The Bounce Newsletter 
| This is The Athletic’s daily NBA newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Bounce directly in your inbox.
On this date in 1972, the Buffalo Braves set a record that still stands. They scored 58 points in the fourth quarter against the Boston Celtics. It’s the most points in any quarter, ever. They actually outscored the Celtics 58-23 in that fourth quarter, which is the second biggest margin in any quarter in NBA history. The kicker? Buffalo still lost the game 126-118.
Just FYI, if you’re wondering what the biggest margin in a quarter is: The Los Angeles Lakers outscored the Sacramento Kings by 36 in 1987. That happened in a 40-4 first quarter that night. And the final margin was, in fact, 36 points. Basketball is weird!
Heat it up!
Five hot takes (and an ice-cold one) for 2025-26
This is our last night before the 2025-26 NBA season is upon us. That means we’ve got a little bit of time to fire off some hot takes and predictions before everything is official. We’re going to handle the predictions tomorrow, but today is the day for some hot takes. I feel pretty confident that these won’t come back to bite me.
Actually, I don’t really have any confidence in that, except for the ice-cold take I have below. But that’s the fun of a hot take! You throw it out there and you just see what happens. I believe that was essentially Napoleon Bonaparte’s strategy. “Engage and then see what happens.” I’m sure hot takes should have the same approach.
Here are five hot takes I have going into the season, and then an ice-cold take that I’m not sure anybody can truly debate.
🔥 The Hawks should trade Trae Young before the deadline
I’ve been hesitant to accept the Atlanta Hawks as a team truly climbing up the Eastern Conference, even while acknowledging how good their offseason was. I understand why everybody is buying the Hawks hype after they acquired Kristaps Porziņģis, Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Luke Kennard. They had a great summer.
Two things have given me pause on this Hawks squad.
1) They’re the Hawks. We’ve been through this a lot during the last four years after they made the Eastern Conference finals in 2021. They’ve made moves you can get behind, and it hasn’t yielded actual progress (although never to this potential degree).
2) Their extension situation made me raise an eyebrow or two. First, Porziņģis let everybody know he’s in no rush to sign an extension with the Hawks. Not a total shock for him, but interesting considering his injury history. Then we found out Young and the Hawks won’t agree to an extension. He has a player option for next season and could decline it to become a free agent this summer.
The Hawks could do a quick retooling by moving Young before the deadline, acquiring good players and assets and then heading into the summer with a good amount of flexibility. It wouldn’t be a rebuild, but it would be a new direction that isn’t this “stuck in the mud” zone they’ve been in for years. It’s a big risk, but so is perpetually winning 40 games without progress.
🔥 Amen Thompson should be the Rockets’ point guard anyway
Don’t get me wrong; it sucks that Fred VanVleet is out for the season. But it ultimately might be a blessing for the Houston Rockets’ long-term development. They have a bit of a two-timeline thing going with Kevin Durant in the mix but a mostly good, talented, young roster. Thompson made a massive leap last season and showed an even bigger leap in him during their brief playoff appearance.
Thompson was a playmaker before he made the NBA, and while his outside shooting is way behind where you’d like it to be, he can get into the teeth of the defense very easily. The Rockets have a chance to develop a lineup with a massive lead guard by using Thompson there. He’s potentially where he should be.
🔥 Denver should be the favorite in the West
I’m very bullish on the Nuggets after what they did this offseason. They solved every single issue they had when Michael Malone was fired with three games left. And the problems that showed up in Round 2 against the Oklahoma City Thunder are gone, if this team is healthy. A pretty bad situation around Nikola Jokić took the eventual champion Thunder to a Game 7.
No disrespect to the champs, intended. There’s nothing wrong with thinking they should be the favorite until taken down. But the Nuggets have the best player in the world and the deepest team we’ve seen them have since winning it all in 2023.
🔥 Dallas should start with Cooper Flagg at point
Not quite the same situation as Houston above, but the Dallas Mavericks started Flagg at point guard in preseason and it got everybody’s gears going. The Mavs are still waiting on Kyrie Irving’s return. It’ll probably happen in the middle of the season? And he’ll still be coming back from an ACL tear at that point. D’Angelo Russell isn’t really a solution at point guard. He’s more of a “break glass in case of emergency” type of lead guard for a team trying to be good.
Dallas can’t do this every night, but it should go with huge lineups that have Flagg, Klay Thompson, PJ Washington, Anthony Davis, and either Daniel Gafford or Dereck Lively II at the center as often as possible. It wouldn’t be the worst idea Nico Harrison has had.
🔥 The Lakers should work with LeBron James to move him
OK, I’m not sure I believe this one. But LeBron having sciatica, along with the Lakers trying to make this fully Luka Dončić’s team makes this more palatable. The tricky part is, LeBron won’t be easy to move. Finding a team that is willing to give up $50 million worth of matching contracts in a trade for a player in his 40s could be tough. Let me throw this ridiculous idea out there, though. If LeBron’s back doesn’t allow him to be the player we’ve seen, would it be absurd to buy him out after the trade deadline? Probably, but I needed something spicy here!
🧊 The Cavaliers and Knicks both have to win the East
This feels self-explanatory. I’m not sure we can outright assume the Boston Celtics and Indiana Pacers will be back to business as usual in 2026. At the same time, both the Knicks and the Cavs have a wide-open opportunity to get back to the NBA Finals. Anything short of a major injury keeping either or both teams away from the finals could bring a big shakeup to either roster.
The Last 24
The season is almost here!
🐜 Next level? Anthony Edwards is already a star. Here’s a look at his plan to lead the Timberwolves to a title.
💰 Extension done. Kevin Durant worked out his extension with Houston. $90 million over two years.
💰 Blazers spend cash. The Portland Trail Blazers and world-class defender Toumani Camara have agreed on an extension. $82 million over four years. Portland also extended Shaedon Sharpe off his rookie contract. $90 million over four years.
🏀 Who’s on top? Law Murray checks in with his preseason power rankings.
🏀 Is he back? Joel Embiid is getting back to his dominant ways. And he’s loving it.
🏀 Risk/reward. Mike Brown takes over the Knicks’ coaching job. Will he become a legend or just the next guy to get fired?
BIDS farewell to preseason
A must-see slam from Stephon Castle
It feels like the NBA is making sure the Bounce Index Dunk System is getting properly calibrated with all of the options the preseason has given us with dunks. Since it debuted last week, we’ve had some pretty slams around the Association. The final night of the preseason was no exception.
Thanks to reigning Rookie of the Year Stephon Castle, we may have gotten the best one of the preseason exhibition games right before the actual season starts. On Friday night, Castle had the ball swung to him after the San Antonio Spurs nearly turned it over against the Pacers. That’s when Castle took off and obliterated the rim as James Wiseman made a smart business decision.
- Convulsionn/jump scare: 10/10. I stood up out of my seat when I saw it, and both arms flexed in toward my body. This was violent.
- Bench reaction: 9/10. Castle’s been doing some cool stuff athletically in the preseason, so the Spurs’ bench knew it was coming before we did. They were already up as he took off.
- Dunker reaction: 8/10. He cocked it way back in-flight and then flexed immediately as he landed. He looked to the bench before he went up the floor. For dunks like this, taunting should be allowed.
- Where is the damn replay? 10/10. We didn’t get a stoppage in play for one minute and 18 seconds. That’s an eternity.
- Witness protection scale: 9/10. Poor Wiseman. Hasn’t he been through enough already? This is not how you want to come back from an Achilles tear.
Total BIDS score for Castle: 46/50.
Hopefully the system gets a big one Tuesday night when the season tips off. Speaking of watching the season tipping off …
How to watch
Where the NBA broadcasts are
You may remember that we have a new broadcasting deal beginning this season in the NBA. The deal that brought $76 billion to the league has Turner Sports (TNT and NBA TV) out the door. NBC/Peacock and Amazon Prime are both in. And the fun thing for every NBA fan is that games are being televised or streamed every night of the week.
Here’s an easy chart to keep it all organized for you:
Reminder that Peacock and Amazon Prime are subscription streaming services, so it might get a little pricey if you want to go about watching things legally. You need a cable or online TV subscription for ESPN. You can also subscribe to its streaming services.
Saturdays will have Prime streaming games in the afternoon and ABC games at night. Flip it for Sundays with ABC in the day and NBC at night. NBA Tip-Off week will have games on all of these options. NBA Cup will be on all three services. Christmas Day is on ABC/ESPN. The playoffs will be on all three, and the NBA Finals are still on ABC.
Breakout players
Five guys (not the 🍔) looking for a big season
While avoiding second-year players or rookies as options, I chose five players who should have big breakout seasons. And just because I didn’t want to leave out other players I was thinking of, there are five honorable mentions below.
Ausar Thompson, Detroit Pistons
We talked about his twin brother above, but Ausar should be primed for a phenomenal season. He had his rookie campaign cut short and then the start of his sophomore season delayed because of a blood clot issue. He didn’t get to properly train last summer. He was back to a normal development routine this summer, and the dividends should pay off.
Andrew Nembhard, Indiana Pacers
We know Tyrese Haliburton is out for the season, and the Pacers will need someone to step up in his role. Nembhard has made a decent name for himself the last two playoff runs for Indiana. As the lead playmaker, we could see him approach 20 points and eight assists per game.
Anfernee Simons, Boston Celtics
Over the last five seasons, Simons has shot 38.6 percent from deep on 7.6 attempts per game. In Boston, he’s going to be told to let it fly immediately. If the Celtics don’t move him for salary reasons, Simons should put up 20 per game with career shooting numbers.
Cameron Johnson, Denver Nuggets
Last season, Johnson scored 18.8 points per game on 47.5/39.0/89.3 shooting splits for the Brooklyn Nets. His three leading assist teammates were Ben Simmons (33 games), Keon Johnson and D’Angelo Russell (29 games). Now he has Jokić passing to him. He’s going to be a far better fit than Michael Porter Jr. was.
Trey Murphy III, New Orleans Pelicans
Last season, Murphy jumped to 21.2 points on nearly 60 percent true shooting (59.8), plus 5.1 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game. But the Pelicans had such an awful season that it was easy to overlook. I think he pushes to 25 points per game on the same efficiency with Brandon Ingram fully gone.
Honorable mention: Anthony Black (Orlando), Tari Eason (Houston), Shaedon Sharpe (Portland), Georges Niang (Utah, if traded), Bilal Coulibaly (Washington)