The Eastern Conference was unpredictable during the first round of the 2026 NBA Playoffs thanks to three seven-games series and the upset loss of the No. 2 seed Boston Celtics.
The conference’s frenzied first round also changed FanDuel’s market for 2025-26 NBA Eastern Conference Finals MVP. Superstar Celtics like Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown were previously among the favorites for the media-voted award before their untimely first-round dismissal.
The wide-open race in the East, coupled with Boston’s elimination, means three players are ahead of the pack for the Larry Bird Award. New York Knicks point guard Jalen Brunson (+160) is the current favorite after averaging just over 26 points per game in the first round against Atlanta. Continuing a string of strong postseason runs, Brunson’s consistency and high usage gives him considerable traction with the Knicks as the conference’s new favorites.
Detroit Pistons guard Cade Cunningham slightly trails Brunson on the heels of a terrific first round against Orlando. With Detroit trailing 3-1 in the series, Cunningham took over and averaged 36.3 points per game in the final three games of the series — helping the Pistons recapture their confidence in the process. Cunningham now sits at +200, behind only Brunson in the Eastern Conference.
Donovan Mitchell (+600) from the Cleveland Cavaliers sits third in the market for Eastern Conference Finals MVP. Although Cleveland moved past Toronto in the first round, the Raptors made Mitchell work and held him to 23.1 points per game and 43 percent shooting after Mitchell put up 27.9 points on 48 percent shooting in the regular season. Cunningham and Mitchell will battle in the second round for a spot in the Eastern Conference Finals with the winner likely gaining a significant market boost in the process.
After a noticeable decline in the odds, the secondary list of contenders is still filled with All-Stars capable of taking over a playoff series. Karl-Anthony Towns (+1200) played improved defense for the Knicks while closing out the Hawks. But Towns was third in scoring for the Atlanta series behind Brunson and guard OG Anunoby — hurting Towns’ potential case for a series MVP award.
Philadelphia 76ers big man Joel Embiid (+1700) must stay healthy and eliminate the No. 2 seed Knicks in the second round to even make the Eastern Conference Finals. But a healthy Embiid is still a force after averaging 29 points per game in four games against Boston.
Similar to Embiid’s candidacy, 76ers guard Tyrese Maxey (+3000) needs to first get past New York in the second round to even garner serious ECF MVP consideration. But if Maxey’s stellar play against Boston is any indication, the high-scoring guard is capable of putting up points in bunches after averaging just under 27 points per game in the series.
A few other notable names to consider for Eastern Conference Finals MVP includes Knicks two-way threat OG Anunoby (+3300), Cavaliers veteran guard James Harden (+3500), and Cleveland big man Evan Mobley (+5500).
Jarred Vanderbilt's dislocation of his right pinky finger is so gruesome we're not going to show any video of the injury here, we'll let the reaction of the Thunder bench sum it up.
After the game, Lakers coach JJ Redick confirmed it is a full dislocation and called it a "freak injury." As noted by Jeff Stotts of In Street Clothes, a standard dislocation of the pinky doesn't result in lost time, but if this is also a fracture (or the bone broke through the skin), then he is likely out for most or all of this series.
The injury occurred in the first half when he leapt to attempt to block an alley-oop for Chet Holmgren, and his right pinky hit the backboard as swung to block the ball. He instantly went to the ground in great pain.
Vanderbilt is one of the Lakers' best perimeter defenders, a 6'8" wing who can guard multiple positions, and he will be missed in a series against the deep Thunder. Against Houston in the first round, Vanderbilt averaged 13.4 minutes a game, giving the team 3.6 points and 4.4 rebounds, but he was benched for much of Game 6. Because he is not much of an offensive threat, it becomes hard for Redick to keep him on the court in some situations.
DETROIT, MICHIGAN - MAY 05: Kenny Atkinson of the Cleveland Cavaliers looks on during the second half of a game against the Detroit Pistons in Game One of the Second Round of the NBA Eastern Conference Playoffs at Little Caesars Arena on May 05, 2026 in Detroit, Michigan. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) | Getty Images
With 5:28 seconds left in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals, the Cleveland Cavaliers tied things up at 93 points apiece. They mounted an 18-point comeback against the Detroit Pistons, the top seed, capped off by three James Harden free throws. A whole new ballgame.
But Cavs head coach Kenny Atkinson made one of his many questionable coaching decisions at this moment.
In between free throws two and three, the Pistons brought back in their best player, Cade Cunningham. The Cavs, however, stuck with their lineup at the time — which did not include Donovan Mitchell or Evan Mobley. It would be over a minute later before those two would enter the game, a period in which Cunningham and starting center Jalen Duren took back momentum with a block and two pick-and-roll dunks. By the time Atkinson brought in his closing lineup, the winds had shifted. Duren had another dunk a few seconds later, and the Cavs would remain at arm’s length.
The playoffs have a way of exposing every flaw a team has and then magnifying them to the national audience. Harden and Mitchell’s turnovers are one of them, but Atkinson’s puzzling decision-making is another. He waited too long to use his timeouts, and not getting Mitchell and Mobley back into the game when the Cavs seemingly had the Pistons on the ropes is another. Does Duren get those easy dunk opportunities with Mobley in the game? Hard to say for sure, but not having your best defender out there in crunch time would have made things harder.
Opposing head coach, and former Cavs scapegoat, J.B. Bickerstaff, sensed the Pistons losing control of the game and brought his best player back in to disrupt Cleveland’s rhythm. It worked.
Atkinson has talked a lot about rhythm this season, largely as it relates to the many different lineups the Cavs had to trot out during the regular season due to injury. Whether it was Darius Garland’s nagging toe ailment or the revolving door of small forward, finding rhythm has been a key emphasis for last year’s NBA Coach of the Year. But last night his decision-making was not sound.
When answering a question post-game about Jarrett Allen’s foul trouble, which limited him to 18 minutes last night, Atkinson said it disrupted the rhythm and his rotations. That is understandable, but not putting Allen back in the game with just a few minutes left is not.
The only Cavalier starter with a positive +/- rating was Allen, and he did so playing bench-level minutes. Atkinson subbed him out during that “too little, too late” timeout, and Allen never saw the floor again. The puzzling part is that Allen had four fouls, not five, and — most importantly — it was crunch time with the opportunity to steal a game on the road. Why not put Allen in? Bickerstaff was still playing Ausar Thompson and Duncan Robinson with four fouls, and both of those players impacted the game late.
There is an argument to be made as well that Mitchell, Mobley, and Harden should have played more minutes. Coincidentally, they all finished with 35, which is less than what Tobias Harris logged for the Pistons. Atkinson noted post-game that he wanted to conserve some energy with certain guys and try to find new energy off the bench, likely due to the grueling seven-game series they played against Toronto. But Detroit also played an equally demanding series against the Orlando Magic and still had its best players playing the most minutes.
It will be very difficult for the Cavs to win this series, whether on the road or not, if Atkinson is routinely getting out-coached by Bickerstaff. Game 1 can be a feel-it-out effort to try and see what works and what doesn’t, but the Cavs had a real chance to win – despite playing exceptionally poorly for most of it. Like the Cavs’ backcourt, Atkinson has to be better. And, like his team, Atkinson needs to be moving with a sense of urgency.
The Anaheim Ducks take on the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 2 of their second-round NHL playoff series. The Golden Knights won Game 1 3-1. Vegas is favored by 1.5 goals in Game 2. The over/under for the game is set at 6.5 goals.
How to watch Anaheim Ducks vs. Vegas Golden Knights
The Montreal Canadiens and Buffalo Sabres open their East second-round series in the NHL playoffs. The Canadiens beat the Tampa Bay Lightning in seven games in the first round. The Buffalo Sabres beat Montreal 4-2 in the first round. Buffalo is favored by 1.5 goals. The total is set at 5.5 goals.
How to watch Montreal Canadiens vs. Buffalo Sabres
LAS VEGAS — Neither team particularly was happy following the Golden Knights’ 3-1 Game 1 victory over the Ducks.
Vegas got the win to open the second round, but realizes that is not sustainable after getting outplayed by Anaheim most of the night. On the other side, the Ducks missed a great opportunity to take the early lead in the best-of-seven playoff series.
“I think the biggest thing is we need to be honest with ourselves,” Golden Knights coach John Tortorella said. “We’ll look at some of the stuff and I think we have a better game coming up.”
That would be Game 2 in Las Vegas.
The Golden Knights would have a hard time getting away with another performance in which they were outshot 34-22 and, according to Natural Stat Trick, gave up 12 high-danger chances compared to creating six.
“I don’t think anyone in that locker room is pretty satisfied with that win,” Vegas center Mitch Marner said. “We know we can play a lot better. I don’t think we got to our (offensive) zone game at all. We gave them some good looks that (goalie) Carter (Hart) made some massive saves on. But we know we’ve got to be better. We know the series is going to get harder. That’s how it always goes.”
If not for Hart’s 33 saves, the Ducks likely would be the ones up 1-0, but Anaheim found itself in a similar spot in the opening round against Edmonton. After the Oilers won the opener 4-3, the Ducks took the next three games and eventually closed out the series in six.
Win Game 2 at Vegas and suddenly home ice advantage belongs to the Ducks.
“It’s definitely a different task at hand,” Ducks center Ryan Poehling said. “I thought we played a great game (Monday) and just using our speed throughout the series is going to kind of be what dictates how it ends up for us.”
That athleticism figured to be a big advantage for Anaheim entering the series, but the Golden Knights counter with physicality and experience. The rough play was less on display, and Tortorella said the officials made cutting down on fighting and other post-play scrums a point of emphasis this series.
If it comes down to being able to create plays in open ice, the Ducks will have the decided edge, at least if Game 1 was any indication.
“I liked how we played,” Ducks coach Joel Quenneville said. “We had a good pace to our game. I thought (Lukas Dostal) was good in net and I thought across the board we had everybody contributing. We had the energy we were looking for and there was speed and pace. We missed some great chances as well.”
Montreal Canadiens at Buffalo Sabres
The Sabres showed in their six-game series victory over Boston in the first round that they aren’t just a feel-good story. In making their first playoff appearance in 15 years, Buffalo is out to make an impact in this postseason and has the chance to knock out the NHL’s most-decorated franchise in Montreal.
“I think after this series, we kind of learned that this is just hockey,” Sabres defenseman Rasmus Dahlin said. “The media and stuff are kind of blowing it up about playoffs and different things. But we’ve played this sport for so long.”
The Canadiens pulled off the great escape to get to this point, putting just nine shots on goal in Game 7 at Tampa Bay, but still defeated the Lightning 2-1.
“We stuck together,” Canadiens forward Josh Anderson said. “We found ways to win. I thought everyone bought into the game plan and system we were bringing each and every night.”
Now they have to do it again against a team few expected to be in this position when the season began.
The San Antonio Spurs take on the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 2 of the teams’ Western Conference semifinal series. The Timberwolves won Game 1 104-102. Victor Wembanyama blocked an NBA playoff-record 12 shots but it wasn’t enough to beat Minnesota, which was lifted by the return of Anthony Edwards. The Spurs are 9.5-point favorites in Game 2 with an over/under of 215.5.
How to watch Minnesota Timberwolves vs. San Antonio Spurs
Moneyline: San Antonio Spurs -424 (77.6%) / Minnesota Timberwolves +327 (22.4%)
Over/Under: 215.5
Series schedule, results
Game 1:Timberwolves 104, Spurs 102 Game 2: Minnesota at San Antonio (Wednesday May 6, 9:30 ET, ESPN) Game 3: San Antonio at Minnesota (Friday May 8, 9:30 ET, Prime Video) Game 4: San Antonio at Minnesota (Sunday May 10, 7:30 ET, NBC/Peacock) Game 5: Minnesota at San Antonio (Tuesday May 12)* Game 6: San Antonio at Minnesota (Friday May 15)* Game 7: Minnesota at San Antonio (Sunday May 17)*
The last time the Islanders held the 13th pick, they traded it.
Back in 2022, the Islanders entered the lottery with the same odds as they did this time, 2.0%, and remained at No. 13.
But when the Islanders were on the clock in Montreal, they traded the pick to the hometown Canadiens.
Left-handed defenseman Alexander Romanov and Montreal's 2022 fourth-round pick came to Long Island in exchange for the 13th pick. The Canadiens then sent the Islanders' pick to the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for centerman Kirby Dach.
The Blackhawks selected center Frank Nazar with the Islanders' pick.
Romanov, a pending restricted free agent who had been squeezed out in Montreal, signed a three-year deal worth $7.5 million annually with the Islanders. Over those first three seasons on Long Island, it was a process of becoming a more responsible defenseman while showcasing more offensive potential.
First-year general manager Mathieu Darche really believes in the player, signing Romanov to an eight-year deal worth $6.25 million annually on June 30, 2025.
Unfortunately, the first year of the deal was a nightmare. Romanov dealt with an upper-body injury early in the season, and the hope was that his poor play and analytics were largely due to it.
The struggles continued when he returned, and on Nov. 18, his season came to an end after Dallas Stars forward Mikko Rantanen boarded him, injuring his right shoulder, an injury that required surgery.
The Islanders are relying on Romanov to bounce back, and if you know the player, you know he'll put in the work this summer to get right.
Nazar has proven to be a good example of a player who falls out of the top 10 but can still be effective in the right spot. He made his NHL debut just a season after being drafted, recording a goal in a 4-2 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes. He went pointless in the final two games of the season.
Then in 2024-25, Nazar recorded 12 goals and 14 assists for 26 points in 53 games, averaging 15:52 per game. He followed that season up with a 41-point 2025-26 campaign, with 15 goals and 26 assists. He averaged 18:19 per game.
Nazar played most of his second full season with Tyler Bertuzzi and Teuvo Teravainen on Chicago's second line, but he did end the season as a linemate with Connor Bedard.
Back in August, with one season left on his deal, the Blackhawks signed him to a seven-year contract worth $6.59 million annually.
Dach has struggled to stay healthy and be effective since the Canadiens acquired him. He played just 58 games in 2022-23, two in 2023-24, 57 in 2024-25, and only 37 this past season, with eight goals and seven assists for 15 points.
So far in the playoffs, Dach has two goals and an assist in seven games. He is a pending restricted free agent with arbitration rights.
If the Islanders are going to acquire a scoring forward this summer, one would have to think it comes via trade. And if it comes via trade, chances are the No. 13 pick is involved.
Or they can keep the pick and add to their booming prospect pool.
Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James has been playing spectacular basketball in unprecedented territory. We've never seen anyone be this good, for this long, especially at this age.
He's etched his name on countless of records in the NBA history books from all-time points scored, both regular season and postseason, All-Star games, most seasons played, you name it.
For someone who's done just about everything there is to do in the NBA from a four-time MVP, four-time NBA champion and four-time NBA Finals MVP with three different teams ― you'd think there's nothing else he's playing for.
During an episode of his podcast Mind the Game, released on May 5, James revealed that he's motivated to continue playing due to his love of the sport, his ability to still inspire and play the game at a high level.
"I still love the process of getting up and putting my body through rigorous rehabs and training sessions and whatever the case may be to try and find the results," James said.
This postseason he's shown that there is one last motivating factor: LeBron James ... Junior.
Bronny James' presence on the team and playing meaningful postseason minutes has almost seemingly rejuvenated Poppa James.
"To be able to have Bronny in the locker room has definitely helped out a lot as well," James said on the podcast. "I have a job and a responsibility to show him what it means to be a professional. Yes, he's seen it from the outside looking in throughout the course of his life, but now, being in the locker room, being in film sessions, being on the plane, being in everything that surrounds how to be a professional, and the results that come with it. I have a responsibility in that. So those are a couple ways for me that's given me inspiration and given me motivation to still do this."
He added: "I hope it's paid off, you know, in a sense for Bronny, and in the sense of my teammates that, you know, they get to see, how I approach the game, and it comes way before the lights come on and the popcorn is popping and everyone is filled in their seats, and whatever the case may be."
LeBron and Bronny James take over for Lakers vs. Rockets in Game 3
LeBron and Bronny James are the first father-son duo to play together in a playoff game. It was spectacular.
The James gang had their moment during Game 3 of the first round against the Houston Rockets. At one point, the two went on a father-son 10-0 run that included a Bronny 3-pointer, after a screen from dad.
"One of the things that I came into this season, obviously last year, challenging for everybody as he was learning his ways on being a professional, whatever case may be, his rookie year, but he's made so many strides in his second year," James said about his son. "It resulted in him, taking the moment, obviously, without AR, without Luka, you know, he was next man up. He was one of the guys that had to step up in his absence."
Plays later, on a fast break, young Simba was filling the lane, Pops saw him and threw up an alley-oop to which Bronny caught on one side, hung in the air and reversed in and finished a layup on the other side.
James described the moment during his podcast episode with Nash as something that he'd never forget.
"To share that moment in Game 3, I believe we scored 10 straight points between the two of us," he said. "I think we both had a three, and we both had a layup, whatever the case may be, I was able to throw them a lob, and we had that, that mini-run between the two of us. And that was just something that I would never, ever forget. Something that I've learned, obviously at my elder stage, and being 41 years old, to kind of like, appreciate the small wins in the moment."
He reminisced on the in-game moment as only a proud dad could.
"That was one of the moments where I kind of. I've always been locked in and that moment right there, throwing him to lob, seeing him make the three, we kind of going back and forth, I kind of blanked out for a little bit, and just like really, just accepted and relished in that moment. That's pretty cool for me as a dad, and then us (me and Bronny) as colleagues," James said.
It's a cool moment the entire James family, he added.
"I mentioned at one point, like my mom being at the game and her being able to watch her son and grandson in postseason game at the same time. My wife was there, his sister (Zhuri) was there. I think Bryce was back home from college, he was at a playoff (game). It was like, you can't even write that script in Hollywood better than what's going on. So just being super appreciative of it."
In the first round, James averaged 23.2 points, 7.2 rebounds and 8.3 assists in 38.5 minutes as the Lakers defeated the Rockets, 4-2, to advance to the conference semifinals against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Bronny averaged two points, one assist in a little under seven minutes per game during the playoff series against Houston.
LeBron: Not taking it for granted
One thing's for sure, James doesn't take his 23-year career, nor what he's been able to do — especially in Los Angeles — for granted.
James was 33 years old when he first joined the Lakers in 2018. Eight years later, he's still doing it. Sometimes, even he can't believe it.
"Listen, I came to the Lakers in 2018 at 33 and there's no way, if someone is here, would you be playing in 2026 in the postseason? Just playing. I don't know if I would have been able to answer that question," James said. "Just playing and then, let alone saying, hey, now, but now you're the No. 1 -option on a playoff team, and you're helping them win a series, like you're the No. 1 option on that team. I just, I wouldn't have believed that."
He added: "I knew I still had a lot left in the tank when I came to this franchise in '18 but to say that, you know eight years later, at 41, I would be leading the team into the postseason and coming out with a series win, I wouldn't have guessed that, and I wouldn't have bet on that."
After a surprising result in the series opener, Anthony Edwards and the Minnesota Timberwolves take the court tonight looking to take a 2-0 lead in their second round series against Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs.
Edwards (knee) came off the bench scoring 18 points in 25 minutes to spark Minnesota. Julius Randle led all scorers in the game with 21. Wembanyama had only 11 points, but he blocked a record 12 shots and pulled down 15 boards in a losing effort for the Spurs. Dylan Harper actually led San Antonio with 18 points.
Tonight carries a very different tone than did the opener. Minnesota set the terms in Game 1 with their physicality, defensive discipline, and ability to control the paint. San Antonio now has to adjust. The Spurs showed flashes—especially when they were able to get out in transition—but their half‑court execution wasn’t consistent enough to threaten a Timberwolves team that thrives on forcing tough shots.
To find that consistency on offense in the halfcourt, the Spurs will look to Wembanyama. Minnesota did an excellent job of making life difficult on offense for the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year. They crowded Wembanyama’s catches, disrupted entry passes, and dared San Antonio’s perimeter players to beat them. To shift the dynamic, the Spurs need cleaner spacing, quicker decisions, and more assertiveness from Devin Vassell and Keldon Johnson.
Minnesota, meanwhile, enters Game 2 with confidence and a clear blueprint. Rudy Gobert’s presence in the paint allowed the Timberwolves to stay home on shooters, while Anthony Edwards’ shot creation gave them a steady offensive anchor. What makes Minnesota truly dangerous, though, is how connected they are defensively—rotations are sharp, communication is constant, and they rarely beat themselves. If they maintain that discipline, they will control the tempo and be in position to take Game 2.
Lets take a closer look at tonight’s matchup and take into consideration lineups, injuries, and other factors affecting the line and total.
We’ve got all the info and analysis you need to know ahead of the game, including the latest info on how to catch tipoff, odds courtesy of DraftKings recent team performance, player stats, and of course, our predictions, picks best bets for the game from our modeling tools and staff of experts.
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Game Details and How to Watch Game 2 Live: Timberwolves vs. Spurs
Date: Wednesday, May 6, 2026
Time: 9:30PM EST
Site: Frost Bank Center
City: San Antonio, TX
Network/Streaming: ESPN
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Game 2 Odds: Timberwolves vs. Spurs
The latest odds as of Wednesday courtesy of DraftKings:
Moneyline: Minnesota Timberwolves (+310), San Antonio Spurs (-395)
Spread: Spurs -9.5
Total: 215.5 points
This game opened Spurs -10.5 with the Game Total set at 216.5.
Be sure to check out DraftKings for all the latest game odds & player props for every matchup this week on the NBA schedule!
Expected Starting Lineups for Game 2: Timberwolves vs. Spurs
Minnesota Timberwolves
PG Mike Conley
SG Terrence Shannon Jr.
C Rudy Gobert
SF Julius Randle
PF Jaden McDaniels
**Edwards is listed as questionable. The expectation is he will play, but will he move back into the starting rotation? Check your lineups later this afternoon for confirmation.
San Antonio Spurs
PG De’Aaron Fox
SG Stephon Castle
SG Devin Vassell
PF Victor Wembanyama
SF Julian Champagnie
Injury Report for Game 2: Timberwolves vs. Spurs
Minnesota Timberwolves
Anthony Edwards (knee) is listed as questionable for tonight’s game
Donte DiVincenzo (Achilles) has been declared OUT of tonight’s game
Ayo Dosunmu (calf) is lasted as questionable for tonight’s game
San Antonio Spurs
Carter Bryant (foot) is listed as questionable for tonight’s game
David Jones Garcia (ankle) has been declared OUT of tonight’s game
Important stats, trends and insights for Game 2: Timberwolves vs. Spurs
The Timberwolves are 25-20 on the road this season
The Spurs are 34-10 at home this season
The Spurs are 49-38-2 ATS this season
Minnesota is 42-47 ATS this season
The OVER has cashed in 37 of the Spurs’ 89 games this season (37-52)
The OVER has cashed in 39 of the Timberwolves’ 89 games this season (39-50)
Rudy Gobert pulled down at least 10 rebounds in 4 of his last 5 games including 10 in Game 1 of this series
Terrence Shannon Jr. has scored 15 or more points in 3 straight games
Stephon Castle is 14-32 in the playoffs from beyond the arc
Dylan Harper was 7-13 from the field and scored 18 points to lead the Spurs in Gm. 1
Statistically the difference in Game 1 was as simple as the Spurs shot 28% (10-36) from deep while the Timberwolves shot 38% (10-26)
Rotoworld Best Bet
Please bet responsibly. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, call the National Gambling Helpline at 1-800-522-4700. Our model calculates projections around each moneyline, spread and over/under bet for every game on the NBA calendar based on data points like recent performance, head-to-head player matchups, trends information and projected game totals.
Once the model is finished running, we put its projections next to the latest betting lines for the game to arrive at a relative confidence level for each wager.
Here are the best bets our model is projecting for tonight’s Timberwolves and Spurs’ game:
Moneyline: Rotoworld Bet is staying away from a play on the Moneyline
Spread: Rotoworld Bet is leaning towards a play on the Timberwolves +9.5 ATS
Total: Rotoworld Bet is leaning towards a play on the Game Total UNDER 215.5
Team Total: Rotoworld Bet is recommending a play on the Spurs’ Dylan Harper 10+ Points parlayed with Victor Wembanyama 5+ blocks
Want even more NBA best bets and predictions from our expert staff & tools? Check out the Expert NBA Predictions page from NBC Sports for money line, spread and over/under picks for every game on today’s calendar!
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The Philadelphia 76ers will try to even their second-round NBA playoff series against the New York Knicks. The Knicks routed the 76ers 137-98 in Game 1. New York is favored by 6.5 points in Game 2. The total is set at 215.5.
How to watch Philadelphia 76ers vs. New York Knicks
Moneyline: New York Knicks -274 (70.2%) / Philadelphia 76ers +221 (29.8%)
Over/Under: 215.5
Series schedule, results
Game 1:Knicks 137, 76ers 98 Game 2: Philadelphia at New York (Wednesday May 6, 7 ET, ESPN) Game 3: New York at Philadelphia (Friday May 8, 7 ET, Prime Video) Game 4: New York at Philadelphia (Sunday May 10, 3:30 ET, ABC) Game 5: Philadelphia at New York (Tuesday May 12)* Game 6: New York at Philadelphia (Thursday May 14)* Game 7: Philadelphia at New York (Sunday May 17)*
Stephen Halliday might just be the Ottawa Senators’ most compelling forward prospect.
At 6-foot-4 and 214 pounds with a long reach, Halliday is a hard man to knock off the puck, and he pairs that size with slick playmaking ability. In mostly a fourth-line role, he produced four goals and 11 points in 30 NHL games this season, while continuing a trend that’s followed him at every level.
He's a guy who finds ways to produce offense.
Ridly Greig is asked last week about his roughing incident in Game 4, which landed him a two game suspension.
Whether it was with the USHL’s Dubuque Fighting Saints, Ohio State University, or the AHL’s Belleville Senators, Halliday eventually ascended to the top of his team in point production.
That’s what makes his projection so intriguing. Whether you think of him as a career fourth-line contributor or imagine him eventually climbing into a top-six role, both outcomes feel equally believable right now.
Halliday took a clear step forward as a pro this season, producing at a point-per-game pace in the American Hockey League with 29 points in 29 games. His pass-first instinct stood out, with only 2 of those points being goals. But as he showed during his NHL stint, he’s got a quick, effective release when he chooses to use it.
“Yeah, no, I thought it was a great learning experience,” Halliday told Senators host Jackson Starr on Tuesday. “Super excited that I got a chance to show what I could do up with the big club, but again, I really give credit to the guys in Belleville, like David Bell and all the guys that kind of helped me along the way.”
There’s still a sense that Halliday is just scratching the surface. For now, he remains in that “happy to be here” phase at the NHL level, even as expectations begin to rise.
“Oh yeah, like if you would have told me like I'd be here sitting today, like at the beginning of the year, I would have definitely like been like, 'God, I hope,' and stuff like that.”
Even after proving he can contribute, he didn't get ahead of himself last season. Even now, with a new contract, he knows he still has a lot of work to do to become the player he wants to be. But he learned a lot last season.
“Yeah, like kind of just trying to play every shift, like it was my last, I think trying to improve my pace of play, kind of my physicality, like I wasn't as big of a physicality player like in college and in the NHL, but trying to add that type of part to my game.”
He also pointed to the culture around him as a key factor in his progress.
“Yeah, like going back to like kind of what Sandy said in that post-game interview, like the '25 best friends' thing. Every single guy in the room was trying to help each other, whether it was G or whether it was Timmy, like all of those types of guys.”
That growth earned him a two-year contract on Tuesday worth $1.075 million per season. But according to PuckPedia, it’s a two-way deal, which is a loud reminder that, as head coach Travis Green likes to say, nothing is given.
Halliday was playing regularly leading up to the NHL trade deadline, but after the Senators acquired Warren Foegele, he spent much of the stretch run in the press box.
At the moment, it looks like an NHL opportunity may be there this fall. But a lot can happen in a single offseason.
Two summers ago, like Halliday, Angus Crookshank was a top scorer in Belleville who was getting some long looks in Ottawa and looked like he might be ready to break through as a full-timer. Then the Sens went out that summer and wiped out Crookshank's chances by signing five free agent forwards: David Perron, Michael Amadio, Nick Cousins, Noah Gregor and Adam Gaudette.
What the Senators learned this season is that Halliday belongs in the NHL conversation. And if his track record is any indication, wherever he lands in the lineup, he’ll eventually find a way to produce.
By Steve Warne The Hockey News/Ottawa
This article was first published at The Hockey News Ottawa. Check out more great Sens features from The Hockey News at the links below:
PHILADELPHIA, PA - APRIL 30: Paul George #8 and VJ Edgecombe #77 help up Joel Embiid #21 of the Philadelphia 76ers during the game against the Boston Celtics during Round One Game Six of the 2026 NBA Playoffs on April 30, 2026 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2026 NBAE (Photo by Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images) | NBAE via Getty Images
Make no mistake, the Sixers coming back from 3-1 down in their first-round series against the Celtics is by far their biggest playoff achievement in the last 25 years. It’s no surprise that the comeback was fueled by the return of Joel Embiid.
The former MVP became the first player in NBA history to score 100 points in a playoff series when he did not play the first three games. He was outstanding and given all the playoff disappointments he’s been through, most of which have either been the result of bad injury luck or not enough help on the roster, no one deserved a moment like Embiid had on Saturday more than he did.
But perhaps Monday night’s blowout loss was a sobering reality of how difficult it will be to win a title with Embiid in his 30s. Many fans thought Philly was up against more than just the Knicks in Game 1 having to battle the fatigue that comes with having to erase a 3-1 deficit against a team like the Celtics. Let’s rewind to the beginning of the season to explain how we got here.
Practically everyone went into the season assuming Embiid would miss about half of the regular season. He ended up missing slightly more than half of the regular season, appearing in 38 games. With Embiid missing so much time, the Sixers ended up in the play-in tournament. Despite winning their first and only game in the play-in tournament to secure the East’s No. 7 seed in the playoff bracket, having a seed that low meant drawing the Celtics in the first round. Once the Celtics appeared on the schedule, most thought Philly didn’t stand a chance at winning the series. That ended up not being true, but it still took a lot of heavy lifting to get out of the 3-1 hole.
For as amazing as the moment was on Saturday night, it was still only the fourth out of a necessary 16 wins to capture an NBA Championship. Unlike the regular season, Philly doesn’t have the luxury of sitting Embiid every other game now. The way to avoid early-round postseason fatigue is to make quick work of your first-round opponent which gets you more time off before the second round starts. But with Embiid destined to miss so much time in the regular season, how likely is it that the Sixers could get a high seed in future postseasons that would allow them to win their first-round series in four or five games?
The point is, for the rest of his career, you’re likely asking Embiid to ramp it up after playing about half of the regular season, and to appear in six or seven playoff games per round for four rounds over two months. That’s 24-28 games without a long break in a two-month span for someone that would have only played about 40 games with plenty of long breaks over a six-month span in the regular season.
The easiest remedy for this is to build a deeper roster. As we’re seeing in the playoffs, Nick Nurse only plays seven or eight players in most games. If that number could grow to nine or 10 players in a playoff rotation, that would also mean additional depth in the regular season. In turn, that would probably result in more wins in games Embiid doesn’t play, which would give the team a higher playoff seed and ideally a faster victory in the first and potentially second round and preserve Embiid more.
Maybe Daryl Morey and Elton Brand can pull that off this summer and Philly can win 50-60 games in 2026-27. But the cold hard truth here is that we’re going to be wobbling on shaky ground for the entire time Embiid is trying to get through two months of playing in the postseason at a high level. That’s likely a truth that lasts for the remainder of Embiid’s career.
None of this is to say that it can’t be done. Philadelphia could come out on Wednesday night and look like a much different team. After all, all of its starters played under 30 minutes in the blowout loss in Game 1. That’s probably the closest thing we’ll realistically see to load management in the playoffs but maybe it’s enough to even the series. The Sixers sure responded well from blowout losses in Games 1 and 4 against the Celtics, winning Games 2 and 5 in Boston. They might not be the deepest team, but their top-end talent appears to be more reliable than it has been in previous postseasons to the point where not every win needs to be fueled by Embiid, especially if Paul George’s strong play continues.
We’re simply trying to reiterate what might have been obvious a week and a half ago, but forgotten a bit once the comeback started against the Celtics. It’s still a very steep hill to climb when it comes to winning an NBA championship with Embiid as this team’s best player. If you’re already worried about the team running out of gas in the second round, that’s not a worry that subsides in the conference finals or the NBA Finals if the team is to advance that far.
This dynamic probably creates a difficult contrast in vibes for the fanbase. Frankly, it’s understandable if you’re taking the Boston comeback as the pinnacle moment of Embiid’s playoff career and willing to accept that it probably won’t get any better. Of course, that’s a disappointment if that ends up being the case. But if you’re simply not trying to get let down whenever the team is eliminated, you’ve got a real moment to cling to now and that’s worth something. However, if you’re someone that’s gone from jubilant to quickly concerned over the possibility of the Sixers and Embiid looking fatigued and getting blown out in this series by a Knicks team that hasn’t had to expend as much energy as they have, that’s also a fair emotion to be feeling right now.
While we can look at the East with Boston eliminated and say it’s wide open and right there for the taking, you have to ask yourself if you think the Sixers can walk this tight rope for another six weeks without falling down. If your answer is no, that doesn’t make you a bad fan as much as it does a realist. On paper, the Sixers might just have enough talent to win the East this year. But the games aren’t played on paper. Every other night, the ball goes up in the air and said talent needs to show up, be available and play well enough time and time again. For as great as the Boston comeback was, and it’s undoubtedly a moment all Sixers fans should cherish, keep all of this in the back of your mind for however long this playoff run goes.
Should Philly be able to pull out this Knicks series and then lose altitude fast against Detroit or Cleveland in the conference finals, just cherish the fact that the Sixers would have eliminated their top two rivals in the same postseason. We should all allow the improbability of a championship with Embiid to force us to enjoy the good moments he does give us from here on out even more. As the saying goes, don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened. But hey, it’s still far from over! On to Game 2.
The reserve guard led the team with 18 points but also dished out four assists and snatched four rebounds in 29 minutes of action.
Harper could have packed the box score even more, considering he generated 12 potential assists but watched those setups be wasted by San Antonio’s poor shooting. He tracked eight rebounding chances yet pulled down only half of those balls.
He’s a high-energy guy, and that’s what the Spurs need after a stagnant series opener. Look for San Antonio to put its foot on the gas, pushing the pace and trying to get out in transition. That’s where Harper does his best work.
Harper’s scoring projections range from 10 points to 12, with most models leaning toward that ceiling. His passing projections flirt with four assists, and his rebounding forecasts sit at 3.5 boards.
Game 2 Prop #2: Victor Wembanyama Over 12.5 rebounds
-105 at bet365
Victor Wembanyama posted a "big man" triple-double in Game 1, including 15 rebounds to go along with those points and blocks.
Wemby was in position for 23 rebounding chances, converting just 65% of those into boards. That’s a slide from his 74% rebound win rate in the final two games versus Portland after returning from a concussion.
The opener was a rock fight, as both teams shot well below their season averages and dropped the pace rate to 96.0 in Game 1. I do see an uptick in tempo coming, as both teams like to get out and run – especially San Antonio. That increases shot attempts and, therefore, rebounding chances.
Wembanyama has wrangled 13 or more rebounds in nine of his last 13 games going back to the regular season, and player projections for Game 2 call for as many as 15 boards, with most models on the other side of this total.
The 6-foot-9 forward isn’t shy about letting it fly from distance and finished 2-for-3 from outside in Game 1, striking on a pull-up when the defense sagged off and knocking down a corner 3-pointer on a drive-and-kick.
Minnesota is relentless when it comes to attacking the rim, even with Wembanyama setting up shop in the paint. That collapses the Spurs’ defense and lets Reid slip to the wing with waiting hands and plenty of space.
Reid wasn’t very active from outside in the series win over Denver, and his perimeter play took a step back in the second half of the schedule. Before the All-Star break, Reid was knocking down 2.4 triples on 6.3 attempts per game. That slimmed to 1.4 makes on 4.6 long-range looks in his final 21 games.
His Game 2 forecasts are bullish on Naz beyond the arc, ranging from 1.6 to as high as 2.3 triples. Given this hefty spread, the game script says Minnesota is fighting from behind, and that prompts perimeter action in an effort to catch up.
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Masai Ujiri, co-founder of the Giants of Africa and Zaria Group, during the Bloomberg Philanthropies 2025 Global Business Forum in New York, US, on Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2025. The forum will bring together heads of state, CEOs, and global leaders to chart what comes next for global cooperation and how to deliver real-world impact. Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images | Bloomberg via Getty Images
Oh, how seductive it must have been.
You buy a basketball team. Months later, you are standing at midcourt in Minnesota holding the Western Conference Finals trophy. Confetti rains down. Cameras catch your face. For one dangerous second you cannot help but think: is this what owning a sports franchise is like?
It is not.
A few days later, the confetti is falling in Boston, and it belongs to someone else. Even worse, you are months away from being hoodwinked into believing that being on the business end of the NBA version of the Babe Ruth trade is a good idea. Soon, boos will serenade you in your home arena as even marginally adept lip readers will notice you ask your associate, “Are they booing…me?” Oh, they were.
That has been the painful, expensive education of Patrick Dumont. Buying a basketball team and understanding the NBA are not mutually inclusive, a line I wrote in November when Nico Harrison was finally fired. The new Mavericks governor inherited Mark Cuban’s human Rolodex hire and trusted the man’s confidence over the man’s competence. By the time Dumont understood the magnitude of what he had been bamboozled into signing off on by Harrison, the trade had already happened, and the booing had already started. A few rocky months later, an 18-year-old SMU freshman in a Luka Lakers jersey was sitting four rows behind him at the American Airlines Center, waiting to apologize.
What Dumont did at that game, on November 10 of last year, was admit he had been wrong. To a kid named Nicholas Dickason, who had flipped him off on opening night and come back to make it right. “Sometimes you have good intentions and you make mistakes. We all do it.” Dumont also told Dickason, according to The Athletic, that he “feels horrible for the trade” and “wants to make it up to us.”
Nico Harrison was fired the next morning.
The brakes-on crowd
I’m tired of writing about Nico Harrison.
Nobody at this site has taken him apart more often, with more long-winded metaphors, than I have. Fifteen months of column work spent litigating a single trade and a single regime, and I’d like to be done.
I have not been part of the move-on crowd. I have been part of the driving-with-the-brakes-on crowd. The people who understood that the Adelson-Dumont ownership group is not selling the team, that some of the faces tied to the trade were going to remain, and that the reset many fans wanted was not coming on their preferred timetable.
Tuesday, for the first time, a brighter horizon actually felt possible when the Mavericks introduced Masai Ujiri as the team’s new president of basketball operations and alternate governor.
Not because Patrick Dumont sold the team. Because Dumont brought in someone whose entire career has been the photographic negative of the man he replaced. Someone whose first instinct in front of a microphone was to acknowledge what happened, name the wound, and offer a path forward that did not pretend the wound was imagined.
The pivot is straightforward: Patrick Dumont trusted the schmoozer. Now he is trusting the scout.
When the Rolodex was the resume
When Mark Cuban hired Nico Harrison alongside Jason Kidd in 2021, he was hiring a Rolodex.
After years of striking out in free agency, Cuban ostensibly convinced himself that the missing ingredient at the top of his front office was relationships. Connections. Access. Harrison had been at Nike for two decades. He had the cell phone numbers of every star in the league. He had brokered deals with Kobe and Curry and Kyrie and Durant. He could schmooze. That was the pitch.
The problem, as the Mavericks would learn the hard way, is that schmoozing was a job where Harrison could not lose.
At Nike, even if you flubbed a star’s pitch meeting (the famous Steph Curry / Under Armour story comes to mind), there was always another superstar coming through the door. Nike does not compete with 29 other shoe companies for a fixed pool of talent. The next star would always be there, ready to be courted. Failure in Harrison’s previous job was, in the most consequential sense, impossible.
The NBA front office is a different planet. You compete against 29 other teams. Talent evaluation is the entire job. Many of the men who become NBA general managers spent years grinding as scouts before they ever sat in a draft room with veto power, watching gym after gym, mapping international tournaments, building the eye that eventually recognizes a hidden gem and the spine to take the swing. Harrison did none of that. He was a shoe rep with the keys to a basketball empire.
The results came on schedule. “One team source recalls a document where Harrison placed Jrue Holiday within the same trade target tier as Nikola Jokić,” Tim Cato reported at DLLS Sports last fall. Read that sentence again. A real general manager does not put Jrue Holiday and Nikola Jokić in the same tier of trade targets. A schmoozer does, because the difference between Holiday — a decorated guard whose best version was already behind him — and the generational Joker does not exist in the world of brand partnerships.
That blindness explains the Anthony Davis trade. Davis had appeared on Harrison’s Instagram a decade earlier, dousing him with ice water during the ALS Challenge. That version of Davis, the prime All-Star Davis of 2014, is the one Harrison saw when he looked at the trade assets on the Lakers roster. The brittle 30-something Davis who would play 29 regular-season games across two partial Mavericks seasons before being salary-dumped to Washington for spare parts? That Davis was invisible. Harrison saw the friend, frozen in time.
The Mavericks never endured the kind of long, semi-intentional wilderness years that let a franchise stockpile picks between eras. The Mavs leaned into asset-burning to build around Dončić. By 2025, Luka qualified for the supermax. The supermax would have given Dončić more money than any player in NBA history, along with the institutional power that comes with that contract. That power would have made Luka virtually impervious to Harrison’s outsized need for control. So Harrison did the boldest thing a schmoozer driven by ego can do. He traded the king before the king could outrank him.
“The easiest thing for me to do is nothing,” Harrison told reporters at the Cleveland press conference the day after the trade. “Everyone would praise me for doing nothing.”
He could not stand to be praised for doing nothing. He needed his shining moment. He needed his real-life PlayStation move. He needed to prove that he, the shoe executive, was the architect of a championship and not a passenger in the Luka Dončić era.
He got fired instead.
The scout’s path
Ujiri did not arrive at Tuesday’s introductory press conference from a cushy industry job. He arrived from the gym.
Ujiri’s career began as an unpaid scout in 2002, working for the Orlando Magic and the Denver Nuggets. Kiki Vandeweghe and Jeff Weltman hired him onto salary at Denver. The Dallas connections in that scouting tree are real. Amadou Gallo Fall, a longtime Mavericks scout and director, was Ujiri’s friend and mentor, and Ujiri name-checked Fall, Donnie Nelson, and Vandeweghe in his opening remarks Tuesday. The braid back to the Mavs predates this hire by twenty years.
To become a scout, Ujiri had to outwork other scouts. To become an assistant general manager, he had to outwork other scouts who had also outworked other scouts. To become an executive vice president and general manager of the Denver Nuggets in 2010, he had to demonstrate, year over year, that his hits on Kenneth Faried and Wilson Chandler and the post-Melo Nuggets roster he helped assemble were not luck. They were the work born of a process started years earlier, before the accolades.
The work paid off. In 2013, Ujiri was named NBA Executive of the Year, the only non-American ever to win the award. The Nuggets won 57 games that season, the most in the franchise’s NBA history. Then he went on to Toronto and built another contender from what remained of the Bargnani-era roster he inherited. And in 2018, he made one of the riskiest moves any general manager has ever made. He traded the longest-tenured Raptor and franchise face DeMar DeRozan for Kawhi Leonard, a one-year rental of a two-way superstar coming off an injury-marred season and a public divorce from the Spurs.
It worked. The Raptors won the 2019 championship. Kawhi left as a free agent that summer. Ujiri’s team played the long game and the short game in the same window, and won both.
The recent Toronto stretch was not pristine. The OG Anunoby trade for RJ Barrett did not yield what Ujiri wanted. The Quickley extension was rich. The Ingram trade looked desperate. The Collin Murray-Boyles draft pick is still developing. No executive bats a thousand, and the latter years in Toronto were the years when the puzzle around Ujiri stopped giving him pieces to put together.
But a championship can keep an executive in a chair past the point where the chair still fits. The Mavericks learned that lesson with the waning years of Donnie Nelson’s tenure. For Ujiri, the fit in Toronto ran long. Twelve years. Five Atlantic Division titles. Two Eastern Conference Finals appearances. One NBA championship that almost no one outside the team’s own building saw coming.
What Dallas needed and now has are the fresh eyes of a seasoned, unsentimental evaluator with the power to evoke real change. Anthony Davis and Kyrie Irving were spoken of mythologically by Nico Harrison. I do not get that sense from Masai Ujiri. He has shown, throughout his career, that he can attach to players without becoming attached to them. He can pull the trigger on a trade when the math says pull the trigger, even if the trade is for a one-year rental who might not re-sign, even if the trade involves moving the most beloved player on the roster.
Bring the calm
“I hope to bring calm,” Ujiri said early in his opening remarks Tuesday. “I hope to bring to this place winning.”
The first half of that sentence is more important than it sounds. Calm has not been a recurring feature of the Mavericks’ recent operating environment. The Harrison era was a blender. Opaque decision-making, late-night trades, manufactured dysfunction narratives served to ownership in private while the actual roster was being built around a generational player. Calm is the antidote.
It is also a tonal philosophy. Watch how Ujiri handled the inevitable Luka questions Tuesday. Asked twice (once about a healing process, once about whether he would have made the trade), Ujiri did not throw his new boss under the bus. He did not call the trade a mistake. He also did not pretend the wound was not there.
“There’s a healing process with that,” he said.
And then he gave the franchise something it had not been given by anyone in the organization since that fateful Shams bomb on a cold February night. A frame.
“Luka is a Hall of Famer, a future Hall of Famer, and that’s the past. I always say in Africa, we say when kings go, kings come, and a king went, and we have a little prince here that we’re going to turn into a king.”
That is a culturally specific framing that does real work on the grief. The throne is not empty. The loss is real. The path forward is the prince, and the prince is right there in the building, 19 years old and newly minted Rookie of the Year.
The Harrison version of this answer (and the Jason Kidd version, which I wrote about at length on Easter Sunday) was a clipped we have to move on, with the unstated insistence that there was nothing to see here, that the trade was good, that the fans were the problem for refusing to get over it. Ujiri eventually got there too, saying “we really have to move on,” but only after giving the grief oxygen first. He gave fans permission to mourn what was lost and a structure for walking toward what comes next. Different operating system entirely.
That is what calm looks like in practice. Acknowledgment plus forward motion.
The Brooklyn irony
There is a quote you should know about, if you do not already.
The date was April 19, 2014. The location was Maple Leaf Square in Toronto, where thousands of Raptors fans had gathered for a rally before Game 1 of the Eastern Conference first round against the Brooklyn Nets. The Raptors’ relatively new general manager, fresh off his Executive of the Year award in Denver, took the stage. He grabbed the microphone. He shouted “F*** Brooklyn!” at the assembled crowd.
The NBA fined him $25,000. He later said he was not taking it back, and that if the Raptors got the rematch he would say it again.
The head coach of the Brooklyn Nets at the time was asked for his response.
“You gotta tell me who the GM is,” Jason Kidd said. “I don’t even know who their GM is.”
He knows now.
This historical wrinkle matters because it tells you something about the dynamic Kidd is walking into. Asked about Kidd’s future Tuesday, Ujiri did exactly what he should have done. He praised Kidd as a Hall of Fame player. He said Kidd had done a great job. He referenced his own track record of keeping inherited coaches: George Karl in Denver for three years, Dwane Casey in Toronto for five. Both were inherited. Both were eventually replaced. Read between the lines if you wish, or do not. Either reading lands you in the same place.
What Ujiri did not do was endorse Kidd as the Mavericks’ coach. He could have. He could have said the obvious thing: that Kidd is a Hall of Fame player, that he took this team to the Finals, that Cooper Flagg’s relationship with him is real and worth preserving. Instead, Ujiri said: “…we’re going to look at this thing from head to toe.”
That is the right answer. For too long, Kidd’s halo as a Hall of Fame player and his 2024 Finals run insulated him from a dispassionate evaluation. His Dallas regular-season record finished this season hovering around .500 across five years, with three lottery-bound seasons in five. His best playoff outcomes came when he had the second-best player on the planet running the offense.
There is also a question of whether Kidd wants the new arrangement. Under Harrison, Kidd had outsized power. He had sway over personnel. He had an enabler at GM who shared his preferences. Whether Kidd was the Cleveland-hotel-room Pollyanna he claimed to be is a question I addressed at length last month. What is no longer in question is what the new front office will be. Masai Ujiri is not going to outsource personnel decisions to his head coach. The cook-with-the-groceries era is over, even if it never quite existed in the form Kidd publicly claimed.
The power dynamics around Kidd have been upended. The veterans on this roster may now be assets to be moved rather than minutes to be allocated. Klay Thompson is on the third year of his three-year contract. Daniel Gafford is a useful big man on a reasonable deal. PJ Washington is a versatile forward in his prime. Even Kyrie Irving, whom most every Mavericks fan loves, will be a trade market question if he returns from his ACL injury looking like himself and other teams come calling.
I do not get the sense that the Mavericks’ new president will hesitate to improve the roster or the asset stockpile. Ujiri has made a basketball life out of evaluating players with the eyes of a scout and the deal-making of a card shark. The mythologizing is for the rest of us.
That may not be Jason Kidd’s preferred operating environment. We are going to learn very soon whether Kidd would rather take the new dynamics or whether he would rather find a job somewhere else where he can again be both coach and shadow GM…or, for that matter, actual GM.
The full body scan
The Mavericks have needed a full body scan for a long time.
Not just the front office. The medical staff, which Ujiri flagged twice Tuesday as an area where the franchise has to get better. What fate awaits the interim general managers, Matt Riccardi and Michael Finley? The same can be asked of the coaching staff. The scouts. The development pipeline. Every player on this roster not named Cooper Flagg.
A full body scan is not as glamorous as confetti. Confetti is the schmoozer’s gift: the false sense of arrival, the borrowed credit for someone else’s hard work, the trophy you did not earn but get to hold. Confetti is what Patrick Dumont may well have mistaken for understanding when he bought this team.
A full body scan is the scout’s gift. It is unglamorous. It is slow. It involves sitting down with people and asking them to defend their work. It involves looking at processes and asking whether they produce results or just produce comfort. It is what the Mavericks needed in 2021 and did not get. It is what they needed during the aftermath of the trade and did not get. It is what they have, finally, on the table now.
The reset that a significant chunk of this fanbase wanted (every face associated with the Luka trade out of the building) was never going to happen on the timeline they wanted. Patrick Dumont and Miriam Adelson are not selling the team. Ownership stays. But what Tuesday showed is that the reset can come from a different direction. By evaluating everyone. By saying that nobody in this building is untouchable, except the 19-year-old prince who wears jersey number 32.
“This is a winning organization. We want to get back to that,” Ujiri said Tuesday.
He cannot tell you how. Yet. He is going to scan the body first.
The lottery last May gave the Mavericks two gifts in one ping-pong ball. The first was Cooper Flagg, the generational player around whom everything else now reorients. The second was the chance to bring Ujiri to Dallas. Because Ujiri, when asked Tuesday whether he would have taken this job without Flagg, did not pretend the question was unfair. He listed the Western Conference gauntlet: Wembanyama, Luka, Anthony Edwards, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jokić. He said you cannot beat them without something in your pocket. And in his pocket, he has Cooper Flagg. The job was the job because Flagg was the player.
I have watched the Dallas Mavericks since 1980. The schedule last season felt like a slow-moving funeral procession, even with Cooper Flagg’s Rookie of the Year campaign in progress. Watching this team grind through the back half of a tanking season under the weight of a trade nobody wanted to talk about was harder than I expected.
Tuesday was the first day in a long time I felt actively excited to write about this team again.
Dallas finally and at long last got rid of the schmoozer and replaced him with the scout. The full body scan that this organization has needed for years can finally begin.
Dylan Harper
Naz Reid