Wouldn’t it be clever if an NBA podcast rebranded the “Fact or Fiction?” concept? Probably not. But we did it anyway. Bleacher Report’s Grant Hughes (@gt_hughes) joins the pod to play a little “Truth or Trash?”, a game in which we tackle early-season trends and assess their validity. Our journey covers everything from the New York Knicks and Cleveland Cavaliers, to the New Orleans Pelicans defense and Golden State Warriors’ playoff stock, to Jaylen Brown and Pascal Siakam and so much more. Find the full breakdown below (timestamps!):

👉The Suns are a top-three contender (4:11)
👉Joel Embiid is a top-three MVP candidate (9:42)
👉Jaylen Brown is a top-25 player (14:32)
👉It’s time to panic about Pascal Siakam and the Raptors (19:01)
👉One of Dallas or Denver will end up much worse than we thought (26:26)
👉The Cavs are a serious play-in threat (34:50)
👉The Knicks are a serious play-in threat (42:07)
👉Atlanta will finish with a top-six record in the East (48:01)
👉Golden State will win a playoff series (55:46)
👉The Pacers are top-four Eastern Conference team (1:07:21)
👉Brooklyn is one piece shy of title contention—and that piece is not James Harden (1:13:19)
👉The Pelicans will finish with a top-10 defense (1:21:33)
👉The Clippers will not finish with a top 10 defense (1:27:06)
👉Sacramento needs to move on from Marvin Bagley (1:29:41)
👉James Harden will be traded, but not to one of his preferred destinations (1:40:09)

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