For the most part, divisions in the NBA have become more a formality than anything else. It’s been four years since the league last guaranteed division winners home-court advantage during their first-round playoff series, and it’s been 12 years since division winners were guaranteed a top-three seed regardless of their record. These days, the top […]
chris.herring (Chris Herring, senior sportswriter): While there wasn’t the blockbuster deal that some thought might come at Thursday’s NBA trade deadline, there were plenty of moves — and non-moves — that affected each of the top teams in the East and will factor heavily in the playoff race from here on out. And on the […]
The Philadelphia 76ers made another seismic deal — their second trade of the regular season — on Wednesday when they acquired Tobias Harris from the Clippers. The day-before-deadline swap adds another All-Star-caliber talent to the Sixers’ starting five, which already included Joel Embiid, Jimmy Butler and Ben Simmons. In exchange, Los Angeles receives a bounty […]
Graphics by Ella Koeze According to our projections, the San Antonio Spurs currently have an 87 percent chance to make their 22nd consecutive playoff appearance. But only two months ago, our projections gave them just a 4 percent chance of making the postseason while they were struggling with new players and a bad defense. In […]
When he was hired in May to coach the Milwaukee Bucks, Mike Budenholzer inherited a promising but underachieving core of young players led by Giannis Antetokounmpo. The Bucks — who have not won a playoff series since 2001 — had just suffered yet another postseason disappointment and hoped a coaching change would help them escape […]