The Angst-filled, Anxiety-fueled, Drama-obsessed 2025 NBA OFFSEASON THREAD

have to kick this off at some point so why not with this--david griffin out in new orleans

Baring some terrible lottery luck, the Sixers have managed to keep their top 6 pick.

Assuming they don't move up and get Flagg at 1, who should I hope they get at 5?

Coach Bud out in Phoenix

imagine going back to those watching the 2021 Finals and telling them that Budenholzer would be fired by both the Bucks AND the Suns in less than 4 years. you'd probably never be able to work out what exactly happened but might suspect KD was involved

well, he was basically being fired in real time during the playoffs so i think if you had told someone the bucks won the finals and bud was still fired two seasons later it wouldn't have been that surprising

in fact our understanding in that moment of bud as an obviously good but still highly flawed coach may have been the most accurate one, tho it wasn't really any issues w/ his regular season performances

hard to say much of what happened in phoenix was bud's fault and there's nothing there that a new coach is just going to fix, but there's absolutely no point in keeping him around either.

yeah when you've fired a coach 3 years in a row... maybe it's not the coach?

so the pelicans are going to replace david griffin with joe dumars in a truly alltime loser franchise move

suns had to fire bud cause booker doesnt like him and theyre desperately trying to retain him

not that retaining booker is the right move but whatre you gonna do

its the right move for the fans. i think there would be a pretty big revolt if they traded him away without his request

with those contracts for KD and Beal they're in a tight corner. that is not a team where you want anything to do with the second apron.

they should trade Booker for Austin Reaves and a 2nd rounder

vaguely ominous statement by book

Devin Booker on Phoenix Suns fans still supporting the team after they were eliminated from playoff contention:

“It took a real Suns fan to be in there tonight… I pay respect to the person that it was either their first time or maybe their last time ever seeing me play.”

noted on the lowe pod that booker said how crazy it is that they were just in the finals a few seasons ago and now theyre here.

like i said i think he gives it one more ride with whatever they can scrap together from a KD trade this offseason and if it's looking bleak again he'll ask out at the deadline.

yeah sounds right

simmons said it well on that pod -- if the team and the coach are problems but you're stuck w/ the team then your only option is to fire the coach. even if it's the third year in a row of doing so

say a thing they owe 75M in fired coaches from the last three seasons

Sam Amico
@AmicoHoops
·
3h
Report: Pelicans ownership will mandate Joe Dumars to trade Zion Williamson

the nico stuff today is just so embarrassing lol

a genuine fuckin lame

seems obvious that a lot of this was driven by luka not acting like nico was his boss, turns out only one of them is good at basketball

Sam Amico
@AmicoHoops
·
3h
Report: Pelicans ownership will mandate Joe Dumars to trade Zion Williamson

― lil $CHUB (Spottie), Tuesday, April 15, 2025 3:31 PM (six hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

you can always get the best value when trading the player is a publicly-known mandate iirc

Luka Doncic tells @malika_andrews about throwing his phone and breaking it when he found out he got traded to the Lakers 😳

"My heart was broken honestly." 💔 pic.twitter.com/rfsIGlOaBC

— ESPN (@espn) April 18, 2025

sry for the bad site, but man Nico is such a shitbag

macmahon goes deep on the dysfunction in the mavs training/medical staff and puts it all at the feet of nico https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/44704219/inside-end-luka-doncic-era-dallas-mavericks

that's a good piece, guess bad people in those positions really fucks a franchise up

mcmahon doing some serious journalism, good stuff

For awhile it felt like the era of horrendously inept front office/ownership ppl sowing chaos and creating fiascos might be coming to an end with everyone investing in analytics depts and stakes for competence getting so high… but ladies and gentlemen i am here to tell you that between Nico Harrison, Mat Ishbia, and the Michael Malone/Calvin Booth feud, happy days are here again. The human ego remains undefeated

lol otm

@tim_cato

Nico: “I did know Luka was important to the fan base. I didn’t know quite to this level.”

also this
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GpD44XbWMAEnomK?format=jpg&name=medium
from this article i cant access:
https://alldlls.com/mavericks-nico-harrison-patrick-dumont-rumors-fire-reporting/

what complete fools. truly

hawks fired landry fields as GM... sure

i feel like that’s as close as we’ll ever get to an apology and admission of regret from nico

maybe like... do a poll to a sample of your fans? you know, maybe a little research.

til i learned that there was someone who thought nico harrison had irreproachable basketball expertise

what complete fools. truly

― slob wizard (J0rdan S.), Monday, April 21, 2025 2:29 PM (thirty-seven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

seriously unbelievable

how has Harrison not been fired yet lol

bullying/booing works
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Hw9HsVf2bs

get his ass

how has Harrison not been fired yet lol

― lil $CHUB (Spottie), Monday, April 21, 2025 3:30 PM (eighteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

dumonts gotta save face he fires nico now and it looks like he got worked, bet they put someone above nico and let him fade into bolivian

i feel like they’re keeping nico on so as to not be bullied into submission by their fanbase and because the davis/kyrie injuries mean he + they can ostensibly claim that the new vision for the team hasn’t been able to play out yet

i think what would scare me if i was the owner is that nico has been pretty open about not thinking much longer than 3-4 years down the road, just recently replied “i intend to fulfill my contract” (three years) when asked about his long term future with the franchise, and has a demonstrated track record of putting future assets in trades for immediate improvements. so to let that person make even more decisions in that vein seems like a very poor idea when you know you’re at the very least going to be the one person left holding the bag

thats why you gotta give him a boss

feels like one of those situations like the kings & pelicans where they turn to some perceived steady hand, old guy who's been around the block done it before etc who is their joe dumars

they coulda played some of these cards for sure... but once dumont dropped those quotes today you gotta follow that up with a firing, im afraid.

guess nico had another press conference have not checked it out but people are saying its bad

including chuck https://bsky.app/profile/dimeuproxx.bsky.social/post/3lnebxelhg22m

feels like one of those situations like the kings & pelicans where they turn to some perceived steady hand, old guy who's been around the block done it before etc who is their joe dumars

― slob wizard (J0rdan S.), Monday, April 21, 2025 1:02 PM (four hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

this is the way. always works

only his original partner in crime from his playing days can out-dumars the dumars. time to ring up isiah thomas, nico, that'll right the ship

oh man

watched the colorado-dallas hockey game last night. there was a row of guys sitting behind the stars bench all wearing FIRE NICO t-shirts

Kon for rookie of the year.

i think it was sam vecenie pointing out that most of ace’s scoring is coming without dribbling, they’re def working to get him the ball in ways that are advantageous to his current skillset (good coaching)… what happens when he has to handle and stuff we’ll see. i think it was a misconception about him coming out tho that bcuz he took a bunch of bad shots on offense that he was a total zero on defense but there was film of him making plays in passing lanes and at the rim and stuff. i doubt he’ll ever be a stopper but i think he can prob be a plus of some sort out there over time.

suspect ace will not top out as a bigtime primary on ball guy doesnt seem like he quite has the driving juice and his playmaking seems definitively below average at least at this point, however elite shooter seems very much in play then work on other off ball offense cuts and whatnot getting the ball on the move should be very doable for him since hes kind of a physical freak, and he has enough game otherwise that he its reasonable he could get to be a good secondary creator/spot primary creator, could be a real nice player, more of a play finisher than a creator but putting the ball in the hoop is really what its all about, his bb iq reading of the game will prob determine a lot cause hes got a lot of tools and prob could overcome his weaknesses just by playing smart finding his game, he doesnt seem like the basketball genius right now but obvs a long way to go, jazz seem like a good org too so that should help

the way they have been using him reminds me of klay thompson, like the way klay would drop 42 points and then afterwards someone would be like "klay thompson dribbled the ball 5 times in the entire game." klay had the build to be a better defender at least on the perimeter but i could see ace as a high level second banana in that vein. the shooting could be so good that it warps the defense

maybe that's describing what MPJ was supposed to be before the injuries and stuff. ace seems like a better athlete to me but 6' 10" killer off ball shooter

jazz seem like a good org too so that should help

― lag∞n, Thursday, October 16, 2025 11:37 AM (nine minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

they do??

i know the results havent been there but yeah i think they seem smart

yeah thought mpj was the closest bailey comp, hes a true basketball moron tho and injury prone, ace stays healthy and can get his head halfway in the game he should be a lot better, klay comp is interesting too since he has a lot more on ball skills than klay so if he gets close to shooting like him watch out

MPJ is too low-bbIQ to trust with real playmaking duties, but he does have at least some semblance of chops. the injuries sapped a lot of his potential there for sure but there were also frequent complaints about how he was used, just being asked to stand in the corner. it worked for the nuggets to various degrees but I do think he’s capable of a little more and I’m going to be interested to see how his season in brooklyn goes. if nothing else he will have some opportunities lol

i think the jazz are probably a good org, hard to make a definitive call because they have picked some bust-y seeming players but they also keep having picks in that 6-10 range that is produces a bunch of busts. i do think we can prob confidently say that will hardy is a good coach tho

at least for me this feels like the least anticipated NBA season in forever. How does ILH feel about the upcoming regular season?

there's a new shuffle of the deck every offseason, so (to coin a phrase) past results are no predictor of future performance. but if I were an NBA fan of a team in the eastern conference, I'd be kinda down in the mouth about what to expect.

knicks are gonna win the whole thing

at least for me this feels like the least anticipated NBA season in forever. How does ILH feel about the upcoming regular season?

i would agree it feels like a weird year for the league — i think mostly bcuz of an odd mix of stasis with certain teams and total upheaval with others. like we have the celtics, pacers, and bucks basically wiped out of the title picture, and then the next group of teams is like denver, knicks & cavs all of which basically had nothing happen to their rosters this offseason except for the MPJ for cam johnson switch. teams like memphis, lakers, mavs, heat, sixers that have typically been in contender-ish convos are in weird transition phases

if you listen to/read season preview content the new stuff that people have to talk about are basically the hawks, the magic and the rockets. not exactly franchises that really get the juices flowing. maybe the season will surprise us tho

agree with your last point, there isn't really a fun up and coming team that could get into the mix. like it's really hard to get excited about the magic. and with the whole east DOA it feels like a transitional season of some kind.

watching a middling but complete team try to scrap their way to 45-50 wins is more compelling than watching a team without its best player try to hold the line at 45-50 wins

that said none of those middling teams this year are very cool

definitely feels like the league needs someone to have a nuclear breakout season this year

who is the future face of basketball? it could be you

watching a middling but complete team try to scrap their way to 45-50 wins is more compelling

I feel that way about 'my' blazers. they are a bag of mixed nuts with no way to figure them out until you see them play the season

I’m excited about the blazers *direction* but it’s hard to be excited about the actual coming season lol, but it’s an uptick over anything since, like, 2018

I’m pretty stoked about the season, but that is partly because the nuggets figure to be in the inner circle of contenders and they have jokic. otherwise it is a bit of a weird year, some of the most luminous stars of the past decade are petering out, the teams that should be up next are in gap years, and it just also seems like there’s more injuries than ever

I still think it’ll be a great regular season. jokic, shai, luka, maybe giannis should all have prime years. probably year 1 of wemby being A Problem. stacked rookie class. up-and-coming teams like atlanta and orlando. the 11-deep clippers should be a fun league pass team too. knicks being relevant is always good for the game. new broadcast partners

playoffs might be a little lacking in star power though for sure especially in the east

from a storyline perspective there just isn't a lot to sink your teeth into right now -- if the most burning question in the league is whether donovan mitchell and the cavs can get over the hump then we are probably experiencing a bit of a narrative lull.

i just think it's cyclical, it kinda reminds me of the 2019-2020 season where kawhi had just left the raptors, the warriors had fallen apart, KD was out for the year, the lebron lakers hadn't gotten up to speed yet, ben simmons was still on philly, the bucks hadn't traded for jrue yet, we didn't know the jimmy era heat were coming... it was like a mini reset year

yeah I think that’s right. still time for some wild stuff to happen (lebron and giannis trade requests? both probably unlikely), but there isn’t really a story with much momentum

definitely feels like the league needs someone to have a nuclear breakout season this year

― ciderpress, Thursday, October 16, 2025 3:56 PM (five hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

wemby is going to have a huge season

I read somewhere that Wemby transformed himself in the offseason. Don't get me wrong. I have a deep and abiding faith in Wemby's hoop skills, but this impressive transformation remains to be seen in action.

he's literally doing dream shakes now after training with hakeem, league is cooked

also he is taller and stronger

and handsomer, too

gonna be honest here im pretty interested in this rockets team crazy mix of skilled scorers and lunatic defenders think youll see them overwhelming a lot of teams this year

the lack of free agency shake up has dampened the usual new car smell of the early season. seems like a weird year for sure. ill still watch it all of course.

i think nuggets fans have a lot to be excited about tho.

this year we are all nuggets fans

I’m with hollinger on being pretty bearish on the rockets. sheppard being immediately good would change things, but the roster is pretty confusing. maybe they’re an in-season trade team

I'm not worried this season won't deliver. By the All Star break we'll be knee deep in storylines.

the rockets roster is def pretty weird but one thing worth considering is that they might just be good anyway, in the regular season at least, and yeah its all there for reed to do his thing

i think hollinger has a point about them not having great shooting. i just picked sengun in the first round of a fantasy draft i expect him to have a huge year

listening to bill simmons and zach lowe do over/unders and losing track of how many times the topic became "how many games do you think player x will realistically play" did not help me get more stoked for the season.

Embiid actually played a preseason game. Shocking!

14/7/8 in 19 minutes. Most importantly he didn't die.

There's going to be plenty of opportunities for that in the coming weeks. I'll be surprised if he lasts into February.

shams: Houston Rockets star Kevin Durant has agreed to a two-year, $90 million contract extension with the franchise, his business partner and Boardroom CEO Rich Kleiman tells ESPN. The new deal includes a player option in 2027-28.

he was eligible to make $60m a year took 45 instead, poor ass

I’m really looking forward to Risacher’s season

5/125 for christian bruan
4/100 for dyson daniels

i like one of these a lot more than the other…

we have been discussing those deals on the nuggs thread fyi

oh ok. thats a “please stick to the rivers and the lakes that you’re used to” situation for me but lemme take a peek…

all are welcome in the nuggets thread!

its time Throw It Down Bigman The 2025-26 NBA Regular Season Thread

Our long offseasoning nightmare is finally ending.