The OKC Thunder Finally Beat the Spurs This Season | HOOPS, 1/14/26
OKC picks up their first win over San Antonio in four tries, Denver keeps winning even without Jokic, Giannis is booing fans in Milwaukee, and more.
The Tip-Off: Last Day to Vote for NBA All Star Starters
It’s crazy to think we’re a month away from All Star Weekend already, I can’t believe how fast it feels like the season is going by. With that in mind, today is the last day to vote for starters if that’s something you enjoy doing. More importantly though, I wanted to ask who you are hoping to see make it this season. I don’t know if we’ll get many surprises as far as starters go, but I’d love to hear who’s been catching your eye.
Game of the Night
Nuggets - 122, at Pelicans - 116
The Nuggets have now won four of their last five games despite Nikola Jokic not playing since December 29, 2025. It’s been incredible to watch Jamal Murray step into the lead role but even more impressive than that, has been the ascension of Peyton Watson. The freshly named Western Conference Player of the Week had another strong performance with 31pts/7r/5a on 11-16 shooting from the field.
I guess I haven’t been watching Nuggets games close enough because I knew Watson had been playing well but I didn’t know he was doing this night in and night out.
This wasn’t a bad game for the Pelicans by any means though either. Derik Queen hit Trey Murphy III with a lob that looked straight out of NBA Street, it was incredible to watch in real time. It was also tons of fun to watch Queen and Zion Williamson battle with Aaron Gordon, who’s athleticism absolutely made things difficult on both ends of the court. That won’t count for much though for a Pelicans team who has now lost 11 of their last 12 and are going to be looking at some extremely tough decisions over the next month as the trade deadline gets closer and closer.
One Thought for Every Game on Tuesday Night
Suns - 121, at Heat - 127
When people ask me about Dillon Brooks and if I would want him on my favorite team, I’m going to show them the end of this game because I think it about sums up the Dillon Brooks Experience.
Bulls - 113, at Rockets - 119
I know they lost the game but the Bulls have really found something with Tre Jones. He had a career-best performance (34pts/7a, 11-12 FG) and between Jones, Ayo Dosunmu, and Coby White (when he returns) the team is going to have an unenviable decision to make on who to re-sign.
Spurs - 98, at Thunder - 119
Even without Lu Dort or Isaiah Hartenstein playing, the way OKC was able to just shut down San Antonio in the second half was incredible to watch. OKC’s offense put up 40 in the third quarter to blow the game open while their defense held San Antonio to just 46 total second half points.
Timberwolves - 139, at Bucks - 106
“Oh wow, the Wolves scored 139 points and blew out the Bucks, Anthony Edwards must’ve gone crazy!”
“Wait… he didn’t play?! And neither did Rudy Gobert?!”
Yeah, no wonder Giannis was so frustrated that he started booing fans back.
Just all around bad vibes over in Cream City right now.
Hawks - 116, at Lakers - 141
On Monday the Lakers hit eight total threes vs. the Kings. Tuesday vs. the Hawks, they hit six in the first quarter alone.1 I definitely don’t love that they let Atlanta whittle away at the lead all the way down to 11 points, I don’t know if it says more about me or the team’s reputation that I was fully expecting Atlanta to keep chipping away so I was very glad to see LA put their foot down and put the game away from there.
Trail Blazers - 97, at Warriors - 119
This game might be the clearest example yet as to why Deni Avdija should be an All Star this season. With him out due to back soreness, the Blazers were just not able to get anything going, finishing the game with more turnovers (22) than total assists (20). Imagine someone told you that Steph Curry would finish the game with just seven points and the winning team won by 22 points. You’d certainly bet the Blazers right?
Report: Lakers Aren’t Happy With Rich Paul’s Podcast
According to a new report from The Athletic’s Jovan Buha, there are some in the Lakers organization who are less than thrilled with LeBron James’ agent Rich Paul and comments he made on his podcast this week. Below is what Paul said.
"If I was the Lakers, I would be targeting the Memphis Grizzlies as a trade partner for Jaren Jackson… If you're building around Luka, you need that anchor. Jaren doesn't want to be a part of a rebuild… if you're able to trade out expirings and trade the last first you got, or you can withhold and give up less, but this comes with a more unemotional attachment because Austin is beloved. There's a world where you can do what's best for your team, and what's best for Austin. Austin deserves to get paid… Memphis would definitely pay Austin. He would become their leading scorer and PG."
- NBA agent Rich Paul, Game Over with Max Kellerman and Rich Paul
Now, even if he wasn’t directly tied to Lakers’ star LeBron James, this would be a controversial thing for any agent for active players to be saying but the LeBron of it all only makes it that much worse.
"I can confirm that people have not been happy, and I'm not gonna go more specific than that, but people have not been happy with that pod and some of the comments.”
- Jovan Buha, The Athletic, on the Lakers’ reaction to Rich Paul’s comments
Never mind all of the weird optics that come with a teammate’s agent calling for trades of another player on the same team, but from a basketball sense the Lakers need a lot more than just Jaren Jackson Jr. One of the biggest holes in this team is their rebounding, opponents are constantly barraging them on the glass on both sides of the court and a trade for JJJ would be flashy but it wouldn’t patch the issue.
This year, Reaves is averaging 5.3 rebounds per game compared to Jackson’s 5.6.
For reference, Reaves (6’5”) is 5” shorter than Jackson (6’10”) so grabbing another center who shies away from rebounds while getting rid of Reaves, who has thrived as a secondary creator and option, would be extremely ill-advised.
Thankfully, someone asked LeBron about this exact thing as he was leaving the arena Tuesday following the Lakers’ 25-point win over the Hawks.
"I think you all know by now, Rich is his own man and what Rich says is not a direct reflection of me and how I feel. And I hope people know that. I hope people know that and if they're not sensible to know that, then I don't know what to tell them." - LeBron James
At the Buzzer
- Anthony Davis to avoid surgery on hand injury, expected to return in 6-8 weeks2
- Turns out, it was an illegal screen at the end of Pacers/Celtics3
- Heat coach Erik Spoelstra is now the longest-tenured active coach among all four major U.S. sports leagues4
- Boston’s Payton Pritchard went back out to a local court to surprise some fans
Key Games Tonight
Another seven-game slate for us tonight so let me know what you’re excited to watch.
Cavaliers at 76ers
Raptors at Pacers
Jazz at Bulls
Nets at Pelicans
Nuggets at Mavericks
Knicks at Kings
Wizards at Clippers
Thank you so much for hanging out and reading today’s newsletter. I hope everyone reading this is doing well and has been having a good week so far. I appreciate your time. Take care.
They hit 19 total for the game.
Bittersweet vindication for Joe Mazzulla.
He passes NFL coach Mike Tomlin of the Pittsburgh Steelers who announced he was stepping down on Tuesday after 19 seasons.
Get Duren in there