If NBA fans were hungry for more action during yesterday’s four-game slate, they’ll get their wish today, as all but eight teams will take the court for tonight’s 11-game offering.
Although the two championship favorites — the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Boston Celtics — won’t play, there are plenty of top teams and must-start players in action. Here are my top three:
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PG Luka Doncic, Los Angeles Lakers vs. Denver Nuggets, $12,500
The marquee matchup of tonight’s slate is one between the two best Balkan players the league has ever seen, as Serbian star Nikola Jokić ($12,900) and his Nuggets travel to face the Slovenian Dončić and his Lakers. The two teams are battling for the second seed in the Western Conference, where four teams are separated by just one game in the standings. After a stretch of four losses in a row, Los Angeles has turned it around with two straight wins, and Denver won its most recent game as well. The Lakers are still waiting for the eventual return of LeBron James ($10,500), but for now, it’s the Dončić show — since James went down late in the March 8 loss to the Boston Celtics, he’s averaging 30.3 points, 10.8 rebounds, 9.3 assists, and 2.3 steals (64.9 FPTS) per game.
I favor him ever so slightly over Jokić, who Los Angeles managed to stymie the last time Dončić faced the team. With Jaxson Hayes ($5,000) manning the middle, the Lakers managed to hold Jokić to 12 points, 13 rebounds, and 10 assists (46.75 FPTS), his second-lowest scoring output of the season. Plus, Los Angeles has had the league’s third-best defensive rating since February 1, while the Nuggets have recorded its 10th-worst. Since that point, Denver has conceded the 13th-most points and 12th-most assists, and Dončić averages the third-most combined points and assists in the league, behind only Jokić and Trae Young.
C Karl-Anthony Towns, New York Knicks at San Antonio Spurs, $9,900
The Knicks’ season took a big hit on March 6 when point guard Jalen Brunson ($9,000) suffered a sprained ankle that is expected to keep him out for most of the remaining regular season games. New York is a respectable 3-2 since then, though, thanks to improved play from Mikal Bridges ($6,300) and consistency from Towns. Since Brunson’s injury, Towns has averaged 24.4 points and 9.0 rebounds (44.3 FPTS) per game on elite 54-52-84 shooting splits, and his usage has seen a slight uptick from 26.5% alongside Brunson to 29.0% since then.
But arguably the single most impactful injury this season on any team’s performance was the season-ending deep vein thrombosis that Victor Wembanyama experienced in his right shoulder. Prior to the All-Star break, San Antonio was hanging around the Play-In Tournament picture and Wembanyama was the odds-on favorite to win Defensive Player of the Year. Without the towering Frenchman, the Spurs have conceded the most points, seventh-most rebounds, and most assists per game, and to add insult to injury, they’ve also recorded the fifth-fewest blocks after losing the man who will lead the league in total blocks despite playing barely over half the season. San Antonio did an okay job limiting Towns on Christmas Day with Wemby, but without him, it has no chance.
SG Desmond Bane, Memphis Grizzlies at Portland Trail Blazers, $9,300
This season, the Grizzlies have arguably been a better team without Ja Morant ($9,500), who has taken the court only sporadically. Bane has been one major reason for Memphis’ success, and without Morant on Monday night, he dropped 44 points, six rebounds, and four assists (61.0 FPTS), hitting 15 of his 25 field goal attempts and all seven of his three-point tries. In 2024-25, he’s averaging his highest rebounding percentage and second-highest assist percentage, posting the most well-rounded campaign of his career even though his scoring is down nearly four points from last season.
Portland has some excellent individual defenders — including forward Toumani Camara ($5,400), who won the Western Conference’s Defensive Player of the Month award in February — but they aren’t guards. Camara will likely be tasked largely with marking Jaren Jackson Jr. ($8,400) and promising rookie Donovan Clingan ($5,800) — who would rank second in the league in block percentage if he’d played enough minutes to qualify — will man the middle. Pair Camara and Clingan with Jerami Grant ($5,200) or Deni Avdija ($7,300) and you have the foundations of a great defense. But Anfernee Simons ($7,000) and Shaedon Sharpe ($6,400) both rank in the bottom 20 this season by defensive box plus-minus, so it’s not a surprise that the Trail Blazers have been the league’s eighth-worst against opposing shooting guards this season even though they’ve had the league’s sixth-best defensive rating since February 1.
