Steph Noh

James Harden-Darius Garland trade grades: Cavs get a win-now piece, Clippers look to the future | Sporting News Grading the James Harden and Darius Garland swap for the Clippers and Cavs

I like the Harden and Garland trade for both sides. Instant grades:

www.sportingnews.com/us/nba/news/...

Nikola Vucevic-Anfernee Simons trade grades: Celtics get veteran scoring big man, Bulls get younger | Sporting News Grading the Nikola Vucevic and Anfernee Simons swap for the Bulls and Celtics

Graded the Nikola Vucevic-Anfernee Simons trade for the Celtics and Bulls:

www.sportingnews.com/us/nba/news/...

James Harden-Darius Garland trade would move Cavs to Finals favorites, give Clippers brighter future | Sporting News Why the proposed James Harden to Darius Garland swap makes sense for both sides.

Broke down the proposed James Harden for Darius Garland swap from all sides and why I like it for everyone involved:

www.sportingnews.com/us/nba/news/...

Thibs living his best life hanging out with former Bulls

Excellent story by Dan

NBA All-Star reserves picks: Filling out the rosters ahead of 2026 All-Star Game | Sporting News Who should get the remaining 14 All-Star reserve spots for the 2026 game?

Here's who I think All-Star reserves should be in each conference:

www.sportingnews.com/us/nba/news/...

Yes I think it is a good tool to see what a ballpark for extensions should be. You can also play around with adjusting his DARKO to see how good he would have to be to justify various salaries.

He's massively underpaid. I had him as my Most Improved pick coming into the season.

Anthony Davis salary, projected value of $30.5 million vs. actual salary of $54.1 million

Coby White projected salary of $20.8 million vs actual salary of $12.9 million

ICYMI, I built a contracts tool that projects what every player in the NBA is worth vs what they are paid. Here's what it says about AD (bad value) and Coby White (good value).

Tool is free, zero ads, for the community. Play around with it here! nbasalarymodel.xyz

DARKO is not my metric. It's made by someone much, much smarter than me. Here's what it is and how it's calculated: apanalytics.shinyapps.io/DARKO/

It's based on their DARKO values, which is an adjusted plus/minus metric.

If you think that DARKO is not pegging their value accurately, there's an option (that last slider bar) to adjust it to where you think it should be.

FWIW I am with you, I love Green and am not a big KPJ fan.

The Midrange Theory: Basketball's Evolution In the Age of Analytics Amazon.com: The Midrange Theory: Basketball's Evolution In the Age of Analytics: 9781637270967: Partnow, Seth, Bontemps, Tim: Books

One last thing — If stuff like this interests you, go check out @sethpartnow.bsky.social 's timeless book The Midrange Theory. He outlines how salary models like this one work, along with a bunch of other analytical ways of looking at the NBA:

www.amazon.com/dp/1637270968/

I gave the model a floor of "minimum salary." If you remove that floor, then I have Kuz at a valuation of -$4.1 million this year.

Methodology of how I built the model for the nerds out there: github.com/StephenNoh/n...

You can play around with the NBA salary model here.

nbasalarymodel.xyz

Big thank you to Kostya Medvedovsky for giving me permission to use his DARKO data. I had a lot of fun building this project out, hope people enjoy it!

Five year values for Coby White: $25.2 million, $27.3 million, $28.7 million, $30 million, $31.2 million

I built a salary model where you can see every player's value through 2031. Tells you which contracts are good/bad (and by how much), and what fair market value is going forward.

Here's what my model says about upcoming free agent Coby White:

11 worst contracts in the NBA: My salary model pegs Joel Embiid, Paul George, Zach Lavine among worst deals | Sporting News Availability, age and on-court production determine what teams are getting their money's worth.

Ahead of the trade deadline, I built a salary model to find the 11 worst contracts in the NBA. Here's what it said, and how several contracts for good players are going to look very rough down the line:

www.sportingnews.com/us/nba/news/...

Immigrant Rapid Response Fund The Immigrant Rapid Response Fund (IRRF) was created by a group of philanthropic leaders close to the communities most impacted to ensure that resources move quickly and responsibly during immigration...

Also heard from someone who is witnessing the insanity firsthand in Minnesota that this is a great nonprofit to donate to, if you're able.

Legal fund for immigrants:

www.wfmn.org/funds/immigr...

It takes about four minutes to call your representatives using 5calls.org, which provides the phone numbers to dial and a script to read.

Will calling alone fix this country's issues? Not even close. Will it accomplish more than doomscrolling for the next four minutes? Absolutely yes.

Several agents hold a person down and sprays them with pepper spray.

An observer arrested in Suth Minneapolis. Photo by Richard Tsong-Taatarii/The Minnesota Star Tribune

Luka Garza was the best player in college basketball. Now, he's the NBA's dirty work king with the Celtics | Sporting News Luka Garza sacrificed his ego and did whatever it took to stick at the next level.

Luka Garza is a real life example of the tortoise and the hare. How the college superstar who was supposedly too slow for the NBA found his place by always giving his all:

www.sportingnews.com/us/nba/bosto...

Jonathan Kuminga trade rumors: The three-team trade that gets the Warriors the best shooter on the market | Sporting News The Jonathan Kuminga trade to the Kings that makes the most sense.

Happy Jonathan Kuminga is trade-eligible day to all those who celebrate.

Here's the three-team trade that I'd like to see that gets Kuminga to Sacramento and MPJ to the Warriors:

www.sportingnews.com/us/nba/news/...

Rudy Gobert, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Michael Porter Jr., Jaylen Brown among NBA surprises | Sporting News Here are four players who have taken leaps in the first half of the 2025-26 season.

Some of my favorite surprising leaps from the first half of the year: www.sportingnews.com/us/nba/news/...

NBA power rankings: Thunder's lead shrinks in West; East is up for grabs with Knicks, Pistons, Celtics | Sporting News How the NBA is shaping up near the halfway point of the season.

My newest batch of power rankings: www.sportingnews.com/us/nba/news/...

Trae Young-CJ McCollum trade grades: Hawks get fresh start, Wizards take low-risk flier on All-Star guard | Sporting News We grade the Trae Young trade for the Hawks and the Wizards.

My Hawks and Wizards grades for the Trae Young trade: www.sportingnews.com/us/nba/news/...

Trae Young trade destinations: Wizards, Mavericks, Hornets among best possible spots for star guard | Sporting News Where Trae Young could land as the star and team work together towards making a trade

Here are my favorite landing spots for Trae Young:
www.sportingnews.com/us/nba/news/...

Here's what the Porzingis effect looks like through @The_BBall_Index LEBRON values:

There's been a lot of talk about Hawks' play with and without Trae Young.

Not enough focus on their play with and without Kristaps Porzingis.

Luke Kornet found success by letting go: Inside Spurs big man's evolution away from 3-point specialist | Sporting News Luke Kornet completely reinvented himself in order to become one of the most dependable role players in the league.

Luke Kornet was a beloved role player in Boston, and he's doing the same in San Antonio. It wasn't always that way.

I spoke to Kornet about dark times early in his career, the process of reinventing himself, and how he found success by embracing joy:
www.sportingnews.com/us/nba/san-a...