2025 NBA Season

[Yaunfitda]

Zion is not "overrated", people who think media is excited about a number one overall pick gonna be beast thinks they mean pelicans drafted a Lebron or an MJ.

It is not like that, check out the last 10 years, there have been very few players who came out of number one overall pick that was as physically as talented as Zion, dude is a beast physically, he is not tall but definitely heavy and still can rebound and dunk very well. Sure, he can still get better by losing a bit weight and playing with a bit different styles instead of just explosiveness but that doesn't mean that he is not good, he is one of the best draft picks of the last 10 years and would totally be in top 20 pick in 5 to 10 years if he stays healthy.

Nobody thinks he is going to be hall of famer right away, or maybe ever, but considering there have been people picked at 13th spot playing better than 1st pick in some of those years, its a good feeling that pelicans picked the clear best of that draft, not "maybe" the best (Ayton going over Luka is a joke for example) but 100% the best in this draft.

We can see later when he plays in the regular season. The weight is not proportional to the height and Zion's explosive play style. I hope when he focuses on healing injuries he can also diet to lose weight

Can we really imagine what kind of player Williamson is if he loses some weight? I mean, he's explosive since he was heavy and he would be a monster if he lose weight.

Not losing weight but adding more muscles to his frame will be great for him. I guess he is still young though that's why his body was able to adapt, very agile and athletic.

But if he can turn those excess weight of him and be muscular, he can be more athletic and then physical. That would be scary.

[Botnake]

But if he can turn those excess weight of him and be muscular, he can be more athletic and then physical. That would be scary.

I think you guys are making over discussion about zion.
His team will play in the opening of the regular season and he will miss that time.
There is no timetable yet of his comeback but this is not a good start for the Pelicans.

They will be playing against the depending champ and without him, I am not expecting a win from his team.

[jakelyson]

I don't think the Nuggets will let go of him but it would be nice to see him play for the Spurs. Maybe trade with Aldridge?

It would be a blunder if they trade Jokic now, they just awarded him a max contract. Even if spurs offer them everything they got, Nuggets will not give Jokic away. They are currently building around Murray-Jokic tandem and that is the best direction for their team right now.

I think you guys are making over discussion about zion.
His team will play in the opening of the regular season and he will miss that time.

The hype won't die until we see him play his first regular season. We are all excited to see if Zion is a bust or not, ain't we?

[Bttzed03]

I don't think the Nuggets will let go of him but it would be nice to see him play for the Spurs. Maybe trade with Aldridge?

That would be a wildest dream for Pop but I don't think that they will give up Nikola Jokic, their best player and also their franchise player. What makes you think that they will accept a 34 yr old Center while they have a point-center guy that can score almost anywhere in the court?

Time flies so fast that I didn't even notice he's that old now. It was only a few years ago that he was one of the most talked about centers in the league. Definitely not a choice for Nuggets as a replacement for Jokic right now but things can change quickly in today's NBA.

I don't know what his current contract states, but according to this site https://www.binance.com/en/trade/ONE_BTC
~

You completely lost me at the binance link mate.

~snip

It would be a blunder if they trade Jokic now, they just awarded him a max contract. Even if spurs offer them everything they got, Nuggets will not give Jokic away. They are currently building around Murray-Jokic tandem and that is the best direction for their team right now.

Yeah, the Nuggets are putting all their hopes on those two. It's been a while since they got close to a championship since the time of Melo.

I Jokic becomes unhappy, that would be a different story. 

[Oasisman]

But if he can turn those excess weight of him and be muscular, he can be more athletic and then physical. That would be scary.

I think you guys are making over discussion about zion.
His team will play in the opening of the regular season and he will miss that time.
There is no timetable yet of his comeback but this is not a good start for the Pelicans.

They will be playing against the depending champ and without him, I am not expecting a win from his team.

Not a good start for Zion as well. Remember, the NBA had a lot of first-pick players who suffered injury early in the season or during the 1st year of the season, and came back at their worst form. This kid literally need to lose weight seriously. He's in the highest level of league, the level of competence is very intense as well, most probably you'll beat yourself up every night after the game. Zion weights more than Lebron and as explosive as Westbrook, how do you expect this kid to end up?

[Finestream]

But if he can turn those excess weight of him and be muscular, he can be more athletic and then physical. That would be scary.

I think you guys are making over discussion about zion.
His team will play in the opening of the regular season and he will miss that time.
There is no timetable yet of his comeback but this is not a good start for the Pelicans.

They will be playing against the depending champ and without him, I am not expecting a win from his team.

Not a good start for Zion as well. Remember, the NBA had a lot of first-pick players who suffered injury early in the season or during the 1st year of the season, and came back at their worst form. This kid literally need to lose weight seriously. He's in the highest level of league, the level of competence is very intense as well, most probably you'll beat yourself up every night after the game. Zion weights more than Lebron and as explosive as Westbrook, how do you expect this kid to end up?

Losing weight might be necessary but losing weight is not easy.

At his age and current weight he can still deliver the expectation and it's just unfortunate that he was injured but I know this injury is not a serious one and he will be back soon. Missing games is not what they like that's why some teams are not imposing much their star players in preseason to prepare them in a real battle where a win is credited.

[Reid]

But if he can turn those excess weight of him and be muscular, he can be more athletic and then physical. That would be scary.

I think you guys are making over discussion about zion.
His team will play in the opening of the regular season and he will miss that time.
There is no timetable yet of his comeback but this is not a good start for the Pelicans.

They will be playing against the depending champ and without him, I am not expecting a win from his team.

Not a good start for Zion as well. Remember, the NBA had a lot of first-pick players who suffered injury early in the season or during the 1st year of the season, and came back at their worst form. This kid literally need to lose weight seriously. He's in the highest level of league, the level of competence is very intense as well, most probably you'll beat yourself up every night after the game. Zion weights more than Lebron and as explosive as Westbrook, how do you expect this kid to end up?

It is called the curse of the 1st pick.
We might be seeing a lot more about this if he will not play the first 20 games of his regular season.

He proved already in college of how he could change the pace of the game. But this is NBA, I want to see how he could still make it earning points while being challenged by a pro.

If he goes in playoffs then again it will be a different kind of game.

[btc_angela]

But if he can turn those excess weight of him and be muscular, he can be more athletic and then physical. That would be scary.

I think you guys are making over discussion about zion.
His team will play in the opening of the regular season and he will miss that time.
There is no timetable yet of his comeback but this is not a good start for the Pelicans.

They will be playing against the depending champ and without him, I am not expecting a win from his team.

Not a good start for Zion as well. Remember, the NBA had a lot of first-pick players who suffered injury early in the season or during the 1st year of the season, and came back at their worst form. This kid literally need to lose weight seriously. He's in the highest level of league, the level of competence is very intense as well, most probably you'll beat yourself up every night after the game. Zion weights more than Lebron and as explosive as Westbrook, how do you expect this kid to end up?

I agree, that's why he really needs to trim down that excess baggage of his otherwise it can give him problems in the future. Who would have thought about what happen to Greg Ogden of Portland? As an amateur he was a stand out leading Ohio state. But as soon as he entered NBA his knees didn't hold up on the tough competition of the NBA league, had lot of surgery missed 3 out of 5 seasons.

[spadormie]

I don't know what his current contract states, but according to this site https://hoopshype.com/player/nikola-jokic/salary/
Jokic will receive $27,504,630 this season and the based on project, it will increase in the 2 seasons to come.
If there's no problem inside the organization involving him, Nuggets will certainly keep him with a maximum contract, they need jokic as he is the team's best player.

They already invested a lot for this guy and they will never release him and trade with another star. At his age, he's already in his prime and also he's already a superstar.

Bigmen like Jokic adopt to the gameplay and play post up to make his guards open. Is more like in and out plays to make a variety of shots for the team. But if he can dominate the shaded area, then that could also be another problem for their opponents because they would pick their poison whether defend the paint or defend the threes.

Not only Jokic can play post, as I've said he could play point and bring the ball from the other side to the other side. And while he's dribbling it, just look at how many attention he can gather, he could gather 4 people looking at him just by bringing the ball because his passing vision is so good. He's big and he's good at utilizing his height advantage to pass the ball very good.

[sana54210]

Zion losing weight wouldn't equal to him being a bad player or not even being explosive. Look at Blake or even Lebron for example, Lebron has lost weight since his Miami days and he is at 35 years old as good as he was when dunking. Yes, he is not dunking over Ben Wallace type players anymore but that is not only related to explosiveness but because he is smarter now. Lebron is at an age where he has to take care of his body so some stuff that he can even do, he won't do to save his body.

Look at Draymond, he was a lot chubby when he entered the league but now he is a bit leaner. So long story short, Zion could lose some weight, the importance is he should not just lose weight for weight loss sake, he should lose fat and keep his muscle levels same, if he can do that than he would still be fine, 220 pounds pure muscle Zion would be even scarier than this Zion.

[rosezionjohn]

I agree, that's why he really needs to trim down that excess baggage of his otherwise it can give him problems in the future.

It is giving him problems already, the injuries are piling up at this early in his career.

I don't know what his current contract states, but according to this site https://hoopshype.com/player/nikola-jokic/salary/
Jokic will receive $27,504,630 this season and the based on project, it will increase in the 2 seasons to come.
If there's no problem inside the organization involving him, Nuggets will certainly keep him with a maximum contract, they need jokic as he is the team's best player.

They already invested a lot for this guy and they will never release him and trade with another star. At his age, he's already in his prime and also he's already a superstar.

It's hard to see Nuggets letting go of a superstar center like Jokic but if Denver fails to get that championship in a couple of years and he decides to leave to chase a ring, that will completely change things. A lot of power has shifted to the players

[spadormie]

Zion losing weight wouldn't equal to him being a bad player or not even being explosive. Look at Blake or even Lebron for example, Lebron has lost weight since his Miami days and he is at 35 years old as good as he was when dunking. Yes, he is not dunking over Ben Wallace type players anymore but that is not only related to explosiveness but because he is smarter now. Lebron is at an age where he has to take care of his body so some stuff that he can even do, he won't do to save his body.

Look at Draymond, he was a lot chubby when he entered the league but now he is a bit leaner. So long story short, Zion could lose some weight, the importance is he should not just lose weight for weight loss sake, he should lose fat and keep his muscle levels same, if he can do that than he would still be fine, 220 pounds pure muscle Zion would be even scarier than this Zion.

Yeah, and besides this condition of him, he's like a guard. I mean, his movements are like guards in the NBA.

And also, I want to point out the Miami's training in basketball. They wanted their player to be in shape when the play in the NBA. There was a news in which one of their players did not made it to the line up because of their condition.

[Rikafip]

It's hard to see Nuggets letting go of a superstar center like Jokic but if Denver fails to get that championship in a couple of years and he decides to leave to chase a ring, that will completely change things. A lot of power has shifted to the players

Unless something unexpected happens Jokic will be eligible for supermax contract in 3 years, that might make him to stay in Nuggets and not chase the ring (in case they don't win it by then).

Buddy Hield allegedly  signed 4y/$94M  deal with bonuses,  that can increase to $106M

https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1186316753292447746?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

[harizen]

And that's it, NBA Season will officially commence in less than 48 hours now with TOR vs NOP and LAL vs LAC as a season opener match-up.

However, between the Los Angeles teams, we will not see the full power of both teams because of injuries.

LAC
Paul George
Rodney McGruder
Amir Coffey

LAL
Rajon Rondo
Kyle Kuzma
Alex Caruso
Talen Horton-Tucker

Just a Game 1 though. But still, surely they will show us a close match since key players of both teams are there.

Current Moneyline odds:
LAC@2.21 / LAL@1.68 (Sportsbet)
LAC@2.26 / LAL@1.68 (NitrogenSports)

[Reid]

And that's it, NBA Season will officially commence in less than 48 hours now with TOR vs NOP and LAL vs LAC as a season opener match-up.

However, between the Los Angeles teams, we will not see the full power of both teams because of injuries.

LAC
Paul George

Tried to do some research about the Paul George injury. I was expecting to see him play and that is why I want to know the reason behind it.

After winning the summer by signing Kawhi Leonard in free agency and trading for Paul George, the Los Angeles Clippers are the favorites to win the 2020 NBA title. They probably won't look like it to start the season, however, because they'll be without George for the early portion of their schedule as he recovers from offseason shoulder surgery.

On Saturday, Doc Rivers told reporters that George "is not going to be here for the first 10" games, which would put him out until the middle of November. That coincides with what George told ESPN in the offseason, when he said, "I'll be out of October fully, but who knows? We'll see. In the November range is our target date."

Link: https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/paul-george-injury-update-clippers-star-to-miss-at-least-first-10-games-per-doc-rivers/

So a possible 10 games will be missed by one of the superstars of the NBA. The offensive power of the Clippers could be focused on Kawhi for now while also doing defense instead of two sharing all the work.
Sad but we need to wait to see the maximized power of the Clippers.

[Golftech]

-Snip-

-Snip-

Not a good start for Zion as well. Remember, the NBA had a lot of first-pick players who suffered injury early in the season or during the 1st year of the season, and came back at their worst form. This kid literally need to lose weight seriously. He's in the highest level of league, the level of competence is very intense as well, most probably you'll beat yourself up every night after the game. Zion weights more than Lebron and as explosive as Westbrook, how do you expect this kid to end up?

Though you are right with those previous super rookies ending up nothing from this league because of those hard injuries that cause them not to be in the same level, but we also need to consider that being the priorities from the team medical attentions will be focus from how this young kid will be able to develop balance between and take care of his health conditions. He needs to adjust in anyhow to stay healthy and not to suffer the same fate with those long forgotten hotshots.

[rosezionjohn]

It's hard to see Nuggets letting go of a superstar center like Jokic but if Denver fails to get that championship in a couple of years and he decides to leave to chase a ring, that will completely change things. A lot of power has shifted to the players

Unless something unexpected happens Jokic will be eligible for supermax contract in 3 years, that might make him to stay in Nuggets and not chase the ring (in case they don't win it by then).

Many players change quickly in the NBA today either for $ or for the ring. It would be interesting to see what other teams may offer once Jokic becomes eligible in a couple of years and if he remains healthy and still plays high quality BB.

Buddy Hield allegedly  signed 4y/$94M  deal with bonuses,  that can increase to $106M

https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1186316753292447746?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

So they meet in the middle   Not a bad deal for both Kings and Hield I guess.  

So a possible 10 games will be missed by one of the superstars of the NBA. The offensive power of the Clippers could be focused on Kawhi for now while also doing defense instead of two sharing all the work.
Sad but we need to wait to see the maximized power of the Clippers.

This is actually good for the Clippers. We will see how they will work their rotation early until they can get used to playing without one of their main players. This will also give more time for Lou Williams

[Rikafip]

Many players change quickly in the NBA today either for $ or for the ring. It would be interesting to see what other teams may offer once Jokic becomes eligible in a couple of years and if he remains healthy and still plays high quality BB.

Well only Denver Nuggets can offer him supermax contract, and they will do it for sure if he keeps playing this good. Imho it would be stupid from him to sacrifice a lot of $$ to chase the ring.


Damn, situation with Zion Williamson is much worse than i thought, he will be out  for 6-8 weeks due meniscus surgery. I thought he will miss maybe week or two, but this is way more serious. Bad luck to start professional career this way.

edit: Jayleen Brown signed 4y/$115M contract extension. I think that Celtics overpayed in this case, bad deal, but kudos to Jayleen Brown manager, maybe Hield should get him as well.
https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1186368729061441536

[Oasisman]

-Snip-

-Snip-

Not a good start for Zion as well. Remember, the NBA had a lot of first-pick players who suffered injury early in the season or during the 1st year of the season, and came back at their worst form. This kid literally need to lose weight seriously. He's in the highest level of league, the level of competence is very intense as well, most probably you'll beat yourself up every night after the game. Zion weights more than Lebron and as explosive as Westbrook, how do you expect this kid to end up?

Though you are right with those previous super rookies ending up nothing from this league because of those hard injuries that cause them not to be in the same level, but we also need to consider that being the priorities from the team medical attentions will be focus from how this young kid will be able to develop balance between and take care of his health conditions. He needs to adjust in anyhow to stay healthy and not to suffer the same fate with those long forgotten hotshots.

No matter how minor the injury is, when you're the priority of the team, It should'nt be taken as if It was okay, " just rest him for a little while and continue to play on the next 3-5 games" mentality. Injury prone players kills their career. Durability plays a huge role as an athlete. Look how Lebron balanced his game and body and at the same time took care of his health all the way to his 15th season.
Anyway, Its too early to put judgement on this kid's career. I know he still has a long way to go and his a superb athlete in his size. Hope to see more of him with less to no injury this season.

[Yaunfitda]

Many players change quickly in the NBA today either for $ or for the ring. It would be interesting to see what other teams may offer once Jokic becomes eligible in a couple of years and if he remains healthy and still plays high quality BB.

Well only Denver Nuggets can offer him supermax contract, and they will do it for sure if he keeps playing this good. Imho it would be stupid from him to sacrifice a lot of $$ to chase the ring.


Damn, situation with Zion Williamson is much worse than i thought, he will be out  for 6-8 weeks due meniscus surgery. I thought he will miss maybe week or two, but this is way more serious. Bad luck to start professional career this way.

edit: Jayleen Brown signed 4y/$115M contract extension. I think that Celtics overpayed in this case, bad deal, but kudos to Jayleen Brown manager, maybe Hield should get him as well.
https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1186368729061441536

Meniscus surgery? Damn, one of the worst injury for a basketball player. One advantage though is that Zion is very young so recovery is going to be very quick, he will be fine I guess.

And hope for a speedy recovery so that we can see his potential as the next star in the NBA. I down know if this can affect his running for the ROY though because of those missed games.