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There were two big trades on this date in NBA history. In 1995, the Miami Heat sent Glen Rice, Matt Geiger, Khalid Reeves and a first-round pick (who turned out to be Tony Delk) to the Charlotte Hornets for Alonzo Mourning, LeRon Ellis and Pete Myers. That was transformative for Miami. Then in 2008, the Detroit Pistons traded Chauncey Billups, Antonio McDyess and Cheikh Samb to the Denver Nuggets for Allen Iverson. That was not quite as transformative as you’d hope.
NBA stock report
How much worse can it get for the Pelicans?
Two weeks into the season, we’ve had quite a few surprises! This is the NBA Stock Report, where we track the biggest trends — both bad and good. So it’s not just about the best teams or the worst teams; it’s about the trendiest teams! It’s worth acknowledging that the Oklahoma City Thunder, the only undefeated team left, did not make the trending list. Just assume they’re headed up.
With that said, let’s check the ticker! That’s a stock report term, right?
📈 Milwaukee Bucks (4-2). The Bucks lost a tough one Saturday night to the Sacramento Kings, but it doesn’t ruin the good week they had. Ryan Rollins has emerged from an NBA player previously best known for being arrested for shoplifting from Target while on the Washington Wizards to playing surprisingly great point guard minutes for a Bucks team that desperately needs them.
Giannis has been a monster, and he’s back to playing Shaq-esque basketball. He’s averaging 23.2 points per game … just in the paint. He’s at 34.2 points per game overall. The Bucks are playing shockingly great offense right now. They’re pushing the pace a lot more and shooting the lights out from deep.
📉 New Orleans Pelicans (0-6). It’s getting really difficult to watch this Pelicans team. We knew they would be bad, despite having some intriguing talent on the roster and Zion Williamson arriving in the best shape of his life. The problem is, this team is not good on offense or on defense. You have to wonder how much longer Willie Green will keep his job. The Pels haven’t had an easy schedule, but they also have three losses of 31 points or more.
It’s worth reminding everybody that the better of the first-round picks New Orleans owns (their own or Milwaukee’s) will head to Atlanta in 2026. It is unprotected. And there are some potential superstars at the top of this upcoming draft.
📈 Miami Heat’s pace (3-3). Erik Spoelstra typically likes his teams to grind out games with a slow pace, a lot of defense and great execution. The last time the Heat were in the upper half of the NBA in pace was the 2005-06 season (12th). Since then, they’ve only been higher than 20th once, when they finished 16th in the 2011-12 season. Miami was 29th last season but is the fastest team this season. The Heat have the seventh-best offense and third-best defense. Maybe they saw what Indiana did the last couple of seasons and decided that was something they’d be interested in?
📉 Indiana Pacers’ health (1-5). Speaking of the Pacers, this is a miserable start. We knew Tyrese Haliburton was going to be out, but they’ve had so many injuries that they’re getting 10-day hardship exceptions for roster spots before Thanksgiving. The Pacers signed Jeremiah Robinson-Earl to one of those just to have bodies. That comes after signing Mac McClung to play, not just be on a team for the dunk contest. Six of the Pacers under contract are on the injury report, and most of them are major parts of their rotation and identity.
📈 Portland Trail Blazers (4-2). Even though the Blazers are missing head coach Chauncey Billups because of the FBI investigation, they are not letting that take them down. They’ve won three straight games, with victories over the Lakers, Jazz and Nuggets. Their defense has fueled them so far. Last season, they showed real signs of life in the second half with great defensive spurts. After bringing in a rejuvenated Jrue Holiday this summer, the Blazers have even more leadership and performance on that end of the floor.
📉 Sacramento Kings (2-4). The win over the Bucks this weekend definitely helped make things feel better. The Kings just don’t have a lot of positives to use so far. Their offense has been mostly bad with all of their ball-dominant players on the roster. The shooting hasn’t been terrible, but they really don’t shoot a lot of 3-pointers. Usually that can be balanced out by getting offensive rebounds or getting to the free-throw line. They don’t do that stuff either.
Defensively, they can’t stop anybody. They give up an outrageous number of points in the paint. And they’re one of the 10 worst teams at defensive rebounding.
The last 24
Will we see Kyrie soon?
👀 By New Year’s? Jason Kidd had some encouraging comments about Kyrie Irving. Could he be back before the end of 2025?
🏀 Tanking! The tanking experience is really terrible for teams and fans. Until it leads to a talent like VJ Edgecombe.
🪣 No changes? The Mavericks really can’t score much at all right now. So naturally, they’re … staying the course?
🏀 Uh oh. Josh Hart has been dealing with a finger injury for some time. He has nerve damage affecting other fingers now.
🏀 Doc preaching. Bucks coach Doc Rivers is not afraid to speak outside of basketball. Especially when it comes to kids being denied food.
🏀 Perfect match? Jake LaRavia wasn’t the biggest name in free agency this summer. But so far he has been exactly what the Lakers have needed.
🎧 Tuning in. Today’s “NBA Daily” looks into the Ja Morant situation and whether the Suns solved Victor Wembanyama.
Stream the NBA on Fubo (try it for free!) and catch out-of-market games on League Pass.
A Grizzly situation
Ja Morant’s comments fuel speculation
So much of the Morant conversation over the last couple of years has been about whether he wants to be or should be the face of the NBA. Or one of the main faces of an NBA post-LeBron James, Steph Curry and Kevin Durant (whenever that happens). We haven’t broached the topic of whether he definitely wants to be the face of the Grizzlies, his current employer.
Over the past few days, tensions have risen between Morant and Memphis. After a loss Friday night to the Lakers in which Ja had eight points on 14 shots in 30 minutes and 58 seconds, he was fed up with the coaching staff. This was the exchange between Morant and some reporters after he was asked what went wrong:
“Go ask the coaching staff.”
He was asked if he could have done anything differently.
“Go ask them. They had a whole spiel in here, so…”
Oh no. Another reporter mentioned that Ja didn’t have his typical energy from the outset.
“Go ask the coaching staff why.”
Ay, Dios mio. He was asked if he should be playing more. He’s averaging a career-low 28.5 minutes per game.
“Go ask the coaching staff should I play more or not.”
He was asked if something could have gone better, other than “go ask the coaching staff.”
“According to them, probably don’t play me, honestly. That’s basically what the message was after, so it’s cool.”
Ruh roh, Shaggy. The team suspended him one game for those comments about Tuomas Iisalo and his coaching staff. The Grizzlies lost that game on Sunday to the Raptors, and I can hear the vultures circling the situation. For all of his faults and tumultuous couple of years on and off the court, Morant is still a superstar in this league. Between now and the trade deadline, this will be something for everybody to monitor. Remember, Ja hates the offense that was forced on Taylor Jenkins before Jenkins was eventually fired for Iisalo. This doesn’t feel like this is heading in the right direction for the Grizzlies, but Morant still has two years left on his contract after this. We could be heading toward a trade demand or a reconciliation. This is not how this was supposed to go, though.
Read more about this — including some possible landing spots for Morant — in my NBA Rewind article.
Unbreakable?
Can anybody catch Stockton’s assists record?
A six-year-old Chris Paul quote resurfaced on social media this week, likely in an attempt to grab some cheap clicks and force engagement in the comments. But it was something that got the old hamster on the wheel churning out some steps again. The quote from CP3 comes from when he moved into eighth on the all-time assists board in 2019.
Paul, who was playing for the Houston Rockets, said, “I don’t like saying never, but ain’t nobody catching that. I don’t know who the statisticians were, who used to do that stats in Utah, but ain’t nobody catching that.”
Since then, CP3 has moved all the way up to second place on the all-time list! He’s so close now, right? Well… not quite. Paul has a staggering 12,515 assists. He has over 400 more than third-place Jason Kidd. Unfortunately, he’s still 3,291 behind Stockton. Just to put that into context, CP3 has racked up 3,334 assists over the last six-plus seasons! He’d have to play another six seasons at that pace to approach this record. He’s 40 years old.
It got me wondering what it might take for a younger, current player to catch Stockton. In the spirit of the legendary Jazz point guard, I decided to do my own research. I figured including the breadth of top playmakers over their entire careers in the current NBA was the right starting point. These are the top playmakers who aren’t close to retirement:
- Trae Young, 27: 4,787 assists
- Nikola Jokić, 30: 5,437 assists (since 2014)
- Luka Dončić, 26: 3,723 assists
- Tyrese Haliburton, 25: 2,947
Let’s start with Trae. He led the NBA with 11.6 assists per game last season. He could catch Stockton if he plays 82 games a season for the next 11 and a half seasons while averaging 11.6 assists. He’d be around 39 years old at that point.
Jokić eclipsed 10 assists per game last season. He’s averaging 11.3 per game in the early start of this season. Let’s be generous and say he sustains the 11.3 average. He’d have to play 82 games per season and play until he’s 41 to catch Stockton.
Luka’s highest assist average in any season is 9.8 per game. If he played every game for the next 15 years at that average, he would catch Stockton. He’d also be 41 years old.
Finally, Haliburton will miss this entire season with an Achilles tear. His best season mark is 10.9 assists per game. He’d have to play every game of the season for the next 14-plus years. He’d also have to sustain this until 40 years old.
All of these feats of longevity make sense, because Stockton played until he was 41. CP3 was right, though. I also wonder what those Utah statisticians were doing back then.
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