Five Lessons From the NBA Pre-Season: Wembanyama Hype, Dame Time, OKC Thunder

Like in most sports, there is only so much stock one can put into pre-season games. Whether it’s European soccer friendlies in July, August NFL football with second and third-stringers, or September NHL hockey featuring player names you don’t remember ever hearing of before, it’s tough getting excited about that part of the calendar.

Then again, those games mean that the real deal is just around the corner. What’s more, there are still certain intriguing subplots lurking beneath the relatively unenthusiastic warm-up games. Today we look at what’s been happening both on and off the court in the NBA since the past week’s games have been played.

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James Harden is Angry Again

There is no beating around the bush. James Harden is one of the best basketball players of his generation, certainly from a skills perspective. On the flip side, he’s been a tough cookie to swallow at times with respect to team leadership and dedication to the organizations who have paid him handsomely for his services.

The latest episode concerns to his relationship, or lack thereof, with Philadelphia 76ers team president Daryl Morey. Harden’s desire to depart the Houston Rockets a few summers ago was abundantly clear. He then made what now feels like a fleeting pit stop in Brooklyn (in the player’s defence, the Nets had other issues too). Now he bemoans the absence of a long-term deal with the club…thus a trade request. He hasn’t played in any pre-season games and on Thursday was absent from practice for the second day in a row.

One feels for head coach Nick Nurse. He helped the Raptors win a ring in 2019 and was surely hoping to replicate that with the powerful duo of Harden and Joel Embiid but those odds, speaking of betting, look slim. How this ends is anybody’s guess. Money talks, so for all we know Harden will play for the 76ers this season, despite what he’s steadfastly repeated in public. As it stands, it looks as though brotherly love is lacking in Philly.

Lesson: The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Spurs’ Victor Wembanyama Looks Decent

The regular season will indicate how well 2023 number one overall pick Victor Wembanyama transitions to the NBA with the San Antonio Spurs. It’s nevertheless been interesting to take a peek at what’s he done in pre-season.

His numbers have been rather decent. He scored 20, 23, and 15 points in three games so far. His shooting the other night versus the Rockets was pretty bad (3-for-10) but he went 8-for-13 against OKC, then 10-for-15 when playing the Heat. Even when not playing great, he still does interesting things, such as when he smoothly dribbled the ball between a Rockets defender’s legs as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

The point is, he looks like he can play. Not every extremely high draft pick starts their career with a bang. In some cases, the franchises that selected them start to worry about their rookies earlier than they’d want to. That doesn’t look to be the case with the San Antonio Spurs and Wembanyama. The next weeks will be a lot more revelatory but so far, so good.

Lesson: Victor Wembanyama should live up to the hype. Most of it, anyways.

Gradey Dick’s Toronto Raptors Debut

Closer to home, while Toronto Raptors team president Masai Ujiri wrestlers with accusations from the Knicks about malpractice akin to corporate espionage, the club’s top pick Gradey Dick has been given minutes on the court.

In three contests he’s played either a little over or under 15 minutes, starting on the bench each time. He netted five points, another five, and most recently seven. Not brilliant numbers but his effect on the court improved each night. The first game ended with him as a minus 10 but the next two were positive figures.

Interestingly, head coach Darko Rajakovic has not started Dick yet. Coming off the bench seems like a natural decision for the young kid’s early regular season career. He lacks NBA experience, the regular season is serious business, and he’s mostly there to score (he was drafted primarily because Toronto lacks attacking punch). That he’s been on the bench to start every pre-season game is maybe a tad disappointing. There’s one game left – Friday night against the Wizards. Maybe that will be when Gradey Dick gets to feel what it’s like to be a starter.

Lesson: Gradey Dick’s transition could be slower than Raptors fans were hoping for.

Milwaukee Bucks Tease Damian Lillard

The Damian Lillard acquisition happened so close to the start of pre-season, one can’t really fault the club for not playing Lillard at all during their first couple of matches.

Then again, nor did Giannis Antetokounmpo. The “big night”, so to speak, came in the team’s third tilt on the road against the Los Angeles Lakers. Alas, there was no Giannis vs. LeBron James matchup as the King did not play as per the coach’s decision. Lillard didn’t shoot well, going 3-for-10, tallying 14 points mostly thanks to his perfect 6-for-6 from the line. Things didn’t get any better the next time against the Thunder, with Milwaukee’s new signing putting up a 2-for-8 night, five points, and a minus 13.

The numbers don’t look good, but rather than draw drastically negative conclusions, what this tells us is that even the best players need time to adapt to new surroundings. He has tremendous teammates who will help him fit right in and he’s far too talented for anyone to get worried about whether this will work out or not with the Bucks.

Lesson: Dame Time is coming, just not in mid-October.

Oklahoma City Will Roar Like Thunder

The 2022-2023 was a coming-out party of sorts for the Oklahoma City Thunder. They transitioned from being a largely forgettable, oft-overlooked squad to the precipice of playoff participation. They won their first play-in game but dropped the second.

Canadians Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Luguentz Dort, and Aussie Josh Giddey led a uniquely international group to respectability. Now they have Chet Holmgren (American, second overall pick in 2022) getting in on the action. This is a young squad, but sometimes youth means a lack of fear, and a lack of fear carries the potential for greatness.

OKC was the fifth-highest-scoring team in the NBA last season, and so far in four pre-season bouts, they’ve tallied 122, 125, 115, and 124 points. Granted, they still lost two of those games, so deficiencies exist when the other teams have the ball, but the Thunder look like they’ll pick up where they left off last season.

Lesson: Win or lose, the Oklahoma City Thunder will be an enjoyable watch this season.