2026 NBA Season

[Fredomago]

Great call by the Thunder. Josh Giddey has been inconsistent of the first 5 and he performed bad in the last playoffs. For sure Caruso's defense and experience will help his new team to become better in the next season. Thunder still has future draft picks to come and they will have no problems putting Caruso on the starting line up or in the bench depending on their style of play.

I expect this young team to at least proceed in the second round of the playoffs in this coming new season. SGA proved himself a great player and leader while his young team mates gained the much needed playoffs experience.

They need someone that possess both offense and defense someone like Holiday type of a player who really can contribute not just with the defense but also with the offesive side, I think we all knew how Carusso played, he can be a great addition to support SGA orchestrating their defense and also carry some loads if both SGA and Chet having difficulty to scores, Carusso can bring that help.

Let's see if how Thunders will play with this trades and how they will use Carusso with their campaign in this upcoming new season, good take for both Thunders and Carusso they can help each other to entertain the fans.

[btc_angela]

Great call by the Thunder. Josh Giddey has been inconsistent of the first 5 and he performed bad in the last playoffs. For sure Caruso's defense and experience will help his new team to become better in the next season. Thunder still has future draft picks to come and they will have no problems putting Caruso on the starting line up or in the bench depending on their style of play.

I expect this young team to at least proceed in the second round of the playoffs in this coming new season. SGA proved himself a great player and leader while his young team mates gained the much needed playoffs experience.

They need someone that possess both offense and defense someone like Holiday type of a player who really can contribute not just with the defense but also with the offesive side, I think we all knew how Carusso played, he can be a great addition to support SGA orchestrating their defense and also carry some loads if both SGA and Chet having difficulty to scores, Carusso can bring that help.

Nah, I don't think that Carusso will be their offensive weapon to replaced Giddey, there's a lot of offensive firepower already with OKC. SGA and Chet and the Williams as well. Most likely that is the issue with them, they have a lot of offensive firepower but without anyone playing good defense.

Let's see if how Thunders will play with this trades and how they will use Carusso with their campaign in this upcoming new season, good take for both Thunders and Carusso they can help each other to entertain the fans.

Again, he is going to be utilized for defensive purposed and the experience of Carusso in the stretch. He could also be their player to handle the pressure of passing the ball during time outs as Alex is known to do this in Bulls uniform, a good 1-4 defender.

[dwyane36]

I don't know, but there are tweets that says the Lakers are seeing a young coach Spo in JJ Redick and that's why they hired him. Or a version of Steve Kerr when he become the head coach of the Warriors and brought them 4 rings and created the dynasty. However, I don't know who is in the management that has this vision of comparing JJ to this great coaches.

Anyhow, only time can tell, let's give Redick a chance but for sure there will be a lot of criticism to the Lakers management again, just like when they hired a inexperienced Darvin Ham to lead them which in turn didn't suit well for Lebron.

It seems to me that Lebron was instrumental in getting the Lakers to appoint JJ as head coach. If this is true, then we can already assume that LeBron will stay with the Lakers for at least one more season. I wouldn't be surprised if Lebron and the Lakers management already decided that the Lakers would sign Bronny in the offseason.

[MK-74]

JJ Redick is a young and inexperienced Coach, this was a risky deal for Los Angeles.
The Lakers and JJ Redick signed a 4-year contract, I hope they are successful, if not, things will go into trouble for the Lakers.
Let's see what kind of Lakers we will watch in the new season.

[ultrloa]

JJ Redick is a young and inexperienced Coach, this was a risky deal for Los Angeles.
The Lakers and JJ Redick signed a 4-year contract, I hope they are successful, if not, things will go into trouble for the Lakers.
Let's see what kind of Lakers we will watch in the new season.

I guess they don't have a choice but to try the experience of JJ Redick inside the court. Since their first choice didn't accept their offer since Dan Hurley have other plan for his coaching career.

But still its good that Lakers give Redick a chance to handle the coaching job for them since then see if he can bring some changes on their rotation. The question if he could able to question the decision making of Lebron inside the court since usually this will be the issue of coaches who handle him. This is tough job for Redick especially on handling Lebron, but guess he need to deal with it since he need to have a experience to add on his portfolio on his new career chosen after he retires as a player on NBA.

[Finestream]

JJ Redick is a young and inexperienced Coach, this was a risky deal for Los Angeles.
The Lakers and JJ Redick signed a 4-year contract, I hope they are successful, if not, things will go into trouble for the Lakers.
Let's see what kind of Lakers we will watch in the new season.

I guess they don't have a choice but to try the experience of JJ Redick inside the court. Since their first choice didn't accept their offer since Dan Hurley have other plan for his coaching career.

But still its good that Lakers give Redick a chance to handle the coaching job for them since then see if he can bring some changes on their rotation. The question if he could able to question the decision making of Lebron inside the court since usually this will be the issue of coaches who handle him. This is tough job for Redick especially on handling Lebron, but guess he need to deal with it since he need to have a experience to add on his portfolio on his new career chosen after he retires as a player on NBA.

That's really a problem because Lebron does always want his plan to be followed. He is a special player, he can even influence the management to fire a coach, so as long as JJ Reddick is not just a puppet, then maybe we will see a big changes on the Lakers play and rotation next season. This team is only hyped because of Lebron, but we can see that they really have the problem particularly on their offense. Their 3 point shooting is a mess, I guess they need to add more shooters so they'll be more unpredictable.

[Maslate]

I don't know, but there are tweets that says the Lakers are seeing a young coach Spo in JJ Redick and that's why they hired him. Or a version of Steve Kerr when he become the head coach of the Warriors and brought them 4 rings and created the dynasty. However, I don't know who is in the management that has this vision of comparing JJ to this great coaches.

Anyhow, only time can tell, let's give Redick a chance but for sure there will be a lot of criticism to the Lakers management again, just like when they hired a inexperienced Darvin Ham to lead them which in turn didn't suit well for Lebron.

It seems to me that Lebron was instrumental in getting the Lakers to appoint JJ as head coach. If this is true, then we can already assume that LeBron will stay with the Lakers for at least one more season. I wouldn't be surprised if Lebron and the Lakers management already decided that the Lakers would sign Bronny in the offseason.

That's not far from happening as LeBron would always want to play with his son. He knows that his son is not a superstar, so playing on the same team might be beneficial for both him and Bronny, as Lebron can help build up his son's career. LeBron might not get another championship, but playing with his son would likely be a bigger success for him than winning another championship. And what if, with the arrival of his son on the Lakers, they win a championship? That would be a father and son making history by winning a championship together.

[danherbias07]

JJ Redick is a young and inexperienced Coach, this was a risky deal for Los Angeles.
The Lakers and JJ Redick signed a 4-year contract, I hope they are successful, if not, things will go into trouble for the Lakers.
Let's see what kind of Lakers we will watch in the new season.

I guess they don't have a choice but to try the experience of JJ Redick inside the court. Since their first choice didn't accept their offer since Dan Hurley have other plan for his coaching career.

But still its good that Lakers give Redick a chance to handle the coaching job for them since then see if he can bring some changes on their rotation. The question if he could able to question the decision making of Lebron inside the court since usually this will be the issue of coaches who handle him. This is tough job for Redick especially on handling Lebron, but guess he need to deal with it since he need to have a experience to add on his portfolio on his new career chosen after he retires as a player on NBA.

After watching the podcast of JJ Redick with Lebron James, I think Lebron is a good listener. He always lets Redick finish his statements first and then they are always in sync with what they are talking about. I think the chemistry was already built there and it will just get deeper once they both go on practice and training camps.
I am more worried about the young guys of the Lakers, will Redick get the respect that he wants so that these guys will listen to him or will they just listen to Lebron instead of their coach?
Locker room problems, Redick might have a great mind when it comes to basketball strategies but when it comes to locker room we are not sure yet if he is also good at it. We will see.

[wiss19]

JJ Reddick situation is really a big big deal at the moment. Why? Because we are going to see Lebron James "probably" get his son this season, unless something crazy happens of course, and he is getting his close friend and podcast mate with him to the coaching job as well.

Meaning that, we are talking about the season where Lebron has the most control over the team we have ever seen. If he also makes some FA signings and some trades as well, we could see the famous "LeGM" type of season. Dude is about to be 40 years old, that ain't easy, yes we have seen him do well enough, but I think it is not going to be all that easy for him to play, but having THIS much control over the team? Like even appoint the head coach? Then I think it could be a good season for Lakers.

[Fredomago]

I don't know, but there are tweets that says the Lakers are seeing a young coach Spo in JJ Redick and that's why they hired him. Or a version of Steve Kerr when he become the head coach of the Warriors and brought them 4 rings and created the dynasty. However, I don't know who is in the management that has this vision of comparing JJ to this great coaches.

Anyhow, only time can tell, let's give Redick a chance but for sure there will be a lot of criticism to the Lakers management again, just like when they hired a inexperienced Darvin Ham to lead them which in turn didn't suit well for Lebron.

It seems to me that Lebron was instrumental in getting the Lakers to appoint JJ as head coach. If this is true, then we can already assume that LeBron will stay with the Lakers for at least one more season. I wouldn't be surprised if Lebron and the Lakers management already decided that the Lakers would sign Bronny in the offseason.

That's not far from happening as LeBron would always want to play with his son. He knows that his son is not a superstar, so playing on the same team might be beneficial for both him and Bronny, as Lebron can help build up his son's career. LeBron might not get another championship, but playing with his son would likely be a bigger success for him than winning another championship. And what if, with the arrival of his son on the Lakers, they win a championship? That would be a father and son making history by winning a championship together.

Yeah, it's always a dream for any father to stay healthy and play with your son, I think they are really working on it and it might be one of the reason why LeBron will stay, having his son on his team and getting a new coach who can lead the young star to take some minutes of playing and allow him to improve his confidence, I guess it's happening Bronny will be playing with his dad and the two will make a history, we never know we might see them both playing with another superstar who will help them to be more competitve, anything can happen, let's wait for any upcoming updates regarding to this.

[jossiel]

IMO, we'll see news like this in the upcoming days. Every team is going to reform their roster and as well as their coaching staff.

Whatever is the management for each team think what's best for them, they'd do it even if it's going to take a revocation of a coach, a player or anyone in the organization a contract.

This is what's the ugly side of these franchises and company, they can revoke someone's contract at their own will when they're not satisfied. There's always that clause included in it.

If it's not profitable then they can just let it go, no players or coaches are safe as the managements will always aim for money, and with how the Piston performs last season it's a managements decision to revoke the contract to find a suitable person for a vacant position and hope that it will bring something decent to attract fans to buy tickets and thier merchandise.

As you said, we might see more news regarding to how teams will reform for the betterment of the franchise.

It is coming.

We'd see first from the Lakers that they'd hire JJ Redick that said to sign with a 4-year contracts to Lakers.

But then, if it's not a fruitful season for him I guess that the Lakers might do some revocation as well.

[wheelz1200]

I don't know, but there are tweets that says the Lakers are seeing a young coach Spo in JJ Redick and that's why they hired him. Or a version of Steve Kerr when he become the head coach of the Warriors and brought them 4 rings and created the dynasty. However, I don't know who is in the management that has this vision of comparing JJ to this great coaches.

Anyhow, only time can tell, let's give Redick a chance but for sure there will be a lot of criticism to the Lakers management again, just like when they hired a inexperienced Darvin Ham to lead them which in turn didn't suit well for Lebron.

It seems to me that Lebron was instrumental in getting the Lakers to appoint JJ as head coach. If this is true, then we can already assume that LeBron will stay with the Lakers for at least one more season. I wouldn't be surprised if Lebron and the Lakers management already decided that the Lakers would sign Bronny in the offseason.

That's not far from happening as LeBron would always want to play with his son. He knows that his son is not a superstar, so playing on the same team might be beneficial for both him and Bronny, as Lebron can help build up his son's career. LeBron might not get another championship, but playing with his son would likely be a bigger success for him than winning another championship. And what if, with the arrival of his son on the Lakers, they win a championship? That would be a father and son making history by winning a championship together.

Yeah, it's always a dream for any father to stay healthy and play with your son, I think they are really working on it and it might be one of the reason why LeBron will stay, having his son on his team and getting a new coach who can lead the young star to take some minutes of playing and allow him to improve his confidence, I guess it's happening Bronny will be playing with his dad and the two will make a history, we never know we might see them both playing with another superstar who will help them to be more competitve, anything can happen, let's wait for any upcoming updates regarding to this.

People are taking lebrons wishes like the Lakers will waste a draft pick to make him happy.  Lebron will be 40 in the early part of the season and bronny isn't good enough to waste a 17 pick on.  Lakers have tons of holes and wasting it on an older stars kid for the sake of it won't do them any good.  If the GM wants to keep his job he takes the best talent, period

[boyptc]

The Bulls traded Alex Caruso for Josh Giddey.

--> https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/alex-caruso-for-josh-giddey-trade-thunder-bulls-make-swap-with-okc-landing-all-defensive-guard-per-report/

I think Oklahoma Thunders is on the win with this trade. They get that veteran Alex Caruso and they let go of Giddey. Was this the kid that have trashtalked against the Mavs?

Well, welcome to his new team. He might get lesser playing time there.

Damn, this is the trade that I didn't expect, It could be that Josh Giddey's performance in the last playoff which is for me just so-so? Or most likely the allegations haunting him? https://www.oklahomalegalgroup.com/news/allegations-against-okc-thunders-josh-giddey-raise-intrigue-regarding-age-of-consent

And so it was reported that the Lakers have hired JJ Redick as their next head coach,
So let's see if Redick can live up to the hype or will be another casualties regarding coaches lately.

To be honest, he didn't do well in the playoffs but he talks a lot and that has been seen with their series against Mavs. I don't know about that allegation against him but that seems to be a serious one.

As for JJ, good luck to him. Most of the new coaches that the Lakers have hired have got lesser games.

I agree this was a good trade for the Thunder.  Not sure what Chicago gets out of the deal.  Josh Giddey shouldn't even be in the NBA after his relationship with an underaged girl was exposed.  I'm surprised they still managed to fleece the Bulls given how bad the Giddey situation will be for whoever has him.

LeBron James is rumored to be about to sign a 3-year 162 million dollar contract.  That's wild at his age.  I think we may have reached the point where LeBron is a liability for his team.  This year was fine and maybe next year will be as well, but you can't tell me that LeBron will still be worth $50,000,000+ per year in the 2026-2027 season.  Not saying he hasn't already earned that money, just saying the salary cap is going to keep him from winning another championship.

Speaking of Lebron, that's still a lot to be honest. It's true that given his age, that should be lower like for most are given with $1M-$5M annual contract but him, he's still getting a lot from it.

I guess the franchise that will sign him a deal is likely just for getting him as a 'veteran' contract raking lots of fans for them and hoping to get more merch purchases.  

Caruso has been known for his defensive skills, and Giddey has been known for... if you know what I mean then don't say it here.

Anyway, it's the Thunder who won on this trade because aside from Lu Dort, they also have Alex Caruso that will help him in defending the opposing team's backcourts. Lesser playing time? Maybe, but he might still be a starter at least. SGA at 1, Caruso at 2, Dort at 3, JDub at 4, Chet at 5. This is an improvement for the team, and with how many draft picks they have right now, expect more of these trades in the future.

I'm not talking about Caruso getting lesser playing time but Giddey's mate. But he'd sure be part of the starting 5.

[Yaunfitda]

IMO, we'll see news like this in the upcoming days. Every team is going to reform their roster and as well as their coaching staff.

Whatever is the management for each team think what's best for them, they'd do it even if it's going to take a revocation of a coach, a player or anyone in the organization a contract.

This is what's the ugly side of these franchises and company, they can revoke someone's contract at their own will when they're not satisfied. There's always that clause included in it.

If it's not profitable then they can just let it go, no players or coaches are safe as the managements will always aim for money, and with how the Piston performs last season it's a managements decision to revoke the contract to find a suitable person for a vacant position and hope that it will bring something decent to attract fans to buy tickets and thier merchandise.

As you said, we might see more news regarding to how teams will reform for the betterment of the franchise.

It is coming.

We'd see first from the Lakers that they'd hire JJ Redick that said to sign with a 4-year contracts to Lakers.

But then, if it's not a fruitful season for him I guess that the Lakers might do some revocation as well.

And that's why we say that there is no job tenure being a head coach in the NBA. History has show that already. But the hate on JJ Redick though, there's a lot of meme's going on around like Lebron setting Redick to be his scapegoat after another failed season, Lol, that's hilarious.

Another is that when we see the Lakers having a 6 game losing streak, imagine what will be the reaction of the fans. So again, he better do a good job as a 1st year Laker coach to at least extend his season, otherwise, if the Lakers fail to make the playoff and with a bad record, heads will roll again.

[passwordnow]

Yeah, it's always a dream for any father to stay healthy and play with your son, I think they are really working on it and it might be one of the reason why LeBron will stay, having his son on his team and getting a new coach who can lead the young star to take some minutes of playing and allow him to improve his confidence, I guess it's happening Bronny will be playing with his dad and the two will make a history, we never know we might see them both playing with another superstar who will help them to be more competitve, anything can happen, let's wait for any upcoming updates regarding to this.

Lebron has said that before that wherever is Bronny will be drafted, he'd go there as well. It's not like an instruction or whatnot but I think he as a father just really want to play with his son on the NBA. One latest team that would like to get Bronny is the Timberwolves. I can imagine if that's for real, they're already a champ contender and with their current roster, adding Lebron on them would do something good I guess.

And at the same time, Bronny will get a veteran guard there to give him some tip. Aside from his father, it's gonna be Mike Conley. So, that's something a win-win or wherever these two goes but not probably to the team that's wanting to get them. As it's gonna be costly and at the same time, they get a rookie to absorb and an older version of Lebron. But let's see.

[Baofeng]

Yeah, it's always a dream for any father to stay healthy and play with your son, I think they are really working on it and it might be one of the reason why LeBron will stay, having his son on his team and getting a new coach who can lead the young star to take some minutes of playing and allow him to improve his confidence, I guess it's happening Bronny will be playing with his dad and the two will make a history, we never know we might see them both playing with another superstar who will help them to be more competitve, anything can happen, let's wait for any upcoming updates regarding to this.

Lebron has said that before that wherever is Bronny will be drafted, he'd go there as well. It's not like an instruction or whatnot but I think he as a father just really want to play with his son on the NBA. One latest team that would like to get Bronny is the Timberwolves. I can imagine if that's for real, they're already a champ contender and with their current roster, adding Lebron on them would do something good I guess.

And at the same time, Bronny will get a veteran guard there to give him some tip. Aside from his father, it's gonna be Mike Conley. So, that's something a win-win or wherever these two goes but not probably to the team that's wanting to get them. As it's gonna be costly and at the same time, they get a rookie to absorb and an older version of Lebron. But let's see.

I also heard that Phoenix could also be a destination for Bronny, so just imagine if Lebron goes to the Suns with KD and Booker and then Bronny that will be awesome combo. But we will see, for sure there are going to be many teams that will try to get Bronny because they know what the perks will be as they can also get his father and then the team making history.

However, they will not be the first one to do that in basketball because as early as the 90's the Philippines had achieved that, although the Father, Jaworski Sr, didn't play but insistent of being the coach, (he was a player/coach as well).

Maybe here Lebron and Bronny will play together.

[ultrloa]

JJ Redick is a young and inexperienced Coach, this was a risky deal for Los Angeles.
The Lakers and JJ Redick signed a 4-year contract, I hope they are successful, if not, things will go into trouble for the Lakers.
Let's see what kind of Lakers we will watch in the new season.

I guess they don't have a choice but to try the experience of JJ Redick inside the court. Since their first choice didn't accept their offer since Dan Hurley have other plan for his coaching career.

But still its good that Lakers give Redick a chance to handle the coaching job for them since then see if he can bring some changes on their rotation. The question if he could able to question the decision making of Lebron inside the court since usually this will be the issue of coaches who handle him. This is tough job for Redick especially on handling Lebron, but guess he need to deal with it since he need to have a experience to add on his portfolio on his new career chosen after he retires as a player on NBA.

After watching the podcast of JJ Redick with Lebron James, I think Lebron is a good listener. He always lets Redick finish his statements first and then they are always in sync with what they are talking about. I think the chemistry was already built there and it will just get deeper once they both go on practice and training camps.
I am more worried about the young guys of the Lakers, will Redick get the respect that he wants so that these guys will listen to him or will they just listen to Lebron instead of their coach?
Locker room problems, Redick might have a great mind when it comes to basketball strategies but when it comes to locker room we are not sure yet if he is also good at it. We will see.

If he get the respect of LBJ then for sure that he can also earn the respect of the young guys. For sure those people will follow him since after all he is their new head coach so everything he order for sure they will follow him. Also I don't see the Podcast you mention maybe I will search that to see the topic they discuss since its pretty interesting to watch how Reddick and LBJ could blend together as a coach and also as a super dominant player. But let see what they could able to get next season opener since I see Redick is capable to handle the job since for sure that he learn a lot of experience from playing inside the court so for sure he can share his learnings and ideas to help Lakers to win on every games they played. What I hope that it will not happen that Redick will be the scape goat for Lakers if they experience a embarrassing lose next season.

[Jating]

JJ Reddick situation is really a big big deal at the moment. Why? Because we are going to see Lebron James "probably" get his son this season, unless something crazy happens of course, and he is getting his close friend and podcast mate with him to the coaching job as well.

Meaning that, we are talking about the season where Lebron has the most control over the team we have ever seen. If he also makes some FA signings and some trades as well, we could see the famous "LeGM" type of season. Dude is about to be 40 years old, that ain't easy, yes we have seen him do well enough, but I think it is not going to be all that easy for him to play, but having THIS much control over the team? Like even appoint the head coach? Then I think it could be a good season for Lakers.

As far as I know, he had seasons with the Cavs wherein he has total control of his team same with the Lakers as well. So there's not much of a difference if we talk about control or what's not for JJ Redick being the coach of the Lakers. Still boils down to Redick on how he is going to handle the team and the pressure of being the head coach as this is obviously very different from being a podcaster.

If they are going to suffer what had happen to them last season, then I do not think that Redick will get all the respect from his players including Lebron. They should really do good otherwise the Lakers woes will continue and we might not see Redick leading them next season.

[livingfree]

With all of the discussions of contracts, how about talking about someone who's not part of any team but part of ESPN?  

I don't usually watch this guy and skips on him but are there folks here that listens to him?

According to John Ourand, Stephen A. Smith is currently asking for $25 million annually from ESPN.

ESPN, however, is only offering $18 million for Smith's services.

Which Smith doesn't believe is enough.

JJ Reddick situation is really a big big deal at the moment. Why? Because we are going to see Lebron James "probably" get his son this season, unless something crazy happens of course, and he is getting his close friend and podcast mate with him to the coaching job as well.

Yeah, that podcast thing. I think that something is already brewed for both of them. And before it's offered to JJ, I think a college coach was offered with the job but he declined as he don't like to coach Lebron.

[Maslate]

With all of the discussions of contracts, how about talking about someone who's not part of any team but part of ESPN?  

I don't usually watch this guy and skips on him but are there folks here that listens to him?

According to John Ourand, Stephen A. Smith is currently asking for $25 million annually from ESPN.

ESPN, however, is only offering $18 million for Smith's services.

Which Smith doesn't believe is enough.

I didn't know he is paid that much. He is even getting paid bigger than the NBA coaches, so his job must be really hard.
According to here : https://frontofficesports.com/highest-paid-nba-coaches/... Steve Kerr earned $17.5 million last year.

Well, if ESPN can't loss him, then they should pay him his demand, besides, I'm sure their company is making a lot of money as Stephen A. Smith could attract the viewers due to his energy while commenting a game.