Y’all… this is our 50^TH EDITION of Out Of Bounds!!

We’ve been doing this off-the-court segment for our biggest Enjoyers for nearly two years now, and we couldn’t be more grateful. Who’s ready for another 50?

Today’s Lineup

✅ Our Favorite NEW Nicknames in the NBA

We’re thankful for the resurgence of creative NBA nicknames. For the past year or so we’ve seen young players blossom into superstars … and yet we’ve given them basic nicknames. SGA. Ant. Wemby. Where’s the artistic flare?? Well, we’ve seen three nicknames pop up this NBA season that we LOVE:

First, is Dyson Daniels. The man who is legally required to go through a TSA scanner before leaving any store—because he steals everything. After averaging 14 PPG and becoming an unexpected frontrunner for Defensive Player of the Year, the Australian guard earned the nickname Great Barrier Thief. What a masterstroke. We’ve got a pun referencing Dyson’s playstyle and home country. 10/10. Keep track of your belongings when the Great Barrier Thief is around:

Next is Dalano Banton. For those who aren’t hip to the 25-year-old wing, the dude has been a happy surprise this year for the Trail Blazers. This nickname requires some trivia knowledge (that we didn’t have at all). D.B. Cooper is a man notorious in the Pacific Northwest for hijacking a plane, letting the passengers off, relaunching the plane and jumping out mid-flight to parachute into the night over Washington state. While Cooper’s mystique remains the only unsolved mystery of air piracy in the U.S., Dalano Banton’s play in Portland has earned himself the nickname D.B. Hooper!

Lastly, we love the new name for San Antonio’s young star duo of Stephon Castle and Victor Wembanyama. The rookie guard out of UConn wears #5 alongside his alien of a teammate who wears #1, which has given rise to the pair’s nickname Area 51. Definitely some extraterrestrial things going on in San Antonio 👽

🎨 Special NBA Art Coming Out of Memphis

Jay Huff has been a revelation at the backup big spot for the Memphis Grizzlies, averaging nearly 10 points while pouring in reverse dunks and defending the rim like it's his firstborn. For some context, Huff was the 2023 G League Defensive Player of the Year and was formerly the standout on the 2019 National Championship University of Virginia team.

But what does Jay Huff have in common with Justin Timberlake? Well, Huff’s wife paints both of their shoes. Huff’s wife Lindsay is a talented artist and has been showcasing her skills on Huff’s shoes, as you can clearly see ⬇️

When Timberlake was in town to perform at FedEx Forum, he wore custom Ja 2’s—on which she painted local Memphis landmarks and music albums. Just look at this beautiful vid of them: 

artbylindsayhuff

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We love basketball players finally getting their moment, but perhaps even more we love seeing NBA spouses supporting each other 🐐! BTW, check out Lindsay Huff’s art account here! 

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, we wanted to take stock of the National Basketball Association as of late and write why we are specifically thankful for the league. We at Enjoy Basketball really appreciate the NBA’s openness to adapting new solutions. 

The NBA had a tanking problem, so it flattened the draft lottery odds to disincentivize tanking. The NBA had an end-of-season problem where games didn’t matter because playoff seeds were set, so it created the Play In Tournament to make the race for the 6-10 seeds much more meaningful and create some of our favorite recent postseason moments. Then the NBA had a middle-of-the-season problem where games in the middle of November or February seemed monotonous, so the league implemented the NBA Cup which brightened up the middle of the season with its flashy courts, high-stakes point differential system, and ultimate NBA Cup champion! 

While some other leagues are stuck in the 20th century, the NBA listens to its fans and that has made for an ever-improving regular season 👏

Signing Off

In this season of Thanksgiving, we’re thankful for so many things, and you all are at the top of that list. A Swedish proverb says a shared joy is a double joy, and we thought that really applies to what we have here with you. Have a good Sunday ✌️

-Conor Geelan