Around the NBA: Week 18 (2/16 - 2/22)

[ShelC]

Nationally televised games this week
Thursday, Feb 19th
Pistons @ Knicks at 7:30PM EST on Amazon Prime
Celtics @ Warriors at 10:00 PM EST on Amazon Prime

Friday, Feb 20th
Mavs @ Wolves at 7:30PM EST on ESPN
Clippers @ Lakers at 10:00PM EST on ESPN

Saturday, Feb 21st
Magic @ Suns at 5:00PM EST on NBATV
Rockets @ Knicks at 8:30PM EST on ABC/ESPN Unlimited

Sunday Feb 22nd
Cavs @ Thunder at 1:00PM EST on ABC/ESPN Unlimited
Nuggets @ Warriors at 3:30PM EST on ABC/ESPN Unlimited
Celtics @ Lakers at 6:30PM EST on NBC/Peacock
Magic @ Clippers at 9:00PM EST on NBATV

NBA News
NBA All-Star 2026, latest news and behind the scenes from L.A.
https://www.nba.com/news/live-updates-nba-all-star-2026

Giannis Antetokounmpo addresses Bucks commitment, title drive
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/479 ... itle-drive

Rockets’ Kevin Durant alleged to have burner account trashing teammates, but nothing is confirmed
https://clutchpoints.com/nba/houston-ro ... -confirmed

[Superbone]

Dumbass.

Durant has been linked to anonymous accounts for nearly a decade. In September 2017, while with the Golden State Warriors, he accidentally posted from his verified account in the third person.

The tweet defended his move from the Oklahoma City Thunder and criticized former coach Billy Donovan and teammate Russell Westbrook. It was clearly meant for a burner account.

“He didn't like the organisation or playing for Billy Donovan. His roster wasn't that good, it was just him and Russ,” the tweet read, according to reports.

[Mori Chu]

KD: Once a bitch, always a bitch.

[Superbone]

[O_Gardino]

That quote is so loaded with intentional rage bait. Anyway, here's one of many studies from the 2010s showing the increase in outrage as a way to increase media profit. If you have a sense of unresolved conflict because some jerk is doing something dumb, you are far more likely to load some more adds while you wait for more news.

https://journalistsresource.org/politic ... ion-media/

[SunsRIt]

What an idiot.

[Superbone]

So now gambling is driving the tanking rage? SMH

[Superbone]

What an idiot.

Parity would go out the window! I'm glad we can spend but the poor small market teams would be screwed. OKC could have never gotten to where they are.

[iLLmatic]

Definitely a hot take. Is he even relevant anymore?

[Superbone]

Spoiler: show/hide

Definitely a hot take. Is he even relevant anymore?

I didn't know he was still in the business.

[specialsauce]

They should simply make it so that if you don't advance to at least the second round of the playoffs, you get the same lottery odds. Flat odds for the whole league except for the teams that advance to the second round and then they are ranked by postseason record

Nobody is going to tank once in the playoffs and a team that makes it to the 10th seed play in and is knocked out shouldn't get penalized for giving it a go, and handing them the first pick seems not ridiculous.

[carey]

Parity would go out the window! I'm glad we can spend but the poor small market teams would be screwed. OKC could have never gotten to where they are.

How? There's still a salary cap. This wouldn't be like a Los Angeles Dodgers situation. There would need to be some changes involving bird rights though so teams like the Lakers can't sign rookies to deals that is to fit them under the cap for a few years at under market value and then resign them to bigger deals. I could see it working with the correct modifications to the CBA.

[The Bobster]

Former Spurs/Nuggets coach Doug Moe has passed away -

https://www.denverpost.com/2026/02/17/d ... ets-coach/

Moe was a star player at Erasmus High in Brooklyn and at the University of North Carolina. He was banned by the NBA in 1961 for accepting $75 for travel expenses for a trip to New Jersey where he turned down an offer to fix games. But this was the era where the NBA banned players mentioned in gambling allegations (such as Moe, Connie Hawkins and Roger Brown) whether there was any truth to them or not. In 1965 Moe became the first American star player to play in Italy, putting in two years before joining the upstart ABA in 1967. Moe played five years in the ABA, playing in two All-Star Games before his knees made him retire at age 34. From there he became Larry Brown's sidekick as assistant coach in Denver and was eventually hired as a head coach in San Antonio. After a four-year stint in San Antonio, Moe returned to Denver as an assistant coach before taking over for a 10-year stint (1980-90) as Denver coach, and one more year coaching Philadelphia.

Moe was a unique character, and had a gruff, self-deprecating sense of humor, calling the players he liked "stiffs" and players he didn't like far worse. His coaching style was the forerunner to Paul Westhead and Mike D'Antoni as his Nugget teams remain among the highest-scoring in NBA history.

Unfortunately, despite his 628 wins and his star playing career Moe never made it to the Hall of Fame. Most likely because he was robbed of the first 6 years of his playing career by the NBA's ban.

[Furlanfufi]

[Superbone]

[TOO]

Pablo Torre is really good at that investigation shit.

[Split T]

Can they make the clippers absorb any dead money their current players have with other teams? Haha

[Mori Chu]

I haven't read the very latest, but it sounded like this was really bad. Like, they cut not just one but several crooked backdoor deals with Kawhi and his family and friends, worth tens of millions of dollars in total. And it seems like this enabled them to get him and keep him as a free agent, one of the best players in the NBA, very impactful swing for their fate as a team. It's mitigated a bit by the fact that they didn't do that well, didn't win a crooked or tainted NBA title, or anything like that. But that should not matter. This is way out of bounds of the CBA and the NBA's rules. They should get punished harshly for it.

[Split T]

The wolves had how many 1sts stripped for their shenanigans with Joe Smith back in the day? I think it was originally 5, but was cut to 3. I feel like that’s the most likely punishment. Restricting the clippers ability to spend money hurts them, but also hurts the players and there’s no reason to punish players(not named Kawhi). Maybe you restrict the from receiving any luxury tax revenue for a number of years.

They’ve traded a lot of their picks, so I don’t even know how many the league could take away. Can they take away the picks they just traded for? lol

Also, what do you do with Kawhi? I think the clippers organization should take the brunt of the blame, but do you void Kawhi’s deal? The current deal isn’t even the one that had shenanigans attached to it I believe. Can you let his deal stand but make him ineligible to play for the Clippers, essentially forcing them to trade him?

Will be fascinating to see what happens.

[ShelC]

$500m fine to Ballmer, loss of three 1sts and void Kawhi's current contract and ban him for a year.