Welcome Back: Catching football fans up on the NBA season

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Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks and Joel Embiid, Philadelphia 76ers. Photo by Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images /

4. The NBA’s stars are injured and wreaking havoc on the standings

Every single season NBA players miss games due to injury, but this year has had quite the total of games lost, especially to some of the game’s biggest stars. The impact on those missing stars has been the floundering of their teams without them, making the standings nearly impossible to read. Each team seems better than their record.

The New Orleans Pelicans climbed to the top of the Western Conference and are in a freefall since, missing both Brandon Ingram and Zion Williamson (Ingram recently returned to the lineup). The Brooklyn Nets ripped off one of the league’s most impressive winning streaks, then lost Kevin Durant to injury. Anthony Davis, Devin Booker, Kawhi Leonard, James Harden, Jimmy Butler, Tyrese Haliburton, and Khris Middleton have all missed extended periods of time as well.

The injuries also made the All-Star rosters a complete crapshoot. Some voters leaned into availability, while others leaned into star pedigree, and it ended up with a seemingly random assortment of players. Harden, Davis, Leonard, Booker, and Butler all missed the team despite being perennial selections, while the way was paved for lower-tier stars like Domantas Sabonis, Lauri Markkanen, Julius Randle, and Jaren Jackson Jr. to make the team.

The full All-Star rosters, led by captains LeBron James and Giannis Antetookounmpo, can be found here.