Mark Daigneault

In an attempt yesterday to slow Nikola Jokic's quick inbound passes before the defense sets, Mark Daigneault brought Thunder deep reserve Dillon Jones to the scorer's table as what the Oklahoma City coach called a "permanent sub." Jones stood at the scorer's table for multiple minutes of gameplay without entering, but forcing officials to check at each stoppage whether Jones would sub in before giving the ball to the in-bounder. Teams can decline to sub in a player at the scorer's table. A ref eventually called a delay of game, and Daigneault had Jones take a seat.

Rob Perez has a good video breaking down the scheme.

I appreciate Daigneault's creativity and competitiveness. He should be trying to exploit every edge to help the Thunder win.

How the league should handle the issue is more complicated. The NBA is an entertainment product. The league generally does well to get the ball inbounded quickly – reducing stoppage time and keeping the game moving.

But Daigneault's strategy adds intrigue. People might be outraged. They will want to watch it (at least for now).

The league might already have an ideal fix on the books.

In response to the Mavericks' lack of bench decorum a few years ago, the NBA cracked down on prolonged standing by bench players. Penalties are warning then delay of game then technical foul.

Players waiting to check in can stand near the scorer's table. But it eventually became clear Jones wasn't actually waiting to check in. He was just a bench player standing.

So, the delay of game looks like the correct call to me – and a good way to police the "permanent sub."

There is drama in seeing when coaches will deploy the strategy, how long they can get away with it and whether they'll continue after getting a delay of game. Using the bench-decorum rule on the "permanent sub" would allow that to play out without overtaking a game.

Los Angeles Lakers

The Lakers are off today and tomorrow. They better rest while they can.

Due to wildfire postponements, the Lakers are scheduled for six games in eight days, beginning Thursday.

Since the 2011-12 lockout-shortened season, just two teams have played six games in eight days:

• Raptors in 2022 (after postponement due to coronavirus)
• Pelicans in 2018 (after postponement due to arena roof leak)

Lakers' upcoming schedule:

• Thursday: at Bucks
• Friday: at Nuggets
• Sunday: vs. Suns
• Monday vs. Spurs
• Next Wednesday: vs. Nuggets
• Next Thursday: vs. Bucks

Imagine how tough that stretch would be if Phoenix were anywhere near expectations and Victor Wembanyama were healthy!

Kevin Durant

The Suns' ideal return on a Kevin Durant trade is seen as three first-round picks and a young player while getting under the second apron, according to Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic.

So, the plan is to… rebuild? Phoenix could always flip those picks for immediate help around Devin Booker, but then why isn't the ideal trade just getting that immediate help in the first place?

Perhaps, Rankin is just trying to convey the upper range of Durant's value in a known currency (picks). Or maybe the Suns' plan is completely disjointed! They haven't earned benefit of the doubt. But I just find this report weird.

Definitely interesting to know of the goal of reducing payroll, though. Phoenix projects to be about $7 million above the second apron next season with Durant's $54,708,608 salary. So, getting under is certainly achievable.

MVP

Nuggets coach Michael Malone on the MVP race between Nikola Jokic and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander:

"If you didn't know that Nikola won three MVPs and I put Player A and Player B on paper, and you had no idea that the guy that's averaging a triple-double, the guy who's top three in the three major statistical categories – things that no one's ever done – he wins the MVP 10 times out of 10. And if you don't think so, I think you guys are all full of shit."

I'm unsure who should win MVP. I find the race too close to call.

But voter fatigue is very real.

After consecutive runner-up finishes to Jokic, Joel Embiid won 2023 MVP, because voters believed 2-1 was a more fair split than 3-0 between the star centers. Really, Jokic should have topped Embiid each of those seasons. Each year should be decided independently – but isn't.

Jokic faces a similar obstacle this year: Voters will consider whether Jokic is the caliber of all-time great who wins four MVPs in five years (done by only LeBron James and Bill Russell). There might even be some thought that it's fair for Gilgeous-Alexander to win one after Jokic beat him last year, though it's probably a year early for that to be a major factor.

Nikola Jokic

Remember early in the year when we wondered whether Nikola Jokic could win a triple crown by leading the NBA in points per game, rebounds per game and assists per game? There was a big indicator he wouldn't: Jokic has never led the league in points per game, rebounds per game or assists per game.

Well, Jokic no longer leads the league in any of those categories this season.

But he's still running closer to a triple crown than anyone ever has.

Jokic has:

• 88% the points per game of the points-per-game leader (Shai Gilgeous-Alexander)
• 92% the rebounds per game of the rebounds-per-game leader (Domantas Sabonis)
• 91% the assists per game of the assists-per-game leader (Trae Young)

Add it up, and it's 271% – .01 percentage points ahead of Wilt Chamberlain by the same measure in 1968, when he led the league in rebounding and finished fourth in scoring and second in assists.

The NBA's first-ever triple crown is probably out of reach for Jokic. But whether he comes closest to a triple crown is a tight race to watch down the stretch.

Coronavirus

Baxter Holmes and Tim MacMahon of ESPN go in-depth on the day five years ago the NBA shut down due to coronavirus. There were moments while reading I didn't want to re-live that time, but I'm glad I finished the article, which had plenty of interesting parts, including:

• When told they'd play games without fans, the Warriors were silent for a while until Stephen Curry piped up: "OK, well, can we have our own playlist?"
• Vince Carter entered his final career game and was immediately told by Trae Young to expect a lob. Carter responded: "Hell no, you're not throwing me a lob! Do you know how long I've been sitting on that bench over there? Hell no! Are you crazy? I'm 43 over here. I need time to warm up."
• Donovan Mitchell said the Jazz got drunk – on wine sent by Chris Paul – while awaiting their coronavirus tests then went to the Residence Inn (a hotel that would take them) "and just kept drinking beers and eating ice cream."

Scoot Henderson

Interesting article from Jason Quick of The Athletic on how Scoot Henderson has stopped his mind from racing, honed his shot and shed a "bust" label in his second season.

Marvel Snap

I'd never even heard of Marvel Snap and am not interested in it, but I watched this entire video about the game because Danny was so endearing and impressively sharp:

-Dan Feldman