King of the Court Podcast with Ben Riggs and Ben Staton

With the playoffs just around the corner, we discuss the 5 big storylines heading into the postseason. What to watch and how the season will shake out down the stretch. Lebron & Luka's growing chemistry, Jimmy Butler & Steph, Jokic and Nuggets up & down, and can we REALLLLY trust the Thunder? Bonus: we debate who had a worse season, 76ers or the Dallas Mavericks.

The NBA Playoffs are approaching. How will the Western Conference be won? Shai and Thunder are the prohibitive favorites. But are they really? What about Luka, Lebron, and the Lakers. AD and the new look Mavs? The 3 time MVP Jokic and Nuggets? And of course, Steph, Jimmy, and Draymond in Golden State? We break down the contenders in the Western Conference and outline the path through the West for...

We recap one of the most exciting, eventful, and utterly insane trade deadlines. We grade the wild Lakers & Mavs trade that sent Luka to LA and AD to Dallas. We also grade the trade that brought De'aaron Fox from Sacramento to San Antonio to team up with Wemby and the Spurs. Finally, we examined the drama-filled saga that resulted in Jimmy Butler teaming up with Steph Curry and the Warriors.

Kyrie Irving and the Dallas Mavericks defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder once again to improve to 3-1 vs OKC on the season and 7-3 over their last 10 matchups. They won without Luka Doncic, Dereck Lively, Klay Thompson, Naji Marshall, and Jaden Hardy, while OKC was missing Chet and Hartenstein. For all the talk about how good the Thunder are, is it possible that the Mavs are just a better team tha...

The Dallas Mavericks are negotiating life without Luka Doncic. Where do they stand, how will they manage, and are they still a top team in the West? Do they need to make a big trade? And the Lakers finally made a move. JJ Redick and the Los Angeles Lakers traded for D'Angelo Russell for Dorian Finney Smith. What does this mean for the Lakers and the Western Conference?

Wemby exploded in the Spurs Christmas day loss to the Knicks in MSG. Is Wemby already a top 5, top 10 player in the league? Luka Doncic goes down with a calf injury and Mavs are preparing for an extended absence. Can they overcome his absence? Celtics are 3-4 over last 7, including a loss to the 76ers on Christmas day. What does that mean, if anything? And Lebron and Steph provided us with another...

There's been a lot of talk about Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks offense. Luka is a generational offensive weapon that Kidd has leaned on heavily in the past. But Luka's usage and touches are down to start the season. Is this the right decision? We do a deep dive on this topic and bring the data to back it up. Also, we preview the NBA Cup final between Giannis and the Bucks and Shai and the T...

There's been a lot of talk about Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks offense. Luka is a generational offensive weapon that Kidd has leaned on heavily in the past. But Luka's usage and touches are down to start the season. Is this the right decision? We do a deep dive on this topic and bring the data to back it up. Also, we preview the NBA Cup final between Giannis and the Bucks and Shai and the T...

Miami is reportedly willing to trade Jimmy Butler and Jimmy Buckets is willing to play for the Houston Rockets, Golden State Warriors, and the Dallas Mavericks. We discuss each of these potential trades. We also talk about the purple and yellow elephant in the room: The Warriors have tried to trade for LeBron before. Lebron played with Steph and Kerr on Team USA, and Draymond is a close friend. Sh...

The Lakers suffered a 41 point blowout loss to the subpar Miami Heat. Is it possible for JJ Redick, Lebron, and Anthony Davis to right the ship? Or did Rob Pelinka give them a fatally flawed roster? Next we do an in-depth preview of the NBA Cup Quarter Finals. We break down the matchup between Luka and the Mavs vs Shai and the Oklahoma City Thunder. We also take a close look the matchup between St...

There's been a lot of talk recently about Lebron reaching the end of his road. But is he washed, or does the King have more in the tank? We do a deep dive on Lebron's production to get to the bottom of it. We also propose a few trades that take pretenders to contenders, and we recap Cavs vs Celtics 2.0

This week, we have a Thanksgiving NBA Smorgasbord! We touch on Franz Wagner and the Orlando Magic's outstanding play, Tyrese Haliburton's slump, the potential turnaround in Milwaukee, the ceiling of the Denver Nuggets, the brain-busting enigma that is the Dallas Mavericks and Jason Kidd, the rising Spurs, and the imploding Sixers soap opera.

In this episode, we discuss the marquee game of early NBA season between the Boston Celtics and the Cleveland Cavaliers, Jayson Tatum's MVP campaign, the hysteria surround Luka Doncic's slow start, the Jokic shaped hole in Denver, and the impact of Dalton Knecht on the Lakers season.

In this episode, we talk about Jason Kidd and his (ill-fated) efforts to reinvent Luka, JJ and DLO, Chet and the looming storm in OKC. We do a deep dive into the Jokic's ridiculous start to the season, Wemby's equally ridiculous start to the season (for different reasons), and the absolutely RIDICULOUS start to the season in the Eastern Conference.

In this episode, we run through a few quick takes: Undefeated Cleveland Ant's 3-point shooting due to Randle spacing problems? Memphis' interesting start with unexpected contributors Problems on the horizon for Chet and the Thunder Next, we dive into some surprising slow and fast starts from star players, struggling teams, and teams ready to hit the panic button: Luka puts up big numbers while mal...

In this episode, we react to the first week of the NBA season. We kick off with five quick takes on the Phoenix Suns, Wemby's Shake-and-Bake, the Orlando Magic, Denver and the Joker, and the Memphis Grizzlies. We do deeper dives into: The Boston Celtics dominance The (disappointing) state of play in the East Chet Holmgren's and the Oklahoma City Thunder's fast start Klay Thompson is gelling with L...

Fun episode in which we compare: Luka Doncic vs. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Anthony Davis vs. Victor Wembanyama, Best young big not named Wemby, Nikola Jokic vs. Giannis Antetokounmpo, Anthony Edwards vs. Ja Morant, and Jayson Tatum vs. (2024) Lebron James.

The media anointed the Oklahoma City Thunder Western Conference champions before the season even started--despite the Dallas Mavericks handily defeating the Thunder in the playoffs just a few months ago. Both teams made offseason moves. But who better addressed their most pressing needs? Which team is better positioned to run the West in the playoffs? In this episode, we do a deep dive comparing t...

We honor NBA legend Dikembe Mutombo, discuss the implications of the KAT trade to New York, and rank the East. It goes without saying, Boston is the class of the East. But are the Knicks on their heels? And in the postseason, who do you trust more Giannis and the Bucks or Embiid and the 76ers. Ben Riggs and Ben Staton discuss all that and more as they go through our Eastern Conference Power Rankin...

Ben Riggs and Ben Staton delve into their preseason NBA Western Conference Rankings, explaining why the NBA media is dead wrong about the Dallas Mavericks, Oklahoma City Thunder, and the Los Angeles Lakers. Also, are the San Antonio Spurs and Victor Wembanyama about to put the league on notice?