A Christmas Day Catchup on the NBA Season so Far

Photo Credit: Fox Sports

No matter how hard the NFL and Netflix try to take it, Christmas Day has always been, and will always be, about buckets. With only one playoff-bound NFL team in action today, and a full slate of incredible matchups that accurately reflect the best games the NBA has to offer, basketball still owns the best day of the year.

Christmas is also when a lot of fans either start to follow or lock in on hoops as the number of meaningful football games every week starts to dwindle and fantasy football wraps up. For those looking to catch up on the season so far, the biggest storylines of the first third of the season are laid out here.

Merry Hoopsmas to all!

The Thunder are Defending their Title at a Historic Level

In the lead up to their lucrative showdown, Anthony Joshua talked about how he intended not only to dominate Jake Paul physically, but to break his spirit; to watch the competitive energy leave Paul’s body until he gave up and would welcome the end of the fight. The fight played out exactly as Joshua described, with Paul ultimately too exhausted to raise his hands as a smiling Joshua broke his jaw in multiple places. The Thunder have been breaking spirits like this in game after game this season.

Photo Credit: Agence France-Presse

Going into Christmas the Thunder had a point differential of 14.9 points per game, 2 points higher than the all time record of 12.9 that they set last season. The Thunder’s starters are sitting out the majority of 4th quarters while their second string continues to throttle competition that has been warn down by the elite athleticism. Going into the NBA Cup semifinal against the Spurs were 24–1, with only a fluke loss to Portland having gone against them. This was with their second best player missing he first quarter of the season.

A series of losses against the Spurs and an incredible performance by Anthony Edwards have the Thunder at least looking mortal, and likely foreshadows the battle for power in the NBA for the next decade. But even with some healthy competition, the Thunder have been in a class entirely of their own from the jump.

Victor Wembanyama has Arrived and the Spurs have Grown Up with Him

Wemby appears to be fully recovered from the blood clot issues that knocked him out at the end of last season, and is showing that he has the potential to be the best player in the league. He is hitting 3’s at a rate that forces teams to defend him outside, and he controls the paint on both sides of the floor in a way that I haven’t seen since prime Shaq. Teams are terrified to shoot inside of 15 feet when he is in the game, and are forced to completely change their shooting form to get it over him if they do. He is playing at a height and length that has never been seen in the NBA, and doing it with the skills and agility of a guard. The athleticism and skill in the NBA has consistently produced players who are changing the game, but Wemby could shake it to its core.

Even more significant than the jump that Wemby has made since last season, is the difference in the level of play from the other Spurs. Stephon Castle has leveled up from his rookie of the year performance last year and cemented himself as the best player from his draft class, and Dylan Harper looks like a worthy top 2 pick in what might be a top 3 draft class of the last 25 years. De’Aaron Fox is playing as well as he did for any of the beam teams and is showing that he can both lead this offense when called upon, and run it when other players are stepping up. Last year in games without Wemby the Spurs went 13–23. This year they are 9–3.

There were concerns coming into this season about a lack of three point shooing for the Spurs, and about Wemby’s ability to stay on the court. The Spurs have now beat the reigning champs 3 times in the last two weeks, and established themselves as a legitimate title contender years ahead of schedule.

The Best 6 Teams in the League Might All be in the West

While the Thunder are hovering above the rest of the league, they face a gauntlet going through the rest of the conference. With respect to the Knicks and Pistons, who are discussed below, I think that any of the top 6 in the Western Conference would be the conference favorite if Adam Silver picked them up and put them in the East. None are as complete as the Thunder, but each has a a unique ability that can tilt a game against any opponent.

Photo Credit: Denver Nuggets X

The Nuggets are the most likely team to knock OKC off and reclaim the title. Jokic may not be the reigning MVP anymore, but he still seems to be the consensus best player in the world and is measurably having the best season of his career. A 56–16–15 to cap off Christmas ball isn’t even unexpected from him these days. He is leading the league in points and assists per game and is 5th in points per game while shooting 44% from 3. Unheard of statistical dominance. Jamal Murray is in playoff form and has been all year. No typical slow start from him. Denver’s improved bench, especially with Jonas Valanciunas filling in when Jokic sits, has successfully solved the depth issues that were Denver’s biggest problem since their title season. It has allowed them to stay afloat while two of their starters and most important players have missed significant time. When Braun and Gordon return to this lineup Denver is as good as any team in the West, including Oklahoma City.

Houston has not suffered from any significant growing pains as they shifted from last year’s scrappy overperformers into this years title contender. Reid Sheppard, after basically being told to take a gap year last season, has emerged as a reliable primary ball handler on a contending team (provided they’re not going up against the Thunder’s harassing defenders) and proving himself to be the knockdown shooter he was in college. Kevin Durant has unsurprisingly (unless you’re a Suns or Nets fan) fit in perfectly with this team of scrappy brawlers and has bought in fully under Ime Udoka. Alperen Sengun doesn’t have much competition for the title of second best center in the world (I’ve got him well ahead of Towns, Davis and Duren) and the combination of him and Steven Adams are destroying teams on the glass. When the Rockets go big with Thompson at the 1 and Jabari Smith or Tari Eason in with the two bigs there just are not many teams who can match up with them physically. This is one of the great offensive rebounding teams ever through the first 30(ish) games of the season, and when that is paired with one of the best scorers in the history of the game and maybe the best one on one defender in the league in Thompson, it makes them a hard team to beat. I think that will be especially true over the course of a 7 game series when the Rockets size and physicality will start to wear teams down.

Photo Credit: Men’s Health

Luka has played as well this season as he looked coming into it. I was worried before the season that his slimmer frame could keep him from getting to spots on the floor as well has he had in previous years, but he is playing as well as ever and has the Lakers dreaming of contention. Austin Reaves has also elevated his game and is announcing himself as a potential star scorer, combining with Luka for over 60 a game; the highest duo in the league. Since LeBron’s return the three of them have been doing a good job of balancing the scoring (largely thanks to LeBron being willing to defer shooting for the benefit of the team). The concern for the Lakers is that after a good start they have slipped down to 25th in defensive rating. Rui, Vanderbilt, Smart, and Ayton can all be good defenders at times, but I don’t think they can keep winning like they have been without making an acquisition that can shore up their defense.

Photo Credit: Encyclopedia Britannica

In the last 5 minutes of a close game there is no better NBA player to watch than Anthony Edwards. You have to go back to the early days of LeBron’s return to Cleveland to find a time when one player was so far ahead of the rest of the league athletically. This team loses a lot of dumb games, and has a tendency to take their foot off the gas against competition they should be blowing off the court, but when they are locked in they can compete with anyone, and when the chips are down there is no one who can compete individually with Ant. This team has made the WCF in back to back years for a reason, and they are way ahead of where they were this time last year, when they were still adjusting to the addition of Randle and the loss of Towns.

Two Top Dogs in the East

Photo Credit: USA Today

The Pistons Knicks playoff series last year was one of the most exciting playoff series between teams that ultimately did not make the finals I can remember. Now both teams have taken the experience from last year and focused themselves on this year. For the Pistons, Cade Cunningham has continued to ascend as an All Star and All NBA player. Along side him Jalen Duren has added consistency to his game is is putting up 20–10 almost every night. The young athletic defenders Ausar Thompson and Ron Holland have gotten comfortable with the NBA game and are leaning that they can still physically dominate it. The Knicks are getting the kind of year out of OG Anunoby that they envisioned when they acquired and extended him, and Brunson remains one of the elite guard scorers in the league. Mike Brown has the team playing smarter minutes, and the added depth of Jordan Clarkson and the emergence of Tyler Kolek (who looks like a legitimate guy) has take some of the burden off of Brunson, and if Mitchell Robinson is healthy he single handedly dominates the offensive glass there. All of a sudden a lot of different ways this team can beat you.

The Pistons and Knicks have not played each other yet, but have three matchups coming in 2026. I think it will be an Eastern Conference Finals preview.

Other Notes from around the League

Photo Credit: AP News

• This year’s rookie class is as fun as I can remember. Flagg is living up to the hype, Harper is a top 5 guy on a team that could contend right now, Kon Knueppel looks like the early rookie of the year, and VJ Edgecombe might have the highest ceiling of any of them.
• Steph Curry remains ageless, but the Warriors remain fighting for a playoff spot and to stay above .500. It’s hard to understand why Steve Kerr seems so convinced there is not a way for Jonathan Kuminga to help this team win, even if it’s by playing enough to boost his trade value.
• After some early growing pains Desmond Bane is showing why the Magic gave up so much for him. Unfortunately I don’t think that Paolo and Franz have shared the court for more than 3 weeks since Paolo was drafted. If they ever get healthy they could climb in to the contenders ranks in the East.
• Something is off in Cleveland, and it’s not Donovan Mitchell. This team needs a shake up, whether it’s a coaching change (COY Curse?) or a trade.
• Tyrese Maxey has upped his game and is now in the same rung of scoring guards as Cade, Brunson, and Mitchell in the East. Him and Edgecombe are the most fun backcourt in the league.
• Giannis was playing as well as anyone before suffering a calf injury that has lead to an extended absence from the court. Milwaukee does not have a competitive team without him. There is no reason for him to come back to this team this year if changes can’t be made to improve the roster around him.
• There are as many unhappy franchise players now as there have been in recent memory, and for the first time in a while the question seems to be whether another team is willing to take them, rather than what their current team is asking for. Maybe everything blows over or teams don’t find the right deals, but Ja, Tre, Zion, Giannis, Harden, Kawahi, Sabonis, Herro, Lamelo, and Davis could all be on different teams in 6 weeks. Keep an ear out for drama.

Enjoy rest of the season everyone!