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

summer body show n tell has begun

“It feels good to feel good. I haven’t felt like this since college.”

— Zion Williamson

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/G1i43alasAAgy9n?format=jpg&name=900x900

we're about due for Luka to post summer body pics of himself slimmed down by 10 lbs or more. it's a tradition by now

you're months behind on that one

yeah those started before summer even began really.

recent pics of embiid has him looking real slim
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/G07hoLFWcAA-tYs?format=jpg&name=large

lookin like deandre ayton out there

Maybe they grew him a new knee "in the lab".

Tim Bontemps
@TimBontemps
Philadelphia 76ers guard Jared McCain suffered a UCL tear in his right thumb during a workout today, sources told ESPN. He and the team are working with specialists to decide how they will proceed, sources said.

lol

i love this franchise so much

damn man. he at least seems like a guy who’s easy to root for

I have been contemplating giving up sports entirely (a huge life change) and this shit just isn't helping.

never a good idea to give up sports

If you don't mind my asking, which part(s) of your relationship with sports are you having the most trouble with?

I've been a pretty rabid sports fan for about 47 years.

A lot of it is the legalized gambling along with the WWE/MMA/UAE-ization of everything. Sports teams being owned by some of the worst people on earth and giving moments of silence for Ch4rlieKirk. Planes flying over stadiums. I hate all this stuff a lot.

It's not just sports, I've been feeling the desire to disengage from popular culture across the board - thinking of simultaneously cutting all streaming except the Criterion channel, lol.

Is this a midlife crisis? Probably.

i get what you mean. i’m really excited for the spurs season on the court, but the off court stuff with ownership trying to ram through another stadium is leaving a bad taste in my mouth.

the ownership are quiet trumpers as well

are there any NBA owners that aren't total garbage?

it turns out there are no good billionaires

still looking for one

scoot out 1-2 months with a hamstring tear

come onnnn why can’t we have nice things

ban players doing anything until october

this seems like an unprecedented amount of pre-season injuries

aleksander barkov who is the captain of the (two time defending champion) florida panthers tore his ACL and MCL on the first day of practice today

it brings me no pleasure to report that theres another jaylin williams

‪KeithSmithNBA‬ keithsmithnba.bsky.social‬

The Sacramento Kings have signed Jameer Nelson Jr. and Jaylin Williams (the wing from Auburn, not the big from OKC), a league source told spotrac.com.

Disappointed in the thunder for not being him.

*getting

I'm still not over the existence of a Jameer Nelson Junior

feeling you on that

It’s not that it makes me feel old. It makes me feel like an old dad

friends, weve been posting here for like 20 years, we *are* old dads (either literally or spiritually)

I have a kid that drives now smh

ew

my kid drives...ME CRAZY AMIRITE

no but i love him hes the light of my goddamn life

My kids are still 5 and 8. I had a good 3 month stretch last spring where I couldn’t walk let alone shoot hoops with them

how is there yet another jaylin williams

"mr president, another jaylin williams has hit the league"

our long national ba nightmare is over

shams:‬
Breaking: Ending a summer-long stalemate, Jonathan Kuminga has agreed to a two-year, $48.5 million contract to return to the Golden State Warriors, agent Aaron Turner told ESPN. The deal has a team option designed for the contract to be ripped up and renegotiated next summer.

https://go.a3cfestival.com/hubfs/a2c8fa3c5b2f1105d49f40417397f28f.jpg

wait did shams really say that last sentence lol

he tried his best

he'll be traded on Jan 15

It's done! Hurray!

At least the warriors and JK are incentivised to be on the same page to maximize contract and trade value so there's that.

ah very normal

That the Madison Square Garden Entertainment Corp. utilizes facial recognition technology—entirely, they insist, to maintain the safety of their customers—at all its storied venues, has been known for a while.

But the stories of lawyers being mobbed by security and forcibly ejected with a screaming child in tow, or fans booted from the arena for creating a “sell the team” t-shirt years prior, sharpen the picture.

Madison Square Garden isn’t just an arena. For Dolan, it operates like a fortress under siege—what digital rights advocates now describe to The New York Groove as a “surveillance panopticon.”

https://nygroove.nyc/james-dolan-msg-spying/

theres a preseason nba game on

A regular season thread will soon be upon us, may its title be as puntastic as last years

pretty stoked on vj edgecombe

fat joe is here performing at halftime shouting out the abu dhabi experience special things are happening

at the very end while the pa guy was thanking him he yelled stephon marbury in the building, i have no choice but to respect it

was stephon marbury in the building?

i havent seen him but one can only assume