Nuggets Toast? + Which Tanking Team Deserves the first pick? | Slam N Jam
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What is the top story in the NBA this week?
welcome to the saturday slamming jam here on the athletic nba daily brought to you by amazon prime on today's show we're doing our good bad and what it's suns week so we'll talk about the phoenix suns and then we'll finish with some trivia but before we get to any of that al what happened in the nba this week
Andrew, the top story this week is that we finally got some real news about possible expansion in the NBA. On Monday, Sham Sharani reported the NBA will hold a vote at the Board of Governors meeting this upcoming week to explore adding two expansion teams, one in Las Vegas and one in Seattle. If approved, the new teams could start play as soon as the 2028-29 season, which means that we could get an expansion draft. The dream of every NBA podcaster. Something we have not experienced in almost a quarter century. Never experienced in the era of podcasts. Yeah. In the summer of 2020, Shams reported that industry executives expect the cost for each expansion team to fall in the $7 to $10 billion range.
For context, just last year, the Celtics sold for $6.1 billion, while the Lakers sold for $10 billion. Speaking of the Lakers, what a week it was for our friends in purple and gold. The Lakers won all four of their games and are currently on an eight game winning streak. The week started with a thrilling overtime win against Denver during which Austin Reese forced overtime by rebounding his own intentionally missed free throw, floating it back in with 1.9 seconds left in regulation. Then at overtime, Luka Doncic hit a game winner with 0.5 seconds left. One of many, many memorable moments for Luka this week.
How did the Lakers perform during their recent games?
In the second of two games against the Rockets, Luka had 10 points and three assists just in the final five minutes of the game, almost single-handedly ending what had been a very close game. Then in Miami on Thursday night, Luka dropped 60 in a win, while LeBron tied Celtics legend Robert Parrish for most regular season games played. Over this eight-game stretch, Luka is averaging 33-9-7 while shooting 42% on over 14 three-point attempts per game.
What?
That's crazy. Luka is now only 10 threes behind Conn Knipple for most threes made this season. That's crazy. And he's moved into second-best odds for MVP this week, jumping both Jokic and Wemby. Now, the Lakers' eight-game winning streak is certainly impressive, but it is not currently the longest winning streak in the NBA. It's not the Thunder either, who have won 10 in a row and will do anything, including contesting shots with their shoes to hold off San Antonio for the top spot in the West. Yeah. No, the longest winning streak currently is the Atlanta Hawks, who continued winning this week, pushing their streak all the way to 11 games as they've marched up the East standings. Boyd, buoyed, buoyed.
Buoyed.
What are the implications of the NBA expansion news?
Yeah, when I wrote that word, I was like, I'm not going to be able to say that in the moment. I know I'm going to look at the way it's spelled and screw it up. Buoyed by three game losing streaks for both the Magic and the Heat, the Hawks have jumped all the way up to sixth in the East and are only a game and a half back in Toronto for the five seed. The Hawks' most impressive win this week was over fellow East Standings rival Orlando. Atlanta got up by as many as 29 in the game before winning 124-112, led by Nikhil Alexander-Walker, who had a career-high 41 points that included nine three-pointers. Now, the schedule does pick up this next week with games against Houston and Detroit before two games against Boston.
Now, the game against Detroit, scheduled for next Wednesday, may not be as difficult as it would have been a week ago after it was announced this week that Cade Cunningham would miss an extended period of time with a collapsed lung. Cade will be re-evaluated in two weeks, and Shomps reported that there was optimism Cade would be back in time for the playoffs. Regardless, it's a huge blow for the Pistons who now need to fight off any late season charge from the Celtics who sit four back of the one seed.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the top story in the NBA this week?
0:02–1:45
2
How did the Lakers perform during their recent games?
1:45–2:56
3
What are the implications of the NBA expansion news?
2:56–4:52
4
What are the concerns surrounding the Denver Nuggets?
4:52–5:56
5
Which teams are currently tanking for a better draft pick?
5:56–7:14
6
What is the current status of the Phoenix Suns this season?
7:14–8:13
7
How has the rookie class performed this year?
8:13–9:29
8
What trivia challenge concludes the episode?
9:29–1:02:41