How NBA teams in the Western Conference can exceed expectations this season

In this edition of the Game Theory Podcast, Sam Vecenie is joined by Adam Finkelstein from 247Sports and CBS Sports to go around the country & talk about a number of interesting 2025 NBA Draft prospects, including Egor Demin, Jaland Lowe, Kam Jones, Asa Newell and Donnie Freeman. VISIT our partners over at PrizePicks to go support the show! Download the app today and use code GAMETHEORY to get $50 instantly after you play your first $5 lineup! Use the code GAMETHEORY or visit this link to sign up: https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/GAMETHEORY This episode of Game Theory is brought to you by BetterHelp. If you're thinking of starting therapy, give Better Help a try. Visit BetterHelp.com/GAMETHEORY today to get 10 percent off your first month. CHECK OUT THE VIDEO VERSION OF THIS EPISODE ON THE GAME THEORY YOUTUBE CHANNEL! FOLLOW GAME THEORY ON SOCIALS: TWITTER - @GameTheorySamV INSTAGRAM - @GameTheorySamV TIKTOK - @GameTheorySamV - Sam Vecenie, a Senior NBA Writer at The Athletic, talks all about basketball. From the NBA, to the NBA Draft, to college hoops and even some high school, Vecenie has you covered in this show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this edition of the Game Theory Podcast, Sam Vecenie is joined by Bryce Simon to go through several different teams off to rough starts to the season & grade them all on a scale from 1-10 on the NBA Panic Meter! CHAPTERS: 04:17 Discussing the Joel Embiid/Marcus Hayes incident on Saturday night 32:58 NBA Panic Meter - Philadelphia 76ers 44:07 NBA Panic Meter - Milwaukee Bucks 57:21 NBA Panic Meter - Orlando Magic 1:05:33 NBA Panic Meter - Indiana Pacers 1:14:31 NBA Panic Meter - Denver Nuggets 1:29:17 TRIVIA TIME w/ GMAC! 10 Players averaging at least 15 rebounds & 10 rebounds this season VISIT our partners over at PrizePicks to go support the show! Download the app today and use code GAMETHEORY to get $50 instantly after you play your first $5 lineup! Use the code GAMETHEORY or visit this link to sign up: https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/GAMETHEORY This episode of Game Theory is brought to you by BetterHelp. If you're thinking of starting therapy, give Better Help a try. Visit BetterHelp.com/GAMETHEORY today to get 10 percent off your first month. CHECK OUT THE VIDEO VERSION OF THIS EPISODE ON THE GAME THEORY YOUTUBE CHANNEL! FOLLOW GAME THEORY ON SOCIALS: TWITTER - @GameTheorySamV INSTAGRAM - @GameTheorySamV TIKTOK - @GameTheorySamV - Sam Vecenie, a Senior NBA Writer at The Athletic, talks all about basketball. From the NBA, to the NBA Draft, to college hoops and even some high school, Vecenie has you covered in this show. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this edition of the Game Theory Podcast, Sam Vecenie & Bryce Simon have a conversation about some of the NBA's earliest most-improved players. VISIT our partners over at PrizePicks to go support the show! Download the app today and use code GAMETHEORY to get $50 instantly after you play your first $5 lineup! Use the code GAMETHEORY or visit this link to sign up: https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/GAMETHEORY CHECK OUT THE VIDEO VERSION OF THIS EPISODE ON THE GAME THEORY YOUTUBE CHANNEL! FOLLOW GAME THEORY ON SOCIALS: TWITTER - @GameTheorySamV INSTAGRAM - @GameTheorySamV TIKTOK - @GameTheorySamV - Sam Vecenie, a Senior NBA Writer at The Athletic, talks all about basketball. From the NBA, to the NBA Draft, to college hoops and even some high school, Vecenie has you covered in this show. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this edition of the Game Theory Podcast, Sam Vecenie & Bryce Simon to talk through the opening week of the NBA season with the only way we know how: by overreacting to what we've seen from the Lakers, Celtics, Nuggets and Thunder among others. VISIT our partners over at PrizePicks to go support the show! Download the app today and use code GAMETHEORY to get $50 instantly after you play your first $5 lineup! Use the code GAMETHEORY or visit this link to sign up: https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/GAMETHEORY CHECK OUT THE VIDEO VERSION OF THIS EPISODE ON THE GAME THEORY YOUTUBE CHANNEL! FOLLOW GAME THEORY ON SOCIALS: TWITTER - @GameTheorySamV INSTAGRAM - @GameTheorySamV TIKTOK - @GameTheorySamV - Sam Vecenie, a Senior NBA Writer at The Athletic, talks all about basketball. From the NBA, to the NBA Draft, to college hoops and even some high school, Vecenie has you covered in this show. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this edition of the Game Theory Podcast, Sam Vecenie is joined by Keith Smith of the  @NBAFrontOffice  Show to discuss the NBA contract extensions that were reported earlier this week & give their grades for each one from the team perspective. VISIT our partners over at PrizePicks to go support the show! Download the app today and use code GAMETHEORY to get $50 instantly after you play your first $5 lineup! Use the code GAMETHEORY or visit this link to sign up: https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/GAMETHEORY CHECK OUT THE VIDEO VERSION OF THIS EPISODE ON THE GAME THEORY YOUTUBE CHANNEL! FOLLOW GAME THEORY ON SOCIALS: TWITTER - @GameTheorySamV INSTAGRAM - @GameTheorySamV TIKTOK - @GameTheorySamV - Sam Vecenie, a Senior NBA Writer at The Athletic, talks all about basketball. From the NBA, to the NBA Draft, to college hoops and even some high school, Vecenie has you covered in this show. CHAPTERS: 2:30 How do you watch NBA games? 7:30 Big picture look at Rookie Extension Window from Keith 18:15 Houston Rockets extend Alperen Sengun and Jalen Green 43:25 Orlando Magic extend Jalen Suggs 50:45 Atlanta Hawks extend Jalen Johnson 55:15 The real money pressure on NBA players to extend now 1:06:18 New Orleans Pelicans extend Trey Murphy III 1:11:42 Corey Kispert extends with Washington Wizards 1:15:12 Moses Moody and Jaden Hardy extensions, rookie scale guys that haven't extended 1:22:00 Aaron Gordon and Denver Nuggets come to agreement 1:25:45 Minnesota Timberwolves extend Rudy Gobert 1:35:45 BOSTON KEITH TALKS ABOUT THE CELTICS Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this edition of the Game Theory Podcast, Sam Vecenie & Bryce Simon to talk about players they're looking at this season who could break out as important, impact players or even NBA stars in the 2024-25 season. CHECK OUT THE VIDEO VERSION OF THIS EPISODE ON THE GAME THEORY YOUTUBE CHANNEL! FOLLOW GAME THEORY ON SOCIALS: TWITTER - @GameTheorySamV INSTAGRAM - @GameTheorySamV TIKTOK - @GameTheorySamV - Sam Vecenie, a Senior NBA Writer at The Athletic, talks all about basketball. From the NBA, to the NBA Draft, to college hoops and even some high school, Vecenie has you covered in this show. CHAPTERS: 7:40 Christian Braun (and Julian Strawther) 22:41 Jalen Williams 35:05 Jaden Ivey 43:55 Amen Thompson 51:50 Deuce McBride 57:05 Nikola Jovic 1:03:00 Rapid Fire on Brandin Podziemski, Jordan Miller, Dyson Daniels, Ayo Dosunmu, Tre Mann, Andrew Nembhard, Lonzo Ball, and others 1:24:17 GMAC joins for Trivia 11 players who have 14k points and 6k rebounds. name them! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this edition of the Game Theory Podcast, Sam Vecenie is here to break down 2025 NBA Draft prospects, including Cooper Flagg, Ace Bailey, Dylan Harper, V.J. Edgecombe and Nolan Traore among others with @HoopIntellect 's own Keandre Ashley. CHECK OUT THE VIDEO VERSION OF THIS EPISODE ON THE GAME THEORY YOUTUBE CHANNEL! FOLLOW GAME THEORY ON SOCIALS: TWITTER - @GameTheorySamV INSTAGRAM - @GameTheorySamV TIKTOK - @GameTheorySamV - Sam Vecenie, a Senior NBA Writer at The Athletic, talks all about basketball. From the NBA, to the NBA Draft, to college hoops and even some high school, Vecenie has you covered in this show. CHAPTERS: 2:50 How do you rate the 2025 NBA Draft compared to other NBA Draft classes? 7:05 Can any other prospect break into the top-five of the 2025 NBA Draft? 910:00 Ben Saraf and Noa Essengue takeaways versus Portland 20:45 Cooper Flagg Preseason Eval 38:00 Rating Cooper Flagg compared to other elite prospects 40:15 Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper 1:11:20 V.J. Edgecombe 1:23:50 Nolan Traore (and some Kasparas Jakucionis) 1:31:35 Tony Bennett retires Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this edition of the Game Theory Podcast, Sam Vecenie & Bryce Simon make their predictions for the 2024-25 NBA Season! CHECK OUT THE VIDEO VERSION OF THIS EPISODE ON THE GAME THEORY YOUTUBE CHANNEL! FOLLOW GAME THEORY ON SOCIALS: TWITTER - @GameTheorySamV INSTAGRAM - @GameTheorySamV TIKTOK - @GameTheorySamV - Sam Vecenie, a Senior NBA Writer at The Athletic, talks all about basketball. From the NBA, to the NBA Draft, to college hoops and even some high school, Vecenie has you covered in this show. CHAPTERS: 9:55 Luka Doncic wins MVP 17:55 The Thunder will win 65 games 27:31 The Suns finish top 4 in the West 39:15 The Pistons will NOT finish bottom 3 in the NBA 44:36 Tyrese Maxey makes ALL-NBA 49:26 The Pelicans will NOT finish top 8 in the West 1:01:11 The Cavaliers will trade 1 of their core 4 1:06:07 OKC vs BOS in the Finals & goes 7 1:21:35 TRIVIA Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this edition of the Game Theory Podcast, Sam Vecenie is joined by his colleague at The Athletic Fred Katz to discuss who they think are the most important players in the NBA this season. CHECK OUT THE VIDEO VERSION OF THIS EPISODE ON THE GAME THEORY YOUTUBE CHANNEL! FOLLOW GAME THEORY ON SOCIALS: TWITTER - @GameTheorySamV INSTAGRAM - @GameTheorySamV TIKTOK - @GameTheorySamV - Sam Vecenie, a Senior NBA Writer at The Athletic, talks all about basketball. From the NBA, to the NBA Draft, to college hoops and even some high school, Vecenie has you covered in this show. CHAPTERS: 7:00 - Bradley Beal 20:08 - Ja Morant 33:25 - Cooper Flagg 44:25 - Victor Wembanyama 59:09 - Chet Holmgren & Evan Mobley 1:11:24 - Khris Middleton Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this edition of the Game Theory Podcast, Sam Vecenie & Bryce Simon do their first 2025 NBA Mock Draft of the season! Come join us and break down a loaded draft class with Cooper Flagg, Ace Bailey, Dylan Harper, V.J. Edgecombe, and many more! CHECK OUT THE VIDEO VERSION OF THIS EPISODE ON THE GAME THEORY YOUTUBE CHANNEL! FOLLOW GAME THEORY ON SOCIALS: TWITTER - @GameTheorySamV INSTAGRAM - @GameTheorySamV TIKTOK - @GameTheorySamV - Sam Vecenie, a Senior NBA Writer at The Athletic, talks all about basketball. From the NBA, to the NBA Draft, to college hoops and even some high school, Vecenie has you covered in this show. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices