LeBron James will play his 34th career game inside Madison Square Garden on Sunday. | Photo by Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images
The debut of Sunday Night Basketball features a star-studded doubleheader, with four of the NBA’s 10 All-Star starters taking the court.
In the opener, All-Star guards (and former teammates) Luka Dončić and Jalen Brunson square off as the Knicks host the Lakers (7 ET). In the nightcap, the two most recent Kia NBA MVP winners – OKC’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Denver’s Nikola Jokić – meet in the Mile High City (9 ET). Here are three storylines to know entering Sunday night.
Lakers at Knicks | 7 ET, NBC/Peacock
Man In The (World’s Most Famous) Arena: LeBron James and the Lakers make their annual stop at Madison Square Garden to take on the Knicks. James enters the game with a 23-8 regular-season record and a 1-1 postseason mark at MSG over the first 22 years of his career. In those 33 games, James has averaged 28.2 points, 6.9 rebounds and 7.4 assists, while shooting 49.5% from the field and 38.1% from 3-point range. What does he have in store for his 34th appearance at The Garden?
Brunson vs. Dončić, Round 3: On June 22, 2018, Luka Dončić and Jalen Brunson stood side-by-side as Dallas’ first- and second-round draft picks were introduced to the media. The 2018 NBA Draft’s No. 3 and No. 33 picks, respectively, played four seasons together before Brunson signed with New York as a free agent in 2022.
This will be only the third time they’ve faced each other since, with Dončić winning the first two matchups: Dec. 3, 2022 with Dallas, and March 6, 2025 with L.A. Can Dončić make it three straight against his former teammate? Or is it Brunson’s turn to win a reunion game? The former teammates enter the matchup as top-10 scorers in the league: Dončić leads the league (33.7 points per game) and Brunson ranks eighth (27.6 points per game).
Knicks Bounce Back: Over a three-week span from Dec. 31-Jan. 19, the Knicks stumbled to a 2-9 record, including seven double-digit losses. As concern began to engulf the Knicks faithful, the team responded to the noise by rattling off five straight wins, beginning with a franchise-best 54-point victory on Jan. 21. New York enters Sunday’s game coming off wins by 16, 27 and 30 points, respectively.
The keys to the turnaround? A newfound defensive identity and a balanced offensive attack. Before this five-game win streak, the Knicks had held an opponent under 100 points only three times in 43 games played. During the streak, they have held four of their five opponents below the century mark.
Brunson leads the Knicks in scoring during this win streak at 23.6 points per game, four points below his season-long 27.6 mark, which ranks eighth in the league. OG Anunoby (18.6 points per game on 63.3% shooting and 52.4% from 3-point range) leads five more Knicks in double figures during this run, which has New York back in the No. 2 spot in the East (via tiebreaker over Boston).
Thunder at Nuggets
9:30 p.m. ET, NBC/Peacock
Nikola Jokić and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander meet for the first time since the 2025 Western Conference Semifinals on Sunday. | Photo by Zach Beeker/NBAE via Getty Images
Playoff Rematch in Primetime: OKC’s road to the 2025 NBA championship ran through Denver as the Thunder and Nuggets waged an epic seven-game battle in the Western Conference Semifinals. It began with Aaron Gordon’s game-winning 3-pointer to stun the No. 1 seed on its home court, and ended with a blowout win in Game 7 in the same arena, behind a 35-point performance from MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder’s top-ranked defense holding the Nuggets to 93 points.
This marks the first meeting since OKC’s decisive Game 7 win ended Denver’s season. It is the first of four matchups between these two West contenders over the final 33 games of the season for both teams.
Jokić-less Month: The Nuggets were third in the West when Nikola Jokić went down (bone bruise, knee) on Dec. 29 and they remained third in the West when he returned on Friday, Jan. 30. How did the Nuggets go 10-6 without the three-time MVP and avoid falling in the standings?
- Jamal Murray took his career year to new heights, averaging 27.8 points per game on 30.5% usage, while appearing in 12 of the 15 games without Jokić.
- Peyton Watson leaped from Denver’s seventh-leading scorer (10.7 points per game in 27.2 minutes) to its second-leading scorer (22.1 points per game, while shooting 44.3% from 3-point range in 36.2 minutes) while Jokić was out.
- Jonas Valančiūnas averaged 15.3 points and 10.8 rebounds per game in his first four games back from an injury of his own.
Jokić was sharp in his return, posting 31 points, 12 rebounds and five assists in 25 minutes as the Nuggets defeated the red-hot Clippers on Friday night. How will he — and the Nuggets — follow up that performance against the West-leading Thunder?
First 25, Next 25: The defending champs opened the season on fire, becoming only the second team in NBA history to open a season 24-1 or better. However, after going 24-1 in their first 25 games, the Thunder have gone just 14-10 as they get set to close out their second 25-game segment Sunday in Denver.
The biggest difference? Clutch time execution, where OKC’s net rating went from 41.4 in 10 clutch games (9-1) during their first 25 games to minus-3.8 in 10 clutch games (4-6) over their past 24.
Brian Martin has covered the NBA and WNBA for more than 15 years. You can e-mail him here and follow him on X.
