I’m convinced that it’s Kyrie. I know he gets a bad rap for being himself, but he’s the total package of a player: handles, scoring ability, and Leadership. I thought he meshed perfectly with Luka, but now that Luka is gone, he’s shown that he has the capability of taking the team on his shoulders when he needs to (and he could do it when Luka was still there too, but he was also good at deferring to the hot hand). When he’s on, he’s unguardable. Honestly, he’s my favorite player to watch right now. Second (for me as a longtime Hornets fan) is LaMelo. I also don’t think he gets enough credit for helping his team. Obviously he can score, and is having a career year, but he distributes the ball well too… and he’s just plain fun to watch. I love that people said his street ball approach wouldn’t work in the NBA, but he’s proving people wrong all the time. However, his big downside is his ankles. And not that anyone asked, and he’s obviously not a point guard, though he can do it whenever needed… I think we should count ourselves as privileged to have the opportunity to witness the career of Nikola Jokic. I don’t think there’s a better all around player in the NBA, effortless triple doubles while only playing 3/4 of a game, and he passes better than many point guards. Highest basketball IQ we’ve probably ever seen. Dominating without what we would consider elite athletic ability, pure skill and knowledge.

@Mareno McKenzie so what do you think about the theory that this is a step towards the owners moving the franchise to Vegas? For some reason, that seems more plausible to me than these other excuses about Luka’s work ethic and fitness…

@Mareno McKenzie And now things are looking worse since AD got hurt in his first game may be out for a month... Personally, I think Nico is the fall guy for the owners and whatever their future plans are. Though I'm sure he's getting paid handsomely to be the scapegoat for this. I also think there's an element of NBA "business" involved here. Not that Dallas is a small market, but we all know that the sports media only care about LA and NY, so that's where they want the big stars to be.