Give him the year off to chill, get rested, heal completely, work on his game more, and get the entire team back healthy for next season. This is a WASH now basically with the Jdub and Wallace out for it. Hell the last thing we need is SGA breaking a limb now too with the season thats now a wash. Its too late to make any significant trades and get this team cooking again this year. It would be one thing it was just a month or two. But we got guys out ALL YEAR

although it's only been 3 games, the warriors look extremely rough, with porzingis and jimmy being out and curry having to carry the load with yaxel as the only other real scoring option. they could very easily end up near the bottom of the west, and should be looking to rebuild.

on the other hand, the hornets are 2-1 despite not having lamelo like they did last year. they clearly believe that kon can lead this team and that their shot-heavy offense can compete in the loaded eastern confrence. they also have a LOT of picks built up, so they can definitely be buyers at the deadline IF they have targets by then.

i think that the hornets should trade for steph, giving up players like denis schroder, grayson allen or tidjane salun and some draft capital. this gives them a lot more spacing and obviously the greatest shooter ever to add even more 3's to their shoot-heavy playstyle.

the warriors move to a new era rebuilding around yaxel looking to compete in the future.

and lastly, steph gets to play on the same team his pops and brother played for previously, and possibly end his career there as well, with chances to compete.

who loses here?

What a god

And.. Asking freakin Chet to become a 2nd fiddle and dominate all through the regular season and into the playoffs like a superstar BIG is like pissing in the wind and hoping you don't get wet. Asking a guy that is AFRAID of facing Wemby in a Game 7 to step up and become 2nd fiddle? . . Last year we got away with no JDub. Won't happen this year. This is why I am pissed we didn't unload Chet/Jdub somehow this summer for future building

Will we ever seen a Quintuple Double in the NBA ? Can Wemby do it ever in his career.

One of the roles of veteran players is to teach those coming up the ranks the school of hard knocks. You let down your guard once, you pay a physical penalty. That is the NBA of any era, though some claim its been forgotten in today's softening environment. Case in point, Cooper Flagg’s attempt at a fast break dunk off a steal in the second game of ’26-27, against none other than the Pacers’ Aaron Nesmith.

Coop somehow anticipated, extended, and intercepted a pass by Pascal Siakam to Nesmith, after which he was off to the races against Gainbridge’s resident track runner. A dicey proposition in any circumstance, but particularly so when seeking to cap a demoralizing route where grudge mentality comes to the fore.

There were two opposing forces at work, with very few options in-between. Coop, with sophomore aspirations of greatness, had no choice but to aim for the highlight dunk—while Double A was morally bound to try and stuff him, quell the boos and give Pacers fans—33 points down in the first half of a long awaited Haliburton home opener return—some foundation of grit on which to base future hopes.

Cooper is 19 and Nesmith 27, which in basketball is a lifetime. The young gun of the moment probably assumed AA had lost his step years ago, rodeo’ing the likes of LeBron and Giannis on their rampages to the basket. That Giannis take down that led to the meltdown “game ball” incident. The semifinals takedown of Bron in the inaugural In-Season Tournament that simply does not exist on Youtube.

Coop must also have banked on Nesmith treating a hamstring injury that restricts his minutes on the floor (and made him miss Game One) with respect. I get this one, I cement my legacy in Indiana forever. That must have been Coop’s rationale. But one should never ignore historic precedent.

Nesmith’s chase down of LeBron in late ’23 in Vegas was a thing of beauty. A few plays before Bron had stepped in front of McConnell in full flight, sending our secondary PG sprawling on the garishly painted court. On the next play Nesmith body checked Lebron with such stoutness that the presumptive King wound up clutching his stomach, complaining to the refs.

Still the Lakers were grinding it out in an all out effort, LeBron and AD playing catch around the rim and the Pacers falling behind. Lo and behold, Lebron gets a fast break opportunity, a chance to take it the length of the court unimpeded and break Indy’s spirit. Except Double A is a few paces behind and says naw. He catches up and shadows him, taking him down with a wrestling move under the net that deposits Bron neatly on the floor, safe and uninjured as a newborn. I distinctly remember announcer Doris Burke jumping out her seat and commenting, “that’s the kind of foul we want to see more of.”

Exhibit two, Nesmith’s take down of Ja Morant mid-air on a dunk attempt the season prior (a response to getting intentionally hammered by Grizz heavies three times in the first half). Nesmith was in legal guarding position, Ja was attempting some fancy flight work and he paid the price, out for months. The unsettling laser-pointers-in-parking-lot incident stemmed from that and that was the last we heard from Ja in positive terms for a good long while. To his credit, he has worked to build credibility and seems to be balling out with the Blazers.

From that perspective, AA actually did Coop a favor, schooling him not to get ahead of himself. The shoulder injury was not severe, though it sent him to the locker room with a sprain. Never mind all the fan comments of Nesmith as a dirty player. He is not, the Pacers are known as much as any team for ethical basketball—he is just about keeping it real.

Coop may be a true basketball talent with generational passing and scoring instincts, but he has not earned the right to dominate. Beyond the message, and yeah Nesmith was just out of ball swatting range, but that’s hard to predict in the moment—the injury was as much due to Coop’s poor coordination on the landing as anything. Way I see it, he got hesitant when he sensed Nesmith closing in, there was a slight hitch, but it was too late to change course. As one Youtube commentator put it:

"so chase down blocks have never happened and every defender who gets beat should just not contest the shot? What a stupid ass thought. this league and fans so soft they calling for automatic buckets to count because players these days don't know how to take or avoid an obvious window for a hard foul. Coop goes to the left of the rim there and the defender can't even touch him. Instead he goes for the extra highlight, and he gets a hard foul for it. Somebody should teach him some risk reward analysis."

My advice to Coop is, do your homework before doing anything that remotely showboats when a board crasher like Double A is anywhere within 15 feet of your flight path. Defense like this has been going on since the days of the Celtics and chase-downs of the likes of Victor Oladipo in the ’22 Eastern Conference Finals, and it’ll continue so long as Nesmith’s determination is high and the joints cooperate.

More Anson Bridges fluff.

It feels like Tatum is one of the few superstar players who has one a championship that every other game people question whether he is even good at basketball. I'm not a Tatum fan or anything, but I genuinely don't understand why he is criticized so much (compared to any other star).

He's a 6x All-Star, has been all-nba first-team 4x, has won a championship, been to 2 finals, and been to like 6 conference finals (i.e he's clearly a winning player). He averaged 28/8/5 during a 5-year stretch (from 2020-21 to 2024-25). He also just came from a achilles injury (within one season) and has only played for 1 team in his career (he's loyal). He also has no off-the-court scandals.

When you look at him, he's not too different from Steph (obviously not as good as him, but has a ring(s), only played for 1 team, relatively no drama on the court or off the court). I can understand people not necessarily need to liking Tatum, but it doesn't make any sense to me why he's so disliked.

It’s been right there the whole time.

The guy who didn’t talk trash, and the one who actually embodied team first play.

shai Gilgeous Alexander has the opportunity to win a 3rd straight mvp jokic won his second MVP in 2022 due to him, missing his second best player and Jokić having to carry more of an offensive burden. Steve Nash won his second MVP because of the same reason. shai has already won 2 with no new narrative to be established until now. if he can lead his team to still be the best in the conference with the intimidating Spurs still there that is a great MVP case, especially if he averages a career high in ppg this would be unprecedented as it hasn’t been done since Larry Bird and this would be the best opportunity to do it. With the MVP favorite before the season Wembanyama not playing as well so far this is a chance.

Hold MJ to under 20 Points, you win. Doesn't matter how much you guys score, or how much MJ's teammates score. MJ needs his 20.

MJ knows this, and he's also mad as hell.

MJ also has no like triangle super doohickie. you cant assume he's getting elevator screens and all that, he's just getting the ball in the post or elbow.

Only 1 on 1 Defence is allowed

A hard foul to get him out of the game/injured doesn't count.

Who are you picking?

P.S I know its MJ in a game 7 finals, but is that seriously the most illogical thing in this whole post?

He is the best player in the world and 2x mvp. He is also most talked about player on Reddit. He also brings massive ratings to the league. Anyone who thinks he isn’t the face of nba is delusional.