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The defending champion Golden State Warriors are 8-10, outside the playoff picture nearly a quarter of the way through the 2022-23 NBA season, and their coach conceded they are "in the final stages" of a dynasty.
The Utah Jazz, who traded three of their best players during the offseason in an apparent effort to enter the Victor Wembanyama lottery sweepstakes, are 12-7, owners of the best record in the Western Conference.
A glance around the league reveals a bevy of surprises every night. The Eastern Conference's top-seeded Boston Celtics have lost just twice in regulation, both by double digits to the sub-.500 Chicago Bulls. The Sacramento Kings own the highest offensive rating in NBA history. The Indiana Pacers, preseason picks to finish dead last in the East, are riding a five-game winning streak. Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is a legitimate MVP candidate. The Washington Wizards lead the Southeast Division. A single loss separates the No. 1-seeded Jazz from the 10th and final play-in tournament spot in the West.
The NBA's torch-bearing title favorites
Last season's Phoenix Suns are the only team to win 60 games (or the equivalent in a shortened campaign) over the last two years. They narrowly escaped the first round of the playoffs against a 36-win New Orleans Pelicans team and lost in seven games to the fourth-seeded Dallas Mavericks in the conference semifinals.
The last time the NBA saw one 60-win team over a two-year stretch was the aftermath of Michael Jordan's 1998 retirement from the Chicago Bulls. Tim Duncan, Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant were establishing themselves as the league's driving forces, and the trio ultimately divided 10 of the next 12 championships.
The last era of NBA parity looked nothing like this one
The Bucks and Celtics are clinging to a 60-win pace this season, and no other team is winning better than 65% of its games. It would not be surprising if every team falls short of the 60-win threshold for a second straight season in the variance of an era governed by load management and high-volume 3-point shooting.
Filling the void in a post-LeBron era
With Golden State struggling out of the gate, the chances that the NBA will experience a fifth different champion in five years for the first time since the late 1970s have increased. Boston entered this season with the best odds of winning the title (+500, per BetMGM) and the worst of any preseason championship favorite since Sports Odds History began tracking the data in 1984, according to Basketball Reference.
Daniel Weinman was crowned winner of the 2023 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event on Monday, taking home a record breaking $12.1 million in winnings. Weinman had to outlast the other 10,043 entrants to take home the prize and get his hands on his share of live poker’s largest ever prize pool – a staggering $93,399,900. As well as taking home the prize money, 35-year-old Weinman also got his hands on the WSOP Main Event bracelet. The huge bracelet contains 500 grams of 10-karat yellow gold, as well as 2,352 various precious gemstones.
Daniel Weinman won the World Series of Poker's main event world championship on Monday in Las Vegas, earning $12.1 million along the way. Playing in the tournament for a 16th year, Weinman was tops in a deep pool of 10,043 players vying for $93.39 million. His victory came after just 164 hands at the final table. "I was honestly on the fence about even coming back and playing this tournament," the 35-year-old Atlanta native told reporters afterward. Weinman's final table featured Jan-Peter Jachtmann, who landed in fourth place and took home $3 million, as well as Toby Lewis, who finished seventh and secured $1.42 million. According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the main event's entry pool far outpaced the previous record of 8,773 set in 2006. "I've always kind of felt that poker was kind of going in a dying direction, but to see the numbers at the World Series this year has been incredible," Weinman said. "And to win this main event, it doesn't feel real. I mean, [there's] so much luck in a poker tournament. I thought I played very well." Steven Jones finished second, securing $6.5 million. And Adam Walton settled for third and a $4 million prize.
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