After two years of Jokic carrying a largely sundry crew through the woods, the Nuggets have finally formed back into a true showcase squad, worthy of many more grand stages. They are a basketball team worth falling in love with. Read more »

Whether the Raptors try to regroup with what they have or make a rebuilding step backwards will have a lot to do with how difficult they think the battle is to win, and whether it's even worth fighting while the Bucks and Celtics peak. The Knicks, ever-beleaguered, are just happy to be where they are; as they should be. Read more »

Understanding The Mystery Box teams, The Cereal City Assassin, Beamlessness, Vulture Mode and more. Read more »

It seems fair to say that Zach LaVine probably needs to play next to a different kind of running mate: one who runs an offense instead of bails it out; someone whose primary management he can play off. Read more »

The Raptors play in a way that emphasizes their length. They appear in your imagination as a mass of adolescent sycamores with limbs like an interstate highway system. Read more »

The Sixers recently tried and failed a Twin Towers experiment, but were able to quickly dig themselves out of the hole. With the Wolves trading away all of their future draft capital, fixing their Gobert/Towns mix will be even more challenging for them. Read more »

Maybe we're at a course-correction point and there will be a real and rehabilitative process for Bridges, Primo and Udoka. Or, more cynically, this could just be the same public-relations playbook we've grown used to seeing in the NBA being run once again. Read more »

Luka Doncic is playing to the point that he's consumed Dallas' entire universe; at a certain point, he ceased being the Mavs' star and transformed into their entire solar system. Read more »

What happens when you're "collecting assets" but you already have a star where keeping him happy is likely more important than marginally increasing the odds on your NBA Powerball ticket. Read more »

Reviewing the hits and misses of the 22-23 City Edition uniforms. Read more »

Most organizations cannot handle even one man who is capable of destabilizing everything going on around them, but in Kevin Durant, Ben Simmons, Kyrie Irving, and potentially Ime Udoka as well, the Nets could have four. Read more »

It is immensely sad and angering when rich and famous people poison the cultural water supply because they are bored, or unwell, or the morphine drip of public attention has slowed, and they are itching for engagement. Read more »

The Jazz have an extremely annoying team to deal with on a night-to-night basis. So far, they've undermined everyone's expectations for them, perhaps even their own, and have done it without superstar talent. Read more »

The NBA is in an unpredictable time where there are more viable title contenders from season to season. More teams are betting everything on the present to win a title, while there are more rebuilding teams willing to oblige them. Read more »

Access to the frenetic, physical, hyper-communicative disruption and coordination Draymond Green offers on the court has long required dealing with all the storm and fever he brings off it. Read more »

Deandre Ayton has played the role of a thankless big man and given finite room to flourish. The bill has seemed to come due on the good will he's shown during his subjugation into such a blunt instrument role. Read more »

This is the time when everything is happily, vaguely defined. Read more »

All is not lost without Lonzo Ball, but it will take a delicate, intricate balancing act from Billy Donovan to make this curious collection of parts hum in a differently successful way. Read more »

In Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and De'Anthony Melton, the dashed dreams of the 2018 Rockets have found new foundation. Read more »

Time is on the side of these Knicks. There are many directions that RJ Barrett can take from here that would work for the team and their next steps as a franchise, and he's still just scratching the surface of those. Read more »