Enzo The Baker said:

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Oof. Denver has stayed more than afloat during this time unfortunately. Jokic being evaluated next week. So likely won't be a huge deal to them in the regular season. But if he's not dependable for the playoffs, Denver would be in trouble.

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Also means they likely won't do a big salary deal like the one I suggested the other day.

Nuggets are at 206.2M for 10 players and Peyton Watson is a FA and will get >20M/year. Plus THJ and Bruce Brown are FAs. 1st Apron is 210 and 2nd apron is 223M. So if Watson gets 20M and they get THJ, Brown, one more vet FA and their 1st round pick, they are at 236.4M - or $13M over the 2nd apron.

My idea was Barnes+Sochan for Cam Johnson and Zeke Nnaji. We eat Nnaji's contract so they can pay Peyton Watson. That clears 30M for them and they can get Barnes and Sochan to resign way cheaper and still have guys that play similar roles.

Cam should be back soon from his injury, but with Gordon back out, no way they do a salary dump move.

The Heat are shopping Andrew Wiggins for 1st-round draft capital, which they could send the Bucks in a deadline package for Giannis Antetokounmpo.

With Milwaukee preparing to fully reset, it appears they would prefer a future draft pick over Wiggins’ salary. pic.twitter.com/CEGT3M53ZT

— Evan Sidery (@esidery) January 29, 2026

26 Hawks pick (top 4 protected), Olynyk+Sochan for Wiggins?

The Hawks say Jalen Johnson will miss tonight's game against Houston due to left calf tightness.

Also out for Atlanta: Onyeka Okongwu (dental fracture), Kristaps Porzingis (left Achilles tendinitis) and Zaccharie Risacher (left knee bone contusion).

— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) January 29, 2026

Hawks are playing Dyson Daniels, CJ McCollum and the first 3 fans in line.

OH MY GAWD

Dylan Harper gave Reed Sheppard the nastiest leather belt I’ve ever seen. He in every clip 😭pic.twitter.com/FP4TLeeO6p

— Hater Report (@HaterReport_) January 29, 2026

BREAKING: Jaxson Hayes & Carter Bryant have accepted invitations to the NBA Dunk Contest, per @ShamsCharania. pic.twitter.com/JttW56oeHg

— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) January 29, 2026

Keldon must have signed Carter up as a joke. This man has missed almost every dunk he's attempted.

It's definitely a bad trade market, but I'm not so sure that the summer makes things dramatically better.

The problem is the 60 million number. That number doesn't fit with the construction of pretty much anyone's roster unless they are the 76ers or Warriors and happen to have a useless matching salary ready to send out or the Knicks with KAT who is a fine player but clearly a downgrade from Giannis. Anyone else is going to have to package multiple players together eating into depth. No one wants to give up depth in the apron world we live in. Also no one is sending out 5 picks plus SGA level prospects for Giannis. You almost can't compete in the NBA right now without some good players on rookie scale deals. It also takes them a long time to become 60 million dollar problems. Even Wemby is only looking at being a 35 million max player on his next deal.

Maybe if they can work a 3 or 4 team trade out they can distribute the bad contracts, but like soup said, why is Milwaukee taking Quickley and Poetl from Toronto? Their best case is probably the GS trade and taking back Butler plus the 5 picks. If all turns out well, they can then flip Jimmy next year of he comes back strong.

So I was looking back at the Khris Middleton trade from the Bucks thinking they may have been able to use Middleton's contract on Trae Young in an alternative universe where they didn't trade Khris for Kuzma. (They totally could have done something like Khris+Portis for Trae Young btw)

The Bucks traded their 28 pick (worst of Bucks/Blazers) as a swap to Washington for them to eat Khris' contract and give back Kuzma. Because they did that, even if Milwaukee got their 28 pick swap back from Portland in a multi-team trade where they sold off Giannis, they still wouldn't control it because it would be owed to Washington for the Kuzma-KhrisM trade.

Hawks have said they are out of the Giannis market, because they want to keep the Pelicans pick. And the Bucks don't have a 2027 pick (Pelicans own best of Pelicans/Bucks; Atlanta owns the worst of Pelicans/Bucks), the Bucks get the worst of Blazers/Bucks then owe that pick in a swap and get the worst of Washington and the worst of Blazers/Bucks. Then they don't have a 2029 1st. Then they have the worst of Blazkers/Bucks in 2030. They can tank this year (they get worst of Pelicans/Bucks) and then tank again in 2030.

According to Reddit, DJG went down with a serious leg injury last night in Austin.

Hearing acl for him

Man that sucks. I was hoping we would move out of Waters and convert DJG to a full contract.

Jokic returns tonight. [insert LeBron at the FT line with Kawhi checking in GIF]

Coach Nick is a Thunder glazer but good content anyway

Pelicans won and have moved to 4th worst. 1.5 back from Brooklyn and 2.5 back from Utah, who both transitioned to elite tank mode. Then Memphis has lost 5 straight, Milwaukee has lost 4 straight and Dallas has lost 3 straight right above Utah. Pelicans still have 10 games left against Dallas, Washington, Milwaukee, and Utah.

Grizzlies should probably trade JJJ and Ja and rebuild. Not sure if they will. But JJJ isn't a legitimate star but he would be amazing in Detroit with Cade and Duren. I think Memphis is going to convince themselves they can build around JJJ, who has only been an AS twice and never All-NBA.

I think the bottom 6 teams will be:

1. Kings
2. Wiz
3. Pacerrs
4. Nets
5. Jazz
6. Bucks

Then you have the Pelicans (who don't want to suck) and Dallas and Memphis, who seem like they aren't going to tank but also aren't going to make the playoffs.

7-8-9: Pelicans, Mavs, Grizzlies

If Dallas and Memphis dropped below New Orleans and NOLA ended up at 9, Atlanta would only have a ~20% chance at top 5, 51% at 9 and 30% at 10-12. Imagine not trading Giannis for Kristaps and Risacher because you wanted to hold onto the 10th pick in the draft.

West play in will probably be Clippers, Blazers, Warriors, and Suns.
I think Charlotte keeps winning and makes the East play in and knocks out either the Bulls or Hawks. The Bulls are trying to make trades to improve while the Hawks want to sit on the Pelicans pick. Hawks and Bulls are tied for 9/10 with Charlotte 2.5 games back and closing fast. Orlando and Miami are 2.5 games up on Bulls/Hawks.

Hawks have their easiest run of games coming up, their February is maybe the easiest schedule any team has ever had. 5 tanking teams, 3 play in teams and 1 playoff team. Not a single damn back to back.


But even with that, I think that if Chicago makes a deal (JJJ would be great there, too) and Charlotte keeps playing the way they are playing, Atlanta can fall out of the play-in.

WE DID IT!

Fox-Castle-Devin-JuJu-Wemby.

Barnes' starting streak is over.

These Hornets jerseys looks like the Suns.

How do the refs miss so many blatant goaltends?

This court is awful

Bench Barnes and the Starters+Harper go 6-6 from three including a 4-pt play by JuJu.

I absolutely love our city edition jerseys

That whistle was the latest whistle in the history of the NBA. Why do refs hate Castle?

Guitarsoup said:

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How do the refs miss so many blatant goaltends?

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Probably blinded by their court.

Guitarsoup said:

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That whistle was the latest whistle in the history of the NBA. Why do refs hate Castle?

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I really don't get it. He gets the **** beat out of him every night. You would think the rookie of the year could get some calls. Hopefully he makes the All-Star game and maybe that will get him some cred he so badly deserves on the court.

PED P is suspended for 25 games with 35 games left in the season.

Paul George when his teams need him:

Bro went from “Playoff P” to “Podcast P” to “Prescription P” 😭💀

INSANE FALL OFF pic.twitter.com/SUnwVOvV5D

— Hater Report (@HaterReport) January 31, 2026

76ers are now only 1.5M over the tax line, so they might make a tax cutting deal to get under it.

Grimes for Sochan works

Sexton is out there just taking nut shots on ppl.

duck79 said:

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Sexton is out there just taking nut shots on ppl.

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That's as high as he can reach.

Ref #50 hates us. Guy over Kornet's back and he still tries to give it to Charlotte. Its out on them or a foul on them, *****.

pic.twitter.com/JnQ4IYgK43

— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) January 31, 2026

Teams not in the tax are going to get about 13M each.

Philly, Denver, and Toronto all probably make a deal to cut under it. Orlando and Clippers might as well.

FTAG 2000 said:

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Guitarsoup said:

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That whistle was the latest whistle in the history of the NBA. Why do refs hate Castle?

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I really don't get it. He gets the **** beat out of him every night. You would think the rookie of the year could get some calls. Hopefully he makes the All-Star game and maybe that will get him some cred he so badly deserves on the court.

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They tackled Castle twice on that and got the shot clock violation because no foul was called. It is ridiculous.

Victor looks like he has no energy today

https://imgur.com/a/6rvTxXU

This is the type of thing that powered that run. Refs let Brandon Miller cheapshot blindside Kornet which led to Kornet 's man getting down court unguarded to cherry pick an easy dunk. Shot like this over and over.

Had to go my son's basketball game. What the heck happened second quarter?

Couldn't hit a shot and hornets had all the energy

duck79 said:

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Couldn't hit a shot and hornets had all the energy

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Yeah and they were making just the stupidest things ever.

Like Wemby blocked it and Miller got it while falling down and just threw up a prayer with one hand without looking to beat the shot clock and it hits nothing but net.

****ing stupid fouls by Barnes and Fox sunk the comeback.