A tiny guard is steamrolling to baskets everywhere. An unglamorous role player is a glamor franchise’s secret weapon. And a lifeless squad could use a spark.
Let’s open up the notebook to run through three NBA trends that have caught my eye over the past week:
Caruso, the screener
Alex Caruso was in a familiar place: The Oklahoma City Thunder were up big as he approached MVP candidate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander at the top of the key. This is what Caruso does now more than ever. He sets screens, then heads to the hoop.
On this occasion, he knew what was coming. The Utah Jazz were about to lock onto Gilgeous-Alexander, which meant Caruso would need to provide an outlet for his teammate. Utah’s two defenders switched, one taking Caruso and the other manning the ballhandler, but as Caruso plodded to the free-throw line, his new defender raced back to Gilgeous-Alexander, hoping to trap the 30-point scorer.
This does not often go well.
Gilgeous-Alexander is not frazzled when double-teams come his way. He turns the ball over only 8.6 percent of the time opponents blitz him, sending both defenders in the action his way on pick-and-rolls, fourth in the NBA according to Second Spectrum. But this isn’t just an individual statistic. Guys like Caruso help him out, too.
Watch Caruso curl back to Gilgeous-Alexander, receive the basketball with a four-on-three advantage and kick out for an open 3-pointer:
Caruso has always thrived on these types of plays, dating back to the smooth two-man game he developed with four-time MVP LeBron James. But he has never set this many ball screens. And in typical Thunder fashion, he’s not doing it the same way he did elsewhere.
The Thunder offense shows off more screens than an Apple store. Any player of any size can — nay, must — set a screen for any other player of any other size. But that’s not all. OKC’s smaller perimeter players, even the ones who shoot, aren’t lazily popping to the 3-point arc once they’ve set their picks.
Sometimes, the guards and wings dart all the way to the basket. Aaron Wiggins is a crafty finisher in those situations. Others short-roll, hanging around the free-throw line, the same place Caruso re-emerged to create that open 3 against Utah. It’s an area that tends to be open when opponents send two players at Gilgeous-Alexander.
Nine smalls in the NBA have rolled to the basket off ball screens at least 100 times this season, according to Second Spectrum. Four of them — Caruso, Wiggins, Lu Dort and Cason Wallace — play for the Thunder.
“If you wanna be out there, you gotta do it,” said Wallace, who, listed at 6-3, has turned himself into one of the NBA’s best screen-setting guards. “And if you’re gonna do it, you might as well do it to the best of your abilities.”
Meanwhile, Caruso leads the bunch.
He’s driving to the basket instead of popping out on 8.5 pick-and-rolls per 100 possessions — which doesn’t just top the league among smalls this season but also is the highest number for any qualifying guard or wing since Second Spectrum began tracking the stat during the 2013-14 season. Because undersized players screening this frequently was not part of the old-school NBA, it’s reasonable to assume that Caruso is rolling off more ball screens than any player at his position in history.
The Lakers trade that changed everything
No, we’re not talking about the deal that brought Luka Dončić to Los Angeles. Before the Lakers rattled the league with one of the most unexpected trades in history, they made another swap that is paying dividends.
Dorian Finney-Smith, already one of the NBA’s key role players, has become even more important nowadays, as the Lakers are using only one conventional center in their rotation.
Dončić is off to a slow start in L.A. James is on the other end of the spectrum, rediscovering his youth since missing a couple of games in December. Austin Reaves is extorting efficient 20-point games — sometimes better — two or three times a week. But how about that other guy, the one who comes off the bench and isn’t even taking six shots a game since the Lakers acquired him in December, yet has made all the difference?
Finney-Smith will make the extra pass from the corner. He’ll improvise a back screen for James, springing his teammate for a bucket down low. He pulled off one of these to create a couple of free throws for the future Hall of Famer during crunch time of Thursday’s win against the Minnesota Timberwolves. Two months ago, the Lakers needed an extra wing defender. Now, with Anthony Davis in Dallas, they could use physicality in the paint, on the perimeter, anywhere. Jaxson Hayes, an enthusiastic (sometimes too enthusiastic) jumper, starts at center. No conventional big man is behind him.
Lakers coach JJ Redick will use Finney-Smith alongside the four non-Hayes starters. He closed Thursday’s victory with a shrunken fivesome: Dončić, James, Reaves, Finney-Smith and point guard Gabe Vincent. In those moments, Finney-Smith is the team’s best hope for a stop — a helper on the wing and, at times, a stopper at the top of the offense.
After all, if a defense isn’t built to protect the rim, its best strategy is to prevent anyone from getting there.
Forget about the obvious on the play seen below from the Wolves game, in which Finney-Smith stifles All-NBA guard Anthony Edwards. Don’t worry about the footwork against a driving Edwards, the speed to keep up with him or the confrontation at the rim that bothers one of the league’s flashiest finishers. Instead, pay attention to what Finney-Smith does before Edwards even bounces the basketball.
As soon as Hayes alerts Finney-Smith to a screen on the way, the defender angles Edwards away from it. Edwards may shoot right-handed, but he loves to drive left. Hayes rises in front of him, a super play, as well. Finney-Smith recovers from the back side, and Edwards has nowhere to go.
If the Lakers want to make a deep playoff run, they will need plays like this regularly, especially when a center isn’t actually there.
They are 17.5 points per 100 possessions better with Finney-Smith on the court. Only the NBA’s perennial leader in this category, the Denver Nuggets’ Nikola Jokić, bests him. The Lakers have won 16 of their last 20 games and are now 1 1/2 games behind the Memphis Grizzlies for second place in the Western Conference. Such a tiny group would present stylistic clashes with the double-big Thunder, Jokić’s Nuggets or during a primetime series against Davis and the healthy Mavericks. But for the Lakers to play into the spring, the small lineups have to carry them — and in the small lineups, Finney-Smith becomes the key.
Maximizing Maxey
There is no such thing as a lost season, though the Philadelphia 76ers are trying to disprove that.
The latest defeat, their ninth in a row, drove them 18 games below .500. Basketball-Reference gives them an 18 percent chance at reaching the Play-In Tournament, which doubles as dreadful (given their preseason expectations) and an indictment of the Eastern Conference, where a 20-38 team remains alive. Former MVP Joel Embiid’s knee injury is persistent. The roster is riddled with several veterans who are free agents this summer. The Sixers, whether they improve next season or continue to crumble, won’t look the same come autumn.
But whether Philadelphia is canceling podcast episodes to chase the No. 8 seed or plummeting down the standings just to hold onto its top-six protected pick, its existence isn’t purposeless. The Sixers can use these final 24 games to learn as much as they can about their squad, with one question most important of them all:
How good is Tyrese Maxey?
Maxey, 24, already is an All-Star, the NBA’s reigning Most Improved Player and a 27-points-per-game scorer. But Embiid is without a timeline for his return, and when he isn’t present, even as Maxey has emerged as a top-notch player over the past few seasons, the 7-footer has dragged any shot at victory with him.
Even last season, Maxey’s breakout, the Sixers went 31-8 with Embiid and 16-27 without him. They won the minutes when Maxey was on the court and Embiid was off, though not by much.
Over the next month and a half, Maxey, who has played his best ball since mid-January, has a chance to add a twinge of sunshine to Philadelphia’s gloom.
On Wednesday, he almost saved the Sixers from another loss, dropping 22 points during the second half of a 19-point near-comeback at Madison Square Garden. Philly’s late-game offense, whether Paul George plays or not, has morphed into the Maxey show — and with good reason. He’s averaging 42.9 points per 36 minutes when games are within five points with five or fewer minutes to go, ranked second in the NBA.
For the next 24 games, this is Maxey’s team. The Sixers (and the rest of the world) know he’s an All-Star; they saw him wreck the New York Knicks during a first-round playoff series a season ago when he staved off elimination for 48 hours with a Reggie Miller-esque closing to Game 5. But can he reach a rare level, able to carry a team on his own? And if so, what does that mean for the franchise’s future?
Maxey was cold to begin the season but has ramped up of late, averaging 29.4 points and 6.5 rebounds on 49-36-94 shooting since Jan. 19.
Injuries aside, Philadelphia is in an ugly place. Embiid is now in his 30s. His knee is a long-term concern. George appears on the downswing and has three more max-salaried seasons after this one. Only the big three and rookie sensation Jared McCain, who is out for the season with a knee injury, are under contract for 2025-26. There’s no guarantee that next season will be better just because this one defaulted.
And that means at some point, whether this summer or next season or beyond, the Sixers could approach difficult decisions about their future. Do they reshape the role players around them? Do they trade one of the stars?
If they do, how viable is it to build a roster around Maxey as the main guy? Or is he a secondary star?
They can use these final 24 games — which may be without Embiid and feature Maxey to the extreme — to get closer to an answer.
(Photo of Tyrese Maxey and Dorian Finney-Smith: Emilee Chinn / Getty Images)
