King of the Court Podcast with Ben Riggs and Ben Staton

There's been a lot of talk recently about Lebron reaching the end of his road. But is he washed, or does the King have more in the tank? We do a deep dive on Lebron's production to get to the bottom of it. We also propose a few trades that take pretenders to contenders, and we recap Cavs vs Celtics 2.0

This week, we have a Thanksgiving NBA Smorgasbord! We touch on Franz Wagner and the Orlando Magic's outstanding play, Tyrese Haliburton's slump, the potential turnaround in Milwaukee, the ceiling of the Denver Nuggets, the brain-busting enigma that is the Dallas Mavericks and Jason Kidd, the rising Spurs, and the imploding Sixers soap opera.

In this episode, we discuss the marquee game of early NBA season between the Boston Celtics and the Cleveland Cavaliers, Jayson Tatum's MVP campaign, the hysteria surround Luka Doncic's slow start, the Jokic shaped hole in Denver, and the impact of Dalton Knecht on the Lakers season.

In this episode, we talk about Jason Kidd and his (ill-fated) efforts to reinvent Luka, JJ and DLO, Chet and the looming storm in OKC.

We do a deep dive into the Jokic's ridiculous start to the season, Wemby's equally ridiculous start to the season (for different reasons), and the absolutely RIDICULOUS start to the season in the Eastern Conference.

In this episode, we run through a few quick takes:

• Undefeated Cleveland
• Ant's 3-point shooting due to Randle spacing problems?
• Memphis' interesting start with unexpected contributors
• Problems on the horizon for Chet and the Thunder

Next, we dive into some surprising slow and fast starts from star players, struggling teams, and teams ready to hit the panic button:

• Luka puts up big numbers while mall walking
• AD playing like an MVP under JJ; helps unlock entire team
• Wemby is a great post player that thinks he's a 2 guard
• Bucks are a five-alarm dumpster fire
• Pelicans are pure, unadulterated chaos from top to bottom
• Nuggets need to course correct—quick!

In this episode, we react to the first week of the NBA season. We kick off with five quick takes on the Phoenix Suns, Wemby's Shake-and-Bake, the Orlando Magic, Denver and the Joker, and the Memphis Grizzlies. We do deeper dives into:

• The Boston Celtics dominance
• The (disappointing) state of play in the East
• Chet Holmgren's and the Oklahoma City Thunder's fast start
• Klay Thompson is gelling with Luka nd Kyrie
• Is JJ Redick coach of the year? What does that mean for the Lakers?

Fun episode in which we compare: Luka Doncic vs. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Anthony Davis vs. Victor Wembanyama, Best young big not named Wemby, Nikola Jokic vs. Giannis Antetokounmpo, Anthony Edwards vs. Ja Morant, and Jayson Tatum vs. (2024) Lebron James.

The media anointed the Oklahoma City Thunder Western Conference champions before the season even started--despite the Dallas Mavericks handily defeating the Thunder in the playoffs just a few months ago. Both teams made offseason moves. But who better addressed their most pressing needs? Which team is better positioned to run the West in the playoffs?

In this episode, we do a deep dive comparing the Dallas Mavericks and Oklahoma City Thunder position by position: Luka Doncic vs. Shai, Kyrie vs Jalen Williams, Lively/Gafford vs Hartenstein, Klay vs Dort/Caruso, PJ vs Chet, and each team's depth and versatility.

We honor NBA legend Dikembe Mutombo, discuss the implications of the KAT trade to New York, and rank the East. It goes without saying, Boston is the class of the East. But are the Knicks on their heels? And in the postseason, who do you trust more Giannis and the Bucks or Embiid and the 76ers. Ben Riggs and Ben Staton discuss all that and more as they go through our Eastern Conference Power Rankings.

Ben Riggs and Ben Staton delve into their preseason NBA Western Conference Rankings, explaining why the NBA media is dead wrong about the Dallas Mavericks, Oklahoma City Thunder, and the Los Angeles Lakers. Also, are the San Antonio Spurs and Victor Wembanyama about to put the league on notice?