2025-2026 NBA Thread

[thisheregiraffe]

The “Fire Nico” chants worked Mavs fans probably still aren’t happy that this is their team. Can’t undo the Luka trade. But at least they’ll be slightly happier that the guy who did it is gone.

 

[thisheregiraffe]

The Raps beat the Cavs again last night! 7-5 is far better than I thought they would be at this point. Going into the season I thought they’d be a decent squad of healthy. I’m starting to believe it again.

 

[SoonerBill]

So happy to see the Thunder pick up right where they left off last season. If not better. This is a very special group of guys!!

 

[Chris Fitzgerald]

Thunder look good as ever. Over in Denver, Joker is on a serious roll.

I’m not sure I’ve ever seen numbers like that. The team made some great offseason moves and if they can stay healthy, they’ll be fun to watch.

 

[thisheregiraffe]

Jokic is an incredible player. I love watching him play, seeing his highlights, looking at his boxscores.

The Raps won again last night! 7-game winning streak, first place in the Atlantic division, second place in the Eastern conference. Before the season, I had hoped they would at least be a play-in team, maybe on the fringes of being top-6 in the East assuming good health and performance. This is a pleasant surprise! Hard to say if they can keep up this level of performance. Let's hope so.

 

[SoonerBill]

Thunder 16-1. With a few blow outs. Plus games that could have been if not giving the deep bench playing time. And this without our number two player. This team is scary good. And what makes it so special is the T being put back in team. There aren't egos on this team. Just a bunch of guys that love playing together. And the core crew are all signed for another couple of years.

 

[thisheregiraffe]

Make it 8 in a row for the Raps. Nice win over Cleveland last night. Big scoring night for Ingram. There’s no catching the red hot Pistons right now, but I’m more than happy with second place in the East!

 

[CletusMarley]

The Spurs are having a great season so far. I'd really like to see them in the playoffs. I feel like a decent run isn't out of the question if everyone stays healthy.

 

[climber]

The Celtics have been playing pretty good. Brown is amazing and of course Prichard and White are putting up points. gotta say that the bench has really stepped it up. when they loose it's usually by only a few points. I think when Tatum comes back that will really change, and he's getting pretty close to stepping in for some minutes...

 

[thisheregiraffe]

It’s pretty incredible to me how quick and smoothly Tatum’s recovery seems to be going. Given how late his injury happened last season, and the fact that it’s the achilles, I figured this whole season would be lost. I still think it’s better for Tatum to play it safe and wait until next season. But maybe he’s going to come back for some limited minutes near the end of the season and then play in the playoffs. Boston is in a nice position in the standings right now.

 

[SoonerBill]

The Spurs are having a great season so far. I'd really like to see them in the playoffs. I feel like a decent run isn't out of the question if everyone stays healthy.

You'll see them in the playoffs. In fact I think they'll be the biggest obstacle to a Thunder repeat.

 

[SoonerBill]

If reports are right Jokic is out for the season. If so Denver just became an also ran. Sad.

 

[Chris Fitzgerald]

If reports are right Jokic is out for the season. If so Denver just became an also ran. Sad.

Never want to see my favorite player go down, especially when he’s the best player in the league playing at a record breaking pace. Crossing my fingers.

 

[Chris Fitzgerald]

Better news than initially feared, it seems:

Nuggets Get Mostly Positive Injury Update on Nikola Jokić

The future Hall of Famer appears likely to return soon.

www.si.com

The whole team is banged up right now. The only good news is that their role players and bench will get a lot of experience in the interim. I just hope the big fella gets healthy again.

 

[SoonerBill]

Never want to see my favorite player go down, especially when he’s the best player in the league playing at a record breaking pace. Crossing my fingers.

Thank goodness the initial reports right after the injury were way worse than reality.

 

[SoonerBill]

Better news than initially feared, it seems:

Nuggets Get Mostly Positive Injury Update on Nikola Jokić

The future Hall of Famer appears likely to return soon.

www.si.com

The whole team is banged up right now. The only good news is that their role players and bench will get a lot of experience in the interim. I just hope the big fella gets healthy again.

The first few weeks of the season the Thunder had the same issue. The starting experience has seemed to make the bench better.

 

[thisheregiraffe]

Not much hoops talk here on TB so far in 2026... I wasn't watching a whole lot of basketball in December and January, but I have been tuning in to more Raptor games in the last couple weeks, and all the trade deadline action has got me back to following the league more closely again. Lots of deals have gone down this week! And teams have until 3pm Eastern today to make more moves

I can't believe that the Mavs have already flipped Anthony Davis to another team (Washington). The return they got for him was not very good. The Luka trade was already one of the worst deals ever, and it only seems to get worse I feel bad for Dallas fans. The Wizards, provided they have some good health, might actually be an OK team next season with AD, Trae Young, and the batch of young, developing players they already had on the roster. Not a great team or championship contender, but I could see them at least get in to the Play-in Tourny and perhaps flirt with being a .500 team. Considering how awful they've been going on a decade now, making the Play-in would be a huge step forward!

 

[sleddogn]

don't think i've been this "nba" sad ever. My Pacers went from a half away from a chip to this....soooo depressing.. just waiting till next season to care again.. I need the break after that post season run

 

[thisheregiraffe]

Yeah, it's been a bummer of a season for Indy. They ought to be quite a bit better again next season though, assuming Haliburton is healthy and all that. IIRC they have control of their own first round pick the 2026 draft, so they if they get lucky with a high draft pick this year that's at least a silver lining to a real downer of a year.

 

[thisheregiraffe]

And just a few minutes after I post that, Indy traded Mathurin and picks to the Clippers for Ivica Zubac! One of the picks is this year's first rounder, although it's protected (top-four protected and 10-30 protected).