The Oklahoma City Thunder and Sacramento Kings will experience their first NBA Cup game of the year Friday night, when Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Russell Westbrook face off in California’s capital.

Oklahoma City opened the year with eight straight wins before suffering a 121-119 loss at Portland on Wednesday night, blowing a 22-point lead in the second game of a back-to-back.

The Kings, on the other hand, are coming off one of their best wins of the season, a 121-116 home triumph over their Northern California rivals, the Golden State Warriors, on Wednesday, despite playing without Domantas Sabonis, Zach LaVine and Keegan Murray.

The West Group A combatants have already met once this season, with the Thunder needing a 17-4 game-ending run to avoid an upset and halt their season-opening winning streak.

Gilgeous-Alexander saved seven of his 31 points for the late flurry in the win over the Kings, clinching the victory with a 3-pointer that extended the Oklahoma City lead to six with 16 seconds to go.

The reigning Most Valuable Player also contributed nine rebounds, four assists and three blocks in the game.

Counterpart Westbrook, who played his first 11 NBA seasons with the Thunder, actually was Gilgeous-Alexander’s teammate for six days in July 2019.

The Thunder acquired Gilgeous-Alexander on July 10 that year in a blockbuster trade with the Los Angeles Clippers that sent Paul George west, then on July 16, they sent Westbrook to the Houston Rockets for a large package that included Chris Paul.

Among other things, the defensive standouts have developed into two of the top rebounding guards in the NBA. Although Gilgeous-Alexander has had a slight edge over the past two seasons, Westbrook claimed after a 16-rebound effort against the Warriors on Wednesday that he’s “the best rebounding guard ever.”

His season-best performance against Golden State included a triple-double with 23 points and 10 assists. This triple-double was the 204th of his career, the most in NBA history.

Afterward, Westbrook was more excited about passing Jason Kidd on the NBA all-time rebounds list than about adding to his triple-double record.

“I didn’t even know,” he insisted to reporters. “I need to get that game ball. Can somebody get it for me? I need that.”

The 16 rebounds raised Westbrook’s season average to 7.1. Gilgeous-Alexander is at 5.4 after grabbing nine boards against the Trail Blazers.

The nine he snatched against the Kings in the earlier meeting equaled Westbrook’s total that night.

Despite coming off their first loss of the season, the Thunder will take the Sacramento court undefeated in another regard. Friday is the club’s NBA Cup tip-off.

“This team does a really good job at learning through those things,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault assured the media about the loss at Portland. “We’ll learn from it and be a better team tomorrow when we wake up.”

–Field Level Media

The Golden State Warriors begin their quest for the NBA Cup on Friday night while the Denver Nuggets need a win to stay alive in West Group C.

The teams will play Friday in Denver in their second meeting of the season.

The Nuggets lost their first game in the round-robin portion of the tournament, a disappointing 109-107 setback at Portland on Oct. 31, and can’t afford another loss if they’re to reach the next phase.

Equally important for the Nuggets is getting even in the season series with Golden State, which beat Denver 137-131 on Oct. 23. The Nuggets led late in that one, but a Steph Curry flurry, including a 3-pointer that sent the game into overtime, was the difference.

Curry should be ready for Friday night, as should Jimmy Butler and Draymond Green. The trio sat out Wednesday’s loss in Sacramento — Curry due to illness, Butler (low back) and Green (ribs) because of injuries — which gave younger teammates more playing time.

Rookie Will Richard took advantage of the opportunity with a career-high 30 points in 34 minutes. He earned praise from head coach Steve Kerr for his start to the season.

“This guy, from the beginning of camp, has shown he’s an NBA player,” Kerr said. “The experience, the poise, he doesn’t turn it over, makes the right play, he can handle the ball under pressure, makes the right pass. This guy’s a hell of a player.”

Kerr will need his veterans to go against a deep Denver team. Curry (26.8 points) and Butler (19.0 points) lead the Warriors in scoring and Green is averaging 6.4 assists while serving as the top post defender.

The Nuggets have won five of six since their opening-night loss to these Warriors, including two straight wins to start their four-game homestand that finishes Saturday night against the Indiana Pacers.

Nikola Jokic has been the catalyst. He logged a triple-double in five games and is averaging 24.1 points, 13.4 rebounds and 12 assists.

Jokic has led an offense that scored at least 122 points in six of the seven games and is second in the NBA in points at 124.6 per game.

“It’s fun. Any offense is fun when things are going your way early on,” said Tim Hardaway Jr., who leads the reserve unit with 11.3 points a game. “At the same time, we still have to be better at taking care of the basketball, we still have to be better at boxing out and getting defensive rebounds and just be all around better. There’s always keys to the game that we can improve on.”

Hardaway is one of five Denver players averaging double figures in scoring along with Jokic, Jamal Murray (22.7), Aaron Gordon (20.4) and Christian Braun (12.4).

The only starter who is not averaging more than 10 points is Cameron Johnson (8.6 points). It is his lowest output since his rookie season in Phoenix in 2019-20 and 10 points below his average with Brooklyn last season.

–Field Level Media

On Friday, the Chicago Bulls tip off a stretch playing six of seven on the road when they face the Bucks in Milwaukee for NBA Cup competition.

Friday’s contest is Milwaukee’s introduction to the 2025 NBA Cup, while Eastern Conference Group C counterpart Chicago opened with a 135-125 win over the New York Knicks on Oct. 31.

The Bulls and Knicks played in consecutive contests, with New York ending Chicago’s perfect 5-0 start in a 128-116 decision last Sunday outside of the NBA Cup. The Bulls rebounded Tuesday with a 113-111 defeat of Philadelphia, maintaining the best record in the East through the initial weeks of the season.

Nikola Vucevic hit a 3-pointer in the closing seconds of Tuesday’s contest to help Chicago avoid back-to-back losses, capping a night in which Josh Giddey recorded his 20th career triple-double.

Giddey’s 29-point, 15-rebound and 12-assist performance also marked the first time a Bull posted consecutive triple-doubles since Michael Jordan in 1988-89. Giddey went for 23 points, 12 assists and 11 rebounds in the loss at New York.

“We’re always confident in each other, and it was a great test (vs. Philadelphia) to see how we’d respond after our first loss in New York … Unbelievable resiliency to come out in the second half like we did,” Giddey said.

Giddey credited Chicago’s reserve unit for fueling a comeback from down as many as 24 points, which included Jalen Smith going for 14 points and Kevin Huerter posting 12 points and five rebounds.

On the season, Huerter is averaging 12.9 points, 2.6 assists and 4.3 rebounds per game coming off the bench. Fellow reserve Ayo Dosunmu missed the last two games with a quadriceps injury, but was scoring 16.2 points per game in the 5-0 start.

Dosunmu is listed as questionable for Friday.

Milwaukee, meanwhile, opens the NBA Cup having dropped two of its last three after a 4-1 start. The Bucks rebounded from a 135-133 loss at home to Sacramento last Saturday with a 117-115 defeat of Indiana on Monday, won on Giannis Antetokounmpo’s fadeaway buzzer-beater.

With Antetokounmpo held to a season-low 22 points Tuesday in Toronto, and Milwaukee shooting just 11-of-38 from 3-point range as a team, the Bucks lost a 128-100 blowout to the Raptors.

Milwaukee was also outshot at the free-throw line by Toronto, 23-of-29 to 15-of-21, continuing an early-season trend for the Bucks. Opponents are going to the charity stripe for 30.3 attempts per game — third-most in the league — while Milwaukee’s 22.9 attempts per contest are sixth-fewest.

“Fouls are up this year, which I don’t like. I’d rather have us play (with) less fouls overall,” Bucks coach Doc Rivers said. “But right now … you’ll get a game where there are no calls, so it’s just been inconsistent right now.

“But we’ll all catch up and figure it out,” Rivers added.

While Milwaukee is not seeing much scoring from the free-throw line, with its 15.9 made foul shots per game ranking 28th in the league, the Bucks have been producing consistently from 3-point range.

The loss in Toronto was an early outlier for a team averaging 15.5 made 3-pointers per game on 39.3% shooting as team. Setting the pace at a torrid 52.9% on the season is AJ Green, who is averaging 12.3 ppg.

Breakout perimeter scoring threat Ryan Rollins, averaging 16.3 ppg — second on the team only to Antetokounmpo’s 32.3 — is making 1.9 triples an outing.

–Field Level Media

Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards is feeling healthy and optimistic heading into Friday’s home game against the Utah Jazz.

The matchup will be Edwards’ second game since returning from a strained right hamstring. He scored 15 points against the New York Knicks in his first game back, and he took pride in playing tough defense against the Knicks’ top scorer, Jalen Brunson.

Edwards plans to prioritize defense again when the Timberwolves tip off against the Jazz in an NBA Cup contest on Friday night in Minneapolis.

“Especially because I know they’re probably going to be double-teaming me anyway, so it’s going to be hard for me to hunt shots,” Edwards said. “So, I can affect the game by trying to make it hard on their best player.”

For the Jazz, that could present a tough matchup for players like Keyonte George or Svi Mykhailiuk. George is second on the team with 22.6 points per game and leads with 7.9 assists, while Mykhailiuk averages 9.5 points and recently scored a career-high 28 against the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday.

The Jazz lost 114-103 to the Pistons, but Mykhailiuk’s performance gave a reason for excitement moving forward. The 28-year-old small forward from Ukraine has moved between eight NBA teams but now has a chance to be a full-time starter with the Jazz.

“Desperation is a heck of a thing,” Utah coach Will Hardy said. “I think he models really good professional behavior for our young players because Svi is in a moment where, you look at his contract and he’s playing for something.

“The way he carries himself, the way he interacts with all of his teammates, he would never let you know that there’s that desperation. He doesn’t make it about himself. He really gives himself to the group. And I think that’s something that we can all take from Svi.”

Julius Randle leads the Timberwolves with 26.8 points per game to go along with 6.9 rebounds and 5.6 assists. Edwards ranks second with 23 points per game in four contests, and Jaden McDaniels rounds out Minnesota’s top three scorers with 17.9 points per game.

Utah’s leading scorer is Lauri Markkanen, who is averaging 30.4 points per game on 46.6% shooting from the field. The Timberwolves’ McDaniels, who earned second-team All-Defensive honors in 2023-24, will likely be assigned to guard Markkanen for much of the game.

Timberwolves guard Donte DiVincenzo said he and his teammates can all contribute on defense, no matter who they guard.

“It’s a spirit thing,” DiVincenzo said about team defense. “It’s an energy thing.

“Everybody’s familiar with each other in this locker room. At some point, you’ve just got to go out and do it. You can talk about it until you’re blue in the face, but you’ve just got to go out and do it. Right now, we’re a ‘sometimes’ team. We need to be an ‘always’ team in that regard.”

Minnesota is 1-2 at home this season. Utah is 1-4 on the road.

–Field Level Media

There’s trouble brewing in the first few weeks of the NBA season for the Memphis Grizzlies.

The Grizzlies, who play host to the Dallas Mavericks on Friday night in an NBA Cup game, have lost four straight and their top two players — All-Stars Ja Morant and Jaren Jackson Jr. — are struggling in new coach Tuomas Iisalo’s system.

In Wednesday’s 124-109 loss to the Houston Rockets, Jackson, averaging 17 points per game, attempted only one shot in the opening half and six in total. He finished the game with nine points in 29 minutes.

The story was similar in Monday’s home loss to the Detroit Pistons. Jackson attempted only three shots in the first half.

Jackson’s number of field-goal attempts per game (11.7) is at its lowest point since 2020-21. Jackson averaged more than 22 points in each of the past two seasons.

Jackson doesn’t place the blame on Iisalo’s system. He said he’s got to take responsibility.

“You just got to be aggressive,” Jackson said. “You just got to be in attack mode.”

Iisalo said the Grizzlies need to be more persistent getting the ball to Jackson. His teammates have been reluctant to go back to him if there’s solid defensive pressure on the first try. Iisalo is convinced Jackson’s shot attempts and offensive production will increase soon.

“Maybe there’s a moment of being discouraged of not getting the ball there, and we got to get over that and look to get the ball in his hands more,” Iisalo said.

Morant, suspended for Sunday’s game at Toronto for postgame comments directed at the Memphis coaching staff, has had a frustrating time getting into an offensive flow. Morant made 11 of 35 field goals in the past two games and only one of 11 3-point tries.

The team’s struggles from deep haven’t been limited to Morant. Memphis ranks 25th in the league in 3-point percentage.

Dallas is having its problems too. Minus the injured Kyrie Irving (knee) for the long run and Anthony Davis (calf) in the short team, the Mavericks have lost three straight and are 2-6 overall.

Mavericks coach Jason Kidd attempted to shake things up by moving veteran sharpshooter Klay Thompson to the second unit in Wednesday’s 101-99 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans.

Thompson came off the bench for the first time as a Maverick and finished with 11 points on 4-of-7 shooting in 21 minutes.

“I talked to Klay and said this isn’t a permanent thing, but can you come off the bench?” Kidd said. “And he was good with it. I thought him coming off the bench gave us a spark. That first group, for whatever reason, was a little tight. Everyone was trying to play perfect.”

Cooper Flagg, the No. 1 overall draft pick this summer, had one of his better outings. He finished with 20 points, nine rebounds and three steals.

“I thought I just played natural,” Flagg said. “I’ve got to keep working on moving the ball and attacking mismatches.

“But no one’s happy (with the rough start). I wouldn’t say anybody’s happy. Everyone’s trying to stay level-headed. It’s not fun to keep losing games.”

–Field Level Media

The San Antonio Spurs will look to get back on the winning track when they return home to square off with the surging Houston Rockets on Friday in an NBA Cup clash between the Lone Star State rivals.

It will be the first of four games for both teams in the league’s in-season tournament, with the rivals a part of West Group C that also includes Portland, Denver and Golden State.

The Spurs have dropped two straight, both on the road, after winning their first five games of the season for the first time in franchise history. San Antonio’s most recent outing was a 118-116 setback against the Lakers in Los Angeles on Wednesday that came down to the final shot. The Spurs led by nine points in the fourth quarter before Los Angeles rallied.

San Antonio’s Julian Champagnie had a chance to tie the game in the final second after being fouled but missed the first free throw and intentionally missed the second. The Spurs’ Keldon Johnson had a tip-in attempt off that miss, but it bounced away at the buzzer.

Victor Wembanyama led San Antonio with 19 points and eight rebounds before fouling out with 1:40 remaining. Stephon Castle produced 16 points and eight assists, while Jeremy Sochan, who was playing his first game of the year after missing the first six with an injury, also had 16 points.

Devin Vassell added 15 and Harrison Barnes scored 14 points. Three Spurs fouled out in a dustup that finished with 66 total fouls.

“It’s just trying to figure out what (works) best (for us),” Wembanyama said. “There’s obvious things we can correct right away, but there are things right now it feels like the game is going fast somehow. It feels like as we got better as a team and as we all got better as individuals the opponents have stepped up in some ways defensively. So, we’re going to catch up on it, of course.”

The Rockets have won five straight after starting the campaign with a pair of losses. Houston rolls into the Alamo City for the second of a three-game road trip after a 124-109 win in Memphis on Wednesday. Amen Thompson scored a season-high 28 points with 10 rebounds and Alperen Sengun added 20 points and 16 boards in the victory.

Houston also got double-figure scoring from Jabari Smith Jr. and Tari Eason, who racked up 16 each, Josh Okogie (13 points), Reed Sheppard (12) and the cold-shooting Kevin Durant (11 points while making just 5 of 18 shots).

“At times (Durant) is going to be the decoy, and everybody else kind of feeds off him,” Houston coach Ime Udoka said. “And so you see Amen getting 28 and Alperen getting 20 and 16 due to the attention that they’re putting on Kevin and putting two or three bodies on him. It’s going to happen.”

The Rockets have defeated their past five opponents by an average of 19.2 points. Houston leads the NBA in scoring at 124.7 points per game, in rebounding at 50 per contest and 3-point shooting percentage (42.7%).

This is the first of four meetings between the teams this season.

–Field Level Media

The hot Toronto Raptors will take a three-game winning streak into Atlanta on Friday when they begin a five-game road trip against the Hawks.

The Raptors beat the Hawks 138-118 in the season opener and immediately dropped their next four. Since then, they’ve won three in a row, including Tuesday’s 128-100 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks.

The Hawks are coming off an impressive 127-112 victory against the Orlando Magic. Atlanta has won three of its last four games, with two coming since the loss of All-Star guard Trae Young for at least four weeks with a sprained right MCL.

The game is part of the NBA Cup. Both teams are 1-0 in the in-season tournament. The Hawks reached the competition’s semifinal round a year ago.

“We’ve got a couple of days of practice to get ready for this weekend,” said Atlanta’s Onyeka Okongwu, whose team has a back-to-back home set against Toronto and the Los Angeles Lakers. “We’ve got a Cup game against Toronto and we definitely want to get back to Vegas.”

Atlanta will need to do a better job defensively on Toronto’s Scottie Barnes this time. He had 22 points, nine assists and six rebounds in the first meeting. It was a sign of good things to come for Barnes, who has scored in double figures in seven of eight games and has three double-doubles.

Barnes is averaging 20.9 points, 6.9 rebounds and 5.1 assists this season. In 15 career games against Atlanta, he is averaging 20.5 points, 7.9 rebounds and 5.4 assists.

Brandon Ingram leads Toronto in scoring at 21.1 points and RJ Barrett averages 20.8 points.

The Raptors also got a lift from the return of Jakob Poeltl, who missed three games with a sore lower back. He had eight points and nine rebounds in his return against the Bucks.

“I think I’m still a little bit away from 100%,” said Poeltl, who had 14 points and six rebounds against Atlanta in the opener. “There were a couple of phases where it stiffened up a little bit. I’m definitely going to have to put in a bunch of work behind the scenes. Hopefully I’ll get to the point where it won’t affect me during games.”

Atlanta is trying to find the proper formula at point guard to deal with Young’s absence. Nickeil Alexander-Walker started against Orlando and scored 20 points but had seven turnovers. Defensive whiz Dyson Daniels and Keaton Wallace have also played minutes at point guard.

“I think in transition you’ll see Keaton and you’ll see Nickeil, and then there are set plays where we have Dyson handling it,” Atlanta coach Quin Snyder said. “It’s good to have guys that can all take care of the ball and can all pass the ball and play for each other.”

Atlanta has been pleased with the continued progress of Zaccharie Risacher, the NBA’s No. 1 pick last season. Risacher is playing through a sprained ankle and scored a season-high 21 with three 3-pointers against Orlando.

–Field Level Media

On their way to the postseason and a fierce battle with the New York Knicks, the Detroit Pistons started slowly last year.

This time around, the Pistons are handling raised expectations well. They are off to their best eight-game start in nearly two decades and on a four-game winning streak heading into Friday’s visit to the Brooklyn Nets.

Detroit’s 6-2 start is its best since also winning six of the first eight games in 2008-09, the final season of a run of eight straight playoff bids. Last season, the Pistons lost five of their first six games, did not get above .500 for good until Feb. 9, posted their first winning record since 2015-16 and only their second since 2007-08.

The Pistons split their first four games, and since a 116-95 home loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers, they’ve beaten the Orlando Magic, Dallas Mavericks, Memphis Grizzlies and Utah Jazz.

In Wednesday’s 114-103 win over Utah, Detroit allowed 14 points in the third quarter after trailing by two at halftime. The Pistons allowed their fewest points this season and 38.4% shooting while getting a big game from Cade Cunningham.

Cunningham scored 19 of his 31 points in the fourth quarter and is averaging 28.8 points in his past four games. He also scored 19 in the fourth against Memphis in his previous outing.

“He’s big-time, I think that’s stating the obvious,” Detroit coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “He’s an unbelievable player, unbelievable person, great teammate, great leader. Everything you want in a No. 1 guy, Cade’s it.”

The Pistons also got big nights from their frontcourt of Jalen Duren and Ausar Thompson. Duren totaled 22 points and 22 rebounds for his fifth career game with at least 20 boards, while Thompson finished with 18 and seven rebounds.

Detroit was without Tobias Harris for a third straight game due to an ankle injury and Isaiah Stewart has started the past three games.

The Nets are coming off a 112-103 win over the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday to snap a season-opening seven-game skid. Now they are hoping to avoid falling to 0-5 at home.

Brooklyn will pursue the win without Cam Thomas, who injured his left hamstring in the first quarter Wednesday after attempting a jumper. Thomas injured his hamstring three times last season and was limited to 25 games. He was ruled out for Friday with hamstring tightness.

It is unclear who will start for Thomas, but the Nets would likely keep Noah Clowney in the lineup alongside Michael Porter Jr. Porter missed Monday’s 125-109 loss to Minnesota due to personal reasons when the Nets hung around until the fourth quarter.

Clowney started for Porter on Monday and scored 15 points after totaling 26 points in Brooklyn’s first six games. He stayed in the lineup Wednesday and scored 17 points as part of a frontcourt that saw Nic Claxton score 18 points.

“For back-to-back games, we looked like a competitive group, we looked like a selfless group, and we looked like a connected group,” coach Jordi Fernandez said after the Nets outscored the Pacers 58-44 in the second half. “That’s the way that we want to get better. And that’s how we see our future in the short term, in the-long term. Winning starts now. And when you go out there and fight like this, that’s what we care for, now and in the future.”

–Field Level Media