Kendrick Nunn has scored the third most points to start an NBA career in the past 25 years.

The 24-year-old Nunn, who scored 28 points against the Hawks on Thursday, has scored 112 points over his first five games in the league.

Only Jerry Stackhouse and Kevin Durant have scored more points than Nunn to start their career. 

Nunn, who went undrafted in the 2018 NBA Draft, signed a 3-year, $3.1 million deal with the Heat over the summer. 

The Golden State Warriors will be without Stephen Curry for several weeks with a broken hand, joining Klay Thompson on the sidelines and leaving Draymond Green and D'Angelo Russell to try to scavenge wins that were already tough to come by.

“I’m just telling you that the bottom line is I’m not negative and I’m not going to get negative,” Joe Lacob told The Athletic outside the Warriors locker room late Wednesday. “I’m an optimist and we’re building something. You’re always looking short term and you’re looking intermediate term and you’re looking long term.

“And I think we’ve got a lot of good young players in place. Potentially, there’s a silver lining in all of this, who knows? And I’m very optimistic about our future. Very optimistic about our future. I think we’re going to be there at some point. Can’t say when. We’ve obviously got a lot of injuries now, but we’re going to be there.”

The Warriors will retain their first round pick if it remains in the top-20.

Lacob isn't ready to concede the 19-20 season for the Warriors.

“I don’t look at it that way,” Lacob said. “I look at it (as) we have a job to do, Bob (Myers) does, all of us, to build something for the long term. And sometimes you can’t just think what’s in front of you the next week. You have to think about the next months and even year or two. Have to.

“That’s what we have done. I think that we’re going to be good over the long run.”

Joel Embiid and Karl-Anthony Towns were ejected for fighting during the third quarter of the Philadelphia 76ers' 117-95 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Embiid said after the game that he's in Towns' head.

"I felt like you could see a lot of things the previous three possessions in the post. I kind of got it the way I wanted to, and then -- I don't know, I guess that last possession, we got them to turn the ball over, and my hand was staying tangled up. And next thing I know, he's holding me; we're holding each other. But it's basketball. That's what I'm good at -- I like to get in people's minds," said Embiid, who added that he didn't expect to get suspended because he didn't throw a punch.

While Towns addressed the situation by saying that "it was a competitive game," Jeff Teague said that the fight showcased Towns' growth as a player.

"As you can see tonight, [Town's] got a lot of fight in him. Last year, I wouldn't say he wouldn't do that or he would've took it, but he's here to make a statement," said Teague. 

Kenny Atkinson shot down an ESPN story discussing Kyrie Irving's supposed mood swings, including an incident that was said to have taken place during the Brooklyn Nets' travels to China.

"That is completely false. In strictly speaking in my observation and my experience with him so far, it's absolutely not true ... from my perspective, I give Kyrie an A-plus in his consistency and his spirit," said Atkinson.

Atkinson went further, adding that Irving has helped him become a better coach.

"It's easier coaching a great player. It just is. Everybody says how hard it is, and maybe I'm naive. But I think it's great and we've had great one on one conversations. We have great film sessions with the team. He's given me great feedback. He's really helped me on two or three things that have helped the team get better," added Atkinson.

The Atlanta Hawks continued to have confidence in Trae Young during his struggles at Summer League and the start of last season before he emerged as one of the NBA's most promising young guards.

"There were so many questions about him among teams in the lottery," said Adrian Wojnarowski on The Woj Pod. "I think he would have went to Orlando at (No. 6) if he did drop to them, but there weren't teams, like, moving up to try to get him.

"I remember in that draft there were teams trying to get up to get Jaren Jackson at four from Memphis."

The Hawks received criticism for giving up on Luka Doncic as they were all-in on Young, but that gamble is beginning to make more sense.

Kevin Durant wants to win a title with the Brooklyn Nets, but he's realistic that the situation will be more challenging than it was when he joined the Golden State Warriors in 2016.

"Obviously leaving Golden State, I'm not expecting anything better than that," said Durant. "I see this situation as, 'All right, I'm coming to a young organization that has championship aspirations but doesn't quite know what that feels like.'"

Durant won a pair of Finals MVPs while with the Warriors, but he left the Warriors in search of a new challenge.

"I felt they kind of ground it out from the bottom, and I liked that," Durant said of the Nets.

Kawhi Leonard filed a trademark application over for his "What it do baby" phrase he used in an Instagram video shot by Serge Ibaka after the Raptors won the NBA championship. 

Leonard also filed a trademark for the phrase “City views over interviews."

The applications were filed through his company Leonard, LLC. 

Both trademarks were filed with the intent to be used on clothing and merchandise.

Steve Kerr was asked whether he would like to see Stephen Curry shoot more three-pointers as the Golden State Warriors try to figure out how to play without Klay Thompson and Kevin Durant.

"I don't know that it's that simple," Kerr said. "We could turn him into James Harden and give him the ball every play. That's really hard to do and you have to build a team for that. Houston has put five shooters on the floor for years now with Harden to give him that space. We don't have that kind of personnel, so there's not the same spacing. And that kind of basketball wears you out, too. Especially for a guy who's 180 pounds like Steph is. So I don't think the answer is just to run a million high screens. We don't really have the personnel for that. And I don't think it makes a ton of sense from Steph's standpoint."

Kerr was asked the question before the Warriors defeated the New Orleans Pelicans by a final score of 134-123. Curry had 26 points while D'Angelo Russell added 24.

Anthony Davis has historically said he prefers not to play center, but he expressed a willingness to do so last season with the New Orleans Pelicans. The Los Angeles Lakers' most optimal lineup appears to have Davis play the center position for the spacing it provides.

"I'm told that A.D. is definitely warming up to the idea of playing a lot at center," said Ohm Youngmisuk on ESPN's Hoop Collective Podcast. "I think right now (Frank) Vogel doesn't want to lose any of his veteran players. If he were to start A.D. at center eventually, he doesn't want to lose JaVale McGee or Dwight Howard."

McGee sat the entire second half against the Utah Jazz on Friday as they attempted to bring Rudy Gobert outside the paint.

"A.D. was put on this planet to play the center position in 2019. He is perfect for it," said Kirk Goldsberry.

Joe Lacob never apologized for his comment saying the Golden State Warriors were "light-years ahead" of the competition. With the Warriors moving into Chase Center and struggling to start the season, it now appears to some as though the franchise has become just another NBA team again.

"When we won the championship, I told Bob right afterwards, 'We've got to get better,'" Lacob explained. "I always say that. That's how you keep going. People think I'm being egotistical or arrogant. I'm not. I'm really being honest.

"You have to continue to strive as an organization, both on the basketball side and the business side, to continually improve, because your competition is certainly trying to do the same thing.

"The rest of the league is going to catch us at some point."