The former Knick talked about how social media is the real culprit for why it took so long for him to get up as a pack of wild fans nearly trampled him Monday night after the Knicks beat the 76ers.
“The Knicks fans saw JR walking and they couldn’t believe it, man,” former Knicks teammate Iman Shumpert said to Smith on an episode of “Run it Back.” “They gave him love. They gave him too much love and knocked him down in front of Madison Square [Garden]. Legendary performance.”
J.R. Smith was crowded by fans in the streets outside of Madison Square Garden Arena. Instagram @NYPostSports
Smith responded: “The worst part about it is in this society, man, they’re so bad. Everybody just has their phone out, and I’m like, ‘Yo, bro, pull me up. Come on, dog.'”
Smith joked that he “needed some help” and was looking for Shumpert to come to his rescue.
Knicks fans were going wild after a 137-98 victory, and when they saw Smith outside the arena, they crowded him and nearly trampled the former NBA star.
Smith repeatedly told the fans to “relax” as they piled on top of him, but that did not stop them from crowding him.
J.R. Smith was nearly trampled by fans outside the arena after a Game 1 victory over the 76ers. Instagram @NYPostSports
The former Knicks guard, who played for the team from 2011-15 when the Knicks were a strong Eastern Conference contender with Mike Woodson as coach and Carmelo Anthony leading the charge, did not specify whether he would attend Game 2 following the dangerous encounter.
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.
The Nature Boy is very upset with the Lakers’ wonder boy.
After Luka Doncic missed Game 1 of Los Angeles’ conference semifinals matchup with the Thunder on Tuesday night due to a hamstring strain, Ric Flair laid into the point guard for not playing injured.
Luka Doncic missed Game 1 of the Lakers’ conference semifinals matchup with the Thunder on Tuesday night. AP
Flair then went on to say he was so ticked over the matter, he hopes LA trades the 27-year-old this offseason.
“Nobody Wants A Lame Duck On Their Team!” he said.
Following backlash, Flair fired off another message about the situation early Wednesday morning, and while he softened a bit, he nonetheless remained critical of Doncic.
Ric Flair laid into the point guard for not playing injured. Getty Images
“FYI-,” Flair wrote, “Obviously They Are Not Going To Trade Luka. He’s Their Future. He’s Their Franchise. But Do The Math- He Averages 33 Points A Game. If He Has 20, LeBron @KingJames Has 27, And The Rest Of The Team- They Win!
“I Would Have Said The Same Thing About @jaytatum0 On The @celtics, But I’m Not A Boston Fan. For 46 Million Dollars A Year, I Think You Can Play! Everyone Is Allowed To Have Their Own Opinion. And This Is Mine!”
Doncic sustained a Grade 2 hamstring strain during a regular-season game against the Thunder on April 2. He has not suited up since, though he’s taken measures — including traveling overseas for treatment — to get back on the court as soon as possible.
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.
NEW YORK, NY - MAY 4: Jalen Brunson #11 of the New York Knicks dribbles the ball during the game against the Philadelphia 76ers during Round Two Game One on May 4, 2026 at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York. 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
The 39-point defeat the Sixers suffered in Game 1 of the second round at the hands of the New York Knicks was disappointing, but not that surprising. Not just because the Sixers weren’t wearing what’s become their lucky white jerseys, but it was a very quick turnaround from their Round 1 triumph in Boston to starting the next series.
Having less than 48 hours to come down from the emotional high, the Sixers looked pretty tired in Game 1. On top of that, the Knicks hit everything. They finished the game shooting 63% from the field. The silver lining in this was that the Sixers were able give all their key guys the night off early. Tyrese Maxey, Joel Embiid, Paul George and VJ Edgecombe all had their nights end before the third quarter.
That’s about as much recharging as the Sixers will be able to get as one day off in between games becomes the norm as the playoffs progress. After the game, the Sixers didn’t want to use exhaustion as an excuse for their performance, but the Knicks shooting unsustainably well was something pointed to as a reason they can bounce back.
“Yeah, they just had a good game plan. We had a couple breakdowns and we’ll be better next game,” Maxey said.
George acknowledged the miscues, but also thought the Knicks couldn’t miss a shot.
“Yeah, we had breakdowns tonight but they also shot the shit out of the ball,” he said. “They came out hot, they came out on fire. But you know, it’s a game of adjustments. We’ll make adjustments; see what we need to get better at.”
It would be quite the feat if the Knicks shoot over 60% from the field for the series, one that would definitely sink the Sixers’ chances of being competitive in this series. Nick Nurse’s answers after the game explained a little bit more why the Knicks shot so well, and why it might be more than shooting variance.
“I think [on] five or six mid pick-and-rolls in a row that they scored on in every way they could,” Nurse said. “I think they hit six straight times off that and that kind of extended a little bit.”
Nurse is talking about a five-minute stretch in the first quarter, one that got the Knicks running away with the game. The Knicks, primarily through Jalen Brunson, were able to generate a really good shot nearly every time down the floor against the Sixers’ drop coverage.
When Embiid came up high to flash against Brunson, Mitchell Robinson was able to slip behind him for a lob. If Embiid stayed lower, Brunson was able to get over a screen easily and walk into an open jumper. All of these baskets are in this clip below by Adam Aaronson of PhillyVoice.com
The Sixers allowed 10 baskets in the final 7:09 of the first quarter during their Game 1 loss to New York on Monday. Nick Nurse lamented the Sixers' pick-and-roll defense during this stretch: pic.twitter.com/f3e7VWSI16
— Adam Aaronson's clips (@SixersAdamClips) May 5, 2026
This had the Sixers’ defense so flummoxed that they resorted to Hack-A-Mitch as soon as the Knicks were in the bonus in the first quarter. Nurse brought Justin Edwards in the game for the single purpose of using his fouls to get Robinson on the free throw line.
“I think it was right on the end of that famous pick-and-roll series I’m talking about,” Nurse said, “so I think it was a chance to try to stop their momentum a little bit.”
Robinson did miss all four of his free throw attempts, but with the Sixers’ offense unable to make them pay on the other end, the Knicks were able to get back to their pulverization of Philly.
The Sixers pulled off their comeback against the Celtics thanks in large part to the defensive adjustments they made. They were able to limit Boston’s three-point shooting as much as they could. They’ll similarly have to reduce the Knicks’ shot quality if they want to have a chance in this series. With an offensive threat at center in Karl-Anthony Towns and an offensive strategy that is more than getting up as many threes as possible, the Knicks pose more complicated challenges, and it’s on the Sixers to figure them out.
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)*
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)*
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.
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS - MAY 02: Jaylen Brown #7 of the Boston Celtics looks on during introductions prior to a game against the Philadelphia 76ers in Game Seven of the First Round of the NBA Eastern Conference Playoffs at TD Garden on May 02, 2026 in Boston, Massachusetts. 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 Maddie Meyer/Getty Images) | Getty Images
After the Boston Celtics’ second straight early exit from the playoffs, the topic of roster changes is inevitable. Fans like you and I can be pretty emotional in the aftermath of disappointment. Brad Stevens, however, seems to be a lot more level headed. But that doesn’t mean he won’t consider all the options before him. So let’s try to lay out the factors as calmly as possible and discuss this rationally. (Well, at least try.)
Why is this even a topic?
The Celtics won a title just 2 years ago with a roster built around Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum. So we know it can work. Shoot, Jaylen won both ECF MVP and Finals MVP, so everyone should understands that he was one of the biggest reasons for that title. I would submit that he has only gotten better since that title and just turned in his best season ever. If you only judged him on his career to this point, he would still be considered one of the many greats in the team’s history. Personally, I’m a big fan and I would like to see him retire as a Celtic after a long, productive career. I’d like to see his number retired in the banners.
So why are we talking about this? Mostly because we have to look at everything. Consider every angle before dismissing it out of hand based on emotional reflex.
For one thing, Jaylen’s value might never be higher than it is right now. He’s not a perfect player, but you can pick at nits in anyone’s game. He just proved that he can lead a solid team to a 2nd seed. You could argue that if his teammates made a few more shots or if Tatum didn’t get hurt that they’d be on to the 2nd round as planned. I think it is safe to say that a lot of teams around the league would love to have him as their leading man (and will be calling Brad to follow up on previously shot-down conversations).
There’s also the matter of spreadsheets and nerdy number crunching. Both he and Jayson are on max contracts in an era where the rules punish large payrolls. It is very hard to build a competitive roster in this era when you have multiple max guys on the roster. One could make a convincing case that breaking Brown’s contract into smaller, higher value deals would make more sense from a roster building perspective.
What does Jaylen want?
One thing that we can only speculate upon is what Jaylen Brown wants. I don’t doubt his affection for the city of Boston or the team that he’s spent his whole career with. In fact, I greatly admire his dedication to giving back to the community.
However, he’s always been somewhat in the shadow of one player or another. He said himself that this was his favorite season. Which begs the questions. Would he be happier as the number 1 option on a different team? Would he like to play for his hometown team in Atlanta? Is there another star he would like to play with?
I will note here as well: believe it or not, Jaylen is extension eligible this offseason. It just so happens that he had his best year. If he wants to leverage that to a longer term contract, will the Celtics be willing to give him the extra years? If not, how does he feel about that? Again, I don’t know anything beyond what he’s said publicly. Just thinking out loud.
BOSTON, MA – MAY 2: Jaylen Brown #7 of the Boston Celtics arrives to the arena before the game against the Philadelphia 76ers during Round One Game Seven of the 2026 NBA Playoffs on May 2, 2026 at TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. 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 Brian Babineau/NBAE via Getty Images) | NBAE via Getty Images
What would be the return?
The only correct answer to a smug blog title that asks “Should we trade Player X?” is “Well, it depends on the return you are getting.” So let’s roll up our sleeves and peel back the layers of that answer.
We’re just entering the summer of Giannis Rumors (part 3?) and his name is bound to come up. The Celtics have already been linked (vaguely) to the Bucks superstar. Giannis had some really nice things to say about the Boston culture this year. He’s hands down a better player than Jaylen Brown, …when healthy. And there’s the rub. I just don’t know if I trust his body to hold up much longer given his age, body type, and playing style.
I can safely predict that we’ll hear more stars linked to the Celtics in various rumors in the coming months. Kawhi Leonard? Kevin Durant? Paolo Banchero? Each has their strengths and weaknesses and concerns. Personally I’m skeptical of all of the above for one reason or another. There are other big names that you could toss around, and each would need to be considered for things like fit, style, cost, and the compensation needed on either side to get a trade done.
As I mentioned earlier, the Celtics might prefer to break Brown’s deal into smaller pieces. You could logically ask why the team would let all their elite role players go one year (Jrue, Porzingis, Horford, Kornet) only to look for guys like that a year later. However, I think the team would likely be focused on younger (and perhaps healthier) options. “Like who????“ You might ask (I know you are asking). I suppose if the Cavs flame out in the 2nd round, one of their bigs (Mobley or Allen) might be available. What about Trey Murphy III? Lauri Markkanen? Onyeka Okongwu? (See, I had the guts to put some real names out there, don’t be too hard on me. I’m not proposing these deals, just listing some names to consider.)
So is this real or just another overreaction?
Most likely the latter (even if only because trades are hard), but it is certainly going to be a topic of discussion this summer. So I figured I’d get ahead of that somewhat.
The most likely scenario is that the team will happily build around Jaylen and the core players that they already have. They do have some levers to pull in terms of adding free agents. There are smaller deals that could be made (Hauser and a pick?) and bigger ones that I would hate to consider (Derrick?). The roster is also young enough that internal improvements could be a big part of the plan as well.
So ultimately I don’t think Jaylen Brown is going to be traded and I’m perfectly happy with that. He’s an All NBA level player and a champion and has a great heart for this city and this team. There should be no rush to push him out the door.
Just remember that it is Brad’s job is to consider all his options to make this team better.
May 4, 2026; New York, New York, USA; New York Knicks guard Jose Alvarado (5) brings the ball up court against Philadelphia 76ers guard VJ Edgecombe (77) during the second quarter of game one of the eastern conference semifinal round of the 2026 NBA Playoffs at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images | Brad Penner-Imagn Images
A Game 1 stinker for the Sixers against the Knicks? It wasn’t ideal, but the Sixers have rebounded from such losses already in the postseason and, in defiance of how I’ve looked at this team for so long, I have confidence they will again. Before they have a chance to do so in Game 2, here’s a fresh “5 Sixers thoughts” column from me…
Let it rip, Tyrese
Tyrese Maxey was a godsend as a late-game closer in the Sixers’ series win over the Celtics, but, even in acknowledging the magnitude of that performance and that upset, I wish he was more aggressive early in games. In that Game 1 shellacking at Madison Square Garden, Maxey attempted just one first-quarter shot. It was over at halftime.
In Game 7 against Boston, he had three first-quarter shots, tied for the fewest among the Sixers’ five starters.
I know all these guys, Maxey included, were likely gassed to start the Eastern Conference Semifinals. It’s why I’m cutting this group way more slack than I could’ve ever dreamed for a Sixers team that got run off the court in the playoffs like this, but I want to see Maxey not wait until the 11th hour to take over. Sixers fans everywhere know he has it in him.
Tiki Barber sounds like an absolute clown yet again
Tiki Barber, the former New York Giant who now works as a host at WFAN in New York, their equivalent of WIP, has a penchant for letting his mouth run. When former Giants running back Saquon Barkley signed with the Eagles during the 2024 NFL offseason, Barber stated, “He’s dead to us now.” Barkley responded by having perhaps the greatest running back season in football history while hoisting the Lombardi Trophy, something that Barber never did in his own career.
Anyway, Barber is at it again. After Joel Embiid took a shot from Mikal Bridges on a screen in Game 1, the big fella was dealing with some abdominal pain, certainly a concern as he recovers from appendicitis. After the game, Embiid remarked, “I just felt like it wasn’t necessary, but we move on. It’s playoff basketball. So, if that’s the reality of it, I guess we have to go out there and be physical, too, and do it, too.
“If it was that bad, then don’t play,” Barber said about the Sixers center’s injuries. “It’s part of the risk of playing when you’re hurt,” Barber later said. “So, stop being a b***h.”
Barber, who fumbled the ball 35 times between the 2000 and 2003 seasons and whose Giants won the Super Bowl immediately after he retired, could have his comments come back to bite him. Embiid has proven what he can do on the court no matter his health. I would not be shocked to see him go off on a 35-point, near-triple-double tear in a Wednesday win after this.
The Adem Bona Experience
I love the energy Adem Bona has, but…
Serious candidate for most impressive Sixers stat of the night: Adem Bona with 5 fouls in 3:47 on the floor.
The backup center rotation behind Joel Embiid for nearly a decade continues to be, uh, something.
Shooting variance tells the tale of the modern NBA
That’s only a surface-level take, yes, but it was apparent during the Sixers’ seven-game battle with Boston and was once more in Game 1 against New York. The Knicks aren’t going to shoot 51 percent from three this whole series. Things will ebb and flow. I remain unbothered by how Monday night played out and am ready for the Sixers to fight back with a vengeance on Wednesday evening.
How is this guy still talking?
The Celtics were eliminated over the weekend. Please log off, Jaylen Brown.
Click bait is like flopping for the media exaggerating contact yall be safe out here
The NBA Draft Combine is approaching, and three Illini players were invited to participate in Chicago. The combine will run from May 10-17 at Wintrust Arena and the Marriott Marquis. Players will compete in five-on-five scrimmages, skill drills, measurements, medical examinations, and interview sessions.
A total of 73 players were invited, including Illini standouts Keaton Wagler, Kylan Boswell, and Andrej Stojakovic. All three former Illini appear in recent NBA mock drafts and will have a chance to improve their stock during the NBA Draft Combine.
Where do the Illini rank in NBA mock drafts?
Jeremy Woo (ESPN): Keaton Wagler – #6 Kylan Boswell – #52 Andrej Stojakovic – #54
We will have a better idea of where former Illinois players Keaton Wagler and Kylan Boswell could land following the NBA Draft Lottery on May 10. Junior guard Andrej Stojakovic appears in some mock drafts but is expected to return to college for his senior season.
Boswell has exhausted his eligibility, and Wagler is projected to be a top-10 pick, meaning both players are expected to remain in this year’s draft. Illini fans will likely get another look at them during NBA Summer League action in Las Vegas beginning in mid-July.
Boswell is still just 21 years old and will now get his opportunity to prove himself at the professional level. While the G League may be the most likely outcome initially, Boswell will have the chance to earn an NBA roster spot or sign a two-way contract. The Champaign native also spoke about how much Brad Underwood has meant to his development over the past two seasons.
“He’s (Brad Underwood) meant everything for me. How much he demands from me – I think will translate to help me just in whatever my career takes me,” said Kylan Boswell on head coach Brad Underwood.
Wagler is expected to become one of the highest Illinois basketball players ever selected in the NBA Draft. While it is unlikely he surpasses Deron Williams as the highest draft pick in program history at No. 3 overall, he could potentially tie Kendall Gill at No. 5, Red Kerr at No. 6, or George Bon Salle at No. 7. Wagler would become Illinois’ highest draft pick since Meyers Leonard was selected No. 11 overall in 2012.
Dylan Harper
Naz Reid
