Basketball Intelligence Newsletter

Basketball Intelligence Newsletter

Basketball Intelligence For 1/21/26

Today's Best NBA Reporting And Analysis

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Basketball Intelligence
Jan 21, 2026
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FEATURE OF THE DAY

NBA midseason: MVP, best rebounder, defender, 3-point shooter
Dean Oliver, ESPN

LEAGUEWIDE

NBA power rankings
Ricky O’Donnell, SBNation

NBA Power Rankings: Biggest questions for each team halfway through the season
ESPN

NBA power rankings 2025-26
Kurt Helin, NBC Sports

NBA midseason trends: Four storylines to watch amid playoff race
Zach Kram/Kevin Pelton, ESPN

This Week’s Kings of the Court
Jacob Sutton, JSutt Hoops

Rookie Ladder: Kon Knueppel edges past Cooper Flagg for No. 1 spot
Steve Aschburner, NBA.com

THE DRAFT

2026 NBA Draft Big Board
Christopher Kline, Fansided

The class stretches much deeper than the marquee names.

Bruce Thornton is a Master of Control
Jacob Lerea, No Ceilings

TEAM-SPECIFIC

BOS: Celtics Mid-Season Report Cards (Starters)
Adam Taylor, Celtics Chronicle

BOS: A Conference Finals Preview
Paul Flannery, Hoopology

CHI: 3 takeaways from Bulls’ win over Clippers
Julia Poe, Chicago Tribune

CLE: Cavs’ ugly loss to Thunder reveals a concerning Darius Garland trend
Jimmy Watkins, cleveland.com

CLE: Cavs’ Core Four may have hit their ceiling
Ethan Sands, cleveland.com

CLE: How Cleveland is losing the East’s mental toughness battle
Ethan Sands/Jimmy Watkins, cleveland.com

DEN: Nuggets lose to Lakers behind second-half drought
Vinny Benedetto, Denver Gazette

DEN: Nuggets blow 16-point lead to Lakers as Luka Doncic goes for 38
Bennett Durando, Denver Post

DET: Jalen Duren is Made for Detroit
Omar Zahran, Medium

GSW: Kuminga Mania takes another turn for Jimmy Butler-less Warriors
Nick Friedell, The Athletic

GSW: how the worst 24 hours in warriors front office history turned leverage into catastrophe
bang!

GSW: Stephen Curry decision time: remain a Warrior, or contend?
Henry Abbott, True Hoop

GSW: Empty calories, thunderous dunks — the Warriors embrace the art of losing
Dieter Kurtenbach, Mercury News

What we witnessed Tuesday wasn’t a basketball game in the traditional sense. It was performance art. It was the Golden State Warriors entering their post-modern phase.

For those who didn’t spend their college years wearing turtlenecks and reading French philosophy, let’s simplify “post-modernism.” In the simplest terms, it’s a rejection of the grand narrative. It’s skepticism about the existence of a single “truth.”

In art, it’s when the style becomes more important than the substance.

In basketball? It’s what happens when the scoreboard stops being the point of the exercise.

It’s when the “truth” — winning the game — is replaced by the “vibe” — highlight reels.

That was the Warriors’ reality in their first game following Jimmy Butler’s right ACL tear on Monday. The grand narrative of a championship is dead.

And in the wreckage, we found something peculiar: a celebration of the meaningless.

HOU: Reed Sheppard made plays vs. Spurs, and the Rockets are showing they can contend
William Guillory, The Athletic

HOU: Rockets need Reed Sheppard’s shooting now more than ever. Win over Spurs shows why
Varun Shankar, Houston Chronicle

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