Official NBA General Discussion 2025-26 V1.0

[sidsid]

Going back to how much of an outlier game 1 was. High 3pt variance and terrible paint scoring leading to one of about 4 miracles the Pacers pulled off this postseason.

https://bsky.app/profile/lawmurraythenu.bsky.social/post/3lsalt5itk32x

Dictating play on the terms the team wants to play is how OKC created it's advantages. 3 games with 20+ turnovers.

The consensus of OKC in 5 was pretty much right on the merits (I had them in 6 with the 3pt variance, but that wasn't enough to explain game 1). It was the Minny series redux with the game 1 difference. OKC just much stronger at home, which makes sense for a young team.

[RandomRaptorfan]

Still can’t believe we didn’t medal with this guy

If we had either one of this play offs' Murray, Nembhard, or NAW show up we definitely would have.

Certainly wasn’t on SGA but Murray’s no show was incredible stuff

We will have another opportunity in 2028 but SGA may not be quite as good then as he is right now

??? He'll be 29 and still in his prime

[720]

This is beautiful to see but we would have not won back to back had Kawhi never left though.

[ItsDanger]

Patience is rewarded!

[Tripod]

Patience is rewarded!

Now do Philly

[Basketball_Jones]

OKC won but yeah they’re no powerhouse if this Pacers team looked on the brink of beating them. Chet can be a real game changer though if he played even average every game maybe they have a much easier time. End of day Nembhard did about as best as he could but you really have to limit SGA’s touches rather then allow him to be on an island with him. Dare OKC’s other guys to beat you and they stagger J Dub’s minutes enough you sometimes don’t have to worry about both at once.

[sidsid]

Don't think it would have mattered last year if they traded for Jak (they should have still done it), they were even younger and less experienced, but a team needs to continue to try to improve on the margins. Combining the Wiggins and Joe contracts with some picks for an upgrade at the deadline is the churn you need.

[metafisical]

I was cheering for OKC for the entire playoffs because I love teams that hoard draft picks and do smart trades. Their win proves that the method can work. I love this. Hopefully they repeat next year, unless we magically can win.

[Kingsway_fan]

A healthy Halliburton game 7, what would the outcome have been?

[Randle McMurphy]

If we had either one of this play offs' Murray, Nembhard, or NAW show up we definitely would have.

Certainly wasn’t on SGA but Murray’s no show was incredible stuff

We will have another opportunity in 2028 but SGA may not be quite as good then as he is right now

??? He'll be 29 and still in his prime

He’ll be 30 during the 2028 Olympics.

Peak age for a NBA player historically is about the age that SGA is right now (26/27) and not everybody ages like LeBron.

He’ll almost certainly still be a MVP level player but there’s no guarantees he can maintain quite this level.

[Appostis]

OKC won but yeah they’re no powerhouse if this Pacers team looked on the brink of beating them. Chet can be a real game changer though if he played even average every game maybe they have a much easier time. End of day Nembhard did about as best as he could but you really have to limit SGA’s touches rather then allow him to be on an island with him. Dare OKC’s other guys to beat you and they stagger J Dub’s minutes enough you sometimes don’t have to worry about both at once.

They have youth and picks on their side. They potentially could have their entire core improve and have the picks to replace folks due to salary and fit for 5 + years. This was the year to beat them, they might be a dynasty.

[Tripod]

OKC won but yeah they’re no powerhouse if this Pacers team looked on the brink of beating them. Chet can be a real game changer though if he played even average every game maybe they have a much easier time. End of day Nembhard did about as best as he could but you really have to limit SGA’s touches rather then allow him to be on an island with him. Dare OKC’s other guys to beat you and they stagger J Dub’s minutes enough you sometimes don’t have to worry about both at once.

They have youth and picks on their side. They potentially could have their entire core improve and have the picks to replace folks due to salary and fit for 5 + years. This was the year to beat them, they might be a dynasty.

Yup...lots of room still for internal growth and now they know how to win, what it takes, and the big moments won't be new to them.

[ATLTimekeeper]

Siakam went out like a sucka. You don’t go out sad like that after seeing your best player go down.

Should have went down fighting.

The game pretty much got cracked open when Carlisle inexplicably benched him for 6 minutes in the 3rd. Ultimately Indy gassed out. Was Siakam supposed to take the ball out of Mathurin's hands?

Big no shows from Toppin (Robert Horry 2.0), Myles Turner and Aaron Nesmith.

[OakleyDokely]

Congrats to SGA!

[MiamiSPX]

Don't think it would have mattered last year if they traded for Jak (they should have still done it), they were even younger and less experienced, but a team needs to continue to try to improve on the margins. Combining the Wiggins and Joe contracts with some picks for an upgrade at the deadline is the churn you need.

Joe and Wiggins are their main spot starters and they were both awesome this past season. Not sure they can, or want to, lose both. But yeah, they can still come up with 30M+ in contracts to trade with Joe, K. Williams, Dieng and Topic. Add in some picks and they can easily add an impact player. Not sure Presti has it in him to do that though.

[Brinbe]

I think winning in the playoffs is really a gamble in this current era just due to the extreme physicality required at this point.

What the Bulls pulled off was incredible and it definitely was a grind too but those guys weren't getting up and down and having to defend closeouts and in space at a crazy pace like they are now.

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So players will get hurt and sometimes that luck won't be on your side during a particular run. That's reality in this modern era.

But that's not to say that OKC won't be a big contending threat for at least the next 6-8 years at least.



the core of that team is simply way younger than many of the cores of other recent past champs and that's a big difference. And you figure that jdub/chet will simply improve while shai remains in his prime or they can easily be moved at some point if presti wants to change things up. and they have the draft assets to continually replenish their depth. As long as Shai remains one of the best in the world, they will be right there.

Shai could definitely add 2 or 3 more by the time he's done with his careeer.

You look at players who've won league mvp and finals mvp in the same season and it's all among the best to ever do it.

[WaltFrazier]

Certainly wasn’t on SGA but Murray’s no show was incredible stuff

We will have another opportunity in 2028 but SGA may not be quite as good then as he is right now

??? He'll be 29 and still in his prime

He’ll be 30 during the 2028 Olympics.

Peak age for a NBA player historically is about the age that SGA is right now (26/27) and not everybody ages like LeBron.

He’ll almost certainly still be a MVP level player but there’s no guarantees he can maintain quite this level.

Murray will probably have dropped off by then because of his knees. SGA, Dort, Nembhard, NAW, Mathurin, maybe Sharpe. Unfortunately too guard heavy and light on 4s and 5s other than Edey.

[WaltFrazier]

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The vaunted depth didn't show up when really needed. Even Pascal only had 16.

Are they really going to pay Turner what's been predicted? He's pretty mid really

[Brinbe]

??? He'll be 29 and still in his prime

He’ll be 30 during the 2028 Olympics.

Peak age for a NBA player historically is about the age that SGA is right now (26/27) and not everybody ages like LeBron.

He’ll almost certainly still be a MVP level player but there’s no guarantees he can maintain quite this level.

Murray will probably have dropped off by then because of his knees. SGA, Dort, Nembhard, NAW, Mathurin, maybe Sharpe. Unfortunately too guard heavy and light on 4s and 5s other than Edey.

we'll be okay

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(and yes, this is sarcasm).