A speedster is slowing down fast. A giant is redirecting defenders. And a youngster is already directing his own teammates.
Let’s open up the notebook to run through three NBA trends that have caught my eye over the past week:
Going slow fast
If the last two weeks are indicative of what’s to come, Orlando Magic guard Anthony Black could snatch a Most Improved Player trophy.
Black is on a tear, averaging an efficient 23.4 points in eight games since Dec. 18. He’s now a consistent starter, an ultra-physical, 6-foot-7 guard inside the Magic’s ferocious first unit. On Saturday, he went for 38 points during an upset of the Denver Nuggets. He capped off the evening with an impressive defensive stop, poking the ball away from Jamal Murray, then sticking with the All-Star hopeful to force an uncomfortable, errant fadeaway as the buzzer sounded, sealing a one-point victory.
But we already knew Black could disrupt enemy ballhandlers. It’s his offense that signals a shift in Orlando.
Black is bubbling with versatility. Once a suspect shooter, he has started draining 3s. He sliced up the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday with clever off-ball cuts. When he receives the basketball around the hoop, he’s always been a confident finisher, though that’s mostly because of his athleticism. Now, he’s showing off explosiveness in more ways than just jumping high or running fast.
He slows down quicker than anyone else around him, too.
Black’s layup package has grown. He’ll still race past a defender and rocket into a rim-protector for an aggressive layup or dunk. He’ll throw down alley-oops. But his vibe of late is reminiscent of that scene in ‘Bull Durham’ when Nuke LaLoosh, a fireball pitcher, learns to “breathe through your eyes.” A 98 mph fastball isn’t nearly as daunting without a changeup to go with it.
Here is an example of a changeup Black threw earlier this week, a Eurostep on Toronto Raptors guard Immanuel Quickley, who leapt in the air assuming a floater would go up … but you know what they say about assumptions.
An athlete who can play with timing is a chore to guard. And this isn’t the only way Black does it. He’ll look like he’s about to two-step into a layup only to toss up a floater off the wrong foot, the exact move Quickley thought he was going for in the above clip. Late in the Denver game, Black retrieved a loose ball, sped down the court in transition, then deked Murray with a Eurostep similar to the one he pulled off against Quickley.
Murray mistimed his jump and fouled Black.
And-1.
Black will drive into the paint, jump stop, then go into an up-and-under when he encounters larger defenders at the rim. He’ll change hands in mid-air. He’s a master of the pivot. He doesn’t run out of moves.
Look at this play from the Toronto game. Black opens himself up before receiving the basketball because he bolts for it at full speed. He tries the Rajon Rondo ball fake, flipping his arm up as he turns his back to the basket. The defender doesn’t bite. He spins around to shoot, but his defender leans into him. Black notices he has the advantage, lifts into contact, and finishes an and-1.
Over this eight-game heater, Black is taking 5.4 shots per game in the restricted area, sixth in the league amongst guards. He’s getting there on the break, in the halfcourt, with cuts, with speed, with slowdowns, with stops, with spins.
His 3-point accuracy doesn’t have to stick for the Magic to know they have a gem.
The Lopez effect
As the bottom of the Western Conference bunches up, the LA Clippers are spacing out.
Just in the past week and a half, the Clippers have doubled their season-long win total. They’ve beaten down the crosstown Los Angeles Lakers, then the contending Houston Rockets. They’ve toppled the Eastern Conference-leading Detroit Pistons and have wrecked a few bottom feeders, too.
All six wins, most of which have come without injured center Ivica Zubac, have been by double-digits — because all of a sudden, the Clippers, who started the season 6-21 behind a porous defense and choppy offense, won’t stop scoring.
Kawhi Leonard is healthy, which makes all the difference. If LA were above 11th in the standings, he’d be a shoo-in for the All-Star team, given another year of fabulous stat-packing. A week ago, Leonard’s career high was 45 points. In the past four days, he’s reached that number twice, including a 55-point outburst against the Pistons. But the six straight victories haven’t been about only Leonard and James Harden.
Specifically, in the five games without Zubac, the Clippers’ offense is spreading to the 3-point arc, thanks largely to their replacement at center, Brook Lopez, who went cold on Thursday against the Utah Jazz but whose impact extends beyond just made or missed shots.
Harden and Zubac carried the Clippers’ offense together last season, becoming one of the league’s most devastating pick-and-roll combinations. Zubac is your conventional center, a rim-diver who can also score out of the post. He has soft touch around the rim, especially on his baby hook, which he’ll release from any angle.
Lopez occupies other areas of the court. The more he’s aged (he’s 37 now), the farther from the paint he’s drifted.
For the third straight season, approximately two-thirds of Lopez’s 3-point attempts come from at least 27 feet, according to Second Spectrum. Heading into Thursday’s action, he was putting up 8.2 deep 3s per 100 possessions on the season, by far the highest rate of his career.
His range is affecting the players around him; sometimes in obvious ways, like when he blasted in nine 3s against the Lakers, and other times in more subtle fashion.
Earlier this week, it took the Sacramento Kings one minute to experience the Lopez effect.
Look at this play from early in the game, which turned into a 41-point demolition. Lopez starts down low, then jogs to Harden, as if he’s about to set a screen that never comes. Harden notices his defender, Keegan Murray, forcing him right, Harden’s weak hand, then takes off for the rim.
The threat of the 3 compels Lopez’s defender, Maxime Raynaud, to stick with him, and Harden finishes a wide-open layup.
First, let’s be clear: Independent of the Lopez effect, this is a dreadful showing from the Kings defense. Raynaud is caught in no-man’s land. Russell Westbrook, who is waiting for Harden down low, doesn’t bother to contest the layup. No one else budges.
But beyond just this one play, lanes are opening for the Clippers when Lopez is present.
They drive to the hoop 10 percent more often when he’s on the court compared to when he’s on the bench, according to Second Spectrum. The offense has exploded during this streak, dropping a league-best 128.6 points per 100 possessions during the five games with Lopez in the starting lineup, per Cleaning the Glass.
No one is advocating for a change in the first unit once Zubac, one of the league’s top starting centers, returns. But Lopez, even after a slow start to the season, has shown why the Clippers targeted him this past summer. He provides space they wouldn’t otherwise have.
The Queen connection
The New Orleans Pelicans immediately canceled out their five-game winning streak with a quintet of losses to close December. Just when it looked like the Pels could fixate on a positive, good teams came to town, proving that not much had changed.
But life is fickle, especially when you don’t have a first-round pick in 2026, so let’s zero in on one positive: a connection between Trey Murphy III and the guy New Orleans traded that first-rounder for is forming.
Rookie big man Derik Queen has identified his favorite cutter. Queen will lock in on Murphy, then fire passes into tight areas to get him buckets. Check out these two dimes, both from within the past week:
Queen is a special passer but not in a usual way. In both of the above plays, he telegraphs the assist, staring at Murphy as the 25-year-old cuts to the hoop.
This isn’t an exhibition of his vision. Murphy didn’t get open or appear that he might get open, only for Queen to find him. In both cases, Queen directed him with his eyes. Only a few big men — and yes, it’s too early in Queen’s career to name them here and thus insinuate a comparison to the greats — can do this.
Add Queen to the list.
He’s assisted Murphy on 46 baskets this season, the most of any duo on the Pelicans. Dishes like these, when Queen instructs Murphy to new spots on the court, are becoming more common. Even if Murphy doesn’t free himself much, Queen is so accurate (and so daring) that he can thread the needle.
The Pelicans may be losing again, but at least two of their young guys are developing in tandem.
