The 2023-24 NBA season is almost in the books, and this one generated plenty of wild takes from both players and media alike.

From not knowing which players are on the team you're talking about to a suggestion that the league was intentionally made softer to accommodate non-Americans, the number and range of doozies from this season are large.

We've gathered the very worst here.

'I Got Nothing to Prove in This League.'

We'll tip things off with a player who still has a lot to prove in the NBA, despite what he thinks.

"I got nothing to prove in this league," Portland Trail Blazers Deandre Ayton said back in January. "I'm a max player, and I'll continue to be a max player."

The latter part is true, at least through the end of the 2025-26 season. But if Ayton doesn't prove himself a more committed defender and versatile offensive player between now and then, he might not have much luck getting another max deal.

Despite being the No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 draft, Ayton is already with his second NBA organization. Over the last five years, his teams' point differential has been slightly worse when he's off the floor.

Ayton has averaged a double-double in each of his six NBA seasons, which is noteworthy. But he still has plenty to prove as a defender, passer and leader.

'Get Rid of All Europeans... They Are a Liability on Defense.'

It's difficult to refrain from overloading this with Gilbert Arenas takes, but we'll try to zero in on just one.

Claiming that Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokić is the worst MVP in the last 40 years has to be in the running. Claiming that the NBA intentionally softened its rules to allow European players to thrive was even worse.

But we'll settle on a series of quotes from the above episode of Arenas' Gil's Arena show.

In a discussion for how to deal with inflated scoring totals in today's game, Arenas didn't just go out on a limb. He found the least sturdy limb on the tree, climbed to the end of it and started jumping.

Arenas suggested the league should "get rid of all Europeans" to fix the perceived issue. "They have no athleticism," he added. "They have no speed, no jumping ability. They are a liability on defense."

It's clear that Arenas didn't watch the last few major FIBA tournaments that Team USA was involved in. Those players have had a whale of a time adjusting to the more physical brand of defense allowed in that arena.

Arenas should also watch Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Dončić explain that it's easier to score in the NBA than in the EuroLeague.

The increase in scoring has far more to do with an influx of skill (in part because of an expanded talent pool) and rule changes over the years than any perceived lack of athleticism from one subset of the league's players.

'He Could Play for Us Right Now. Easy.'

We'll go back to active players for our third take. While this one from LeBron James comes from the right place—there's nothing wrong with expressing confidence in his son—it's still bonkers.

Following the Los Angeles Lakers' Jan. 5 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies—their fourth straight loss and ninth over an 11-game stretch—LeBron said Bronny James "could play for us right now. Easy."

The Lakers went on to improve over the team they were in early January. But even at the time, it was bold of LeBron to suggest that a teenager who averaged 4.8 points while shooting 48.1 percent from two and 26.7 percent from three during his freshman year at USC could easily play for an NBA team. It didn't alleviate any of the pressure on Bronny that LeBron lamented almost two months after making the claim, either.

The younger James still has a chance to develop into an NBA player. He's currently among those who've declared for the 2024 NBA draft. However, he isn't even a lock to get drafted, much less play meaningful minutes for any team as a rookie.

'I'm Looking at Grimes. He's Looked Good.'

Like Gilbert Arenas, Stephen A. Smith has given us plenty of absurd takes this season. But we'll settle on something he said recently.

As a longtime New York Knicks fan and one of the most prominent NBA analysts at ESPN, one might think Smith is fairly well acquainted with the Knicks' roster. But in early April—about two months after the Knicks traded Quentin Grimes to the Detroit Pistons—Smith was discussing them and said, "I'm looking at Grimes. He's looked good."

Grimes isn't on the team. What's worse, he hadn't been nearly as big a part of New York's rotation as he was last season.

In 2022-23, Grimes averaged 29.9 minutes per game while starting 66 of his 71 games. This season, he started only 18 games for the Knicks and averaged 20.2 minutes per game.

'We're Not 2-26 Bad.'

It feels mean to pick on Cade Cunningham and the Detroit Pistons, who were one of the NBA's worst teams this season. In his defense, the team really wasn't "2-26 bad."

Outside of those 28 games, Detroit is 11-41. Cunningham, who averaged 22.7 points and 7.5 assists per game this season, did his part to make the team competitive throughout the year.

Cunningham's scoring efficiency has been dreadful, but the Pistons' point differential is a little better when he plays. However, the Pistons are on track to finish the season with one of the 50 worst season-long point differentials in NBA history. Its 28-game losing streak tied the NBA's all-time record and set the record for a streak confined to a single season.

When Cunningham said this, the Pistons were indeed "2-26 bad."

'I Think Luka's Game's Kind of Boring.'

Opinions are subjective. There's no way to prove that one is flat-out wrong.

However, FS1's Colin Cowherd recently said that he thought Luka Dončić's game is "kind of boring." That kind of opinion lands you in a compilation of hot takes like this.

Dončić does dominate the ball more than most NBA players, although he has dialed that back a bit this season with Kyrie Irving flanking him. Besides, Cowherd's reasoning didn't even focus on Dončić's usage. He took issue with how little Dončić jumps.

This may sound bold, but there's a lot more to basketball than jumping.

Dončić is one of the best, most skilled and most creative offensive players in NBA history. On any given possession, you could see him drill a step-back three, flummox an entire defense before hitting a mid-range shot or throw some "how did he see that?!"-esque pass that few players could pull off.

Boring? I mean, judge for yourself.

Again, this one is more of an opinion than an obvious, disprovable fact. With that said, Cowherd has to be fairly lonely on "Luka is boring" island.

'Bol Bol's Better Because the Team Got a Better Record.'

It's hard to find the line between actual take and bit on this one. But Shaquille O'Neal was wild to suggest that Bol Bol is better than Victor Wembanyama, and he has fortified his position on that hill multiple times, including in the clip above from Inside the NBA.

Wemby, a rookie who just turned 20 in January, is averaging 21.3 points, 10.6 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 3.6 blocks and 1.2 steals. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is the only player in NBA history who matched or exceeded all five marks across an entire season.

Meanwhile, Bol is on his third team and has career averages of 6.0 points, 3.7 rebounds, 0.8 blocks, 0.6 assists and 0.3 steals per game.

While Shaq might be able to argue that Bol's numbers would be different if a coach would give him more of a chance, that's a hard argument to make when multiple coaches have passed on giving him that chance. His teams have collectively had a much worse point differential when he plays, too.

'They Cannot Give Joker Any More MVPs... It's Not Good for the NBA.'

Comedian Kevin Hart is not an NBA analyst. That means an off-the-cuff remark about the MVP race from him probably shouldn't carry much weight.

But he was on a nationally televised ESPN broadcast when he said, "The NBA cannot give [Nikola Jokić] any more MVPs. It's not good for the NBA."

No elaboration. No explanation for why it would be bad to give Jokić another MVP. He just threw it out there, got some general agreement from Cedric the Entertainer and that was it.

Fox Sports' Chris Broussard did something similar when he argued that Jokić shouldn't get a third MVP because Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant only had one apiece. That may not be what Hart was getting at, but there's at least some semblance of logic there.

The problem is that Most Valuable Player is supposed to be awarded to that season's most valuable player. Past mistakes should have no bearing on a given season's winner. Besides, the notion that Jokić somehow doesn't deserve to be among the game's three-time winners (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Jordan, Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, LeBron James, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson and Moses Malone) is absurd.

Jokić is the all-time leader in career box plus/minus. He's averaged 26.2 points, 12.2 rebounds, 8.7 assists and 1.3 steals while shooting 63.7 percent on twos and 36.3 percent on threes over this four-year span in which he's been winning MVPs. And he's coming off a championship-winning postseason in which he averaged 30.0 points, 13.5 rebounds, 9.5 assists, 1.1 steals and 1.0 blocks, while shooting 54.8 percent from the field and 46.1 percent from deep.

This is one of the greatest individual runs in the history of the NBA, and it's fine if the accolades accurately reflect that.

'The Warriors Are a Team That Depends on Their Free Throws.'

On a recent episode of Skip Bayless' Undisputed, guest Rachel Nichols made a bold claim about the Golden State Warriors when discussing their chances of advancing beyond the play-in tournament.

"The Warriors are a team that depends on their free throws," she said.

Fact-check: The Warriors are 27th in the league this season in free throws per game, 29th in free-throw attempt rate and 26th in net free-throw attempts.

Stephen Curry, the team's leading scorer at 26.3 points per game, is dead last among the 14 players averaging at least 26 points in free-throw attempts per game.

Not only does Golden State not depend on its free throws, but any casual stroll through Warriors Twitter (er, X) will tell you that the lack of foul calls and trips to the line that this team gets has long been a source of frustration for fans.

'I Don't Think He's the Best Player on His Basketball Team.'

I promised I'd only use one Arenas take, but I never said I wouldn't return to his show for another addition to the list.

Way back in October, one of Arenas' regular guests, Kenyon Martin said, "I don't think [Luka Dončić] is the best player on his basketball team."

When co-host Josiah Johnson asked Martin to elaborate, he said Kyrie Irving would beat Luka 11-0 in a game of one-on-one and claimed the MVP candidate couldn't guard the "camera stand" in the studio.

First of all, despite what may have been taught during the grind-it-out, low-scoring, iso-heavy early 2000s NBA, basketball is a team sport. The argument for who's a better basketball player can't and shouldn't be reduced to who'd win a one-on-one pickup game.

Second, there's a reason Kyrie Irving has always been at his best as a No. 2 alongside a more dominant offensive force like LeBron James or Dončić. He's among the best offensive players of all time, but he's more of a finisher than an engine.

Luka isn't just the offensive engine for the surging Dallas Mavericks. He's playing (and has played) that role better than just about anyone we've ever seen before. By putting the ball in Dončić's hands, you're almost guaranteed to get a decent shot on any given possession, whether he creates it for himself or a teammate.

Luka has averaged 28.7 points and 8.3 assists per game for his career. No one in NBA history matches or exceeds both marks.