NBA Season 2025-26

[Phantom255x]

Interesting Lakers starting unit while LeBron is out

G: G Vincent
G: A Reaves
F: Luka
F: Hachimura
C: Ayton

I like Gabe Vincent getting the nod as the 5th starter. They have three combo guards. Defensive guards who need to hit open jump-shots. Gabe has done that the best during pre-season. He finished last season well after struggling prior to that. The others are Marcus Smart and Bronny. Smart has an uphill battle to prove he can still be a difference maker on a winning team (he hasn't been for 2yrs now).

Loss of DFS

Interesting to think about last year's squad and how Donney Finney Smith would have gotten the nod here. So they would have had a big wing defender who can cover 2 through 4. Maybe even some PGs. Also a more reliable shooter. Compare that to this season and LAL has no reliable wing defender that can step in if one of their wings are out injured (LeBron currently). All they can do this season is put in a small sized guard. A substantial downgrade.

Talent Level with LeBron

It is also interesting to look at the three players alongside Luka and A Reaves. How talented are they? Gabe Vincent is a bottom 5 starting PG. Hachimura is probably somewhere around the 20th best starting PF. Ayton also around the 20th best starting center. So just how talented is this team without LeBron? Is it a .500 team?

Do they lack wings?

Another interesting note is that A Reaves and Luka are the two wings. They are both negative defenders. LAL has no plus wing defender in their starting group without LeBron. They have a small guard defender in G Vincent and a big forward defender in Rui Hachimura.

They also lack wing defenders off their bench. Dalton Knecht is the next wing player up. An offense-only player. Then they have more versions of Rui Hachimura - big forwards who can play defense in Vanderbilt and Jake LaRavia.

So lots of big forwards. No quick wings. Small guards & big (slower) forwards (including Luka & LeBron).

I got LAL finishing as the 5 seed in the West but not having Lebron the first month is certainly going to hurt. I truthfully don't see much consistent, reliable scoring on that team behind Reaves and Doncic, and also even with Smart and others I'm still not sure their defense is going to hang against some of the elite teams out West who have superstar scoring options as well. DFS was an underrated big loss for them, and he went to a team that I think could be a direct opponent for them even in in the playoffs (Houston)

[Moranis]

I think you guys are underestimating Ayton a good bit.  He has been a pretty consistent 16/10 player for basically his entire career.  He isn't going to give you more than that, but he will give you that.  If your 3rd scorer is consistently giving you 16 ppg, you are doing ok, especially when your top scorer will be over 30. Also, Rui is a pretty consistent 13 ppg as well and Rui has really improved his 3-point shooting and was over 41% on over 4 attempts last year.  Offense will not be the issue for the Lakers, even without Lebron.  Defense is the concern as even with Lebron they don't have a lot of top end defenders. 

[Phantom255x]

I think you guys are underestimating Ayton a good bit.  He has been a pretty consistent 16/10 player for basically his entire career.  He isn't going to give you more than that, but he will give you that.  If your 3rd scorer is consistently giving you 16 ppg, you are doing ok, especially when your top scorer will be over 30. Also, Rui is a pretty consistent 13 ppg as well and Rui has really improved his 3-point shooting and was over 41% on over 4 attempts last year.  Offense will not be the issue for the Lakers, even without Lebron.  Defense is the concern as even with Lebron they don't have a lot of top end defenders.

Maybe. I agree about Ayton's numbers but to me, the biggest issue with him is mentally. He gets frazzled easily and there are stretches during a season too he just plays poorly and can't really get out of it. There's a reason he's now on his 3rd team. He's certainly a big upgrade over what they had last year in the frontcourt after the Doncic-AD trade.

The 5 seed for me sort of balances out the Lebron injury + defensive issues despite the roster being better and overall having the ceiling of maybe a 3 seed. But make no mistake, their only chance at a deep run is Doncic + Lebron together healthy in this West. People can bring up the Mavs but they had a legit #2 in Kyrie and a great frontcourt with good depth.

[Who]

Reed Sheppard = preseason statistics

4gms 23mpg
15ppg 51% FG 11 FGA 41% 3PT 7 3PA
4.0rpg 3.0apg 1.5spg 1.5bpg
2.8 turnovers per game

Impressive preseason production. Great shooting. Strong scoring per minute. Good possession creation in rebounding, steals and blocks. Turnovers are high and assists low - almost a 1:1 ratio - but nobody will care if he is doing all that other stuff so well.

Also, he wasn't getting to the FT line much. Under 15% FT rate. So reliant on outside shooting efficiency for overall scoring efficiency. Needs to be a high level shooter to be effective.

[Who]

The Portland Trail Blazers and forward Toumani Camara have agreed to a four-year, $82 million extension. The Trail Blazers are declining their team option for Camara for the 2026-27 season in order to give him the four-year extension. Portland now locks up the All-Defensive second team player through the 2029-30 season.

Camara stated in all 78 games he played for the Blazers in his second season. The 6-foot-7 forward averaged 11.3 points, 5.8 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game. Camara shot 45.8% from the field, including 37.5% on 4.6 three-point attempts per game.

That is a fantastic contract for Portland. I would have expected him to get $30+mil. One of the top defensive wings in the league. A solid three point threat. Genuine 3+D guy. One of the finest 3+D guys in the league. And still developing.

The Portland Trail Blazers and guard Shaedon Sharpe have agreed to a four-year, $90 million rookie scale extension. This extension locks Sharpe in with Portland through the 2029-30 season.

Sharpe started in 52 of the 72 games he played last season. The 6-foot-5 guard averaged 18.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game. Sharpe shot 45% from the field.

I am less sure about Shaedon Sharpe. Lot of talent but still figuring out how to utilize his talent to impact winning. More risk on this one.

The Brooklyn Nets have waived guard Kobe Bufkin. The Nets acquired Bufkin this offseason in a salary-clearing move from the Atlanta Hawks.

Brooklyn will eat $4.5 million in dead money on the cap for the 2025-26 season for Bufkin. The Nets will open the season roughly $190,000 above the salary floor.

The waiver of Bufkin should mean that Tyrese Martin and Jalen Wilson will make the Nets opening night roster. Neither player has a fully guaranteed contract, but both emerged as regular rotation players for Brooklyn last season.

I did not even realize Kobe Bufkin was traded to the Nets this summer. 15th overall pick in the draft 2 years ago. Hard landing for him. Still young.

[Birdman]

Utah waived Mo Bamba?dude just never live up to his potential

[Who]

Dylan Harper looks like Cade Cunningham 2.0

A more athletic Cade Cunningham.

[SHAQATTACK]

Utah waived Mo Bamba?dude just never live up to his potential

Maybe he want. ? Mo Money?

[Who]

Michael Scotto: The Washington Wizards will waive Dillon Jones, league sources told @hoopshype. First reported by The Athletic. Jones was the 26th pick of the 2024 NBA Draft and appeared in 54 games for the Thunder last season. The 23-year-old is expected to draw strong two-way market interest.
- Twitter

I am not sure Dillon Jones would be of much value for the Celtics with Hugo, J Walsh, J Minott all around. They are our scrappy defensive forwards. 3 of them already. Don't really need a 4th.

That said, Dillon Jones more of a big (as in bulky) body than any of those players. He was useful in helping OKC matchup in small ball lineups. Played some center for them even though he is only 6-5 240lbs. Played some PF for them which he could do for other teams. And some SF. All 3 frontcourt positions. He would be a PF/SF on most squads.

That bulk / muscle gives him a different defensive skill-set than our current group. Someone who can bang. Boucher is a thin PF as well. Hauser is thin. Jaylen Brown is our only wing / forward with muscle.

[Who]

Ira Winderman: Erik Spoelstra said cutting Precious Achiuwa was ?tough? but spoke of overall roster construction.

There is another guy that could be useful for Boston. A better option. More of a true big. More of a PF/C. A PF who can play C. Preferably a PF but his low skill level means he has to play more as a C.

I'd rather have Achiuwa here than Xavier Tillman.

Achiuwa gives the team a smaller mobile defensive big man. A hustle big. Garza a skilled offensive big. Queta a tall defensive big to protect the rim. Nice contrast in skill-sets.

I don't trust Tillman to fill that role.

[Who]

Keerthika Uthayakumar: Fun fact: there are 83 players on rosters that were born AFTER LeBron James made his NBA debut on Oct 29, 2003.