Welcome to Basketball Home, the show that looks beyond the box score and really gets into what's driving the biggest stories in this sport.

And we are definitely settling into the heart of the season now, I mean the entire landscape.

It feels like it's shifting almost daily.

Oh.

Absolutely, We've got historic streaks ending.

We have massive, massive trade rumors swirling around some of the biggest names, and.

Some teams that frankly nobody expected to be good or just dominating the conversation.

That's right, And if we're going to talk about unexpected dominance, we have to start in one place, a place nobody and I mean nobody saw this coming.

Detroit.

Yeah, we've been watching a team that was, let's be honest, a punchline for years and now they've transformed themselves into the top seed in the Eastern Conference.

It's the story of the year so far.

It is, and it's so much more than just a good start.

This is a total upheaval.

You just have to look at the numbers to get it.

Waghit on us.

Okay, So, over the last four seasons, the Detroit Pistons record was seventy four wins and two hundred and forty four line.

Wow, that's catastrophic.

It's catastrophic basketball.

And now they're sitting at seventeen to five.

They're leading the East.

The leap is just monumental.

It points to a complete cultural and strategic renovation, not just you know, getting lucky for a few weeks.

Okay, so let's really unpack this.

This turnaround seems to be credited to two big things.

First, coach JB.

Bickerstaff steps in and immediately gives them a new identity, right.

And second, this rapid, almost simultaneous development of their entire young core.

You've got Cunningham, Stewart during Ivy Thompson, all five of their cornerstone guys are under twenty five.

Yeah, so what do you see as the single most critical factor in that shift?

For me, it has to be the philosophical change.

It's about maximizing their raw athleticism and critically instilling a genuine belief that they can and should close out games.

Bigger stuff.

Didn't just inherit talent.

He gave that talent.

Focus, and that focus shows up in their clutch time dominance.

I mean, this is where games are won and lost, and they are just thriving.

The numbers are staggering, Yeah, they really are.

They're twelve to four in clutch situations this season.

To put that into perspective for you, the teams that they used to consistently lose to in the final minutes, those are the teams that are now putting away exactly.

And the defensive number is even more telling.

In the clutch game within five points, final five minutes, they are holding opponents to a league best thirty three point seven percent shooting.

Thirty three percent.

That's lockdown.

That's not just about making your own shots.

That's about defensive execution, It's about trust.

When the pressure is at its absolute highest, it signals a complete shift from being the team that always melted down to being the team that locks in.

And we could put a face to that closing ability, can't we cape Cunningham.

When the game slows down in the fourth, he just elevates.

He is now second in the entire league in fourth quarter scoring.

He's putting up nine and a half points per game in that final frame.

And do you know who he's trailing.

Only Gianni's Antitudekumbo.

Only Giannis.

That is a true emergence.

For years the question was, does Cunningham have that decisiveness, the elite gear to be the guy who finishes games.

He's answered it.

He has answered that question definitively.

Bigger Staff even said it after Cad hit those back to back shots to beat the Hawks the other night.

He said, Caid has fully embraced being the alpha dog when it matters most.

It's a leap from being a potential star to a reliable closer.

But here's where the deeper tactical change really shows itself.

And this is what I find absolutely fascinating, the big man pairing of Isaiah Stewart and Jalen Durin.

Yes, for the longest time, the conventional wisdom was that they could not play together.

He didn't space the floor.

They clogged up the lanes for KD and IVY.

And the numbers backed it up.

Two seasons ago, any lineup with both of them on the floor was a minus three point five per one hundred possessions.

It was a structural week, a huge one.

And now that weakness is just gone.

When they're on the court together, they are a plus eleven point five per one hundred.

Possessions, an incredible swing.

How solved the spacing problem.

Not by splitting them up, which is what everyone assumed you had to do.

He did it by completely redefining Isaiah Stewart's role.

He turned him into a shooter, a.

High volume, high efficiency, corner three shooter.

He's forcing the opposing team's big man to leave the paint and respect the perimeter, which opens up everything for Durn's roles and cuts to the basket.

And it's not a gimmick.

Stewart is a legitimate forty point nine percent three point shooter this season.

That completely erases the spacing concern that plagued their previous coaches.

And defensively, they are just an absolute nightmare for other teams.

They anchor what is now the NBA's third ranked defense, especially when you pair them with Osar Thompson on the perimeter, who's already an elite stopper.

And what about Duran I heard he put in some specific work over the summer.

He did.

He spent two weeks with Bickerstaff one on one, working specifically on his on ball skills, improving his ability to, you know, initiate a secondary offense if a play breaks down.

That kind of individual investment from a coach it builds incredible trust.

And Stuart's individual defense is just off the charts.

He's coming off the bench, but he's holding opponents to just forty four percent shooting at the rim on five attempts per game.

That is tied for the stingiest rate in the entire league.

He's in the DPOY conversation.

He is firmly in the defensive Player of the Year conversation, which is just incredible for a guy with his profile.

And that consistent two way improvement is exactly why the Pistons organization now under GM Trajan Langdon resisted all the trade offers for him during those terrible years.

Langdon inherited this core and he made the crucial call to prioritize internal development over just flipping assets for a marginal game.

So what does that philosophy tell us about the current Detroit franchise.

I mean, when Stewart says, and this is a fantastic quote, I know I can't be replaced.

He's not being arrogant, there is.

He not at all.

He's articulating the commitment a franchise made to him, to the culture they were trying to build in the trenches when they were losing all those games.

It signals a profound trust and frankly, a patience that is so rare in the modern MBA.

They were committed to the idea that Stuart's energy, his work ethic, his his tenacity that was foundational to their identity.

Regardless of that seventy four to forty four record.

Langdon didn't rush it.

He didn't He resisted rushing to judgment.

He said they had to let it breathe a little bit, get their own assessment, and that patients, combined with hiring bickerstaff, has resulted in this incredible momentum.

It suggests they have a long term plan that has just you know, dramatically accelerated.

So if Detroit's success is a steady in patience and internal development, our next story is, well, it's the pinnacle of durability and commitment.

We're talking about the end of a chapter for Lebron James and the end of a record we all genuinely believed might never ever end.

Yeah, we're talking about maybe the most durable, consistent scoring achievement in modern sports history.

Lebron James's unprecedented run of consecutive games scoring ten or more points has finally come to an end.

The final number on that streak two hundred ninety seven games.

It's just it's mind boggling.

I's span six nine hundred and five days.

That's over eighteen years and ten months.

It finally came to a close in the Lakers nail biting one twenty three one twenty win over the Raptors.

James finished the night with only eight.

Points, a tough shooting night for him four to seventeen, missed all five of his threes.

But the sheer length of that streak is what provides the context.

Michael Jordan had the previous record.

It was eight hundred and sixty six games.

So Lebron broke it by four hundred and thirty one games.

Just think about that.

To wrap your mind around twelve, two hundred and ninety seven games, consider this.

Only twenty four players in the entire history of the NBA have played that many total regular season games in their whole career.

That is an unbelievable stat The longevity required to maintain that scoring floor for almost two decades is just unparallel, it really is.

And what makes the end of this streak so compelling isn't that he failed to score.

It's that the team succeeded in winning.

Exactly The games tied at one hundred and twenty five seconds, Lebron has the ball.

He could have easily easily forced a contested shot to try and keep the streak alive, maybe get to overtime, but he didn't.

He didn't.

Instead, he makes the game winning play, draws the defense, kicks it out to Ruyhachimura for a buzzer beating three pointer.

It was the ultimate display of his late career evolution.

He prioritized the win over the individual historically defining statistic, and he.

Summed it up perfectly after the game.

He said, if it had to end, that's the perfect way for me, making the right play.

And he's still finished with eleven assists and six rebounds.

I mean that is the definition of maturity and a commitment to team success over everything else.

And the Lakers desperately needed that win.

They were playing without Lukadancic, who was out for personal reasons right he was.

Back in Slovenia for the birth of his second child.

And James himself was clearly playing through pain.

He was listed as doubtful for their very next game against the Celtics, dealing with sciatica and a foot injury.

The physical toll is clearly made even for.

Him, yeah, even for the Iron Man.

And with Luca out, they needed a heroic performance from someone else, and Austin Reeves delivered spectacular.

Oh he was incredible.

Reeves stepped up in a massive way, scored forty four points, ditched out ten asists to get that win over Toronto.

You absolutely need that kind of depth when your stars are out or just having an off night.

Speaking of heroes and dramatic finishes, let's talk about Philadelphia's ninety nine to ninety eight win over the Warriors.

This one was decided by a star making a huge defensive play to back up a hustling rookie.

Yeah, and Tyrese Maxi, who is just playing at an MVP level right now.

He immediately credited the rookie VJ.

Edgecombe for saving the game.

The former duke kid.

Yep Edgecomb scores the game winning tip in, but he gets it by chasing down a loose ball.

That sequence, I mean, it requires an incredible motor and awareness from a first year player in a huge moment.

And Maxi made sure that hustle wasn't wasted.

After Edgecomb puts the Sixers up by one, the Warriors get one last chance to win it and Maxi delivers a game ceiling chase down block on his former teammate d' Anthony Melton right at the buzzer.

That block seals the win and just highlights Maxie's two way commitment.

His quote after the game was perfect.

He said, VJ saved us.

I just made sure it counted.

I love that.

And edgecumb the third pick in the draft, he's showing his value.

He finished with ten point six rebounds, five assists, and three steals.

That's a stat line that shows an impact way beyond just scoring.

He's earning Nick Nurse's trust for sure.

And Maxie, I mean he's joining some genuinely elite company.

This was his third Stray game with thirty five or more points.

The only other seventy six ers to do that are Wilt, Doctor J.

Barkley, Iverson, and Embiid.

That's the Mount Rushmore of Philly basketball, it is, And.

On top of that, he tied Iverson for the second longest streak of twenty plus point games to start a season twenty one games This isn't just a hot start.

This is sustained, elite performance.

And it was a notable night for the Warriors too, because d Anthony Melton, who they brought back this summer his season debut.

Yeah, and he looked good, recovering from the ACL surgery a year ago, and he comes out and drops fourteen points, adds two steals in a block.

He showed he's ready to go, and he was a big reason Golden State even had a chance at the end.

Okay, let's move down the West standings to the Houston Rockets, who just keep defying expectations.

Their dominant one twenty one to ninety five win over the Kings cement to them as a truly balanced threat.

Balanced is the perfect word.

The trio of Alpha and Sengen, Kevin Durant and Erman Thompson all topped twenty points.

That's the third time they've done that this.

Season, and Sangen was the star of the show, stuffed the stat sheet twenty eight points, ten rebounds, four steals.

Durant added twenty four and eight assists.

Thompson chipped in twenty twelve and seven.

But what's really fascinating about Houston is their identity.

It's built on defense.

They currently ranked second in the entire league in defensive rating.

That's the key it is.

And when you combine that with their offense, they are the only team in the NBA right now to rank in the top three on both offense and defense.

OKC is close top defense, fifth offense, but Houston is doing it on both ends.

That balance is so crucial.

It's tough to win a championship just by outscoring everyone.

It feels like Durant's veteran leadership has instantly instilled some defensive accountability there.

It absolutely has.

His presence provides a defensive anchor and maybe more importantly, a voice that commands respect.

But Sengun's emergence, that's what's fueling their offensive ceiling.

His numbers have been crazy since November first.

He's averaging almost twenty three points, nine and a half rebounds, and over seven assists.

He's showing this incredible poise as a playmaker from the high post, and it just makes them so unpredictable.

And their physicality against the Kings was just overwhelming.

They crushed Sacramento on the glass a sixty two to thirty two rebounding advantage.

And that kind of dominance on the boards, it translates directly into fast break points and it limits what the other team can do in transition.

It's a winning formula, all right.

Finally, let's check in on the Minnesota Timberwolves.

They managed to escape New Orleans again, beating the Pelicans one twenty five, one sixteen for their fourth straight win.

What stands out here to me is the leadership maturity from Anthony Edwards.

That was interesting.

He had been averaging what thirty eight points a game over his last six but in this game he purposefully took a back seat.

He only took six shots, finished with eleven points and just let his teammates carry the scoring load and they still won.

He still won.

That ability to adapt his approach to win in different ways, that's a huge step forward for a young superstar.

And the win was sealed by a crucial fifteen to oh run in the fourth quarter after they were actually trailing.

That just highlights their ability to flip a switch when the game demands it.

Meanwhile, the Pelicans, you know, they're focused on development under their interim coach James Barrego.

Their rookie Jeremiah Fears had his third straight twenty point game.

So they're getting good signs from the young.

Guys they are and Barrego's really pushing them to shoot more threes.

They went seven of twenty five in this game, which is a big contrast in Minnesota's fifteen makes.

But look, this is the dynamic of a contender versus a developing team.

The Wolves won because they're superstar deferred and the team executed in the clutch.

That's exactly what you see from championship level teams.

Okay, Leff, pivot dramatically here and get into the newsroom because there is one story that is dominating every conversation and it has massive implications across the entire league.

We're talking about the health and the potential future of Giannis Antitokumbo.

This is a huge, huge concern for Milwaukee and it is the absolute epicenter of trade speculation right now.

Giannas suffered a non contact calf injury against the Pistons.

The early reports are saying he's expected to be sidelined for two to four weeks.

Now.

The good news, if there is any, is that coach Doc Rivers has ruled out the worst case scenario.

It's not an achilles injury, thank goodness for that, but even a few weeks without him is devastating, especially considering how much the Bucks have been struggling lately.

They've only won two of their last ten games, and they.

Went zero and four when he was out with a groin injury last month.

They just can't function without him, and that's precisely why the trade rumor are swirling so intensely.

No matter what the organization says, this is the contract, true, it's the contract.

Giannis has a crucial decision to make about his long term future, and this recent skid just intensifies all the questions about whether Milwaukee can really provide the winning environment he needs.

And this has led to some truly fascinating, maybe even crazy, hypothetical trades being floated.

The most spectacular one involves the San Antonio Spurs.

We have to break this down because the consequences for both teams would be enormous.

It's the ultimate accelerate the timeline trade.

The idea of pairing Giannis with Victor Wambonyama is a generational opportunity, but the cost for the Spurs it is astronomical and it would be.

Painful Okay, so what's the proposed package.

So the Spurs would have to send the raining rookie of the year stuff On.

Castle Oof right off the bat right.

Plus Harrison Barnes, Kelly Olinik, Jordan McLaughlin and three future first round picks, the twenty twenty seven pick from the Hawks, their own twenty twenty nine pick, and their twenty thirty two pick.

That is a staggering price.

You're giving up your last huge draft success, a bunch of veteran salary in three firsts.

But let's talk about the pairing.

What would Giannis and Wemby look like on the court.

It would create an immediate, physically overwhelming title contender.

I mean, just imagine the defensive length and switchability.

You could play one Banyama at the five, protecting the rim, while Giannis roams at the four, terrorizing passing lanes and initiating the offense.

And they still have Fox and Visas exactly.

You add Giannis to a corps that already has to Aaron Fox and Devin Vassal, and assuming Lemby is healthy, they are instantly the league's biggest threat for the next five years.

But I have to challenge this a little bit.

Doesn't trading away your future core a guy like Castle you just drafted and committed to.

Doesn't that undermine the very culture the Spurs are trying to rebuild?

Aren't you sacrificing the patient process that defined the Popovich era for so long?

That is the central tension of this whole rumor.

But you know it connects directly to the Spurs history.

They have often made massive, aggressive moves in direct response to their rival like what well they added Bruce Bowen after losing to the Kobe and Shaq Lakers because they needed an elite perimeter defender.

Years later, they traded for Kawie Leonard in response to that dynamic Young thundercres of Durant Westwith and Harden.

So this is the same idea.

It's an arms race.

Trading for Giannis would be a direct response to the league's current landscape, the young Thunder, the balanced Rockets, the healthy Celtics and Bucks.

It's the ultimate nuclear option.

Speaking of things costing too much, the Cleveland Cavaliers just got hit with another massive fine this week.

Yeah, this is about the player participation policy, the resting policy.

The Calves were fined two hundred and fifty thousand dollars by the league, a quarter of a million dollars for what for a resting star player Darius Garland during a nationally televised game against the Raptors back in November.

And this is their second fine like this this season, isn't it it is?

They already got hit with one hundred thousand dollars penalty for resting both Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley against the Heat.

The league's investigation basically found that at Garland was fit to play in one of the back to back games, and the team chose to sit him during the national broadcast, which is a huge no no in the policy.

The league is very serious about having stars available for those big games.

Absolutely.

Okay, moving over to the Knicks, who are having a great season, but there's trade buzz around a core player, and again it's all about the league's financial structure.

Let's talk about Miles McBride.

Miles McBride is such a huge success story for them.

He's a fan favorite.

He's having a career year, averaging over eleven points a game, shooting a crazy forty four percent.

From three, and his impact numbers are great.

His overall net rating of eleven point five is the second best on the entire team.

It just highlights his tangible positive impact whenever he's on the floor.

So why on earth would the Knicks even consider trading a guy who is this effective, this popular, and this young.

In a word, taxes, It is purely about the second apron tax penalties, and this is such a critical concept for you to understand if you want to follow the modern NBA's financial rules.

So break it down.

Why is that second apron so prohibitive?

Well, the Knicks are already over the second apron this year, and once you're in that territory, the NBA essentially handcuffs your ability to build your team.

It restricts trade flexibility.

You can't take back more salary in a trade than you send out.

It limits your buyout options.

And McBride does due for a big ray soon.

Exactly.

He's under contract through twenty twenty seven, but he's playing so well that his next contract is going to be lucrative.

We're talking maybe over fifty million dollars based on what guys like Dyson Daniels and Christian bron just got.

That salary would push the Knicks even deeper into the penalty zone and cripple their ability to build around their stars.

So trading him now while his value is high is really a preemptive move to avoid future financial headaches and maintain roster flexibility.

That's it.

It's the cruel reality of the modern salary cap.

Success sometimes makes your most beloved effective role players financially unsustainable if you want to operate with any flexibility under the new CBA.

A quick positive note for the Knicks, though, og and Ooby was upgraded to questionable for their game against Utah.

He's missed nine games with a hamstring strain, so getting him back, even on a minute's restriction will be a huge defensive boost.

And finally, in the news roundup, we have to touch on some injury worries down in Miami.

Tyler Herro's return has been great for them, but now he's dealing with a new issue.

Yeah, here is doubtful for their next game with right big toe irritation and the fact that he's scheduled for an MRI is immediately a red flag.

It is especially given his recent history.

He missed the start of the season recovering from surgery on his left ankle.

He said that was a long process.

Now this new injury on the opposite side, it suggests he might be compensating, you know, placing unusual strain on his right foot.

The Heat just can't afford long term health issues for their key secondary playmaker.

No, they can't.

It's challenge of physical recovery in this league.

One injury so often leads to another.

Right, let's shift gears and talk about some of the most dramatic organizational changes happening, starting with a bitter, just stunning conclusion to a legends time in Los Angeles.

Yeah, the Chris Paul and Clipper saga is it's just stunningly messy.

Paul was released during what was supposed to be the sentimental farewell tour.

It marks an absolutely bitter end to his brief return to the franchise where he spent six of his best seasons.

And his former teammate Lou Williams gave some crucial insight.

He said Paul's departure wasn't about his play, it was due to growing severe tension between Paul and the head coach, Tyron Lou.

The tension was apparently so bad that reports say Paul and Lu didn't even speak in the three weeks leading up to his release, Lou basically confirmed it was an organizational decision, saying Paul just didn't work out and wasn't a good fit for the system or the locker room dynamic.

And Paul wasn't exactly welcomed back with open arms by everyone in the first place, was he We heard some rumors about the team's other stars.

Absolutely, reports indicated that James Harden was opposed to Paul joining the Clippers in the off season, which suggests a foundational crack in the team's structure before Paul even got there.

So what's next for CP three.

Well, he expected to retire at the end of the season, but he might still find a role in a contender, maybe the Hawks or even the Pistons playing limited minutes.

But the Clippers organization, they had a massive image problem now after this very public, very messy divorce.

And it's not just that.

The trade market for their remaining stars is also looking complicated.

According to scouts, that's right, and the valuation is what's truly shocking.

One Eastern Conference scout said that James Harden has neutral value on the trade market.

Meaning he's useful, but You're not giving up a.

Lot for him, right, But Kaween Leonard surprisingly has negative value.

Negative value for Kaween Leonard.

How is that even possible for one of the league's most dominant two way players.

It's all tied to that cap circumvention investigation, the one about is apparent no show endorsement deal.

The negative value is tied to the uncertainty of future fines or penalties from the league, which could seriously impact a team's long term salary cap.

Teams are extremely hesitant to trade valuable assets for a player whose financial situation could blow up in their face.

That is a huge indictment of where that franchise is right now, despite their present insisting they'll remain a destination franchise.

Yeah, rival execs are suggesting the Clippers might be shopping for a blue light special at the deadline, maybe dumping expiring contracts to get a guy like Zach Levine from the Kings just to shake things up.

It points to a serious, necessary roster overhaul.

Okay, let's jump over to the other side of the country.

Golden State just gave us one of the best feel good family stories of the entire year.

The Curry brothers are finally uniting.

Seth Curry was signed for the rest of the season.

It's the first time he'll be teammates with his older brother Staff in their entire pro career.

Seth is gonna wear number thirty one, and the excitement around this is just palpable.

It's a great story, but it's also a really shrewd basketball move.

Seth is an elite three point specialist, especially in catch and shoot situations.

He provides much needed perimeter depth for that high volume Warriors offense.

And Seth's arrival, combined with the successful return of d Anthony Melton, is already shaking up their backcourt rotation.

Melton had a fantastic debut after his ACL surgery fourteen points, two steals, and a block.

And his performance has led to a media speculation that the young guard Brandon Podzimski could become extendable in a trade.

Oh.

Absolutely, Podziemski already lost his starting job.

If Melton moves into the starting lineup, which seems likely, and Podziemski is relegated to being the seventh or eighth guy in the rotation, the Warriors will definitely explore using him to upgrade the roster before the deadline.

His role is shinking fast.

Shifting to the East coast.

The Celtics are holding strong despite some early injuries, and they're getting their own success stories from their youth movement.

The Celtics are thirteen to nine.

They've gone eight too in their last ten games, showing great stability even with Jason Tatum still rehabbing his achilles.

This period of adversity has been essential for developing their young depth.

And the recent blowout win over the Wizards really highlighted two young wings were stepping up big time.

Jordan Walsh, in his third year, had a breakout night.

Walsh set a new career high with twenty two points and get this, he didn't miss a single shot.

He looks like a completely different player out there, moving with so much confidence, and it's not a fluke since he entered the starting lineup.

Boston is eight and.

Two and his focus is all on defense.

He said he low key forgets what happened on offense because he's so focused on getting back on d That's become his identity.

And we also saw great defensive work from the rookie Hugo Gonzalez.

He put up fourteen points in five rebounds, but his most important minutes were spent guarding Jalen Brunson of the Knicks.

Gonzalez was key to their comeback against New York earlier this season, just getting under Brunson and being physical with him.

The Celtics are going to need that youth and energy as they get ready to renew their rivalry against the Lakers.

Jalen Brown is expected back, but the Lakers will be seriously shorthanded.

We know Luca is out and Lebron is deubtful with his injuries.

It's a huge test for Boston's depth.

For them, it's always about navigating the luxury tax, so finding cheap, reliable production from young guys like Walsh and Gonzalez is absolutely essential for their next title run.

Let's turn our attention now to the immediate future of the league, starting with the historic Ricky class we are seeing this year, and then we'll look ahead to the twenty twenty six draft.

This current Ricky class is just phenomenal.

The biggest story at the top is the duke duo Connople and Cooper flag Right.

They became the first pair of college teammates to win Eastern and Western Conference Rookie of the Month, respectively, since the awards started twenty four years ago.

That level of translation from college to the pros happening at the same time is just unprecedented.

Connable, the fourth pick for Charlotte, is putting up great all around numbers eighteen points, almost six rebounds, three assists.

But Flag, the second pick for Dallas, is showing signs of immediate superstardom that puts him in some legendary company.

Flag is on a truly historic pace.

During Dallas's current win streak, He's averaging twenty seven points a game on almost sixty percent shooting, and he joins Lebron James as the only players in NBA history to have three straight twenty plus point games at eighteen years old or younger.

That's an immediate comparison to the King.

Dallas has found a future cornerstone they have.

But it's not just the lottery picks making noise for the Mavericks.

We have to talk about the undrafted guy, Ryan Nemhard.

His efficiency is just incredible curtain for them.

Yeah, he stepped in as the starting point guard and is averaging almost eighteen points and six assists in his starts.

He recently had a dominant game in Denver twenty eight points, ten assists, and zero turnovers in thirty five minutes.

Zero turnovers.

That's amazing for a rookie.

And get this context, he joined Stefan Marbury as the only rookie ever to record at least twenty five points in ten assists in a game without a single turnover.

That level of control from an undrafted player is phenomenal.

It just speaks to his high basketball IQ.

Now on the other side of that rookie conversation, the Pacers are dealing with the growing pains of jerraise Walker.

He hasn't quite lived up to the pre draft type, has.

He No, He's looked a bit hesitant, turns the ball over when he tries to create too much.

But he is starting to show flashes of being a really valuable role player, even if he's not the star some people expected.

Pascal Siakam recently praised him after he put up twenty one points against Detroit.

He said Walker kept the game simple, limited his dribbles.

It suggests he can excel in a smaller defined role, A good defensive forward who can hit open shots.

Okay, let's look head to the class of twenty twenty six.

Scouts are already dissecting the next crop of talent.

What are the names we need to know?

All right?

The early mock draft highlights a f you guys, and what's critical is how their skills translate to the modern positionless game.

Starting with Cameron Boozer, he seems to have a pro ready skill set.

What makes him stand.

Out Boozer's praise for his mix of power and footwork Inside he just dropped thirty five points on a fifth year senior who looked helpless against him.

But what really pops for a two hundred and fifty pounds big is his handle and his ability to drive.

He attacks closeouts, has effective spin moves.

He's a scoring threat from everywhere.

So what's the question mark?

The only questions are about shot selection and decision making.

Does he make his teammates better or is he purely focused on his own scoring?

Then we have CoA Pete, a power forward projected to Dallas Pete.

Pete at six foot eight, two hundred and thirty five pounds, is drawing comparisons to Wendell Carter Junior.

His scouting report is described as cut and dried, which means effective but limited.

He relies on post ups, rolls to the basket, and offensive rebounds.

The concern is shooting range exactly.

The question for a team like Dallas is whether his lack of perimeter shooting is too big a cost when you already have a guy like Cooper Flagg demanding the ball.

A six foot eight power forward who relies on contested two point jumpers.

That's a tough fit in today's NBA.

In the guard category, Mickel Brown Junior from Louville is getting a lot of praise.

Yeah, Brown is projected to the Thunder compared to Anthony Simons.

His twenty nine point five assist game against Kentucky really validated him.

He plays with speed confidence, He's in control of his defender, his shot making his potent, even if it's a little inconsistent right now, the Thunder would be betting on his high ceiling as a primary creator.

And another high IQ guard who seems really polished is Bennett Steartz.

Starts is older, he's twenty two, projecting as a Malcolm Brogden type.

He can easily navigate defenses, he hits his threes, he makes high IQ plays.

He's a very appealing option for a team that's looking for maturity and polished someone who can contribute right away off the bench.

Okay, it's a deep pool of talent for twenty twenty six.

Let's wrap up now with a look at some broader ongoing stories across the basketball world, starting with the very strange case of the San Antonio Spurs and their offense.

This is truly one of the more bizarre developments of the season.

The Spurs, even without Victor wen Manyama, who's out with that calf strain, and without stuff on Castle, have somehow secured the NBA's eighth best offensive rating.

How is that even possible.

This was a team that was dead last in offense for most of the year and is built around a future star known for his back to the basket game.

It is all due to the masterful leadership of Deer and Fox.

The offense has just gelled under his pace, his deceleration ability, the way he hits the brakes in the lane is crucial.

It sucks in help defenders and he creates wide open threes for his teammates.

It's an infectious pace that simplifies the offense for everyone.

So when BA Yama's more static post up game was actually slowing things down and allowing defenses to recover.

That seems to be the hard truth.

His half court style made defensive rotations easier to manage.

Now, with Fox running quick pick and rolls with a guy like Luke Cornett, the offense is playing with better tempo and better alignment.

They're running a completely different and more successful scheme.

So the big challenge for them now is integrating when Ba Yama style back into this new open flow without killing the momentum they've built.

That's exactly it.

They have to use Wemby's incredible skill set, but this recent run has proven the Spurs can be more than just Wemby's team.

They now have two completely viable, high level offensive identities.

Moving to the global game, China is making some massive, ambitious moves to try and boost its standing in international basketball.

Yeah, the General Administration of Sport of China recently announced sweeping reforms with some very aggressive national team targets.

The main goals are to make sure the men's team qualifies for the twenty twenty eight Olympics and to achieve world class status for the women's team by twenty thirty five.

Those are some high stakes goals.

What's the strategy behind that push?

It's all about systemic improvements, drastically improving their youth programs, encouraging open competition, and crucially calling for high quality foreign investment in overseas leads to operate in China.

They want to inject world class training and competition into their domestic system.

But they've had some brutal reality checks recently that highlight the gap between that ambition and where they are right now they have.

The men's team just suffered back to back losses to South Korea in feba Asia Cup qualifiers.

The coach said the losses have made it much harder to reach the World Cup finals, and one of the players called the defeats a brutal reality saying the team has lost its internal fighting spirit.

It sounds like a difficult long road ahead for them.

Despite the huge popularity of the NBA.

In China, it is ambition doesn't always translate to immediate success.

Those losses just highlight that the talent gap requires more than just policy reform.

It requires a fundamental change in training and mindset.

On a more somber note, we have to pause to remember a member of the Pistons two thousand and four championship team, Elden Campbell, who passed away suddenly at the age of fifty seven.

It's a very sad loss for the basketball community.

Campbell, a fifteen year NBA veteran, died of an accidental drowning after suffering a medical emergency while he was out fishing in Florida.

And he was such a critical piece of that legendary two thousand and four Pistons title team.

Even if his role was very specific in Detroit, his.

Role was indispensable and highly specialized.

He was the primary defensive anchor against Shaquille O'Neil during the two thousand and four finals.

His job wasn't a score.

It was to use his size and strength to absorb Shack's post moves and keep him off the glass, allowing the rest of that famous Pistons defense to work.

Magic Johnson described him as a gentle soul and extremely athletic.

His legacy is really defined by his willingness to take on the hardest defensive assignment.

In the league.

Finally, let's talk about the conclusion of a long and impressive international career.

Danilo Gallinari's retirement.

Gallinari officially retired at age thirty seven, but his final chapter was really unique and incredibly satisfying for him.

It provided a beautiful symmetry to his whole career.

He didn't finish in the NBA.

He finished his career in Puerto Rico.

That's right.

He spent his final season playing for Vaccaros de BAOMON in Puerto Rico.

He was motivated by pure love for basketball and the need to be playing professionally so he could make the Italian national team for EuroBasket, and that.

Final journey turned out to be his greatest professional achievement, even after making over two hundred million dollars in the NBA.

That says so much about what motivates a player.

It speaks volumes about the psychological need to be the leader.

In Puerto Rico, he did two things that escaped him in the NBA.

He won a championship and he was named Finals MVP.

He found the feeling he'd lost as an NBA backup, the feeling of being the most important player of the team again.

He said he needed that feeling back to truly end his journey.

That's a wonderful way to end a career, finding that ultimate success in his final professional stop.

Yeah Gallinari, who was the sixth pick in two thousand and eight and battled so many major knee injuries, he reflected that without the injuries, they'd be talking about a legendary career.

That Puerto Rican championship clearly gave him the piece and the joy he needed to move on.

We have covered a tremendous amount of ground today.

We analyze the unstoppable rise of the Detroit Pistons a study in internal commitment.

We witnessed the dramatic selfless end of Lebron's historic scoring streak, and we outlined the burgeoning Giannis trade storm and the immense cost of acquiring him.

We also detailed the rise of a truly historic rookie class with Flag and Nupel, and we saw the strange case of the San Antonio Spurs unlocking an elite offense without their centerpiece Victor wan Banyama thanks to Dearon Fox's blistering pace.

And most critically, we broke down the financial reality that the Nicks are grappling with, where the success of a fan favor like Miles McBride actually creates a conflict, forcing them to consider trading him just to navigate those new tax penalties.

We've seen teams succeed by prioritizing long term development like Detroit, and teams potentially sacrificing that for immediate glory, like the Spurs might do with a Giannis trade.

And that leaves us with one final provocative thought for you to chew on.

When we look at the Spurs who found elite short term momentum by playing against their long term vision for wembin Yama, and the Knicks who might have to trade a core asset like McBride because of a salary crunch.

How often does a team's long term need conflict with its short term momentum and with one of those priorities truly dictate success in the modern cap constrained NBA.

That tension defines the entire league right now.

You can't win without talent, but you can't always afford all the talent.

If they all succeed, navigating that conflict between today's success and tomorrow's flexibility is the single biggest challenge for every front office.

We'll leave you with that question.

Thank you for joining us for this analysis on basketball home.

We'll catch you next time.