Dani Buckets

Daily NBA hot takes🔥

[Dani Buckets @NBAtakeAday]

Daily NBA Take 189: The Celtics are still better than the Sixers

Remember last summer when the Celtics lost Jayson Tatum, Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis; causing the whole NBA world to count them out? Well going into this season they have a starting 5 of Derrick White, Payton Pritchard, Paul George, Jayson Tatum and Queta/Robinson. I don’t know about you, but without being blinded by the aftermath of a horrific trade, on paper this team is still a contender in the east. Out in Philly, despite the starpower they clearly possess, they simply have too many shot creators and not enough playmakers. When the season starts, we will see them perform like the 2024-25 Suns; All buckets with no order or system, and no good role players. The Celtics really have a chance to do the funniest thing ever by beating out the Sixers once more.

#nba #Celtics

[Dani Buckets @NBAtakeAday]

Daily NBA Take 188: Lebron should join the Cavaliers

The Kid From Akron, The Chosen One, The Goat. However you want to call him, we can all agree that he singlehandedly defined this century of NBA basketball. From his early years as a pure athlete to his development as a facilitator to his late career shooting surge, Lebron Raymone James always finds a way to stay relevant. Regardless of how one may think of Lebron or one’s opinion on him, we can all agree that when we think of the Cavaliers’ franchise we think of Lebron James. He’s not just their symbol, but their honour. When Lebron plays for Cleveland, that’s the real Lebron. Not the narrative Lebron, not the Performative Lebron, but the soldier Lebron. A return to the Cavs just feels right.

#nba #Lebron #LebronJames #Cavaliers

[Dani Buckets @NBAtakeAday]

Daily NBA Take 187: DeMar DeRozan won’t join the Raptors

After the Kings waived him, DeMar DeRozan is now a top 3 free agent on the open market. However, he is also a free agent who is willing to sign a minimum contract. For this reason, along with Lowry’s cryptic message, many fans are speculating that DeMar is on his way back home to Toronto. Here’s why it won’t happen. Firstly, if he were to join the Raptors, he would most definitely have to take a backseat to Kawhi, pushing him further behind him as an All-Time Raptor and dwindling his legacy. Secondly, DeRozan is famous for not having a consistent three-point shot, which adds to the Raptors’ shooting problem. Finally, DeMar’s relationship with the city isn’t what it used to be, so it won’t feel like a ‘homecoming’.

#nba #Raptors #Toronto

[Dani Buckets @NBAtakeAday]

Daily NBA Take 186: The Pelicans are underrated

Going into the 2026-27 NBA season, the New Orleans Pelicans will likely roll out a lineup of Dejounte Murray, Jeremiah Fears, Trey Murphy III, Zion and Derik Queen (HM Poole). That team has a neat blend of shooting, playmaking, defense and rim pressure that can rival top teams, despite the lack of superstar presence. The obvious issue is that their best player Zion Williamson gets injured every 10 games, but we’ve seen a healthy Zion lead this team to a near playoff berth in a stacked west, and no doubt this team was better than the 2024 roster. Injuries to Zion and Dejounte made us forget about the Pelicans last season, and most probably forgot about Dejounte altogether, so don’t be surprised if the Pelicans shock the NBA world.

#nba #Pelicans

[Dani Buckets @NBAtakeAday]

Daily NBA Take 185: Yaxel Lendeborg is the perfect Curry accomplice

Yaxel Lendeborg just stuffed the stat sheet with 19-6-5 and shot a perfect 6/6 from the field in his NBA Summer League debut despite only playing 22 minutes in the win. This begs the question: Why wasn’t he drafted higher if we all knew he would be good? The quick answer is that he’s closing in on 24 years old, meaning he’s not a ‘developmental piece’ per se. The more accurate reason is that the league is shifting completely towards two things: youth and frugality. With the second apron, teams are more keen on their team’s payroll and how much of it is allocated to who. Now this relates to age because teams are looking to form a team with young players that can compete, and sign the core of that team to sustainable contracts. Therefore, Yaxel fell because teams aren’t willing to ‘gamble’ on an older prospect, letting the win-now Warriors snag him at pick 11.

#NBA #Warriors #NBASummerLeague

[Dani Buckets @NBAtakeAday]

Daily NBA Take 184: Scottie Barnes will be Kawhi’s best teammate ever

As a Raptors fan, it’s hard to not get excited about the Kawhi trade and more than anything, I can’t wait to see our superstar of the future share the court with our superstar of the past. Even better: Scottie Barnes has had time to develop, but hasn’t become a fully grown player yet, meaning he still has ample time to mend his game around a 2-way beast like Kawhi. That being said, what makes Scottie the perfect Kawhi teammate is that he already embraced the fact that he won’t be taking most of the shots for the team, opting to focus on doing every last bit of the little things. Besides an old Tim Duncan, all of Kawhi’s ‘superstar teammates’ didn’t have the “Dawg mentality” and often let ego take over. Just the thought of Scottie and Kawhi locking down in the fourth is enough to feed families.

#NBA #Kawhi #Raptors

[Dani Buckets @NBAtakeAday]

Daily NBA Take 183: The East will be the stronger conference next year

For what felt like the past 12 years, the western conference has had the bigger talent pool and typically featured the “Team to beat”. This offseason, the east retained its contenders, but added several new challengers from either trades or the draft. The Sixers, Raptors, Heat and Wizards picked up Brown, Kawhi, Giannis and Dybansta respectively, giving each of them a chance to make noise in the east. Don’t forget, even without Jaylen Brown the Celtics are still always one of the best in the east and the Pacers will be back. By April 2027 we will have The Knicks, Pacers, Celtics, Sixers, Pistons, Cavs, Raptors, Hawks and Wizards battling it out in the eastern conference playoffs; must-see TV.

#nba #nbaplayoffs

[Dani Buckets @NBAtakeAday]

Daily NBA Take 182: Nico Harrison has been bested

Back in February 2025 when franchise icon Luka Doncic was traded for Anthony Davis and change, we agreed as a collective that it was the worst trade we have ever witnessed, and that we will never see as disastrous of a trade ever again. It only took a year and 5 months. Seemingly out of nowhere, like most deals this offseason, MVP candidate Jaylen Brown hit the trade market. However, that wasn’t the issue; the problem was that they ended up trading him him in what looked like a salary dump, until you realize Paul George who was the player they received is making just as much money as Brown. Unlike the Luka deal, there is absolutely zero (if not negative) return on this trade, meaning it may be time to pause the Nico Harrison hate and move on to Brad Stevens.

#nba #nbaoffseason #JaylenBrown #Celtics #76ers

[Dani Buckets @NBAtakeAday]

Daily NBA Take 181: This has been the craziest offseason ever

What in the world is going on in the NBA right now? We just finished witnessing an amazing playoffs and were feeling down from the thought of 4 months without NBA basketball, but the offseason has torn those feelings out of our minds. It started with the Giannis trade, which had been teased for over a year, but that became only the beginning. Since then, we saw a variety of superstars move teams including Lamelo Ball, Ja Morant and Kawhi Leonard, completely changing the landscape of the NBA, not even including the many players still on the moving block like Duren, Brown and Powell. Even more importantly, Lebron James has decided that he will leave the Lakers and join another team for what is likely his final season. What a time to be an NBA fan.

#nba

[Dani Buckets @NBAtakeAday]

Daily NBA Take 180: Jalen Duren’s career is falling apart

This past year was supposed to be the year that Jalen Duren takes the star leap and gets paid, and in the regular season he did just that, putting up career beat averages of 20-11-2 on 65% shooting. The falloff for Duren started in the playoffs. Duren didn’t just fall off in the playoffs, he became completely invisible. It came to a point where the Pistons opted to finish the game with Paul Reed at center over their All-NBA big man. Now it’s time for his contract, but after his disastrous playoffs the Pistons are reluctant to offer him a max contract. This isn’t a problem, as there are tons of teams out there who are. The problem arises from his preferred destination: The Kings. Requesting to join the Kings is basically selling your basketball career away for a bag and choosing to suffer an empty career. It’s over for Jalen Duren.

#nba #JalenDuren #SacramentoKings

[Dani Buckets @NBAtakeAday]

Daily NBA Take 179: Darius Acuff Jr. will be a rookie All-Star

A lot of the narrative around Acuff is that he is a high floor prospect, meaning he’s guaranteed to be playable, while having superstar potential. However, I believe he has more than just that. Darius Acuff Jr. has the potential to take the league by storm in his first season and become the best rookie since Black Jesus himself. Darius Acuff Jr. has a combination of shooting, driving and passing that you don’t find in a common prospect. That combined with his composure and maturity, as well as his college coach’s history of producing killer guards, there is no chance Acuff Jr. flops and there is every chance for him to outperform his draft expectations by a wide margin.

#nba #Kings #SacramentoKings #DariusAcuffJr

[Dani Buckets @NBAtakeAday]

Daily NBA Take 178: The Nets are horrible at developing centers

I’m basing it on a small sample size that should be sufficient to completely expose their incompetence. Since I started watching basketball there have been basically 2 starting Nets starters: Jarrett Allen and Nic Claxton. As soon as Jarrett Allen got traded from Brooklyn, he became an All-Star. It wasn’t even a development; It was the season after. Now, Nic Claxton got traded to Chicago after 6 gruesome years in Brooklyn. One thing in common between these two players is that they spent years in Brooklyn before basically being traded as raw contracts despite having untapped potential. I’m confident Claxton will do the same.

#nba

[Dani Buckets @NBAtakeAday]

Daily NBA Take 177: The NBA Draft should be revealed by team representatives

The NHL draft today sparked some controversy around the announcement of draft picks, but that only sparked my interest. When a team owner or special guest announces the draft picks, the pick feels more personal and closer to the team. This also gives the owner a chance to express their choice directly to the crowd and public rather than through a phone call, allowing for evaluation of tone, facial expression and composure. When you shake the commissioner’s hand, you join the league. When you shake the team owner’s hand, you join the team. It would have a totally different feel that I believe would be for the better.

#JustinBieber #NBA #NHL #Draft

[Dani Buckets @NBAtakeAday]

Daily NBA Take 176: Ant and Melo are a match made in heaven

It finally happened. Anthony Edwards has found a point guard. After a solid half decade of having to create his own offense, one of the league’s most prolific scoring engines has found a running mate who will make him only deadlier. For Lamelo Ball, playing on the Timberwolves means he can’t play the carefree brand of basketball he patented in Charlotte. Overall, everyone is happy from this trade. Minnesota gets a fresh look and Charlotte finally moved on from a disfigured Lamelo era while gaining draft capital in the process. Everyone except the fans.

#nba #trade #nbaoffseason #LameloBall #Timberwolves #Hornets

[Dani Buckets @NBAtakeAday]

Daily NBA Take 175: Cameron Carr is the steal of the draft

Not only does Cam Carr fit what the Lakers need perfectly, but they got him late in the first round after moving up just one spot. Usually we think of centers when we want an ideal pairing for Luka, because of their lob potential and defensive cover-ups, but with a lanky wingspan, great instincts, amazing vertical leap and most importantly, the ability to shoot and finish, Cam Carr is the perfect player to fit around Luka Doncic. Hopefully he gets playing time and a chance to shine and doesn’t phase out like Dalton Knecht.

#Lakers #NBA

[Dani Buckets @NBAtakeAday]

Daily NBA Take 174: The Heat made a bad trade

You will almost never find me speaking ill of the team that got the superstar, but in this case it really doesn’t make much sense. Giving up Ware, Jaquez Jr. and Jakucionis means the team’s depth is essentially non-existent, especially at the guard positions, which Giannis has been known to thrive alongside. Another problem is their lack of shooting. Having Giannis at power forward means you need a center who can stretch the floor, and while Bam can shoot a bit, he’s nowhere near the abilities of Brook Lopez. Giannis to the Heat is exciting, but nowhere near a best-case scenario.

#nba #Bucks #Heat #Giannis #Trade

[Dani Buckets @NBAtakeAday]

Daily NBA Take 173: The Trae Young extension will be a huge mistake by the end of next season

We’ve seen it with De’Aaron Fox; sometimes a team doesn’t need a veteran to lead a young core. That young core can develop into its own ‘veteran’. Obviously, the current Wizards roster has no real sense of direction by any means, but an extension for Trae of this magnitude means he won’t just be a Chris Paul-like mentor; he will be an actual part of the team’s near future. With the first pick this year, regardless of if they pick AJ, DP or another prospect, they will have something new to build upon, meaning Trae’s contract will become a nuisance sooner than anyone may expect. My guess is that by the end of this coming season, if not the next, Trae’s contract will become a negative asset around the Wizards’ core.

#nba #nbadraft #TraeYoung #Wizards #WashingtonWizards