Here's a thread to discuss about the upcoming NBA season.

 

Boston Celtics will try to defend their championship. Can they secure their 19th title?

For the first time ever, NBA draft will be held for 2 nights, which is tonight/this midnight and tomorrow.

 

This year will feature one British guard Quinn Ellis who previously played for the Serie A team Dolomiti Energia Trento.

The LA Lakers have named television pundit and former player JJ Redick as their new head coach.

 

The former Orlando Magic and LA Clippers shooting guard moved into punditry with broadcaster ESPN after ending his 15-year playing career and has no previous coaching experience.

 

The 40-year-old also co-hosts a basketball podcast alongside Lakers stalwart LeBron James.

The regular season has started now. Great start from the Cavaliers, Warriors, Thunder, and defending champion Celtics.

 

A disappointing start from the Bucks as they are now 1-6. Can see Doc Rivers going to be sacked pretty soon.

 

Buddy Hield is probably the biggest improvement at the moment after the Warriors sent Klay Thompson to Mavericks. He'll definitely become an All-Star albeit losing to Chef Curry and Doncic in the starting line-up battle. Two sophomores, Thunder's Chet Holmgren and Spurs' Victor Wembanyama, also deserve their maiden All-Star Game appearance.

A huge night for the 3-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic as he scored a 20-20-16 triple-double (20 points, 20 rebounds, 16 assists)!

Jokic has started the season incredibly well

Thunder's Chet Holmgren is out for 8-10 weeks due to a right iliac hip fracture when defending Wiggins' layup.

 

Not a good news for OKC as he is one of their key players.

Steph Curry registered 37 points as the Golden State Warriors beat the Dallas Mavericks 120-117 in the NBA Cup on Klay Thompson's return to the Chase Center.

 

The 36-year-old scored the Warriors' final 12 points - including a superb three-pointer to make it 118-114 - as he continued his fine start to the season.

 

Thompson, 34, scored 22 points as he made his first return to the Bay Area after ending his 13-year stint with the Warriors to join the Mavericks last summer.

 

Curry, who won four NBA Championships alongside Thompson, says it was strange to come up against his former team-mate.

A night to remember for both Wemby and Greek Freak:

 

Victor Wembanyama: 50 points, 6 rebounds, 3 blocks, 8 3-point made, over a 139-130 win against Washington Wizards

Giannis Antetokounmpo: 59 points, 14 rebounds (double-double), 7 assists, over a 127-120 win against Detroit Pistons

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 39 points for the Oklahoma City Thunder while Giannis Antetokounmpo sank 37 points for Milwaukee Bucks as they inspired their sides to reach the NBA Cup semi-finals.

 

Gilgeous-Alexander notched five of his side's season-high 20 three pointers in their 118-104 victory against the visiting Dallas Mavericks in their Western Conference quarter-final.

 

He also contributed eight rebounds, five assists and three steals, with the Thunder pulling away in the third quarter when they turned a three point half-time advantage into a 90-73 lead.

 

Klay Thompson and Naji Marshall top scored with 19 points for the Mavericks, while team-mate Luka Doncic was limited to 16 points.

 

They will play either the Golden State Warriors or the Houston Rockets in the Western Conference semi-final when the competition moves to Las Vegas for the final stages.

Milwaukee Bucks defeats Oklahoma City Thunder on the NBA Mid-season Cup Final. Giannis Antetokounmpo is crowned the NBA Cup MVP.

 

All-Star voting opens today and you can vote for your favorite players this season via app (must have a free NBA ID first).

I don't follow NBA much so just looking at the All Star thing now, looks interesting! Is the idea that you vote for the best players and the ones with the most votes play a special match together?

Yes, there'll be a special match on the Sunday of the weekend.

 

However, NBA All-Star voting only decides the starting five of each conferences. Also, fans' daily votings have only been worth 50% since 2017 because of this Zaza rule. NBA players & media voting worth 25% each. Thanks to that, Derrick Rose failed to become an All-Star in 2019. Two selected coaches choose the remaining 14 reserve players (based on their performance, too).

 

I personally still have no idea how this year's new All Star format will go as those 24 players will be divided into 3 teams and are facing the winning Rising Star team (containing rookies and sophomores; usually Team USA vs Team World).

 

Here are my daily votes:

West:

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander

Anthony Edwards

Chet Holmgren (despite injury, yes)

Jalen Williams

Alperen Sengun

 

East:

LaMelo Ball

Derrick White

Jayson Tatum

Kristaps Porzingis

Franz Wagner

 

Here are the players that likely start:

West:

Stephen Curry (despite having his worst season, yes)

Luka Doncic

LeBron James

Nikola Jokic

Kevin Durant

 

East:

Giannis Antetokounmpo

Damian Lillard

Jayson Tatum

Karl Anthony-Towns

Jaylen Brown

Jimmy Butler has been suspended indefinitely by the Miami Heat after a "continued pattern of disregard of team rules".

 

The six-time NBA All-Star, 35, had already been suspended twice by his team this month for disciplinary issues, ruling him out of nine matches.

 

The Heat said he walked out of a team practice on Friday and has now been suspended again without pay.

 

They said the suspension is "indefinite" but will "last no fewer than five games".

Luka Doncic has gone to the Lakers for Anthony Davis. Bizarre trade

What the...

Luka will make his lakers debut tonight

LeBron James limped out of the Los Angeles Lakers' 111-101 defeat by the Boston Celtics with a groin injury.

The 40-year-old left the court during a timeout in the fourth quarter after he contested a layup with Jaylen Brow.

James scored 22 points, 14 rebounds and nine assists before his exit with six minutes and 44 seconds left to play.

The NBA's all-time leading scorer missed 17 games with a groin problem in 2018 but said he did "not have much concern" about this setback.

"I've been there before and I know what type of injury we're dealing with," said James, who passed 50,000 career points earlier this week.

"Obviously, I'm day-to-day. I'll look at it each day and see if it gets better, and take the proper measures to see what I need to do moving forward."

Jayson Tatum bagged 40 points, 12 rebounds, and eight assists as the Celtics held off a late rally from the Lakers, spearheaded by Slovenian Luka Doncic, to secure their fourth straight win.

Lakers 1-3 down Luka is good and all but no defensive effort at all and it’s costing the lakers big time

Knicks looking good outplaying Boston. Very wide open this year. I think the winner of thunder vs nuggets will win but you can’t rule out the knicks