Here is what caught our editors' eyes last week:
LeBron James steps up as Lakers secure homecourt advantage
When it was revealed that Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves would miss the remainder of the regular season, there was serious concern that the Los Angeles Lakers would fall out of the top four in the Western Conference and fail to have homecourt advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
However, they still managed to win three of their four games last week, led by the timeless LeBron James.
With the Houston Rockets breathing down their necks, LeBron stepped up. He scored 18 points in 16 minutes in the Lakers' victory over the Utah Jazz in their final game, and before that, he averaged 28 points, 7.7 rebounds and 12.7 assists in their other three games.
He also reached 12,000 career assists, only the fourth player ever to do so.
At 41 years old, LeBron keeps defying father time, and after the Lakers ended the season as the No. 4 seed with a 53-29 record, they will now begin their playoff campaign against the Rockets.
A tantalising proposition that sees LeBron and Kevin Durant go head-to-head - potentially for the last time in the playoffs.
Reaves is unlikely to be back until the second round, while Doncic is aiming for a return against the Rockets at some point.
It is going to be tough for the Lakers without those two, but LeBron has proven that he will certainly do all he can to keep his team in the fight.
Tolga Akdeniz
Record-breaking Jokic and Nuggets head into playoffs on a roll
The Denver Nuggets closed out the regular season in dominant fashion, riding a 12-game winning streak while securing the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference.
Along the way, they also set a franchise record for most road wins in a single season (26-15), underlining just how consistent this group has been down the stretch. Up next is a first-round matchup with the Minnesota Timberwolves.
At the centre of it all is Nikola Jokic, who added yet another historic milestone to his résumé. Jokic became the first player in NBA history to finish a season leading the league in both assists per game (10.7) and rebounds per game (12.9), continuing to redefine what’s possible from the centre position.
He’s not just putting up numbers - he’s controlling games. Jokic dictates the tempo, gets teammates involved, and makes Denver’s offence look effortless.
Denver also saw Bruce Brown appear in all 82 regular-season games this season, a quiet but important piece of their consistency throughout the year.
With momentum building and their leader playing at a historic level, Denver enters the playoffs as a team that looks fully equipped for another deep run.
Natalie Csurillova
Rookie race down to the wire
That's a wrap for the NBA regular season! After each team completed their 82-game slate, it’s time for the playoffs and the competitive, win-or-go-home climb to the top, where the coveted Larry O’Brien trophy awaits.
But the postseason isn’t the only thing to look forward to. The NBA awards are around the corner. This year, the race for the Rookie of the Year award was incredibly close, with both frontrunners heavily pleading their cases during the last week.
Cooper Flagg, the No. 1 overall pick, quickly emerged as a megastar for the Dallas Mavericks and an instant fan favourite. Despite entering the league as its youngest player, he’s played with the poise of a seasoned veteran from day one.
Flagg can do it all, displaying a breathtaking set of both offensive and defensive tools all season long. He averaged 21.2 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 4.6 assists per contest. Still, Flagg found a contender for the rookie crown. And it’s his friend and former teammate from Duke, Kon Knueppel.
The sharpshooter was nothing but lethal from beyond the arc this season. Knueppel became the fastest player in NBA history to knock down both 100 and 200 triples; he also broke the Charlotte Hornets franchise record for most threes in a single season, previously held by legendary Kemba Walker.
Knueppel averaged 18.6 points and shot 47.2 % from the three-point line. After breaking records and posting efficient numbers, the shooting guard was suddenly running as the favourite to win the ROY.
It’s like the fading odds sparked a fire within Flagg, who closed his rookie campaign erupting for a stunning shooting showdown. In his last five games, he put up 51, 45, 25, 11, and 33 points, turning the odds in his favour once again.
The battle is neck and neck, and it will be unbelievably close. Or could history repeat itself? The NBA hasn’t seen co-Rookies of the Year since Elton Brand and Steve Francis shared the honour in the 1999–2000 season.
Michaela Gaislerová
AJ Green makes Bucks history
AJ Green set the new Milwaukee Bucks franchise record for the most three-pointers in a game with 11. The previous record was 10, which was held by Damian Lillard and the legendary sharpshooter Ray Allen.
His 35 points weren’t only a career-high, but Green had never posted more than 30 points in an NBA game in his entire four-year career, having only scored more than 25 points once.
The former undrafted prospect out of Northern Iowa is putting career-highs across the board this season, averaging 10.3 points, 2.7 rebounds, and 2.0 assists per game.
Green has shot at least 40% from three-point range in every season he’s been in the league. If he maintains his 42%, which currently ranks 12th best in the NBA, he’ll make it back-to-back seasons shooting at least 42% from behind the arc, proving to everyone why he signed the four-year, $45 million contract that he did back in October 2025.
Eric Himmelheber
Zion Williamson and Ja Morant: time to move on?
We now know the 2026 NBA playoff bracket, and once again, the top two picks from the 2019 draft won’t be there. A duo we expected to see facing off time and time again (especially as they’re in the same division) and playing leading roles, but seven years on, it feels like a massive waste.
First, Zion Williamson, who has still not played a single playoff game, except for a single play-in game in which he got injured. A recurring problem, but above all, he isn’t moving forward anymore. A rather unexpected statistical decline this season for the former Duke player saw his average drop from 24.6 to 21.0 points.
Then there’s Ja Morant, who has barely seen the court this season (20 games), whose average has dropped below 20 points for the first time since his rookie year, and who has seen his franchise trade his partner Jaren Jackson Jr. mid-season, following Desmond Bane’s departure in June. A sign of things to come?
It’s hard to imagine the Memphis Grizzlies dismantling their squad just to keep a single player from the franchise’s ‘revival’. Ja Morant is bound to leave, but who would want to take a chance on a player who has played just 84 games in three seasons? Probably not a title contender.
For Zion, the trade is a long-running saga. The New Orleans Pelicans have the resources to rebuild a team, with several talented players, but it remains to be seen whether this off-season will be the right time to move on from a player who is talented but so injury-prone. Who will dare to take the gamble?
Their salary situations are identical down to the last dollar (two years remaining on their contracts and $87,053,440 still to be paid). In today’s NBA, that’s not an insurmountable figure; it’s not a deterrent.
But here are two players whose off-court issues are well known, and whose careers have been plagued by injuries. It is hard to believe that the Grizzlies and the Pelicans will be in a strong position if/when they put the two players on the market.
If that is the case, the feeling of a massive waste will prevail. Over seven years, the two players could have left their mark on the league; they had everything it takes to become basketball megastars.
But today, players drafted after them (Anthony Edwards, Cade Cunningham, Victor Wembanyama) are already headlining and in the running for MVP. The 2019 draft was considered to be of a low standard but featured two exceptional top picks. That will likely no longer be the case soon...
Sébastien Gente