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No Untouchables In Bulls’ Trade Talks

January 27th, 2025 at 2:00pm CST by Luke Adams

Zach LaVine, Nikola Vucevic, and Lonzo Ball have been the Bulls players most frequently cited this season as trade candidates, but head of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas would be open to moving just about anyone on the roster if he thinks the deal is in the team’s best long-term interests and helps Chicago keep its top-10 protected 2025 first-round pick, says Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times.

Cowley identifies Matas Buzelis as the only exception, but clarifies that the rookie forward isn’t “completely untouchable” either.

The report doesn’t come as a real surprise. Chicago has also reportedly made forward Patrick Williams available, and Cowley suggested last month that guards Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu aren’t off the table in trade talks.

The Bulls also aren’t likely to be especially attached to reserves like Jalen Smith, Jevon Carter, Chris Duarte, Torrey Craig, and Talen Horton-Tucker, while youngsters Dalen Terry and Julian Phillips haven’t established themselves as long-term keepers.

That leaves Josh Giddey, who was viewed as Chicago’s probable point guard of the future when the team acquired him last summer from Oklahoma City in exchange for Alex Caruso. Giddey didn’t sign a rookie scale extension last fall and has had an up-and-down first season as a Bull, but I’d still be a little surprised if he’s moved by next Thursday, given that his value on an expiring contract would be limited.

A source tells Cowley that Karnisovas has come down to some extent on what teams viewed as “unrealistic” asking prices for his top trade chips earlier in the season, though that doesn’t mean he’s simply willing to sell off players to the highest bidder.

Discussing the latest on Vucevic within a trade rumor round-up on his Substack, Marc Stein of The Stein Line reports that the Bulls are still seeking a first-round pick in return for the veteran center. Stein describes the Warriors as “at the front of the line” of Vucevic suitors, but says Golden State has been unwilling to offer more than second-round capital to this point.

As for LaVine, he was at the center of one of the season’s earlier notable trade rumors when a report in mid-December indicated that the Nuggets had real interest in the Bulls guard. However, LaVine has been on a tear since then, further increasing his value by staying healthy and averaging 27.0 points per game on .524/.467/.786 shooting over his past 18 games. Nuggets guard Jamal Murray has heated up too, putting up 21.3 PPG and 5.9 APG with a .485/.404/.913 shooting line during the same time frame.

As Bennett Durando of The Denver Post writes, Murray’s resurgence will likely make “big-game hunting less of a priority” for the Nuggets, while LaVine’s heater will make it more difficult for Denver to meet Chicago’s asking price. So the odds of a trade sending LaVine to the Nuggets look slimmer than they did a month ago.

In case you missed it, we wrote about another Bulls-related rumor earlier today, passing along word that Chicago has talked to the Suns about Bradley Beal.

Aaron Gordon Explains Why The Wolves Are A Tough Matchup

January 25th, 2025 at 7:35pm CST by Arthur Hill

Saturday marked the Nuggets‘ fourth straight loss to the Wolves, who knocked them out of the playoffs in the second round last season, observes Bennett Durando of The Denver Post. Aaron Gordon explained why Minnesota is a difficult matchup. “They have big wings. They’ve got a big center. Big power forward,” Gordon said. “They’ve got good size and good skill, so this is a very physical team, and you’ve gotta match their physicality. Even Ant, he’s a big two-guard. So just to have a chance with that team, you’ve gotta match their physicality first.”

Northwest Notes: Jokic, Wallace, Conley, Clingan

January 25th, 2025 at 9:29am CST by Tristan Tucker

Nuggets superstar Nikola Jokic helped bolster his MVP case with a monster performance on Thursday against the Kings, recording 35 points along with season highs of 22 rebounds and 17 assists. His 22 rebounds matched a career high while his 17 assists were one shy of tying his best-ever mark. Everything seemed to be going right for the three-time MVP in Thursday’s game, which included him making a full-court heave, writes The Denver Post’s Bennett Durando.

“I think this is the best basketball of my life, that I have ever played. I’m feeling good out there,” Jokic said. “I’m in shape. The ball is going in. I’m feeling good. I think I can influence the game on different levels.”

The Nuggets have won 10 of their last 11 games and Jokic has put up a triple-double in each of his last five appearances. He’s now averaging a triple-double on the season, putting up 30.2 points, 13.4 rebounds and 10.1 assists per game on a .564/.479/.814 shooting line.

“If no one’s ever done it … I’m just gonna say ‘historical,’” coach Michael Malone said, per The Sacramento Bee’s David Caraccio. “You think about his 10 years here, you think about the three MVPs, you think about the championship, the finals MVP — and this is the best season he’s ever had. And that’s saying a lot.”

We have more from the Northwest Division:

Thunder second-year guard Cason Wallace is known for his tremendous defensive intensity, but as Rylan Stiles of Thunder on SI writes, he has a second elite trait. Wallace is an effective cutter, ranking in the 94th percentile in the league while shooting 63% at the rim. “He has done a great job of embracing the system,” head coach Mark Daigneault said. “Early on it was a pretty narrow role offensively, it was dunker work, it was rolling, it was cutting. Now he is starting to find a little bit more with the ball in his hands.“
The Timberwolves haven’t hit the same highs as last season after trading Karl-Anthony Towns in exchange for Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo in the fall. In an interview with HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto, point guard Mike Conley spoke about the team’s budding chemistry and what it might take for Minnesota to turn it around, among other topics. “I think it took them probably a better part of half a season to figure out KAT and [Rudy Gobert] before I got here,” Conley said. “They went through growing pains, and we’re in that same scenario now with adding new people into our lineups. It takes a minute. It doesn’t happen overnight. We added Julius and Donte literally in training camp. It led to a lot of ripples through who we are, offensively and defensively. I think we’re making a lot of progress.“
Trail Blazers rookie center Donovan Clingan made his return to the lineup on Friday against Charlotte (originally announced via the team on Twitter) after missing five games with an ankle sprain. He recorded four points, 13 rebounds, four assists, and four blocks in his return.

Northwest Notes: Williams, SGA, Gordon, Dillingham

January 23rd, 2025 at 8:12pm CST by Tristan Tucker

The Thunder continue to deal with major injuries, including playing chunks of the season without Isaiah Hartenstein and nearly all of it without Chet Holmgren. Part of the reason Oklahoma City is staying afloat – far above and beyond in fact – is the play of Jaylin Williams, Rylan Stiles of Thunder on SI writes.

“First off, he has become a leader. Always doing the right things, just trying to win games by any means necessary,” teammate Isaiah Joe said. “He is a very smart player. He is willing to play hard, does all the little things and wants to win at all cost no matter what it takes.”

Williams is averaging 5.5 points, 4.6 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game in 16 outings. He has started Oklahoma City’s past four contests with Hartenstein and Holmgren both sidelined, averaging 8.5 PPG and 6.3 RPG during that stretch.

We have more from the Northwest Division:

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander got over the 50-point threshold for the first time in his career on Wednesday, scoring a career-high 54 points. According to Joel Lorenzi of The Oklahoman, Wednesday’s game was a byproduct of Gilgeous-Alexander’s mentality shifting. “I think this season I’ve taken a leap in my mental. In the past, I’ve been hyper focused on efficiency, and in moments I would — not defer, but I would be conscious of it, and I think it would like affect my decision making,” the Thunder star said. “And this year, I think I’ve got over the hump of not worrying about efficiency. Like, I’m just playing.“
Aaron Gordon fortifying the second unit might be key to the back half of the Nuggets‘ season, Harrison Wind of DNVR Sports opines (Twitter link). In each of Denver’s last four wins, superstar Nikola Jokic played fewer than 31 minutes. After returning from a nine-game absence, Gordon came off the bench in each of his past six games. According to Matt Moore of Action Network HQ (Twitter link), head coach Michael Malone said Gordon told him he’d be fine with coming off the bench for the foreseeable future if that’s what’s best for the team. Gordon is a combined plus-50 in Denver’s last five victories.
Timberwolves rookie Rob Dillingham expressed that he’s ready to take on a heavier workload, The Athletic’s Jon Krawczynski writes. “I’ve always played. I never had to go through where I’m not playing, especially because of injury,” said Dillingham, who recently returned from an ankle sprain. “It was new to me. But I just had to sit back and realize why it was happening, then take my time off and get ready for when I do get in the game, just like now.” The 2024 lottery pick out of Kentucky is averaging 4.8 points in 9.7 minutes per game across 19 appearances this season.

NBA Unveils 2025 All-Star Game Starters

January 23rd, 2025 at 7:01pm CST by Tristan Tucker

The 2025 All-Star Game starters were revealed on Thursday during Inside the NBA’s pregame show and confirmed by the NBA on social media (Twitter links).

In the Eastern Conference, a pair of Knicks made the cut, with Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns – in his first season in New York – earning nods. Joining Brunson in the backcourt is Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell, while Celtics forward Jayson Tatum and Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo secured frontcourt spots.

Lakers star LeBron James extended his all-time record to 21 consecutive All-Star selections in the Western Conference. Warriors guard Stephen Curry and Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander accounted for the backcourt spots in the West while Nikola Jokic of the Nuggets and Kevin Durant of the Suns joined James as frontcourt starters.

The starters are selected by a weighted voting process with the fan vote accounting for half of the final outcome. The player and media portions of the vote each counted for 25 percent. Three frontcourt players and two guards were selected from each conference.

The reserves, who are picked by the league’s coaches, will be announced on Jan. 30. LaMelo Ball of the Hornets narrowly missed out on being a starter after ranking first in the fan vote, having finished third in player voting and seventh in the media vote. The Spurs’ Victor Wembanyama also barely missed out, finishing second in media voting but fourth for both players and fans.

Luka Doncic, Anthony Edwards, Ja Morant, Kyrie Irving, James Harden, De’Aaron Fox, Devin Booker, Norman Powell, Anthony Davis, Jalen Williams, Alperen Sengun, Trae Young, Damian Lillard, Cade Cunningham, Darius Garland, Tyrese Maxey, Tyler Herro, Evan Mobley and Jaylen Brown are among the names who could be voted in as reserves.

The 74th NBA All-Star Game on Feb. 16 will feature a new format, complete with a mini-tournament composed of four teams and three games. Two teams will meet in a semifinal while the other two will play in another. The victors in each of those games will meet in a final. The winner of each game is the first to 40 points.

The format change means that the 10 players named starters on Thursday won’t be the only players who actually start on All-Star Sunday. The 24 players ultimately named All-Stars will be split among three eight-man teams, with the roster’s drafted by Inside the NBA’s Shaquille O’Neal, Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley.

The draft will air on Feb. 6 on TNT. The fourth team of eight players will be made up of the winning team from the Rising Stars event.

The four teams participating in the NBA All-Star Game will compete for a prize pool of $1.8 million. Each player on the team that wins the final will receive $125,000, while members of the second-place team earn $50,000. Players on the third- and fourth-place teams will receive $25,000.

The full voting results can be found here.

And-Ones: All-Star Game, Fernando, Snyder, NBRPA, Woj

January 22nd, 2025 at 8:02pm CST by Luke Adams

Six NBA reporters at The Athletic, including Sam Amick, Fred Katz, and Joe Vardon, made their picks for the Eastern and Western Conference All-Star starters, with all six writers selecting the same three frontcourt players in the East: Celtics forward Jayson Tatum, Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns.

Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Nuggets center Nikola Jokic were the only unanimous choices in the West. Meanwhile, Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell, Knicks guard Jalen Brunson, Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards, and Spurs big man Victor Wembanyama each showed up on all but one of the six ballots from The Athletic’s reporters.

The NBA will officially announce this year’s All-Star starters on Thursday evening during a TNT broadcast. The starters are determined by votes from fans (50%), players (25%), and the media (25%).

We have more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

Veteran NBA big man Bruno Fernando, who was waived earlier this month by Toronto before his full-season salary could become guaranteed, is in talks with Spanish powerhouse Real Madrid, as Michalis Gioylenoglou reports for Eurohoops.net. Gioylenoglou describes Fernando as becoming more open to making the move to Europe after having initially been reluctant to head across the Atlantic. However, no deal is done yet.
Hawks head coach Quin Snyder is among the candidates receiving serious consideration to become the next coach of Australia’s national team, sources tell Olgun Uluc of ESPN. The Boomers are seeking a successor to Brian Goorjian, who coached the national team at the 2020 and 2024 Olympics.
Former NBA big man Antonio Davis, who appeared in over 900 games from 1993-2006 and made an All-Star team with Toronto in 2001, has been named the CEO of the National Basketball Retired Players Association, reports Marc J. Spears of Andscape (Twitter link). According to Spears, Davis will “drive the strategic visions, business operations, member services, and growth” of the NBRPA, a non-profit association representing former NBA players.
In a feature story for The New York Times, Bruce Schoenfeld checks in on Adrian Wojnarowski, exploring why the former star news-breaker, who was making $7.3MM annually at ESPN, accepted a job at his alma mater, St. Bonaventure, that pays him about one percent of that amount ($75K per year).

Community Shootaround: Western Conference Playoff Race

January 21st, 2025 at 4:02pm CST by Luke Adams

Of the 15 teams in the Western Conference, only two are clearly focused more on the 2025 draft lottery than the 2024/25 standings. The 10-31 Jazz and 14-28 Trail Blazers don’t have realistic postseason aspirations this season, with management prioritizing the development of young players and the possibility of landing another high draft pick.

Those two teams are sandwiching the 12-32 Pelicans, who definitely didn’t expect their season to play out like this. Plagued by injuries since top offseason acquisition Dejounte Murray broke his hand on opening night, New Orleans has won its past four games but likely dug too deep a hole in the first half to seriously vie for a play-in spot this season, even if the roster gets (and stays) fully healthy.

Still, that leaves 12 teams in the hunt for eight playoff spots in the Western Conference.

We can safely pencil in the Thunder for one of those spots — and it will almost certainly be the top one. At 35-7, Mark Daigneault‘s squad has a seven-game cushion on the next-best team in the conference.

The Rockets (28-14), Grizzlies (28-15) and Nuggets (26-16) round out the current top four in the West and appear well positioned to claim playoff berths. That’s not necessarily a lock, given how competitive the conference is — a single injury could be all it takes for one of those teams to fall back to the pack. But they’re in strong positions.

After the top four, things gets interesting. Here are the current Western Conference standings from five through 12:

Los Angeles Clippers (24-18)
Los Angeles Lakers (22-18)
Dallas Mavericks (23-20)
Sacramento Kings (22-20)
Minnesota Timberwolves (22-21)
Phoenix Suns (21-21)
Golden State Warriors (21-21)
San Antonio Spurs (19-22)

These eight teams are separated by a total of 4.5 games. The gap from No. 6 to 11 is just two games. A five-game winning streak or losing streak for any of these clubs could significantly change the perception of how their season is going.

To that point, as recently as January 4, the Kings were 12th in the conference at 16-19, while the Spurs were in eighth place at 18-16. A Sacramento hot streak and a San Antonio cold spell have resulted in those two clubs swapping places in the standings just seven games later.

The Spurs are probably a little ahead of schedule in their rebuild and didn’t necessarily expect to make the postseason this year, so if they continue to slump, it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world for them. But the rest of the clubs listed above had serious playoff aspirations this season. The Clippers, Lakers, Mavericks, Timberwolves, Suns, and Warriors are all spending into the tax on their rosters, and the Kings aren’t far off.

Barring a major collapse from one of the top four seeds, one of these clubs (or two, if San Antonio sticks around) will finish outside the top 10, missing out not just on the playoffs but on the play-in altogether. Two more will be eliminated in the play-in tournament and will fail to clinch one of the eight playoff spots in the West.

What happens at the trade deadline could go a long way toward determining how this race plays out down the stretch, but we want to know what you’re thinking at the halfway point of the season.

Which teams do you expect to finish outside of the top 10 in the West? Which teams will be eliminated in the play-in? Which clubs besides the Thunder are the most serious contenders to represent the conference in this year’s NBA Finals?

Head to the comment section below to weigh in with your thoughts!

And-Ones: MVP Race, Maledon, Flagg, Dybantsa

January 21st, 2025 at 10:40am CST by Luke Adams

The NBA’s Most Valuable Player race for this season already looks like it’ll be a two-man race, according to Zach Harper of The Athletic, who points to the current betting odds as evidence.

BetOnline.ag currently lists Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander as the frontrunner at -400, followed relatively closely by Nuggets center Nikola Jokic at +250. After those two, Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Bucks is all the way down at +4000, with Celtics forward Jayson Tatum at +5000.

Last season’s MVP Jokic and Gilgeous-Alexander were among the three finalists for the award in 2024 alongside Mavericks guard Luka Doncic, who has already missed more than 17 games, taking him out of the running due to the 65-game rule. 2023 MVP Joel Embiid will also fall short of 65 games and has been eliminated from contention.

Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

Tony Parker, the president of ASVEL Basket in France, said during an interview with RMC Sport (YouTube link) that he believes current ASVEL standout Theo Maledon will receive NBA offers in the offseason, as Johnny Askounis of Eurohoops relays. Maledon, who previously played 177 regular season NBA games for three teams from 2020-24, has averaged 18.0 points and 4.5 assists per game in 22 EuroLeague outings this season, posting a shooting line of .457/.387/.889.
Within the same interview, Parker expressed interest in getting ASVEL involved in the NBA’s rumored foray into European basketball, Askounis notes. “When you see what the NBA is doing, they are very strong. Whether it is marketing or the new TV rights contract that will start next year,” Parker said. “We need to be associated with that. I want there to be NBA Europe and for us to be part of it.”
Duke standout Cooper Flagg has solidified his place atop the 2025 NBA draft class with his recent play, according to Sam Vecenie of The Athletic, who says Flagg’s performance over the past month – 23.4 PPG, 6.9 RPG, 4.6 APG, and a .561/.500/.881 shooting line – is arguably the best stretch for a college freshman since Zion Williamson was a Blue Devil.
Meanwhile, Jared Weiss of The Athletic checks in on some of 2026’s best prospects, including A.J. Dybantsa and Cameron Boozer, who were taking part in the Hoophall Classic in Springfield, Mass. over the weekend. While Dybantsa wasn’t at his best during the event, Weiss says he spoke to multiple scouts who believe the 6’9″ wing could eventually become the NBA’s second-best player behind Victor Wembanyama.

Raptors Rumors: Facilitation, Brown, Boucher, Mitchell, Olynyk

January 20th, 2025 at 1:54pm CST by Luke Adams

Doug Smith of The Toronto Star reported last week that the Raptors have signaled their interest in getting involved in a potential Jimmy Butler trade as a facilitator. According to Jake Fischer of The Stein Line (Substack link), it’s not just a Butler deal that Toronto is open to facilitating.

The Raptors have let it be known around the league that they’re willing to help grease the wheels on potential deadline deals, sources tell Fischer.

“They are as well positioned as anyone to facilitate a trade,” an Eastern Conference executive told Fischer. “If a team needs to send out four players to make the math work, do you send one to Toronto?”

The Raptors currently have more than $10MM in breathing room below the luxury tax line and are carrying just 14 players on full-season salaries (with Orlando Robinson on a 10-day deal), so they have both cap and roster flexibility. They also have a handful of players on expiring contracts, including Bruce Brown ($23MM), Chris Boucher ($10.81MM), and Davion Mitchell ($6.45MM).

Brown, Boucher, and center Kelly Olynyk are the Raptors most frequently cited as trade candidates, Fischer says, but Mitchell is another player who could make sense as a salary-matching piece in certain scenarios — he’d also hold some appeal to teams seeking another point-of-attack defender, though he offers little offensive punch.

Here’s more from Fischer on the Raptors:

Toronto is “very motivated” to move Brown, sources tell Fischer. The veteran swingman, who won a title with Denver in 2023, was a popular target on the free agent market that summer and could draw interest ahead of the February 6 deadline from some of the same teams who pursued him at that time. Rival executives have been keeping an eye on Brown following his recovery from offseason knee surgery to see if he can recapture his previous form, Fischer writes.
If the Raptors are unable to find a suitable trade for Brown, he could become an intriguing buyout candidate, Fischer writes. However, because he’s earning more than the non-taxpayer mid-level exception ($12.8MM), Brown would be ineligible to sign with any team operating above either tax apron if he were to reach free agency. That includes clubs like the Lakers and Nuggets, who are believed to have interest in the 28-year-old, sources tell Fischer. According to Fischer, Denver has considered whether trying to trade out of apron territory to gain more roster flexibility – including the ability to pursue players on the buyout market – would make sense.
Boucher isn’t regarded as a viable buyout candidate if he’s not traded at the deadline. According to Fischer, the big man actually has some interest in a possible contract extension with the Raptors if he remains in Toronto through Feb. 6, which the team would be open to considering for its longest-tenured player.

Western Notes: Murray, Moody, Powell, Williamson, Missi

January 19th, 2025 at 7:09pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Jamal Murray isn’t fazed by criticism. The Nuggets guard signed a four-year, maximum-salary contract extension in September and feels it comes with the territory, he told Bennett Durando of the Denver Post.

“I’m totally ready for it,” Murray said. “That’s why I literally signed up for it.”

Murray understands that with the big contract numbers comes increased scrutiny. He’s endured a roller coaster season thus far and admits he hasn’t played up to par.

“I think I deserve it, to a certain extent,” he said. “So I’m not gonna complain about it. And that’s what people do. They’re gonna talk about what they see. And if they don’t see me performing the way they want me to perform as a fan, they’re gonna let me hear it, or tweet about it or whatever they’re doing. … I mean, I admit I haven’t been playing well. So it’s not like it’s a surprise to me to hear it from everybody else if I’m saying it as well.”

We have more from the Western Conference:

In his fourth NBA season, the Warriors’ Moses Moody may have found his niche as an undersized power forward, The Athletic’s Anthony Slater writes. The 6’5″ Moody has played 54 minutes the past two games, mostly at power forward, and could see a lot more time there in the near future, as Draymond Green is expected to miss multiple games with a calf strain. “Moses seems to really thrive at the (power forward),” coach Steve Kerr said. “That’s his spot. He’s comfortable using his strength and the ability to stretch the floor.”
Norman Powell is a candidate to make the All-Star reserves in his 10th season and the Clippers swingman is gratified how this season has played out thus far, he told Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times. He’s averaging a career-high 23.7 points per game. “It was always an individual goal,” Powell said. “It was, ‘I want to be an All-Star. I want to be on that stage. I want to be in the same position that I saw my favorite players being in growing up. And honestly it’s surreal. … It’s been 10 years and I kind of take it as a little shot or a little chip on my shoulder when everybody is talking about, ‘Oh, this is his 10th year in the league and this and that.’ It just adds to the beauty of being mentioned now as an All-Star, this being my 10th year.”
The Pelicans could be without two frontcourt starters against Utah on Monday, both due to non-COVID illnesses. Rookie Yves Missi, who did not play Friday against the Jazz, and Zion Williamson are both listed as questionable, according to a team press release. Williamson has averaged 20.8 points, 8.5 rebounds and 5.5 assists in four games since returning from a hamstring strain.