This article was originally published on www.fansided.com as NBA Panic Meter: 6 teams whose palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy.

The Lakers fell in the latest USA TODAY Sports power rankings, moving from second to sixth in Week 3. The Lakers had previously started the season ranked 11th.

In seven November outings, the Mavericks guard is averaging 12.1 points, 3.4 assists, 2.4 rebounds and 2.3 steals per game. Williams is a strong option against the struggling Clippers defense, which allows 115.5 points per game, a 47.5% defensive field-goal rate and a 39.4% defensive 3-pointer rate, second-worst in the league.

Amid a reduced role, the Mavericks sharpshooter took aim at Patrick Beverley and Jason Williams for comments about his rap star girlfriend.

While Lakers fans met the decision with approval, the majority of coaches who had worked hard to earn that position must have been scratching their heads. Interestingly, in a recent interview with Zach Lowe, Chris Finch slipped in a subtle dig aimed at JJ.

The Los Angeles Lakers are among the best teams in the Western Conference thus far in the 2025-26 NBA season, even without megastar LeBron James, who has missed the start of the campaign due to sciatica.

All 30 NBA teams are randomly drawn into groups of six with other teams in their conference based on win/loss records from the previous season. The NBA Cup consists of two primary stages, group play and the knockout round.

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The Los Angeles Lakers got a painful wakeup call on Wednesday. They entered the contest with the Oklahoma City Thunder having won six of their last seven games, but they were annihilated in that one. OKC won, 121-92, and it wasn't even that close.

Boilermakers' standout Braden Smith shined in a win against Labaron Philon Jr. and the Crimson Tide on Thursday.