Welcome to the first installment of “This Week in the NBA,” where we take a look at the most significant moments across the league on a week-to-week basis. As for this recap, to say the NBA had a busy week would be an understatement.
Let’s examine what stood out during Week 4 of the 2025-26 season.
Mavs fire Nico Harrison nine months after Luka Dončić trade
The biggest news of the week was a move that has felt inevitable since Feb. 2. The Dallas Mavericks fired general manager Nico Harrison less than a month into the NBA season after the team got out to a 3-8 start. That slow start followed a troubling 16-28 record to end last season after Luka Dončić was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers.
Draymond Green chimed in on the firing soon after on his podcast, “The Draymond Green Show,” saying he didn’t think the Mavericks gave Harrison enough time to put his roster plan into action before deciding to let him go.
“Y’all just wanna go point the finger at Nico because that was a storyline. Now let’s make that a storyline again,” Green said on Tuesday’s episode. “That s— is wack to me.”
🏀 Before everyone rewrites the story, remember: the Mavericks never got to see the team Nico Harrison constructed at full strength…
🎙️ Hear the full conversation on The Draymond Green Show – available wherever you get your podcasts & YouTube pic.twitter.com/D1VdVp45YO
— The Draymond Green Show (@DraymondShow) November 11, 2025
However, if it were up to Mavericks legend Dirk Nowitski, the firing would have happened months ago.
“This move should have probably happened this summer, honestly,” Nowitski said during the NBA on Prime Video broadcast Friday. “I didn’t want this negative energy and this black cloud over the Cooper Flagg era. But here we are now.”
“Now, I think it’s time to move on. It’s time to move on now, focus on this team, on this franchise. This definitely set the franchise back.”
“It’s time to move on now.”
Dirk Nowitzki on the Mavs firing GM Nico Harrison. pic.twitter.com/8J9MvksVdm
— NBA on Prime (@NBAonPrime) November 14, 2025
NBA mourns the loss of Lenny Wilkens
Sunday, the NBA lost a legend when three-time James Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductee Lenny Wilkens died at the age of 88.
One of the most recognizable players and coaches in league history, Wilkens carved out an unmatched NBA career, which began when the St. Louis Hawks drafted him with the No. 6 pick in 1960. He enjoyed nine All-Star selections as a player, peaking with a nod during the 1967-68 season, when he finished second to Wilt Chamberlain in MVP voting with 31.1 percent of the vote. After that season, the team traded Wilkens to the Seattle SuperSonics. There, he averaged 19.5 points and nine assists per game over four seasons, after posting marks of 15.5 points and 5.5 dimes with the Hawks. In Wilkens’ final three seasons in Seattle (1969-72), he was a player-coach, embarking on his unique journey into basketball lore.
Wilkens coached and played for the Cleveland Cavaliers and Portland Trail Blazers before returning to Seattle in 1977 solely as a head coach. During his first three seasons back in Seattle, the SuperSonics (.630 win percentage) trailed only Portland (.654) in win percentage. The SuperSonics’ 1979 NBA championship was their only title before relocating in 2008. By the time Wilkens retired from the NBA coaching ranks, he had notched 1,332 career wins, marking an NBA record until fellow Hall of Famers Don Nelson (1,335) and Gregg Popovich (1,390) came along to break the mark. Wilkens is the first person in NBA history to break the 1,000-wins threshold, doing so March 1, 1996. He is the only person to be named to the NBA’s list of the top 15 coaches and the NBA 75.
Those accomplishments are only the tip of the iceberg for one of the most distinguished coaching careers of all time, especially given Wilkens’ distinction as an inductee into the Hall of Fame, which has recognized his efforts as a player and coach in the NBA, including his 2010 induction for his work as an assistant coach on the 1992 Dream Team. During his early days with Seattle, Wilkens hired a young assistant coach named Bernie Bickerstaff to join his staff, a move Bickerstaff’s son J.B. reflected on when processing Wilkens’ death Sunday. The younger Bickerstaff was among the coaches who reacted to Sunday’s tragic loss.
“That was tough for all of us coaches, me in particular,” J.B. Bickerstaff said. “He gave my dad his first head-coaching job with the Seattle SuperSonics. He is a pioneer, in a way, and a trendsetter that we haven’t seen before. The doors that he opened up for people — I’m probably not in this position that I’m sitting in right now (without him). My dad was an assistant coach with the Bullets for 12 years, couldn’t get an opportunity to be a head coach, and Lenny gave him the opportunity to be a head coach.”
Other coaches, including Doc Rivers, Rick Carlisle, Jason Kidd, and Steve Kerr, also reflected on Wilkens’ impact.
NBA will change All-Star Game format … again
The NBA has a problem. As of late, the All-Star Game has not been competitive or all that entertaining. The format has changed multiple times in recent years. Last season’s game featured lengthy stoppages and gimmicks aimed at garnering interest but was criticized for its format and how long the games lasted. Player introductions still had too much pomp and circumstance, lasting more than 25 minutes. The greatest NBA All-Star ever pulled himself out about an hour before play began, leaving no time to replace him, and the evening program devoted more time to gimmicks than basketball.
Or as one of our writers so eloquently put it, “The NBA decided the best way to fix the All-Star Game is less basketball and more Kevin Hart.”
This year, the All-Star Game format will be a round-robin tournament of two U.S. teams and one international team. Each team will have eight players and play each other in 12-minute games.
NBA just revealed the All-Star Game format this season. Two teams of American players and one World team. Same selection process for the All-Stars but they will not be picked based on position.
So positionless All-Stars selections is a big tweak on the composition of the teams.
— Mike Vorkunov (@MikeVorkunov) November 12, 2025
It’s a format that a growing contingent of fans has been requesting. Imagine a team of Nikola Jokić, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Dončić and Victor Wembanyama.
Could this format tap into the same pride that comes with representing one’s country in the Olympics? The NBA hopes so after last year’s showcase became the second-lowest-rated All-Star Game, down 13 percent from 2024.
Honorable mention
• Jokić became the fifth player in NBA history with 55 points and 12 rebounds while shooting 78.3 percent Wednesday against the LA Clippers (Chamberlain, who did it three times, Kevin McHale, Karl Malone and Dončić). His four career 50-point games trail only Chamberlain (118), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (10) and Joel Embiid (eight) for the most among bigs in NBA history. (Sorry, Shaq)
• Before the game, Clippers coach Ty Lue said the strategy was to “make (Jokić) score and take away his passing.” A bold strategy indeed, Cotton. After the game, Lue acknowledged he underestimated how much Jokić would actually score. “I didn’t think he would score 55.”
• Steph Curry scored a season-high 49 points Friday versus the San Antonio Spurs, two days after dropping 46 points on them. With his 73rd and 74th career 40-point games this week, he broke a 10th-place tie with Kevin Durant (72) on the NBA’s all-time list. Next up is ninth-place Oscar Robertson (77) and then LeBron James and Allen Iverson (both with 79).
• Another aspect of this 40-piece worth noting: It is the 44th time Curry has scored 40-plus points after turning 30. The only player in NBA history with as many 40-point games after turning 30? None other than Michael Jordan, with 44 such games.
What to eye in Week 5
• Either the Brooklyn Nets or the Washington Wizards will inevitably get their second win after facing each other Sunday. (Much to the chagrin of the fans constantly refreshing Tankathon while watching AJ Dybantsa rap “on one tonight” by Gunna.)
• The Denver Nuggets and the Houston Rockets clash Nov. 21 in a battle of Western Conference title contenders.