Hoopspire Staff
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Basketball argued from the numbers, across all fourteen leagues in the ledger.
How this desk works. Claims are checked against the box scores, standings and season averages the ledger already keeps.
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Beijing Ducks are 8-0 with a 27.8-point margin
The Ducks lead the CBA by 11.7 points of margin over the next club, the other Beijing side. Both shoot far above the league, and last year's Ducks shot 56.3%, not 63.9%.
Hoopspire StaffDesk name · Nov 5, 2026 · 4 min read
Sichuan went 0-42 last season. It already has two wins
The Blue Whales are 2-6 after a winless 2025-26. Across the CBA, last season's table explains only part of this year's start: ten clubs' margins improved, ten fell, and six moved by 10 points or more.
Hoopspire StaffDesk name · Nov 5, 2026 · 4 min read
Division I teams are 88-0 against non-Division I opponents
Of 236 men's games finished from November 2 to 4, 88 paired a Division I team with a non-Division I one. The Division I side won all 88, at home, by 41.7 points on average.
Hoopspire StaffDesk name · Nov 5, 2026 · 3 min read
College Park waits 18 days between games, Westchester 11
The G League shuts down for 10 days after the Tip-Off Tournament, but not every club stops at the same point. The gap between a club's last Tip-Off game and its first regular-season game runs from 11 to 18 days.
Hoopspire StaffDesk name · Nov 5, 2026 · 3 min read
No G League club plays three straight nights in 2026-27
The schedule caps every club at two games in a row and four in any seven days. Inside those limits the load is uneven: Rio Grande Valley never plays three games in four days, Osceola does it nine times.
Hoopspire StaffDesk name · Nov 5, 2026 · 4 min read
Delaware makes 24 G League road stops, Maine just 17
Every club plays 24 home and 24 away games in 2026-27, but the number of separate road stops runs from 17 to 24. Counting back-to-backs misses the difference: 234 of 236 are played in one building.
Hoopspire StaffDesk name · Nov 5, 2026 · 5 min read
All 217 G League Tip-Off games stay inside the division
Not one Tip-Off Tournament game crosses a division line. After it the map opens, but 216 of 465 possible club pairings still never meet, and a club faces anywhere from 14 to 21 rivals.
Hoopspire StaffDesk name · Nov 5, 2026 · 4 min read
Soles allowed 74.6 points a game, 5.6 fewer than anyone
LNBP's top seed won 21 of 28 on defence, not offence: Soles scored only the seventh most. Points allowed vary twice as widely across the league as points scored.
Hoopspire StaffDesk name · Nov 5, 2026 · 3 min read
Soles' margin predicted 22 to 24 wins. They won 21
Across 14 LNBP clubs, scoring margin lines up with winning percentage almost perfectly. The gaps are small: Soles won one to three fewer than their margin predicts, Panteras one to two more.
Hoopspire StaffDesk name · Nov 5, 2026 · 4 min read
No NBB club plays back-to-back in the first turn
Brazil's 18 clubs play 153 first-turn games between October 17 and December 29 with at least two days between any club's games. A 10-day league-wide pause matches FIBA's November window.
Hoopspire StaffDesk name · Nov 5, 2026 · 4 min read
One Cearense player scores a third of the team's points
Dupree has 87 of Basquete Cearense's 263 points, 33.1%, the highest share in the NBB. The four clubs most reliant on one scorer are a combined 3-14, and the five best records belong to clubs where no scorer is above 21.5%.
Hoopspire StaffDesk name · Nov 5, 2026 · 3 min read
NBB teams score 21% to 44% of points from threes
Across the first 42 games of 2026-27, three-pointers make 35.3% of NBB scoring. Mogi gets 43.8% of its points from deep and Cruzeiro 21.3%, and the style gap does not track the standings.
Hoopspire StaffDesk name · Nov 5, 2026 · 3 min read
NBL home teams won 50.3% of games last season
Home sides won 83 of 165 NBL games in 2025-26 and outscored visitors by 0.7 points. Two seasons earlier they won 59.3%. A swing that size is within chance, and this season's start sits in between.
Hoopspire StaffDesk name · Nov 5, 2026 · 4 min read
The NBL's pauses match FIBA's qualifying windows to the day
No NBL club plays on consecutive days, and the league's long breaks in 2025-26 and 2026-27 line up with FIBA's World Cup qualifying windows exactly. The preseason is the exception.
Hoopspire StaffDesk name · Nov 5, 2026 · 3 min read
Sydney's margin was worth 26 to 28 wins, not 24
The Kings outscored NBL opponents by 12.0 points a game in 2025-26 and finished 24-9. Their margin predicts more than that. Adelaide and Cairns went the other way.
Hoopspire StaffDesk name · Nov 5, 2026 · 4 min read
Macau and Titan supplied 85% of NLEX's scoring margin
Four games against the PBA Governors' Cup's two bottom clubs account for most of the top Group A margins. Against the rest, NLEX and TNT were +3.8, San Miguel +2.4 and Converge -1.3.
Hoopspire StaffDesk name · Nov 5, 2026 · 4 min read
Phoenix made the quarterfinals at -4.5. Terrafirma missed at -0.8
Seven- and six-club groups played 12 and 10 games, and the top four in each advanced. Phoenix went 5-5 and in, Terrafirma 5-7 and out. Three clubs missed with better margins than Phoenix.
Hoopspire StaffDesk name · Nov 5, 2026 · 4 min read
TPBL's 2026-27 schedule is 124 games, two short of 126
Seven clubs playing 36 games each need 126 games. The published schedule lists 124, leaving two pairings one meeting short. Weekends carry 87.1% of the games.
Hoopspire StaffDesk name · Nov 5, 2026 · 4 min read
DEA had TPBL's second-best margin and the fourth-best record
New Taipei CTBC DEA outscored opponents by 4.4 points a game in 2025-26 and finished 20-16, two to four wins short of what the margin predicts. They went 4-7 in games decided by five or fewer.
Hoopspire StaffDesk name · Nov 5, 2026 · 4 min read
TPBL's scoring rose 3.7 points on better shooting, not pace
Teams scored 97.5 a game in 2025-26, up from 93.8, while possessions fell. The 2026-27 start is faster, 107.4 points, but it is eight games, two of them in overtime.
Hoopspire StaffDesk name · Nov 5, 2026 · 4 min read
The two preseason polls differ on one team, UCLA
The AP and coaches' preseason polls share 24 of 25 teams. UCLA, in only the AP poll, beat Arizona, a top-five team in both. Purdue, in only the coaches' poll, lost to Gonzaga.
Hoopspire StaffDesk name · Nov 5, 2026 · 4 min read
The Hoopspire Top 32 for 2026-27: Florida start first because they kept their team
Our preseason ranking of men's college basketball, with the reason for every place, plus 10 bubble teams. Florida bring back 79% of their minutes from a top-five team. Houston, fourth in ESPN's BPI last season, start 18th.
Hoopspire StaffDesk name · Oct 21, 2026 · 6 min read
The Hoopspire Top 100 for 2026-27, No. 10 to 1: Nikola Jokić is No. 1, and one game decides No. 2
Jokić leads by 2.26 points of Margin Score, more than the whole spread of Part 9. Luka Dončić was second game for game, but 64 games put Shai Gilgeous-Alexander ahead of him by 0.18.
Hoopspire StaffDesk name · Oct 6, 2026 · 9 min read
The Hoopspire Top 100 for 2026-27, No. 20 to 11: Giannis Antetokounmpo ranks fourth game for game and 19th on the list
Antetokounmpo played 36 games and keeps 74% of his score. The other nine played 64 games or more, and every one of them moves up. Jalen Duren shot 68.8% true shooting, the best in the part.
Hoopspire StaffDesk name · Oct 5, 2026 · 8 min read
The Hoopspire Top 100 for 2026-27, No. 30 to 21: LeBron James at 41, four No. 1 picks and nobody hurt by the cut
Part 8 answers Part 7's question: seven of these ten played 65 games or more, and all ten rank higher here than they do game for game. Zion Williamson and Scottie Barnes, three places apart, reach their scores from opposite ends of the box score.
Hoopspire StaffDesk name · Oct 4, 2026 · 9 min read
The Hoopspire Top 100 for 2026-27, No. 40 to 31: the cut sends Joel Embiid from 10th to 36th
Part 7 answers the question Part 6 asked. Six of these ten played 54 games or fewer and lose between eight and 26 places to the cut, while four players with fuller seasons move up five to eight. Ten veterans sit 1.02 points of Margin Score apart.
Hoopspire StaffDesk name · Oct 3, 2026 · 8 min read
The Hoopspire Top 100 for 2026-27, No. 50 to 41: Jimmy Butler played 38 games and the cut costs him 28 places
Game for game, Jimmy Butler ranks 19th of 406. After the cut for his 38 games he is 47th. Ten veterans in Part 6 sit 1.22 points of Margin Score apart.
Hoopspire StaffDesk name · Oct 2, 2026 · 8 min read
The Hoopspire Top 100 for 2026-27, No. 60 to 51: Jarrett Allen shot 66.9% and Derrick White shot 52.9%, two places apart
Part 5 puts the best shooter in this group and the worst one next door to each other. The worst shooter still ranks 55th, on 5.4 assists and 1.3 blocks, and ten veterans are separated by 0.73 points of Margin Score.
Hoopspire StaffDesk name · Oct 2, 2026 · 8 min read
The Hoopspire Top 100 for 2026-27, No. 70 to 61: the best shooter in the group takes 6.5 shots a night
Part 4 pairs a center who shot 66.4% from the floor with a third pick who shot 54.0%, and the two land only a place apart. Ten veterans are separated by 0.67 points of Margin Score.
Hoopspire StaffDesk name · Sep 30, 2026 · 7 min read
The Hoopspire Top 100 for 2026-27, No. 80 to 71: nine veterans inside 0.6 points and the first pick at 75
Part 3 of our countdown is the tightest yet. Nine veterans reach almost the same score by very different routes, and the first pick in the draft lands ahead of both Wizards already on our list.
Hoopspire StaffDesk name · Sep 29, 2026 · 6 min read
The Hoopspire Top 100 for 2026-27, No. 90 to 81: three centers above 67% and Cameron Boozer at 85
Part 2 of our countdown pairs efficient finishers who played nearly every night with bigger scorers who missed a third of the season. The third pick in the draft is the second of our three rookies.
Hoopspire StaffDesk name · Sep 28, 2026 · 6 min read
The Hoopspire Top 100 for 2026-27, No. 100 to 91: Franz Wagner's missing games and a rookie at 95
Our countdown of the NBA's best 100 players starts here, ranked on what they did in 2025-26. Darius Acuff Jr. is the first of three rookies, placed on fit because he has no NBA season to measure.
Hoopspire StaffDesk name · Sep 27, 2026 · 6 min read
Washington's 26-16 record rests on close games, not on a +0.9 point margin
The Mystics' scoring margin predicts about 22 or 23 wins, not 26. They are 12-5 in games decided by five or fewer. The Fever, 27-15 with a +5.8 margin, are 5-5.
Hoopspire StaffDesk name · Sep 21, 2026 · 4 min read
The WNBA field is set. Almost nothing else is.
Eight teams are locked into the playoffs with games still to play, and three real seeding races, the No. 1 seed included, come down to this week's schedule.
Hoopspire StaffDesk name · Sep 21, 2026 · 3 min read
59 points vanished between Korea's two wins over Japan, and threes explain three
Korea's 67-57 gold medal win came a week after a 100-83 group win over the same opponent. The combined score fell by 59 points, and the official box scores show where they went.
Hoopspire StaffDesk name · Sep 20, 2026 · 6 min read
Caitlin Clark leads the WNBA in assists and in turnovers. The Fever still have its best offense.
Clark averages 8.5 assists and 4.6 turnovers a game, first in the league in both. Both come from carrying the second-heaviest possession load in the WNBA, and Indiana's offense is 3.0 points per 100 possessions clear of everyone else.
Hoopspire StaffDesk name · Sep 19, 2026 · 5 min read
Seattle outscored Indiana by 12 from the field and lost by 3
Indiana beat Seattle 110-107 on July 17 with 28 made free throws to Seattle's 13. Caitlin Clark alone attempted more free throws (19) than the Storm did as a team (18), and scored seven of Indiana's last eight points.
Hoopspire StaffDesk name · Sep 19, 2026 · 4 min read
Slow pace explains only part of the Valkyries' defense
Golden State allows 75.2 points a game, 7.8 fewer than any other WNBA team. About 5 of the 12 points below league average come from playing slowly. The other 7 come from efficiency, mostly opponents shooting worse on twos.
Hoopspire StaffDesk name · Sep 19, 2026 · 4 min read
Our 2026-27 NBA projection: Spurs over Knicks in the Finals, Thunder and Pistons top the standings
The Knicks are champions, the Spurs and Thunder still run the West, and Giannis, LeBron, Jaylen Brown, LaMelo Ball and Kawhi Leonard all changed teams. Every seed, series and major award, and what would have to happen for us to be wrong.
Hoopspire StaffDesk name · Sep 17, 2026 · 13 min read
USA turned a 14-point deficit into gold by winning the possessions around the shots
France made more threes and took as many free throws, and still lost the World Cup final 97-79. The United States won the third quarter 30-12 on two-point shooting, offensive rebounds and three extra possessions.
Hoopspire StaffDesk name · Sep 13, 2026 · 4 min read
The fourth quarter that won Olympiacos the EuroLeague
Real Madrid led by four going into the fourth quarter. Then Olympiacos scored 31.
Hoopspire StaffDesk name · May 24, 2026 · 3 min read