Category: NBA

How a quieter summer could slingshot Celtics toward future big moves originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

In his end-of-the-season news conference, Boston Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens noted he has a sign in his office with three questions that guide his roster-building process.

It reads: What do you want? What’s true? How do you get there?

The short answers: 1. The Celtics want more championship banners. 2. There are two teams out West making that goal feel a bit more distant, especially after Boston’s first-round playoff exit.

And the third question? Well, the fastest path back to true title contention might be patience.

Maybe that reads like an oxymoron. But as the Celtics navigate the NBA’s new financial minefield, a second season outside the luxury tax could open up the sort of big-splash pathways that recently paved the way to Banner 18.

Roll the clock back to the last time the Celtics dropped a Game 7 at home against a lower-ranked opponent. In the aftermath of a loss to the Miami Heat in the 2023 Eastern Conference Finals, Stevens made the bold choice to overhaul the team’s core, shipping out Marcus Smart and Robert Williams III while bringing back Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday.

The Celtics don’t have that sort of financial freedom this summer — but they might soon. If Boston stays below the tax for the 2026-27 season, it would open avenues to spending more aggressively in future seasons.

The Celtics saw a new punitive collective bargaining agreement steamrolling toward big-spending teams back in 2023 and got ahead of the curve. They launched into the 2023-24 campaign knowing their new-look core likely only had two seasons to chase a title. They got one and might have made a more serious charge at another if not for health woes.

Everyone knew a roster overhaul loomed last summer. Jayson Tatum’s rehab from an Achilles injury made it a little bit easier to stomach the possibility that Boston might take a step back. And while most expected the Celtics to morph into a lottery team, the Celtics stiff-armed all gap-year suggestions and stormed to the No. 2 seed in the East.

The 2026 playoffs, which ended in a first-round exit after Boston built a 3-1 lead against the Philadelphia 76ers, exposed some vulnerabilities that were otherwise masked during a vibes-filled regular season. The Celtics can start the process of patching some of those holes this summer and might still be a legitimate threat to emerge in the East, but it will be just the running start of what might evolve into a full cannonball back into the big spenders’ pool.

Let’s be clear here: The Celtics don’t do gap years. Their 56 wins last season — most of which came while Tatum rehabbed — proved that. We’re not saying they should punt on the 2026-27 season. The suggestion here is simply that, with one more year of financial restraint, Boston can position itself to splurge in a way that most contenders won’t often dare in the apron era.

If green runs deep in Boston, patience runs scant. The goodwill of the 2024 title is already erased by the team’s season ending earlier than expected in three of the past four seasons. No one wants to waste the prime years of the Jays. Not when Jaylen Brown will turn 30 in October, and with Tatum only 17 months behind him.

Alas, the new collective bargaining agreement, in the league’s never-ending quest to enhance parity, has created endless obstacles to crafting a roster that can compete for anything more than a two-year window. Teams that build through the draft could extend their windows — which is why San Antonio and Oklahoma City appear so daunting at the moment — but most teams will be doing the second-apron Hokey Pokey given the cost of carrying multiple stars.

We can see a pathway forward where the Celtics spend a bit this offseason, perhaps bolstering their frontcourt while hunting for players of all sizes who can help put pressure on the rim. Boston could utilize available exceptions to tweak their roster, scale above the luxury tax to start the season, then make an assessment of their title potential before the February trade deadline, with a willingness to trim salary if they’re not definitively in the title mix at that point.

Five players Celtics should target with $27.7M traded player exception

The Celtics were trending toward a $540 million total roster spend if they had kept their 2024 title team intact entering the 2025-26 season. Hindered by repeater penalties for big spending while chasing titles in recent seasons, Boston was on pace to owe $240 million in luxury tax payments. Stevens won Executive of the Year, in large part, by trimming $350 million off the books, all while the Celtics remained competitive in the aftermath despite Tatum’s absence.

The Celtics need to examine all avenues this summer, even trade possibilities for core members like Brown and Derrick White. We suspect they’ll ultimately find it hard to deliver surefire upgrades to this roster, at least without taking on enormous risk.

Boston can shore up some weaknesses and utilize next season to figure out how to maximize both 1) a healthier Tatum and 2) a supercharged Brown coming off an MVP-caliber season where he was in the driver’s seat most of the year.

The Celtics can straddle two tracks. They can be competitive next season and be one of the favorites to emerge in the East, all while setting up the kinds of big additions that might position them to throw haymakers with Victor Wembanyama’s Spurs or Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s Thunder during the 2027-28 season.

One more year of keeping costs manageable might allow the team to load up the slingshot back to deep-pocket spending.

“Bucketheads” is LGHL’s men’s basketball podcast, hosted by Connor Lemons and Justin Golba. In every episode, they give you the latest scoop on the Ohio State Buckeyes and everything else happening in college hoops.

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On episode 205 of the Bucketheads Podcast, Justin and Connor welcome on Jam Hines from No Ceilings NBA to talk about the NBA Draft. Hines is one of the top NBA draft minds in the industry, and we picked his brain about all things Ohio State.

We talk with Hines about Bruce Thornton, John Mobley Jr., Anthony Thompson and Amare Bynum, as well as the overall 2026 NBA Draft and the current state of NIL and how it affects the draft.

Before that, we discuss John Mobley Jr. officially withdrawing his name from the NBA Draft pool and returning to Ohio State for his junior season.

Remember to like and subscribe to the podcast wherever you listen, leave a comment, and review! We have episodes every Thursday morning.

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Twitter: @lemons_connor

Connect with Justin:
Twitter: @justin_golba

Connect with Jam:
Twitter: @jamontheboards

Former Bulls GM Jerry Krause has never fully gotten the credit he deserved for building the Chicago Bulls into the second-greatest dynasty in basketball, behind only the Boston Celtics of the Bill Russell era, and it’s partly his own fault.

He was indeed a brilliant GM, but he was also an insecure man who wanted to make sure he got credit for his work. Champions, he insisted, were built by the front office, not the players. There’s truth to that, but it offended his players, notably Jordan, who derisively called Krause Crumbs, because he saw a bit of breakfast on Krause’s shirt one day.

But while Krause got very lucky when he got Jordan, since Houston and Portland both took big men in the 1984 draft, he built around his immense talent brilliantly.

Perhaps the greatest example of this was when Chicago traded for Scottie Pippen in the 1987 Draft, giving up Olden Polynice and some future draft picks.

Pippen, if you didn’t know, came out of Central Arkansas, and while he was the #5 pick, he was the furthest thing from a sure bet. How could you know? How could you be sure that a guy who spent four years off the radar at a minor NAIA school would turn out, that he could play at the NBA level and do so brilliantly?

Krause knew, and he moved decisively to get him. And in so doing, he created one of the most devastating pairs of defenders in the history of basketball.

Jordan was obviously the better player, but Pippen’s athleticism was not far behind, and when they decided that something wasn’t happening, well, it just didn’t happen.

This video starts with what they did to Toni Kukoc in the Barcelona Olympics, and goes on to show that these guys were nearly impossible to attack when they were fully engaged. And that was the vast majority of the time.

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The next Steph Curry. The next Steve Nash.

The next Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf…the next Brent Price.

The first Reed Sheppard – existentially speaking. He is not a Kevin O’Connor comparison – He is a solitary unit.

But what is he?

It seems like Rafael Stone has some lofty expectations. Rumors suggest that he sees Sheppard as a Nash-level talent. Stone publicly stated that this year, Sheppard made the Rockets’ offense better “whenever he was on the floor”.

Did he, though?

Rockets’ Reed Sheppard needs to grow

CleaningTheGlass says otherwise. The Rockets were -0.1 points per 100 possessions (PPP) worse when Sheppard was on the floor.

That’s nothing to worry about. Sheppard was a sophomore, and he got precious few reps as a rookie. Still, there’s no reason for me (and every reason for Rafael Stone) to exaggerate.

As a pick-and-roll ball-handler, Sheppard was fine, generating 0.90 PPP in those sets (62.1st percentile).

(Side note: Writing about this team is getting depressing. It feels like whenever I find a playtype stat, the Rocket in question is in the 60-something-ith percentile. Victor Wembanyama is probably in the 90th percentile in most defensive metrics before he gets out of bed. Le sigh).

Anyway, that’s a competent mark for a sophomore. For context, Tyrese Haliburton was in just the 51.4th percentile in pick-and-roll PPP as a sophomore.

That felt good to type. Of course, Tyrese Maxey was in the 85.1st. Oh God, the demons in my head! Sorry. Realistically, player development is too varied to expect much linearity. The lesson here is that Sheppard still has a lot of developmental paths he can take.

That makes assuming the best just about as irrational as assuming the worst. If we were to assume the median (which is either more rational or equally irrational, it’s a hard call), Sheppard is likely Abdul-Rauf-ish, or Payton Pritchard, or someone in that general tier. That’s fine, but the cornerstone Stone seems to see.

How does Sheppard hit that level?

Sheppard must be an all-time shooter

As a rookie, Sheppard hit 33.8% of his 2.7 triples per night. As a sophomore, he connected on 39.8% of his 7.0. That’s a massive leap:

He needs to make another one.

There’s ample room for Sheppard to generally improve. He needs to tighten up his handle as well. Yet, almost paradoxically, we’re looking at a shooting specialist whose swing skill is his shooting.

Sheppard is dangerous, but he needs to be lethal. Defenses respect his shot, but they need to fear it. It needs to consume their thoughts like the Telltale Heart. It needs to be understood that a Sheppard three that’s anything less than tightly contested is a worst-case scenario for any defense.

If that were the case, Sheppard’s handle suddenly matters less. A simple pump fake should be enough to free him up. He’s also a smart enough passer to run point if – and only if – his shot is that type of nuclear-level event.

Put differently: Sheppard has sufficient point guard chops to exploit an overly aggressive defense. He doesn’t (at least, currently) have enough in his bag to break down defenses that are responding to him relatively normally. We’ll never see another Steph Curry, but Sheppard’s shooting gravity needs to have a similar geometry-warping impact on the game.

Defensively? This may be who he is. Sheppard is small, and he’s not getting much bigger. He gets the steals and the blocks, and he also gets picked on. It makes him a questionable fit with Alperen Sengun, but that’s another article. Nobody should rule out any developments at this juncture, but the Rockets should be preparing for a world where he’s a long-term defensive liability.

So…Nick Van Exel? Mark Price? Chauncy Billups? Am I just practicing the ancient masculine arts of naming old athletes? Perhaps.

The point is there: There’s a large margin between Steve Nash and Payton Pritchard. Where Sheppard lands within that (arbitrarily defined) binary will determine whether he’s a star or a role player. If he falls into the latter camp, he’s simply not a cornerstone player.

No matter what Rafael Stone thinks.

Oklahoma City Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored a game-high 30 points to inspire his side to a 122-113 victory against the San Antonio Spurs as the reigning NBA champions levelled the Western Conference final at 1-1.

Gilgeous-Alexander - who has won the NBA's Most Valuable Player award for a second year in a row - also provided nine assists in their second home game of the best-of-seven series.

Spurs star Victor Wembanyama scored 41 points in the opening game but was limited to 21 in the second match.

"The guys brought it tonight, knowing what it would have meant if we lost this one," said Gilgeous-Alexander.

"We brought the energy from the jump."

The game was level at 31 apiece after the first quarter before Thunder moved into an 11-point lead at half-time.

The Spurs did level the match midway through the third and got to within two points of their rivals in the fourth quarter but Thunder pulled away each time on the way to victory.

"We got a W, it's all you can ask for. Now we got to go on the road against a really good team and go get one," said Gilgeous-Alexander.

Games three and four will take place in San Antonio on Friday and Sunday.

The New York Knicks lead the Cleveland Cavaliers 1-0 in the Eastern Conference final with game two in New York on Thursday.

• Spurs beat Thunder in double-overtime thriller

Oklahoma City Thunder (64-18, first in the Western Conference) vs. San Antonio Spurs (62-20, second in the Western Conference)

San Antonio; Friday, 8:30 p.m. EDT

LINE: Spurs -1.5; over/under is 215.5

WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: Series tied 1-1

BOTTOM LINE: The Oklahoma City Thunder visit the San Antonio Spurs for game three of the Western Conference finals with the series tied 1-1. The Thunder defeated the Spurs 122-113 in the last matchup on Thursday. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder with 30 points, and Stephon Castle led the Spurs with 25.

The Spurs are 36-16 in Western Conference games. San Antonio is second in the Western Conference scoring 119.8 points while shooting 48.3% from the field.

The Thunder are 41-11 in conference games. Oklahoma City scores 119.0 points and has outscored opponents by 11.1 points per game.

The 119.8 points per game the Spurs average are 11.9 more points than the Thunder give up (107.9). The Thunder average 13.8 made 3-pointers per game this season, 0.8 more makes per game than the Spurs allow.

TOP PERFORMERS: Castle is shooting 47.1% and averaging 16.6 points for the Spurs. Victor Wembanyama is averaging 22.5 points over the last 10 games.

Gilgeous-Alexander is scoring 31.1 points per game and averaging 4.3 rebounds for the Thunder. Alex Caruso is averaging 2.4 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Spurs: 7-3, averaging 118.7 points, 48.9 rebounds, 25.5 assists, 8.3 steals and 8.5 blocks per game while shooting 49.1% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 105.2 points per game.

Thunder: 9-1, averaging 120.7 points, 41.0 rebounds, 26.6 assists, 11.0 steals and 4.9 blocks per game while shooting 49.5% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 107.2 points.

INJURIES: Spurs: David Jones Garcia: out for season (ankle), De'Aaron Fox: out (ankle), Dylan Harper: day to day (leg).

Thunder: Jalen Williams: day to day (hamstring), Thomas Sorber: out for season (knee).

___

The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

The 2026 Western Conference finals are all knotted up.

The Oklahoma City Thunder outlasted the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday, May 20 in Game 2, 122-113, as the series now heads to San Antonio.

Two-time MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander bounced back with a 30-point, 9-assist game after he had struggled with double-teams and inefficiency in the series opener.

On the other side of that, Spurs phenom Victor Wembanyama (21 points, 17 rebounds) appeared to wear down late in the game, as Oklahoma City ramped up its physicality against him.

Here are takeaways from Game 2 of the Western Conference finals:

The biggest issue for the Spurs is obvious

In Game 1, the Spurs committed 21 turnovers — against 14 by the Thunder — yielding to a 28-17 deficit in points off of those giveaways.

On Wednesday night, it was much of the same. San Antonio turned the ball over 21 times (compared to Oklahoma City’s 9), leading to a 27-10 Thunder edge in points off of turnovers. Fourteen of those Spurs turnovers were on Thunder steals.

The main culprit here is Stephon Castle, who has had a solid series against Oklahoma City, overall, though he has committed 20 turnovers across both games. Some of that is because he has been tasked with more ball-handling than usual; starting point guard De’Aaron Fox has missed both games, and Dylan Harper left Game 2 in the third quarter.

That has forced Castle to be the primary play-maker. It’s a role he’s comfortable with in smaller doses, but Spurs coach Mitch Johnson already offered some possible solutions to cut down on those giveaways.

“We’ve addressed it and we’ll continue to, in terms of trying to help him with some of his reads, especially when he’s tired,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said after the game. “Whether it’s playing more off of two feet or getting off the ball earlier with the early pass and letting the ball find the open man.

“They do such a great job of showing crowds in the paint and having multiple bodies. So it’s not just Steph. He had too many turnovers, but our whole team did.”

Castle did put the blame on himself, but it’s unclear whether Fox or Harper — or both — will miss additional time in the series. And while the Spurs did steal one game on the road, this pace of turning the ball over is not sustainable for winning.

How Oklahoma City defends Victor Wembanyama will define the rest of this series

In Game 1, 12 of Victor Wembanyama’s 14 made field goals came inside the restricted area, which is the semicircle that’s four feet from the center of the rim. Another of those 14 was from just outside the restricted area, and the final one was the logo 3 he hit in the first overtime.

In Game 2, the Thunder altered their defensive plan on Wembanyama.

Whereas in the series opener, Thunder coach Mark Daigneault chose to rotate a platoon of wing players — Alex Caruso and Jalen Williams being the primary ones — Wednesday night, he asked center Isaiah Hartenstein to be the primary defender on Wembanyama.

Hartenstein was physical, using his added bulk to displace Wembanyama down low and make it more difficult for him to get clean looks down low.

That said, Hartenstein also pushed the limits of what’s legal, often grabbing Wembanyama’s arms and jersey, pulling him and shoving him around the low block.

“I thought the other night, and during the regular season, having wings on (Wembanyama) was effective in the macro,” Daigneault said. “The other night, he just had way too much at the restricted.

“Two things that just didn’t feel good were his stuff at the rim just felt too sustainable, so we had to make some corrections there; it won’t be the last time we have a wing on him, we had a wing on him a couple of possessions tonight. And then the other thing that doesn’t feel good is playing Hart 12 minutes. It just didn’t feel good to me. And in order to get him extended past (12 minutes), that’s the matchup.”

Wembanyama still did score 21 points on 8-of-16 shooting and he hauled in 17 rebounds, but the added energy expended to battle Hartenstein appeared to take its toll late in the game; Wembanyama went just 2-of-7 in the fourth quarter, scoring only 4 points.

Daigneault added that the Thunder would never commit to having Hartenstein focus on Wembanyama the entire game, but that the injury to Williams prompted Hartenstein to take on the bulk of that responsibility in Game 2.

The Spurs will certainly tweak their plan to find ways to get Wembanyama easier offense. The Thunder, in turn, will need to adjust accordingly, because this is the central matchup in the series.

Injury management is suddenly going to be a delicate matter

Thunder forward Jalen Williams seemingly reaggravated the left hamstring injury that had kept him sidelined for a month-and-a-half.

Spurs rookie guard Dylan Harper left the game in the third quarter with a right leg injury.

After the game, there was no definitive update on either, but there’s the chance that either or both could now miss extended time in the series. This comes as Spurs point guard De’Aaron Fox has missed both Western Conference finals games with right ankle soreness.

How both teams manage those injuries — and navigate any potential substitutions that might need to happen — will be significant because all three are essential to their respective teams.

The Spurs are in a particularly precarious situation, as Fox and Harper are often catalysts for the entire offensive operation.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Thunder beat Spurs in Game 2: Takeaways from Western Conference finals

According to Fortyeightminutes, Cam Boozer may be higher on boards than people expect. Here’s what they said about AJ Dybantsa and the Washington Wizards. It looks like he may be more or less a lock to go #1.

Some NBA Teams are seeing little gap between AJ Dybantsa, Darryn Peterson, Cameron Boozer, and Caleb Wilson, which form a clear top-4. Jeremy Woo of ESPN.com writes that rival teams don’t see Dybantsa as a lock to go No. 1 and Woo writes that all four are expected to receive consideration by the Wizards.

Our intel tells a slightly different story. While the Wizards have done extensive research on all the top prospects, sources connected to ownership expect Dybantsa to be the selection with the No. 1 pick. Washington is always evaluating trade offers, though the franchise is likely to keep the pick.

First off, I don’t know how reputable this outlet is, so this comes with a grain of salt. That said, this appears to align with all the reports we’ve seen that the Wizards are focused on Dybantsa, and if they do have connections to ownership, it would appear to be a lock for #1.

They also go on to talk about the #2 pick and the Utah Jazz:

Our intel suggest that Boozer is strongly in the mix for the No. 2 pick.

The recent clip of new Mavs GM Mike Schmitz explaining how athleticism is no longer seen as something that dictated upside but rather is a mindset that several evaluators around the league align with. “Positional size, skill, and feel for the game” are the metrics that determine greatness or upside, Schmitz explains. It’s easy to understand why Boozer could be the preference of many teams over Wilson, for example.

It’s not much of a report, other than that the Jazz have Boozer “strongly in the mix.”

It’s far from a guarantee, but it’s more of a sign that the Jazz are doing their due diligence. But there’s a lot more here than meets the eye. If this report is accurate, it suggests some potential for trades.

Consider this. If the Grizzlies are really high on Cam Boozer, and the Jazz and Wizards know it, that gives them reason to put out the smokescreens that they’re interested in drafting Boozer.

What’s very clear for the Jazz, with a majority of the reporting going on, is that they’re high on both AJ Dybantsa and Darryn Peterson, and likely higher on Peterson. Knowing that, it makes a lot of sense for the Jazz to put out there that they’re considering Boozer at #2. If the Grizzlies are super high on Boozer and lower on Peterson, it might be a move by Utah to get a move done with the Grizzlies. Utah could get some sort of draft capital from the Grizzlies and swap spots so they take Boozer and the Jazz get their guy, Darryn Peterson, at #3.

But it goes beyond that. Let’s say the Wizards have AJ Dybantsa as their untouchable #1. If they know that Utah is taking Peterson regardless of who’s there at #2, including if Dybantsa is there, that opens up a potential trade with the Grizzlies. There’s a scenario where the Wizards have Dybantsa at #1, the Jazz have Peterson at #1, and the Grizzlies have Boozer at #1. It’s what makes this draft pretty remarkable that a scenario like that isn’t out of the question. If this were the case, and Utah creates enough uncertainty with the Grizzlies, the Grizzlies could also end up making a move with the Wizards, and the Wizards could fall to #3 and still take Dybantsa.

This is all a bit of tinfoil-hat stuff, but it makes sense if this report is true. It looks like there’s a chance we’ll see some movement at the top, like we don’t normally see. NBA draft night can’t come soon enough!

The Spurs will have to settle for a split after two games in Oklahoma City. Despite doing a good job of keeping the game close and giving themselves a chance to win, fatigue and an injury to Dylan Harper that depleted their depth even more were too much to overcome against an opponent that found contributions from multiple sources. After the 122-113 loss, the series is tied at one heading to San Antonio.

The intensity from Game 1 didn’t go anywhere. The start of the second matchup of the series featured the physicality and shot-making that created the instant classic series opener, but the fatigue from that long battle began to affect the action. Both coaches rested their stars earlier than usual and tried to have their benches sop up minutes. The Spurs had Castle carry the lineup when Harper and Wembanyama rested, but while the second-year guard scored, he was also turnover-prone once again. The lack of ball handling caused by De’Aaron Fox’s injury was palpable and led to some surprising Jordan McLaughlin minutes. Despite San Antonio not playing as well as they could when some of their top guys were off the floor, the opening quarter was up-and-down, with lots of lead changes, and ended tied.

While neither team could break the parity earlier, the Thunder had one of their typical run fueled by turnovers caused that allowed them to create a buffer. Great drives by San Antonio’s guards, including a thunderous dunk by Castle, kept the offense alive for the Silver and Black, and their commitment to playing strong defense and running whenever possible prevented the lead from ballooning. But Oklahoma City looked in control. Foul trouble for Wembanyama, who was getting mauled by Isaiah Hartenstein with few calls to show for it, along with the fatigue that often showed itself from the shallower team, allowed the home team to get better looks while forcing tough ones on the other end. There were some good individual stretches, but the Spurs just couldn’t find fluidity on offense, and their defense showed cracks. At the break, the Thunder were up just 11 points, but the lead felt larger.

After such a long Game 1, trailing on the road and with the split not being a bad result, the Spurs could have folded in the third. They refused to and were aided by Jalen Williams exiting with injury after the first quarter and not returning, and Hartenstein getting into foul trouble. San Antonio was in attack more, with Wembanyama taking over the game on both ends to erase the deficit quickly. Another win seemed possible but, alas, Dylan Harper had to exit the game with an injury and couldn’t return, which really limited the Silver and Black’s options on offense. Meanwhile, on the other end, Chet Holmgren came alive during a stretch in which Wembanyama was resting, and then Mitch Johnson tried a zone that was successful in Game 1, but the Thunder had figured it out by Game 2. The Spurs dropped 37 points in the frame, but their opponent had 34 to remain in the driver’s seat heading into the final frame.

It was clear Wembanyama would need to be on the floor for the entire period for San Antonio to have a chance, as nothing else worked on defense. He started strong, making some plays along with Stephon Castle, which provided a reason for optimism for the Silver and Black faithful. Unfortunately, he started to fade after spending most of the game battling with a big, physical defender who focused almost exclusively on tiring him out. The Thunder started to feast on the offensive glass, and their role players came up big in important moments. There were small runs, largely fueled by three-pointers, but the Spurs simply didn’t have enough contributors to get over the hump. The deeper Oklahoma City team was more prepared to survive a high-paced game that at times resembled a wrestling match and came up on top to tie the series heading to San Antonio.

Game notes

• The Thunder switched strategies and, as mentioned, had Hartenstein guarding Wembanyama for most of the game. In part because of how physical he was allowed to be by the officials, Harstentein held his own and really tired Wembanyama out to the point where he was not a factor late in the game. After the game, Mark Daigneault said they might give Wemby different looks, but if the officiating is lenient, they could get away with the matchup, which is big for an OKC team that might be without Jalen Williams.
• Harper was having a terrific game before he had to exit in the third quarter. He attempted to return to the game, but the staff sent him back to the locker room. Hopefully, it won’t be a major injury, and the same goes for J-Dub.
• Stephon Castle had 25 points, five rebounds, and eight assists. He also had nine turnovers after logging 11 in Game 1 and missed five of his six threes for the second time in a row. Shooting and decision-making are Castle’s weaknesses, which are only getting magnified by the absence of Fox, who made up for them in the starting lineup. He still defends hard and scores, but Mitch Johnson will have to find another way to run the offense if the other two guards are out, because such a big role is limiting the positive impact Castle normally makes.
• Devin Vassell had a fantastic game. He provided scoring, helped on the glass, and defended well. His outside shooting was crucial, as Julian Champagnie made just one of his seven attempts, and the starting guards did most of their damage in the paint.
• The bench was atrocious, and it’s a major reason the Spurs lost. The second unit was outscored 57-25, and some Thunder’s role guys like Alex Caruso and Cason Wallace also made major plays on defense. It’s tempting to question whether it was a good idea for Mitch Johnson to play his starters so much for the second game in a row, but he just didn’t have an option if he wanted to keep the game close. San Antonio needs to get healthy, or this could be an unsolvable problem.

Play of the game

One of the most vicious dunks of the season.

STEEEEEPH 😳

📺@NBAonNBCpic.twitter.com/VUyH45NjJK

— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) May 21, 2026

Game 3: at San Antonio on Friday

Both teams would surely love an extra day of rest after those two games, but they are out of luck.

The Thunder evened up their Western Conference finals with the Spurs on Wednesday.

But it wasn’t thanks to Isaiah Hartenstein’s defense against Victor Wembanyama, at least in the mind of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

The two-time NBA MVP seemingly joked in a sideline interview with NBC after host Oklahoma City’s 122-113 win over San Antonio in Game 2 on Wednesday night that the former Knicks big man’s defense against the Spurs superstar wasn’t up to snuff.

Odd moment postgame as NBC's Zora Stephenson asks SGA about Hartenstein's game-changing D on Wemby:

"I'm not sure if it was good to be honest"

"Break that down for me"

…

"It was alright. It was good." pic.twitter.com/mIGtF9Zrxe

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) May 21, 2026

“I’m not sure if it was good, to be honest, yeah,” Gilgeous-Alexander said when asked about Hartenstein’s impact.

When asked in a follow-up to break down why the impact was not good, Gilgeous-Alexander smiled and backtracked a bit. “It was alright, it was good, it was good,” he said.

One game after Wembanyama scored 41 points in a Game 1 Spurs win, he was held to 21 points on 8-for-16 shooting from the field.

Hartenstein did get into some foul trouble with four on the night and was plenty physical with the towering Wembanyama, which the NBC broadcast made sure to point out in a highlight package during the action.

The lowlight for Hartenstein, however, came in the second quarter when the Spurs Stephon Castle posterized him with a vicious dunk.

Hartenstein was limited to 12 minutes and two points in Game 1 but scored 10 points with 13 rebounds across 27 minutes in Game 2.

Whoever gets tasked with guarding Wembanyama next will have a day off to figure things out before the series resumes in San Antonio on Friday night.

OKLAHOMA CITY — The MVP looked like the MVP again, and the Western Conference finals are knotted up.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander bounced back from a subpar series opener to score 30 points, Alex Caruso added 17 off the bench and the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the San Antonio Spurs 122-113 on Wednesday night in Game 2.

Chet Holmgren scored 13 points and reserves Jared McCain and Cason Wallace each had 12 for Oklahoma City. The Thunder finished with a 57-25 edge in bench scoring, plus a 27-10 advantage in points off turnovers.

“I thought we all played better,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “I had a quiet confidence about that. I didn’t know if we’d win or lose the game, but I was pretty sure after watching Game 1 and knowing our team that we were going to come out and play better tonight.”

Stephon Castle scored 25 points for the Spurs, who got 22 points from Devin Vassell and a 21-point, 17-rebound, six-assist, four-block night from Victor Wembanyama.

Game 3 is Friday in San Antonio.

“The guys brought it tonight,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “Knowing what it would have meant if we lost this one, we brought the energy from the jump.”

Isaiah Hartenstein — who barely played in Game 1 — had 10 points and 13 rebounds for the Thunder, who improved to 14-5 after a loss this season — and beat the Spurs for just the second time in seven meetings.

The win was not without cost for the Thunder, who lost guard Jalen Williams — who had already missed six games in these playoffs with a left hamstring strain — in the first half with a recurrence of the hamstring issue. The Thunder said it was tightness, but even that would figure to put his availability for Friday into doubt.

And the Spurs got banged up as well. Already without All-Star guard De’Aaron Fox because of ankle soreness, San Antonio lost his replacement in the starting lineup — Dylan Harper — to a right leg injury after he took a couple of awkward falls in the third quarter.

Spurs coach Mitch Johnson had no update on Harper after the game, though he noted that it puts “a ton” of pressure on others when his team is down two guards.

“Obviously this team is as good as anybody at turning you over, so when you’re down some of your primary creators and initiators it causes a little bit of an extra strain, whether that’s who to play, what to play, what to run, etc., etc.,” Johnson said. “We’ll just have to be sharper in that area because it’s tough fully loaded against these guys.”

San Antonio was down by 11 at the half and trailed by eight going into the fourth quarter, then got within 99-97 off a corner 3-pointer by Harrison Barnes with 9:06 left.

The next 2 1/2 minutes saved the Thunder. An 11-0 run by the defending champions — including a banked-in 3-pointer by McCain midway through the burst — pushed OKC’s lead to 13.

But the Spurs — on another night when turnovers plagued them and the stretch run was played without Fox and Harper — were far from done. Wembanyama scored down low to make it 118-113 with 1:25 remaining, but Gilgeous-Alexander got one last basket to settle things down and send the series to San Antonio tied.

“We’ve got to help our ballhandlers more and take care of the ball,” Wembanyama said.

 The Western Conference Finals are at a stalemate thanks to chronic turnovers by the San Antonio Spurs. On top of that, Chet Holmgren finally showed up to the series, and OKC’s bench scored an abundance of relief points, which included Alex Caruso shooting like prime Klay Thompson. The series will now shift to San Antonio.

The Spurs never fell into a big crater (only 13 points), yet that deficit might as well be twice that with how desperate and physical the Thunder were playing. Victor Wembanyama was not the leading scorer this time (21 points, 17 rebounds, six assists) but his rim protection had opposing players seeing ghosts, rushing shots and trying to sell calls. But despite valiant efforts and multiple moments in which the deficit was cut to one possession, there wasn’t enough enough disruption at the arc, and the offense wasn’t flowing the same after Dylan Harper left with a leg injury in the third quarter.

Observations

• There was no slow build up as the first quarter had a combined 62 points scored and 13 lead changes.
• The difference in the game was one side having a slight edge at key moments in 1. showing and recovering on screen rolls, 2. trapping the ball, and 3. limiting transition scoring. Additionally, OKC was able to force enough stops, even with the Spurs roaring back, without Jalen Williams, who only played seven minutes because he re-aggravated his hamstring injury. 
• OKC started two bigs again, and tried to get physical with Wemby, but it only resulted in two fouls in fewer than four minutes for Isaiah Hartenstein. It didn’t limit his defensive aggression because he was holding when the refs weren’t looking (?), which even drew the attention of the broadcast. Wemby subsequently went back at him early in the second half, forcing his fourth foul and putting him on the bench, which gave the Spurs a size advantage. 
• Devin Vassell got most of the minutes on defense against Chet Holmgren in the opener. He was a pest once more as the team’s third-best player. He made 85.7 percent of his shots in the second half.
• Dylan Harper started again for De’Aaron Fox (ankle), and was a big factor pressuring the ball and organizing the offense. He plays more in control than Castle, granted with a lower usage. One would have suggested making him the primary ball handler while Fox remains out, but now his status is in question after getting tangled up when chasing a rebound.
• It was an embarrassing performance in Game 1 for Shai Gilgeous Alexander by his standards, so naturally, he was more accurate, and did a better job of getting free on the dribble. He finished with 30 points on 50 percent shooting, with nine assists and four rebounds.
• A good chunk of Castle’s turnovers are passes and drives into traffic. Yet the last one late in the fourth after macho man Keldon Johnson recovered the biggest offensive rebound of the game, was one of the last nails in the coffin. The turnovers would be more magnified if he wasn’t playing on such a great team, and maybe he’d be catching heat like James Harden. 
• The team’s substitution patterns for Wemby were part of the reason OKC went ahead by double figures in the first half, aside from turnovers causing them to take five fewer shots. It’s understandable to want to preserve Wembanyama, but trust this: healthy, great players can log big playoff minutes. Think about how he didn’t even look gassed after 49 minutes in Game 1. He did that because he’s a world-class athlete who can put his foot on the gas and keep it there at any time, for a long time. 

Dylan Harper left Game 2 of the Western Conference finals in the third quarter on Wednesday, May 20.

The San Antonio Spurs rookie was shown on the NBC broadcast walking into the locker room after he fell to the court while wrestling a rebound from Chet Holmgren, who was called for a foul on the play. He trotted out of the tunnel, NBC reported, because someone thought the Spurs were in the bonus and he was needed to shoot free throws. But he was redirected back to the locker room for further evaluation and never returned.

According to the Spurs, Harper suffered a "right leg" injury.

Head coach Mitch Johnson was asked about Harper's status after the Oklahoma City Thunder won the game, 122-113.

"I have not had an update,” he told the media. “I just know he went out when he took an awkward landing — I don’t know if I guess he fell — but that awkward landing and I just heard he wasn’t coming back. I haven’t gotten an update yet.”

Dylan Harper wants to get back on the court, but the Spurs' staff tells him to get back towards the locker room. https://t.co/LellHDdzZRpic.twitter.com/bconqPP4M6

— MrBuckBuck (@MrBuckBuckNBA) May 21, 2026

Just a few plays before the foul, Harper landed awkwardly while attempting a layup that was swatted by MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. He grabbed his right hamstring and grimaced in pain.

Dylan Harper has gone to the locker room after grabbing his right hamstring @ProFootballDocpic.twitter.com/4m0yzvX6Au

— Sports Injury Central (@SICscore) May 21, 2026

The Thunder also have a player dealing with a hamstring issue. Jalen Williams seemed to reaggravate his left hamstring and left the matchup in the first quarter.

Harper ended with 12 points, 2 rebounds and 3 assists. He had a historic outing in Game 1 where he notched 24 points, 11 boards, 6 assists and 7 steals. At 20 years old, he is the youngest player to record a 4x5 in an NBA playoff game.

This story has been updated with new information.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Dylan Harper injury update, status for Spurs vs Thunder Game 2