Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic (77) dribbles the ball past Dallas Mavericks forward Olivier-Maxence Prosper (8) during the second half at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Gary A.

The Boston Celtics are one of the top NBA Finals contenders at this point in the season. With a 44-18 record, the Celtics currently hold the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference playoff race, trailing the Cleveland Cavaliers who are 52-10.

Charles Barkley has had enough of ESPN's talking heads discussing the Los Angeles Lakers. On the TNT pregame show that preceded an NBA double-header featuring the Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers as well as the Los Angeles Lakers and New York Knicks, Barkley went off on a rant about how much airtime ESPN gives to the Lakers.

Not all that long ago, such a prospect would have been quite the stretch, given where each of the two storied rivals were in their respective contention arcs. But after the Lakers were practically gifted a potential generational talent in Luka Doncic by the Dallas Mavericks,

Kristaps Porzingis is sitting out for the fourth consecutive Celtics game on Thursday night against the Philadelphia 76ers due to a non-COVID illness. The big man originally played through the illness last week in Detroit after missing one game but sat out since then with Boston going 2-1 in his absence.

The Los Angeles Lakers (39-21) welcome the New York Knicks (40-21) to Crypto.com Arena on Thursday in an exciting NBA matchup.

Denver Nuggets guard Russell Westbrook spent parts of two seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers from 2021 to 2023.