won? Fans would shrug and say he was supposed to.
If he lost &mdash; especially to a smaller, less famous, more creative dunker like Nate Robinson, Gerald Green, or Zach LaVine &mdash; it would instantly become a meme, a punchline, a permanent footnote.
History backs this up. Dwight Howard&rsquo;s loss to Nate Robinson still gets referenced. Aaron Gordon losing twice despite incredible dunks became a running joke about being &ldquo;robbed.&rdquo; The contest doesn&rsquo;t forget.
And LeBron has essentially acknowledged this dynamic himself over the years.
He&rsquo;s said repeatedly that if he ever did the Dunk Contest, he&rsquo;d &ldquo;have to win&rdquo; &mdash; otherwise it wouldn&rsquo;t be worth it. That mindset alone shows how much pressure and perception factored into the decision.
<h2 data-start="4098" data-end="4298">LeBron&rsquo;s Own Explanation</h2>
Publicly, LeBron has always framed his absence in basketball terms rather than branding ones.
He&rsquo;s emphasized that his goals <a href="https://x.com/ScoopB/status/1668247108309118977">were championships</a>, MVPs, Defensive Player of the Year awards &mdash; not dunk trophies.
He&rsquo;s also consistently called himself an &ldquo;in-game dunker,&rdquo; explaining that he doesn&rsquo;t enjoy planning or practicing set-piece dunks. For him, dunking is about reacting in real time, attacking defenders, and finishing with force &mdash; not choreography.
That explanation fits his personality and play style perfectly.
But it doesn&rsquo;t exclude the brand reality either.
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<h2 data-start="5066" data-end="5370">So Was Ceballos Right?</h2>
Factually, no &mdash; LeBron didn&rsquo;t lose that high-school contest to Shannon Brown.
Conceptually? He was tapping into something very real.
From the moment LeBron entered the league as &ldquo;<a href="https://rg.org/news/basketball/phil-handy-jordan-kobe-lebron-goat-debate">The Chosen One</a>,&rdquo; every appearance became a referendum on greatness. The Dunk Contest, meant to be fun and experimental, would&rsquo;ve placed him in a situation where creativity mattered more than dominance &mdash; and where a single off night could live forever online.
For a generational superstar with nothing to gain and everything to lose, skipping it made strategic sense.
In that light, LeBron&rsquo;s absence doesn&rsquo;t look like fear or lack of interest alone. It looks like a calculated understanding of modern sports culture, expectations, and reputation.
<h2 data-start="5481" data-end="5659">The Middle Ground</h2>
<div>LeBron James' Dunk Contest absence was not only framed as a branding decision by Cedric Ceballos, but also by an associate of James' <a href="https://landonbuford-com-488060.hostingersite.com/lakers-lebron-james-associate-reveals-real-reason-he-skipped-dunk-contest/">Rob MC in the Walklikeus room</a> a few years back.</div>
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<div>They said it did not fit LeBron's image at the time and pointed out that the contest was less exciting after the best players stopped participating in the early 2000s.</div>
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<div>He answered those who questioned LeBron's drive by citing his famous 3-1 Finals comeback, and also reminded everyone that many great players skipped the contest.</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>LeBron stayed out of the Dunk Contest, not because he was scared, but because he thought it could hurt his reputation more than it could help, choosing his long-term legacy over a show, according to their comments.</div>
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Cedric Ceballos explains how branding, risk, and legacy factored into LeBron James's decision not to enter the NBA Slam Dunk Contest.

Ex-Laker Cedric Ceballos Weighs-In on Why LeBron Skipped the Dunk Contest

There are great rookie seasons in the NBA that are etched into history. Every single one of the greats &ndash; LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Luka Doncic, and many more &ndash; have had awesome rookie seasons that are likely indicators of how their careers would pan out in the league. And then there are seasons that bend the timeline that puts you in a spot among other greats in the league.
Cooper Flagg&rsquo;s rookie year belongs in that category.
It isn&rsquo;t just hype, projection, or promise during this current season. This is real production that is historic and increasingly impossible to contextualize within normal rookie expectations. Flagg isn&rsquo;t just winning Rookie of the Year this season but he&rsquo;s separating himself from the field in a way that forces a different conversation altogether.
His recent stretch doesn&rsquo;t make any sense for a 19-year-old in the league, a teenager nonetheless. Over his last four games, Cooper Flagg has authored one of the most absurd scoring stretches the league has seen from a first-year player:
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">32 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">36 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">34 points, 12 rebounds, 5 assists</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">49 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists</li>
</ul>
That&rsquo;s 37.8 points per game, 9.3 rebounds, and 4.5 assists on an outrageous 64.1% true shooting &ndash; numbers that would be eye-popping for a superstar in his prime, let alone a 19-year-old navigating his first NBA season. His 151 points over that span are the most by a rookie in a four-game stretch since Allen Iverson in April of 1997. History doesn&rsquo;t offer many comparisons &ndash; and that&rsquo;s the point. Flagg is setting the bar for expectations higher than what he is projected to be coming into the season.
<h3>Rewriting the Rookie Record Book</h3>
With his most recent 32-point performance, Flagg added even more lines to a growing list of accomplishments that feel surreal for someone his age and he has rewrote some of the rookie record book&rsquo;s scoring performances:
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">He is the youngest player in NBA history to record four straight 30-point games</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">He is the first rookie since Michael Jordan (1985) with four consecutive games of 30+ points and 5+ rebounds</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">He is the first rookie since Allen Iverson (1997) to score 150+ points over any four-game span</li>
</ul>
Those names aren&rsquo;t thrown around lightly &ndash; Jordan and Iverson &ndash; cornerstones of NBA mythology and greatness. Flagg isn&rsquo;t chasing their shadows &ndash; instead he&rsquo;s placing himself directly into their historical lanes.
To be completely clear, this isn&rsquo;t a knock and an indictment of fellow rookie and former college teammate Kon Knueppel, who has been outstanding in his own right. Knueppel has exceeded expectations, played with poise beyond his years, and established himself as one of the best rookies in the class with his shooting ability and gravity that also has never been before seen as a rookie coming in.
But this conversation isn&rsquo;t about second place &ndash; it&rsquo;s about recognizing that what Flagg is doing exists on a different plane. He&rsquo;s not merely outperforming his peers, but he&rsquo;s doing things rookies are not supposed to be capable of doing, let alone poised enough to sustain.
He plays with an understanding of space, timing, and pressure that typically comes years later. His confidence comes from a standpoint of certainty instead of a bravado that he brings with his game.
<h3>The Skill, the Poise, the Presence</h3>
But what separates Flagg isn&rsquo;t just the scoring alone, it&rsquo;s how it comes and how he does it. His skill, poise, and presence have all been outstanding right from the jump. Flagg scores at all three levels, punishes mismatches, makes advanced reads when help comes, and rebounds with purpose. He&rsquo;s decisive without being rushed, aggressive without being reckless, and dominant without hijacking the offense.
There&rsquo;s a calm to his game &ndash; a sense that he understands not just what&rsquo;s happening, but what&rsquo;s about to happen.
And that&rsquo;s the rare part. Rookies aren&rsquo;t supposed to react and adapt this fast into the league, and Flagg is already doing that.
<h3>&ndash; &ndash; &ndash;</h3>
The league has seen prodigies before. But even the best rookie scorers often come with inefficiencies, limitations, or narrow offensive roles. Flagg has avoided those pitfalls entirely, at least from what he is showing so far with almost two-thirds of the season done.
His efficiency remains elite, his workload is increasing, his confidence is compounding, and his impact stretches beyond the box score.
Opposing defenses are already loading up on him. Game plans are shifting, and the respect has arrived early. If anything, this will help him to become an even better basketball player.&nbsp;
At this point, the Rookie of the Year race feels like writing on the wall already. Barring something unforeseen, Cooper Flagg has separated himself decisively.
But awards are secondary to what&rsquo;s really happening. This is the emergence of a player who doesn&rsquo;t fit traditional developmental curves. A player whose ceiling conversations feel increasingly outdated because his present reality is already brushing against them.
Cooper Flagg is playing like the future of the league, among other bright stars ahead of him, and he will likely remain so for years to come.

Cooper Flagg is redefining what’s possible for a rookie, delivering a historic four-game stretch that places him among the greats.

Cooper Flagg is not your ordinary rookie

The Chicago Bulls officially etched Derrick Rose&rsquo;s legacy into franchise history, raising his No. 1 jersey into the rafters in an emotional ceremony on Saturday, January 24. For a city that lives and breathes basketball, it was a long-overdue tribute to a player who carried Chicago&rsquo;s hopes in the post-Michael Jordan era.
A true hometown hero, Rose was born and raised in Chicago before becoming the No. 1 overall pick in the 2008 NBA Draft. From the moment he arrived, he represented more than just a new face of the franchise &ndash; he symbolized belief. With his explosive athleticism, fearless rim attacks, and quiet confidence, Rose quickly became the centerpiece of a Bulls revival and a beacon of hope for a proud basketball city searching for its next star.
That belief reached its peak in 2011, when Rose delivered one of the most memorable individual seasons in NBA history. He became the youngest MVP the league has ever seen, leading the Bulls to a league-best record and an Eastern Conference Finals appearance as the No. 1 seed in the East. During his time in Chicago, Rose led the Bulls to the playoffs every season he was healthy, firmly reestablishing the franchise as an Eastern Conference power.
But Rose&rsquo;s story is inseparable from the adversity that followed. His devastating ACL injury during the 2012 playoffs against the Philadelphia 76ers marked a turning point &ndash; not just for his career, but for an entire era of Bulls basketball. Despite relentless rehab and multiple comeback attempts, Rose was never quite the same physically. Still, his resilience, humility, and perseverance earned him admiration across the league.
Today, Rose remains one of the most beloved figures in Chicago sports history. His journey &ndash; from MVP to comeback trailblazer &ndash; inspired fans, teammates, and a generation of players who saw his perseverance as proof that greatness isn&rsquo;t only defined by longevity or statistics. With his jersey now hanging in the United Center rafters, Derrick Rose&rsquo;s impact on Chicago basketball is officially immortalized, right where it belongs.

The Bulls retire Derrick Rose’s No. 1 jersey, honoring the youngest MVP in NBA history and a hometown hero for Bulls basketball.

Bulls retire Derrick Rose’s no.1 jersey

Houston Rockets superstar Kevin Durant added another historic milestone to his Hall of Fame resume on Sunday night, moving into sixth place on the NBA&rsquo;s all-time scoring list by passing Dirk Nowitzki during Houston&rsquo;s 119-110 win over the New Orleans Pelicans. Durant&rsquo;s achievement marks the latest chapter in one of the most prolific scoring careers in league history.
Durant needed 17 points to eclipse Nowitzki&rsquo;s total of 31,560 career points, and he finished the night with 18 points, securing the milestone with a free throw late in the fourth quarter. The 15-time All-Star now has 31,562 career points and trails only five legends on the all-time scoring list: LeBron James, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Karl Malone, Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan.
Earlier in the season, Durant also passed Wilt Chamberlain to claim seventh place on the scoring list &ndash; another testament to his sustained excellence and longevity in the league.
In a postgame video tribute, Hall of Famer Dirk Nowitzki &ndash; whom Durant has long called one of his idols &ndash; congratulated KD and spoke about his remarkable scoring ability, describing him as &ldquo;one of the purest, smoothest scorers this game has ever seen.&rdquo;
At 37 years old and in his 18th NBA season, Durant continues to produce at an elite level, averaging over 26 points per game and showing he remains one of the league&rsquo;s most dangerous offensive weapons. With the next milestone up his sights &ndash; passing Michael Jordan for fifth all-time scoring &ndash; Durant&rsquo;s climb up the historic leaderboard isn&rsquo;t done yet.

Houston Rockets superstar Kevin Durant moved into sixth place on the NBA’s all-time scoring list by passing Dirk Nowitzki.

Kevin Durant continues to make history, pass Dirk Nowitzki for 6th all-time scoring list

Former NBA guard Jeff Teague believes the Denver Nuggets remain the team to beat in the Western Conference &ndash; and he didn&rsquo;t hesitate to put a prediction on it.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to be honest, if Jokic and them are fully healthy, they are going to 4-2 OKC,&rdquo; Teague said in a recent podcast. &ldquo;They already took them to seven games last year and they were not healthy with some injuries here and there. I really like this Denver team this year.&rdquo;
Teague&rsquo;s confidence isn&rsquo;t coming out of nowhere. There&rsquo;s real substance behind his take, especially considering how Denver has looked this season and how much continuity remains from its championship core.
Nikola Jokic is once again playing at an MVP level, averaging a near triple-double while putting up historically efficient numbers. His command of the offense continues to be the foundation of everything Denver does, and when he&rsquo;s healthy, the Nuggets&rsquo; ceiling rises to championship level.
Jamal Murray, meanwhile, may finally earn his long-awaited All-Star selection. He&rsquo;s averaging career highs across the board and remains the ideal No. 2 option next to Jokic, perfectly complementing Denver&rsquo;s read-and-react style with his shot-making and playmaking.
Around them, Denver&rsquo;s supporting cast has quietly taken meaningful steps forward. Aaron Gordon has improved as a three-point shooter while continuing to provide physicality, toughness, and elite off-ball movement. Christian Braun, fresh off a contract extension, has developed strong chemistry with Jokic. Cam Johnson, brought in to replace Michael Porter Jr., has seamlessly filled his role as a spacer and cutter, maximizing his impact without disrupting the offense.
Off the bench, free-agent additions Tim Hardaway Jr., Bruce Brown, and Jonas Valanciunas have given Denver reliable depth, shoring up areas that were tested during last year&rsquo;s postseason run.
Perhaps the biggest revelation this season has been Peyton Watson. His growth on both ends of the floor has been noticeable, and with Jokic missing time, Watson has stepped up offensively, giving Denver another viable option and further stabilizing the rotation.
When you combine roster depth, continuity, and elite chemistry, it&rsquo;s easy to see why Teague views the Nuggets as Oklahoma City&rsquo;s biggest obstacle. If Denver stays healthy, they may very well be the Thunder&rsquo;s toughest challenge in the race to return to the Western Conference Finals &ndash; and possibly punch another ticket to the NBA Finals.

Jeff Teague believes the Denver Nuggets are the best team in the West.

Jeff Teague thinks the Nuggets are the best in the West: “They going to 4-2 OKC”

In a landmark moment for his Hall of Fame resume, James Harden climbed past Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal on the NBA&rsquo;s all-time scoring list, earning ninth place in league history with a vintage offensive performance for the Los Angeles Clippers.&nbsp;
The milestone came in Monday night&rsquo;s 117-109 win over the Charlotte Hornets, where Harden poured in 32 points and dished out 10 assists.&nbsp;
Harden&rsquo;s 3-pointer early in the third quarter marked the official point that pushed his career total beyond Shaq&rsquo;s mark of 28,596 points &ndash; with Harden now sitting at 28,614 points and counting through 1,187 regular-season games.
The achievement is another major milestone in a career defined by elite scoring and longevity. Harden first cracked the NBA&rsquo;s top 10 all-time scoring list last season, and now ranks ahead of one of the most dominant centers in league history. Still ahead of him on the all-time list are legends such as Wilt Chamberlain (8th), Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, Dirk Nowitzki and the all-time leader LeBron James. Kevin Durant is currently at 7th.
Harden reflected on the moment postgame, calling it a &ldquo;true honor&rdquo; to eclipse the Hall of Famer he grew up watching, underscoring the weight of joining the sport&rsquo;s elite scorers.

James Harden climbed past Shaquille O’Neal on the NBA’s all-time scoring list, becoming the 9th placed player.

James Harden surpasses Shaquille O’Neal to move into No. 9 on all-time scoring list

The trade rumors for Michael Porter Jr. have intensified by the day, and several accounts online have pointed out the Golden State Warriors as the favorites to land the Brooklyn Nets forward.
Porter Jr., who is having a career season this year after being traded from the Denver Nuggets, presents as a trade target for many contending teams in the league. A 6-foot-10 forward that can shoot over opponents and offers length on the defensive end at the forward spot, Porter Jr. is the kind of player that teams covet - and it&rsquo;s no surprise that the Warriors have inquired for his services.
In exchange for Porter Jr., the Warriors are reportedly offering young forward Jonathan Kuminga who has fallen out of the rotation for the squad. Kuminga presents a lot of potential as a scoring forward, and he would be likely on the Nets&rsquo; radar with their emphasis on getting younger and developing young talent for their future core.
If the Warriors end up completing this move, Porter Jr. will greatly help with spacing the floor alongside Stephen Curry. He will give Golden State shooting and length at the forward spot since their 2022 championship days, when they still had another Porter, Otto Porter Jr. in the lineup.
Porter Jr. and Curry alongside Draymond Green and Jimmy Butler will form one of the more potent lineups in the league with the fit and playstyles each of them will be providing, and that could push the Warriors to contender status.

The trade rumors for Michael Porter Jr. have intensified, with Golden State being viewed as a potential landing spot.

Trade rumors for Michael Porter Jr. intensify; Warriors viewed as landing spot

This article is from a press release by the NBA
The NBA and the global basketball community are set to mark World Basketball Day on Dec. 21 with a wide-ranging celebration aimed at engaging hundreds of millions of fans and youth across the world, highlighting basketball&rsquo;s roots, reach and enduring social impact.
Now in its third year, World Basketball Day commemorates the date in 1891 when Dr. James Naismith first introduced the game of basketball at a YMCA in Springfield, Massachusetts. Established by the United Nations in 2023, the annual celebration recognizes basketball as a unifying force across cultures and continents&mdash;an idea the NBA is embracing through clinics, community programs, digital campaigns and in-arena activations worldwide.
This year&rsquo;s observance carries added significance as it coincides with the 175th anniversary of the YMCA, widely regarded as the birthplace of the sport. In recognition of that milestone, the NBA and YMCA announced a year-long collaboration focused on youth basketball and community development, extending a long-standing partnership that will support millions of young people and families across the United States.
The initiative will include youth-focused programming and renovations of select YMCA facilities nationwide, directly benefiting the more than six million youth the YMCA serves annually. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver emphasized the historical importance of the moment, noting that World Basketball Day in 2025 serves as both a celebration of the game&rsquo;s origins and a reflection of its global influence more than a century later.
&ldquo;World Basketball Day takes on a special meaning this year as we commemorate the 175th anniversary of the YMCA, where the sport was first invented 134 years ago,&rdquo; Silver said. &ldquo;We are thrilled to join our many friends in the basketball community to celebrate the game&rsquo;s impact and influence around the world.&rdquo;
The NBA&rsquo;s digital footprint will play a central role in the celebration. Across its global and localized social platforms, the league will feature NBA players sharing what World Basketball Day means to them, alongside highlights from events taking place in different regions. Fans are encouraged to participate by tagging @nba, @nbacares and @jrnba on social media using the hashtag #WorldBasketballDay.
On the grassroots level, the Jr. NBA and Jr. WNBA programs, along with NBA Basketball School initiatives that reach tens of millions of youth and coaches globally, will gain access to a special playbook containing exclusive training and educational content designed to promote skill development and values such as teamwork and leadership.
World Basketball Day will also intersect with the NBA&rsquo;s competitive calendar. Dec. 21 will serve as a &ldquo;3-for-1 Day&rdquo; in NBA All-Star Voting, allowing fans with an NBA ID to submit one ballot per day via the NBA App or NBA.com, with each vote counting triple toward All-Star selections.
Across the United States, numerous NBA franchises&mdash;including the Lakers, Celtics, Heat, Bucks, Mavericks and Warriors&mdash;will celebrate through localized events and in-arena activities. Several player-led initiatives will headline the festivities, including youth clinics hosted by former and current NBA players such as Taj Gibson and Michael Carter-Williams. In St. Louis, the Gateway Region YMCA recently hosted a youth clinic attended by Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum, who also announced upcoming YMCA renovations supported by NBA Cares and The Jayson Tatum Foundation.
Internationally, the scope of World Basketball Day underscores the NBA&rsquo;s global reach. FIBA will announce the inductees for its 2026 Hall of Fame class, while NBA Africa and the Basketball Africa League will deploy 19 coaches to conduct clinics across 13 African nations, reaching more than 600 coaches as part of a long-term effort to develop the sport on the continent.
The Philippines, one of the NBA&rsquo;s most passionate international markets, will play a visible role in the celebration. Local basketball players and content creators from the country will be featured across the NBA&rsquo;s localized channels, while NBA Stores in the Philippines will host World Basketball Day scavenger hunts offering fans the chance to win merchandise and exclusive discounts. Beginning on Dec. 21, fans who purchase official NBA merchandise at participating stores will also receive a complimentary World Basketball Day T-shirt while supplies last.
NBA champion Jayson Tatum highlighted the personal significance of the day, pointing to basketball&rsquo;s role in shaping lives beyond the court. &ldquo;World Basketball Day is a chance to celebrate the game and the impact it has on people everywhere,&rdquo; Tatum said. &ldquo;Basketball has had such a positive influence on my life, and I hope I can pass along the joy and skills I&rsquo;ve learned to the next generation.&rdquo;
WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert echoed those sentiments, emphasizing the sport&rsquo;s ability to open doors for girls and women worldwide. Leaders from FIBA, USA Basketball, the NCAA, the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, the NBCA and the NFHS also underscored basketball&rsquo;s educational, cultural and community value, reinforcing the idea that the game&rsquo;s influence stretches far beyond professional leagues.
As basketball continues to grow as the world&rsquo;s fastest-rising sport and the second most popular globally, World Basketball Day stands as both a tribute to its humble beginnings and a celebration of its future. From neighborhood gyms to global arenas, Dec. 21 will once again spotlight how a simple game invented more than a century ago continues to connect communities, inspire youth and bring the world together through a shared love for basketball.

The NBA and the global basketball community are set to mark World Basketball Day on Dec. 21 with a wide-ranging celebration.

NBA, Global Basketball Community Unite for World Basketball Day Celebration

Golden State Warriors icon Stephen Curry etched his name further into the NBA record books this week, surpassing Michael Jordan for the most games with 40 or more points by a player age 30 or older.&nbsp;
The feat came as Curry poured in 48 points in a high-octane performance, giving him 45 career 40-point games since his 30th birthday &ndash; one clear of Jordan&rsquo;s previous mark of 44.
At 37 years old, Curry continues to defy conventional aging curves in professional sports, showcasing an elite scoring ability that few in league history have matched late in their careers. His latest scoring outburst included efficient shooting and a barrage of threes, reinforcing his reputation not just as the greatest shooter ever but also as one of the most prolific scorers in longevity terms.
Curry&rsquo;s climb up the all-time list of 40-point games after age 30 has been a major storyline this season, especially as he tied Jordan earlier in the year and then moved past him with this signature performance. The milestone places Curry at the top of a unique statistical category that measures sustained scoring excellence deep into a player&rsquo;s 30s &ndash; a period in which many stars begin to decline.
While the Warriors&rsquo; overall record this season has been mixed, Curry&rsquo;s historic achievement stands as a testament to his individual brilliance and durability. Even as his team navigates wins and losses, his scoring outputs continue to make NBA history and fuel conversations about his long-term legacy.

Warriors icon Stephen Curry added anothe NBA record to books this week, surpassing Michael Jordan for the most games with 40 or more points by a player age 30 or older.

Stephen Curry passes Michael Jordan for most 40+ point games after turning 30

After becoming a champion in Denver, Michael Porter Jr. moves on to Brooklyn for career growth &ndash; and the Nets are letting him become who he was projected to be coming out of high school: a full-fledged star in the NBA
Michael Porter Jr. has never lacked talent. That was never the question &ndash; not in high school, not in college, not at the NBA level. The questions, instead, hovered around everything else: the injuries, the fit, the role, the contract, the playstyle, and the frustrating nights where the ball barely moved. Fair or not, the narrative around Porter Jr. has followed him for years.
But in Brooklyn, something is changing.
Porter Jr. has erupted for three straight 30-point games, playing perhaps his best basketball over the past three games and becoming the first player in Nets franchise history to record 30+ points, 5+ rebounds and 5+ threes in three consecutive outings. In a season that has felt like another learning experience and a transitioning year for the franchise, he has emerged as one of the bright spots in a tough season record-wise: a reminder of the player many once believed he would become.
It&rsquo;s easy to forget now, but before back surgeries derailed his trajectory, Porter Jr. was the top prospect in the 2018 class &ndash; ranked above Deandre Ayton, Marvin Bagley III, and even Luka Doncic on several boards. He was the long, fluid, three-level scorer every team coveted. He was billed as a franchise centerpiece, not a complementary piece.
That version of MPJ rarely had space to breathe in Denver. Playing alongside Nikola Jokić, Jamal Murray, and Aaron Gordon meant living as a third or fourth option, functioning more as a floor spacer than a fully realized scorer. His job was to hit shots, run the floor, defend, rebound &ndash; not to dominate possessions or shape the offense.
The Nuggets needed role players around Jokic. And true enough, Denver traded Porter Jr. to Brooklyn this offseason in exchange for Cam Johnson. The move was framed more as a financial relief and role concerns. Porter Jr.'s contract was massive, and his perceived fit issues &ndash; amplified by statements around the league and online about him being &ldquo;Michael never swinging the rock Porter Jr.&rdquo; &ndash; made it somewhat with sense and drawn from something.
This was a change of scenery for Porter Jr., and a chance to show that he is skillful enough to be a first option in this league. The Nets saw something different in him: a big wing scorer just entering his prime age years, fully capable of putting pressure on defenses in ways few players his size can.
Now that they&rsquo;ve given him the keys, Porter Jr. is showing why it was worth the bet.
His scoring bursts aren&rsquo;t coming from chaotic, ball-stopping sequences. Instead, they&rsquo;re flowing inside a structure tailored to his strengths &ndash; quick-hitting pindowns, ghost screens, high flares, and mid-post touches where his high release point becomes unguardable. He looks confident. He looks free. He looks like someone playing without the weight of expectation for the first time in years.
A major piece of this resurgence is Nets head coach Jordi Fernandez, whose steady grip within the organization amid all the losing has turned into one of Brooklyn&rsquo;s most important stories.
Porter Jr. called Fernandez a &ldquo;genius,&rdquo; indicating the head coach for putting him in a position to succeed as a scorer, and not just a catch and shooter. The tape supports it: Fernandez has built an offensive ecosystem that bends toward Porter Jr.&rsquo;s natural tendencies instead of demanding he mold himself into something else.
Brooklyn is putting him in spots Denver seldom did: early-clock actions where he gets a head start, mismatches in the mid-post, and movement threes that let him catch without thinking. For the first time in a long time, Porter Jr. isn&rsquo;t being told to adapt &ndash; and he has Fernandez to thank for that.
Perhaps there is a deeper significance to all of this. Porter Jr. has spent years hearing the critiques: doesn&rsquo;t pass enough, doesn&rsquo;t defend consistently enough, benefits too much from Jokić&rsquo;s brilliance, can&rsquo;t lead a team in scoring, can&rsquo;t justify the huge contract given to him.
This current stretch won&rsquo;t silence every doubter &ndash; and it shouldn&rsquo;t be expected to. But it does something just as important: it proves that when the opportunity is there, he can be a first option. He can generate efficient offense, and he can carry the load. He&rsquo;s no longer just the guy who fits around stars. He&rsquo;s capable of being the star.
And with Brooklyn in search of identity, direction, and hope, Porter Jr. has unexpectedly become a key asset for the franchise &ndash; a player proving he can be the version of himself the basketball world once saw early in his career.

The Nets are letting Michael Porter Jr. become who he was projected to be coming out of high school: a full-fledged star in the NBA.

Michael Porter Jr. discovers star path with Nets in a career resurgence

There was a time when every Nikola Jokic triple-double was a headline. Now, it&rsquo;s just another night in the NBA.
Through the first seven games of the season, Jokic has recorded a triple-double in five of them &ndash; a feat that, for almost any other player, would be hailed as an early-season masterpiece. For Jokic nowadays though, it barely makes noise &ndash; or so we thought.&nbsp;
His latest line &ndash; 33 points, 15 rebounds, and 16 assists in a win over the Miami Heat &ndash; came and went without much fanfare. No major debates, no viral clips, just another Nikola Jokic game.
It raises a sobering question: Have we started taking Nikola Jokic for granted?
When greatness becomes routine
In a league dominated by storylines, Jokic has somehow become background noise. There&rsquo;s the buzz surrounding Oklahoma City&rsquo;s rise to their dynasty aspirations, led by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander&rsquo;s another MVP-level play. There&rsquo;s Victor Wembanyama&rsquo;s historic two-way surge, Luka Doncic torching defenses nightly, and Giannis Antetokounmpo reclaiming his MVP momentum as the Bucks return back into contention. Amid all this, Jokic continues to produce at a level that would define other players&rsquo; careers &ndash; and yet, it&rsquo;s treated as business as usual.
Maybe that&rsquo;s the curse of consistency. Jokic has been performing at an MVP standard for six straight years, making extraordinary basketball look almost effortless. His greatness has lost its novelty, not its effectiveness. The NBA world seems to have reached the point where a 25-12-12 stat line is expected out of him night in and night out, and anything less is considered an off night.
That kind of expectation can only mean one thing: we might have grown numb to the brilliance of the Joker.
Jokic&rsquo;s game defies conventional flash. He doesn&rsquo;t soar above defenders, doesn&rsquo;t scream after dunks, and rarely demands attention. Instead, he dissects opponents with surgical precision &ndash; manipulating angles, finding shooters, and bending defenses until they break.&nbsp;
He makes the hardest parts of basketball look like second nature. And perhaps because of that, his dominance no longer shocks us.
Watch him closely, though, and it&rsquo;s clear this is not normal. No one in NBA history has combined this kind of scoring efficiency, playmaking creativity, and rebounding control in one body. Jokic&rsquo;s blend of power and patience, vision and touch, feels like something out of a different era &ndash; or maybe a different dimension.
Yet, somehow, it doesn&rsquo;t dominate the discourse anymore the way it once did.
The cost of familiarity
It&rsquo;s possible that &lsquo;voter fatigue&rsquo; has caught up with Jokic &ndash; not just in award voting, but in the public consciousness. When a player sustains greatness for this long, the conversation naturally shifts elsewhere. The media and fans often chase new narratives, new stars, new sensations. Jokic, who&rsquo;s been doing this for years, no longer fits the mold of &ldquo;breaking news.&rdquo;
But it&rsquo;s worth remembering: he&rsquo;s still the best player in basketball.
Since 2019, Jokic has averaged roughly 26 points, 12 rebounds, and 9 assists per game while leading the Denver Nuggets to sustained success, including the 2023 NBA Championship &ndash; a run that stamped his legacy as one of the all-time greats. And yet, even as he keeps doing it, his name often fades into the background of louder storylines.
The truth is, we&rsquo;ve normalized his greatness to the point where we no longer fully appreciate it. It&rsquo;s not that Jokic has gotten worse &ndash; it&rsquo;s that everyone else has gotten louder.
Led by Jokic, Nuggets quietly creep up atop the West
Part of the reason Jokic&rsquo;s brilliance flies under the radar is the Nuggets&rsquo; quiet offseason. While other teams made splashy moves &ndash; like Kevin Durant&rsquo;s shocking arrival in Houston &ndash; Denver operated with surgical precision rather than spectacle.
They brought back a familiar face in Bruce Brown, a key piece of their 2023 title run. Brown&rsquo;s return instantly reestablishes the defensive edge and chemistry that made Denver so complete during their championship push. His connection with Jokic is instinctive; he knows exactly when and where to cut, and Jokic always finds him.
The Nuggets also made a subtle but meaningful trade &ndash; flipping Michael Porter Jr. for Cameron Johnson. At first glance, it might seem like a downgrade in talent, but in practice, it could be an upgrade in fit. Johnson&rsquo;s spacing, unselfishness, and commitment to role-playing perfectly complement Jokic&rsquo;s system. He won&rsquo;t hijack possessions or hunt shots; he&rsquo;ll move, shoot, and defend &ndash; the exact formula that maximizes Jokic&rsquo;s playmaking brilliance.
Denver also finally addressed one of their lingering issues: the lack of a dependable backup center. The addition of Jonas Valanciunas gives them that stability. A bruising interior presence and elite screener, Valanciunas allows Denver to stay afloat when Jokic sits &ndash; a problem that&rsquo;s haunted them for years. He&rsquo;s also a sneaky-good passer, keeping Denver&rsquo;s dribble-handoff flow alive in bench units.
And perhaps the most underrated move of all is not a move at all: the return of a healthy Jamal Murray and Aaron Gordon. Both have battled injuries during previous playoff runs, but when on the floor, they complete Denver&rsquo;s identity. Murray&rsquo;s two-man game with Jokic remains one of the most unstoppable actions in basketball, while Gordon&rsquo;s cutting, defense, and athleticism balance the Nuggets on both ends.
Another quiet storyline is their head coach David Adelman. After taking over midseason last year, Adelman has done an exceptional job keeping the Nuggets grounded and disciplined. His defensive tweaks and trust in player development have kept Denver sharp despite roster transitions. He doesn&rsquo;t seek the spotlight &ndash; much like Jokic &ndash; but his influence is felt in the team&rsquo;s structure, chemistry, and accountability.
Adelman has embraced what makes Jokic special: freedom within a framework. Denver plays through Jokic at all times, but it never feels forced. The rhythm of the offense &ndash; cuts, screens, spacing &ndash; is organic, built on years of familiarity and trust.
While the Thunder, Lakers, Spurs, and Rockets dominate headlines, the Nuggets are quietly creeping back into the Western Conference&rsquo;s top tier. It&rsquo;s easy to forget that Denver was one win away from eliminating the eventual champion Oklahoma City Thunder last postseason.
Now, with a more balanced roster, better depth, and a refreshed core, they&rsquo;re poised to make another deep run. And at the center of it all &ndash; both literally and figuratively &ndash; is Nikola Jokic, still orchestrating everything with unmatched control.
He&rsquo;s still the engine, still the mind, still the heartbeat of Denver basketball. And yet, somehow, we&rsquo;ve stopped talking about him.
The normalization of the extraordinary
Maybe that&rsquo;s the price of sustained brilliance &ndash; to be so consistently excellent that the world stops noticing.&nbsp;
But history will remember what the present often overlooks. Jokic isn&rsquo;t just putting up big numbers; he&rsquo;s reshaping what we thought possible for a big man.
One day, when we look back, we&rsquo;ll realize these seasons weren&rsquo;t normal. They were masterpieces hiding in plain sight.
Nikola Jokic hasn&rsquo;t fallen off &ndash; if anything, he&rsquo;s still climbing. It&rsquo;s the rest of us who&rsquo;ve forgotten to look up.

Nikola Jokic’s brilliance has become so routine that fans may be taking it for granted. Read why, here:

Has Nikola Jokic become underrated?

It&rsquo;s been a long time since Chicago basketball felt this good.
The United Center hasn&rsquo;t buzzed like this in years, and it&rsquo;s not because of a flashy superstar, a high-profile signing, or a sudden scoring explosion. It&rsquo;s because the Bulls &ndash; yes, these Bulls &ndash; are finally playing like a team again.
Through the first seven games of the 2025-26 NBA season, the severely underrated Chicago Bulls have stormed out to a 6&ndash;1 record, sitting at the top of the Eastern Conference standings. For a franchise that has spent much of the past decade searching for identity and direction, this early surge represents something far more meaningful than wins and losses.
It&rsquo;s about rediscovering what Chicago basketball used to stand for: toughness, selflessness, and unity.
A new identity, finally defined
For years, the Bulls&rsquo; offense revolved around Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan &ndash; two elite scorers whose individual brilliance often overshadowed the collective. They were both incredible in isolation, capable of creating something out of nothing, but their styles never fully meshed with what head coach Billy Donovan envisioned.
This season, the picture looks entirely different. Without LaVine and DeRozan, Donovan has reshaped the Bulls into a system-driven, motion-heavy team that thrives on movement, cutting, and passing. There&rsquo;s no ball-dominant alpha demanding touches. Instead, every possession feels deliberate, purposeful &ndash; a shared effort rather than a solo performance.
The Bulls are just playing basketball the right way, they are screening, cutting, and trusting each other. Everyone touches the ball, and everyone matters.
The Bulls may not have a top-tier offensive engine or a dominant space creator, but they&rsquo;ve replaced that with balance, energy, and discipline. The result is a brand of basketball that is winning, and one that is repeatable, although it remains to be seen if it is sustainable to get them to the playoffs.
The key players behind the surge: Nikola Vucevic and Josh Giddey
At the heart of it all is Nikola Vucevic, the steadying veteran whose game has aged like fine wine.
At 35, Vucevic isn&rsquo;t just surviving in today&rsquo;s pace-and-space NBA, he&rsquo;s thriving. He&rsquo;s averaging near a double-double once again, but it&rsquo;s his leadership that&rsquo;s had the bigger impact. He anchors Chicago&rsquo;s offense with smart positioning and inside-out passing as well as his elite floor spacing, while providing an example for the team&rsquo;s younger players about consistency and professionalism.
If Vucevic is the team&rsquo;s heart, Josh Giddey has become its brain.
After a tense summer restricted free agency saga, Giddey returned to Chicago with something to prove &ndash; and it shows. Fresh off signing a long-term deal, he&rsquo;s playing with an assertiveness and confidence that eluded him in previous seasons. Giddey has found his groove and his playmaking has been elite, threading passes and elevating the play of everyone around him.
More importantly, Giddey has found the balance between facilitating and attacking. His improved scoring aggression has kept defenses honest, opening up cutting lanes and rhythm shots for teammates. Early on, he&rsquo;s looking every bit like an All-Star &ndash; and the Bulls are reaping the benefits.
The potential of Matas Buzelis and the rise of Ayo Dosunmu
While Vucevic and Giddey set the tone, the Bulls&rsquo; most exciting storyline might be the emergence of Matas Buzelis.
The hometown kid &ndash; born in Chicago and drafted by his city &ndash; is coming into his own. Buzelis has been given the green light to learn, make mistakes, and grow, a luxury few rookies receive in a major market. His length, shooting touch, and versatility have made him a seamless fit in Donovan&rsquo;s system, and his elite athleticism and rim pressure allows him to have a consistent scoring bag.
For a franchise that&rsquo;s long searched for its next cornerstone, Buzelis represents hope &ndash; the possibility of a homegrown star who could one day carry the torch for the next great Bulls era.
Speaking of hometown pride, Ayo Dosunmu continues to be one of Chicago&rsquo;s unsung heroes.
Dosunmu, another Illinois native, has blossomed into one of the league&rsquo;s best 3-and-D guards. But this season, Donovan has asked for more &ndash; and Dosunmu has delivered. He&rsquo;s taking on bigger offensive responsibilities while still anchoring the perimeter defense. His energy, versatility, and unselfishness epitomize the Bulls&rsquo; identity: no ego, just effort.
Depth, Balance, and Belief
Even with Coby White sidelined, the Bulls&rsquo; depth has been a revelation. Role players like Isaac Okoro, Tre Jones, Patrick Williams, Kevin Huerter, and Jalen Smith have each embraced their roles with clarity and confidence.
Okoro brings defensive tenacity. Jones provides steadiness at the point. Williams has settled into a reliable two-way rhythm. Huerter adds spacing and shooting, while Smith has given valuable minutes as a stretch big. None of them are stars &ndash; but together, they&rsquo;ve formed a cohesive, balanced rotation that works alongside their core.
&ndash; &ndash; &ndash;
The city of Chicago has been waiting for a team to believe in again. Since the days of Derrick Rose&rsquo;s MVP run and Jimmy Butler&rsquo;s hope, the Bulls have cycled through rebuilds, retools, and false starts &ndash; flashes of potential that never quite materialized.
But this group is a fresh start. This team, defined by their collective purpose, embodies the city&rsquo;s blue-collar spirit. They may not have a global superstar yet, but they have something that&rsquo;s been missing for far too long: chemistry, identity, and belief.
Chicago knows greatness when it sees it. After all, it&rsquo;s the home of Michael Jordan &ndash; the standard by which all Bulls teams are measured. But even if this group isn&rsquo;t chasing banners just yet, they&rsquo;re chasing something just as important: respect, relevance, and revival.
For the first time in years, Bulls basketball matters again. And it&rsquo;s not because of who&rsquo;s scoring the most points &ndash; it&rsquo;s because they&rsquo;re doing it together.

The Chicago Bulls are off to their best start in years — not because of star power, but because of teamwork. Read more how, here:

Together again: How the Bulls’ collective identity sparked their strong start

In today&rsquo;s NBA, transition seasons come in all forms. Some teams tear everything down to the studs. Others try to retool around what&rsquo;s left of a former contender. This year, the Phoenix Suns and Brooklyn Nets find themselves on opposite sides of that spectrum &ndash; two franchises moving in different directions, both still searching for clarity after years of turbulence.
Phoenix: From championship chase to crossroads
For the Phoenix Suns, the 2025-26 season feels like a reset &ndash; not a rebuild, but something in between. Just a year ago, the Suns were all in, banking on the star trio of Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, and Bradley Beal to deliver the franchise&rsquo;s first championship. Instead, that vision unraveled under the weight of injuries, fit issues, and the unforgiving depth of the Western Conference.
Now, Durant and Beal are gone. The Suns have retooled, bringing in Jalen Green and Dillon Brooks from Houston in what looks like a soft pivot rather than a full teardown. On paper, this is still a competitive team. Booker remains one of the league&rsquo;s purest scorers &ndash; a consistent 27-30 point threat who can carry an offense for the entire season. His leadership, composure, and playoff pedigree make him the unquestioned face of the franchise.
But the question is, for how long?
Booker has already seen one Finals run and several deep playoff pushes, but his prime years are ticking by without a true contender around him. The Suns&rsquo; front office faces a delicate balance: surround Booker with enough talent to stay relevant, or commit fully to a long-term rebuild that starts with the young players they&rsquo;ve drafted.
Phoenix&rsquo;s 2025 draft class has generated buzz, headlined by 7&rsquo;1&rdquo; South Sudanese big man Khaman Maluach, whose athleticism and defensive instincts could eventually anchor the team&rsquo;s frontcourt. Add sharpshooter Koby Brea and promising forward Rasheer Fleming, and the Suns suddenly have youth and upside they haven&rsquo;t had in years. Still, those prospects are developmental projects, not immediate answers.
And that&rsquo;s where the uncertainty lies. The Suns&rsquo; current roster feels caught between timelines &ndash; one led by a proven All-Star in his prime, and another still finding its footing. Jalen Green&rsquo;s arrival adds intrigue: a high-ceiling scorer looking for a fresh start, eager to rebuild his reputation after inconsistency in Houston. Dillon Brooks, meanwhile, brings defensive edge and intensity &ndash; the kind of grit the team lacked during its superstar-heavy era.
Yet even with those additions, the Suns face a brutal Western Conference landscape. Oklahoma City, Denver, Minnesota, Houston, Los Angeles, and Golden State all remain loaded. The margin for error is razor-thin. For Phoenix, the season might not be about contention but about definition,&nbsp; figuring out what kind of team they want to be, and whether Booker still fits and wants to be a part of that long-term vision.&nbsp;
Because in today&rsquo;s NBA, all it takes is one tough year, one frustrated superstar, for everything to shift. And if the Suns can&rsquo;t provide a clear path forward soon, speculation around Booker&rsquo;s future will only grow louder.
Brooklyn: Building from the ground up
If the Suns are hovering between two worlds, the Brooklyn Nets are fully embracing the rebuild. Gone are the days of Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and James Harden. Gone are the shortcuts, the splashy trades, and the instant gratification. In their place, a patient, deliberate plan &ndash; a commitment to youth, draft capital, and development.
The Nets&rsquo; 2025 NBA draft haul was one for the history books: five first-round selections &mdash; Egor Demin, Nolan Traore, Ben Saraf, Danny Wolf, and Drake Powell. Each brings something unique: Demin&rsquo;s size, playmaking, and creativity, Traore&rsquo;s speed and quickness, Saraf&rsquo;s veteran-savvy and composure, Wolf&rsquo;s touch and IQ, and Powell&rsquo;s explosiveness and defensive versatility. It&rsquo;s a talent-rich group that gives Brooklyn multiple chances to uncover a future star.
And that&rsquo;s exactly what the organization needs. The post-superteam era has left the Nets without a definitive franchise player. Cam Thomas, now extended after hitting restricted free agency, has proven he can fill it up &ndash; a microwave scorer who can drop 30 on any given night. But whether he can lead a winning team remains uncertain. Nic Claxton, steady and efficient, remains the defensive anchor and emotional backbone of the roster.
The biggest wildcard, though, might be Michael Porter Jr., acquired in a trade that sent Cam Johnson out. For the first time in his career, Porter enters a season as the likely No. 1 option. Long known as a complementary scorer in Denver&rsquo;s system, he&rsquo;ll have the freedom and the responsibility to expand his game in Brooklyn. This is his chance to prove that he&rsquo;s more than a luxury piece on a contender.
The Nets&rsquo; long-term plan is clear: build through the draft, develop their prospects, and keep the books clean for the future. With three projected franchise-level talents &ndash; Darryn Peterson, Cameron Boozer, and AJ Dybantsa &ndash; expected to headline next year&rsquo;s draft, Brooklyn could be setting itself up for one of the league&rsquo;s most intriguing rebuilds.
In the meantime, expect the Nets to experiment. There will be growing pains, roster shuffling, and perhaps more trades to stockpile picks. But there will also be moments of discovery &ndash; glimpses of who might become the next face of the franchise.
Two paths, one lesson
In many ways, Phoenix and Brooklyn are mirror images in reverse. Both went all-in on superstar-driven eras. Both fell short. But while the Suns are clinging to contention through their remaining star, the Nets have chosen to start from scratch.
The Suns are trying to stay relevant while redefining themselves. The Nets are comfortable taking the long road back. Each path carries risk and each of them offer a different margin of error.
Phoenix may find itself in limbo if Booker tires of waiting. Brooklyn may struggle to turn its promising prospects into a real cornerstone. But both franchises, in their own way, are chasing something that every team eventually faces after their window closes: a new identity.
For the Suns, the question is whether they can build one fast enough to keep Booker from looking elsewhere. For the Nets, it&rsquo;s whether their patience will finally pay off.
Different timelines yet the same pursuit as the two teams on opposite ends of rebuilding transition trying to turn uncertainty into hope.

From reset to rebuild, the Suns and the Nets take different paths toward a new identity after their superteam eras ended.

Suns, Nets on opposite ends of rebuilding transition

The Chicago Bulls have officially announced that they will retire Derrick Rose&rsquo;s No. 1 jersey next season.&nbsp;
The ceremony is scheduled for January 24, 2026, following a home game against the Boston Celtics at the United Center &ndash; a symbolic matchup, given Rose&rsquo;s impactful early playoff history against them.
Rose will join an elite list of Bulls legends whose numbers hang in the rafters: Michael Jordan (23), Scottie Pippen (33), Jerry Sloan (4), and Bob Love (10).
When the announcement was delivered, Rose was visibly moved &ndash; even brought to tears &ndash; underscoring how deeply personal this honor is for the former MVP, via TalksportWFNZ Radio.
As part of the season-long tribute, the Bulls are planning an immersive experience, including a&nbsp; postgame ceremony on January 24 which will officially raise the jersey, and special figurines celebrating different chapters of Rose's career will be distributed on four select home game dates.&nbsp;
This tribute isn&rsquo;t just about honoring a player &ndash; it&rsquo;s celebrating the legacy of a hometown hero. Rose revitalized the Bulls franchise at a young age, becoming the youngest MVP in NBA history in 2011 and reclaiming Chicago&rsquo;s relevance in the league.
Rose will be permanently immortalized alongside Chicago's pantheon of basketball royalty. It&rsquo;s more than a jersey retirement &ndash; it&rsquo;s a homecoming, a thank-you to a player who carried the city&rsquo;s hopes and earned his place among the all-time greats.

The Chicago Bulls have officially announced that they will retire Derrick Rose’s No. 1 jersey next season.

Bulls to retire Derrick Rose's no. 1 jersey

The Oklahoma City Thunder have secured their franchise cornerstone by signing reigning MVP and Finals MVP Shai Gilgeous‑Alexander to a four-year, $285.4 million supermax extension, according to ESPN&rsquo;s Shams Charania.
This new supermax is the largest annual NBA contract in history at approximately $71.35 million per season. The deal runs through the 2030-31 season, anchoring Oklahoma City&rsquo;s title-contending core.
SGA&rsquo;s 2024&ndash;25 campaign was historic. He led the league with 32.7 points per game, added 6.4 assists, 5.0 rebounds, and 1.7 steals, earning both regular-season and Finals MVP honors while guiding the Thunder to their first NBA championship in Oklahoma City. In the Finals, he averaged nearly 30 points per game, solidifying his ascent into elite league company alongside legends like Jordan, O&rsquo;Neal, and Abdul‑Jabbar.
Thunder GM Sam Presti called the move a decisive step in sustaining the franchise's momentum: &ldquo;He&rsquo;s gotten better every single year,&rdquo; Presti said, acknowledging the player&rsquo;s cultural and competitive impact. The structure allows OKC to retain financial flexibility, keeping SGA locked in at historic value while preserving space to build a supporting cast around him.
ANALYSIS: This historical precedent allows SGA to join an exclusive group with Michael Jordan, Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal, and Kareem Abdul‑Jabbar as the only players to win MVP, Finals MVP, and a scoring title in a single season. With this extension, the Thunder secure their generational talent at least through his age-33 season, ensuring continuity after their breakthrough title run. Despite the record-setting deal, OKC remains positioned to leverage its youth, draft assets, and cap flexibility for future moves. 
This supermax extension solidifies Shai Gilgeous‑Alexander&rsquo;s status as the face of the Thunder for the next half-decade. At the peak of his powers, he ensures Oklahoma City&rsquo;s championship aspirations remain front-and-center &ndash; and the Thunder&rsquo;s window for dominance stays wide open.

The Oklahoma City Thunder have secured their franchise cornerstone SGAto a four-year, $285.4 million supermax extension.