A multi-time NBA All-Star is struggling. A diminutive point guard is out-rebounding big men. And a second-year wing is emerging as the NBA’s greatest impressionist.

Let’s open up the notebook to run through three trends that have caught my eye over the past week:

A theme has evolved during the fourth quarters of Minnesota Timberwolves games.

Whoever the Wolves are playing, especially if it’s a team with a capable point guard, runs pick-and-roll after pick-and-roll, making sure Randle is defending the screener. Go promptly, and teams can create quick buckets. If there isn’t an immediate opening, just keep scrambling the defense until Randle resembles an electric dreidel, mired in an infinite spin.

Look at this dizzying play from Monday’s loss to the Atlanta Hawks. The objective is to make Randle shuffle. The Hawks know with enough passes, they can open up a shot. This time, it’s a 3-point runner from Trae Young:

This is not the first season questions about Randle’s defense have emerged. But it’s a worse look when moments like these are coming as a new player on a disappointing team that entered the season with ambitious expectations.

Minnesota’s defense is more than seven points per 100 possessions worse when Randle is on the court, according to Cleaning the Glass. For now, that hasn’t inspired obvious change from the Timberwolves, who sit at 15-14. Head coach Chris Finch, who has been a staunch Randle advocate, has maintained a consistent rotation for most of the season. And for what it’s worth, the Timberwolves’ starting lineup has outscored opponents by a solid 5.3 points per 100 possessions.

But the Wolves thus far are a long way from the squad that rushed to the Western Conference finals only seven months ago.

Randle can become a free agent after this season — emphasis on can. His contract situation, which includes a $30.9 million player option for 2025-26, is yet another example of the new NBA.

Not many teams have cap space in the upcoming summer, and the ones that do don’t project to be competitive in 2025-26. Trades are more difficult to make under the league’s new collective bargaining agreement, which means money is more difficult to dump, which means cap room is more difficult to create. A disproportionate number of teams are close to or into the luxury tax. Even more will be hard-capped. Sign-and-trades aren’t as simple either, not that they were ever without complications.

Randle is 30 years old, averaging 20 points a game, a three-time All-Star and a two-time All-NBA performer. He has proved he can contribute to winning teams, even if his worst habits are showing too much lately. Under the former rules, someone would have doled out money for him. Even if he could not have negotiated a salary more than the player option, he could have received a long-term commitment; $100 million over four seasons is more enticing than $30.9 million over one.

But in this environment, teams will be pickier than ever, which means Randle may have to stare a little more intently at that option. He’s far from the only player in the league stuck in a situation like this.

On Thursday, Miami Heat president Pat Riley released a statement, declaring “we are not trading Jimmy Butler.” The release came amid weeks of trade speculation surrounding Butler and the Heat. For the sake of argument, let’s say he remains in Miami. Where would he go this summer?

Could the Brooklyn Nets, the owners of the most cap room in the league and loads of first-round picks, execute a trade for a star, then sign another in Butler? Possibly. But what if they’re out? What if Butler’s only “options” are rebuilding teams that aren’t actually interested? Does he settle for a cheap contract, or does he pick up a $52.4 million player option that’s waiting for him?

James Harden is another name worth mentioning. He has a $36.3 million player option for 2025-26.

The Heat have already made it clear they won’t extend Butler for an exorbitant price. Randle is eligible for an extension, too. What would the Wolves do if his representatives approached with a long-term deal that kept him in Minnesota on a starting salary that was less than the player option?

In years past, even thinking about that wouldn’t be an option for Randle’s side. But the NBA has changed.

Not even a golden retriever can chase down a ball like Payton Pritchard these days.

The frisky Boston Celtics guard is in the running for both Sixth Man of the Year and Most Improved Player. He’s draining 3s aplenty. But somehow, he’s been the most compelling this season after missed shots.

It’s become a staple inside the Celtics’ top-notch offense: Someone clanks a jumper, and Pritchard, who isn’t near the hoop when the ball bangs off it, races to it first anyway.

Pritchard has snagged 2.3 offensive rebounds a game over the Celtics’ last 12. On the season, he recovers 4.4 percent of his team’s misses while he’s on the court, the second-highest rate of any NBA player under 6-foot-4. He trails only the insatiable Gary Payton II, who is the size of a guard, though the Golden State Warriors deploy him as if he were a big man.

Pritchard, however, is a guard in every way. He plays on the perimeter and jacks up 3s. He runs the offense. He’s a little guy compared to his counterparts, standing at 6-1 and appearing smaller than that inside a roster filled with giant wings and a 7-3 center.

And yet, the defending champs have yet another safety net to add to their talent and two-way dominance: If they miss a shot, have no fear, Pritchard is here.

Look at this offensive board he scrapped for a few weeks ago, late in a win over the Detroit Pistons. Pritchard realizes he has inside positioning, heads down low as the shot goes up, then bolts down the baseline for the loose ball.

These types of rebounds, not necessarily ones in the paint, are now Pritchard’s signature.

His average offensive board comes 13.1 feet away from the basket, according to Second Spectrum. That’s the longest distance for any of the 80 qualifying offensive rebounders in the NBA.

Once a missed jumper hits the court, it’s anyone’s ball. And more often than ever, “anyone” has been Pritchard.

The Portland Trail Blazers employ the NBA’s greatest impressionist. Whatever the opponent does, Toumani Camara can mimic it.

Camara, a second-year wing, has become the Blazers’ stopper, a perimeter pest on a team wallowing at the bottom of the Western Conference. These days, whoever looks Camara in the face is fixating on a reflection of himself.

The best on-ball defenders “mirror” the basketball. If their opponent brings the ball above his head, their hand follows it. If the ball goes to the hip, then so does their palm. If a shooter rises for a jumper, then so do they. Camara is in a league of his own at this.

Take the play below from earlier in the month:

The San Antonio Spurs’ Blake Wesley receives the ball with 17 seconds to go in the possession. Camara sticks to him more than 30 feet from the rim. His feet angle to force Wesley left, just as they should. Then, watch what ensues.

Wesley brings the ball to his hip. Camara’s hand follows. He raises it above his head. Camara follows. He swipes it beneath his legs. Camara follows. He swings it back to the left, ever so slightly. Once again, Camara follows, still keeping his mitts out of the way, avoiding a reach-in foul. Wesley drives to the right. Camara takes off at the same time — and sticks with him. Wesley gets a step on him, and Camara pulls his hands back, once again staying away from an accidental hack. (Camara is particularly adept at defending without fouling for a young player.)

Wesley rises for a layup. Camara is already in the air. At this point, Wesley is suffocated.

Camara, a late second-round pick who had yet to play one second in the NBA when the Blazers acquired him, was the least flashy piece of last summer’s Damian Lillard three-team trade. Yet, Camara wasn’t a throw-in. The Blazers insisted on his inclusion in the deal.

This was why. After all, it’s not like Camara is disrupting just the Wesleys of the world. His feet can mirror his opponent just as quickly as his hands.

Here he is picking up the Dallas Mavericks’ Kyrie Irving, maybe the most-difficult one-on-one cover in the league, in transition; forcing Irving to pull back out; angling him to the middle, where the Blazers’ coverage is supposed to guide the ballhandler; and halting Irving at the free-throw line once again, this time with help from fellow wing Deni Avdija.

Irving dribbles back to the top of the key again. But a second push can’t catch Camara off-guard, either.

Watch Camara’s feet as Irving drives left for one final try at him. They take off at the same time as Irving’s. The same goes for the closeout. As Irving lifts for the jumper, so does Camara.

It’s as if he could read the point guard’s mind.

(Photo of Julius Randle: Brian Fluharty / Getty Images)