Hello, friend-o. 👋

Are you hydrated? Here’s your (probably) much-needed reminder to hydrate, because after taking a short beat with limited sports stuff post-Super Bowl and the NBA All-Star Break, we are BACK BABY.

First up, we have an exciting announcement!

WARMEST WELCOME, KATIE! Katie covers the NBA at large, particularly the league's overarching themes and cultural beats. She's a contributing writer at DIME and writes the Basketball Feelings newsletter.

She has some thoughts on what’s coming in the final stretch of the 2022-23 NBA season. Let’s dive into them.

🏀 THE REST OF THE NBA SEASON, REVEALED… 🏀

One thing I love about being a third of the way through the NBA season, now that we’ve hit the post-All-Star mark, is how much clarity there is for how it’s all going to end up. Just kidding, this season is a mess! Not a mess like, the quality of this product is ruined — because what a boring way to approach basketball — but an exciting mess, an unpredictable roil of plenty, an elated anything goes.

Here’s what I think we ought to be watching for the remainder of the NBA’s regular season.

How the West will be won: Are you convinced by the Suns with their new desert Durantula? What about Denver, with its one-two punch of Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic — a man who would rather be racing his horses, but because of the way he manages to mangle his opponent’s offensive hopes and still has one of the most effective field goal percentages in the league, is doomed to be incredible at basketball? How about the Beam Team, or the Grizzlies’ snarling confidence? Or maybe the Mavericks, now with two of the best ball handlers in the league in Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic?

If you aren’t swayed by any of them, that still leaves the Clippers, Timberwolves, Pelicans and Jazz. And a very deep and troubled part of me doesn’t wonder if the Warriors can’t just pull it off in the play-in to somehow, effortlessly, get back to the top.

The point is, you have options. The Western Conference is as wide open as its namesake suggests.

Looking for more Western Conference Games we’re watching this week? Read them here and bet accordingly, friend.

‘Fits aplenty: If NBA All-Star Weekend was any indicator (and the temperatures of Utah in winter are no real deterrent) then we are going to have some excellent fits on our hands to close out the season. Part of that is because with so many potential playoff contenders in the mix, and so many of those teams being young, style is going to be its own kind of one-upmanship.

I’m predicting plenty of matching sets (popularized by the one and only P.J. Tucker), enormous coats, questionable hats, some vests, and if we’re really lucky, some fringe.

Read Katie’s full story here.

🏀 Game of the Day 🏀

Speaking of NBA shenanigans… here’s what we’re watching tonight.

Who: Suns vs. Hornets
When: Wednesday, March 1 at 7 p.m. ET
Watch on: NBA League Pass

Gaming Society’s Game of the Day Parlay 👀

📱Social moments that altered my brain chemistry this week📱

AJ Brown broke our brains with a Sunday night Tweet.

Do you remember what you were doing August 10, 2017 at 9:08 a.m. ET? NBC Sports analyst Denny Carter sure does. In that moment, he shared with the world his thoughts on each position’s approach to social media. As a group of humans that are generally too obsessed with what athletes are saying on social media, this post really resonated with us.

Five years, six months and 17 days later, Eagles WR AJ Brown delivered the exact tweet…

Had he seen Denny’s Tweet and decided to poke fun? Or, was this a total coincidence, proving that Denny really has cracked the code to NFL social media? The world may never know. Unless we vote on it. 😈

Sister Jean makes her Men’s March Madness prediction 🔮

Kentucky’s odds to win currently sit at +4500 — meaning a $10 wager wins $450 in profit for a take-home total of $460 if they win. 🤯 

Or roll with Gaming Society’s Sleeper Cinderella pick of the week ➡️ The Texas A&M Aggies. Read about it here.

🌈 Betting Academy Meme of the Day 🌈

Did you know? 💡 A futures bet is an outcome on… you guessed it — the future! Futures bets can include anything from a bet on what team will win the NBA Finals to what WR will be selected first in the 2023 NFL Draft or even a wager on how many games a team will win.

Learn more lessons on the basics of betting at The GS Betting Academy.

Before you go, check out some other cool stuff we’ve been workin’ on.