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Kevin Durant became the eighth player in NBA history to score at least 30,000 points in his career. He’ll pass Wilt Chamberlain and Dirk Nowitzki on the all-time list next season. 🫡
Why We Tank
Cooper Flagg is the real deal
As we’re about to get into the Flurry of February, which takes us into March Madness, it’s important to remember why teams like the Wizards (9-44), Hornets (13-38), Nets (19-34), Jazz (12-40) and Pelicans (12-41) are fine with being so terrible this season. That reason is Cooper Flagg, the Duke freshman terrorizing men’s college basketball. We haven’t checked in on the 18-year-old in a while, but he’s having one of the most incredible freshman seasons ever.
Yesterday, Brendan Quinn and Brendan Marks published this fantastic profile of Flagg and his production this season, and this excerpt truly put into perspective just how jaw-droppingly impressive the presumed No. 1 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft has been in his assumed one-and-done season. Look at the company Flagg — averaging 19.5 points, 7.7 rebounds, 4.0 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.3 blocks — has put himself in:
Think about it. Since freshman NCAA eligibility was first enacted in 1972-73, only two freshmen, Durant and Zion Williamson, have earned unanimous men’s National Player of the Year honors. Anthony Davis barely missed out on unanimous NPOY honors, but became one of four freshmen ever named Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four while leading a team to the national championship. The others: Pervis Ellison, Carmelo Anthony and Tyus Jones. No freshman ever, meanwhile, has led his team in every major statistical category and played in the NCAA Tournament. (Ben Simmons led LSU in points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks, but never danced.)
Flagg? He could do it. All of it. Everything. He is the odds-on favorite to win every National Player of the Year award. He is leading Duke in points (19.5), rebounds (7.7), assists (4.0) and blocks (1.3) per game, while barely ranking behind teammate Maliq Brown in steals (1.5). He has the No. 4-ranked Blue Devils steaming toward a possible national championship run.
The 6-foot-9 Flagg is shooting 47.9 percent from the field, 36.4 percent on 3s and 80.3 percent at the free-throw line. He’s been so good at separating himself from a ridiculous draft class that no possible lottery team is even considering taking Ace Bailey, Dylan Harper or any of the other potentially wonderful consolation prizes with the top overall pick.
I’ve had (and still have) these concerns about his offense at the NBA level:
- He has a sloppy and loose handle.
- His gather for jumpers off the bounce can be all over the place.
- I’m not sure he can just go get you a bucket in a crunchtime situation against the opponent’s best defender.
But let’s say all of those concerns ring true early on in his NBA career … we’re still talking about a supercharged version of Shawn Marion on defense with a much better, well-rounded offensive game. That’s not a sexy, franchise-changing name, but it’s someone every single general manager would take on their team and for their future.
If those things don’t ring true, then he’s as hyped a forward as Zion Williamson (2019) and Anthony Davis (2012) were — and more than capable of justifying that. He’s not going to be the coup Victor Wembanyama was for the Spurs two drafts ago, but it’s not really reasonable to compare anybody to that kind of historic hype and presence. Still, Flagg is good and special enough to change the fortunes of a franchise like the Wizards, Hornets, Jazz or Nets. It’s why those teams at the bottom of the standings aren’t crying about their campaigns … yet. We’ll see if that changes on lottery night in May.
The Last 24
Lakers add some much-needed depth
👋 Big man in Los Angeles. The Lakers (32-19) waived Christian Wood so they could add Alex Len to the roster. Can Len give them more than 10 minutes per game?
🏀 Sweet Lou’s legend. Louis Dunbar has been involved with the Harlem Globetrotters for 48 years! He’s the Magic Johnson of the Globetrotters.
🩼 Another one. It looks like Herb Jones might be done for the season. The Pelicans have bad luck.
📺 Don’t miss this game tonight. Spurs (23-28) at Celtics (38-16), 7 p.m. ET on ESPN or Fubo (try for free). Wembanyama and De’Aaron Fox will try to take down the Celtics.
📺 League Pass gem. Hawks (26-28) at Knicks (35-18), 7:30 p.m. ET on League Pass. Trae Young at Madison Square Garden is always gold.
📺 Possible drama. Warriors (27-26) at Mavericks (28-26), 9:30 p.m. ET on ESPN or Fubo (try for free). Let’s see if Dallas’ fans continue to get kicked out by the team!
Shooting Whoas/Woes!
About Orlando’s struggles from 3-point range
Here at The Bounce, we’re looking for shooting anomalies, good and bad. We want to highlight truly spectacular — and possibly surprising — proficiency (until they bring in the 25-point shot). We also want to check out the guys who are really struggling, so we can maybe suggest a different mode of attack.
In the latest edition of Shooting Whoas/Woes, we’re looking at entire teams. And we’ve got bad news for Orlando. (Stats via NBA.com/stats.)
SHOOTING WHOAS!
Celtics (38-16) – It looks like Boston is back in business.
- The defending champions were second in the NBA last season at 38.8 percent shooting from deep. They’re down to 10th in 3-point percentage at 36.8 percent this season.
- Boston had a 16-3 record in October/November, knocking down 40.7 percent from 3 over that time. The Celtics went only 18-12 in December and January, and shot a combined 35.6 percent in those months.
- Boston is 4-1 to start in February and trending back up by hitting 39.8 percent from deep.
Grizzlies (36-17) – This team can really shoot.
- In the first four seasons of the Taylor Jenkins-Ja Morant Grizzlies turnaround, the team never shot better than 35.6 percent on 3s. The Grizzlies never ranked higher than 17th in 3-point percentage. Memphis shot 35 percent from deep over the first 20 games this season.
- The team has been shooting 38.6 percent from deep since then, the fourth-best accuracy in the league during that span.
SHOOTING WOES …
Magic (26-29) – Possibly the worst 3-point shooting team we’ve ever seen.
- Orlando is shooting just 30.5 percent from 3-point range, tied for the worst accuracy ever among teams to average at least 15 3s per game.
- The Magic had two entire months shooting under 30 percent from deep (28.7 percent in December and 29.8 percent in January).
- The 2012-13 Wolves also shot 30.5 percent from deep, but they averaged 18 attempts per game. The Magic are averaging 36 attempts. Nobody’s shooting has been this futile on this volume.
Rockets (33-20) – Regression to the mean has unfortunately hit.
- After shooting under 33 percent from deep the first two and a half months of the season, the Rockets made an impressive 38.2 percent in January.
- Jalen Green was a big part of that jump, going from 31.9 percent through December to 42.7 percent in January.
- Houston is back down to 31.1 percent in February, and Green is 15 of 49 (30.6 percent).
Big Money
Raptors sign new acquisition to extension
I saw the notification hit my phone yesterday, and my eyes widened. Brandon Ingram and the Raptors (17-37) have agreed to a contract extension, keeping the lanky forward off the free-agent market this summer. Toronto traded for the 27-year-old prior to the deadline, relinquishing Bruce Brown Jr., Kelly Olynyk, a 2026 first-round pick (top-four protected) and a 2031 second-round pick. That’s a decent haul for the Pelicans (12-41), considering there wasn’t much of a trade market for the forward over the last year.
When you give up a first-round pick for a guy who could end up being a rental, you’ve got to secure him for the long term. So, what are the details of this contract extension? His agents at Klutch got him $120 million over the next three seasons. The third year is a $41 million player option. This is a pretty incredible deal for Ingram and a risky move by the Raptors for a couple of reasons:
- I’m not sure there was a big market for him. The Raptors didn’t want to lose him for nothing this summer, but this feels a little like when the Hornets gave Gordon Hayward $120 million over four years in 2020 to acquire the wing in a sign-and-trade. Who were the other suitors at this kind of money going to be?
- He misses a lot of time. He played in 79 games his rookie season. Since then, the 2020 All-Star has missed 189 games in seven and a half seasons. Even this season, he hasn’t played since before the single-elimination portion of the NBA Cup. His last appearance was on Dec. 7.
I liked this trade by the 17-37 Raptors to pair him next to Scottie Barnes and RJ Barrett. Raptors executive Masai Ujiri loves having versatile forwards in that 6-foot-8 range, and Ingram is a remarkable scorer when he’s healthy. He just hasn’t been consistently available. Guaranteeing him $40 million per season feels risky considering he misses so much time.
The Raptors do have the next few seasons locked up with their core, so they probably feel pretty confident about this situation. Ultimately, I saw that deal and immediately hit a group chat with, “Brandon Ingram has an incredible agent.”
Tuesday’s basketball action
Knicks 128, Pacers 115 (29-23): A little playoff revenge for the Knicks, courtesy of Karl-Anthony Towns. He wasn’t there in the postseason, but he made sure to drop 40 points on the Pacers’ frontcourt. Josh Hart — yes, that Josh Hart — added 30 to the ledger.
Grizzlies 119 (36-17), Suns 112 (26-27): The story of the game was KD reaching 30K on the scoring charts, but the Grizzlies won their 11th game in their last 13 contests. Morant’s 26 points helped propel the Grizzlies 1 1/2 games ahead of Denver for the No. 2 seed.
Raptors 106, 76ers 103 (20-33): Joel Embiid was wide-open at the top of the arc, down by three, with 14 seconds left in the game. He passed up the 3 to drive it in and turned it over. Barnes had 33 points, Immanuel Quickley added 23 points and the Raptors held Tyrese Maxey to five points on 1-of-9 shooting. Philly is now 7-6 when its big three plays.
Pistons 132 (28-26), Bulls 92 (22-32): Chicago trailed 71-29 at halftime and shot 1 of 23 from deep at that point. If the Pistons hadn’t scored in the fourth quarter, they would have still won by 13 points. Detroit was up by 49 at one point. Thankfully, the Bulls avoided losing by 50. Otherwise, this would have been embarrassing.
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(Top photo: Grant Halverson / Getty Images )
