R.J. Barrett has the kind of broad, amorphous ability that you can project your desires onto. He is the idea of home ownership, the haze-engulfed outline of a better self. Read more »
Colin McGowan - Basketball Analysis
Thirty Futures: New York Knicks
Thirty Futures: Oklahoma City Thunder
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander will get a chance to explore the limits of what he can do as a number one option, which will be fun, until the losses begin to pile up and the malaise sets in. Read more »
Thirty Futures: Toronto Raptors
The Raptors, with everything else more or less fixed, will be as extraordinary as Pascal Siakam is. Read more »
Thirty Futures: Cleveland Cavaliers
When a player demands not to suffer from circumstances he helped create, he's not exactly correct, in any moral sense, but professional sports is not about morals. It's big business, legalized and marginally more civil mafia activity. Read more »
Thirty Futures: Los Angeles Clippers
After you wash out of the playoffs in mortifying fashion, it's best to go away for a while. Let the media train its squirrel-brained fascination on a different subject. Paul George has done the opposite. Read more »
Thirty Futures: Minnesota Timberwolves
Karl-Anthony Towns has a lot in common with Chris Webber at the same age. He's a less interesting cultural figure, he shares his mid-career mould-breaking offensive ability, a mercurial personality, and a creeping fraudulence. Read more »
Thirty Futures: Orlando Magic
If you were worried Markelle Fultz might be out of the league soon, you could put that fear away. It took him nearly the entirety of his rookie contract, but he has proven that he can hang. Read more »
Thirty Futures: Washington Wizards
John Wall won his quiet civil war with Bradley Beal in one respect: he is the proper heir to Gilbert Arenas, the marquee Wizards star of his era, beloved in D.C. Read more »
Thirty Futures: Portland Trail Blazers
Any basketball league that doesn't have room for Jusuf Nurkic is headed in the wrong direction. He's built his career on massiveness but also a mind as agile as any guard in the league. Read more »
Thirty Futures: Boston Celtics
Kemba Walker is 30, and small guards tend to age in dog years. This is partially because they get knocked around more violently than guys the size of Kawhi Leonard, but also because they need all their athleticism in order to survive. Read more »
Thirty Futures: Denver Nuggets
Jamal Murray himself often looks like he's guessing at what kind of night he's going to have. Intention and outcome doesn't line up perfectly for anybody, but with him the variance pitches past the axes of the chart. Read more »
Thirty Futures: Indiana Pacers
It's been a tumultuous couple of years for Victor Oladipo, who burned out almost as quickly as he rose to prominence. Read more »
Thirty Futures: Charlotte Hornets
Gordon Hayward is moving to Charlotte to stack ends, buy property, and play relatively pressure-free ball. That is getting older, for a lot of people. You give up a little bit, and realize it feels okay. Read more »
Thirty Futures: Detroit Pistons
It's up to Jerami Grant whether he's less unhappy with the wins or the opportunity to put up more shots in the airless second halves of blowout losses. Read more »
Thirty Futures: Golden State Warriors
There's no world for the Warriors to save, only the accumulation of days into months, wins and losses that move them in no particular direction, temporary accomplishments, the feeling of a breeze dying against your skin. Read more »
Thirty Futures: Milwaukee Bucks
This is Jrue Holiday's story too, even if as a sidekick. But that's how the league works, revolving around the movements of six or seven guys. Read more »
Thirty Futures: Phoenix Suns
What was so gratifying about the work Chris Paul did in Oklahoma City last year was its pastoral element. Will those vibes travel with him to Phoenix? Read more »
Thirty Futures: Houston Rockets
James Harden is on the verge of being by himself, in a cubicle, hurtling through the cosmos. This is likely the optimal way to appreciate Harden: at a distance, without meaningful investment. Read more »
Thirty Futures: Philadelphia 76ers
It's up to Joel Embiid, how much of himself he wants to put into his vocation. Perhaps he doesn't fully want to. He has other interests, or his desire doesn't take the same shape as the very best players. Read more »
Thirty Futures: Atlanta Hawks
The empty stats and the Next Steph chatter isn't Trae Young's fault; it's just stuff that has happened while he's been killing time on bad teams. Read more »
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