Joe Wolfond

The Phoenix Suns’ blockbuster trade for Kevin Durant was a no-brainer for a team in their position, and one they’d surely make a thousand times over.Even at age 34, Durant is one of the game’s five best players; stars of that caliber never, ever get traded, let alone with three-and-a-half seasons left on their contracts. The move has paid immediate dividends; Phoenix is 3-0 with Durant in the lineup, he’s averaged 27 points on 81% true shooting in those three games, and the team has outscored op…

With the 2023-24 campaign approaching, we’re diving deep into some of the players we’re most interested to watch. Next up, two players who just got traded for each other at very different points in their careers enter new situations with very different stakes and very different things to prove.Previous entries: Austin Reaves; Victor Wembanyama and Chet Holmgren; Jaden McDaniels.The Golden State Warriors signaled their intent to move away from their two-timelines approach at last season’s trade d…

During a 2023-24 season in which just about everything that could go wrong did, the Toronto Raptors finally did what they should've done a year earlier and committed to building toward the future. The vision of that future, though, remains fairly hazy, and it's hard not to wonder where this franchise - now fully divorced from the last vestiges of its golden era - is going.The outline of a roadmap has been drawn in broad strokes. The Raptors are clearly building around Scottie Barnes, the 22-year-old do-it-all forward whom they just lavished with a five-year max contract that could climb as high as $270 million with incentives. Alongside him, they'll try to develop Immanuel Quickley - the sweet-shooting combo guard who just landed a five-year, $175-million commitment of his own - into a complementary pillar. RJ Barrett, still just 24, will slot between them on the wing and try to sustain the career-best production he manufactured after arriving with Quickley from New York in the OG Anunoby trade.That core trio

 

 

Leave it to the Philadelphia 76ers to pull off an offseason in which they sign the best free-agent wing on the market, extend their young All-Star lead guard, draft the current Rookie of the Year front-runner 16th overall, fill out the roster with established role players on team-friendly deals, and put all those pieces around a former MVP who scored like prime Wilt Chamberlain last season ... only to have the whole thing blow up in their faces in less than a month.The disconnect between the (ahem) process and the result feels fitting for a team that's been a mess of contradictions since Joel Embiid debuted some eight years ago. From Embiid's first full season in 2017-18 through the 2023-24 campaign, only three teams won more regular-season games than Philadelphia. All three (Milwaukee, Boston, and Denver) won championships in that period. The Sixers never made it past the second round.There were damaging decisions from three separate front offices along the way (the Markelle Fultz gambit, Mikal Bridges for Z

Just 20 months ago, the Houston Rockets were wrapping up a dismal 22-60 campaign, their third straight season finishing in the Western Conference cellar. Now, they're tied for second place in a West that's more competitive than it's been in years, with a 15-8 record that includes a recent statement win over the conference's top team. Their defense has gone from second-worst to second-best in the NBA in that short time, and their net rating has improved from 29th to seventh.It's been an impressive turnaround, propelled by a great coaching hire, timely veteran free-agent signings, and tremendous internal growth. The question now is, how sustainable is the formula that's brought them so much success over the season's first six weeks? How good is this team, really? On defense, they're legit. Nothing feels fluky at that end, where an array of long, strong, versatile defenders work in unison to execute Ime Udoka's rock-solid scheme. The Rockets tend to switch one through four around center Alperen Sengun and usuall

When Brook Lopez arrived in the summer of 2018, he helped transform the Milwaukee Bucks and proved to be the perfect frontcourt companion for Giannis Antetokounmpo. At one end of the floor, the two formed the bedrock of the best defenses in basketball, a pair of gigantic watchdogs prowling the paint and safeguarding the rim in their own unique ways. At the other end, Lopez's newfound role as a stretch-five opened up the court for Antetokounmpo's devastating rim runs.The Bucks strayed from their longstanding defensive identity last season following their offseason trade of Jrue Holiday for Damian Lillard, slipping to 19th after several years of top-five finishes. They looked old, slow, and disorganized. And the first three weeks of this season brought more of the same; the Bucks lost eight of their first 10 games while running the league's eighth-worst defense.That start feels like a distant memory now that the Bucks have won 13 of their last 16 games and leapt up to 13th in defensive efficiency. The most rece

It's not like we needed further proof the ascendent Cleveland Cavaliers are a force to be reckoned with. They proved as much over the first 35 games of the season, going 31-4 with a plus-11.5 net rating and establishing themselves as one of the best offensive teams in NBA history.But Wednesday night's showdown against the equally impressive Oklahoma City Thunder - who were riding a 15-game win streak (in non-NBA Cup games) and coming off back-to-back victories over the two other Eastern Conference contenders in the Knicks and Celtics - was a measuring-stick game all the same. And the Cavs used that opportunity to demonstrate how much they've grown.Putting up a 127.7 offensive rating in a game in 2025 typically isn't news, but there's nothing typical about doing it against OKC. The Thunder came into the game allowing only 102.7 points per 100 possessions. Despite being without their best defender in Chet Holmgren since game 10, they own the best defensive rating relative to league average since the 1963-64 Cel

After many months of trying, the Golden State Warriors finally landed a star to pair with Steph Curry. It cost them Andrew Wiggins, a few other less significant pieces (Dennis Schroder, Kyle Anderson, Lindy Waters III), their first-round pick this year (unless it lands in the top 10), and $112 million in additional guaranteed money, but it was a move they had to make in order to give Curry a couple more honest kicks at the can as he approaches his 37th birthday.The big question with Jimmy Butler, of course, is whether his diminished production this season was the result of him quiet quitting (and then very loud quitting) on the Miami Heat, or the result of his waning abilities at age 35. Golden State obviously decided it was worth ponying up and giving him a two-year extension to find out. Butler's long track record of turning up the dial when he wants to, which tends to be when the stakes are highest, suggests it's a smart bet.Even at his age, Butler remains a rugged and wily defender who roves in the gaps,