The Opening Tip

• Our annual scoop counter is back. 
• A meaningless 3 kept the weirdest streak in basketball going. 
• More notes from Thursday’s deadline. 

Tonight's must-watch games

1. Woj vs. Shams: Yesterday’s scoop-off was a bloodbath for the pupil

Last NBA trade deadline, Woj easily outscooped Shams, 10-6, a head-to-head we began tracking long before others started (incorrectly) doing it.

This year, Shams blew out his mentor, with a 7-3 scoop count, breaking all but three of the 10 trades that went down yesterday. 

• For the not-on-Twitter folk: “Woj” and “Shams” are the premier NBA news breakers, who once worked together in a mentor-mentee role but now battle on Twitter for scoops on NBA transactions.

A few notes from our data: 

• On the James Harden-Ben Simmons deal, both tweeted the trade at 1:16 p.m. ET, but Shams, we were able to confirm via this timestamp bot, sent his tweet at 1:16:08. Woj’s tweet came 21 seconds later. 
• The biggest scoop discrepancy came on the Goran Dragic-Thad Young swap. Shams broke the news at 11:47 a.m. ET. Woj stumbled in with Sunday’s paper on Monday at 11:57 a.m. ET. 
• Though Woj lost the battle, he did win by default on two scoops. He broke the Torrey Craig-Jalen Smith and Bol Bol-Magic trades, while Shams never even acknowledged them. 

[READ: How basketball’s reporting machine gets his scoops]

2. Daily GIF: We *almost* got LeBron’s first 27-7-7

The best inconsequential stat of LeBron’s career is that his career averages add up to 27.1 points, 7.5 rebounds and 7.4 assists per game, but he’s never totaled exactly 27 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists in one game. 

• On Wednesday, in the Lakers’ horrific loss to the Triple-A Blazers, he had 27-7-7 with three seconds left, then hit the meaningless 3 above to finish with 30-7-7. The streak lives on.

3. Trivia time

Who was the last Finals MVP to not make the All-Star Game during the same season?

Hint: A Max Kellerman favorite.

Answer at the bottom.

4. Five more notes from the NBA trade deadline

1. It’s clear there was a ton of animosity within the Nets’s now-seperated Big 3. James Harden was mad at Kyrie Irving for not getting vaxxed (and for doing his sage routine, according to The Athletic), and Kyrie was happy to see Harden go. 
2. Last night was also the All-Star draft between captains LeBron and Kevin Durant. The last picks were Rudy Gobert and Harden. Durant chose Gobert (it's a must-watch) and later said ‘everybody got what they wanted’ regarding the trade.
3. It's assumed that Harden will opt into his contract for next season as part of the deal. If the 76ers max him out after that, he’ll be making $62 million in 2026-27. Not a typo. 
4. Yesterday we had what we believe to be the first-ever Latvian for Latvian swap: Kristaps Porzingis for Davis Bertans (and Spencer Dinwiddie). We also had a German for German swap (Dennis Schroder for Daniel Theis), but, been there, done that. 
5. No. 2 overall pick Marvin Bagley, taken one spot ahead of Luka Doncic in the 2018 draft, was traded to the Pistons from the Kings in a four-team deal. He was averaging only 22 MPG. 

[READ: NBA trade deadline’s winners and losers]

5.  Quick Hits

• Luka dropped 51 points last night in his first game without Kristaps Porzingis. Highlights. 
• The final tally on games collectively played by James Harden, Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving: 16. 
• Harden on Oct. 19, 2021: “I don’t plan on leaving this organization.”
• Meanwhile, the Nets lost their 10th straight game yesterday vs. the Wizards. They’re 29-26 and in the eighth spot in the East. 
• We’re not quite sure what this Joel Embiid troll means, but it’s funny.
• Patrick Beverley got a jab in at Russell Westbrook. 

6.  Reads

• The story behind the Simmons-Harden trade [Fox Sports]
• Trade deadline wrap [The Lowe Post]
• The golden age of Al Michaels [The Ringer]

Trivia answer: Andre Iguodala (2015)