“The NBA will return to painting the Larry O’Brien trophy at center court and Finals script logo on the home team’s floor for the Finals starting this season, per sources. The last time the large trophy was painted on court was 2009,” reported ESPN NBA insider Shams Charania on X, formerly Twitter.

Well, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver rolled his eyes at the thought. Ahead of the 2025-26 Opening Night, where the Thunder handed out rings and unveiled their championship banner, he said there's zero correlation between market size related to TV ratings. He talked to ESPN's Pat McAfee.

Pacers star Pascal Siakam hit a clutch jumper over Chet Holmgren to send their game against the Thunder to overtime.

Nuggets-Knicks: After pushing the Thunder to Game 7 in last year’s Western Conference Semifinals, this time around it is Nikola Jokić and the bolstered Nuggets that prevail in seven games in the Western Conference Finals to dethrone Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and OKC and guarantee an eighth straight season with a new NBA champion.

Free Press sports writers answer big questions and making predictions about the Detroit Pistons and NBA Finals for the 2025-26 season.

Will OKC repeat in the 2025-25 season? As the NBA schedule tips off, here are the NBA power rankings based on Finals odds.

San Antonio Spurs players — Victor Wembanyama in 2023 and Stephon Castle in 2024 — have won the award the past two years. It’s possible Spurs guard Dylan Harper, the No. 2 pick in this year’s draft, makes this a closer race than many are anticipating. But it’s hard not to bet on Flagg, who so far has won everywhere he goes. — Christian Clark

E veryone keeps talking about the "weaker" Eastern Conference, but two years ago the Celtics were a dominant force on their way to a title, and last season the Pacers pushed the Thunder to seven games in the NBA Finals and left us with one of the greatest "what ifs?" in NBA history.