NBA Lookahead: How low can the Sixers go? Plus, more NBA Cup action on tap

Every Thursday, I’ll be taking you through the big story heading into the weekend. Or maybe the weirdest story? Or maybe just something that makes me laugh and I think will make you laugh too. Essentially, if you’re subscribed to The Bounce and reading every day, we’re going to have the same fun here as we do in that space.

On top of that, I’ve culled the weekend schedule for you to know what to pay attention to. Weird bad streaks against teams? Beefs you need to track? Just fun games with matchups you may not have known were happening? We’ve got that for you. On top of that, we’ll have a good old-fashioned Throwback Thursday to hit you with that feel-good nostalgia.

Let’s have fun by starting with trying to decipher just how bad this season is for the Philadelphia 76ers.

Story to Watch: This 76ers thing isn’t getting any better

The 76ers are 2-12. There’s no cute intro. There’s no storyline to weave in and out of and bring back in a full-circle kind of way. There is simply the stark reality that, after 14 games in the 2024-25 season, the 76ers possess the worst record in the league. The New Orleans Pelicans have been better despite missing at least five of their top eight guys almost every night. The Utah Jazz have been better despite being fully inclined to be a train wreck for some Cooper Flagg lottery luck in May. The Detroit Pistons show life. The Atlanta Hawks haven’t been abysmal. Heck, even the Washington Wizards woke up this morning a half-game ahead of the Sixers.

Wednesday night, the Sixers finally got to debut their star trio of Joel Embiid, Paul George and Tyrese Maxey. It’s what Daryl Morey built this team around. It’s what Nick Nurse game-planned for all summer. Even though they started the season 2-11, that was all chalked up to injuries to all three of their stars. They were going to get to show off what this is supposed to look like against a Memphis Grizzlies team without Ja Morant and Zach Edey. The star trio? It played six minutes together, and there was nothing to write home about in those six minutes. Instead, everything fell apart on a night Embiid finally had a big game after three mediocre ones, as he gets his legs under him and his body back in game shape.

Maybe Sixers fans would’ve found solace in the 35 points, 11 rebounds and plus-seven stat line from Embiid. Instead, they have to key in on yet another injury. George left the game and did not return after hyperextending his left knee. If that sounds like deja vu all over again, that’s because he hyperextended that same knee roughly a month ago. It cost George the first five games of the season, and we have to hope doing it again won’t lead to a longer absence. The Sixers just got Maxey back from a hamstring injury, and they’ll be playing musical chairs with Embiid’s availability all season long. They don’t have a ton of time on the court together to build chemistry.

There are plenty of caveats to throw at the Sixers in favor of patience and taking a breath. This has been a disaster so far, but we still have five more months of regular season. And they have their three stars under contract for years. Unless they have some worry that Embiid might want out at some point (he doesn’t), then there’s no real reason to panic … yet. They also own their 2025 first-round pick, as long as it falls in the top six. They sent it to the Oklahoma City Thunder (it’s always OKC) when they traded for Al Horford in 2020, but this continuing to be a disaster would only put Morey and company in position to add a top-flight prospect to the mix for the future.

The bad news is nothing looks good so far.

• Worst offense in the NBA. They rank 30th in offensive rating with a putrid 104.7 points scored per 100 possessions played.
• That offensive rating falls to 92.5 with Embiid in the four games he’s played this season.
• The Sixers have been outscored by 12.8. points per 100 possessions with Embiid on the floor.
• They’ve been outscored by 15.0 points per 100 possessions with George on the court.
• They’ve been outscored by 11.8 points per 100 possessions with Maxey on the court.
• In 75 minutes on the floor together, the Embiid and PG combo has been outscored by 24.0 points per 100 possessions.
• In 45 minutes on the floor together, the Maxey and PG combo has been outscored by 19.9 points per 100 possessions.
• The 76ers are 18th in defensive rating.
• Philadelphia is tied with Portland for the worst effective field-goal percentage in the league.
• They are 28th in opponents’ effective field-goal percentage allowed.
• They lead the league in team meetings after a loss.

Embiid will get better. Maxey will get better. George will hopefully get healthier. Jared McCain will get even more comfortable, which is great considering his good start to the season. I think …? However, it’s the Sixers, and recent history dictates they will always disappoint. At least it can’t possibly get worse for the 76ers … because they’re officially the worst right now, and awaiting another piece of injury news.

Games on the Radar

Do you plan out your weekend around your sports-viewing schedule? You’re not alone. Are you the type to want to look like a sports savant by going to your local sports bar, suggesting a game to put on and then reveling in the praise from fellow patrons you’ll get for knowing what to watch? You’re home. Are you the type to just fly by the seat of your pants and wing it last minute when you remember games are on? Bookmark this post and refer to it later! These are the best games to pay attention to this weekend.

(All times Eastern)

Thursday

Orlando Magic at Los Angeles Lakers, 10:30 p.m. on League Pass: The Magic just lost their league-best six-game win streak. That was tied with the Lakers, who now own the longest win streak at six. The Magic struggle to score but are elite defensively. The Lakers are elite offensively but struggle to defend. This is a perfect matchup.

Friday — NBA Cup Night!

Indiana Pacers (0-1, minus-13) at Milwaukee Bucks (1-0, plus-14), 8 p.m. on League Pass: These were two of the best In-Season Tournament teams last year. Now, they’re both trying to get some good positioning in their group. Both teams are shockingly chasing Detroit in their group, but a big win by either would still likely put them in the driver’s seat for getting to the next round.

Atlanta Hawks (2-0, plus-13) at Chicago Bulls (0-1, minus-18), 8 p.m. on League Pass: The Hawks are 2-0 in group play, and going 3-0 might just about punch their ticket into either winning the group or the wild-card spot for the single-elimination portion. Chicago has to win here to stay alive.

Dallas Mavericks (1-1, plus-38) at Denver Nuggets (1-1, plus-five), 10 p.m. on ESPN: Let’s hope we get Luka Dončić and Nikola Jokić in this one. Dallas has the point differential needed to control its destiny in getting out of group play. But Denver winning would likely end that for Dallas and boost the Nuggets toward advancing.

Sacramento Kings (0-1, minus-4) at LA Clippers (0-1, minus-21), 10:30 p.m. on League Pass: This should be a really fun game, and both teams have their NBA Cup lives on the line. That’s especially so for the Clippers, who got blown out in their first group play game.

Saturday

Golden State Warriors at San Antonio Spurs, 8:30 p.m. on League Pass: We need Victor Wembanyama in this one. If we get it, the matchup of him doing what he does and Steph Curry doing what he does will melt all conventional basketball understanding. This will be like watching basketball in a funhouse mirror.

Denver Nuggets at Los Angeles Lakers, 10:30 p.m. on NBA TV: The Nuggets have been pretty vulnerable at times this season. They’re not as complete of a team as the one that dominated the Lakers the last two years. It’s time for the Lakers to see if they’ve made progress against their nemesis.

Sunday

Minnesota Timberwolves at Boston Celtics, 3:30 p.m. on League Pass: The Wolves aren’t quite the same team we saw last season, but they had a couple of really fun games against the Celtics last year. Let’s see if Anthony Edwards can challenge these guys again.

Dallas Mavericks at Miami Heat, 6 p.m. on League Pass: The Heat got the Mavs in 2006. The Mavs got the Heat in 2011. This one will officially be the rubber match 18 years in the making. Let’s hope everybody plays in this one.

LA Clippers at Philadelphia 76ers, 6 p.m. on League Pass: James Harden revenge game! Maybe Paul George will be able to play and have his own revenge game! Honestly, let’s just hope Philadelphia makes it competitive because this is getting rough.

Throwback Thursday: Jason Kapono and the perfect ‘Toine season

After Dalton Knecht dropped 37 points on the lowly Utah Jazz on Tuesday night, there was a bit of a debate in one of my group chats about the Los Angeles Lakers rookie. We were debating if he’s already really good. Low first-round pick. Dropped 27 and 37 in consecutive nights on the two worst defenses in the league. Also had 20 total points over a five-game stretch and really hasn’t done much against good teams so far. We’re also super early into the season. He might be another Duncan Robinson. He might even be more than that. At one point, it led to me making the joke, “Knecht is what Jason Kapono is supposed to be.”

That led to a friend calling Kapono “a 6-foot-8 5-11 guy,” which made me laugh. That’s when we all ventured down the rabbit hole that is a late-night basketball discussion about a random player. It’s the stuff group chats were created to do. I started trying to figure out if my memory about Kapono was accurate. It was and wasn’t. I correctly remembered that Kapono was once on an episode of “Sports Science” to see if you could get a shot off in a quicker amount of time than the NBA rulebook says. Do you know about the “Trent Tucker Rule?” Back in 1990, Tucker hit a 3-point shot to give the New York Knicks the win over the Chicago Bulls. He caught the ball with 0.1 seconds on the clock, fired, and it went in.

This led to the NBA implementing the rule that you legally can’t get a jump shot off in less than 0.3 seconds. Only tip-ins are legal when there’s less than 0.3 seconds on the clock. It was put into the NBA rulebook by the very next season. On that episode of “Sports Science,” Kapono was tasked with trying to get a shot off with less than 0.3 seconds on the clock. He had a glove with sensors to help them truly measure when the ball left his fingertips. They also brought in Jordan Farmar to do the inbound pass to Jason, and generously called Farmer “one of the game’s rising young stars.” No offense to Farmar, who did play in 504 NBA games over 10 seasons. But that’s a ridiculous way to frame his presence. Although he did finish 11th in Sixth Man voting the year this episode came out.

They let us know it takes 0.3 seconds to blink an eye. That’s how quick this shot has to be. Kapono’s first attempt was 0.38 seconds, and he made the shot. On the next attempt they showed, he actually broke the rule. He took and made a 3-point shot in 0.22 seconds, which doesn’t even sound real.

Where my memory failed me is how many NBA games Kapono played in. I would have guessed about 200, give or take a few. I couldn’t have been more wrong. He played in 509 career games. Tack on another 10 for playoff games, including getting a ring in 2006 with the Miami Heat. While Kapono did win back-to-back 3-point contests in 2007 and 2008, I fully blocked out his career with the Heat. He played there for two seasons after his rookie year in Cleveland (same rookie year as LeBron James) and his second season with the Charlotte Bobcats. In Year 2 with Miami, Kapono led the league in 3-point percentage with 51.4 percent on 3.1 attempts per game.

That led to a discussion in the group chat about whether or not Pat Riley used him correctly in the 2006-07 season. I couldn’t believe the Heat won 44 games with Kapono playing 26 minutes per game. The other side of the Kapono discussion was how Riley had him fourth in 3-point attempts behind James Posey (37.5 percent), Jason Williams (33.9 percent) and Antoine Walker (27.5 percent). This delighted me because Walker was always one of my favorite good-bad players. He was a star on the Boston Celtics for years, before moving on to the Heat after brief stops in Dallas and Atlanta. Walker was such a star in Boston that NBA Live 99 made a commercial with the video game version of Walker, “Cyber ‘Toine,” spliced into real highlights.

It’s how my friends and I referred to Walker for years. Cyber ‘Toine. He spent two years with the Heat. He was productive and helpful as a sixth man in the title run in 2006. Then, in 2007 — the same year Kapono hit 51.4 percent of his 3-pointers on fewer attempts (3.1) per game than ‘Toine (3.9) — Walker had what I described as “a perfect ‘Toine season.” He averaged 8.5 points in 23.3 minutes for Miami. He took more shot attempts (668) than he scored points (660). He also had more turnovers (141) than assists (130).

I mentioned he shot 27.5 percent from deep, and I’ll remind you he once said he takes so many 3-pointers because there are no 4-pointers. He shot 32.5 percent from deep for his career. It may sound like I’m just making fun of Walker, but I promise I mean this all as a celebration. I love gunners who live by one unwavering principle, which is to get shots up and score points. I truly appreciate that concept on so many levels. Walker was so much more than that for a good portion of his career, but ultimately he was always a gunner at heart — apparently one Riley trusted more than Kapono.

(Top photo of Joel Embiid: Petre Thomas / Imagn Images)