NBA Basketball 24 Hours

Last updated: March 26, 2026, 2:30 AM ET

Western Conference Showdowns & Star Returns

The Denver Nuggets edged the Mavericks Wednesday night behind a spectacular 53-point effort from Jamal Murray, while Nikola Jokic flirted with a historic triple-double, finishing with 23 points, 21 rebounds, and 19 assists. Elsewhere in the West, the Oklahoma City Thunder suffered their first loss in a month, falling 119-109 to the Boston Celtics after Jaylen Brown poured in 14 of his 31 points during a decisive third quarter. The Thunder remain cautiously managing the workload of Jalen Williams, who cleared another return-to-play test in his second game back from a two-month absence due to a hamstring issue. In player comebacks, Joel Embiid led the 76ers past the Bulls with 35 points in his return from injury, sharing the spotlight with Paul George, who tallied 28 points in his first contest following a 25-game suspension.

League Governance & Future Outlook

The NBA's board of governors has formally approved exploring expansion bids, giving the green light to exclusively consider applicants from Las Vegas and Seattle. This structural move comes as Commissioner Adam Silver declared that combating league tanking is his foremost objective, promising fundamental changes to the draft system to deter teams from deliberately underperforming for better lottery odds. Meanwhile, in the Eastern Conference, the Celtics' potential volatility remains a major question mark as they enter the 2026 playoffs, presenting perhaps the largest wild card despite their recent top ranking in power indexes, which otherwise show Eastern teams generally ascending in the latest assembly of team rankings.

Off-Court Matters & Player Interactions

While playoff races heat up, peripheral league news included a personal interaction between LeBron James and rapper J. Cole, with James bringing a vinyl of Cole's track "The Fall-Off" for the artist to sign after meeting his children. Separately, fantasy league managers are closely monitoring developing trends as the fantasy playoffs approach their conclusion, with Eric Moody detailing which acquisitions from the season might prove most valuable in tiebreaker scenarios.