NBA 2025-26 Season Thread: THE NY KNICKS ARE CHAMPIONS! BING BONG!
Lettuce NBA!
and lettuce lol @ James Harden
you want drones? we got 'em!
rolling in blood money
still almost certainly not as bad as the owners though, and coach probably
nice call sir. Lakers nearly won... tis a shame they didn't have Luka for the series. OKC probably still wins but it would've been really interesting + 
Honestly, I'm just happy there was finally a fairly called game in this series. People want to say, Lakers lost by 18, blah blah... so the refs really don't matter. BS. In those first 2 games especially, the refereeing was just completely absurd. I've rarely seen anything like it.
This game, it's like the ref crew was on to all of the antics and things they had been missing earlier in the series. All of the illegal screens, two hand holds, and they weren't giving SGA many phantom calls or calls where he excessively jumped into the defender. Also weren't falling for the flopping and flailing nearly as much. It was a normal game where calls were blown on both sides fairly evenly.
I don't know if the Lakers win any of those other games, but the number of swing calls added up to a lot of points. At least it would have been more entertaining to watch.
I concur.
The SuperTeam Warriors destroyed parody and ruined the league.
OKC is a juggernaut but they are beatable.
Didn't the owner that moved them torpedo his BMW into a bridge piling at 100+ MPH not long after the move? Or am I thinking of someone else?
one of the co-owners, yeah
Schultz sold the team to the Professional Basketball Club LLC (PBC), an investment group headed by Oklahoma City businessman Clay Bennett.
Aubrey McClendon owned 19% of Professional Basketball Club
According to police reports, McClendon died instantly at 9:12 a.m. on March 2, 2016, when his 2013 Chevrolet Tahoe SUV, traveling at 88 miles per hour (142 km/h), crashed into a concrete overpass for the Turner Turnpike on Midwest Boulevard in Oklahoma City in a solo-occupant, single-vehicle crash. The event occurred one day after McClendon's indictment by a federal grand jury accusing him of violating antitrust laws from 2007 to 2012 while the CEO of Chesapeake Energy.
McClendon's body was badly burned, making identification difficult [...] He was not wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash
Oklahoma City Police spokesman Paco Balderrama said of McClendon's actions, "He pretty much drove straight into the wall. The information out there at the scene is that he went left of center, went through a grassy area right before colliding into the embankment. There was plenty of opportunity for him to correct and get back on the roadway, and that didn't occur." There was no evidence of suicide
sometimes good things do happen to bad ppl, though not impossible he just faked his death or something. seemed super weird ..... yeah yeah truth stranger than
The Warriors had a starting 5 with KD, Draymond & Zaza at some point - not only were they hated way more but people cared about hating them
My feeling on OKC is that people don't care so much about hating them. Of course they have haters because haters going to hate but the haters have to stretch quite a bit to truly hate OKC.
On the one hand there is the discourse on SGA "foul baiting" which is just a bit of viral nonsense. Of course the best player in the league and best scorer (in the paint) is going to get a lot of FT's, the correlation between skills & free throws is an obvious one. The differential with the rest of the league is not even huge, nobody complains about Luka or Avidja having more FTA/G than SGA.
Then the defensive fouling stuff is also a product of a young physical team (full of good defenders) playing an aggressive defensive scheme. Of course, if your mission is to post 10sec reels on tiktok of a team committing fouls that are not called, it's not going to be too difficult. If TikTok was around for the 2004 Pistons, they'd probably have haters saying similar things rather than praising them for their (obviously good) defense.
Anyway, my take is that people don't care so much about OKC but people will always find reasons to hate on the best and since there is nothing obvious about OKC to hate on, people just jumped on the foul-wagon but the real fans know this is quite a superficial take
one of the co-owners, yeah
sometimes good things do happen to bad ppl, though not impossible he just faked his death or something. seemed super weird ..... yeah yeah truth stranger than
it's nearly always drugs/alcohol or suicide in these situations
but mostly suicide, done in a way to leave it ambiguous enough that your life insurance policies are not voided
Parody is alive and well outside of basketball, but if anything, I think they introduced parody to the NBA because of how much a joke the product is these days.
more but also the nba was way more culturally relevant/popular then than it is right now, 2017 wasnt that long ago but monoculture existed more then in general
they were more hated and liked at the same time....warriors had a lot of fans too because they stomped on lebron, who also had more than his fair share of haters
the thunder being hated because SGA grifts for FTs is mostly an online thing, no one really cares about them
thoughts on what lebron does next?
i dont buy the cleveland stuff at all, GS either really....both seem so beneath him at this point
think it is lakers or retire
edit: must have been an influential post cause someone just bought lebron from 50c to 70c to stay with lakers or retire on kalshi in the last 25 minutes, look it up
On the one hand there is the discourse on SGA "foul baiting" which is just a bit of viral nonsense. Of course the best player in the league and best scorer (in the paint) is going to get a lot of FT's, the correlation between skills & free throws is an obvious one. The differential with the rest of the league is not even huge, nobody complains about Luka or Avidja having more F
It's also a silly thing to single SGA out for. Drawing fouls is a goal for a lot of good offensive players. It isn't that fun to watch, but SGA certainly didn't invent the tactic. Luka, Harden, Butler, Booker, Embiid, Paolo, Trae, etc. historically have all drawn lots of fouls. And I'm not even mentioning Giannis, who probably wishes that he went to the line less.
thoughts on what lebron does next?
i dont buy the cleveland stuff at all, GS either really....both seem so beneath him at this point
think it is lakers or retire
edit: must have been an influential post cause someone just bought lebron from 50c to 70c to stay with lakers or retire on kalshi in the last 25 minutes, look it up
Can't see Lebron taking a min contract to play anywhere.
It's probably gonna be a 1 year deal worth like 40 mil which the Lakers will pay.
That kind of money could be too much to pass, even for Lebron who's worth let me look..1.4 billion..Higher than what I thought but I doubt he considers an offer under 35 mil.
It's also a silly thing to single SGA out for. Drawing fouls is a goal for a lot of good offensive players. It isn't that fun to watch, but SGA certainly didn't invent the tactic. Luka, Harden, Butler, Booker, Embiid, Paolo, Trae, etc. historically have all drawn lots of fouls. And I'm not even mentioning Giannis, who probably wishes that he went to the line less.
SGA averaged 9.0 fta per game while MJ during his 86/87 beast season had 11.9.
I really have ignored all the Shai ft merchant talk because as you said, all the greats get that number pretty high.
He's unstoppable with his movement so obviously people are going to get beat and foul him more often.
free throw attempts per game:
1. Luka Dončić • LAL 10.1
2. Deni Avdija • POR 9.2
3. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander • OKC 9.0
4. Paolo Banchero • ORL 8.2
5. Devin Booker • PHO 8.1
6. Jaylen Brown • BOS 7.5
7. Zion Williamson • NOP 7.5
8. James Harden • TOT 7.5
9. Nikola Jokić • DEN 7.4
10. Anthony Edwards • MIN 7.2
% of field goals attempts at the rim:
Luka Dončić • LAL .076
Deni Avdija • POR .290
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander • OKC .228
Paolo Banchero • ORL .289
Devin Booker • PHO .138
Jaylen Brown • BOS .160
Zion Williamson • NOP .575
James Harden • TOT .139
Nikola Jokić • DEN .216
Anthony Edwards • MIN .180
yeah, there's definitely somebody getting too many calls...
hint: he's morbidly obese
hint2: he's white
Can't see Lebron taking a min contract to play anywhere.
It's probably gonna be a 1 year deal worth like 40 mil which the Lakers will pay.
That kind of money could be too much to pass, even for Lebron who's worth let me look..1.4 billion..Higher than what I thought but I doubt he considers an offer under 35 mil.
Lakers aren’t using their cap space to pay LeBron 40 mega.
He also will want his swan song retirement tour with everyone giving him gifts.
I really think he could team up with Steph in GSW for the midlevel. And be a short plane ride from home in LA.
Lakers aren’t using their cap space to pay LeBron 40 mega.
He also will want his swan song retirement tour with everyone giving him gifts.
I really think he could team up with Steph in GSW for the midlevel. And be a short plane ride from home in LA.
What else would they use that cap space for? There are no big FAs this year.
I think he re-signs for like 40, plays, 55 games sits b2bs
he aint playing on the cheap for some Curry team, thats twitter fan fiction
What else would they use that cap space for? There are no big FAs this year.
I think he re-signs for like 40, plays, 55 games sits b2bs
he aint playing on the cheap for some Curry team, thats twitter fan fiction
I googled the top free agents and 100% correct.
Unless people think James Harden will be a significant upgrade.
Lebron will probably ask for more than 40 mil.
