INDIANAPOLIS — There isn’t too much scoring in the NBA — 70-point games and record-breaking team offenses be damned.

The players don’t like to see what happened to Joel Embiid, or even Tyrese Haliburton, but they support the spirit of a league requirement for games played to determine eligibility for awards like MVP.

Clippers or Celtics? Joker, Embiid or even … LeBron? And who wants to be NBA commissioner Adam Silver for a day?

The Athletic again put on its collective hard hat, grabbed a lunch pail and jumped head first into All-Star media day, a savage, unruly affair in which players sit up on a dais, behind a gate, having questions shouted at them by YouTube influencers, goofballs on top of other goofballs’ shoulders, rappers, WNBA players and, yes, traditional reporters.

From the practice court at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, Joe Vardon, Sam Amick, David Aldridge and Mike Vorkunov spoke to 18 players, most of them All-Stars, a couple from the Skills Challenge, 3-Point or Slam Dunk contests, and one second gentleman, to canvas them on who’s the NBA’s best player, the best team and what about the league needs to change.

Not everyone polled answered every question, but they all had plenty of ideas:

Who is the best player in the league?

Nikola Jokić, Joel Embiid — 3
Luka…

LAS VEGAS — This week, the NBA will descend upon Las Vegas in full force. Even for a city used to spectacle, it’s bringing something novel along with it. For the first time in decades, the league will hold real, live, actual — yes, they count — regular-season games in Sin City. It is a step into the breach unlike any other for the NBA.

Professional basketball has come to Vegas before. There have been exhibition games, the 2007 NBA All-Star Game, NBA Summer League, even a few Utah Jazz games in the 1980s, a playoff game between the Los Angeles Lakers and Portland Trail Blazers in 1992, the NBA G League Ignite franchise since 2020 and, for the last six seasons, WNBA games. But the NBA has never put a product on display quite like the one it will on Thursday afternoon when the NBA In-Season Tournament semifinals tip off at T-Mobile Arena.

While it is a seminal moment for the league and the city, it is also one open to much conjecture and forecasting. NBA commissioner Adam Silver has tiptoed around expansion in recent years, and Las Vegas has come up as a potential home for a new franchise. This week will likely do little to silence those rumblings.

In July, Silver called Vegas “our 31st franchise;” now, everyone is waiting to see if Vegas will actually be the league’s…

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This is an NBA newsletter, but why wouldn’t Mario Cristobal just kneel with 33 seconds left with Georgia Tech having no timeouts?

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Eight Random Thoughts

NBA training camp/preseason musings

Remember when training camp lasted for weeks with action and stories? Pat Riley remembers …

With preseason action already underway and training camp in the books, here are eight random thoughts and observations as the 2023-24 NBA season nears:

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WNBA Finals, Game 1

Wild Aces lock down Liberty

In the first half of Game 1 of the WNBA Finals, it appeared Liberty sharpshooter Marine Johannes would fuel an upset. She finished with 14 points and knocked down four 3-pointers in 20 minutes off the bench. Johannes entered Game 1 with five total points in 42 minutes during New York’s first five games this postseason.

Then, the second half happened and the Aces did what they always do: Las Vegas locked down the Liberty and cruised to a 99-82 victory. Jackie Young (26 points) dominated Sabrina Ionescu and Courtney Vandersloot. Kelsey Plum and Chelsea Gray (46 combined points, 11 total rebounds) were relentless. And the Aces’ defense was led by A’ja Wilson, who…

CHICAGO — Brian Wright remained stoic throughout. There was no outburst, no wide smile, barely even a fist pump. As the San Antonio Spurs’ winning numbers were read off individually after flying out of a lottery machine in a conference room here he forced himself to sit still. The realization that the fate of his entire organization had just flipped came when Clay Allen, the Rockets general counsel sitting beside him, let him know those four numbers — 14, 5, 8, 2 — were the ones he had been waiting a whole season for.

It’s a remarkable thing, the NBA Lottery. The fortunes of men, women, franchises, and cities, all decided by the random procession of ping pong balls from a clear drum on the third floor of the McCormick Place West Convention Center. As representatives from 14 teams sat waiting for the final number to be drawn a little after six o’clock local time, the futures of six teams hung in the balance. Five of them needed just one more number to land the right to draft the prospected being discussed as the best since LeBron James. Another, the Wizards, had six different outs — if just one of them hit, they’d find glory.

Instead, as Wright sat unmoved, San Antonio found themselves atop the draft again, another generational big man in their sights. In 1987,…

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Good morning! You’re the No. 5 seed in my heart.

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While You Were Sleeping

Clips solve the puzzle

The Clippers edged the Lakers, 125-118, last night in what might’ve been the most important game between the two teams in years. Both entered the night tied in the Western Conference standings. How things stand:

• The Clippers — who have won 11 straight against the Lakers somehow — stay in the top six and place the Lakers firmly in the Play-In. The Pelicans are tied with the Lakers in the standings, but don’t have the tiebreak advantage. The Warriors and Clippers are tied just above them.
• The Bucks clinched the best record in the NBA with a win over Chicago, while Denver sealed up the No. 1 seed in the West thanks to the Pels’ win over the Grizzlies.
• Dallas is still alive, which feels incredible. A huge win over Sacramento gives the Mavs a chance to snag the No. 10 seed from the Thunder with two games left.

See the full standings here. Buckle up.

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TV Guide

Quiet in the gallery

The Masters officially begins this morning. We aren’t quite at March Madness levels of work avoidance on the official Pulsemeter, but it’s in the neighborhood. Pull up a stream or put it on TV in the background.

Some notable tee times:

• 10:18…

If you have questions about the future of your team’s live games on your local cable, satellite or digital provider, particularly those on Bally Sports channels, we’re here to answer with what we know so far.

Diamond Sports Group, the Baltimore-based corporate parent of the 19 Bally Sports channels that air 47 NBA, MLB, NHL and WNBA teams, announced Feb. 15 that it would skip a $140 million debt payment due that day and use the month-long grace period as part of its effort to financially reorganize itself.

Many observers interpret the move as a precursor to a Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization, though that is not a certainty. Diamond has $8 billion-plus of debt, incurred as part of parent Sinclair’s 2019 purchase of the regional sports channels, and lost $1.2 billion in the most recent fiscal quarter.

“Certainly more likely that they will file bankruptcy because they did not make the payment,” said Schuyler Carroll, a bankruptcy attorney who is not connected to Diamond. “But not necessarily that they will file bankruptcy. They are still continuing discussions with their creditors to try and avoid bankruptcy. But those can often be difficult.”

Diamond in a Feb. 15 statement said it “intends to use the 30-day grace period to continue progressing its ongoing…