Starting 5 Daily Newsletter

The Details: Harden, P.J. Tucker and Filip Petrusev head to LA in exchange for Nicolas Batum, Marcus Morris, Robert Covington, KJ Martin and multiple draft picks

What It Means: The Harden saga in Philly ends, allowing the Sixers to focus solely on the season with added depth on its roster. Clippers LA adds a 4th All-Star with LA area roots to its squad joining Kawhi Leonard, Paul George and Russell Westbrook. The newly-formed quartet has 32 combined All-Star selections.

CURRY, DEJOUNTE LEAD MONDAY’S TOP PERFORMERS 🏀

30 in the second half or Murray | NBAE via Getty Images

Steph Curry dropped 41 on the Kings, went Home Alone on the Rockets, and stayed hot Monday against the Pelicans. Meanwhile, Nikola Jokic and Luka Doncic are shaking up the all-time triple-double list, and Dejounte Murray had a near-perfect 2nd half.

🌉 Warriors 130, Pelicans 102: Steph Curry drops 42 points, 7 3s in 30 minutes

A joyful Curry became the 1st player this season with multiple 40+ point games
Chris Paul added 13 points, 6 boards and 5 assists off the Warriors bench
Zion and CJ McCollum each scored 19 in the Pelicans’ 1st loss

🅰️ Hawks 127, T-Wolves 113: Dejounte Murray ties career-high 41 points

Murray scored 30 in the 2nd half, shooting 12-of-14 and posting a plus-35 in 22 minutes, all with Quavo and 2 Chainz sitting courtside
Trae Young finished with 24 points and 8 dimes, including another lob to Jalen Johnson as Atlanta rallied from 21 down, outscoring Minnesota 67-34 in the 2nd half

The Joker moved up to 4th all-time in triple-doubles. | NBAE via Getty Images

⚒️ Nuggets 110, Jazz 102: Nikola Jokic climbs triple-doubles list

Jokic (27 PTS, 10 REB, 11 AST) posted his 2nd triple-double of the season and 107th of his career, tying LeBron James and Jason Kidd for 4th all-time
Nuggets coach Michael Malone predicts a quick rise in those rankings for the Joker
Aaron Gordon added 21 points and 7 boards, while Jamal Murray had 18 points and 14 dimes as Denver remained unbeaten (4-0)

🐴 Mavs 125, Grizzlies 110: Luka Doncic posts 35-point triple-double

Luka posted 35 points, 12 boards and 12 assists, giving him 17 career 35+ point triple-doubles, and moving 1 behind Larry Bird (59) for 9th in career triple-doubles
Derrick Jones Jr. (22) and Tim Hardaway Jr. (21) combined for 43 in the win, while Desmond Bane and Jaren Jackson Jr. each posted 30 as the Grizz fell to 0-4

📊Updated Top 10 Triple-Double List

1. Russell Westbrook: 198
2. Oscar Robertson: 181
3. Magic Johnson: 138
T-4. LeBron James: 107
T-4. Nikola Jokic: 107
T-4. Jason Kidd: 107
7. Wilt Chamberlain: 78
8. James Harden: 74
9. Larry Bird: 59
10. Luka Doncic: 58

Bold: Active Player | Others: Hall of Famers

BEST OF CRUNCHTIME SEASON DEBUT 🌪️

D’Angelo Russell had it going Monday. | NBAE via Getty Images

NBA CrunchTime returned for its 2nd season on Monday. Check out the top moments from the 1st of 52 nights of whiparound coverage hosted by Jared Greenberg (and his giant coffee mug).

Here are some highlights from the rest of Monday’s 11-game slate:

🌇 Lakers 106, Magic 103: D’Angelo Russell scored 12 of his 28 in the 4th for L.A., which also got 26 points and 19 boards from Anthony Davis. Which was LeBron’s best assist: this behind-the-back dime to a rolling Christian Wood, or breaking out a broomstick on Halloween Eve to rescue the ball?
🦌 Bucks 122, Heat 114: Giannis entered the arena dressed as the Hulk and proceeded to Smash the Heat with 33 points in a playoff rematch. Dame greeted Jimmy Butler pregame before dropping 25 points. More: Read Steve Aschburner’s 5 takeaways from Monday’s game
🍀 Celtics 126, Wizards 107: Jaylen Brown (36) and Jayson Tatum (33) combined for 69 points as Boston improved to 22-1 when they both score 30+ in the same game. Brown led the 1st half (27 PTS, 9-15 FG, 7-10 3P), while Tatum closed in the 2nd half (17 PTS, 7-8 FG)

Cam Johnson joined Shaq in exclusive company. | NBAE via Getty Images

🌃 Nets 133, Hornets 121: Cam Thomas scored 33 points (10-17 FG, 12-14 FT), becoming the 2nd-youngest player in NBA history with 3 straight 30-point games to open a season, trailing only Shaq
⛈️ Thunder 124, Pistons 112: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 32 points (including this 2-handed dunk over 2 defenders), 9 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals, while Josh Giddey added 21 points and Chet Holmgren had 14 points and 4 blocks
🐂 Bulls 112, Pacers 105: The Bulls got a combined 67 points from its Big 3 – Nikola Vucevic (24 points, 17 boards), Zach LaVine (23 points, 5 boards) and DeMar DeRozan (20 points, 4 assists) to hand the Pacers their 1st loss
🌹 Blazers 99, Raptors 91: Portland gets its 1st win of the season behind Jerami Grant (22 points, 6 boards), Malcolm Brogdon (21 points, 5 dimes) and Deandre Ayton (10 points, career-high 23 boards)

GROUP CHAT: PREPARE TO BE FLOORED 🎨

30 teams, 30 new courts. Special for the NBA In-Season Tournament. | NBAE

When the inaugural NBA In-Season Tournament tips off on Friday, its games will be at a whole new level.

Literally.

On Monday, the league unveiled 30 official (and bold) courts that teams will play on during the Tournament – starting Friday on ESPN. Rolling out for Group Play and the Quarterfinals, the fully painted courts mark all sorts of firsts.

It’s the first time any NBA team has played on a fully painted court, with no woodgrain details
And the first time the league has implemented an alternate court for all 30 teams
AND the first time the Celtics, Bulls, Lakers, Pelicans and Blazers will play on an alternate court. Ever. In the whole history of the franchises

How did players react?

‘We’re playing with a purple court?’ Watch these reax from KD (who said that), Steph, Jayson Tatum, De’Aaron Fox, Domantas Sabonis, Paolo Banchero and more

Teams? A sampling:

@DetroitPistons: Just dropped the baddest ☠️ In-Season Tournament court
@HoustonRockets: CAN’T. WAIT.
@dallasmavs: The hardwood lookin’ 🔥 for the In-Season Tournament. @NBA // #MFFL
@memgrizz: in-season tourney type beat 👀
@hornets: The hardwood’s gettin’ a refresh for the In-Season Tournament ✨
@sixers: sheeeesh. 🔥🔥
@pacers: a new court for a new tournament 👀 the @NBA In-Season Tournament tips off this Friday as we host the Cavs on a fresh home floor.
@utahjazz: new in-season tournament = new *purple* court 🤩#TakeNote | @NBA

ESPN’s Zach Lowe took readers behind the scenes of how the courts came to be. Tap to go inside the decisions.

SECTION 4: HALLOWEEN DOUBLEHEADER ON TNT 🏀

What’s Wemby going as / going for on Halloween? | NBAE via Getty Images

Halloween’s become a thing around the league — where, one night a year, tunnel walks turn into costume parties.

Feeling festive? (and forgot to plan ahead for your costume again?) Same!

To set the stage for a spooky Tuesday on TNT – featuring Knicks-Cavs at 7:30 ET and Suns-Spurs at 10 ET – let’s play a game of Trick Or Treat with tonight’s national TV games.

If you don’t think what you’re reading is right, guess Trick. If you think it is, guess Treat.

Find answers at the bottom of this section, and check out Section 5 for last-minute costume ideas.

G🎃🏀d luck.

The Cavs & Knicks meet for the first time since NY ended Cleveland’s season. | NBAE via Getty Images

📺 TNT Doubleheader
🏀 Cavs-Knicks, 7:30 ET | Suns-Spurs, 10

5 NBA players have scored 50 on Halloween in the NBA
8 players on these NYK, CLE, PHX & SAS teams have ever scored 50+
The Knicks beat the Cavs last year for their first Playoff series win since 2014
The Cavaliers’ Donovan Mitchell (35 ppg thru 2 games) grew up in New York
Jalen Brunson leads the Knicks in scoring through 3 games
Over their first 3 career games in the NBA, Kevin Durant had a higher FG% than Victor Wembanyama
Durant sits at 6th in the NBA in total points this season
The Suns rank 2nd in the NBA in Defensive Rating
Both sets of teams will play back-to-back games against each other

Meanwhile, out West, the Magic take on the Clippers (10:30 ET, NBA App) in a battle of two of the league’s hottest-starting squads.

Here’s a pic of Giannis aka the Hulk celebrating Halloween early that you have to scroll past to see the Trick or Treat answers. | NBAE via Getty Images

ANSWERS

😱 Trick: 4 players have – Steph Curry, Derrick Rose, Rashard Lewis & Adrian Dantley
🎃 Treat: Julius Randle, Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland, Caris LeVert, Kevin Durant, Eric Gordon, Devin Booker (questionable for Tues), Bradley Beal (also questionable)
😱 Trick: 2013
🎃 Treat: Mitchell is a native of Elmsford, NY, approximately 20 miles north of Manhattan
😱 Trick: RJ Barrett does, at 22.7 ppg. Brunson’s at 20 ppg.
😱 Trick: Wemby just beats KD, at 44.7% vs. 43.8%
😱 Trick: He’s 8th, at 27.7 ppg
🎃 Treat: Phoenix is allowing 100.7 per 100 possessions
🎃 Treat: It’s true! The Cavs go to MSG Wednesday, while the Suns host the Spurs again on Thursday

NBA STYLE: HALLOWEEN EDITION 🎃

Great costume. Great t-shirt throwing arm. | NBAE via Getty Images

It’s that time of the year when the NBA’s finest take their creativity off the court and onto the Halloween stage.

In a league full of great personalities, it’s not a surprise that players bring their A-game on the spookiest night of the year.

Here are some standouts over the last few years.

NBAE via Getty Images

Grant Williams

The list of actors who played Batman is iconic from Michael Keaton, George Clooney, Christian Bale, Ben Affleck and Robert Pattinson. Up there with all of them? Grant Williams’ 2022 version.

NBAE via Getty Images

LeBron James

There’s not that many people who embrace Halloween like LeBron. In recent years, King James has dressed up as horror film legends Pennywise and Freddy Krueger. Pulling up for a tunnel walk as Jason Voorhees is haunting. Here? A haunting Jason Voorhees.

NBAE via Getty Images

Trae Young

Ice Trae took his Black Panther costume up North to meet the Raptors in 2022.

NBAE via Getty Images

GUESS WHO

Can you guess the NBA guard who dressed up as Jack Skellington from The Nightmare Before Christmas? Hint: He plays for a team named after a music genre. Tap to find out.

NBAE via Getty Images

Klay Thompson

Klay Thompson as Jackie Moon is an iconic moment in NBA Halloween history. Who else but Klay could have pulled this off? Dressed head to toe in the ‘70s-style Flint Tropics uniform, complete with the ‘fro and headband. A perfect Halloween costume in every way.

***

You can see more NBA Halloween fits over the years in the NBA Style series that gives an all-access look at some of the league’s fashionable players.