NBA Rewind: Sorry, Charles Barkley. The Lakers demand our full attention

New York Times

10-03-2025

There's so much going on in the NBA right now! Really, there's so much going on in the basketball world with the stretch run in the NBA, the men's and women's NCAA tournaments in college basketball firing up soon, and even the final week of action in the inaugural season for Unrivaled. The Oklahoma City Thunder and Cleveland Cavaliers can't lose. Teams are making their push for the final few weeks, and some teams are strategically tanking more and more with every Cooper Flagg highlight. At the same time, the Los Angeles Lakers have once again become hyper-compelling. We've got it all here for you.
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Here's your latest NBA Rewind!
Every Sunday, our research team powered by millions of expert analytical workers my dog and me pore over every bit of data imaginable in the NBA. We do that so every Monday we can bring you the highest and lowest trends in the NBA world. Here is this week's NBA Stock Report.
📈 OKC Thunder (53-11): This will shock you, but the Thunder are on a long winning streak again and winning a lot of games by double digits. It's not quite as impressive as the Cleveland Cavaliers being on another double-digit win streak (third time this season), but we can't have the Cavs in here every week. Wait, can we? Should we? Regardless, this is about the Thunder! The Thunder have won seven in a row, and five of those seven have been by double digits. The closest game they've finished during this streak is an eight-point win over Atlanta. They just took down Denver with a dominant fourth quarter to bolster Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's MVP case. They're up to 42 double-digit wins on the season. The NBA record is 50, by the 1971-72 Lakers.
📉 New York Knicks (40-23): Tough week for the Knicks, and they've just started a West Coast road trip. New York has lost three straight games, including two in Los Angeles. You can deal with losing to the Lakers and Clippers in their respective arenas. But the game against the Lakers also cost them Jalen Brunson for a couple of weeks. Now they have three more games at Sacramento, Portland and Golden State before they go home to face Miami. The Knicks have done well without him on the floor this season, but not having him at all could put that to the ultimate test. Good news is they have a 3.5-game lead on Milwaukee for third.
📈 Sacramento Kings (33-29): Right around the trade deadline, the Kings fell below .500 with a loss in Portland. Since then, they've gotten their act together and figured out how to win those close games again. The Kings have won eight of their last 11. Their last five wins have been by double digits, including a 42-point win over Charlotte, 24-point win over what's left of Dallas, and ruining the De'Aaron Fox revenge game by beating San Antonio by 18. During this stretch, DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine are combining for over 50 points per game on better than 50 percent from the field and 46 percent from deep.
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📉 Dallas Mavericks (32-33): Kyrie Irving (out for the season), Anthony Davis (adductor injury, missed 12 straight), Dereck Lively II (ankle injury, hasn't played since Jan. 14), Daniel Gafford (knee injury, missed 11 straight), Caleb Martin (hip injury, hasn't played since the trade), O-Max Prosper (out for the season), Jaden Hardy (missed three straight and out for some time with an ankle injury), and PJ Washington (missed four straight with an ankle injury). This is nearly their entire rotation. They've lost seven of their last eight games and don't have enough good players left right now. Maybe they get some big guys back soon and can protect the 1.5-game hold they have on 10th in the West.
📈 Phoenix Suns (30-34): The Suns have won three of their last five games, so it's not exactly a Cavs-esque streak happening right now. But wins are wins for the Suns, and that's what they need to avoid the historic embarrassment of a $152 million luxury tax bill and not even making the Play-In Tournament. They're 11th in the West right now, but only 1.5 games behind the Mavs after beating Dallas' remaining healthy roster on Sunday. It was big because it gave Phoenix the season series against Dallas. The Suns still have the toughest remaining schedule, with their final 18 opponents winning at nearly a 60 percent clip (59.6). However, Dallas might not have a choice but to slide out.
📉 Brooklyn Nets (21-42): Everybody has been wondering what the Nets actually want to do this season. We all assumed they'd tank heavily to grab their next franchise player from this loaded 2025 draft class. Then the Nets were kind of good, or at least solid, for a good chunk of the season. And with the Philadelphia 76ers dealing with big injuries and the Chicago Bulls trading away LaVine, the Nets found themselves within shouting distance of making the Play-In Tournament about two and a half weeks ago. Since then, the Nets have cratered. Brooklyn has lost seven straight games, including to the Wizards and Hornets. They're 4.5 games behind Chicago for 10th, and still a half game behind Philly. That hurts the Sixers. Without any lottery help, Philly would currently lose its top-six protected pick to OKC because the Nets have edged them out.
The Los Angeles Lakers are always a topic of discussion in the NBA. I mean … ALWAYS. It just is that way. The Lakers are one of the most storied franchises in sports history, and they exist in one of the biggest media markets. They also have employed LeBron James since 2018, and that's going to garner extra attention. There are four different topics of discussion with the Lakers this week, so let's quickly dive into each one. Starting with the amount of attention they're receiving.
During TNT's coverage on Thursday night, Charles Barkley decided to go on a rant. It seemed to be directed at ESPN and its NBA coverage, but at a certain point, Ernie Johnson tried to clarify that Barkley was talking about the entire industry. Barkley took exception with so much coverage about the Lakers and the Warriors, rather than the two teams in first place in each conference. This is part of his rant:
'Let me tell y'all something. And first of all, I want all the smoke. I don't whistle when I walk by the graveyard or anything like that. The Lakers are doing great. Got a long way to go. But the season's been going great for the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Oklahoma City Thunder. Y'all just wanna talk about the Warriors and the Lakers. They're both doing great, don't get me wrong. If I turn out to be wrong, I got no problem with that. But y'all are idiots because y'all talk about the Warriors and the Lakers all the time.'
Barkley went on to talk about the Cavs' winning streak (which they pushed to 14 in a row on Sunday). He mentioned OKC has Gilgeous-Alexander, calling him the MVP. He said they're also on fire, which they are! Seven in a row! He said he gets mad because everybody is talking about who is in second place (referencing the current No. 2 seed Lakers). He also called the LeBron-Michael Jordan debate 'lame a–,' which I think the majority of us can agree with at this point. It's been talked about for 15 years. We can shelve that for a while. But back to the Lakers as a focus of coverage.
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In the past, I would agree with Barkley. Even about six weeks ago, I would have agreed with Chuck. The Lakers talk on so many platforms can feel quite forced, outside of general beat coverage and the occasional discussion of what's the latest with a very popular team. You see it in social media coverage. You see it on national television quite often. There is so much focus on an extremely popular team because everybody has bills to pay, and that topic tends to cover those bills. I understand when people get tired of it. It's why I recommend checking out the fantastic coverage of the entire league we have here! It's why I encourage everybody to subscribe to The Bounce, our free basketball newsletter! It's why I encourage people to find the people talking about the parts of the league they want covered, which is an easy internet search away.
Where I would push back in Chuck's rant is two-fold: 1) He kept saying the Lakers and Warriors have had two good weeks. The Warriors? Yes. The Lakers? We're looking at two months of this. 2) The Lakers traded for Luka Dončić a little over five weeks ago. If ever there was a time in which this coverage and attention were warranted, it's now. While the Cavs and Thunder are great stories and should be celebrated and covered, the Lakers have become the most interesting story right now with the Luka dynamic. It also ropes in the fall of the Dallas Mavericks to their story.
I think there is plenty of coverage to go around, but acquiring a 25-year old supernova, who just took his team to the NBA Finals and is, at worst, one of the four or five best players in the world, makes the coverage legitimate. Why?
When the trade happened, I was with the majority of everybody else. Great deal for the Lakers, but it doesn't make them contenders this season. Then the defense kept getting better, and they ran off a bunch of games in a row to grab the No. 2 seed. They've had the best defense in the NBA since the Dončić trade, and it was trending that way before the deal. JJ Redick having to swap out Anthony Davis for Dončić and improving the team defense is more than noteworthy. It's an incredible coaching job that has thrust him onto the top three of the ballot for Coach of the Year.
Keeping this defensive level and having Luka acclimate to LeBron and what the Lakers want to do offensively is more than noteworthy. Doncic's presence on offense has allowed LeBron to repurpose some of his energy and effort back toward the defensive end of the floor, which makes the defense feel more real for what could be in the postseason. They have plenty of holes they have to figure out how to fill or hide when it comes to the playoffs, but the Lakers are as dangerous as anybody else in the West as currently constructed.
There's still plenty of season left, and maybe the Lakers will cool off in a way that no longer makes it seem feasible they could win the West and compete for a title. As long as they stay healthy …
During the Lakers' loss to the Boston Celtics on Saturday night, James injured his groin. It's going to cause him to miss one-to-two weeks as he tries to make sure he's good to go for the postseason. This matters because it could affect the Lakers' position in the West. The Lakers aren't in danger of falling into the Play-In. They have a five-game cushion there. But the Lakers are neck-and-neck with Denver for the No. 2 seed, and they're only two games ahead of fifth-place Houston. They have to figure out how to survive this stretch without LeBron. That gets easier with Dončić running the show, but they are also missing Rui Hachimura out with a knee injury.
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LeBron is going to miss a three-game road trip to Brooklyn, Milwaukee, and Denver. He'll likely miss the home game on Sunday against Phoenix. If this stretches into two weeks of absence, the Lakers play San Antonio, Denver, Milwaukee and Chicago at home. That's a tough stretch to be without James for part or all of it.
I'm with Barkley. We should absolutely talk about the Thunder and Cavs. Other good/successful teams, too. The defending champion Celtics, the Detroit Pistons, the Memphis Grizzlies, and Rockets have all been big success stories. Even Minnesota, Indiana, and Milwaukee have looked dangerous at times as of late. But for the first time in years, the Lakers aren't a forced conversation. They're legitimately compelling.
(Photo of LeBron James: Elsa / Getty Images)