Basketball Intelligence For 2/26/26
Today's Best NBA Reporting And Analysis
LEAGUEWIDE
Welcome to NBA Tank Week! Losing big is still on the menu every night
Kelly Iko, Yahoo Sports
NBA Power Rankings
Brad Botkin, CBS Sports
Report Card Grades for Each NBA Team’s Starting Lineup
Grant Hughes, Bleacher Report
Players who are outplaying their contracts and contributing to winning while staying (mostly) out of the national spotlight
Greg Swartz, Bleacher Report
NBA Concern Meter: Who has most to worry about as the 2026 playoffs loom?
John Gonzalez, CBS Sports
NBA Tanking Teams Tier List
Belly Up Sports
The ‘40 before 20’ rule is silly
Tom Ziller, GMIB
Teams with great regular season records are likely to win the title, news at 11
Recapping Wednesday’s Games
Dustin Brewer, HOOPS
THE DRAFT
2026 NBA Draft Big Board
Christopher Kline, Fansided
Prospect Spotlight: Chris Cenac Jr.
Stephen Gillaspie, No Ceilings
Hannes Steinbach, is Yet Another Freshman Putting Up Big Time Production
Bryce Simon, Game Theory
Keaton Wagler’s Meteoric Rise
Kevin Sweeney, Sports Illustrated
First impressions of Darryn Peterson
Caitlin Cooper, Basketball She Wrote
TEAM-SPECIFIC
BOS: 10 takeaways from the Celtics looking a step behind in Denver
Azad Rosay, SBNation
BOS: Nuggets Run Away From Celtics In Third Quarter
John Karalis, Sports Illustrated
BOS: Celtics fall flat against Nuggets in final game of road trip
Adam Himmelsbach, Boston Globe
BOS: Celtics’ quartet of young wings has made the most of its opportunities this season
Chris Forsberg, NBC Sports
CHI: Matas Buzelis distraught over Bulls’ longest losing streak since 2019
Joel Lorenzi, The Athletic
CHI: Buzelis can’t stop the losing, but he can learn from a talk
Joe Cowley, Sun*Times
Buzelis had a heart-to-heart chat with coach Billy Donovan on Monday about his shot profile and what he needs to work on to elevate his scoring, then went out 24 hours later and dropped a career-high 32 points.
CLE: Game Night Observations: A Scheduled Loss, Depth Shining Through and James Harden’s Thumb
Danny Cunningham, The Inside Shot
Keon Ellis was another role player that was asked to step into a larger role on Wednesday and did so successfully. He played just under 29 minutes and scored 14 points. Ellis made four 3-pointer and had another made shot changed from a 3-pointer to a long 2-pointer thanks to his foot being on the line. Defensively, Ellis racked up a pair of steals and had a blocked shot as well. The Cavs outscored the Bucks by six points when he was on the floor
CLE: Rest or reps? James Harden’s thumb fracture forces a difficult decision for the Cavs
Chris Fedor, cleveland.com
CLE: Jarrett Allen’s game-tying putback waved off as short-handed Cavs lose to Bucks, 118-116
Chris Fedor, cleveland.com
DAL: PODCAST: Mavs vs Kings Preview
Ray LeBov/Nick Agar-Johnson/Noah Weber, Kings Weekly Podcast
Previewing tonight’s game between the Sacramento Kings and the Dallas Mavericks. Co-hosts Ray and Nick start out by getting Noah's views on the current state of the Dallas Mavericks. Then, they dive deep into discussing the rookies for the Mavericks, focusing on Cooper Flagg, Ryan Nembhard, and Moussa Cisse. Finally, they wrap up by talking about some of the key matchups for the upcoming game.
