Welcome to Layup Lines, For the Win’s basketball newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Have feedback for the Layup Lines Crew? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey. Now, here’s Prince J. Grimes.
It’s a great day to be a fan of basketball.
The Oklahoma City Thunder and Cleveland Cavaliers square off tonight in a meeting between the best teams from each conference, and it should absolutely be considered a potential NBA Finals preview.
Forget everything you thought you knew coming into the season, about how the Boston Celtics were head and shoulders above the rest of the Eastern Conference and how the Western Conference is wide open. If things continue on the path they’ve been trending through the first three months, these will be the last two teams standing in June.
The Cavs are are 31-4 and riding a 10-game winning streak into Wednesday’s game. The Thunder are 30-5 and riding a 15-game winning streak. This is historic stuff. It’s the first time in 53 years two teams in the same season have won at least 30 of their first 35 games. And we get to see those two teams play. It’ll be the first time in NBA history a team on a 10-game winning streak plays a team on a 15-game winning streak.
"This is what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object."
We’re about to find out.
Cleveland Cavaliers:
31-4 record (#1 in East)
No. 1 in offensive rating
No. 7 in defensive rating
No. 2 in net ratingOklahoma City Thunder:
30-5 record (#1 in… pic.twitter.com/9S5TMhtbZ1
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) January 8, 2025
If you have complaints about the NBA regular season, there’s no excuse to miss this one. It’ll be great hoops and have that playoffs feel we all love. It’ll also be fun to see the chess match between Cleveland’s No. 1 ranked offense and OKC’s No. 1 ranked defense. Will we learn anything that applies to the larger championship race? Probably not, but the Cavs do have a little more to gain from a win. They can change a lot of people’s perception about them in a way the Thunder don’t have to.
Though the Thunder are one of the youngest teams in the NBA, they’ve been trending in the direction of being great for a couple years now. They were the No. 1 seed in the West last season and entered this season with the conference’s best odds to win the NBA title. A loss to the Cavs won’t do much to change people’s opinion on the direction of this team, especially with Chet Holmgren still out and OKC being a 2.5-point road underdog.
The Cavs, on the other hand, can still feel somewhat… random? They’ve been a playoff team each of the last two years since trading for Donovan Mitchell, but they’ve never been higher than a 4-seed, never made it past the second round and never won more than 51 games. Now, they’re suddenly on pace for 70 wins?! In a season that started with just the fifth-best odds to win their conference? That’s honestly incredible, and also incredibly hard to trust. Especially knowing they’ve played the NBA’s easiest schedule to this point and the Celtics are still lurking.
Even oddsmakers are only halfway in on the Cavs. Cleveland’s title odds at BetMGM are third best at +1000, still trailing the Celtics (+225) and Thunder (+275) by quite a bit. They’re only slightly better than the Knicks (+1200). That’s why a Cavs win would be a bigger deal. It would go a long way towards convincing people Cleveland’s hot start isn’t a fluke. That this matchup against the Thunder is, in fact, a potential preview of the NBA Finals.
Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
Trade rumors around the Phoenix Suns have heated up in recent days as the team continues to struggle more than is acceptable for a team with a payroll the size of theirs. Those talks have mostly centered around Bradley Beal because he’s obviously the odd man out of a so-called big three that also involves Kevin Durant and Devin Booker.
Those rumors might also be a waste of time.
As Beal made sure to note after being moved to the bench for Monday’s win — the team’s only win in the last six games — he holds all the cards. Beal has a no-trade clause in his contract, so he can’t be traded anywhere he doesn’t want to go.
https://twitter.com/DuaneRankin/status/1876474485689417900
Beal’s agent expanded further, telling ESPN’s Brian Windhorst they’ve had no talks of waiving Beal’s no-trade clause and Beal’s only focus is on helping the Suns climb out of their slump.
About that slump, the Suns are 4-11 in their last 15 games, falling to 12th place and out of the Western Conference playoff picture at 16-19. It doesn’t seem like a situation built to thrive, nor one anyone should want to be in, including Beal. Something needs to change.
Maybe moving Beal and Jusuf Nurkic to the bench was that something — Tuesday’s loss to the Hornets would say otherwise. But if the wins don’t follow soon, the next thing is going to be for Phoenix to shake up the roster. The only problem is Beal makes over $50 million a year, which already limits Phoenix’s trade partners before getting around to Beal’s power over where he goes.
In all likelihood, that’s why there’s been no talks of Beal waiving his no-trade clause. It’s not for a lack of want to, it’s for a lack of how to — especially if the Heat are serious about not trading Jimmy Butler. This situation will be one to monitor leading up to the February trade deadline.
— Paolo Banchero could reportedly return to the Magic lineup Thursday or Friday
— Kawhi Leonard is stepping away from the Clippers to be with family evacuated due to the LA wildfires
— Jimmy Butler’s feud with the Heat has been remixed into a fake Shaggy song
— Here’s how Lonzo Ball got a credit on LiAngelo Ball’s viral song, Tweaker
