National Basketball Association

National Basketball Association

Nearly two months into the NBA season, surprise playoff contenders have emerged, shocking franchise drama has unfolded and a new class of rookies has already made an impact. The top of the 2025-26 Most Valuable Player race, however, should look quite familiar. For the sixth consecutive edition of ESPN's NBA MVP straw poll -- a poll of 100 media members that mimics the league's postseason award balloting -- voting has resulted in Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic

Instead, the focus has been on incremental steps, daily routines and making sure nothing's rushed. "Yeah, he's in a good place," Fernández said. "He shows up every day and does his job, is an ultimate pro. And not just about taking care of his body and getting his work. Right now, he's on the court with coaches. He hasn't gotten to five-on-five yet or contact per se. So, when he's taking these next steps, we'll let you guys know."

The San Antonio Spurs' comeback win over the Oklahoma City Thunder in Saturday's NBA Cup semifinal had to be encouraging for contending teams that weren't in Las Vegas last weekend. Beyond knocking the Thunder out of contention for an NBA Cup, which they could've added to the Finals trophy they claimed in June, the Spurs' victory also showed that Oklahoma City is beatable. For a while, that was in question.

We're changing the formula for this season's monthly rankings of men's college basketball power conferences. Instead of measuring only the projected number of NCAA tournament bids and seeding, our ranking is based on a single question: Which conference is most likely to produce the 2026 national champion? Hint: It's a close race between the Big Ten and Big 12 for the top spot in the December edition.

Scotto writes: Miami has gauged the trade market on small forward Andrew Wiggins, who has a $30.17 million player option for the 2026-27 season. This rumor makes sense when you consider it within the context of how the Heat's season has unfolded so far. Wiggins' skill set has made an impact on both ends, especially in transition and in spacing lineups alongside Miami's more traditional half-court creators, but he's also coming with a big contract and a player option for 2026-27.

They saw how "contagious" it was when playing defense at a high level against the Suns and how Jarred Vanderbilt lit the fuse to ignite things for the Lakers in their last victory over Phoenix. And for the Lakers to maintain that defensive mindset, stars Luka Doncic and LeBron James also have to be committed to that end of the court. That was the message from Lakers coach JJ Redick to Doncic and James.

Despite signing a one-year contract just a week before the season -- and coming off the bench for six games -- Westbrook is among the top 40 fantasy scorers, and he certainly is trending in the right direction statistically. The well-traveled future Hall of Famer is easily the fantasy points leader for the downtrodden Kings, who have missed star C/PF Domantas Sabonis (knee) for a month, and there seems no end in sight to the production.

It's not a stretch to say that Carr - teammates with freshman guard Tounde Yessoufou, another highly touted prospect - has been Baylor's best player thus far. Listed at 6-foot-5 with a 7-foot-2 wingspan, Carr is an exceptional athlete and a lights-out shooter. He has an exceptionally high release, currently burying 42.6 percent of his 5.2 3-pointers per game - with a steady dose coming from NBA range.

It hasn't really gotten better, so I tried to warm up and I just wasn't feeling right that night.

Fast forward to not even a year later, and that massive blunder has not paid off in the slightest for the Mavs, with Harrison ousted, Kyrie Irving going down with an ACL tear, and the landscape looking like Dallas will just cut their losses on this oversight and try to recoup whatever they can by flipping Anthony Davis. With all that being said, it's not that Davis is some absolute black hole if he were rerouted elsewhere.

The Toronto Raptors could potentially be facing the Milwaukee Bucks without their starting center Jakob Poeltl tonight, as the big man continues to face injury issues. Poeltl has been hampered with a back injury since before the season began and Toronto's staff has been doing their best to manage this injury and have even sidelined Poeltl as a result of this injury management. Poeltl has missed 7 games this year due to this back injury, and you can clearly see that it has impacted his movement and his play this year.

With NBA All-Star voting now underway, fans have a chance to help the Nets do something they haven't done since 2023: send one of their own to the league's marquee weekend. Ballots, which are weighted across fan, player and media votes for starters and then handed to coaches to select the reserves, will run daily through Jan. 14. The last time Brooklyn broke through that process was when Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving earned starting spots three seasons ago.