Southwest Notes: Flagg, Griffin, Sengun, Grizzlies Arena
Mavericks No. 1 pick Cooper Flagg is one of the most anticipated rookies since the days of Blake Griffin. Appearing on the Post Moves podcast with former WNBA MVP Candace Parker and rising All-Star Aliyah Boston, Griffin himself explained why there’s so much hype around Flagg and broke down what he loves about the forward’s game.
“I think he is the most complete player that we’ve seen come into the NBA in recent memory,” Griffin said (hat tip to Grant Afseth of Dallas Hoops Journal for the transcription). “I’m not saying he doesn’t have room to grow — he still has a ton of room to grow — but he passes, shoots, defends, rebounds. He seems like a great teammate, a great kid. There is, like, what’s the red flag? Which is really exciting for basketball to have these young guys. … Cooper is just able to play and guard so many different positions.”
There’s more out of the Southwest Division:
- Rockets All-Star big man Alperen Sengun has been working to develop a more consistent three-point shot over the summer, per Eurohoops. Sengun has been plying his trade for native Turkey in preparation for EuroBasket next week.“We mostly worked on shooting,” coach Djordje Sijan said. “I went through Partizan’s school with centers, and I can say that Sengun is the best player with his back to the basket in Europe. In the NBA, they focused on where he is dominant, and he developed to perfection. But creativity was forbidden to him. I was asked in an interview, ‘What did you do with him?’ Nothing, I let him get off the shots from all possible positions. Some coaches don’t like it. But this year we worked mostly on the three-point shot. That shot was forbidden to him.”
- The city of Memphis and the Grizzlies have been collaborating on a $550MM plan to renovate FedEx Forum, reports Samuel Hardiman of The Daily Memphian (subscriber link). Both sides want to keep the franchise in town beyond the 2028/29 end of the Grizzlies’ current lease.
- In case you missed it, the Spurs have brought in beloved NBL coach Jacob Chance to lead their G League affiliate, the Austin Spurs.
Dereck Lively II Expected To Be Ready For Camp
Dereck Lively II is expected to be ready for the Mavericks‘ training camp following offseason foot surgery, writes Grant Afseth for Dallas Hoops Journal.
Lively underwent a procedure to clean up bone spurs in his right foot in July and was initially in a walking boot. This followed a diagnosis of a stress fracture in the same foot in January. Previous reports indicate that the handling of Lively’s foot injury had led to a confrontation between the team’s director of health and performance, Johann Bilsborough, and the athletic performance director, Keith Belton (Belton has since been let go).
Lively’s foot issue limited him to 36 games last season, during which time he averaged 8.7 points, 7.5 rebounds, 2.4 assists, and 1.6 blocks in 23.1 minutes per night.
On Saturday, the Mavs posted a video of Lively working out in Philadelphia, where he has been training with head video coordinator Riley Crean (Twitter video link).
In addition to his rehabilitation, Lively has spent a large part of the offseason in communication with new Maverick Cooper Flagg, giving him advice and helping him get acclimated to the NBA world.
NBA Teams Average 14.4 Back-To-Backs In 2025/26
Five NBA teams will play a league-high 16 back-to-back sets during the 2025/26 regular season, while six clubs will have just 13 instances of back-to-back games on their schedules. The remaining 19 teams will play either 14 or 15 back-to-backs.
[RELATED: 2025/26 NBA Schedules By Team]
Those totals – along with an overall average of 14.4 back-to-backs per team – are about what we’ve come to expect in recent years.
Prior to the COVID-shortened seasons of 2019/20 and ’20/21, the NBA’s regular season consisted of 177 days, and the league had made a concerted effort to reduce instances of back-to-backs. When the league announced its initial schedule in ’19/20, its press release boasted that teams were averaging a record-low 12.4 back-to-backs that season, marking the fifth straight year in which that number had reached an all-time low.
However, since 2021/22, NBA regular seasons have spanned just 174 days, making it a little more difficult for schedule-makers to avoid back-to-back sets. The average number of back-to-backs per team is still well below where it once was (teams averaged 19.3 in 2024/25), but it’s no longer at a record low.
Here are the back-to-backs by team in 2025/26:
- Charlotte Hornets: 16
Denver Nuggets: 16
Philadelphia 76ers: 16
Phoenix Suns: 16
Washington Wizards: 16 - Golden State Warriors: 15
Los Angeles Clippers: 15
Miami Heat: 15
New Orleans Pelicans: 15
Portland Trail Blazers: 15
Toronto Raptors: 15
Utah Jazz: 15 - Brooklyn Nets: 14
Cleveland Cavaliers: 14
Dallas Mavericks: 14
Detroit Pistons: 14
Houston Rockets: 14
Los Angeles Lakers: 14
Memphis Grizzlies: 14
Milwaukee Bucks: 14
New York Knicks: 14
Orlando Magic: 14
Sacramento Kings: 14
San Antonio Spurs: 14 - Atlanta Hawks: 13
Boston Celtics: 13
Chicago Bulls: 13
Indiana Pacers: 13
Minnesota Timberwolves: 13
Oklahoma City Thunder: 13
Warriors, Lakers, Knicks, Thunder Get Most Nationally Televised Games For 2025/26
Having gone from two national broadcasting partners (ABC/ESPN and TNT) to three (ABC/ESPN, NBC, and Amazon Prime) ahead of the 2025/26 season, the NBA’s schedule will feature a significant increase in nationally televised games.
When the league unveiled its full regular season schedule on Thursday, it announced 237 nationally televised regular season matchups, along with the seven knockout round NBA Cup games whose participants aren’t yet known, for a total of 244 contests.
As Colin Salao of Front Office Sports writes in a subscriber story, the total number of nationally televised games is up by more than 40% from last season, when the league’s partners nationally broadcasted a total of 172 games.
Salao also points out that beginning in the middle of the season, when the NFL schedule starts winding down, the NBA will have national games every day of the week: Peacock on Monday; NBC/Peacock on Tuesday; ESPN on Wednesday; Amazon on Thursday; Amazon and ESPN on Friday; Amazon and ABC on Saturday; and ABC, NBC, and Peacock on Sunday.
Every team will be featured at least twice on the national TV broadcast schedule, with the Warriors, Lakers, Knicks, and defending champion Thunder leading the way with 34 appearances apiece.
Here’s the full breakdown of nationally televised games by team:
- Golden State Warriors: 34
- Los Angeles Lakers: 34
- New York Knicks: 34
- Oklahoma City Thunder: 34
- Houston Rockets: 28
- Minnesota Timberwolves: 28
- Denver Nuggets: 26
- Boston Celtics: 25
- Cleveland Cavaliers: 24
- Dallas Mavericks: 23
- San Antonio Spurs: 22
- Los Angeles Clippers: 21
- Milwaukee Bucks: 18
- Detroit Pistons: 16
- Orlando Magic: 14
- Philadelphia 76ers: 14
- Atlanta Hawks: 13
- Memphis Grizzlies: 10
- Indiana Pacers: 9
- Phoenix Suns: 9
- Sacramento Kings: 9
- Portland Trail Blazers: 8
- Miami Heat: 5
- Charlotte Hornets: 3
- Chicago Bulls: 3
- Brooklyn Nets: 2
- New Orleans Pelicans: 2
- Toronto Raptors: 2
- Utah Jazz: 2
- Washington Wizards: 2
Since nationally televised matchups are subject to change, there’s no guarantee that every team will ultimately end up being featured multiple times on the national stage.
As Salao points out, all 30 clubs showed up at least once on the national broadcast schedule initially announced for 2024/25, but the Wizards didn’t get any nationally televised games after having their lone contest replaced by a showdown between Cleveland and Oklahoma City.
Additionally, not every team this season will have a game aired on a traditional, non-streaming network — the only games featuring the Raptors or Wizards will air on either Peacock or Amazon Prime.
Lakers Notes: LeBron, Hachimura, Thiero, Trade Prospects
LeBron James may have been offering a hint about his future, or he could have been trolling fans, the media and Lakers management. Either way, it seems newsworthy that he and former teammate Anthony Davis both posted the same message to their Instagram accounts on Tuesday (hat tip to Ricky O’Donnell of Yahoo Sports).
It’s a quote from entrepreneur and life coach Jay Shetty that reads, “Becoming the best version of yourself comes with a lot of goodbyes.”
James’ future with the Lakers has been up in the air since he picked up his $52.6MM player option in late June. The online message could mean he’s contemplating saying goodbye to Los Angeles, either at some point this season or when he becomes an unrestricted free agent next summer.
The Mavericks have been mentioned as a possible next team for James, so Davis’ involvement could be significant. Going to Dallas would also reunite James with former Cleveland teammate Kyrie Irving and possibly turn the Mavs into legitimate title contenders again.
There’s more on the Lakers:
- Rui Hachimura is also a year away from free agency and has the chance to earn a long-term deal with L.A. by putting together another strong season, Dan Woike of The Athletic writes in a mailbag column. Even though the Lakers are preserving cap space for the summer of 2027, they may decide Hachimura is worth the investment. He has shot better than 50% from the field and 40% from three-point range in both of his full seasons in L.A., and he showed improvement on defense last season. Woike also views him as a player who’ll benefit from spending a full season with Luka Doncic.
- Second-round pick Adou Thiero, who missed all of Summer League while recovering from a knee injury he suffered in college, has been working out in the Lakers’ facility and is expected to be ready for training camp, Woike states in the same piece. The 21-year-old power forward was selected with the 36th pick in this year’s draft and was part of the seven-team deal that sent Kevin Durant from Phoenix to Houston. Woike notes that Thiero faces a crowded path to get playing time, but adds that he has the defensive skills to give himself a chance.
- With 14 players holding standard contracts, Woike doesn’t expect the Lakers to make any more trades before the start of the season. They have an available first-rounder, a second-rounder and some swaps to offer, but Woike believes it’s more likely they’ll save those assets for a potential deal later on.
Atlantic Notes: Russell, Murray-Boyles, Nets Assets, Grimes
D’Angelo Russell signed with the Mavericks as a free agent but he’s heaping high praise on the Nets organization. He feels his career has been extended by what he learned early in his career with Brooklyn, he told Dwyane Wade in a podcast (hat tip to Joseph Staszewski of the New York Post). In the process, he took a swipe at the Lakers organization.
“The organization of Brooklyn is different,” Russell said. “It’s unlike any other. The performance, team, coach — everything about Brooklyn is different than what you would expect. And I’ve been around the league, where I came from the Lakers, where the structure is not the same.”
Russell played 29 games with the Nets last season. He also spent two seasons with them from 2017-19 after beginning his career with the Lakers.
“I always approached the game to where I was nonchalant, and I felt like I could just wing it. They taught me how to be a professional, how to sleep, how to eat, how to recover,” Russell said.
We have more from the Atlantic Division:
- Collin Murray-Boyles‘ personal trainer believes that the No. 9 pick of this year’s draft could turn into a Draymond Green-style defender with better offensive skills, he told Josh Lewenberg of TSN Sports. “He is more of the modern-day Draymond [Green],” trainer Khadijah Sessions said of the Raptors‘ rookie forward. “He is a defender, he can defend all positions, he can pass, he can set his teammates up… He’s going to be a better Draymond. He’s going to shoot better than him. He’s going to be able to score better than him. But it’s going to be over time and I think him playing behind Scottie Barnes and Brandon Ingram is going to bring a different monster out of him.”
- After selecting a handful of players during the first round of this year’s draft, the Nets still have plenty of draft assets remaining, including extra picks and pick swaps. Yet their best asset might be their own first-rounder next year, which they reacquired from Houston, writes Brian Lewis of the New York Post (subscription required). There’s plenty of pressure on general manager Sean Marks that a majority of the players he picked this June pan out, as well as using that future draft capital wisely.
- Should restricted free agent Quentin Grimes sign his $8.7MM qualifying offer from the Sixers and become unrestricted next summer? Or will the two parties eventually find common ground on a multi-year contract before next season? Rich Hofmann and Derek Bodner of PHLY Sports take a deep dive into that subject in their latest podcast (video link).
Kai Jones Close To Signing With Virtus Bologna
Kai Jones is nearing a deal with Virtus Bologna, sources tell Alessandro Maggi of Sportando (Twitter link).
The 24-year-old center signed with the Clippers at the end of the 2023/24 season, then landed a two-way contract in last year’s training camp. After being waived at the start of March, he finished the season on a two-way deal with the Mavericks.
Jones saw limited action in 28 games with L.A., but he had a much larger role once he joined the shorthanded Dallas team. He appeared in 12 games, making six starts and averaging 11.4 points, 6.6 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 21.7 minutes per night while shooting 83.6% from the field.
The Mavericks showed interest in bringing Jones back, but they’ll have a full roster with the expected re-signing of Dante Exum. It appears Jones – who is no longer eligible for a two-way contract – is opting for guaranteed money overseas instead of waiting for another NBA opportunity.
Selected with the 19th pick in the 2021 draft, Jones was a highly touted prospect after two years at Texas. He was waived after two disappointing seasons with Charlotte and had to work his way back through the G League.
Virtus Bologna’s roster already includes former NBA players Carsen Edwards, Luca Vildoza and Alen Smailagic. A report on Saturday indicated that the Italian team also had interest in Kenneth Faried.
Christmas Day Schedule Includes Thunder-Spurs, Rockets-Lakers
The NBA’s highly anticipated Christmas Day schedule has been revealed, courtesy of ESPN’s Shams Charania (via Twitter). The five-game slate is heavy on Western Conference powerhouses, with just one game coming from the Eastern Conference, in a matchup of what is expected to be the top two teams in the Cavaliers and Knicks.
This will be the first Christmas Day game for the Cavaliers in the post-LeBron James era, writes Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. Their last December 25 game came in 2017.
Following the Eastern Conference matchup, the Spurs will travel to Oklahoma City to face the Thunder, as Victor Wembanyama squares off against Chet Holmgren, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and Jalen Williams.
Kevin Durant and the Rockets will then duel LeBron James, Luka Doncic, and the Lakers in a clash of teams balancing championship aspirations with their Hall-of-Fame veterans and younger future-facing casts. The Rockets last played a Christmas Day game in 2019, writes Danielle Lerner of the Houston Chronicle.
The final two matchups of the night will see the Mavericks face off against the Warriors, and finally, the Timberwolves going up against the retooled Nuggets in a battle of Northwest Division powerhouses.
As Marc Stein notes (via Twitter), between the Christmas Day schedule and the reported opening night schedule, the league has chosen not to highlight a Mavericks-Lakers matchup on either of these two anticipated dates. Instead, Stein reports (via Twitter), the battle of Doncic’s current and former teams will likely occur at the end of November during the NBA Cup.
As Law Murray of the Athletic notes (via Twitter), only three teams that won at least 49 games last season aren’t featured on the Christmas Day slate. Those teams are the Celtics and Pacers, who are expected to take a step back as their stars (Jayson Tatum and Tyrese Haliburton) recover from Achilles tears, and the Clippers, who will not play on Christmas for the fifth year in a row.
Rockets/Thunder, Warriors/Lakers To Play On Opening Night
The 2025/26 NBA season will tip off on October 21 with a pair of Western Conference matchups, reports ESPN’s Shams Charania (via Twitter).
The Rockets will go up against the 2024 title-winning Thunder to open the evening, followed by the Warriors at the Lakers.
This means Kevin Durant, on the new-look Rockets, will be heading to Oklahoma City on the night the Thunder receive their championship rings. Meanwhile, Stephen Curry will go up against LeBron James for the 57th time in their careers.
While the Mavericks were not tapped with an opening night game, Marc Stein of the Stein Line reports (via Twitter) that their season will start on October 22 against the Spurs in what is sure to be a much-anticipated showdown between this year’s No. 1 pick, Cooper Flagg and 2023’s top pick Victor Wembanyama, as well as this year’s No. 2 selection Dylan Harper.
Stein also notes (via Twitter) that the league has announced that group play for the NBA Cup will take place between October 31 and November 28 this season.
Southwest Notes: Lively, Flagg, Giannis, Wembanyama, Sengun, Durant, Smith Jr.
Mavericks center Dereck Lively II has only two years of NBA experience but he’s playing a mentorship role to top pick Cooper Flagg, according to Jake Rogers of Dallas Hoops Journal. Naturally, they have a college connection, as both were one-and-dones at Duke.
“I’ve probably known him for a couple of years now, at least two or three,” Lively said. “He’s always been the same smiling, joking kid. I’m glad he’s been able to stay grounded, not letting the spotlight overwhelm him. Whether he’s in the gym or hanging out at the house, he’s always just being Coop.”
Lively has stayed in frequent contact with Flagg since the draft.
“I’m making sure he feels as comfortable as possible, giving him any little detail or advice. I remember how frightened I was at 19. He’s only 18,” Lively said.
Here’s more from the Southwest Division:
- Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo has carved out a Hall of Fame worthy career but he’s also into collecting memorabilia of other NBA superstars. His current target is Spurs big man Victor Wembanyama, he told Brooks Peck of The Athletic during an appearance at the National Sports Collector Convention. “I want Wemby’s first rookie card ever,” Antetokounmpo said. “I think he’s gonna be one of the best players in the league in the next couple of years. I think he will have a very great career moving forward, so — maybe like a jersey, his first jersey or his first basketball shoe when he played his first NBA game, or the first ball that he played with and scored his very first point. You gotta go with Wemby, Steph (Curry), LeBron (James), MJ (Michael Jordan). Those are great investments.”
- Rockets center Alperen Sengun believes the offense will thrive with the addition of Kevin Durant. Sengun, who will play for Turkey in EuroBasket, made his comments to Anadolu, Turkey’s state-run news agency (hat tip to RocketsWire). “I’m excited to play with Durant. Everyone is excited to play with him. It doesn’t matter his age — ultimately, he’s Kevin Durant. I have no doubt he will bring a lot to the team,” Sengun said. “He’s very experienced, and we have some very young players. I think he’ll open up the game for us. He’s incredibly effective both offensively and defensively.”
- Along the same lines, Rockets forward Jabari Smith Jr. said he believes playing with Durant will be a learning experience, RocketsWire relays via an interview with Space City Home Network’s Vanessa Richardson. “Kevin Durant is one of the greatest players to ever touch a basketball,” Smith said. “It’s going to be great for me to learn from him, and see what he does, day-to-day… and just soak up as much game as I can. It’s going to be fun playing alongside him and going to battle with him.”