The Spurs and their vibes are undefeated

Victor Wembanyama carries San Antonio to 5-0 for the first time ever. Plus: Ryan Rollins revels in revenge. Good morning. Let's basketball.

Scores

Magic 123, Hornets 107 – Alright, Orlando: the offense hit, the defense did its job, nice win over the ... uh, Hornets. Whatever it takes.

Brandon Miller appears to be on track to return soon after missing the last three games. Seeing what a Miller-LaMelo Ball-Kon Knueppel trio can do seems to be a worthy goal for the season for Charlotte.

Warriors 110, Bucks 120 – Giannis Antetokounmpo was a late scratch with knee soreness. The Bucks still won. Milwaukee protected the ball (-7 turnover differential), hit threes and survived an enormous free throw advantage for Golden State. Ryan Rollins is playing unbelievable basketball right now and might have had a little extra for a Warriors team that discarded them a couple years ago. Rollins probably has the most or second-most team-friendly non-rookie, non-max deal in the league (along with Ajay Mitchell): $4 million this season, $4 million next season.

The mindset to take Al Horford to the midrange for a pull-up and then to stepback on Jimmy Butler for the nail in the coffin: pretty good handle on the game from the kid. Early Most Improved Player contender.

Wizards 108, Thunder 127 – Oklahoma City is 29th in three-point percentage this season, hitting just 29.6% of their shots from deep. And yet: the Thunder are 6-0. They finished sixth in three-point percentage last year; just imagine how good they'll be when the shots actually start falling.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the reigning NBA MVP, has better numbers across the board so far. Fully in control of his powers.

More seriously, Thunder guard Nikola Topic is undergoing chemotherapy treatment for testicular cancer, the team announced on Thursday. Sam Presti told the media that Topic's medical team is optimstic about Topic's recovery but that (of course) there's no timeline or expectation of his return to play. Best wishes to Topic and to all fighting the heinous disease that is cancer.

Heat 101, Spurs 107 – Just a marvelous battle with a ton of bulldogs on the floor, few turnovers, few free throws. A lot of solid defense and some key shot-making. The beautiful game.

Encouraging loss for Miami without Norm Powell. The Heat are on track to be top-5 in the East, if not better.

The Spurs are 5-0 for the first time ever. The team is HYPED. The vibes are undefeated, too.

The joy in the moment in lieu of self-serious "we have bigger goals" is refreshing and beautiful.

Thus Concludes FREE PREVIEW WEEK

If you've enjoyed the content this week as a free subscriber and you can swing it, I hope you'll join up as a paid subscriber to keep getting the newsletter every weekday and support independent, gambling-free NBA writing.

Monday's newsletter will go to paid subscribers only. We'll be back to free editions only on Wednesdays starting next week.

In any case, thank you for reading!

The Tentacles

Pablo Torre released more reporting on the Chauncey Billups-Damon Jones-Terry Rozier scandals that ties them together and to the Jontay Porter scandal and the Malik Beasley investigation, all centered around an internet betting tout named Shane Hennen. More great reporting from Pablo and excellent, entertaining storytelling from Pablo and Amin Elhassan.

There's some real news in here, too. For one, Hennen at some point was cooperating with federal investigators as a part of a plea deal. For another, Clippers coach Ty Lue was present at the allegedly fixed poker game (albeit at a different table than Billups) and is a close friend of Jones and regular at some of the key poker locales these scandals are circling around. The Clippers really cannot get enough of Pablo Torre.

Meanwhile, a controversy bubbling to the surface is whether the NBA royally screwed the Miami Heat by not revealing that Rozier was still under investigation by the NBA as well as federal investigators when the team made a trade with the Charlotte Hornets in January 2024. The league is now telling reporters it never cleared Rozier; it simply could not find evidence sufficient to take action itself. The Hornets were the only team aware of the investigation ... and were then allowed to trade Rozier without constraint and without disclosure. That seems deeply problematic to me.

Schedule

Twenty-two games over the weekend including Night 1 of the 2025 NBA Cup on Friday! Put on the goggles because you're about to be assaulted with color. All times Eastern.

FRIDAY
Hawks at Pacers, 7
Celtics at Sixers, 7, Prime Video
Raptors at Cavaliers, 7:30
Knicks at Bulls, 8
Lakers at Grizzlies, 9:30, Prime Video
Jazz at Suns, 10
Nuggets at Blazers, 10
Pelicans at Clippers, 10:30

SATURDAY
Kings at Bucks, 5
Timberwolves at Hornets, 6
Warriors at Pacers, 7, NBA TV
Magic at Wizards, 7
Rockets at Celtics, 8
Mavericks vs. Pistons in Mexico City, 10, Peacock

SUNDAY
Pelicans at Thunder, 3:30
Sixers at Nets, 6
Jazz at Hornets, 6
Hawks at Cavaliers, 6
Grizzlies at Raptors, 6
Bulls at Knicks, 7
Spurs at Suns, 8
Heat at Lakers, 9:30

Alright, be excellent to each other.