2025 NBA Season

[inthelongrun]

Harden won't be back, I am sure of that and I agree with what Sir Charles said, 76ers management will be forced to take a bad deal just to let him go.
But here comes a problem for him.

The league, which strengthened its rules about resting healthy players this summer, is investigating the reasons behind Harden’s absence from the 76ers’ nationally televised season opener against the Bucks.

“We’re looking into the facts around James Harden’s availability tonight to determine whether an approved reason exists for his lack of participation,” NBA spokesman Mike Bass said in a statement.

https://www.nba.com/news/nba-looking-into-james-harden-absence

I'm pretty sure the 76ers were well aware that this situation was going to happen. It's puzzling why Harden hasn't been traded yet, especially when the season has already started. They should have made the trade before the season began to allow for better chemistry among the players involved in the Harden trade.

Although they put up a good fight in their game against the Bucks, it's evident that they were undermanned, and they ended up losing the game. The longer they keep Harden on the team, even if he's not playing, the more challenges they'll face in each game. It's high time they make a wise decision, even if it feels a bit late.

It would've been better for the 76ers if they dealt Harden during the summer so they could fully focus at the start of the season. But the 76ers decided to stall Harden thinking it could get better deals than the current offers. Hopefully, Harden will be traded in the next few weeks.

Nonetheless, Philly played well with its current available roster. Although they lost, newly acquired Kelly Oubre surprised everyone with a solid debut off the bench. While in the winning team, Damian Lillard went hot in his Bucks' debut scoring 39 points.

[carlisle1]

[....]
Maxey has consistently performed at a high level, and I can't believe why the 76ers didn't offer him a more bigger contract. This guy should be earning at least $10 million per year as a minimum, but he's only making $4 million this season.

https://www.spotrac.com/nba/philadelphia-76ers/tyrese-maxey-70663/

He already average 20ppg last season, maybe at least $20 million per year.

https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/m/maxeyty01.html

The 76ers management is playing the waiting game since they still have some leverage even if Maxey become a restricted free agent next offseason. You also have to give give Maxey some credit for just focusing on playing instead of pushing for an extension. I think he understands that he'll get that bigger bag by next year no matter what as long as he keeps improving.

As long as Maxey continues to perform at such a high level, there's a strong possibility that he'll secure a big contract in the coming year. With Harden out of the picture, the 76ers might have more flexibility in their salary cap, potentially offering him a max contract. With the current season ahead and Harden absent, it's likely that Maxey's stats will continue to improve, especially given his youth and athleticism.

According to the link, he's set to receive a "Qualifying Offer: $6,259,588," but I wouldn't be surprised if it ends up being even higher.

With the way he performed? I think he is worth more than that, and for sure Sixers knows his value and will give him the offer that surely gives I'm
the reason to stay and keep playing in the same uniform.

And like with what you said, as long as he continues playing the way that he's doing or maybe if he added more and keeps on improving.

Can go up to far the maximum for his next contract might be offered by the Sixers managements or maybe other teams will be interested
if ever his contract expires.

[Minor Miner]

[....]
Maxey has consistently performed at a high level, and I can't believe why the 76ers didn't offer him a more bigger contract. This guy should be earning at least $10 million per year as a minimum, but he's only making $4 million this season.

https://www.spotrac.com/nba/philadelphia-76ers/tyrese-maxey-70663/

He already average 20ppg last season, maybe at least $20 million per year.

https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/m/maxeyty01.html

The 76ers management is playing the waiting game since they still have some leverage even if Maxey become a restricted free agent next offseason. You also have to give give Maxey some credit for just focusing on playing instead of pushing for an extension. I think he understands that he'll get that bigger bag by next year no matter what as long as he keeps improving.

As long as Maxey continues to perform at such a high level, there's a strong possibility that he'll secure a big contract in the coming year. With Harden out of the picture, the 76ers might have more flexibility in their salary cap, potentially offering him a max contract. With the current season ahead and Harden absent, it's likely that Maxey's stats will continue to improve, especially given his youth and athleticism.

According to the link, he's set to receive a "Qualifying Offer: $6,259,588," but I wouldn't be surprised if it ends up being even higher.

He is really young and improving at the moment. So I believe he is definitely going to get a better deal anyway. Personally, I think the extension is coming. The team just does not want to make it very evident. Probably they just want to test him a little more and want to see how he performs. But I don't think his performance is going to downgrade at all.

Even though the qualifying offer is 6 million, I am also not going to be surprised if it is going to be higher in the end. It will actually be surprising if it does not end up being higher to be honest.

[LogitechMouse]

What a debut game by Dame Lillard, and if I'm not mistaken, he has now own the record in Bucks history for most points in a debut game. He puts in a show with 39 big points, And Giannis with 23 points.

But you have to give up to the 76ers as well, without Harden they almost steal this one for the home court of the Bucks. But in the last 4 minutes Dame took over the game, perfect in free throws and then his beyond the arc attempts. Not sure what they stick with Oubre guarding him though, I mean Lillard is just going around circles with Kelly and then made those 3's.

Lillard certainly knows how to close out a game. He essentially saved the Bucks in that match, and without him, Giannis might have struggled to secure the win.

However, when you examine the distribution of points, it's not all that surprising. Players who don't have as many touches might struggle to find their rhythm, especially Middleton, who has a significant contract with the team. In the game, he only attempted 5 shots, in contrast to Giannis and Lillard, who had at least 20 attempts each.

Coach has changed, and there is a major change in their roster, so I guess let's expect the fact that the ball will be focusing more on either Dame and/or Giannis, and not on Middleton anymore like we used to see a few years ago.

Middleton is still a deadly shooter, and other teams must think of that, but the team relies on both their all-star players. There's nothing wrong with that I guess, knowing that both of them are kind of unstoppable. The only problem at that game against the Sixers is, both of them shot kind of awful. Combined they are 19/42, and Dame shot 4/12 from threes. He also got some open threes that ended up as a miss. I guess I can consider that game a lucky win for them. Well, if only Harden played then we might see them losing.

Overall, a win is a win, and despite that awful shooting from both Dame and Giannis, they still won. I just can't imagine if both of them will have a good night. Giannis focusing on the paint while Dame sinking those threes. As for Middleton, he will still be the 3rd option, but I don't expect him to score that much anymore.

[FanEagle]

Lakers should stop trying to force other rotation players some minutes, they try to build a whole squad but that ain't working for them. Their d'lo-reeves-prince-lebron-ad five doesn't work and will not work. They need to switch to d'lo-reeves-lebron-ad-wood five which would be a lot better and it would have size that most other teams do not have. Reeves is already bad at defense, and d'lo isn't work all that hard on defense neither, better than last year if you ask me so far in the last two games but you do not play him for his defensive skills.

I think this means their inside has to be better and even though AD is good at defense, he is all alone inside and having Wood with him would make their paint protection skyrocket. Other teams could either shoot, or they would not be able to get inside, a good shooting night would beat Lakers, but a bad one would lose badly. Lebron is still amazing at year 21, that dude is a beast, definitely king of basketball.

[dwyane36]

It was a good match up and yes this 76ers team deserves some credit with the way they played. I think this is a much better line up than having Harden around.

Yeah, the 76ers surprisingly played pretty well in this game against the Bucks. By the way, do you know the exact reason why Harden didn't participate in this game? The latest news I've seen regarding this is that the NBA management has even started an investigation under the new rules to determine if there were any valid reasons for his lack of participation.

[rhomelmabini]

Lakers should stop trying to force other rotation players some minutes, they try to build a whole squad but that ain't working for them. Their d'lo-reeves-prince-lebron-ad five doesn't work and will not work. They need to switch to d'lo-reeves-lebron-ad-wood five which would be a lot better and it would have size that most other teams do not have. Reeves is already bad at defense, and d'lo isn't work all that hard on defense neither, better than last year if you ask me so far in the last two games but you do not play him for his defensive skills.

I think this means their inside has to be better and even though AD is good at defense, he is all alone inside and having Wood with him would make their paint protection skyrocket. Other teams could either shoot, or they would not be able to get inside, a good shooting night would beat Lakers, but a bad one would lose badly. Lebron is still amazing at year 21, that dude is a beast, definitely king of basketball.

They're missing their best wing defender Vanderbilt yet so I think they're experimenting this time around for a squad, it's just early in the season and it's not that hard if they will work out with it. I guess Wood would be the fit, this guy is efficient he just needed more minutes. Yeah, couldn't agree for more that LeBron is still killing it even at his age and looks like aiming that 40k points in his career.

[boltz]

It was a good match up and yes this 76ers team deserves some credit with the way they played. I think this is a much better line up than having Harden around.

Yeah, the 76ers surprisingly played pretty well in this game against the Bucks. By the way, do you know the exact reason why Harden didn't participate in this game? The latest news I've seen regarding this is that the NBA management has even started an investigation under the new rules to determine if there were any valid reasons for his lack of participation.

They actually did and I also think that with Harden in team , 76ers might have won that game over Bucks. As far as I heard and read , they simply didn't let him to board on the plane but gave him no real reason why they don't let him in so NBA starting an investigation is really the right decision to make. Maybe over this night we will have more news regarding this incident but until then , so many games in this night and I frankly don't know what to watch or bet but Boston - Miami looks like the best game for me after all.

[cryptomaniac_xxx]

It was a good match up and yes this 76ers team deserves some credit with the way they played. I think this is a much better line up than having Harden around.

Yeah, the 76ers surprisingly played pretty well in this game against the Bucks. By the way, do you know the exact reason why Harden didn't participate in this game? The latest news I've seen regarding this is that the NBA management has even started an investigation under the new rules to determine if there were any valid reasons for his lack of participation.

Yup I totally agree, but this is just one game though, I mean they need to be consistent, Maxey and Joe Harris needs to step up and help Joel Embiid if they wanted to win without James Harden. So we will see if in the next game, they will have the same intensity with the Bucks. And I read that the Sixers security stop James Harden from boarding the plane and tells him to stay. And the management confirmed that he will go with them to travel, he can only play in their homecourt, this is how I understand.

But for the Bucks, it's totally different team now, it was Lillard who takes over as their number 1 offensive player. Middleton is nowhere in the last 5 minutes of the game. Usually he finishes the game with him, Giannis and Jrue with their former coach. So I guess we shouldn't be surprise if he had limited time for this season.

[wheelz1200]

At this point I'm tired of hearing about James Harden.  Dude is sabotaging his career, he signed a contract and won't honor it period.  I know it's "a story" but for me in terms of actual basketball I turn off espn or radio if they start talking about him.  It got old real quick.

[danherbias07]

Harden won't be back, I am sure of that and I agree with what Sir Charles said, 76ers management will be forced to take a bad deal just to let him go.
But here comes a problem for him.

The league, which strengthened its rules about resting healthy players this summer, is investigating the reasons behind Harden’s absence from the 76ers’ nationally televised season opener against the Bucks.

“We’re looking into the facts around James Harden’s availability tonight to determine whether an approved reason exists for his lack of participation,” NBA spokesman Mike Bass said in a statement.

https://www.nba.com/news/nba-looking-into-james-harden-absence

I'm pretty sure the 76ers were well aware that this situation was going to happen. It's puzzling why Harden hasn't been traded yet, especially when the season has already started. They should have made the trade before the season began to allow for better chemistry among the players involved in the Harden trade.

Although they put up a good fight in their game against the Bucks, it's evident that they were undermanned, and they ended up losing the game. The longer they keep Harden on the team, even if he's not playing, the more challenges they'll face in each game. It's high time they make a wise decision, even if it feels a bit late.

Well, it's because Daryl Morey is the president of the basketball operations of the Philadelphia 76ers and this guy ain't going to receive a losing trade. He had been in the trading business for a long time and all I knew was that he always ended up winning his trades, not the other way around.
That may be the reason why the James Harden saga continues until now. Either that or they are expecting Harden will change his mind and come back voluntarily thinking how much damage he had already done. But I doubt that, I think Harden is as hard as stone now and this ain't actually the first time we have seen this in the Philadelphia 76ers. Ben Simmons remember? It took a year of drama and Ben didn't play at all.
They cannot repeat that same mistake again, they need that roster spot to be filled even though the trade will be a bit unbalanced. There's 1 year left in the contract of Harden, and not many teams will inject him mid-season just to pay for that balance and not get any good thing in return.

[Yaunfitda]

Harden won't be back, I am sure of that and I agree with what Sir Charles said, 76ers management will be forced to take a bad deal just to let him go.
But here comes a problem for him.

The league, which strengthened its rules about resting healthy players this summer, is investigating the reasons behind Harden’s absence from the 76ers’ nationally televised season opener against the Bucks.

“We’re looking into the facts around James Harden’s availability tonight to determine whether an approved reason exists for his lack of participation,” NBA spokesman Mike Bass said in a statement.

https://www.nba.com/news/nba-looking-into-james-harden-absence

I'm pretty sure the 76ers were well aware that this situation was going to happen. It's puzzling why Harden hasn't been traded yet, especially when the season has already started. They should have made the trade before the season began to allow for better chemistry among the players involved in the Harden trade.

Although they put up a good fight in their game against the Bucks, it's evident that they were undermanned, and they ended up losing the game. The longer they keep Harden on the team, even if he's not playing, the more challenges they'll face in each game. It's high time they make a wise decision, even if it feels a bit late.

Well, it's because Daryl Morey is the president of the basketball operations of the Philadelphia 76ers and this guy ain't going to receive a losing trade. He had been in the trading business for a long time and all I knew was that he always ended up winning his trades, not the other way around.
That may be the reason why the James Harden saga continues until now. Either that or they are expecting Harden will change his mind and come back voluntarily thinking how much damage he had already done. But I doubt that, I think Harden is as hard as stone now and this ain't actually the first time we have seen this in the Philadelphia 76ers. Ben Simmons remember? It took a year of drama and Ben didn't play at all.
They cannot repeat that same mistake again, they need that roster spot to be filled even though the trade will be a bit unbalanced. There's 1 year left in the contract of Harden, and not many teams will inject him mid-season just to pay for that balance and not get any good thing in return.

Might be better if he will just comeback and play with the Sixers. But I guess the damage has been done already, with him and Joel and the rest of the team. Remember that he just came here last year and with a lot of expectations. He really did good though in the playoffs against the Sixers, but they fell short. But with the way the Sixers play in their first game without him against the Bucks, they look solid, so maybe the team are not going to miss him after all. And then they will just let the management deal with the drama, just like when they had it against Ben Simmons. So Daryl Morey will not give any of his core just to trade Harden, they are find without him.

[Dave1]

Lakers should stop trying to force other rotation players some minutes, they try to build a whole squad but that ain't working for them. Their d'lo-reeves-prince-lebron-ad five doesn't work and will not work. They need to switch to d'lo-reeves-lebron-ad-wood five which would be a lot better and it would have size that most other teams do not have. Reeves is already bad at defense, and d'lo isn't work all that hard on defense neither, better than last year if you ask me so far in the last two games but you do not play him for his defensive skills.

I think this means their inside has to be better and even though AD is good at defense, he is all alone inside and having Wood with him would make their paint protection skyrocket. Other teams could either shoot, or they would not be able to get inside, a good shooting night would beat Lakers, but a bad one would lose badly. Lebron is still amazing at year 21, that dude is a beast, definitely king of basketball.

They're missing their best wing defender Vanderbilt yet so I think they're experimenting this time around for a squad, it's just early in the season and it's not that hard if they will work out with it. I guess Wood would be the fit, this guy is efficient he just needed more minutes. Yeah, couldn't agree for more that LeBron is still killing it even at his age and looks like aiming that 40k points in his career.

I think it's just about time for Wood to have a break out career in the Lakers uniform. He had a lot of promise when he was in Houston, however, when he wait to the Dallas Mavericks, it seems that he was not a good fit with the system of Luka.

And in this game, he proved his defense and his rebounding. He has some good assists too. So yeah, needed more minutes so that he will gain his confidence back specially his outside shooting. He needs to improved it just like when he was with the Rockets, he can hit that outside 3's.

[Distinctin]

Lakers should stop trying to force other rotation players some minutes, they try to build a whole squad but that ain't working for them. Their d'lo-reeves-prince-lebron-ad five doesn't work and will not work. They need to switch to d'lo-reeves-lebron-ad-wood five which would be a lot better and it would have size that most other teams do not have. Reeves is already bad at defense, and d'lo isn't work all that hard on defense neither, better than last year if you ask me so far in the last two games but you do not play him for his defensive skills.

I think this means their inside has to be better and even though AD is good at defense, he is all alone inside and having Wood with him would make their paint protection skyrocket. Other teams could either shoot, or they would not be able to get inside, a good shooting night would beat Lakers, but a bad one would lose badly. Lebron is still amazing at year 21, that dude is a beast, definitely king of basketball.

They're missing their best wing defender Vanderbilt yet so I think they're experimenting this time around for a squad, it's just early in the season and it's not that hard if they will work out with it. I guess Wood would be the fit, this guy is efficient he just needed more minutes. Yeah, couldn't agree for more that LeBron is still killing it even at his age and looks like aiming that 40k points in his career.

I think it's just about time for Wood to have a break out career in the Lakers uniform. He had a lot of promise when he was in Houston, however, when he wait to the Dallas Mavericks, it seems that he was not a good fit with the system of Luka.

And in this game, he proved his defense and his rebounding. He has some good assists too. So yeah, needed more minutes so that he will gain his confidence back specially his outside shooting. He needs to improved it just like when he was with the Rockets, he can hit that outside 3's.

It's a bit challenging to expect Wood to return to his prime form, especially when he had the opportunity to do so with the Dallas Mavericks. As of now, it seems like the Lakers are taking a chance on a player who may have forgotten how to play at his peak. His performance has clearly declined, and while he could potentially serve as a backup center for Davis, his play hasn't been very impressive.

[AHOYBRAUSE]

At this point I'm tired of hearing about James Harden.  Dude is sabotaging his career, he signed a contract and won't honor it period.  I know it's "a story" but for me in terms of actual basketball I turn off espn or radio if they start talking about him.  It got old real quick.

Yeah, the same. All the shows still discussing what's going on with him is just annoying and a waste of time. This guy is out of his mind thinking the world turns around him.
They should just ship him to China and case closed.

With the new rules it's gonna be really dangerous for his carreer if he doesn't play and won't get traded. But to be honest, he just briught this up to himself at this point.

[carlisle1]

At this point I'm tired of hearing about James Harden.  Dude is sabotaging his career, he signed a contract and won't honor it period.  I know it's "a story" but for me in terms of actual basketball I turn off espn or radio if they start talking about him.  It got old real quick.

Yeah, the same. All the shows still discussing what's going on with him is just annoying and a waste of time. This guy is out of his mind thinking the world turns around him.
They should just ship him to China and case closed.

With the new rules it's gonna be really dangerous for his carreer if he doesn't play and won't get traded. But to be honest, he just briught this up to himself at this point.

He needs to act as pro and not to think that he still has that huge value. There are many newcomers nowadays who can work with the team
and still be able to deliver without any problem like him.

They are paid to play and they should not refuse that. If they want a trade and the management doesn't want it, then nothing that they can do but to play and that's it!

Stop treating or thinking that the league will rotate around you, just disappointing the viewers together with your so-called fans.

[Japinat]

At this point I'm tired of hearing about James Harden.  Dude is sabotaging his career, he signed a contract and won't honor it period.  I know it's "a story" but for me in terms of actual basketball I turn off espn or radio if they start talking about him.  It got old real quick.

Yeah, the same. All the shows still discussing what's going on with him is just annoying and a waste of time. This guy is out of his mind thinking the world turns around him.
They should just ship him to China and case closed.

With the new rules it's gonna be really dangerous for his carreer if he doesn't play and won't get traded. But to be honest, he just briught this up to himself at this point.

He needs to act as pro and not to think that he still has that huge value. There are many newcomers nowadays who can work with the team
and still be able to deliver without any problem like him.

They are paid to play and they should not refuse that. If they want a trade and the management doesn't want it, then nothing that they can do but to play and that's it!

Stop treating or thinking that the league will rotate around you, just disappointing the viewers together with your so-called fans.

That's James Harden......a player who certainly values himself highly. It's not the first time we've witnessed such a scenario where a player demands a trade. While I believe the 76ers won't be paying him due to his absence, his absence has already had a significant impact on their lineup. Just think about it, losing a starter who is also a star player, it's a huge blow for the team, and that will remain as a problem if the management will not make a move to get rid of JH.

[btc_angela]

How about GSW domination of the Kings at their homecourt? They started hot and they slowly built a huge lead in the 2rd quarter with their second unit. But they started to relax in the 3rd quarter and then the Kings cut it to single digits in the 4th.

But then again, Steph with his dagger three. He leads all scorer with 41 big points. CP3 also contributed big with 12 assists to go with 10 points.

So their fluidity is very high with CP3 and then just imagine if Draymond will come back as another play maker for them.

[cryptomaniac_xxx]

Another good game as well is the Jazz vs Clippers, very close game, and it has the playoff atmosphere. Jordan Clarkson and Markkanen did it for the Jazz. Clarkson hit that 3, pressure laden shot but he makes it to give them the lead for good.

The Clippers has time tough, but Kawhi took to much time to dribble and make his last shot, fumble the ball and then pass it to WB, airballing it. Not sure what's wrong with the Clippers though, they have a solid line up with Kawhi and Paul George, but it seems there's no chemistry whatsoever, as far as I can see.

[Sanitough]

Another good game as well is the Jazz vs Clippers, very close game, and it has the playoff atmosphere. Jordan Clarkson and Markkanen did it for the Jazz. Clarkson hit that 3, pressure laden shot but he makes it to give them the lead for good.

The Clippers has time tough, but Kawhi took to much time to dribble and make his last shot, fumble the ball and then pass it to WB, airballing it. Not sure what's wrong with the Clippers though, they have a solid line up with Kawhi and Paul George, but it seems there's no chemistry whatsoever, as far as I can see.

Clarkson didn't have the best performance in this game, struggling with his shooting at 4-13 and only managing to score 13 points throughout the game. However, he showed his clutch ability with that last shot that changed the game completely. Clarkson seems to thrive under pressure and always steps up during crucial moments. Without hesitation, he took the shot, and bang! A beautiful 3-pointer.

The game was a close one, and either team could have won. Ultimately, it came down to defense, but since both teams are strong offensively, we witnessed a high-scoring battle. As for me, I didn't mind the Jazz losing, especially since they covered the spread.