Chapter 1: What are the predictions for NBA All-Stars in 2026?
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Good morning, sweet world, and welcome to the No Dunks Podcast presented by FanDuel. It's Thursday, January 15th, 2026. I'm J.E. Skeets here in the Classic Factory, and alongside me, as always, Tass Mellis. Hey, basketball fans, this one's for you. Next to him. It's my top shot hot boy, Trey Kirby. And over yonder, making the magic happen, super producer JD. Hello. There he is.
We got the music in our cans today, JD. Sounds good. Sounds so good. Hello to everybody on YouTube. Hit the like button, subscribe, podcast listeners, five star ratings and reviews. On today's show, we eventually will share some of our thoughts on last night's action. We got Whoa Boy. We'll get to pick them. which is a game that's going to happen in a couple hours in Berlin.
Yeah, we got some day basketball here in the East Coast. And we're going to tell you which Charlotte Hornets legend is finally getting his jersey retired. But, but, but, but, today... We're drafting all-stars because the NBA all-star voting closed at midnight on Wednesday. So the five starters from each conference will be announced on Monday, January 19th.
I was a little confused when it was getting announced. I thought maybe last night. Monday we find out who obviously the fans along with the media and players pick for the five starters. The reserves will be selected by the league's coaches on February 1st. So a little time. But let's debate who should get in. That's the exercise today. Let's hear from everybody in the stream team with your picks.
So we'll start with the Eastern Conference. And we are guessing here who will be the five starters for the Eastern Conference. I think four are locks and that fifth one may be up for debate. But look, Giannis is starting. Jalen Brunson should easily make his fourth straight All-Star game. And it was nice to see New York backing him in the fan vote this year.
Tyrese Maxey is one of the few guys in the league scoring over 30 points per game. He was getting a lot of love in the fan vote too. He should be there. Cade Cunningham. This guy's taking a seat at the MVP table. leading the conference best Pistons. And like I said, Giannis, I mean, he's looking at becoming the 45th player in league history with double digit all-star selections.
Shout out to Timmy Goodtimes Bontemps for that one. It's that fifth one, Tass. We've got Jalen Brown here on the graphic. You can make a case for Donovan Mitchell. It feels like one of those two guys as the starter, the fifth starter.
By the way, none of this really matters because we're going to have these two American teams and the world team, but you're okay with Jalen on the graphic and Donovan making our reserve list?
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Chapter 2: Which players are being considered for the Eastern Conference All-Stars?
I think usually the best way to do this is go through some of the guys that at least I think are a lock. You guys can tell me if you agree or not, and we'll go from there. Once we get down to the final two, three, four spots, then it gets a little interesting and guys start making their case for some guy over another. But Donovan Mitchell. Some guy. Mm-hmm.
Donovan Mitchell, if we don't have him in the starting lineup there in the East, he's the first guy as a reserve. That's an absolute no-brainer. Like you said, big game last night, big takeover in that game against the Sixers. So Donovan Mitchell is there. Spider is there. All right. Jalen Johnson feels like a lock. One of the leading contenders for most improved player.
He would have been there last year, but he got injured. Trey Young was the guy who got it from the Atlanta Hawks last year just because. But he got injured early in the season. Otherwise, it would have been Jalen Johnson.
And Jalen Johnson's even gotten better here. He's averaging career highs in points and shooting percentages on an increased usage, and he's flirting with all the triple-doubles. Jalen Johnson, a lock. That's seven guys. Scotty Barnes?
Lock it in. Everybody's nodding.
He'll lock for me. Okay. I think he's one of the best two-way players in the league when you're considering defense. Toronto does have a great record. They're in contention for having home court in the playoffs in a first round. They deserve a rep, I guess, in that sense. It's Scottie Barnes over Brandon Ingram, if you're picking between the two.
The guy is spectacular.
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Chapter 3: How do fans feel about the All-Star selections?
I do think opposing coaches plan their defensive plans around Brandon Ingram. Because he's good offensively, but Scottie does it all. The moments I had yesterday watching him against the Indiana Pacers where I was like, oh! Just defensively, how strong he is. I won't repeat the Jalen Brown quote about Scottie Barnes again, why he's so strong. But he is super strong. And he plays everywhere.
Yeah, last night was kind of... of the perfect encapsulation, I think, of the all-star cases for Barnes and Ingram, because Ingram led the Raptors in scoring 30 points on really good percentages, 52% from the field. Scottie Barnes put up 26 points and 13 assists with seven rebounds, two steals, and a block, plus 14 for Barnes. plus zero for Brandon Ingram.
The impact stats definitely tilt towards Scotty Barnes, and it's the two-way factor, and that's why, for me, he's the lock over Ingram.
Yeah, so when the coaches get their ballots, and they say, hmm, a Raptor, let's take one, are they picking the guy that their entire coaching staff is thinking about going into the game? Because they often think about Brandon Ingram, and will that hurt Scotty Barnes' case? Or are there enough international American players that one of them gets there anyway? That being said, it should be Scottie.
Okay, we got Scottie Barnes. So that's three locks. Donovan Mitchell, Jalen Johnson, Scottie Barnes in the East. Is Jalen Duren a lock for your all-star team?
He wasn't quite a lock for me. He was a research lock. As soon as I checked the numbers, he's like, yeah, you're in. But I didn't have him in my top eight.
Okay, okay. For me, he's a lock. Part of it was the other tier that we're going to get to. He deserves it more. They are the best team in the Eastern Conference, no doubt. So a second Piston is fine with me.
Okay, yeah. His counting stats are not quite as impressive as some of these other guys. There's no doubt. But still, 18 and 11, chipping in a block and a steal per game. His player efficiency has improved every year in the league, which is something I think. And you said it. The Pistons almost feel like deserving of a second All-Star. Him and Cade, that two-way game is very important.
Also, the U.S. is going to need some big guys. They're going to be a little short on size, so let's get Jalen Duren as an American in there. Somebody's got to try and slow Jokic and Wemby and Giannis and the international bigs. I think he's in there. It's unfortunate just because he's been injured here the last little bit, but he's still played a lot of games.
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Chapter 4: What were the standout performances from last night's NBA games?
Yeah, I think everything going around the New York Knicks. And I think that's why Duren is in there for sure, because as a big, he's got to be there, but I will take Carl Anthony. It is nuts to think that this team is 25 and 15, basically on the same pace as the New York Knicks is last year for 51 wins. When.
Everyone here at this table started to appoint them as the best team in the Eastern Conference when they started to make the run against the up against the Detroit Pistons. But they ain't. And maybe it's Josh Hart being injured and not having the same heart that they need. But because all these rest of these guys in my eyes are a little bit. maybe they won't make it.
I think Cat will be there just because of the numbers, because he is the second best player on the New York Knicks, a good team. He's there, but they're all kind of like, I don't know. It's going to come down to, I don't know.
Cat's funny because the numbers are like still 21 and 11, three assists, but he is having the worst shooting season of his career. He's only shooting like 47% from the floor. That may have went down after last night. I don't know. 35 from deep.
That's not great. And he mentions not being extremely comfortable in Mike Brown's, Offense, you know, he's just not super into it. You see body language against the Kings.
Bad clip last night of Carl Anthony Towns hitting the ground, not getting back on defense.
It's a bad time.
Mike Brown calling him out in the postgame press conference after another loss.
He's in there for me.
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Chapter 5: Which players are likely to be snubbed from the All-Star game?
I know they're 11-27. It's not good. But putting Paskey in there, Pascal is 9-32. I had trouble doing that.
I know, but this is the funny thing. It feels to me if they have 14 wins, we're like, oh yeah, Siakam's in for sure. Because he's putting up, Siakam's made the All-Star team like three times prior, and these are like identical numbers to what he was doing when he was an All-Star. So he's just being penalized because they have under 10 wins. Yeah, for sure.
Yeah, they're the worst team in the league. Yeah, and that's why coming into this year, Brooklyn was talked about as a team that's going to win under 20 games. They have impressed more as much as the Pacers have disappointed. I mean, people wanted to pick them as a 500 team this year, and they're obviously nowhere close. They're on pace for 18 wins. So that's part of it.
Okay. Well, here's our Eastern Conference team as of January 15th. We got the starters, Giannis, Jalen Brunson, Tyrese Maxey, Cade Cunningham, and Jalen Brown. By the way, new rules. Positionless starting five, remember.
Yeah.
Theory that makes it easier for everyone here. Yeah. Then our bench is Donovan Mitchell. Who, by the way, did you see his recent comments that he wants to play for the international team, the world team? Really? Maybe. Panamanian descent.
They hinted at it last year when they did the fake Team USA vs. World.
I don't think we're going to need you on the world team either. I think you've got to be on the American team. Good option. Anyway, Jalen Johnson, Scotty Barnes, Jalen Duren. And then where it gets a little more difficult, we had some debate. Norman Powell, Stormin Norman. Making his first all-star team at what, 32, 33 years old? He's up there in age. Old normie. Yeah. Carl Anthony Towns.
Cat gets in. And then the final spot after some debate, Michael Porter Jr. Okay. There it is. Snubs, Siakam, Bain, Ingram. Anyone else? Those are the main ones.
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Chapter 6: What is the significance of Dell Curry's jersey retirement?
The reason why his three-point percentage has dropped after a spectacular start was teams are doubling him and he does often take difficult shots.
Yeah.
I don't care about the stats. This is a guy. They're on pace for nearly 50 wins. That's freaking phenomenal. Nobody had them flirting with 50 wins. So who are the two that are dancing with them?
My, I guess, guy I'd like to bring to the table as a lock in these final three spots, Denny Avdia, is basically the Jalen Johnson of the Western Conference. The numbers he puts up are... Unbelievable. If you watch the Blazers games, they're not empty stats by any means. He is their offense. They've had no point guard for the entire season. He's taken over that role.
So I have him as an absolute lock here. In fact, I had him ranked above Chet and above Booker. But those were the names. And then the other name is Kawhi Leonard. The Kawhi of it all. So that's where I came down to Booker and Kawhi and I went back and forth, back and forth. One, the team success. One, Kawhi's obviously just had better... individual success, the heater he's been on.
Yeah, he's had A little bit better statistical season than Booker, I suppose, but he's played 30 games. Booker's played 37. It came down to Abdiah and Kawhi to me for the last one. I went with Abdiah mostly because I watched that game. They played against the Warriors, and the Trailblazers looked terrible without Denny Abdiah. He's their entire offense. He's also played 10 more games than Kawhi.
Most of the guys that I left off the Western Conference have missed a quarter of the season at this point.
Okay. Yeah, he's only missed one game at this point, right?
Yeah, unfortunately for Denny, it's going to be adding up right now since he's out with injury. And these other guys are playing for the most part, not Reeves, but we'll see.
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Chapter 7: How are injuries affecting NBA teams this season?
It's so similar. Now I think about this, like the East to the West, like the slots, because we're sort of like with Booker, we're doing, or we were debating with Bain being a good team, but is he there? But we went more with the bigger numbers, let's say, you know, Michael Porter Jr. And we're sort of doing the opposite here. We're going Booker in the West.
Yeah, but he's clearly the leader on a good team, but Kawhi has bigger numbers and we have him because they started so slowly and they're done. I'm just saying, I'm just making an observation. I like our team, man. I like our team. I think we nailed it.
Kawhi will probably be there.
Just when I think of the coaches filling it out, I was like, I don't know. But maybe they illegally.
And the coaches filling it out can definitely take Bane over. Michael Ford Jr. I hesitate when I say that because Bane isn't their best player, but he's played games. He's their most reliable player.
All right, that's our All-Stars. Let's hear whether you agree, disagree. Let us know in the comments. We're going to take a break and we'll get into last night's games.
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Seven games on in the association last night. We're going to show you the final scores for everybody on YouTube. I won't go through every result, but we did have some injuries last night. Jalen Brunson had to leave the game in the first quarter after hurting his right ankle. Cooper Flagg left the game in the first half.
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Chapter 8: What are the latest updates on trades and player movements?
Probably not.
And then my final note from last night. Grady Dick. Great game. 21 points, 11 rebounds for Grady Dick off the bench. One of the best games he's played all season, for sure. And it wasn't just like he was raining threes. He was scoring in a bunch of other ways and obviously helping off on the glass.
And the Raps had a huge lead, and then they gave it all back, and then Brandon Ingram hit a couple threes to put the Pacers, those pesky Pacers, to bed. So, snap in the winning streak for them. Yes, indeed. Yeah. Let's get to some news. New Wizards star Trey Young still recovering from MCL and quad injuries on his right leg will be re-evaluated after the mid-February All-Star break.
This is what Shams was telling us yesterday. So Washington is taking a cautious approach with the injuries to their new point guard. I set the FanDuel line for... Trey Young games played in a Wizards uniform this season. I think we set it at 21 and a half, something like that. Trey, yeah, it was 21 and a half because Trey said he's going to play 21 games exactly. I took the under.
I pounded the under, and Tess was a little more optimistic that he might hit the over, but not looking good, buddy.
I was definitely wrong about that. I just had some faith that they put him on the basketball floor. I mean, obviously he is injured. Yeah. But they're basically saying, see you in a month, bud. Like they're basically saying, don't ask questions about him.
Uh, I mean, I still think that they are using this season as a trial period for Trey Young working out like, because they can have a little teeny tiny mini training camp around the all-star game when there's lots of days off, like just go have him go out there and play with the guys practice and see what he can do in the second half. Um,
it is odd because we got the report from bond temps and wind horse that there will be an extension for Trey young in talks this coming off season. They reported that a while back and I thought that is nuts.
And it might only be two years, like 70 million or something I'm hearing. I think Mark Stein was reporting that. So less money getting obviously a couple more years tacked on.
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