The Good, Bad and Ugly Of Week 22 Of The 2025-26 NBA Season

Week 22 of the NBA season saw Luka Doncic put on one of the most memorable individual performances of the season, untimely and unfortunate health news that could threaten the Detroit Pistons’ championship dreams, and a dark cloud hover over the Washington Wizards’ already troubled season. 

THE GOOD: 

The LA Lakers are on a roll. 

On Wednesday night in Houston, Luka Doncic dropped 40 points, and LeBron James added 30 in a 124-116 Lakers win. Twenty-five hours later in Miami, Doncic walked to the free-throw line with 14.8 seconds left, needing one make to reach 60 points, and drained one of two free throws to hit his mark. The Heat crowd at Kaseya Center, which just eight days earlier was celebrating Bam Adebayo's 83-point night, was chanting "MVP" for the visiting team's star. It was only the fifth 60-point, five-steal game in NBA history, joining James Harden, Allen Iverson, Michael Jordan, and Rick Barry. It was also the second time in his career that Doncic posted a combined 100 points in back-to-back games, a list that only seven other players belong to.  

Then on Saturday in Orlando, with the Lakers needing a last-second bucket to seal their ninth straight win, Luke Kennard hit a three with 0.6 seconds left to win 105-104. The night also saw Doncic finish with 33 points and LeBron James surpass Robert Parish’s record for most games played in NBA history. Over the Lakers' nine-game winning streak, Doncic has averaged 40.9 points, 8.9 rebounds, and 7.4 assists. 

THE BAD: 

The Detroit Pistons have a comfortable 4.5 game lead in the Eastern Conference standings and finished the week with a three-game winning streak. Unfortunately, they were also hit with news that could derail their Cinderella season. During Tuesday night’s game against the Washington Wizards, Cade Cunningham dove for a loose ball in the first quarter, colliding with Wizards forward Tre Johnson. Cunningham did not return for the rest of the game, with the team calling it back spasms. 

On Thursday morning, further testing revealed Cunningham had been diagnosed with a left lung pneumothorax (a collapsed lung) and would be re-evaluated in two weeks, meaning he will miss at least eight of the Pistons' final twelve games.  From a basketball standpoint, the Pistons will obviously miss their floor general as Cunningham leads the team in both points and assists. The fifth-year guard is also in the running for MVP and a place on his second All-NBA team, but only if he plays in at least four more games to reach the league-required 65 games. However, more importantly than basketball is the health of a 24-year-old young man who is entering the prime of both his career and his life. 

THE UGLY: 

On a Saturday night when the NBA was already losing the spotlight to March Madness, the league served up exactly the kind of headline it didn't need. In a game between two teams headed in completely different directions, the lottery-bound Washington Wizards' Justin Champagnie and the NBA title-contending Oklahoma City Thunder's Jaylin Williams got into a shoving match following a Wizards made basket. Thunder guard Ajay Mitchell stepped in, Champagnie appeared to make contact with Mitchell's face, and suddenly a mass of bodies was brawling into the crowd among the baseline seats, bowling over a photographer and knocking fans out of their seats. 

Following a lengthy video review, four players were ejected: Champagnie and Williams for double technicals, and Mitchell and Cason Wallace for escalating the altercation.  Despite losing three rotation players, the Thunder still walked away with a 132-111 victory. On Sunday, the league’s office handed one-game suspensions to Mitchell and Champagnie, while Williams received a $50,000 fine. Wallace and Wizards forward Anthony Gill each received $30,000 fines for their part in the altercation.