NBA MEMO TARGETS FAN BEHAVIOR, REMINDING TEAMS TO ADDRESS UNRULY ACTS PROACTIVELY
The NBA has reminded teams to prioritize addressing inappropriate fan behavior at games this season.
In a memo sent to all 30 clubs, the league told teams that it wants “consistent and vigilant enforcement of the NBA Fan Code of Conduct … to deter and address fan misconduct at NBA games and events.”
A copy of the memo was obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press.
Fan behavior has been a hot topic across sports for some time. Among the notable incidents in the NBA last season: some fans in Dallas were ejected for their reactions in the days following the team’s decision to trade longtime Mavericks star Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers, and the Minnesota Timberwolves ejected a fan from a playoff game for racially charged comments directed toward Golden State’s Draymond Green.
Golf’s Ryder Cup was marred this year by hateful chants from some fans toward Rory McIlroy and other members of the European team, which defeated the U.S. to retain that trophy. In baseball, Jarren Duran of the Boston Red Sox was heckled by a fan about his mental health struggles which were chronicled in a Netflix series — the fan was ejected — and two other fans at Yankee Stadium were ejected from a World Series game last year after one pried a foul ball out of the glove of Los Angeles Dodgers right fielder Mookie Betts.
The NBA, in the memo, told teams that arena staff “must be trained to identify behavior that violates NBA rules and to respond proactively.” The NBA, like many leagues, also has a video detailing a code of conduct for fans played in every arena before each game.
“It is critical that teams and arenas vigorously enforce the Code of Conduct and not tolerate any misconduct that impacts our players, fans, or otherwise disrupts the game,” the league said.
The NBA season opens Tuesday with a pair of games: Houston at defending champion Oklahoma City, then Golden State visiting the Los Angeles Lakers.
REPORT: RUSSELL WESTBROOK, FORMER MVP, JOINS SACRAMENTO KINGS IN HIS 18TH NBA SEASON
Former MVP Russell Westbrook is joining the Sacramento Kings.
Westbrook’s agent, Jeff Schwartz, confirmed the deal to ESPN. Schwartz did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press.
The 36-year-old Westbrook is entering his 18th season in the league. He’s the all-time leader with 203 triple-doubles and ranks 20th in NBA history with 26,205 points and eighth with 9,925 assists. He holds career averages of 21.2 points, 7.0 rebounds and 8.0 assists.
The nine-time All-Star began his career with Oklahoma City and teamed up with Kevin Durant to help the Thunder become a league power. After Durant left to join the Golden State Warriors, Westbrook was named the league MVP the following season — the first of his three straight averaging a triple-double. He also won two scoring titles and two All-Star MVP awards before leaving the Thunder.
He has bounced around since, having played for Houston, Washington, the Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers and Denver Nuggets.
Westbrook averaged 13.3 points, 4.9 rebounds and 6.1 assists for Denver last season. He remains beloved in Oklahoma City, sometimes even being cheered at Thunder games during the Western Conference semifinals last season while playing for the Nuggets.
NIKOLA JOKIC CONSIDERS NUGGETS A ‘DARK HORSE’ DESPITE BEING A TOP CONTENDER TO DETHRONE THUNDER
DENVER (AP) — Nikola Jokic considers the Denver Nuggets a dark horse in the race for an NBA title.
Technically speaking, of course, they’re not. Far from it, even.
The Nuggets are only slightly behind the reigning champion Oklahoma City Thunder as a favorite to lift the Larry O’Brien trophy at the end of the season. One thing’s for sure: There’s plenty of horsepower in the Northwest Division, with Anthony Edwards and the Minnesota Timberwolves a strong contender, too. Portland and Utah are up-and-comers with youthful lineups.
“They are definitely the hunted one and they’re playing good,” Jokic said of the Thunder. “Hopefully we can be the — how do you say it? The silent knight? Silent horse? Dark horse.”
In the league’s annual preseason polling of general managers, three of the top four seeds in the West are expected to come out of the Northwest (the Houston Rockets were the exception, as the third seed). All paths to the NBA title, though, lead through Oklahoma City, where NBA MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and his teammates aren’t ready to hand over anything.
“It would suck to lose the NBA championship in 2026,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “That’s the new focus. That’s the new goal. … Hopefully we look up and we’ve accomplished the same thing we just accomplished.”
One of the summer’s highlights for Gilgeous-Alexander was taking the NBA trophy back home to Hamilton, Ontario, where he received the key to the city.
“I couldn’t imagine as a kid the Larry O’Brien coming to Hamilton,” said Gilgeous-Alexander, who was voted the NBA Finals MVP after the Thunder beat Indiana in a thrilling series that went seven games. “It was special.”
Here’s a look at each Northwest Division team in a predicted order of finish:
Oklahoma City Thunder
The defending champions might be even better this season.
Oklahoma City signed stars Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren to extensions in the offseason, positioning the Thunder to be title contenders for the foreseeable future. Gilgeous-Alexander is just hitting his prime at age 27.
Nearly everyone returns from the team that went 68-14 in the regular season before winning the championship. That includes defensive stoppers Lu Dort, Alex Caruso and Cason Wallace, rebounding machine Isaiah Hartenstein, proven scorers Aaron Wiggins and Isaiah Joe and all-around energy players Jaylin Williams and Kenrich Williams.
Denver Nuggets
The Nuggets will have a new look after losing to the Thunder in a second-round series that went seven games. They traded Michael Porter Jr. to Brooklyn for Cam Johnson and orchestrated another deal with Sacramento for big man Jonas Valanciunas. Denver also added Tim Hardaway Jr. and Bruce Brown, who was a key piece when the Nuggets won the title in 2023.
They also have Jokic, a three-time NBA MVP who averaged a triple-double last season.
And perhaps less theatrics after letting go of coach Michael Malone and GM Calvin Booth with three games remaining in the regular season.
The Nuggets made interim coach David Adelman the full-time coach and divvied up the front-office duties between Ben Tenzer and Jonathan Wallace. The offseason was a home run.
“We hope we’re going to stay healthy and we hope we’re going to figure out the playing with each other,” Jokic said. “I think we’re going to be good.”
Minnesota Timberwolves
The Timberwolves stayed as committed to their current core as any team in the NBA over the summer, re-upping with Julius Randle and Naz Reid to run back the squad that reached a second straight Western Conference finals. Seven of their top eight players have returned, with elevated backcourt roles coming for recent first-round draft picks Terrence Shannon Jr., Rob Dillingham and Jaylen Clark. Everything goes through Edwards, who focused during the offseason on rounding out his game with an eye toward improving his ballhandling and defense.
Portland Trail Blazers
The Trail Blazers have worked hard to develop their young core, including Scoot Henderson, Shaedon Sharpe, Deni Avdija and Toumani Camara. It was partly in interest of that group’s development that the team pushed for a possible play-in spot last season rather than tank in favor of draft position. They fell short, but now Portland looks to take that next step.
The team traded away Anfernee Simons and Deandre Ayton, and brought in steady veteran Jrue Holiday and a familiar face, nine-time All-Star Damian Lillard, who spent the first 11 seasons of his career with the Blazers. There’s a catch, though. Lillard is recovering from an Achilles tendon injury and won’t play this season, so he’ll serve as more of a player-coach. One intriguing addition is draft pick Yang Hansen, a 7-foot-1 center from China who has turned heads with both his height and passing ability.
Utah Jazz
The Jazz are going through a rebuild that requires patience.
They do have Lauri Markkanen — for now, anyway. Markkanen, who agreed to a five-year, $238 million contract renegotiation and extension in August 2024, continues to be the subject of trade speculation.
First-round draft picks Ace Bailey and Walter Clayton Jr. will learn on the fly. The Jazz, who turned in the worst record in the NBA last season at 17-65, lost three of their top scorers in John Collins, Jordan Clarkson and Collin Sexton.
ACHILLES TENDON INJURIES FROM POSTSEASON HAVE CREATED MAJOR CHANGES IN CENTRAL DIVISION
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Two of the Achilles tendon injuries that shook up the 2024-25 postseason also reshaped the NBA Central Division landscape for the upcoming regular season.
Not only did Indiana lose two-time All-Star guard Tyrese Haliburton for the season after he tore his Achilles tendon in Game 7 of the NBA Finals, the Pacers saw Myles Turner leave for division rival Milwaukee in free agency. The Bucks gained the ability to fit Turner into their salary cap by waiving Damian Lillard, who tore his Achilles tendon during Milwaukee’s first-round playoff loss to Indiana.
The unavailability of Haliburton and the loss of Turner create major obstacles for Indiana in its bid to repeat its success from last season.
“There will be some adjustments as we start and keep moving forward,” said Indiana’s Rick Carlisle, who needs seven wins to become the 11th coach in league history with 1,000 coaching victories. “Tyrese is really such an unusually important player to us on the one hand. On the other hand, our core principles we want to keep the same. Most of it begins with hard play and fast, hard play, so we’ll make adjustments.”
Indiana’s upheaval leaves the Cleveland Cavaliers as clear favorites to win a second straight Central Division title. Two-time All-NBA guard Donovan Mitchell leads a team that went 64-18 to lead the Eastern Conference.
The next step is to make a deeper postseason run after two straight second-round exits.
“We’re here with renewed energy because we know the talent we have,” Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson said. “We know we’re in that group of four to six that have a chance at winning this thing.”
Milwaukee’s addition of Turner is part of a roster overhaul that has occurred since last season’s trade deadline as the Bucks look to bounce back from three straight first-round playoff losses.
“I think ultimately we’re a faster, more athletic, more versatile offensively and defensively suited team,” Bucks general manager Jon Horst said.
Here’s a look at each Central Division team in predicted order of finish:
Cleveland Cavaliers
The Cavaliers are one of the favorites to win the East with their core four of Mitchell, Evan Mobley, Darius Garland and Jarrett Allen. Garland will be sidelined for at least the first two months after toe surgery, while Max Strus will also be out at least one month due to foot surgery.
Mobley, the reigning NBA Defensive Player of the Year, had career highs in points (18.5) and assists (3.2) per game last season while expanding his perimeter game to go along with his drives to the lane.
Cleveland was confined by the salary cap, but it did add some valuable bench pieces in Lonzo Ball, Larry Nance Jr. and Thomas Bryant. Atkinson says Ball has been a valuable resource in discussing some strategies on offense and defense.
Milwaukee Bucks
The Bucks want to replicate what worked for them when they surged late last season while Lillard was out with deep vein thrombosis in his right calf. That means surrounding two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo with shooters, attempting more 3-pointers and playing at a faster pace.
Milwaukee wants the ball in Antetokounmpo’s hands as much as possible as he builds on the playmaking role he adopted when Lillard was hurt.
The Bucks believe Turner’s combination of rim protection and 3-point shooting ability makes him an ideal complement to Antetokounmpo and provides what they lost when 7-footer Brook Lopez signed with the Los Angeles Clippers.
Indiana Pacers
The Pacers are learning to regroup without Turner or Haliburton, who will miss the entire season. Indiana also won’t have backup point guard T.J. McConnell for most of the first month due to a hamstring injury.
That will test Indiana’s depth, which was the Pacers’ biggest strength during their run to the NBA Finals.
Turner’s absence doesn’t just hurt Indiana from a defensive standpoint. It also takes away a stretch-5 3-point shooter. Haliburton ranked third in the NBA in assists last season after leading the league in that category in 2023-24.
Without those two players, the Pacers will need another big season from Pascal Siakam, who led the Pacers in scoring (20.2) and rebounding (6.9) last season.
Detroit Pistons
The Pistons surprised the NBA with their turnaround last season after having the league’s worst record the previous two years.
They won’t sneak up on anyone this season.
Cade Cunningham leads the way, bouncing back from an injury-stunted start of his career after Detroit drafted him No. 1 in 2021.
The Pistons didn’t attempt to sign or keep high-priced free agents or to acquire expensive veterans in trades because they don’t know if Cunningham’s surrounding cast will be part of the team’s long-term future.
It’s a big year for center Jalen Duren and guard Jaden Ivey because they’re eligible for contract extensions.
Chicago Bulls
The Bulls opted to stand pat rather than go bold this past summer despite finishing 39-43 for the second straight season and missing the playoffs for the seventh time in eight years.
Their most notable moves were re-signing Josh Giddey, trading Ball to Cleveland for Isaac Okoro and drafting Noa Essengue out of the French Basketball League with the No. 12 pick, yet executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas continues to preach patience. That’s a tough ask for a frustrated fan base.
The Bulls have just one playoff appearance since Karnisovas was hired before the 2020-21 season, and they’ve been knocked out of the play-in tournament by Miami the past three years.
WITH LAKERS’ DONCIC, WARRIORS’ BUTLER SET TO PLAY FULL SEASONS, LA AND GOLDEN STATE PLAN TO CONTEND
Luka Doncic is doing his best to bring the Los Angeles Lakers closer, planning a recent visit to the Porsche Driving Experience for some team bonding.
Golden State star Jimmy Butler is finding ways to build camaraderie, too, holding a recent retreat at his home in San Diego ahead of training camp.
The success of Doncic and Butler in their first full seasons with new teams will go a long way in determining how things go in the wild Western Conference, with the Lakers and Warriors eyeing a championship.
They are set to battle for Pacific Division superiority, and the midseason acquisitions of Doncic and Butler should provide each franchise with additional stability and leadership alongside superstars LeBron James and Stephen Curry.
“You don’t become a team overnight,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said. “It’s a long season. The more guys can do that off the court, I think the better team we’ll be.”
Doncic, fresh off a three-year maximum contract extension worth $165 million keeping him with the team through 2028, can’t wait to play alongside James and Co. for a full season.
“This is one of the best organizations in the world. It’s the first time for me to get a whole preseason, and I’m just excited to play for the Lakers,” Doncic said, adding he’s more comfortable now.
“Coming into a new team, it’s kind of hard to get the leadership up, but that’s what the preseason is for. I had a great time with the national team, kind of worked on my leadership role, so I feel way more comfortable.”
Butler hosted his teammates for a retreat he considered an important part of the Warriors getting to know him even better, away from basketball.
“He has the wine cellar of an emperor,” Draymond Green declared.
“It was important for me to welcome — those are guys, like my family — (them) into my home and have a good time,” Butler said, “and let them in a little bit of my life.”
The Warriors added veteran center Al Horford after finally being able to build a roster following forward Jonathan Kuminga’s three-month contract stalemate. Guard Gary Payton II returns and Curry’s younger brother, Seth, is another veteran addition.
“That team has championship aspirations, and they should,” Portland coach Chauncey Billups said. “It will be fun to see them.”
The Sacramento Kings received a blow when forward Keegan Murray injured his left thumb in an exhibition game Oct. 10 against Portland that required surgery and will sideline him more than a month.
Here’s a look at each team in the Pacific Division in predicted order of finish:
Los Angeles Lakers
James begins his record 23rd NBA season in unfamiliar territory: For the first time in his life, he isn’t the most important player on his team.
The top scorer in NBA history appears to be focused on making it work with Doncic, not on retirement or on moving to a more immediate title contender. Redick is confident this partnership will thrive, particularly if the Lakers can get enough practice time early in the season to meld the superstars’ games.
The Lakers’ supporting cast appears to be improved after adding center Deandre Ayton, shutdown defender Marcus Smart and versatile Jake LaRavia. Austin Reaves will be highly motivated in a contract year — if he declines his 2026-27 player option, as expected. But everyone realizes the defending division champions will go as far as Doncic and James can carry them.
Golden State Warriors
The addition of Horford stepping in to complement Green will be key after Kevon Looney’s departure to New Orleans as the Warriors aim for another championship while Curry, Butler, Green and coach Steve Kerr are still together.
Golden State is versatile and deep again, with Buddy Hield, Moses Moody and Brandin Podziemski offering Kerr options in his backcourt rotation alongside Curry and Butler — both of whom could need regular rest days. Payton brings a defensive punch off the bench for a team that lost in five games to Minnesota in the Western Conference semifinals after Curry went down with a hamstring injury in a Game 1 win.
Los Angeles Clippers
The Clippers have one of the oldest teams in the league — much like the aging Warriors — with James Harden (36) and new additions Chris Paul (40) and Brook Lopez (37). Only 28-year-old newcomer John Collins is under 30. With age comes experience, but they’ll need to avoid the injury bug over an 82-game season plus the playoffs. Kawhi Leonard is healthy to start the season after playing just 37 games last season while recovering from a knee injury. The Clippers filled their biggest need by trading for Collins and signing Lopez to back up big man Ivica Zubac.
Phoenix Suns
The Suns experienced an extensive makeover during the offseason, hiring first-time NBA head coach Jordan Ott and building a roster around four-time All-Star Devin Booker. Phoenix hopes guards Jalen Green and Dillon Brooks – acquired in the deal that sent Kevin Durant to the Rockets – can form a steady backcourt with Booker. The team also acquired center Mark Williams in a draft day trade with the Hornets and is banking that better health can unlock his considerable potential. Rookie center Khaman Maluach is an intriguing prospect but might need time to develop considering he’s still just 19 years old. He was taken with the No. 10 selection.
Sacramento Kings
Three years after ending the NBA’s longest playoff drought, the Kings are once again trying to figure out how to get back to the postseason. In his first full season as an NBA head coach, Doug Christie wants his players to prioritize defense and display grittiness on both ends of the court.
First-year Sacramento general manager Scott Perry’s offseason signing of Dennis Schroder was the first step toward trying to make that approach a success. Fresh off an MVP performance for Germany in the FIBA EuroBasket, Schroder isn’t a top-flight defender but plays with a tenacity the Kings have been missing on the defensive end. Schroder’s arrival also allows Zach LaVine to move back to his customary shooting guard position after running the point for much of 2024-25 since being acquired in a multi-team trade that sent point guard De’Aaron Fox to San Antonio.
That should open things up for the rest of the Kings’ offense. Three-time All-Star center Domantas Sabonis, a double-double machine, anchors a frontcourt featuring DeMar DeRozan and Murray. The bench has some punch with perennial Sixth Man of the Year candidate Malik Monk and guard Keon Ellis.
ROCKETS HAVE NEW STAR IN DURANT AS SOUTHWEST DIVISION ADDS A PHENOM IN FLAGG TO GO WITH WEMBANYAMA
Kevin Durant is back in Texas, Victor Wembanyama is back after major shoulder surgery and the Dallas Mavericks aren’t saying when Kyrie Irving might be back from a knee injury so he can join Anthony Davis and No. 1 pick Cooper Flagg.
The defending Southwest Division champion Houston Rockets added Durant — a one-and-done star for the Texas Longhorns almost 20 years ago — in a blockbuster trade with Phoenix, not long after losing to Golden State in the first round of the playoffs as the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference.
Wembanyama missed most of the last half his second season with the San Antonio Spurs after getting diagnosed with deep vein thrombosis, a blood clot condition that is potentially life-threatening. Surgery was the chosen path back to the court for the 21-year-old French star, who is now listed at 7-foot-4 instead of 7-3.
The Mavericks enter their first full season without Luka Doncic after converting a 1.8% chance to win the draft lottery and getting Flagg, a one-year wonder at Duke 14 years after Irving followed the exact same path to the NBA.
Dallas lost in the play-in tournament a year after reaching the NBA Finals, losing Davis for almost two months when he went down with an injury in the 10-time All-Star’s debut a week after the widely panned trade that sent Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers. Irving was lost for the season when he tore his left ACL in early March.
Durant didn’t win a playoff game in two-plus seasons with the Suns, who decided on a major reset in a deal that landed them 2021 No. 2 pick Jalen Green and a bevy of draft picks.
Now the four-time scoring champion joins a team looking for its first playoff series victory since 2020. It’s the fifth stop for the 15-time All-Star since leaving the Longhorns to be the No. 2 pick in 2007.
“We always got so much support here from me playing at Texas, so I always felt the love every time I came back to Houston,” said Durant, who won two NBA titles with Golden State. “So to put on a Rockets jersey, I know it’s going to go to the next level.”
Wembanyama’s health scare gave him a new appreciation for life. He spent part of the offseason visiting NASA in Houston and training with monks in China. Not to mention adding some bulk to his unique, wiry frame. He’s listed at 240 pounds.
“This is my best summer so far,” Wembanyama said. “I can tell the progress is just incredible. I feel better, I look stronger and the scale says I’m heavier. So everything is a green light.”
It seems unlikely Irving will play before the calendar turns to 2026, and Davis will have protective eyewear for the rest of his career following offseason surgery to repair a detached retina.
If the 32-year-old Davis can avoid a penchant for long-term injuries and Flagg lives up to the hype that helped soothe the hard feelings many Mavs fans had over the trade, Dallas could chart a promising near-future quickly after many thought they had squandered it by trading a then-25-year-old superstar in his prime.
“Same thing as last year when I got traded and I had a press conference,” Davis said of his message for fans. “The goal is still to bring a championship here. I think we have a good ballclub. I think our biggest thing as a team is our health. I’m happy to be here. I’m excited to be here. And I want to win here.”
Here’s a look at each Southwest Division team in a predicted order of finish:
Houston Rockets
A season-ending knee injury to Fred VanVleet just before camp dampened the Rockets’ title hopes and left them searching for answers at point guard. They could use different lineup configurations with VanVleet out, including moving 6-7 forward Amen Thompson to point guard to make a big starting five that would include Durant and center Alperen Sengun, both at 6-11, along with forwards Jabari Smith Jr. (6-10) and Tari Eason (6-8). Even with this lineup, Houston needs point guard Reed Sheppard, the No. 3 pick in 2024, to take a step forward to make up for the loss of VanVleet after the former Kentucky standout played sparingly last season.
Dallas Mavericks
Flagg, who was The Associated Press men’s basketball player of the year while leading the Blue Devils to the Final Four, joins a team with two title-winning top overall picks in Irving and Davis, along with Klay Thompson, a four-time champion with the Warriors. “You couldn’t ask for a better situation,” said coach Jason Kidd, a Hall of Fame point guard who won a title as a player with the Mavericks in 2011. “When you talk about wisdom, you have quite a few people who have been in that seat as coaches or as players. We’re not asking him to carry the weight of the Dallas Mavericks. We’re asking him to be Cooper Flagg. And that’s pretty special.”
San Antonio Spurs
Wembanyama led the NBA with 176 blocks last season despite being limited to 46 games by the shoulder issue, and defense is a clear priority even as the team upgraded on offense. “This is a non-negotiable,” Wembanyama said. “It’s not something you can’t do. If you want to be a part of our team and we’re going to hold each other accountable, we know the coach is going to hold us accountable, your status is defense and that is non-negotiable.” The Spurs almost won the lottery again two years after landing Wembanyama, settling for Rutgers guard Dylan Harper with the No. 2 pick. Coach Mitch Johnson enters his first full season after replacing Gregg Popovich. The five-time NBA champion moved into the front office after stepping away following a stroke five games into last season.
Memphis Grizzlies
Memphis will rely on the tandem of two-time All-Stars Ja Morant and Jaren Jackson Jr. surrounded by a mixture of new teammates. Morant and Jackson have been the core for years. The front office traded the third member of that group, sending Desmond Bane and to Orlando in June. The Grizzlies will need to weather the early season as key players recover from offseason ailments. That includes Jackson and 7-4 center Zach Edey, who had ankle stabilization surgery in June. Coach Tuomas Iisalo no longer has the “interim” tag. He was the replacement when Taylor Jenkins was fired late in his sixth season.
New Orleans Hornets
Much will hinge on whether oft-injured star power forward Zion Williamson can stay in the lineup. Joe Dumars, the club’s new executive vice president of basketball operations, decided to double down on Williamson as franchise player as he tries to turn around a team that went 21-61 last season. Dumars, an NBA champion as a player and general manager in Detroit, wants Williamson to take more responsibility as a leader. Dumars’ offseason additions include two players who won championships with Golden State in guard Jordan Poole and center Kevon Looney. New Orleans drafted Oklahoma guard Jeremiah Fears with the No. 7 pick.
NOBODY IN THE SOUTHEAST WAS OVER .500 LAST YEAR. ALL 5 TEAMS EXPECT TO BE BETTER THIS SEASON
The Southeast Division set records last season. They weren’t good records.
Orlando won the division at 41-41. That means the other Southeast teams — Atlanta, Miami, Charlotte and Washington — were, obviously, under the .500 mark. Combined, the winning percentage of the five teams was .378.
Since the league began splitting up teams by both conferences and divisions in 1970, there’s never been a division with a worse combined record than the Southeast last year. (The Central Division in 1970-71 held the record for more than a half-century, after combining for a .384 winning percentage that season.)
The Southeast teams were outscored by a combined 1,824 points — another record. Washington alone was outscored by 909 points in games against teams from the other five divisions — also a record. Charlotte won 19 games, Washington won 18, and that made the Southeast the first division in a decade to have two teams fail to win at least 20 games.
“We want to be better than that,” Charlotte coach Charles Lee said. “I want to be better than that.”
That seems to be the credo in Orlando, Miami, Atlanta and Washington as well.
This is not a new thing. The Southeast hasn’t exactly been teeming with great records for about a decade now.
There has been only one Southeast team in the last 10 years — Miami in 2021-22 — to win more than 50 games (or in the years where the schedule was shortened by COVID-19, to finish on pace to win 50 games in the traditional 82-game slate). The Atlantic, Central, Northwest and Pacific divisions all had multiple 50-win teams last season alone, while the Southwest Division had a 52-win Houston team and a 48-win Memphis club atop its standings.
The division races don’t mean a great deal anymore; it’s been years since a division champion was assured of perks like home-court advantage in Round 1 of the playoffs, with all that hinging now on standing within a conference.
But it is notable that last season Orlando became the NBA’s first division champion to not finish above .500 since Milwaukee won what was then the Western Conference’s Midwest Division with a 38-44 mark in 1975-76.
The Magic are considered the favorites, which makes sense given their young core of talent — Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner leading that group — and how injuries derailed much of Orlando’s season a year ago.
“When I think about the landscape of a conference or a division, I don’t look at year to year. I look at the long-range prospects of where each team is heading, what they’re trying to build,” Magic president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman said. “And I think the East is really strong. I think that there are a lot of teams that are about to pop — and hopefully we’re one of them.”
A look at the Southeast, in predicted order of finish:
Orlando Magic
The Magic enter the season with high expectations after bolstering a talented roster by adding Desmond Bane to join star players like Banchero and Wagner. Injuries hampered the Magic last season, though they still won the division but were bounced out of the playoffs by Boston in the first round. The goal is a deep playoff run and coach Jamahl Mosley has offensive balance, elite defense and depth needed to accomplish that.
Atlanta Hawks
Coach Quin Snyder understands the expectation for the Atlanta Hawks to end their four-year run of play-in tournament appearances. The Hawks had a strong offseason, adding Kristaps Porzingis, the versatile Nickeil Alexander-Walker and shooter Luke Kennard. Trae Young, the reigning NBA assists leader, and Dyson Daniels, last season’s most improved player and runner-up as top defensive player, return in the backcourt.
Miami Heat
The Jimmy Butler trade happened last season, but the Heat never really got on track after that move. Andrew Wiggins — the centerpiece of the haul Miami got when the Butler deal was executed — was in and out of the lineup because of injuries, and the Heat were dismantled by Cleveland in Round 1 of the playoffs. Tyler Herro is dealing with offseason surgery, but the Heat still have Bam Adebayo to anchor the defense and added Norman Powell for scoring.
Charlotte Hornets
The Hornets need LaMelo Ball to stay on the court if they’re to have a chance to reach the playoffs for the first time in a decade. The talented, but injury-prone point guard has missed 53% of Charlotte’s games over the past three seasons. The good news for the Hornets is shooting guard Brandon Miller is back from wrist surgery, giving the team another scoring option alongside Ball and Miles Bridges. Center continues to be an area of need.
Washington Wizards
The Wizards have won 33 games over the past two seasons, but after landing Alex Sarr with the No. 2 pick in the 2024, the lottery bumped them down to sixth this year in what was considered a more talent-rich draft. There is certainly plenty of youth on the roster, with Sarr (20 years old), Bub Carrington (20), Bilal Coulibaly (21) and Kyshawn George (21) having made a combined 221 starts last season.
KNICKS APPEAR TO BE THE BEST OF THE ATLANTIC DIVISION WITH UNCERTAINTY IN BOSTON AND PHILADELPHIA
NEW YORK (AP) — The New York Knicks see an opportunity and aren’t shy about their intentions of taking it.
“Knicks will be the No. 1 seed in the East,” Carmelo Anthony said.
OK, so it’s former players who are talking big. The current Knicks won’t say much about the expectations on them for this season, leaving that to others such as Anthony, the Hall of Famer who is now an NBC Sports studio analyst.
And he’s right to like their chances. For the first time since Anthony led the NBA in scoring for a team that won 54 games in 2012-13, the Knicks should be the best team in the Atlantic Division.
With Jayson Tatum sidelined and other key players gone, the Boston Celtics look nothing like the team that won the NBA title just two seasons ago. The Philadelphia 76ers, too reliant on players such as Joel Embiid and Paul George who can’t be counted on to stay healthy, are too risky a pick.
The Toronto Raptors are too far away, though much closer than the Brooklyn Nets. That leaves the Knicks, with All-Stars Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns in their starting five and a bench that’s been upgraded, as the class of the division.
They have been building smartly under Leon Rose and had their big breakthrough in May when they upset the Celtics in the Eastern Conference semifinals, when Tatum went down with a ruptured right Achilles tendon that will keep him sidelined for at least some of this season. That sent the Knicks to the East finals for the first time since 2000, where they lost to Indiana.
They fired Tom Thibodeau after that series and replaced him with Mike Brown, a fellow two-time winner of the NBA Coach of the Year award. They also signed Jordan Clarkson, the 2020-21 Sixth Man of the Year award winner.
The Knicks have won at least 50 games each of the last two seasons, but finished well behind Boston in the Atlantic both times. But with Tatum hurt and Jrue Holiday, Kristaps Porzingis and Al Horford all playing elsewhere, the Celtics’ four-year run atop the division will likely be over.
“We’re not as talented as we were. So we have to have an edge to us,” Celtics star Jaylen Brown said. “We have to have a mentality to us. We’ve got to play and bring the fight to teams a little more than we have in the past. So, I don’t think we have a choice.”
The Knicks, whose division title in that 2012-13 season is their only one in the last 30 years, are best positioned to replace Boston at the top.
“We’re excited with what this team has and what this team can be,” swingman Josh Hart said.
Here’s a look at each Atlantic Division team in a predicted order of finish:
New York Knicks
Brown wants the Knicks to play faster than they did under Thibodeau and create more situations where Brunson doesn’t need to have the ball in his hands as often, so the offense can be less predictable. He also needs to decide whether Hart returns to the starting lineup or New York stays with center Mitchell Robinson and has Towns playing as a power forward. Whatever he decides, the Knicks have the experience and firepower to make it work.
Philadelphia 76ers
With Embiid limited to 19 games, George 41 and Tyrese Maxey 52 last season, the 76ers went from a team with high expectations to a dismal 24-58 finish, near the bottom of the East. The good news is Philadelphia ended up getting the No. 3 pick in the draft and took VJ Edgecombe from Baylor, who could be an impact rookie and help them persevere whenever the injuries do pop up.
Boston Celtics
It’s unknown if or when Tatum could play this season. In the meantime, the Celtics still have Brown and Derrick White from the team that won the 2024 NBA championship, along with Sixth Man of the Year Payton Pritchard to anchor a youthful roster that president of basketball operation Brad Stevens and coach Joe Mazzulla believe can keep the Celtics competitive while Tatum is on the mend. So a good season is still possible in Boston, though it won’t be easy with how much the Celtics have lost.
Toronto Raptors
The Raptors will finally get Brandon Ingram on the floor this season after he was unable to play after they acquired him from New Orleans last season because of a sprained left ankle. Adding the former All-Star and Most Improved Player award winner to a lineup headlined by Scottie Barnes should help the Raptors be much better than their 30-52 finish in 2024-25.
Brooklyn Nets
The Nets became the first team in NBA history to make five first-round picks in the draft, and their five rookies (No. 8 Egor Demin, No. 19 Nolan Traore, No. 21 Drake Powell, No. 26 Ben Saraf and No. 27 Danny Wolf) are all expected to play. So the Nets, who didn’t have a single player 30 or older when they opened camp, should be one of the worst teams in the league, no matter how much scoring they get from Cam Thomas or Michael Porter Jr., the former starting forward for the Denver Nuggets’ 2023 championship team they acquired in an offseason trade.
AGENTS: KINGS F KEEGAN MURRAY TO SIGN 5-YEAR, $140M EXTENSION
The Sacramento Kings and forward Keegan Murray have agreed to a contract extension, his agents at Priority Sports announced on Wednesday.
The extension of his rookie deal is for five years and $140 million, according to ESPN, locking him in place through the 2030-31 season.
Murray, 25, was the No. 4 overall pick of the Kings out of Iowa in the 2022 NBA Draft. He then burst onto the scene, canning a rookie-record 206 3-pointers while averaging 12.2 points per game in 80 appearances (78 starts).
After being named to the All-Rookie team for his efforts, Murray improved upon his scoring average in his second and third seasons, averaging 15.2 and 12.4, respectively.
His third season was considered something of disappointment as he shot a career-low 34% from 3-point range, though he remained the team’s top option as a defender on the wing.
His career averages stand at 13.3 points, 5.6 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game.
Murray has play 233 out of 246 games since joining the Kings, including 231 starts, but underwent surgery on his left thumb and will miss at least the first 10 games of the season. He suffered a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his left thumb during a preseason game.
