During the Oklahoma City Thunder 's playoff battle against the Dallas Mavericks, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander admitted they needed to "turn that water off" with PJ Washington's scoring and outside shooting. The role player morphed into a superstar against OKC.

The Knicks and Nuggets are surging, while the Warriors watch their window close. Meanwhile, the Cavs and Thunder have their business on lock.

This stretch of January around Martin Luther King Jr. Day is usually peak evaluation time in the NBA front-office world. It’s one of the milestone points where teams will have full-staff pow-wows and talk things out,