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NBA 2024-25 Season Thread


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16 hours ago, Message Board User said:

Wednesday on ESPN should be fucking nice.

 

And this is coming right after OKC beat the #2/3 seeds in the East by a good margin. OKC also plays at NY on Friday too, and against Cleveland again next week, so it will be interesting to see how this shakes out. 

I made a joke back when these teams were both around 10-0 that they could have a meeting of the undefeateds in January, and that surprisingly wasn't far off. If they both somehow make it to the playoffs healthy, we might have the lowest viewed NBA championship in recent history between 2 small market teams without any superstar media darlings to hype. 

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So ants just gonna average 45 ppg, hit 8 3s, shoot 50% right after he bitched about hating double teams?

This might be the most Jekyll and Hyde team I’ve ever seen. I can see them beating OKC and Cleveland and losing to Washington in the same week.

They’re only 5 games from the 2 seed lmao. These western conference playoffs are gonna be a total madhouse. And that’s just positioning. 10 bad days you can go from home court to a play in.

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On 1/5/2025 at 9:55 AM, Message Board User said:

 

In case anyone forgot (they didn't), Bradley Beal reminding folks that he has a no trade clause. 

Quote

When asked if his move to the bench had something to do with the trade rumors, Beal says he has not heard anything from the team.

"If so, I need to be addressed because I hold the cards," he told reporters after Monday's game. "Until I'm addressed and somebody says something different, then I'll be a Sun."

 

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3 hours ago, aggie08 said:

In case anyone forgot (they didn't), Bradley Beal reminding folks that he has a no trade clause. 

 

Contract has two years and $110M left.  Lulz.  He's not going anywhere unless it's a salary dump on that end.  The last time he played anything close to a full season was 19/20.

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19 hours ago, Baboontyme said:

Shaq has it written down on his notepad that when Denver scores 128 points they win and when they score 110.5 they lose. 😂

Nuggets scrubs had the game tied at 93.  Too bad the Celtics then went on a 15-0 run to close out the game.

They did better without Jokic than I thought they would.  Yesterday was Serbian Christmas.  Probably had too much rakija.

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Nuggets scrubs had the game tied at 93.  Too bad the Celtics then went on a 15-0 run to close out the game.
They did better without Jokic than I thought they would.  Yesterday was Serbian Christmas.  Probably had too much rakija.

Usually happens to me during the Serbian Christmas days too, especially when I decide to go shirtless
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2 hours ago, Chewbacca said:

They did better without Jokic than I thought they would.  Yesterday was Serbian Christmas.  Probably had too much rakija.

Still out tonight apparently

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Close game so far. It's really something to watch 2 teams that have deep benches with talent and skill. A complete switch from the Big 3 and a bunch of G Leaguers we have been accustomed to in past years. Lots of energy on defense with both these teams, which is always fun to watch. 

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Allen isn't even in the top 10 of all-star front court voting right now, but he was the Cavs MVP tonight. Strus and Ty off the bench were huge too. These teams are very deep, and if OKC gets a healthy Chet back later this year, it's gonna be a hell of a fight. GGs OKC

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10 minutes ago, Aqua Buddha said:

30+ lead changes.  It felt like if they played 10 times, they'd be 5-5.  They'll play next Thursday, too.

If they meet in the Finals, OKC will presumably have Chet and Caruso, though.

True, though I'm not sure that Caruso would have gone a better job than Dort on Mitchell.  And iHart doesn't have the range that Chet has so that made things a little easier.  But having said that, IHart himself had a very good game and seemingly didn't miss any floater.

All in all, just a very good game between two elite teams.

 

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https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/43338041/takeaways-cavaliers-thunder-game-year-nba

Was this a Finals preview?

Bontemps: It might be -- which is something I likely wouldn't have said 24 hours ago. Cleveland showed a ton in this game. Mobley showed he's an All-Star lock. The Cavaliers took every punch from the Thunder and threw a stronger one back. The result was a 32nd win in 36 games. I wrote about the comparisons between this team and the 2014-15 Golden State Warriors ahead of Wednesday. Those Warriors came out of nowhere, were doubted throughout that season and eventually won a title. I won't say Cleveland will do that right now, but I will say the Cavaliers are good enough to make it to June.

Pelton: I'd still bet against it at even odds. Projections using ESPN's Basketball Power Index give these teams the two best chances of making the Finals and yet still show this specific matchup happening just 35% of the time. I'd pick the Boston Celtics over the Cavaliers to win the East. Although the Thunder are the clear favorite in the West, there's plenty that can happen to change that between now and late May.

Windhorst: I'm not saying a bad word about either of these teams out of respect after watching that display. I'm also not predicting the Finals in January. But I will give them this: There has been more than one championship team I've seen over the past two decades that wouldn't beat these two.

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19 hours ago, Js1 said:

Still out tonight apparently

Yeah, someone on the Nuggets subreddit said they saw him at one of those bounce places with his daughter over the weekend.  Hope he didn't pick up the norovirus that is going around Denver right now.

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1 hour ago, Chewbacca said:

It's the gift that keeps on giving.

yep. daughter threw up the Dec 22 all night, done the 23, son threw up the 27th as we were about to leave for airport(everything packed) for fort lauderdale for a week so that got scratched, wife  threw up a few hours after ball drop on NYE and I got the runs the next day or 2...followed by one of the worst sore throats of my life last fri-sun.

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ESPN had a good story about his contract.  They can basically cut him without owing any money at this point.

The Pelicans wrote multiple escape clauses into the five-year, $197 million extension Williamson signed after missing the 2021-22 season.

New Orleans paid Williamson as a franchise player but included language that protected the franchise if Williamson missed more than 22 games in the 2022-23 or 2023-24 season. He missed 53 in 2022-23, meaning Williamson's salaries in the remaining three seasons ($38.9 million in 2025-26, $41.5 million in 2026-27 and $44.2 million in 2027-28) are non-guaranteed.

"It is one the best contracts in the NBA," an Eastern Conference executive told ESPN. "But looking back, it is hard to argue that any team would have guaranteed Zion $197 million without conditions in the extension."

There are mechanisms for the non-guaranteed seasons to become fully or partially protected if Williamson satisfies weigh-in criteria set by New Orleans -- there are seven such dates during the season, with Williamson needing a combined weight and body fat percentage below 295 -- and plays in a certain number of games in the previous season. He would have to meet these criteria in the prior season for his contract to become partially or fully protected in the next season:

  • 20% if Williamson satisfies the weigh-in criteria

  • 40% if he plays in 41 games

  • 20% if he plays in 51 games

  • 20% if he plays in 61 games

For example, if Williamson played in 61 games this season and meets the weigh-in criteria, his $38.9 million salary in 2025-26 would be guaranteed. The remaining two seasons, however, would remain non-guaranteed. Sources told ESPN that Williamson is on track to reach the weight benchmarks, however, he has already missed 26 games this season, making it impossible for him to hit the 61-game mark. Once the weight clause criteria is met, the guaranteed portion for next season increases from $0 to $7.8 million. The non-guaranteed portion of his salary becomes guaranteed if Williamson is on the roster after 5 p.m. ET on July 15.

But missing the benchmarks doesn't reduce Williamson's salary -- just the amount that is guaranteed. To receive any financial benefit, New Orleans would have to take the unprecedented step of waiving Williamson. However, the Pelicans do not consider releasing Williamson to create financial flexibility to be a feasible option, according to sources with knowledge of the franchise's thinking. The small-market Pelicans know they never have been considered an attractive destination for free agents, so they don't believe slicing payroll by releasing Williamson would be a realistic path to improving the roster.

 

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/43174061/new-orleans-pelicans-move-zion-williamson

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On 1/10/2025 at 9:02 PM, Message Board User said:

Doing his best to get traded.

 

I kinda thought he might do this from the start to try and get traded.   I didnt think he would do the shit for 5 fucking yrs though.  NO wont cut him cause they know teams would snap him up in a heartbeat.   They will eventually get sick of his shit and trade to get something.   But what will teams give up for him?

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20 hours ago, MNLonghornFUKM said:

crazy...would've never guessed Cavs win streak snapped @ home vs the Pacers by 15 pts and Haliburton only scores 2 

Couple things about that game-

1) Pacers offense took off once Haliburton went out with injury - Nembhard did a better job distributing

2) The Pacers' length bothered the Cavs and offense was a chore.  Same thing happened vs Atlanta (Cavs are 0-2 vs Atlanta) - length seems to be an Achilles heel for the team, which makes me somewhat trepidatious for the playoffs.

3) Mitchell needs some rest, which is a bit concerning considering last season he underwent platelet treatment in his knee and missed a month or so.

4) Not gonna freak out over one game, but this could be a stretch where we see multiple losses:  next 5 games are at Indiana, at OKC, at Minnesota, Phoenix, and at Houston. 

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