When Pau Gasol joined the Lakers, their fans were naturally thrilled, but in the long run, his move to L.A. did something for everybody who follows the NBA. Read more »

Andrew Wiggins is looking more like a modern player and less like an anachronistic throwback to the days of inefficient volume shooters. Read more »

The Celtics, Suns, Rockets and Nuggets make multiple appearances on our list this week. Read more »

Maybe Kyle Kuzma will give us little glimpses of the lost pairing we never got to see between LeBron and Carmelo. If that's the role Kuzma's going to play, LeBron can't do much to help him. Read more »

James Wiseman, Isaiah Stewart II, Matthew Hurt, Obadiah Toppin and Amar Sylla headline the big man prospects. Read more »

One is more morally correct than the other, and it passes the common sense test, but on the load management topic, no one is obviously correct. We're just stating thinly veiled political beliefs as a means of killing time between games. Read more »

The Lakers make a pair of appearances on the non-national schedule this week with divisional games against the Suns and Kings. Read more »

At this early stage of the season, as the Bucks sprint out into who-knows-what, there is the exhilaration of watching them. They are so, so good, if questionably great...and beneath that an ever-growing concern. Read more »

Joel Embiid and the 76ers make multiple appearances on our list this week. Read more »

Basketball is slowly becoming both the medium and the message. The neverending videos made it feel as though there was no offseason at all, while simultaneously whetting our appetite for the official tip-off. Read more »

On the Grizzlies' exciting rebuild, Houston's big gamble on Russell Westbrook, Dallas seeing what they have in Doncic and Porzingis, the Pelicans in Year 1 of the Zion era, and the Spurs doing very little but outperforming expectations yet again. Read more »

Amid everything else, Latrell Sprewell had one really good year in Minnesota. He was happy and valued, near the top of his game at the right moment. I'd give a lot for one really good year. Maybe you would too, and maybe you can find one. Read more »

While the Lakers and Clippers became title contenders with their big additions, the Warriors are attempting to reload on the fly, Sacramento hopes to return to the playoffs, and the Suns look to get out of the cellar. Read more »

The simple and probably mostly correct answer why he wasn't removed sooner is that it was easier not to deal with Donald Sterling. A professional sports league is a money-making concern, not a moral one, and so anything that seems like it's going to be messy gets pushed way down the list of priorities. Read more »

On the Celtics retooling with Kemba Walker, Brooklyn getting a pair of superstars, the Knicks' Plan B, Philadelphia supersizing their roster, and the Raptors keeping the title momentum going without Kawhi Leonard. Read more »

Where others saw rigid schematics, or a problem to be solved, a young Jason Williams saw a blank space in which to express himself. Read more »

While the Nuggets, Jazz and Blazers all try to climb to the elusive level of true contender, the Thunder begin their rebuild and the Wolves try to rebound from a lost season. Read more »

The maturity that Brandon Roy displayed upon his NBA arrival was even more hard-won than it seemed, as he entered the league with a clock ticking over his head. Read more »

The Hawks didn't do poorly during the Steve Belkin and Bruce Levenson era. They put together a few decent seasons. But there was a ricketiness to the entire enterprise and the on-court product was steeped, somehow almost immediately, in sour, doomed competence. Read more »

Nobody did right by Darius Miles, and he didn't know how to do right on his own. So of course he ended up struggling, foundering, and eventually fading away. Read more »