Start your day with The Athletic NBA Daily – a fast, entertaining recap of the most important games and stories from the world of professional basketball with new episodes dropping Monday through Friday. Hosted by Dave DuFour, Zena Keita, and Esfandiar Baraheni with regular appearances by The Athletic’s award-winning NBA reporters. Andrew Schlecht and Alex Spears cap the week with the full-length Saturday Slam n’ Jam episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Latest episodes
Showing 20 · updated from the feed
Big Preseason Changes + Why Sandro Mamukelashvili signed with the Lakers
The NBA preseason can be deceiving. Dave and Es walk you through what’s real and what’s fake, between: the Orlando Magic offense, Denver Nuggets role players, Matisse Thy
Oct 19 44 min
Who is the NBA Surprise Team? | Slam N Jam
#7 trending · Basketball
The NBA season is just days away, and every year there is a team that no one expects to win a lot games…..that wins a lot of games. Andrew Schlecht and Alex Speers are jo
Oct 17 1 h 18 min
The Future of the NBA
From Cooper Flagg to Cam Boozer, the NBA is loaded with young, generational talent. Dave DuFour, Es Baraheni, and Andrew Schlecht are here to put players from the last 3
Oct 16 57 min
NBA Bold Predictions & League Pass Power Rankings
Boston Celtics as the one seed, the Utah Jazz as a top-six seed, and the Washington Wizards as a top-eight seed? Dave DuFour and Es Baraheni are here to share predictions
Oct 15 44 min
Why can't SGA win MVP again?
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has won the last 2 MVP's, why can't he do it again? Dave, Es and Andrew explore that and all the other major NBA awards and make predictions ahead
Oct 14 49 min
Western Conference Tiers with Law Murray
The Western Conference is has 2 juggernauts, but who could challenge the Spurs and Thunder? Dave DuFour, Es Baraheni, and Law Murray are here to put the teams into tiers
Oct 13 1 h 02 min
Eastern Conference Tiers
The Eastern Conference is deeper than its ever been and Dave DuFour, Es Baraheni, and Law Murray are here to put the teams into tiers and answer some big questions headin
Oct 12 1 h 06 min
Boston Celtics season preview
Es Baraheni is joined by Noa Dalzel, to preview the Boston Celtics season. They discuss the expectations for Jayson Tatum, how the team moves on from Jaylen Brown and how
Oct 10 41 min
Los Angeles Lakers season preview
Dave DuFour is joined by Dan Woike, to preview the Lakers season. They discuss the expectations for Luka Doncic, how the team will look post LeBron James, how they will i
Oct 10 38 min
Detroit Pistons season preview
Dave DuFour is joined by Hunter Patterson, to preview the Detroit Pistons season. They discuss the expectations for Cade Cunningham, how the team will bring back Jalen Du
Oct 9 26 min
Phoenix Suns season preview
Es Baraheni is joined by Doug Haller, to preview the Phoenix Suns season. They discuss the expectations for Devin Booker, if they can repeat their previous season's succe
Oct 9 34 min
Utah Jazz season preview
Es Baraheni is joined by Shreyas Laddha, to preview the Utah Jazz season. They discuss the expectations for Darryn Peterson, how the Jazz could make a leap, the center po
Oct 9 41 min
Milwaukee Bucks season preview
Dave DuFour is joined by Camille Davis, to preview the Milwaukee Bucks season. They discuss how the Bucks move on from Giannis, what to expect from the young players, how
Oct 8 28 min
Dallas Mavericks season preview
Es Baraheni is joined by Christian Clark, from the Athletic, to preview the Dallas Mavericks. They discuss Cooper Flagg in year 2, how the overlap of the roster will work
Oct 8 35 min
Minnesota Timberwolves season preview
Dave DuFour is joined by Jon Krawczynski of the Athletic to discuss the Wolves upcoming season including: Can Anthony Edwards win MVP? How will LaMelo Ball fit in? What i
Oct 8 30 min
Denver Nuggets season preview
Dave DuFour is joined by Adam Mares, from DNVR, to preview the Denver Nuggets season, discuss Jamal Murray’s impact and importance, and breakdown the MVP chances for Niko
Oct 7 27 min
Washington Wizards Season Preview
Es Baraheni is joined by Josh Robbins from the Athletic to preview the Washington Wizards season, breakdown A.J. Dybantsa’s impact as a rookie, and project their playoff
Oct 7 35 min
Philadelphia 76ers season preview
Dave DuFour is joined by Tony Jones from the Athletic to preview the Philadelphia 76ers season, discuss their added star power with Jaylen Brown and LeBron James, and deb
Oct 7 31 min
Orlando Magic season preview
Es Baraheni is joined by Josh Robbins from the Athletic to preview the Orlando Magic season, discuss their coaching change, and what to look for from Paolo Banchero.
Hos
Oct 7 27 min
Cleveland Cavaliers Season Preview
Es Baraheni is joined by Justin Rowan and Carter Rodriguez, the hosts of the Chase Down Podcast, to preview the Cleveland Cavaliers season, breakdown the biggest storylin
Oct 6 44 min
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A curated, balanced selection of Apple Podcasts reviews.
Alex and Andrew bring the most unique and refreshing style to the NBA podcast landscape. With great humor weaved into smart, fair, and compelling ideas that hit every team around the league. Trivia is always fun to listen to and play along with and is such a fun segment. Keep up the great work!
New2Mac2022 · Aug 2026
Shoutout to the Slam n Jam. Andrew and Alex are great and the weekly trivia is always a treat for me. Speaking of treats - I heard about Braum’s for the first time years ago when Andrew mentioned it on the pod. Now I make a point to stop at Braum’s whenever I’m roadtripping through Oklahoma and Kansas, and I preach about their burger superiority whenever In-n-Out or other regional fast food chains are brought up. 5-stars to Braum’s and the Slam n Jam!
marty cordova · Aug 2026
The Daily is hosted by an amazingly talented human (Z of course), her sidekick Dave (😊what a guy), and a rapper formerly known as Es. (Known mostly for hosting internet friend X at his wedding) The NBA Daily is an every day must listen. It’s wonderful and consistently teach me about basketball while making me laugh.
But the real stars of the feed… 🎶da da daaaaa 🎶the Saturday Slam N Jam! Andrew vs. the Beat! What angel created you, theme music from the gods! I always root for Sam Vecenie when he’s on, and he always disappoints me. Bryce too, but he disappoints me by being way too darn humble when he wins. Throw it in Andrew’s “way too much useless hoops knowledge” face Bryce!
But as much as I (another Andrew) always root against Andrew, I do love his consistent “Yessssss!!!” when the final tally is scored and he’s inevitably won. It’s so damn stupid to care this much, and yet the Slam and Jam guys do, and therefore so do we.
Job well done boys. Go Pistons.
Noted fan,
Drewbaca
WowiezowiePowie · Jun 2026
I absolutely love the Saturday Slam & Jam! Not only are Alex and Andrew each fun and knowledgeable individually, but the chemistry they have together is phenomenal and really makes the show what it is. Andrew Vs The Beat is easily a highlight of my week.
With that said, I’d love to know how Alex would feel about fan-submitted questions for the quiz. I’m a lifelong Celtics fan and I have a pet favorite stat that I’d love to send in for consideration for when the C’s are made to face the Wheel of Fandom. Let us know!
Shoutout also to the Daily crew — Dave, Es & Zeena (hope I spelled it right!!) clearly know ball and are my one-stop shop for keeping tabs on the league. Keep up the good work everyone!
Nick Boonstra · Jan 2025
If you like your NBA coverage with a heaping helping of pretentiousness this will be your favorite. If I didn’t know better I’d assume the hosts just read box scores and haven’t watched a single playoff game this year in its entirety. It sounds like they listen to real basketball podcasts and steal their takes with a slight twist to make them seem original. Having OKC apologist Jason Gallagher on to pretend to analyze the current discourse around the NBA and officiating while his Championship Thunder sweat it out against a team that’s never been to the playoffs in this iteration is laughable. Yes, Thunder fans think officiating is an afterthought. Shocking.
I really try to listen because Zena is awesome (despite suffering constant “Ackchuallys” after every take from the men of the pod), but seriously these dudes are insufferable.
Guitars Ruin Lives- Josh · May 2026
Dave is fine, but it feels like a loss to put all of the shows eggs in his basket. I like the cohosts too, but the old rotating panels and different focuses on different days felt more interesting and fresh rather than having the same, one-note update show every day. No one really likes a daily update show. Justice for Nerder!
web209 · Nov 2024
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