play1:18Could Chauncey Billups face jail time in illegal gambling case?Aaron Katersky reports the latest on Chauncey Billups after he entered a not guilty plea in an illegal gambling case.
play1:45Will Giannis demand a trade from the Bucks?Brian Windhorst joins “Get Up” to discuss if Giannis’s recent calf injury might impact future trade discussions.
play1:43AD to Atlanta? Trae to Sacramento? Bobby Marks lays out a 5-team trade proposalBobby Marks details a five-team trade that would send Anthony Davis to Atlanta and Trae Young to the Kings.
play1:55Who is leading ESPN’s NBA MVP straw poll?The “NBA Today” crew breaks down the latest NBA MVP straw poll, as compiled by Tim Bontemps.
Perk: LeBron, Lakers relationship has run its course (2:07)Kendrick Perkins explains why he thinks LeBron James isn’t feeling the Lakers’ situation anymore. (2:07)
Could Chauncey Billups face jail time in illegal gambling case?Aaron Katersky reports the latest on Chauncey Billups after he entered a not guilty plea in an illegal gambling case.
Aaron Katersky reports the latest on Chauncey Billups after he entered a not guilty plea in an illegal gambling case.
Will Giannis demand a trade from the Bucks?Brian Windhorst joins “Get Up” to discuss if Giannis’s recent calf injury might impact future trade discussions.
Brian Windhorst joins “Get Up” to discuss if Giannis’s recent calf injury might impact future trade discussions.
AD to Atlanta? Trae to Sacramento? Bobby Marks lays out a 5-team trade proposalBobby Marks details a five-team trade that would send Anthony Davis to Atlanta and Trae Young to the Kings.
Bobby Marks details a five-team trade that would send Anthony Davis to Atlanta and Trae Young to the Kings.
Who is leading ESPN’s NBA MVP straw poll?The “NBA Today” crew breaks down the latest NBA MVP straw poll, as compiled by Tim Bontemps.
There have been surprising starts, both in good (we see you, Pistons) and bad (unfortunately, we see you, too, Clippers) ways. There have been scandals (yes, plural) that have cast a shadow over multiple franchises. There has been one ignominious ending (maybe) for an all-time great in Chris Paul, and we could potentially be seeing the last season of LeBron James, arguably the greatest player in the history of the sport.
Along the way, there have been plenty of remarkable performances by the league’s stars, leading to fun action on a nightly basis.
With all of that in mind, we created a cheat sheet to get caught up on everything that has happened across the NBA over the past few months — and everything that is set to happen between now and June, when the next NBA champion will be crowned.
Here’s a look at the past, present and future stories across the league, and everything our reporters and analysts think you need to know:
The champs are back with a vengeance, but can they go back-to-back? The 2024-25 Thunder were the second-youngest championship team in league history, behind the 1977 Trail Blazers. The Thunder followed that historic season with a 24-1 start to this campaign and a record-setting point differential. Just a couple of weeks ago, it seemed like their march to a second title — and snapping a seven-year stretch without a repeat champion — was inevitable.
But that was before three matchups with Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs in a 12-day span — one in Las Vegas in the NBA Cup semifinals, one in San Antonio and one in Oklahoma City — ended in OKC defeats.
After a double-digit win on Christmas, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the league’s reigning MVP, said he couldn’t say the Thunder are better than the Spurs after losing three straight games. We won’t go quite that far — these Spurs have yet to play a playoff game — but between the Thunder, Spurs, Nuggets, Rockets and Timberwolves, the Western Conference playoffs should be tremendous.
While the Rockets added veteran Kevin Durant this offseason, continued growth from youngsters Alperen Sengun, Amen Thompson, Jabari Smith Jr. and Reed Sheppard have the Rockets primed for a deep playoff run. And did we mention what the Spurs have done so far?
The year will never be forgotten in Dallas: Chaotic doesn’t begin to describe these past 12 months for the Mavericks, from the stunning Luka Doncic trade to Kyrie Irving tearing an ACL to landing Flagg via the No. 1 pick in the draft lottery. The chaos ultimately led to general manager Nico Harrison dismissal a few weeks into this season after a dismal start and ongoing anger toward him for trading Doncic to Los Angeles.
But while that trade will never have a good explanation, the Mavericks’ landing Flagg presented them with the two-way superstar teams dream of landing. In the first few weeks of his pro career, Flagg showed why he was such a coveted prospect. He has repeatedly done things that only one other touted teenager, LeBron James, has ever done.
A rough three months for the Clippers: The franchise was projected as a top-six seed in the Western Conference with the 2026 All-Star Game headed its way. It has made headlines on and off the court, however, and none have been positive.
Since September, the Clippers have been under investigation for salary cap circumvention relating to a sponsorship deal with Kawhi Leonard. Earlier this month, the team shockingly parted ways with franchise icon Chris Paul. And the roster, the oldest in the NBA entering the season, is near the bottom of the standings at 10-21.
To make matters even worse, LA’s unprotected 2026 first-round pick is headed to the Thunder as part of the 2019 Paul George trade — the gift that keeps on giving for the defending champs.
Federal investigations into illegal sports betting and rigged poker games: The indictments of Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups, Heat guard Terry Rozier and former player Damon Jones rocked the league and have left both organizations scrambling.
Billups and Rozier were placed on indefinite leave by the NBA. Billups has been replaced on an interim basis by assistant coach and former Spurs center Tiago Splitter. From an NBA perspective, the most interesting questions surrounding the Heat are whether they will get compensation for the first-round pick traded to acquire Rozier in January 2024 and whether Miami will be allowed to trade him. — Tim Bontemps
Could Chauncey Billups face jail time in illegal gambling case?
Probably. It seemed more reasonable two weeks ago when they stormed into Las Vegas for the NBA Cup on a 16-game win streak with a sparkling 24-1 record, the exact mark that the 73-win Warriors had through 25 games. But the Thunder lost to the Spurs in Vegas, succumbed a late Anthony Edwards-led surge in Minnesota and then were blown out two more times by the Spurs.
So they’re 27-5, putting them notably behind pace for the record. Those record-breaking Warriors were 36-2, 37-3, 48-4 and 55-5 as they rolled through the regular season. The Thunder are capable of rattling off a few more major win streaks to threaten an outside shot at the record, but they can afford only three more losses. Even reaching 70 wins has become a stiff challenge. They’d have to go 43-7 in the final 50 games. — Anthony Slater
This could just be the extended wind-down to a Hall of Fame career and the countdown will really begin in his 24th or 25th season. Then again, we could also be looking ahead at the last 50 or so regular-season games that James has left in him. — Dave McMenamin
The Pistons don’t feel the need to tinker with the roster yet, preferring to let the young players jell together more. Even if the Knicks overtake them atop the East, it’s hard to see any other team in the conference doing so. They’re real. — Vincent Goodwill
The chasm between the Bucks and championship contention has grown exponentially this season. The Bucks sit in 11th place, 1.5 games back from the Eastern Conference play-in tournament. Before the season, Antetokounmpo said one of the goals for the team was to not be eliminated in the first round of the playoffs, and as it stands, the Bucks are looking at not even reaching the first round. Antetokounmpo has missed 12 games due to injury, and his supporting cast has gone 2-10 without him.
Before the Clippers lost Ivica Zubac to an ankle injury that will sideline him for several weeks the Clippers lost 13 of 15 games. The season has been an absolute disaster and that’s not even accounting for the Aspiration cloud that hovers over the franchise, or the Chris Paul fiasco. Still, it’s hard to imagine the Clippers opting for a full reset. Oklahoma City controls their 2026 first-round pick and swap rights to the 2027 first-round pick, so there’s no incentive to tank.
At the same time, they will be mindful of maintaining future flexibility. For years, the Clippers have been planning to make splashes in the summer of 2027 when Kawhi Leonard’s contract comes off the books. James Harden also has an option for $42 million for the 2026-27 season. Unless Harden sours on L.A. and wants a move to a contending team, the sound prediction is the Clippers will explore options to improve around Leonard and Harden near the deadline and climb into the play-in.
The Clippers will always believe they can make some postseason noise with a healthy Leonard and Harden if they can add more scoring, defense and much-needed younger athletic legs. They have some vets such as Brook Lopez and Bogdan Bogdanovic with reasonable expiring contracts that contain team options to possibly make moves before the deadline. — Ohm Youngmisuk
A close race for the top seed in the East: Detroit is currently up 2.5 games on New York, but the Knicks’ stronger preseason projection means they have a slight edge in this battle. New York earns the top seed in 61% of simulations using BPI, as compared to 33% for the Pistons. Health the rest of the way could shape whether the East playoffs run through Detroit or New York.
The battle for second in the West: Houston is fourth in the standings, but a favorable remaining schedule (easiest among likely West playoff teams, per BPI) and a robust plus-8.8 point differential (third best in the league) mean the Rockets still finish second in 40% of simulations, more than the 35% for the Denver Nuggets. The San Antonio Spurs (20%), currently second, are also very much in the mix.