2025-26 Team Developments: Trades / Free Agents / News / Rumors / Ideas

re: expansion:

this was interesting to me:

this guy is paid a lot of money to know what his product is, so i find the precise phrasing here peculiar. i wonder if we all agree on this. i can assume that the league has done some research to support the idea that what people want is good competition (as opposed to good basketball). i've always considered myself more into the latter. like i'm sure college wrestling is GREAT competition, but i've never wanted to watch it nor enjoyed it when i accidentally watched it.

 

Completely agree.

And yeah, it could work out well for Denver if they are willing to work with us a bit. I'd think the odds of that were higher with Malone gone but we will see.

 

That sounds a bit dangerous to me if I'm being honest.

I would think the product still needs to be at a certain level for fans to be happy with it precisely for that reason. I enjoy college basketball but a lot of people don't because the play on the court isn't as good. I think the overall ratings of the different products reflects that.

With rumors of a rival league from deep pockets in other countries continuing to swirl, I'm not sure you want to dilute your product like that. Maybe the play is to take away more of the potential talent a rival league could pull from but still. Seems risky even though I think Vegas and Seattle will certainly support a team.

Those are my immediate thoughts on it and it could all be off. Definitely something to watch.

 

wtf another @Slick2021 ? what is this - did Slick get banned and this is his burner lol

 

NOOOO ..... seriously? I had just checked with him 15 minutes ago by PM to the new tag, to see what was up with it, and he explained it's hopefully temporary. He got a new laptop and had problem with not having the old password and somehow it affected access to LB, so had to create new one. Then contacted Cookie and she directed him to PM Barns, which he has done but hasn't heard back yet. Poor guy.

 

It's just like Slick to put his money where his mouth is and go ahead WestBRICK his account

 

.... that's the ticket, beat him up while he can't respond?

 

MIAMI -- Victor Wembanyama is making it clear: He wants to win the NBA's Most Valuable Player Award this season.

The San Antonio Spurs star -- moments after his team clinched its first Southwest Division title in nine seasons -- detailed some elements of his MVP case Monday night after the red-hot Spurs beat the Miami Heat 136-111 for their 22nd win in the past 24 games.

"I have thought about it," Wembanyama said. "I think right now, there is a debate. There should be, even though I think I should lead the race. I'm trying to make sure that at the end of the season, there's no debate."

Wembanyama is averaging 24.3 points, 11.2 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 3.0 blocked shots. Only six players have finished a season with such numbers: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar did it five times, Hakeem Olajuwon did it twice and Shaquille O'Neal, Patrick Ewing and David Robinson each did it once. The sixth player on that list? That would be Wembanyama, who did all that last season, as well, albeit in only 46 games.

The reigning MVP, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Oklahoma City Thunder, is the overwhelming favorite to win the trophy again. Next on the list: Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic, the NBA's leading scorer.

Wembanyama has the third-best odds as of Monday, one spot ahead of Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic. Everyone else would be considered a significant long shot for the award at this point, though the NBA's 65-game rule for major award eligibility -- including for MVP -- could become a factor. Jokic, a three-time MVP, can sit out only one more game, for example, before he falls off the ballot, and Wembanyama can sit out no more than three more times. The Spurs have 10 regular-season games left.

 

One more time with GUSTO ..... screw SGA and the NBA powers that be for giving him the ridiculous James Harden treatment. Sucks the proverbial big one. Why do that. Teams should be protesting to the league office all over the place with curated highlights of the crap and phantom fouls that refs are calling for him while ignoring his straight arm push offs and Hardenesque deliberate arm entanglements and other offensive fouls. The guy is good on his own, why the eff manufacture more advantages for him? No way in hell should he be the presumptive favorite, if he was being officiated by the book.