Five NBA Things I may or may not have Liked: Hyperextensions, Embiid, Giannis, Kawhi, and Young

My favorite and least least favorite things from the week that was

Hyperextensions

To be fair to hyperextensions, they’re a hell of a lot better than full-on ligament tears. Now, that’s damning with faint praise, as a fender bender is way better than totaling your car, but no one wants, nor expects, to be in a fender bender. Unfortunately, or fortunately, two of the league’s biggest stars just suffered hyperextended knees over the past week.

Nikola Jokic suffered a scary-looking knee injury against the Miami Heat, which thankfully turned out to only be a hyperextension. He’ll be reevaluated in four weeks, and while that’s fantastic news for the Nuggets, it’s also awful timing. Cameron Johnson is also out with a hyperextended knee, Aaron Gordon is out with a hamstring, and Christian Braun has been out with a nasty ankle sprain. If you’re counting at home, that’s four starters, one of which is an MVP. The Nuggets should have all four back sometime in February, but making it there without losing too much ground will be tough.

Victor Wembanyama, the alien, has also been afflicted by the curse of human anatomy. He left the Spurs game against the Knicks with a hyperextended left knee, but his time on the shelf projects to be much shorter. The Spurs are listing him as day-to-day, and if they can keep winning, that day-to-day might stretch to more than a week. While the Spurs are much better with Wembanyama, they’ve also proven to be highly resistant in his absence. Considering their placement in the standings, I think they’ll be more cautious than they need to be.

Embiidable

Joel Embiid isn’t back to his MVP form; it’s unlikely he ever recaptures that magic, but he’s back to being mostly available, at least. Since December 7, Embiid has played in seven of the Sixers’ ten games, and crucially surpassed 30 minutes in each contest. He’s averaging 27.3 points per game over that span, but on a 46.1% effective field goal percentage. Fortunately, Embiid has never relied on efficiency from the field, and his 10.0 free throw attempts bolster his true shooting percentage to 55.3%. That’s still not league average, but it’s a step in the right direction, as I doubt he continues to shoot so poorly from the floor.

Unfortunately, the bar has been lowered to such a degree for Embiid that simply playing feels like a massive victory, and it is. He played 58 games combined in 2023-24 and 2024-25 and is on track, if he plays 70% of the Sixers’ remaining games, to hit 50 games played this season. His efficiency has been whittled down from elite to acceptable, his defense is far less dynamic, and his rebounding has become problematic, but being able to critique his play, as opposed to his availability, is a welcome sight.

Giannis vs Sportsmanship

Giannis Antetokounmpo broke one of the unwritten rules of basketball. Up 110-103, the Bulls missed a desperation three with seven seconds left. Giannis collected the rebound, the Bulls didn’t immediately foul, and that meant the game was over. 99 out of 100 times, the player reads the situation, dribbles the ball just past half-court, and lets the game end. But not Giannis. Instead, he took off, built up speed, and slammed a windmill dunk to push the Bucks’ lead to 112-103 with a second left to play.

Part of me wants to side with Giannis, but another part of me is like, “Are fucking kidding me?” As a baseball man, I loathe unwritten rules, but this isn’t one of those hackneyed culture war matters. The Bulls waived the white flag, and Giannis decided to throw one more heymaker. Is it a victimless crime? Sure, but it’s also a dick move and completely unnecessary. To make matters worse, as the Bulls and Bucks confronted each other over the situation after the final whistle, Giannis dipped out and left his teammates to deal with his questionable sportsmanship, then justified his actions with the classic, “I’m inspiring my teammates.”

For all of his basketball talent, Giannis is an odd dude. He never wants to be the bad guy and always wants to be viewed as selfless, even when he’s being selfish. This play is a microcosm of the latter part of his Bucks tenure. It’s him being uniquely great at basketball, while also putting everyone else in the precarious situation of having to cater to his every whim. I don’t think Giannis is a bad person, but I do think the Bucks’ enabling him at every turn has created a toxic relationship.

Not Forever Young

What if I told you that when Trae Young plays ten minutes in a basketball game, the Hawks are 1-8? What if I told you that in the midst of a seven-game losing streak, the Hawks didn’t play Trae Young and then beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 126-102? What if I told you that the Hawks have a net rating of +0.5 without Trae Young, and a net rating of -7.5 with him on the court? That’s a lot of “what if I told yous?”

At this point, it’s safe to say that the Hawks are no longer Trae Young’s team. They had a good run, they made an Eastern Conference Finals, but the game has quickly moved away from undersized lead guards who cannot defend. Now, a significant reason for the Hawks’ poor figures with Young on the court is due to small sample variance, but it’s abundantly clear that you cannot build a high-level team around him.

I’m not sure how this story ends. Young has a player option for $48.9 million next season. It would be insanity if he didn’t pick it up. He’s still an elite passer and a good offensive player, but the Hawks, like us all, won’t be forever Young.

Klawing Back

“What it do, baby!” Kawhi Leonard is back. On the season, he’s averaging 28.5 points per game and is playing like a blazing motorcycle flying over a helicopter as of late. Over his past six games, he is averaging 39 points per game on an effective field goal percentage of 62.4%, and most crucially, the Clippers are an aspirational 6-0. Now, if the Clippers needed god-mode Kawhi to eke out a six-game win streak, then I’d be concerned, but they’ve been absolutely beating the brakes off of teams.

During their six-game winning streak, they have an offensive rating of 129.1 and a defensive rating of 106.9. That’s a net rating of 22.2, which seems regression-proof. While Kawhi has been the star, the Clippers’ newfound mojo partially stems from Brook Lopez seeing his minutes balloon following Ivica Zubac’s injury. Lopez has slid into the starting spot and bombed from three with the reckless abandon of a fat kid at an all-you-can-eat buffet. He’s averaging 7.3 3-point attempts per game and converting at a 38.6% clip.

I’m not sure what the Clippers are going to do when Zubac comes back, but if Lopez’s shooting continues to open up the floor like this, then you kind of have to keep riding with him. Thanks to the weakness in the middle of the Western Conference, the Clippers still have a shot to make the playoffs, and if this recent run is any indication of how they’ll play down the stretch, I like their chances.

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