Category: NBA

The Knicks’ extended break is finally over. It’s back to game mode.

There is no more sitting back and watching to learn who their opponent will be in the Eastern Conference finals. It will be the Cavaliers, after their 125-94 Game 7 win over the Pistons in Detroit.

Game 1 is set for Tuesday at 8 p.m. at Madison Square Garden.

For most of the regular season and entering the postseason, it seemed a given that the Knicks would have to go through the Celtics and Pistons to reach the Finals. As it turns out, they won’t face either.

Now with the matchup set, let’s break down the top storylines:

The rest factor 

The Knicks last played May 10 — which means they will have had nine days of rest before Tuesday’s Game 1. That was critical for OG Anunoby, who has been recovering from a right hamstring strain that kept him out of Games 3 and 4 of the second round.

The Cavaliers, on the other hand, will have less than 48 hours between Sunday’s win and Game 1. The two teams will begin the series on complete opposite ends of the rest spectrum.

“It’s good to give your body some rest,” Miles McBride said after practice Friday. “Be able to sit back and watch your opponents beat each other up in a sense.”

The Karl-Anthony Towns transformation 

It has certainly been well documented how, after trailing 2-1 in the first round against the Hawks, the Knicks changed their offense. They’ve implemented a system that has Towns — not Jalen Brunson — facilitate with the ball in his hands at the elbows, allowing the others, including Brunson, to cut and set screens for each other around him.

But that was with Onyeka Okongwu, the shell of Joel Embiid and the past-his-prime Andre Drummond guarding Towns. The conference finals will be a different story.

Evan Mobley — the reigning Defensive Player of the Year — and Jarrett Allen are much more athletic and stronger defenders than anyone Towns has faced this postseason. Will Towns still be able to command the offense? Or will Mobley and Allen limit his impact?

Knicks perimeter defense 

It’s been a roller coaster in this department for the Knicks. For the first half of the year, they struggled. For the second half of the year, it was much improved.

For the first half of the first round, CJ McCollum torched them. For the second half of that series, after switching Josh Hart onto him, the Knicks made him a nonfactor. Then last round, Mikal Bridges did a terrific job stifling Tyrese Maxey.

The Cavaliers present a two-headed threat on the perimeter with Donovan Mitchell and James Harden. Bridges will presumably guard one of them, likely Mitchell. Hart could match up with the other. Anunoby is an option as well.

“Point of attack is important, it’s the most important thing,” Towns said Friday. “To have our wings and our guards playing defense at the perimeter at a high level, it makes my job easier but also makes our team better.”

Brunson’s takeovers 

Dyson Daniels gave Brunson a few issues early in the first round before Brunson, like he seemingly does with everyone, figured him out, particularly after the Knicks offensive change. The 76ers had no answer for Brunson, who torched VJ Edgecombe.

For the postseason, Brunson is averaging 27.4 points per game — on excellent 48.5 percent shooting from the field and 40.9 percent from 3-point range — along with 6.1 assists.

Dean Wade, though, guarded Brunson about as well as anyone in the regular season. Can he bother Brunson?

Those regular-season matchups were before the Knicks offensive change, also.

Home court advantage 

The Knicks would have had to start on the road if it was the Pistons, but now own home-court advantage since it’s the Cavaliers. Playing the first two games at MSG — with the Cavaliers coming off a tiring series — could have a big impact. As can having a potential Game 7 at home.

Mike Brown’s full circle moment 

The only time Brown has made the Finals as a head coach was with the Cavaliers in 2007. It would be poetic if he returns by toppling the team that gave him his first opportunity as a head coach.

Outside of drafting two hall-of-famers in a row in John Stockton and Karl Malone, the Utah Jazz jumping to #2 in the 2026 could be considered the second-best stroke of luck in franchise history. But it’s so much more than simply jumping in the lottery. If we’re just looking at that in a vacuum, it probably doesn’t have more gravitas than drafting Deron Williams #3 overall and getting Carlos Boozer in restricted free agency or Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert being drafted somewhat close together. It’s the moves that led up to jumping to #2 that make it that much more impactful. Those moves included:

• Keeping Lauri Markkanen while still managing a high-lottery finish.
• Drafting Keyonte George at #16 and developing him into a rising star.
• Trading non-Jazz picks acquired during the rebuild for Jaren Jackson Jr.
• Trading for Walker Kessler (and potentially re-sizing)
• Drafting Ace Bailey at #5.

When you add everything up, adding the #2 pick to this series of building blocks has a chance to be the final piece to a championship core.

Before the season started, Darryn Peterson was the consensus #1 pick by most draft experts. Even this week, Jonathan Givony had him at #1 still, despite his up-and-down season at Kansas.

Therefore, if the Washington Wizards end up picking AJ Dybantsa, then the Jazz come out of the draft with a #1-caliber player. The laziest trade idea making the rounds is to trade Ace Bailey and the #2 pick for the #1 pick. But if you have Darryn Peterson on the board to be picked up for nothing, why would you give up the assets that led to you having one of the top up-and-coming rosters in the league? On top of that, the fact that the Wizards might be willing to trade the #1 pick to the Jazz for #2 tells you everything you need to know. You wouldn’t dream of trading the #1 pick if you didn’t think the #2 pick was just as valuable.

Utah is going to end up with a franchise-altering talent in this draft without moving up, and so, no, the Utah Jazz should not trade up. They have done the necessary work already to put them in this position. They’ll keep their top prospect in Ace Bailey and keep building one of the best young rosters in the NBA.

Sorry, Wizards fans, the Utah Jazz are absolutely fine where they are. The #2 pick is just as valuable as the #1 and the Jazz come out the winner regardless of what happens this draft.

Steph Curry is making $62.6M for the Golden State Warriors next season. Based on how much someone paid just to have lunch with Curry, his wife, and Warren Buffett, the Warriors are getting a huge bargain.

Maybe they just really want to meet Ayesha?

The winning bidder gets a private lunch in Omaha, Nebraska, along with up to seven guests, to dine with the legendary investor and the legendary shooter. And the legendary co-star of “Irish Wish”!

You’d think San Francisco would have a better food scene than Nebraska, but Buffett is 95 years old, so you travel to him. Knowing virtually nothing about the Omaha food scene, we suspect they’ll serve steak.

That may be why Buffett hosted the action on eBay. It benefited the Curry’s confusingly-punctuated “Eat.Learn.Play.” foundation, which provides meals, tutoring programs, book distribution, and rebuilt playgrounds, basketball courts, and soccer pitches at Oakland schools. This Buffett windfall, one that rises to $18M thanks to Buffett matching the winning bid, comes on the heels of Curry raising $1.7M for Eat.Learn.Play by auctioning off a 70-sneaker collection in April.

Buffett started doing the auctions in 2000, and consistently raised at least $1M per lunch from 2008 on, peaking with a $19M bid in 2022. They revived the auction in 2024 and 2025 with Salesforce founder David Benioff, who raised only $1.5M the first year and “six figures” the second year. What a failure!

The Buffett auction originally supported the GLIDE Foundation in San Francisco and its work helping the homeless. This year, they switched to Curry, probably because Buffett was willing to return to hosting lunch if he could meet the Baby-Faced Assassin. Plus, we know how Curry feels about affordable housing.

We’re not sure what Curry and Buffett will talk about. Maybe the legendary investor has some ideas on how to best navigate the NBA luxury tax. Maybe he wants to produce a reboot of “Holey Moley.” Maybe the winning bidder desperately wants to get his spec script for “Goat 2: Goat In The City” to the right people.

Regardless, Steph Curry is putting up big numbers without stepping onto the court. And if you love the Warriors but don’t have $9M lying around, you can probably have lunch with a Golden State of Mind writer for nine bucks.

Memphis Grizzlies forward Brandon Clarke died last week on May 11 at the age of 29.

The NBA team and Clarke's agency separately announced the next day that he had passed.

Tributes poured in from across the league remembering the former Gonzaga star as a passionate player and caring member of the community. Ja Morant mourned his teammate, saying he was "gone way too soon."

The day that the news broke, reports came out that Clarke's death was being investigated as a possible overdose. NBC 4 Los Angeles said that the Los Angeles Fire Department received a 911 call on May 11 for a medical emergency in the San Fernando Valley. When responders arrived on the scene, they found Clarke dead, according to the report. There was evidence of drug usage and an investigation began.

At the time of publication, Clarke's cause of death has been deferred and his body has been released, per the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner's Office. The case remains open.

Well, it’s all come down to this. Again. The Detroit Pistons dispatched the Orlando Magic in seven games in round 1, and now they are looking to best the Cleveland Cavaliers in the same seven games. Nobody said it was going to be easy. The Pistons do get the benefit of being at home, though they haven’t had much of a home-court advantage outside of game 1. Also, there are apparently 25 busloads of Cavs fans migrating to Little Caesars Arena to root on their team. On one hand, I’m just happy they were finally able to escape Ohio. On the other, as a Pistons fan who attended game 5 and had to be around a tons of gloating Cavs fans, it stunk. But it would be awfully sweet to see 1,000+ Cavs fans sit through a blowout and sulk away miserable. Let’s do that.

Game Vitals

When: 8 p.m. ET
Where: Little Caesars Arena, Detroit, Michigan
Watch: Amazon Prime
Odds: Pistons -4.5

Projected Lineups

Detroit Pistons (3-3)

Cade Cunningham, Daniss Jenkins, Ausar Thompson, Tobias Harris, Jalen Duren

Cleveland Cavaliers (3-3)

Donovan Mitchell, James Harden, Dean Wade, Evan Mobley, Jarrett Allen

It all comes down to Game 7. Tonight will be a referendum on everything the Cleveland Cavaliers have been building toward since the summer of 2018. This will be an emotional game. So when you’re in the comments here, I’d encourage you to be respectful to your fellow fans.

Share your thoughts as the game unfolds. If you aren’t a member of the community, sign up so you can talk to your fellow Cavalier fans and make your voice heard!

Go Cavs!

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of Oklahoma City becomes the 14th player to win back-to-back NBA MVPs.

Knicks fans must have felt bad about invading a Philadelphia reporter’s airtime after their Eastern Conference semifinals sweep, as they sent her flowers as a gift.

Cheyenne Corin, a reporter on 6abc in Philly, was attempting to do her job in recapping Game 4 and the series inside Xfinity Mobile Arena, but rowdy Knicks fans swarmed her.

Tough scenes in Philly after the Sixers were swept by the Knicks. pic.twitter.com/0xh04fwsIX

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) May 10, 2026

Corin went on social media Sunday morning to let people know that, in the aftermath of the event, Knicks fans sent her flowers with a note.

“As if trolling me on live television wasn’t enough, I get a notification from security at the news station telling me that I have a bouquet of flowers that was delivered,” she said with a smirk. “So then I go look at the card, and it says, ‘You handled that like a New Yorker… come to the winning team, signed Knicks in four.'”

Corin continued, “I don’t know how to feel about this. Y’all won the game, you moved on to the next round, we’ll see you next season, I don’t know the need for this.”

Corin later added that the person didn’t reveal themselves, but asked for them to do so in the comments.

“This is crazy, y’all are nuts,” she said with a smile.

She did make clear on her Instagram that she will not be turning into a Knicks fan or a New Yorker despite the gesture, but she’ll take it as a “peace offering.”

View this post on Instagram

As of this writing, the Knicks were still awaiting a challenger for the Eastern Conference finals, which will be determined Sunday night when the Pistons and Cavaliers face off in Game 7.

This will be the second consecutive Game 7 series for each team, as both won their opening-round series 4-3 before the semis.

It was meant to happen. The Spurs and Thunder seemed destined to meet in the Western Conference Finals once San Antonio became a bona fide contender, in part by dominating Oklahoma City in the regular season. The two young teams are set to rule the conference for years, led by their MVP candidates, and will have their first important battle sooner than expected.

The Thunder are the favorites. The defending champions were the best team in the regular season, cruised through the first two rounds of the playoffs, and have the experience advantage. The pressure will be on them, but they know how to handle it.

Any other opponent on their first deep playoff run might be scared of the moment, but the Spurs have a rare level of confidence for such an inexperienced group and have proved that they can handle the Thunder and the high expectations that come with contention. It should be a fantastic series between two teams that could be in each other’s way on the road to a championship for the foreseeable future.

Pace will be key on offense, but the Spurs must avoid mistakes

The Thunder have a terrific defense that can be equally effective at creating chaos and mucking things up in the half-court. Much has been written about the physicality of the way they are allowed to play in the perimeter, and there are few weak links to exploit. The same is true inside, where Chet Holmgren plays as a terrestrial version of Victor Wembanyama and Isaiah Hartenstein provides rock-solid center play.

The best way to flip the script on a team that frustrates opponents into mistakes that can then be converted into transition opportunities is to play fast enough to avoid their set defense while limiting turnovers. It’s in part why the Spurs beat them consistently in the regular season: they largely prevented the big runs OKC typically makes. San Antonio only coughed up the ball 12.4 times and allowed 12.4 points off turnovers to a team that has averaged over 17 turnovers caused per game and almost 23 points resulting from them during this playoff run, similar numbers to those from the regular season.

As for the halfcourt, the Spurs are surprisingly effective considering how rudimentary their offense is. Talent makes up for a lack of complexity, and the hope is the Silver and Black will find the right matchups to exploit. The guards thrived during the regular season and will need to do so again for San Antonio to have a chance. De’Aaron Fox’s play in particular could be even more important than usual, as he can bail out possessions with his pull-up jumper. The shooters will need to fire away without hesitation when open because the window to do so will shut down quickly, and putting the ball on the floor without a tight handle is asking for trouble against the Thunder. Keldon Johnson was not scared of attacking Holmgren in the regular season and will need to continue doing so. Decisiveness will be key, as many possessions as possible need to end in a shot.

As for matchups, it will be interesting to see how Mark Daigneault handles the Stephon Castle and Victor Wembanyama assignments. If the Thunder continue to start two bigs, one of them will have to be guarding a perimeter player, and Castle has been the preferred option for other opponents. With Castle shooting well, that might change, but there are no better options. As for Wemby, OKC has put smaller guys on him often. Will they rely on that strategy, or will they try to see if either of the starting bigs or Jaylin Williams can handle the assignment?

The Spurs will need to find ways to stress the defense using switches until a good matchup presents itself and exploit it to score one-on-one or find the open man quickly. Discipline, patience, and excellent execution will be required when the opportunity to run is not there.

The little things will matter as much as slowing down SGA on defense

It’s impossible to look at the Thunder’s success and not attribute a large part of it to the work the reigning and likely soon-to-be two-time MVP does on offense. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the most effortless scorer in the league and the savior of some bad half-court possessions that OKC can often have. When they can’t run and the ball is not finding the open man, they can simply give Shai the rock and watch him work as he soars for a mid-range jumper or drives on his way to a bucket or a foul. If he’s not at least contained, it’s tough to beat the Thunder.

Despite their success against OKC in the regular season, the Spurs didn’t really stop SGA, as he averaged 29.5 points and 5.5 assists on 50 percent shooting from the field, only slightly worse numbers than the ones he posted against the rest of the league. But they didn’t allow him to go supernova either, which is all anyone can ask. Mitch Johnson gave him different looks in those matchups, but it’s likely Stephon Castle will get the assignment in the series. Castle, who has struggled with foul trouble often, will need to be on his best behavior to avoid sending SGA to the line too often. Some double teams and traps will surely be used, but the Thunder have more weapons than the Timberwolves, so pressure will need to be applied selectively.

While keeping SGA from taking over is a requirement to win the series, the Spurs can’t simply hyperfocus on that the way they did against Edwards and the Timberwolves last round. They will also need to take care of the little things. As mentioned, no team weaponizes mistakes as well as the Thunder. They often play slowly if there’s no obvious advantage, but will run off any live ball turnover. They are a bad offensive rebounding team, and the Spurs are great at cleaning up opponent misses, but OKC can play big lineups. San Antonio can’t get too comfortable on the glass, or it could give a deadly offense more possessions to work with.

Rotations will need to be crisp as well. Similar to the Spurs, the Thunder’s offensive engine is the drive. They are shooting 75 percent at the rim for the playoffs, which should go down considerably if Mitch Johnson opts to keep Wembanyama always in help position, but sometimes they’ll command two on the ball. If their ball handlers find shooters after touching the paint, San Antonio will need to decide on the fly when to close out aggressively and risk a second drive and when to concede a semi-contested shot. Wembanyama, in particular, will have to be more disciplined than he was at times when zoning up and guarding the corner. As counterintuitive as it might sound, sometimes it’s better to let a decent but inconsistent shooter fire away than to constantly be in rotation. The Spurs know that because they did it often against OKC in the regular season.

The Thunder will score. SGA will get his buckets, and they will manufacture good shots. They have more off-the-bounce juice now than in the past, and they have finishers. All the Spurs can do is make things as hard as possible by not giving them easy transition buckets or extra possessions and trying to make sure the least effective scorer possible takes the shots.

Prediction: Thunder in seven

The Spurs seem like the only team that can realistically beat the Thunder. They have a real chance, but OKC has one big advantage: they are a significantly more well-rounded team.

San Antonio is now where Oklahoma City was before getting Alex Caruso and Hartenstein. The talent is there, but the adaptability and depth are simply not as developed. The Thunder can play big or small. They have big, physical perimeter defenders and also smaller, quicker guards. If someone is struggling in the backcourt or wing, they can throw guys like Aaron Wiggins and Isaiah Joe on the floor, who would be rotation players elsewhere. Meanwhile, the Spurs have a strong top eight but have struggled to make two-center lineups work, are heavily relying on a rookie off the bench, and have two forwards with clear issues as their potential ninth man.

If the series goes long and is close, the Thunder simply seem better prepared to adjust or find an unlikely contributor that gives them an edge. The Spurs’ best chance, on the other hand, seems to be to just out-talent OKC early and not relent until they are against the ropes, so that any tweak is made to try to stay alive instead of gaining the upper hand.

It should be a fun series and the beginning of a long rivalry. Hopefully, the Spurs will find a way to come out on top in the first of likely many postseason matchups, but it won’t be easy.

Ranking possible 2026 NBA Finals matchups: Thunder, Spurs, Knicks, Cavaliers originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

Then there were four.

The 2026 NBA playoffs has reached its penultimate stage with the conference finals next up.

Out West, it’s a matchup that’s been highly anticipated for a long, long time. The No. 1 Oklahoma City Thunder will battle the No. 2 San Antonio Spurs. Both teams are stacked with depth and quality and are arguably the two best teams in the league. It might just be the real final series.

The Eastern Conference will feature the No. 3 New York Knicks and No. 4 Cleveland Cavaliers. New York has been the best in the conference so far, while the Cavaliers are coming off a Game 7 blowout road win over the top-seeded Detroit Pistons.

So, which matchup combination would be the best for the NBA Finals? Let’s rank the four possibilities from least to most entertaining:

4. Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Cleveland Cavaliers

While it’s unique, the winner would likely be too predictable. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Chet Holmgren, Jalen Williams, Ajay Mitchell, Alex Caruso, Jared McCain and more should be too much for a Cleveland core that is anchored by Donovan Mitchell, James Harden, Evan Mobley, Jarrett Allen and Max Strus. Mitchell and Harden are the main players who can create magic, but need to be more consistent. Doing so enough times to take down Oklahoma City in four games…seems too much to ask.

3. San Antonio Spurs vs. Cleveland Cavaliers

A similar scenario likely unfolds here. Victor Wembanyama, De’Aaron Fox, Stephon Castle, Dylan Harper, Keldon Johnson, Julian Champagnie, Devin Vassell and more are a tough balance to take down. Cleveland won both battles this season with both matchups in December, but one did not feature Wembanyama. The two teams are different now, and San Antonio theoretically eliminating Oklahoma City should be enough momentum to defeat an inferior Cleveland side — unless Mobley and Allen rise to slow Wembanyama for four wins. It’d also be a new winner from last season regardless of the result.

2. Oklahoma City Thunder vs. New York Knicks

The Knicks take both of the top spots due to being the superior team in their conference. Barring a shock collapse, they should go through vs. Cleveland. So that puts Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, Mikal Bridges, Josh Hart and OG Anunoby, among others, against Oklahoma City. Gilgeous-Alexander, Holmgren, Mitchell, Williams, and Caruso are the key Thunder pieces. The series likely comes down to Gilgeous-Alexander vs. Brunson. The back-to-back MVP should be the preferred victor, which would also make Oklahoma City back-to-back champions.

1. San Antonio Spurs vs. New York Knicks

No repeat bid on the line and two of the NBA’s most storied franchises hoping to end title droughts? This arguably is the best matchup. San Antonio’s drought since 2014 is undoubtedly shorter than New York’s wait since 1973. But that makes the stakes even bigger for Brunson and Co. to stamp themselves in the history books. They’d have to do so against a deep Spurs side that is anchored by Wembanyama, who is looking to make his own history at age 22 and in just his third season. San Antonio would also need Fox to stay consistent, but interest in this possibility should be the highest.

Ranking possible 2026 NBA Finals matchups: Thunder, Spurs, Knicks, Cavaliers originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

Then there were four.

The 2026 NBA playoffs has reached its penultimate stage with the conference finals next up.

Out West, it’s a matchup that’s been highly anticipated for a long, long time. The No. 1 Oklahoma City Thunder will battle the No. 2 San Antonio Spurs. Both teams are stacked with depth and quality and are arguably the two best teams in the league. It might just be the real final series.

The Eastern Conference will feature the No. 3 New York Knicks and No. 4 Cleveland Cavaliers. New York has been the best in the conference so far, while the Cavaliers are coming off a Game 7 blowout road win over the top-seeded Detroit Pistons.

So, which matchup combination would be the best for the NBA Finals? Let’s rank the four possibilities from least to most entertaining:

4. Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Cleveland Cavaliers

While it’s unique, the winner would likely be too predictable. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Chet Holmgren, Jalen Williams, Ajay Mitchell, Alex Caruso, Jared McCain and more should be too much for a Cleveland core that is anchored by Donovan Mitchell, James Harden, Evan Mobley, Jarrett Allen and Max Strus. Mitchell and Harden are the main players who can create magic, but need to be more consistent. Doing so enough times to take down Oklahoma City in four games…seems too much to ask.

3. San Antonio Spurs vs. Cleveland Cavaliers

A similar scenario likely unfolds here. Victor Wembanyama, De’Aaron Fox, Stephon Castle, Dylan Harper, Keldon Johnson, Julian Champagnie, Devin Vassell and more are a tough balance to take down. Cleveland won both battles this season with both matchups in December, but one did not feature Wembanyama. The two teams are different now, and San Antonio theoretically eliminating Oklahoma City should be enough momentum to defeat an inferior Cleveland side — unless Mobley and Allen rise to slow Wembanyama for four wins. It’d also be a new winner from last season regardless of the result.

2. Oklahoma City Thunder vs. New York Knicks

The Knicks take both of the top spots due to being the superior team in their conference. Barring a shock collapse, they should go through vs. Cleveland. So that puts Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, Mikal Bridges, Josh Hart and OG Anunoby, among others, against Oklahoma City. Gilgeous-Alexander, Holmgren, Mitchell, Williams, and Caruso are the key Thunder pieces. The series likely comes down to Gilgeous-Alexander vs. Brunson. The back-to-back MVP should be the preferred victor, which would also make Oklahoma City back-to-back champions.

1. San Antonio Spurs vs. New York Knicks

No repeat bid on the line and two of the NBA’s most storied franchises hoping to end title droughts? This arguably is the best matchup. San Antonio’s drought since 2014 is undoubtedly shorter than New York’s wait since 1973. But that makes the stakes even bigger for Brunson and Co. to stamp themselves in the history books. They’d have to do so against a deep Spurs side that is anchored by Wembanyama, who is looking to make his own history at age 22 and in just his third season. San Antonio would also need Fox to stay consistent, but interest in this possibility should be the highest.

After reigning MVP and the runner-up for MVP in 2019, James Harden and the rest of the Houston Rockets gentlemen-swept the Utah Jazz 4-1 in April of 2019 and beat the Jazz for the second year in a row in the playoffs, the Jazz decided it was time to change it up and “upgrade” the roster. With a desire to improve their 3PT efficiency (10th & 12th in both 3PA/100 and 3PT% the prior two years), they moved on from two of their least efficient high-minute players, Ricky Rubio and Jae Crowder. Rubio’s contract expired in free agency, and rather than re-signing him for roughly $17M per year — the deal he ultimately signed with the Phoenix Suns — the Jazz instead opted to trade for 31-year-old point guard Mike Conley, who was making roughly $30.5M annually.

On July 6th, 2019, the Jazz traded Crowder, Grayson Allen, Kyle Korver, the draft rights to Darius Bazley, and a future 1st-round pick (which ultimately became Walker Kessler) to the Memphis Grizzlies for Conley. That’s a hefty price for an aging guard who was already approaching the back end of his prime. Now, Mike Conley was a fantastic guard; Mike was an excellent facilitator, and despite being undersized, he still found ways to make opposing teams feel his presence on the defensive end in one way or another. Remember, the Jazz’s goal for the offseason was to help Donovan Mitchell with the scoring load while still not overtasking him with ball-handling responsibilities, and Mike Conley offered just that. Conley was joining the Jazz after shooting 37.4% from 3PT land on 4 attempts per game over the last 10 years of his career — it’s safe to say that he had a burner on him — and in that same span, he averaged 6 assists per game. There was no doubt that he could bring positive value and still carry an offense when Donovan Mitchell was off the floor — something Ricky Rubio didn’t do.

However, a question still lies: Did Mike Conley cover enough of the margins to be “better” than Ricky Rubio?

Excusing opponent 3PT data, there was still a +1.7 net point differential in favor of Conley. The Jazz successfully found a player who carried a more efficient offense

The switch from Rubio in 2018-19 to Mike Conley in 2019-20 was felt. The Utah Jazz jumped from the 13th-ranked offense in the NBA to #1 the following year. Conely boosting team TS% data was bound to happen when you supplant a career 41.7% eFG shooter (Rubio) for a player who shot ~11.0 eFG points better for their career (Conley). The offensive rebounding data is lineup noise due to playing with Gobert and Derrick Favors, who were one of the better off. glass crashing tandems in the NBA, but Conely brought a steadier offense with lower TOV rates, and because he left a larger 3PT footprint on games in both his passing and scoring.

When you’re comparing these two fantastic guards through the lens of a complementary role, I think it should be important how they’re complementing the players who were considered the best players on the team.

One thing I found interesting is that despite Rubio heavily favoring rim assists and how much he had the ball, Gobert’s FGA did NOT drop, and he still got his (relative to his average season & surrounding season FGA/FGA per 100 numbers):

Now let’s look at Conley & Rubio with Donovan Mitchell:

Now I find this SUPER interesting and there’s a lot to unpack here. While there is a +3 point differential in overall ORTG (in favor of Conley), there is only a marginal +1.6 difference in team TS%. It’s important to note that even while Rubio wasn’t efficient, he was still boosting the shot quality for everybody else on the basketball court at a high level.

It’s hard to say if the point guard context played a role in Donovan Mitchell’s overall efficiency numbers or if it was just a 3Y improvement like we typically see in budding young players, but if there’s one thing that’s certain regarding this side-by-side, it’s that Ricky improved Donovan’s overall shot quality more than Mike did. Now, because Donovan is a score-first guard whose offense is heavily slanted towards shot-making, he needs a real playmaking infrastructure around him. Donovan’s playstyle is largely complementary in a high-usage way. What I mean by that is that while he CAN pass the ball, he won’t do it at volume on a rate basis just due to the score-first nature of his game and how he operates. He is a high-volume second-side ball handler whose imprint on team offenses is boosting team TS% and TOV%, except he boosts each of those because he is efficient overall, and he takes a lot of shots (taking a lot of shots = less passes = ultimately lowering TOV%) — the ball falls a lot, but when it comes to enhancing his teammates and providing offensive ancillary goodness, that’s where he needs help.

Accounting for Donovan Mitchell’s style of basketball, and going back to Mike Conley vs Ricky Rubio, the player who complemented Donovan better overall while still increasing teammate productivity and providing ancillary goodness was probably Ricky Rubio.

I’ve talked about Mike Conley having better TO value over Ricky, but his worst years in passing TOVs were his years with the Jazz, which is highly uncharacteristic of him from an entire career standpoint.

The spacing was already an issue, but when you have a team that turns the ball over a lot, paired with NO playmaking outside of Rubio and Joe Ingles, it’s suboptimal for a lead guard! There is a real chance the Utah Jazz missed out on building WITH Ricky Rubio as the orchestrator and primary facilitator of the offense due to, primarily, just caring about “ball-goes-in” hoops. The Utah Jazz did the worst possible job when it came to maximizing Ricky Rubio’s talent and putting an optimal team around him.

Defense:

I’ve already stated that Conley found ways to make his presence known on defense despite his size, but his impact was incomparable to Ricky’s productivity on that end.

Ricky forced significantly more opponent turnovers, whether that be from drawing charges, fighting through, and drawing illegal screens, nabbing steals in the POA, or simply just using his IQ, reading the defense, and breaking up plays by defending in the passing lanes. He was widely used as a punching bag throughout the league because of how physical he was and how he annoyed players by simply being a pest; because he was such a nuisance on defense, the players would beat up on him even more.

Jeff Teague shoves Ricky Rubio to the floor and into the stands:

Defense is what makes Rubio stand out in the lineup data; Rubio covered a lot of the defensive flaws that the Jazz and Donovan Mitchell had. After Rubio departed from the Jazz, Utah’s defense went from the 1st and 2nd-ranked defense in back-to-back years to the 13th, 3rd, and 10th-ranked defense in each season with the trio of Conley, Mitchell, and Gobert — and that difference says a lot when you have one of the best paint defenders ever to play the game on the back line.

Rubio also added great rebounding value to the team, averaging 4 rebounds a game and a dREB% of 13.1 for his career at 6’2 is valuable stuff.

While Ricky Rubio had his flaws, he covered so much on the margins where I conclusively believe that the Utah Jazz missed out on a path that could have brought them to greater heights than a second-round exit. However, I do think that Mike Conley did exactly what the Utah Jazz wanted him to do, and he did it very well. The Jazz were very blessed to have these two greats play in purple.

BRIEF ANALYSIS OF THE BOJAN SIGNING:

What has been deemed the 2nd-best free agent signing in franchise history, the Utah Jazz signed Bojan Bogdanovic to a 4-year, $72M contract (~$18M AAV). My belief is that the Utah Jazz were so hyper-fixated on “ball-goes-in” hoops that they didn’t realize he didn’t do much else. He was a very turnover-prone forward who had positional size whose role was to score, and that he did.

Bojan was an abysmal defender who did not rebound the ball well at all. Which is something you’d expect from an aging forward. (No wonder the Utah Jazz only got Kelly Olynyk and Saben Lee when they shipped Bojan to Detroit)

Though the Jazz got what they wanted, they lost a significant amount on the margins. My favorite saying in basketball is “if the ball isn’t falling, WHAT DO YOU DO?” and Bojan didn’t have much to offer when the ball wasn’t falling; in fact, he was a liability.

SIDE THOUGHT: The Utah Jazz could’ve had the same impact, and if not better, had they not traded Grayson Allen to the Memphis Grizzlies for Conley (just at a different position).

After signing Bojan and trading for Mike Conley, they took up $50M of the Utah Jazz’s $118M active cap, while they were already -$18M deep into the entire cap as a whole — Bojan and Conley took up ~42% of our active cap. With Rudy Gobert on the brink of a new max contract in 2021 and Donovan Mitchell approaching a rookie extension, along with losing both depth & additive players on the margins, the Utah Jazz were dead in the water before they even swam.

The 2019 Utah Jazz offseason will go down as one of the most detrimental offseasons in franchise history. Every dream of watching Donovan Mitchell in his prime while playing next to Rudy Gobert in a Utah Jazz uniform was killed in 2019.

Naz Reid has some strong ideas on what it will take for the Timberwolves to take it to the next level.

Minnesota lost to the Spurs in Game 6 on Friday, which ended its season in the Western Conference semifinals.

The Timberwolves reached the Western Conference finals in back-to-back seasons before this year.

In the end-of-season media availability, Reid — a former Sixth Man of the Year winner who has developed from an undrafted rookie in 2019 to one of the core players during his tenure — spoke on why the team keeps falling short.

“Probably just moodiness. You look at both of those teams, and they’re playing for one another,” Reid said, referring to the Spurs and Thunder, who will play in the Western Conference finals.

“They’re excited to be on the court with one another. They’re a team where they’re selfless, like I mentioned before. So I think just probably some of those aspects. I think we have more than enough talent. I think we have more than enough guys bringing it to the table and can compete at a high level, but just being less moody. I think that’s just the name of the game for us, just being less moody and more selfless and just carrying ourselves with championship aspirations like we’ve done before.” 

There’s online speculation among Minnesota fans and NBA observers as to whether or not this is a jab at Julius Randle, in particular.

In the season-ending 139-109 loss, Randle shot 1-for-8 with three points and was a team-worst -34 in just 24 minutes.

Reid, who had 18 points on 7-of-13 shooting, along with seven boards, averaged 12.6 points and 7.3 rebounds on 48.4 percent shooting from the field and 40 percent shooting from deep in 12 playoff games this year.

It was Reid’s best postseason performance, statistically, in his career.

Notably, the Timberwolves have some financial concerns to address, with Rudy Gobert ($36 million) and Randle ($33 million) entering the second-to-last year of their respective contracts, with player options to follow for the 2027-28 season — making them potential free agents next year and potential trade targets for Minnesota this summer.

Reid will make north of $23 million next season and will be on the second year of a five-year extension, keeping him under contract for the rest of the decade, with a player option for 2029-2030.