NBA Info - February 2026

[buddha]

2 hours ago, Deleterious said:

Utah is shutting JJJ down for the rest of the season to get knee surgery. Something called Pigmented Villonodular Synovitis. 

is that aj dybantsa's nickname?  cause that's why jjj is getting shut down 

[Deleterious]

 

[Deleterious]

Seems really early to have 16 technical fouls.

 

[Deleterious]

Nikola Topic is not on the OKC injury report for tonight. 

It will be his NBA debut if he plays. Tore his ACL last year and was diagnosed with testicular cancer this season.

[Deleterious]

 

[buddha]

$500k is a pretty significant fine.

so now the jazz will just make up a surgery for jjj and lauri.

[Deleterious]

 

[1984Echoes]

9 hours ago, Deleterious said:

 

I like THIS idea...

But it's not going to stop tanking that much because: borderline team sits better players in order to lose... or has them do a minor surgery that gets them back in 4-6 weeks...

Back in enough time to play in the "lottery tournament" and wipe out all the teams that actually have worse players than them...

Methinks.

[Deleterious]

A 14 team tournament would require 4 rounds to complete.  Regular season ends on a Sunday and the first playoff game is the next Saturday.  So you would have to play 4 rounds in a 5-day window to complete the tournament before the playoffs start.  

There would be a big incentive to finish in the top half of the bracket, just to eliminate some travel.  The bottom 6 teams to win the tournament would most likely have to travel 4 times in a 5-day window.  That should keep the bottom teams from tanking in the regular season.

Where you will see some tanking still is the 8th/9th seed area.  

Let's say you have been in the lottery the last two seasons and your team is starting to get good.  You have a great shot at the 8th seed and making the playoffs.   Your reward?  Getting your teeth kicked in by the 1 seed.  So maybe you have one or two of your better players develop back spasms for a week or two so you lose enough games to drop to the #9 seed.  You are now the favorite to win the tournament, get one last high pick before moving onto the playoffs the next season.  That is where you will still have some tanking.

You will always have some tanking on a record based draft order.  The goal isn't to eliminate it, the goal is to minimize it the best we can.  

[Shinzaki]

If I had a good..not great team..The year Wemby came out...I would have lost every game and then busted ass to win the tournament.  One step back..a lot of steps forward

Edited 5 hours ago by Shinzaki

[1984Echoes]

I'm certain teams will still "find a way"... To tank.

But I do really like the idea of a tournament to set the order rather than a lottery. I HATE lotteries.

It also incentivizes teams to not have a total garbage roster (through trades, free agents or lack thereof).

Because having the worst roster/ record in the league but getting the 8th pick (is that the worst spot the worst-record-team can get in a 14-team tournament? That would be my guess...) doesn't seem very appetizing.

[Deleterious]

I like the lottery and would consider keeping it and just using the tournament to seed it.

 

[Deleterious]

lol

 

[Deleterious]

I would have said he would end up in OKC.  They like him there, and it gives him a shot at finally getting a ring.  But I just looked at their roster, and they have 15 guys and nobody they can really cut.

Houston needs a PG, but I don't know if Paul can even contribute at this point.

 

[buddha]

2 hours ago, Deleterious said:

A 14 team tournament would require 4 rounds to complete.  Regular season ends on a Sunday and the first playoff game is the next Saturday.  So you would have to play 4 rounds in a 5-day window to complete the tournament before the playoffs start.  

There would be a big incentive to finish in the top half of the bracket, just to eliminate some travel.  The bottom 6 teams to win the tournament would most likely have to travel 4 times in a 5-day window.  That should keep the bottom teams from tanking in the regular season.

Where you will see some tanking still is the 8th/9th seed area.  

Let's say you have been in the lottery the last two seasons and your team is starting to get good.  You have a great shot at the 8th seed and making the playoffs.   Your reward?  Getting your teeth kicked in by the 1 seed.  So maybe you have one or two of your better players develop back spasms for a week or two so you lose enough games to drop to the #9 seed.  You are now the favorite to win the tournament, get one last high pick before moving onto the playoffs the next season.  That is where you will still have some tanking.

You will always have some tanking on a record based draft order.  The goal isn't to eliminate it, the goal is to minimize it the best we can.  

what's the ibcentive for the players to try hard?  the team gets a better draft pick and he comes in and takes my job or reduces my playing time?

[holygoat]

56 minutes ago, Deleterious said:

lol

 

Stephen A wants some of those sweet, sweet campaign donations.

[holygoat]

1 minute ago, buddha said:

what's the ibcentive for the players to try hard?  the team gets a better draft pick and he comes in and takes my job or reduces my playing time?

Right. It seems to me the best way to avoid the greatest amount of tanking is to just get rid of the lottery and go back to slotting the entire draft by record. You can't eliminate tanking altogether, but you can disincentivize tanking for the middling teams near the playoff bubble if they know there is no chance of winning a top 3 pick. 

[Betrayer]

No matter what system is in place, teams will find a way to "game" it.

The whole point of the draft is to create parity in the league. A chance for the worst teams to get better.. If you have a tournament that gives the higher picks to the teams that win then you're just condemning bad teams to the cellar where they can never recover. Seems to be the opposite of the point.

[Betrayer]

All of this talk about how many bad teams and bad games there are every night, and yet they're about to expand, thin out the talent, and create more teams. That just means even more bottom feeders.

I keep hearing people say it's time for expansion because there's "so much talent in the league" yet we have 14 teams below .500 right now. What they need is a consolidation.

Of course, it's not about the product it's about the dollar. More teams = more ad money, even if they're terrible.

[Tigeraholic1]

40 minutes ago, Betrayer said:

All of this talk about how many bad teams and bad games there are every night, and yet they're about to expand, thin out the talent, and create more teams. That just means even more bottom feeders.

I keep hearing people say it's time for expansion because there's "so much talent in the league" yet we have 14 teams below .500 right now. What they need is a consolidation.

Of course, it's not about the product it's about the dollar. More teams = more ad money, even if they're terrible.

Exaclty, this is the last thing a tanking league needs. Two more teams to water down the talent pool, crazy.

[Deleterious]

1 hour ago, buddha said:

what's the ibcentive for the players to try hard?  the team gets a better draft pick and he comes in and takes my job or reduces my playing time?

If these guys needed incentive to play hard you wouldn't see entire starting lineups sat down on a nightly basis.  But they do need to be compensated since its extra games so you just prorate their salary.  

[Deleterious]

1 hour ago, Betrayer said:

All of this talk about how many bad teams and bad games there are every night, and yet they're about to expand, thin out the talent, and create more teams. That just means even more bottom feeders.

I keep hearing people say it's time for expansion because there's "so much talent in the league" yet we have 14 teams below .500 right now. What they need is a consolidation.

Of course, it's not about the product it's about the dollar. More teams = more ad money, even if they're terrible.

Teams at or below .500 says nothing about the talent in the league.  Fairly standard to have around 50% of your teams at or below .500 for any league where every game produces one win and one loss.  

[papalawrence]

3 hours ago, 1984Echoes said:

I'm certain teams will still "find a way"... To tank.

But I do really like the idea of a tournament to set the order rather than a lottery. I HATE lotteries.

It also incentivizes teams to not have a total garbage roster (through trades, free agents or lack thereof).

Because having the worst roster/ record in the league but getting the 8th pick (is that the worst spot the worst-record-team can get in a 14-team tournament? That would be my guess...) doesn't seem very appetizing.

I also hate lotteries. Pure luck. San Antonio has been the luckiest team of them all

[Deleterious]

Love that he never got a ring and his farewell tour was ruined.  

 

[Deleterious]