Each NBA game can teach lessons. Watch enough of them and plenty will be learned. Tune in every night for two straight months and some firm, yet malleable, takeaways are established. As we head toward the two-month poll of 2024-25, the Sportscasting crew joined forces to share what they’ve discovered thus far, featuring the Atlanta Hawks’ future, Oklahoma City Thunder’s distinct brand and Giannis Antetokounmpo’s growth.
Let’s get to it.
The Hawks’ Rebuild Will Lead Them Toward Contention
The Atlanta Hawks’ run to the NBA Cup Semifinals feels reminiscent of their 2021 playoff run. A young, tall, athletic team made it deeper than many expected on the back of Trae Young. Yet in 2025, the supporting cast consists of ascending young players and defensive wings. That 2021 team featured offensively slanted supporting wings around Young like De’Andre Hunter, Kevin Huerter and Danilo Gallinari.
But this time around, the Hawks constructed a defensive foundation on the wing. Young’s one-man offensive engineering benefits more from rangy defenders than offensive amplifiers. We watched that defense stymie a red-hot New York Knicks team in the quarterfinal and push the eventual champion Milwaukee Bucks to their limit in the semis.
The Hawks held Milwaukee to a tenable 105.8 offensive rating in their semifinal loss, but the offense sputtered under the fluorescent Las Vegas lights. Apart from a vintage 35 points and 10 assists from Young, Atlanta couldn’t muster the offensive contributions it needed from Hunter, Jalen Johnson or Dyson Daniels. Clint Capela no longer skies for lobs with the force he once did.
With Young on the floor, the Hawks routinely created open looks. They may have advanced to the NBA Cup Final on a luckier night. Daniels and Johnson will keep progressing as creators and shotmakers. Atlanta will probably need one more offensive piece, whether that be as a lob target big man or another high-volume shooter.
These early season glimpses of high-leverage basketball glimmer as bright as any moments in years for the Hawks. Daniels and Johnson will continue to wreak havoc on both ends. Young will create wide open shots for them with head coach Quin Snyder pulling the correct levers. Those shots must fall eventually, but Atlanta seems poised to contend once again in the coming seasons if that offense improves. –Ben Pfeifer
Small Ball Is Still In Style
In the 1990s and 2000s, basketball was dominated by burly bigs who touted biceps that could be mistaken for bowling balls (see: Alonzo Mourning). That was until the dynastic Golden State Warriors came along in the 2010s and showed us it was better to play small if it meant you could have more skilled players on the floor.
Then, Nikola Jokic, Joel Embiid and Giannis Antetokounmpo brought centers back in style by combining the size of the classical centers with the skill of the small-ball ones, practically rendering small-ball useless — or at least that’s what I thought.
The 2024-25 season has taught me there is still a place for small ball. The best example of this is the Oklahoma City Thunder. Their lineup of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Cason Wallace, Isaiah Joe, Luguentz Dort and Jalen Williams has played 115 non-garbage time possessions together in which the Thunder have a point differential of plus-32.2 per 100 possessions – the fifth-highest mark of any lineup with at least 100 possessions, per Cleaning the Glass.
The tallest players in that group are Gilgeous-Alexander and Williams, who both stand at a respectable, albeit not center-like, 6-foot-6. Outside of them, Joe is 6-foot-5 while Wallace and Dort are both 6-foot-4. They overcome their vertical disadvantages by being physical, fast and, of course, immensely skilled.
Now, small ball won’t work in every situation. When you are going against Jokic, you want a big man who can bang with him on the inside. But, in most situations, playing size for the sake of size is pointless. You would much rather put your most skilled players on the court, regardless of how tall they are. –Mat Issa
Giannis Antetokounmpo Is Evolving
This season has been about evolution for Giannis Antetokounmpo. Now 30 years old and playing his 12th year of professional hoops, he’s been forced to adapt and enter a new phase of his career.
“I know I’m effective in the paint… but you take a beating,” Antetokounmpo told media ahead of the Milwaukee Bucks’ NBA Cup Semifinals game against the Atlanta Hawks. “Now, my body, today I feel great, I feel like I haven’t been touched, which is incredible.”
In the past, Antetokounmpo has played basketball like a human battering ram, barreling his way to the basket with little to no regard for his own (or the defender’s) body. That recipe worked for years. He’s one of the greatest paint finishers in NBA history, but it also led to him getting injured in back-to-back postseasons.
The recipe had to change for longevity’s sake. While he’s still taking more than 60 percent of his shots at the basket, he’s driving on fewer possessions and settling into midrange shots more frequently than he ever has. He’s shooting a career-high 46 percent on long midrange jumpers and has shown comfort getting to these looks off the dribble, in post-ups and as a counter to when teams wall off the paint.
Speaking of that wall, the go-to defensive strategy against Antetokounmpo hasn’t worked as much this season. After a dominant 26 points, 19 rebounds and 10 assists to help the Bucks win the NBA Cup Monday night, Antetokounmpo told media his goal has been to “get behind the wall” before catching the ball, posting up twice as often as he did last season.
Those post touches have correlated to a career-high 35 percent assist rate. He’s bending defenses to his will and zipping cross-court passes to shooters.
The result? An NBA Cup Finals MVP and a loud proclamation for regular season MVP through two months. He’s averaging a league-leading 32.7 points, 11.5 rebounds, 6.1 assists and blocking almost 2 shots a night.
The two-time MVP and 2019-20 Defensive Player of the Year has somehow evolved and leveled up to play the best basketball of his career this season. –Es Baraheni
