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We’re closing out 2024 this week and opening up the calendar to 2025! Not everything has gone the right way for teams looking to have big seasons, so it’s a good time to check in on two Western Conference hopefuls hoping to make major changes in how their season has gone. We’ve also got the NBA Stock Report to let us know where the league is trending, and one of the most impressive birthdays in NBA history. Advertisement Here’s your latest NBA Rewind! Big Story: Survival in the West One of the big stories of the season is how impossible the Western Conference seems to navigate.
The New Orleans Pelicans have dealt with so many injuries that their disastrous season has left them out of the mix and alleviated some of that traffic jam in the standings. But we still have 12 teams with postseason hopes, whether in the Play-In Tournament or better. And, as the season goes on, the desperation to get into the top six in the West for a team to control its own fate will get more chaotic.
Let’s check on two West teams looking to survive a major firing and an important issue on offense. The Sacramento Kings fired Mike Brown after an 0-5 homestand before they headed to Los Angeles Saturday night for their 132-122 loss to the LeBron-less Lakers. The Kings started 13-18 under Brown in his third year, as he became the 12th straight Kings coach to fail to make it past three seasons on the sidelines.
He’s the eighth coach who has been fired in the Vivek Ranadivé ownership era, although Keith Smart was the inherited coach when the team was purchased to keep the franchise in Sacramento. Former Kings player Doug Christie was upgraded from assistant coach to interim head coach. The details of the lead-up to Brown’s firing were brilliantly detailed by Sam Amick and Anthony Slater .
And it really makes you feel like nothing has changed with the Kings and their process of impatience under Ranadivé. To be fair, it’s not like the Maloof family was killing it in the years leading up to selling the franchise. Ranadivé kept the team where it belonged and helped build a remarkable arena in downtown Sacramento.
Since then, he’s needed Brown to create a winning culture, which was allowed to last for two seasons. Here’s what I inferred from the reporting by Amick and Slater: • This is a typical Ranadivé firing — treating the Kings like a tech company and not valuing continuity, especially with Brown being the only successful coach he hired. Advertisement • The conflicting part of that inference is the reporting says this is a Monte McNair decision.
• McNair and Brown were sort of at odds during the contract extension negotiations this summer. Brown ultimately received a three-year extension through 2027. • After discussing the future of the franchise with De’Aaron Fox’s agent Rich Paul and a possible request for a trade down the road, perhaps McNair felt pressure to get Brown out of there.
• Brown had been giving some harsh criticism of players recently, which wasn’t all that well-received. Some of it was pointed at Fox, and perhaps this was McNair either bending to the will of Fox (possible) or guessing this was what Fox might want, so he decided to make the call (more likely). • Things got compounded when former Kings player Tyrese Haliburton came to town and blew the team out.
Haliburton becoming a star last season in a Pacers uniform has been a sore spot for the organization. Christie now has a chance to right the ship. And it won’t take much.
The Kings’ issues this season have been because of injuries, some miscues in clutch situations and a little bit of inconsistency in closing games. That winless five-game homestand? They probably should have won at least three of those games. That they were a DeMar DeRozan pass bobble, poor boxout and poor foul decision on a four-point play away from going 3-2 preceding the firing shows that Sacramento’s decision-makers probably have a pretty myopic view.
The Kings are just 2.5 games out of 10th in the West and sit only 4.5 games from sixth.
This season isn’t a disaster and not even close to a lost cause. This team is pretty healthy now and has plenty of firepower to move back up the standings. That’s why I find the decision to fire Brown to be so shortsighted.
Former Kings coach and current Denver Nuggets coach Michael Malone, who led the franchise to its first NBA title in 2023, talked about the firing on Friday and said he wasn’t surprised because it’s the same guy (Ranadivé) who fired him after 106 games on Sacramento’s sidelines. He ended his criticism of the leadership and decision by saying the Kings have “no class, no balls” in the choice to fire Brown after allowing him to coach practice and address the media for 18 minutes before the flight he was never allowed to board. It’s time for the Kings to figure this out, lest they become the punchline they were for a decade and a half before hiring Brown.
Advertisement Leading up to the Denver Nuggets winning their 2023 championship, Malone did a really good job of using the same two tactics to motivate his team early and later on in the season. Early in the season, Malone would refer to his team as soft, disorganized or unfocused after a bad loss. It was used to kind of collectively slap players in the face and get the team into a higher gear, or they might be ridiculed publicly like that again.
(Players and teams really hate being called soft.) Then, later in the season as things got more serious, Malone would always play the card of “nobody believes in us” to keep the competitive juices high. And it eventually worked, with them winning it all in a dominant run through the 2023 postseason.
I’m wondering if Anthony Edwards is unknowingly attempting something similar with his public comments about the Minnesota Timberwolves (16-14). After a four-game losing streak earlier in the season, Edwards famously called out his team as soft and criticized their lack of defensive communication while not following coach Chris Finch’s game plan. It briefly worked, as the Wolves won six of their next seven games and held opponents to 92 or fewer points six times.
Then the Wolves had their showdown with Karl-Anthony Towns returning to Minneapolis as a member of the New York Knicks. The Wolves got blown out, leading to Edwards being highly critical of their offense . He said everybody knew he and Julius Randle would take a bunch of shots, and “we don’t really know anything else.
” The next two games didn’t see a repeat Minnesota turnaround. The team struggled to score against the Golden State Warriors and Atlanta Hawks, losing by double digits both times. However, we saw some pretty impressive wins in the next two outings.
On Christmas Day, Minnesota was dominating the Dallas Mavericks before coughing up a 22-point lead in the fourth quarter to a Mavs team without Luka Dončić. But the Wolves gathered themselves and pulled out the Christmas road victory. Then, during their next game, the Wolves were down 15 points to the Houston Rockets with 4:19 remaining.
The Rockets have one of the best defenses in the NBA. Somehow, the Wolves lit them up the rest of the game. They finished on a 23-4 run, fueled by 10 points from Naz Reid, a big dunk from Randle and six points by Edwards in the final 91 seconds of the game, including the go-ahead, step-back 3-pointer with 23 seconds left.
The Wolves haven’t solved their offensive issues with just two games, though. Minnesota is ranked 21st in the league in offensive rating, sitting behind the Brooklyn Nets and Detroit Pistons on that end of the floor. The Wolves are 11th in effective field-goal percentage and 13th in true shooting percentage.
But they’re also 25th in turnover rate, which kills far too many of their possessions. They turn it over 16 percent of the time. That figure is too high for a team with this many veterans.
Edwards has to lead the charge in that aspect of it. Stock Report extended This week on the NBA Stock Report, we’re looking at three teams playing above expectations, two teams free-falling again and a Western Conference team struggling to meet expectations. Which teams are trending in the right direction? How about those moving in the wrong direction? It’s time for the Stock Report.
📈 Memphis Grizzlies (22-10): On Nov. 19, the Grizzlies were 8-7 and still trying to figure out how to return to form from two years ago. Since then, Memphis has gone 14-4.
This is exactly the Grizzlies squad we are used to seeing. They need to see when they can get Ja Morant back from this AC joint sprain in his shoulder (the same shoulder that ended his season last year), but the role players have been excellent. Scotty Pippen Jr.
has been a discovered gem, Santi Aldama is one of the best sixth men in the league and Jaylen Wells has been one of the best rookies. The Grizzlies are the only team ranked top five in both offense and defense. Advertisement 📉 Golden State Warriors (16-15): To their credit, the Warriors began this six-game homestand by beating a Suns team missing Devin Booker, but their next five games are against the Cleveland Cavaliers, Philadelphia 76ers, Memphis Grizzlies, Sacramento Kings and Miami Heat.
This Warriors team has won just four of its last 16 games and just can’t make shots, which has been the case for over a month. Over those 16 games, Golden State sits 29th in field-goal percentage, 23rd in 3-point percentage and 30th in free-throw percentage. The Warriors still employ Steph Curry, but shots just aren’t falling for anybody else.
Jonathan Kuminga is scoring , as is Trayce Jackson-Davis. But the Warriors need to simply make more shots to get out of this. 📈 Houston Rockets (21-11): The Rockets had that very frustrating loss to the Wolves last week and lost their cool late Sunday night in a 104-100 loss to Miami, leading to several ejections .
Still, Houston has won six of its last nine games, and 16 of the last 23 contests. In this latest stretch, we know the defense is often going to deliver. That’s the team’s identity under coach Ime Udoka, but it’s also 10th in offensive rating during the last nine games.
The Rockets are feasting on the offensive glass, running teams in transition and dominating the paint. 📉 New Orleans Pelicans (5-27): I don’t want to pile on such a terrible season for the Pelicans, but they’re currently enduring a nine-game losing streak with games against the Clippers and Heat coming up next, so this malaise could probably dip into double digits. The Pelicans are finally healthy outside of Zion Williamson, Brandon Ingram and Jose Alvarado.
So ...
it should be better than this, right? But it’s not. It’s their second nine-game losing streak of the season. The good news? After the game against the Heat, New Orleans has two straight against the Wizards.
Help is on the way? 📈 Detroit Pistons (14-18): The Pistons have won five of their last eight games, and, while one of those losses was a bad one to the Utah Jazz, we’re seeing this team find some confidence in some of these tight games. Jaden Ivey looks like he wants to take over the big moments in great ways, and we’re seeing Cade Cunningham get them to those moments for Ivey to seize the moment. The defense is not what it needs to be, and head coach J.
B. Bickerstaff is going to have to bring that to a higher level, but the offense has really been kicking for the Pistons. Detroit is running right now, scoring a lot of points off turnovers and getting out on the break.
The Pistons finally seem to be developing an identity on that end of the court. GO DEEPER Cade Cunningham's growth helping Pistons to forget 'quiet plane rides' of last season 📉 Toronto Raptors (7-24): The Pelicans aren’t the only team losing a lot of games in a row. While neither team is close to matching what Washington did earlier this season or the Pistons’ low point last season, the Raptors and Pelicans have both seen nine straight losses.
Toronto just can’t compete against non-losing teams enough to figure out how to turn those bad nights into wins. The Raptors are 2-19 against teams that are .500 or better.
Granted, they’re still missing Immanuel Quickley, and Jakob Poeltl has missed some games lately. But the Raptors really need to pull it together. Or maybe this gets them Cooper Flagg! The Week Ahead: LeBron James turns 40! There’s a good chance, as we’re in Year 22 of talking about LeBron James in the NBA and probably Year 24 of him being near the top of basketball/sports discussions in general, you’re sick of hearing about one of the biggest sports stars in the history of athletics.
He has saturated conversation after conversation. The coverage of him has often been over the top and forced down the gullets of sports fans. He’s everywhere.
He’s around all the time. His brand, game and the infinite debates about his place in his sport’s history are damn near unavoidable. If you’re over all of it, I can’t fault you.
At the same time, he’s normalized everything he’s done in the late stages of his NBA career, including being so productive this late into his 30s. On Monday, he turns 40, and it’s utterly ridiculous for anyone except a left-handed specialist relief pitcher in Major League Baseball or maybe a placekicker in the NFL to still be this close to the top of his game at that age. Let’s just review some of the ridiculous accumulation of statistics he’s accomplished: That’s just a smattering of statistical feats James owns or could own someday as he continues to move up the charts.
Throw in 20 All-Star selections (his rookie season is the only year he didn’t make it), 20 All-NBA selections (again, every season but rookie year), one scoring title, six All-Defense selections, four MVP awards, four NBA Finals MVP awards and four NBA titles. The reason James gets so much coverage is because it resonates with people (positively or negatively), and he’s had the most unprecedented résumé in league history. Even with incredible talent in the NBA looking to grab those torches of attention and accomplishment from him, it’s fair to question whether we’ll ever see a career that even comes close to what he’s done.
Advertisement The excellence and the longevity are unreasonable to match or even approach. James Jackson and I ranked and analyzed the 40 biggest moments of the NBA’s all-time leading scorer’s career . Unfortunately, James telling everybody they’re losers did not make the list, although it’s one of the funniest, petty moments in sports history.
James will be synonymous with NBA and sports greatness, regardless of whether or not you think he’s the greatest. Maybe he surpassed Jordan for you. Maybe he didn’t.
But he’s made the impossible a conversation to consider for so many people. At worst, he’s the second-best player we’ve ever seen. And he’s still going at an unreasonable level of play.
Happy birthday, LeBron! (Top photo: Thearon W. Henderson / Getty Images).
