If the player says he can’t go in the first quarter, he doesn’t go,” former Dallas Mavericks doctor Tarek Souryal said. “You can see bruising. You can see a cut. But you can’t see pain.”

NBA figures Terry Rozier and Chauncey Billups were placed on leave after the FBI announced their arrests in a gambling investigation last week.

Victor Wembanyama has made an MVP statement during the first week of the 2025-26 NBA season and leads the first MVP ladder.