NBA News and Rumor Roundup 1/22/2025
Scoot turns on the jets, Milwaukee heats up, and *whispers* Kawhi Leonard is back
Aaaaand we’re back!
Another week, another chance to learn that we simply can’t predict what will happen in today’s NBA. There’s so much to talk about that proves just that; the Bucks look a bit scarier — in a good way — the Kings seem to have turned around their season, and we still have no idea what anybody is doing at the trade deadline this year.
This week, we’re going to talk about all of the above, plus dive into Kawhi Leonard’s awfully Torontonian return, the kick-off of the new 3x3 women’s league, Unrivaled, and just about everything in between that I can pack into one newsletter without all of you getting too bored.
Before we get into all that, though, I want to give a quick shoutout to my friends over at
. This isn’t a sponsored segment or anything, but I’ve gotten to know John and the crew over at GITG101 for a bit now, and they’re about to run a trade deadline simulation course at the end of this month. I participated in it last year and it was an absolute blast, because you get to actually do the whole NBA GM thing without simply making trades in a trade machine. I couldn’t recommend it more, so if you’re interested in participating and getting the chance to hear from current and former NBA personnel, you can go book your spot in the course by clicking the image below — make sure to use the coupon NBATRADE to get $30 off!P.S. That’s not an affiliate coupon, it’s just one that I’ve been told about via the folks over at GITG101
With that out of the way, let’s jump headfirst into our primary recurring segment — it’s time for your Kings of The Court to reveal themselves!
This Week’s Kings of The Court
If you’re new around these parts — unlike a Western movie, this town is big enough for the both of us — this is a weekly segment where I take a look at three players/teams who I deem Kings of The Court. Crucially, that doesn’t mean they were necessarily the best out of everybody over the past 7 days (though they may very well be) but are instead the ones I was most impressed by for one reason or another.
With that out of the way, let’s take a look at our first King of The Court…
👑The Milwaukee Bucks, Meshing More👑
Key Stats From the Past Week
3-0 record
+20.3 plus-minus (3rd in the league)
42.2% shooting from three-point range
Bonus Stat: Milwaukee is currently on a four-game winning streak, which is the 2nd-longest streak for the team this season — yeesh.
It’s quite possible that the death of the Milwaukee Bucks was…greatly exaggerated.
While the team’s schedule hasn’t been the epitome of difficulty over the past week — the still-injured Magic, the tanky Raptors, and an Embiid-less Sixers — all of their wins have been much more decisive than those in the past.
After ranking around the 70th percentile in pick and roll ball-handling just a few weeks ago, Damian Lillard has upped that to the 85th percentile, is shooting 55% from three-point range this week, and seems to have upped the defensive intensity for good measure. With Giannis Antetokoumpo consistently putting up numbers, the further meshing of him and Lillard has been crucial to this team looking like, well, a team.
While not perfect, Giannis and Lillard seem to have formed a better ability to know when the former should screen for the latter, creating mismatches that are almost impossible to stop when Lillard is at his best:
It hasn’t just been the Bucks’ main two stars either; Brook Lopez has averaged 3 blocks over his past three games, Khris Middleton — despite some scoring woes — is dishing out 6.3 assists to just 0.3 turnovers, and Bobby Portis is holding down the fort as a rebounder when Giannis sits. Is this team a title contender? I’m not quite ready to say that yet, but there’s a very clear pathway to a second-half surge for Milwaukee.
👑Scoot Henderson, Shaking Off the Bust Accusations👑
Key Stats From the Past Week (Note, Prior to Miami Game On Tuesday Night)
21.9 points per game
40% shooting from three-point range
8.8 assists per game
Bonus Stat: In a win over the Nets last week, Scoot Henderson became the youngest Trail Blazer ever to score 35+ points and connect on 8+ three-pointers by nearly two full years.
Like the Bucks above, Scoot Henderson’s bust status may have been greatly exaggerated. I have to come clean here, as I’ve been leaning toward the dreaded B word for a few months when it comes to Scoot, but he’s been proving everyone wrong over the past week. The 39-pointer against the Nets was a much-needed one, with Henderson shooting a whopping 72% from the field and finally showing that he knows how to shoot. The biggest complaint for the former #2 overall selection was that his jumper was broken, but he appears to have worked on his form significantly and it’s paying off — just take a look at the gall he had to shoot this shot:
There’s just been so much to like about Henderson’s play over the last week. There are fewer turnovers — albeit 3.9 per game is still a bit high for my liking — more level-headedness on drives, and he looks shifty and explosive, two aspects that he seemed to lose as soon as he stepped onto an NBA court. While the alley-oop below is a little off-target, the dribble drive on the way there is exactly what every Scoot supporter has wanted to see since he came out of the now-defunct G League Ignite program:
If the defense continues to improve — he’s averaged over a steal and a block per game over the past week — then you’re looking at a potentially great player. We forget that even Steve Nash averaged 3.3 points per game and 2.2 assists in his rookie year, and look how that turned out. While I’m not saying Scoot will be near the same level as the great Steve Nash, he does appear to be quieting the haters with his recent play.
👑Domantas Sabonis, Beaming With Power👑
Key Stats From the Past Week
24.5 points per game
16.0 rebounds
75% shooting from three-point range
Bonus Stat: Only three players this season have recorded a statline of 25+ points and 15+ rebounds while shooting 75%+ from the field and 60%+ from three: Karl-Anthony Towns, Anthony Davis, and Domantas Sabonis.
Domantas Sabonis is something else, y’all.
In his past 5 games, he’s grabbed 28, 15, 10, 14, and 18 rebounds. He’s shot 66.7%, 80%, 66.7%, 61.5%, and 77% from the field. He’s helped the Kings to a massive pre-All-Star Break turnaround, which, while likely going to make the Kings feel as if they weren’t wrong about firing Mike Brown the way they did, is an absolute miracle at this point.
At 6’10”, the man is moving with a sense of (sorry, I gotta say it) sneaky athleticism injected straight into his veins. He’s running the floor at times, cutting at others, and finishing drives to the basket at a *checks notes* 100% clip over the past week:
His ability to create good shots no matter who he’s playing with would be heralded with much more fervor if he weren’t the BMW to Jokic’s Bugatti. This is not a normal big man pass, nor is it done with the sort of consistency that Domantas has provided to the Kings this season and in years past:
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Sabonis’ play on a year-by-year basis is often worthy of a top-5 MVP vote. Would he ever win it? No, but I’ve seen worse players get votes in the top 5 in previous years. He ranks above the 90th percentile for both offensive and defensive EPM, ranks in the 99th percentile for defensive rebounding, is in the 85th percentile for assist percentage, and is in the 97th percentile for effective field goal percentage. It’s, quite frankly, absurdism at its finest.
The Kings are incredibly up right now. The team is 9-1 over their last 10 games and looks like they could reposition themselves for a sneaky playoff run this year should they keep it up post All-Star Break. De’Aaron Fox will likely get a lot of the credit — and rightfully so — but Sabonis is the real engine of this team.
A Beal, a Butler, and Some Bait
Though he’s returned from a recent team-led suspension, the Jimmy Butler sweepstakes are still moving along, with little to no end in sight. While there have been some rumors about a particular team reported by Marc Stein recently, I won’t talk about said team here out of respect for his publication’s paywall, so instead I’ll talk about some other public reports that have come out about the matter.
According to Doug Smith of the Toronto Star, the Raptors are one of the teams that have an interest in being part of a Butler trade, but not in a capacity that would involve taking the Heat star on. The reasoning for this is that, due to apron restrictions on many of the teams that Butler would prefer to go to, such as the Suns, another team would need to get involved to take on salary. The Raptors have particularly juicy expiring contracts on the roster, with Bruce Brown ($23 million), Chris Boucher ($10 million), and Davion Mitchell ($6.4 million) all seeing their deals end at the conclusion of this season.
Other teams have been reported by Marc Stein to be involved in a similar deal, with one Western Conference team being named as well as many others — making a deal happen, however, is still somewhat difficult. Case in point, see the below trade, which I would never see as a win for the Heat or the Raptors, but is an example of what it takes to even make a deal possible:
That’s a complex three-teamer, is largely unhelpful to everyone not named Phoenix, and I hate it — but it’s tough to make a three-teamer work between these teams anyway. The Raptors taking on Beal could hamstring the franchise’s rebuild, especially considering Poetl, Brown, and Boucher could be better used as filler for more draft compensation than what the team gets here, while the Heat would likely want extra capital involved as well. I think everyone expects Butler to be traded before the deadline regardless. Where he goes is another story, and what everyone has to give up to make it happen is yet another.
Unrivaled Might Be Just That: Unrivaled
If you missed it, Miami was host to the debut of the new professional women’s 3x3 basketball league, Unrivaled, and for all of the hype it generated prior to its launch, the league seems to be the real deal.
The league, which has brought together many WNBA All-Stars like Napheesa Collier and Sabrina Ionescu, brings a lot of new and fun vibes to the game to help bring in a new generation of fans. For one, it’s 3x3, which brings a lot of nuance when it comes to setting screens with only two other players on the court and makes the game faster, while the “final score” ending forces a team to stay ahead of its opponent to win the game as opposed to in being time-based. And, in what seems like the best publicity move any league has done over the past decade, the entire fourth quarter of each game was commercial-free, much to fans’ happy tweeting.
The opening games had just about everything. Skylar Diggins-Smith hit a game-winner to seal the Lunar Owls’ win over the Mist, while Rhyne Howard showed out for the Vinyl with 33 points and a win over the Rose. Dare I say it — I don’t know how unpopular of an opinion this is — but if there’s a league that can take over the WNBA, this seems like it’s it. The star power is there, the money is there, and, most importantly, it brings a side of the game that fans don’t get from the NBA, separating it from the shadow of the sport’s big brother.
Also shoutout to the entire branding and marketing team at Unrivaled, which has done an impeccable job of generating hype for this league, securing deals with brands like State Farm, Under Armour, Samsung, Icy Hot, and more. It’s the type of marketing masterclass that, regardless of how successful the league ends up being, is worthy of an MBA case study.
Jersey of The Week
If you are new here, this is the segment where I flex my creative muscles a little bit and design a jersey (or two) for an NBA squad, ranging from the Raptors to, dare I say their name, the Charlotte Hornets (absolutely frightening).
This week, the Heat beat me to the punch a little bit by bringing back their Miami Vice jerseys, but I wanted to bring back the Vice colors myself with a bit of a twist. Despite being called the Heat, the team has, to my knowledge, never leaned into the flames for its jersey. So, with that in mind, I’ve designed a jersey that does just that, along with its reverse alternate. Let me know what you think in the comments!
Other News, Rumors, and Fun Facts
Ok, hold the phone y’all. So I’m going through the NBA’s box scores, right? And I’m looking at the Pacers to see if Tyrese Haliburton is back in MVP form yet (unfortunately, he is not…yet) and, all of the sudden, a name with such creativity that Van Gogh would throw his hands up in defeat hits me straight in the right temple. Who the heck is RayJ Dennis? And yes, that’s RayJ, which I don’t know if it’s pronounced Rage (which, if so, that’s incredibly hype) or Ray-Jay (which is also fun). My research tells me he’s an undrafted player out of Baylor, is 23 years old, and has been putting up decent numbers for Indiana’s G League squad. What a name and what a great bar trivia guy.
According to a recent unconfirmed report, Magic Johnson is attempting to make a bid to bring an expansion team to Las Vegas, potentially gearing up for a bidding war against other reported investors like Fenway Sports, Oak View Group, and, uh, LeBron James. There’s really nothing else to go off of here, but with all the news about expansion, I wouldn’t be surprised to hear more over the next 12 months.
Injuries continue to be the story this NBA season; Draymond Green, after straining his calf in a game this past Saturday, will be out for at least a week, dealing another blow to a Warriors team that isn’t as hot as it was at the beginning of the season.
The Suns have made what I see as an all-time crazy trade in the draft pick department, but I’ll let you come to your own conclusions. Per Shams, Phoenix has traded away their coveted 2031 first-rounder to the Jazz for three least-favorable swaps in 2025, 2027, and 2029 with Cleveland, Minnesota, and Utah. Of course, it’s to now focus on grabbing Jimmy Butler, but the franchise has given away its little good future it had to Danny Ainge and crew for three firsts in the late 20s. Maybe I’m wrong, but this is a pure desperation move that could haunt the franchise.
Also, if you missed it, the Suns made an unceremonious but possibly effective trade this past week besides the first-round fiasco, dealing away Josh Okogie and three second-rounders in return for Hornets rim protector Nick Richards. Richards is a solid defender hindered by Charlotte’s terrible roster construction, but doesn’t move the needle too much, I think.
Somehow, Kawhi Leonard returned. After playing virtually zero games this season, Kawhi put up two solid performances this past week — and because I wrote this sentence before the Clips played the Bulls on Monday, I won’t include it unless he goes for 50 or something. The Terminator scored 23 and 19 points, respectively, in two games this past week and shot an average of 72% from the field in vintage Kawhi fashion. With the Clippers looking like a dark horse for this year’s contention race, this feels like a mimic of what happened when Kawhi was with the Raptors — which, if he can pull off another championship while load-managing, then maybe we just get off his case for a bit, yeah?
According to Brian Lewis of the New York Post, the Nets have quite the high price for trade market darling Cam Johnson. Per Lewis, the Nets likely will not part with him unless they are given at least two first-rounders in return (or someone/something of similar value), which could just be posturing but feels like a pure Brooklyn move. I’d bet that Johnson gets moved, but I’m leaning more toward a first-rounder plus a protected one (say, 1 through 5) and some solid players as opposed to two fully unprotected firsts — then again, I’m just speculating here.
According to recent reports, rookies Matas Buzelis, who hasn’t gotten a major chance to shine with the Bulls yet, and Stephon Castle, who has been great for the Spurs, are both signed up for the Dunk Contest this year. I’m unsure how good Buzelis will be given his overall lack of high-flying dunks, but Castle has potential to shake up the competition. Let’s be real, though; if Mac McClung is back, there’s really no competition at all.
Per Brian Windhorst, there has been a recent “uptick” in talks surrounding Jimmy Butler, particularly from Miami’s side of the equation. We’ll likely know more soon but with Jimmy set to leave the city this offseason, don’t be surprised if a team swoops in and gets Butler for less than some originally expected.
On this day in NBA history (in 2018 and 2020), we got a Pelicans double-header. First, in 2018, DeMarcus Cousins finished with 44 points, 24 rebounds and 10 assists in a 132-128 double-overtime win against the Chicago Bulls and became the first player since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1972 to notch 40-plus points, 20-plus rebounds and 10-plus assists in a game. Then, in 2020, Zion Williamson made his NBA debut, scoring 17 straight points in a 4-minute span, though his career has been up-and-down due to availability to this point.
My Favorite Reads This Week
If you’re a Minnesota fan,
just wrote up an extremely in-depth piece looking at each of the team’s MLK weekend games. You can view his game notes here!- just made one of the bolder takes about a Rockets player I’ve seen in recent months — but I’m obliged to agree, being a Houston fan. In it, he takes a look at all of the trades that involved future MVPs (think SGA from the Clippers) and analyzes who he thinks might be the next player to take a similar path. You can read all about that right here.
Not a basketball article, but
just put together a really nice piece about how On, the running brand, has slowly (but also, in some ways, quickly), taken over the sport of tennis. It’s a great look into one of the more effective athlete investments of all time — Roger Federer bringing his expertise to On — and everything that’s gone into the shift toward the next generation. You can read that one right here.- recently wrote about each of the big contenders in a piece over at his Substack, which I highly recommend. It’s a good look into the league’s upper echelon regardless of how locked-in you’ve been this NBA season, and you can go find it right here.
If you want to read more about that Suns/Nick Richards trade I mentioned earlier, you can go over to
’s always great Substack, , where he breaks down the cap implications, the timing of the deal, and other small-cap players who could go down a similar path. You can go and read that one right here.
That’s it for this week! Despite me getting busier and busier, new pieces will be coming out this weekend as always. Until then, go read the pieces of the fine folks I listed above!
Oh, and as a side note, I’m still running that survey from the beginning of the year; if you want to have a say in the future of this newsletter, you can fill that out by clicking on the button below…
Thanks for the shoutout! I’m with you on the Suns 1 for 3 trade, but I made a video about how I don’t think it’s about Jimmy. Which makes it even crazier, imo
Thanks for the shoutout! I’m glad you enjoyed the read