Damian Lillard is an irritatingly tentative star at the center of an irritatingly tentative organization. Read more »

Kemba Walker's knee had eight good seasons in it, and he gave them all to a franchise that hardly anyone except the most committed League Pass dorks paid attention to. Read more »

The Lakers have told themselves they can beat the mundane task of the regular season, get into the playoffs at whatever-and-whatever, with nothing more than professionalism but the drudgery has already set in. Read more »

Ben Simmons has accidentally, tragically found a new way to play the game. It is more painful to witness than passing up a playoff dunk. There has to be basketball at the end of this. Read more »

Evan Mobley seems to be what Cleveland has been looking for, a player who with his abundant and adaptable skills, casts the play of everyone around him in a rosier light. Read more »

Scottie Pippen didn't get exactly what he wanted a long time ago, and has let those minor slights govern the entire back half of his life. He wears his disappointments about as heavily as any retired athlete in recent memory. Read more »

Is Russ spitting nonsense when he says he's a Pau Gasol acolyte? Yeah, probably. But a tamed Russ, who is ferocious yet under his own control is an exhilarating concept. Read more »

While that natural athleticism obviously helps him on the court, it has perhaps also made us slow to appreciate the fulsome layers of polish Zach LaVine has applied to his game over the past few seasons. Read more »

Maintaining consistency is easier said than done but John Collins has sorted a couple of things: he's sure that Hawks brass has faith in him, and he's properly introduced himself to the rest of us. Read more »

To be fair to Domantas Sabonis, he's 25 and ascendant, coming off career highs in points and assists per game. Nobody should be telling him what is and isn't possible. He'll gun for an All-NBA spot, and at least get close. Read more »

Bam Adebayo's instinct not to emerge from the edit booth without a final cut, leaves you wondering what else he's pretty good at that he isn't willing to show us yet, until he's mastered it. Read more »

Devin Booker had been the guy he was in 20-21 for at least two seasons, and his trajectory toward that plateau was as steady as it gets. Read more »

If Draymond Green isn't going to approach the all-around brilliance he displayed in his mid-20s, he's still a really useful player, provided you give him something to care about. Read more »

Julius Randle is clearly somebody who likes and cares about the whole New York Knicks Thing, which can't be taken for granted in 2021. Read more »

The selfish stance of Kyrie Irving and Andrew Wiggins on the vaccine issue speaks to one of the biggest problems of our age: that we are far too deep in our own stuff, wholly unable to help each other. Read more »

One of the perks of coming out a champ is that you are no longer in dialogue with any arguments against you, extant or nascent or merely hinted at. You've settled things completely. Whatever we've asked of Khris Middleton, whatever he's asked of himself, the answer is yes. Read more »

C.J. McCollum doesn't get to do whatever he wants; he posts his 20-whatever in the negative space Dame Lillard leaves in his wake. It's a peculiar rhythm you have to strike, not being The Guy but playing as if you were, however intermittently. Read more »