The 2026 NBA Draft has something for everyone. There’s star power at the top, a deep point guard class, talented forwards young (Nate Ament, Hannes Steinbach) and old (Yaxel Lendeborg) throughout the lottery, a classic 7’3 drop coverage big man in Aday Mara, and a long-term stretch five bet in Chris Cenac Jr. Like last year, the biggest winners will be the teams that moved into the top-4 on lottery night, but there should still be valuable contributors available into the 20s, plus a few more players who exceed expectations in the second round.

Our instant mock draft after the lottery tried to take a stab at how the first round will actually play out. I also wrote up a mock on what I would do with every pick if I was the GM for each team. Read my story on why Cameron Boozer is the top overall prospect in this class.

Now, let’s dive into some draft fits we love from both the team and player perspective. These six fits stand out entering the draft.

Darryn Peterson – Utah Jazz

Peterson looked like he might be developing into the best prospect in the class when he dropped 58 points in a head-to-head matchup against A.J.Dybantsa as a high school seniors in Feb. 2025. Fast forward a year and change, and Peterson enters the draft as a somewhat polarizing prospect after a bizarre freshman year at Kansas plagued by cramping and soft tissue injuries. Peterson didn’t show the same explosiveness he possessed in high school, but he claims he’s fully recovered now after realizing his issues were caused by taking too much creatine without proper hydration.

The Jazz have close ties to A.J. Dybantsa after he spent the last two years playing in the state of Utah, but Peterson feels like a better fit for what the team needs going forward. The Jazz already have a strong core in place with Jaren Jackson Jr., Lauri Markkanen, and (probably) Walker Kessler in the frontcourt, Ace Bailey on the wing, and Keyonte George in the backcourt. The ideal final piece would be a guard who can make an impact on defense while adding offensive firepower by blending on-ball and off-ball utility next to George. Peterson fits that description to a tee.

Peterson proved he could be a deadly off-ball scorer without his best burst while playing at Kansas. His three-point volume and accuracy both vastly exceeded preseason expectations, and the movement shooting he showed off for the Jayhawks would be an ideal fit in Will Hardy’s Utah schemes. It’s also totally possible that Peterson could again become the takeover scoring guard he looked like in high school, thus demanding more touches on the ball. If he regains his burst, only thing really holding him back will be his playmaking vision, which looked pretty mediocre at Kansas. Whatever Peterson gives you offensively will be made even more valuable because he’s an impactful defender who can rack up steals and blocks as a helper. George will look a lot better defensively with Peterson deterring ball handlers with hard digs in the paint or even by taking the tougher assignment.

Add Peterson, and I really think Utah can be a playoff team in the Western Conference next year.

Aday Mara and Ebuka Okorie – Atlanta Hawks

The Hawks pick at No. 8 and No. 23, and they have long-term needs at point guard and center. It will be tempting to take whichever top-rated guard is still available with their first pick — Mikel Brown Jr., Darius Acuff, Kingston Flemings, and Keaton Wagler among them. I like waiting until their second pick to land a point guard since it’s the deepest position in this draft class, thereby allowing them to select the draft’s clear top center prospect in Michigan’s Aday Mara at No. 8.

The Hawks made a mistake by passing on Zach Edey and Donovan Clingan with the No. 1 pick in the 2024 draft in favor of Zaccharie Risacher (okay, they could have had Stephon Castle, too), and this would be an opportunity to right that wrong. There are only so many 7’3 players available in the world, and Mara brings special passing vision and enough post scoring touch to give him real two-way viability. Mara is not the most scheme-versatile defender, but he should be effective in drop, and it helps that the Hawks would have some dogs at the point of attack in front of him with Dyson Daniels and Nickeil Alexander-Walker hounding opposing ball handlers.

If Ebuka Okorie is still on the board at No. 23, it would be a home run pick for Atlanta. The 6’2 Stanford point guard has the best first step in the class with a tight handle to help generate paint touches whenever he pleases. He’s more of a scorer than a passer at this stage, but it’s worth noting he didn’t have much talent around him in college, and could take a big leap as a playmaker with better teammates in the NBA. Okorie has been rising up draft boards lately and could even challenge for a lottery pick, but he’s been viewed in the 20s for most of the cycle, and it’s possible teams aren’t quite as high on him as the online hipsters like me. Mara and Okorie would set the Hawks up to compete in the East for a long, long time.

Yaxel Lendeborg – Oklahoma City Thunder

Yaxel Lendeborg is a month older than Josh Giddey, who just completed his fifth NBA season. He’s also clearly one of the best prospects in the 2026 NBA Draft with a unique skill set that few modern day forwards can replicate. Lendeborg was the second-best player in college basketball this season behind Cameron Boozer, but it wasn’t just because he was an overwhelming scorer against younger competition. After going through the pre-draft process last season, Lendeborg told me he entered Michigan with the intention of showing off his role player skills by upping his three-point volume and proving he could take on more challenging defensive assignments. He excelled in both areas in the Wolverines’ run to the national championship, and he looks like a plug-and-play starter who adds value on both sides of the ball as he enters the NBA.

Lendeborg is almost as big as an NBA center standing nearly 6’9 barefoot with a 241-pound frame and a 7’3.25 wingspan. He proved he could play on the perimeter offensively full-time at that size by taking 8.4 threes per 100 possessions and making 37.2 percent of them this season. He’s always been a good passer who can make quick, connective reads all over the floor, he’s a solid offensive rebounder, and he’s a load to deal with when he starts attacking downhill on cuts or off the dribble. The Thunder need cost-controlled contributors, and they always value prospects who can dribble, pass, and shoot with an NBA frame. OKC should be doing backflips if Yaxel still on the board at No. 12. I’d take him in the top-6 of this draft.

Bennett Stirtz – Detroit Pistons

Cade Cunningham had to take on almost all of the creation responsibility for the Pistons this season on a roster devoid of extra ball handling. It feels like an obvious area of need for Detroit to address with the No. 21 overall pick, and there’s no better fit than Iowa point guard Bennett Stirtz if he’s still on the board.

Stirtz almost never came off the floor for the Hawkeyes this season while providing efficient scoring and playmaking in a high-usage role. He’s a skilled pick-and-roll operator who knows every passing read on the floor but can also pressure the opposing defense with his off-the-dribble scoring. Stirtz is also one of the draft’s better shooters and would be a valuable floor spacer when Cunningham is at the controls. I’m also fascinating to see what Stirtz would look like in a more uptempo system after Iowa played about as slow as anyone in college basketball this past season.

Stirtz is just an additive player in every way offensively. He might struggle a bit defensively, but the Pistons just finished with the league’s top defense and have plenty of big bodies to insulate him. This feels like a mutually beneficial pairing between player and team in every way.

Morez Johnson – Charlotte Hornets

The Hornets finished with the best net-rating in the NBA after Jan. 1, but their play-in tournament exit showed the team still needs some more toughness and beef on the interior. There won’t be an obvious center prospect on the board at No. 13 overall assuming Mara is gone, but his Michigan teammate Morez Johnson is the next best thing. Johnson is a tweener, but that’s not a knock on him. He showed he can thrive in two big lineups with the Wolverines, but he also measured big enough at the combine to hold down center minutes on his own. Johnson came in at 6’9 barefoot with a 250-pound frame and 7’3.5 wingspan, giving him the length and strength needed for an NBA five. He’s an excellent athlete for his size who will win by finishing feeds from the dunker’s spot, beating opposing bigs down the court in the open floor, and catching lobs as a roll man. He’s also one of the best defenders in this class with a low center of gravity to win the battle for positioning on the ground, and quick enough feet to switch screens on the perimeter.

Playing with an elite facilitator like LaMelo Ball and an elite spacer like Kon Knueppel would open up so much room inside for Johnson’s finishes. He could play next to Ryan Kalkbrenner and Moussa Diabate, or act as the lone big man for stretches. Johnson would also be a great pick for the Chicago Bulls at No. 15 or the Thunder at No. 17 (or No. 12). There might be higher upside players with more shooting value on the board, but sometimes to win a playoff series, you have to build a team that can win a street fight. Johnson’s the perfect player for trying to build that type of mentality.

Plenty of decisions lie ahead for the Phoenix Suns this offseason, and one of the biggest revolves around the center position. Mark Williams is set to become a restricted free agent, carrying a qualifying offer of $9.6 million. That leaves Phoenix with plenty to sort through when it comes to the future of the position.

One thing they don’t have to worry about, however, is Oso Ighodaro.

Ighodaro is slated to make $2.3 million next season, his third year in the NBA. Originally, his contract was partially guaranteed. He was set to earn $500,000 guaranteed, with the remaining $1.8 million becoming guaranteed if he remained on the roster through January 10, 2027.

According to Bobby Marks, that guarantee has already kicked in.

Given what Oso meant to the team last season, that doesn’t come as much of a surprise. Honestly, the bigger surprise is that the guarantee already occurred, and it largely flew under the radar.

Oso was integral to executing Jordan Ott’s system. Yes, the jumper still needs work. That part is obvious. The way he facilitates, processes the game, and makes quick decisions with his high basketball IQ is incredibly valuable, especially in a system that asks a lot from its centers. When you consider he was selected 40th overall in the 2024 NBA Draft, he feels like a steal at this point. And getting that kind of production and versatility for $2.3 million is an easy decision.

There are plenty of other decisions that still need to be made. It’s nice knowing this one has already been made for you.

There are still two players on the roster carrying non-guaranteed contracts for next season. Haywood Highsmith has $1 million guaranteed, though his full $3.8 million salary does not become guaranteed until January 10, 2027. The same is true for Jamaree Bouyea. That provides another layer of flexibility for Phoenix moving forward. It gives the organization time. Time to evaluate Highsmith. Time to evaluate Bouyea. Time to see how the roster comes together before making permanent financial commitments.

And considering the Suns are likely to spend the season navigating luxury tax and first apron hurdles, every ounce of flexibility matters.

In a summer that will be defined by difficult decisions and financial constraints, having a few easy ones matters. Oso Ighodaro has already proven he belongs, and the Suns now have cost certainty at a position where very little else is certain. As Phoenix continues trying to balance flexibility, development, and competitiveness, knowing you have a valuable rotation player locked in at a team-friendly number is one less thing keeping the front office up at night.

The Spurs are returning to the NBA Finals. For most, getting a ticket is nearly impossible. In San Antonio, the Spurs are monitoring ticket sales and reaching out to season ticket holders involved with reselling tickets through unapproved sites.

In New York, ticket prices are soaring.

According to TickPick, the current price for Game 3 in NYC is now $4,115 – 336% more expensive than the current price of $944 for Game 1 in San Antonio. For those who can’t afford the “get in” price of the NBA Finals, the Spurs Organization is continuing to create opportunities for fans to gather communally as the Race for Seis continues.

Per a Spurs press release:

The San Antonio Spurs announced fan activations that will continue across the city as the team advances to the NBA Finals, taking on the New York Knicks. The organization will continue fostering fan engagement and team spirit with free, public activations such as watch parties, giveaways and more. All the latest Playoff information can be found at Spurs.com/Playoffs.

Official Watch Parties
The Rock at La Cantera, 1 Spurs Way
Official watch parties, presented by Michelob ULTRA, will continue at The Rock at La Cantera for all Finals games. Attendance is limited and will be granted on a first come, first served basis. RSVP at Spurs.com/Playoffs is encouraged but does not guarantee entry.
 
Frost Bank Center, 1 Frost Bank Center Drive
Frost Bank Center will continue to host free watch parties for all away games, presented by USAA. Tickets are required but do not guarantee entry. Join the Spurs Fan Club to be notified when tickets are available to claim at Spurs.com/FanClub.  Attendance will be limited and will be granted on a first-come, first-served basis with required ticket.
 
Participating Pluckers Wing Bar Locations
Participating Pluckers Wing Bar locations in San Antonio and Austin will stream all Spurs Finals games, and customers who wear Spurs gear to these viewings can receive five free wings with the purchase of an adult entrée. Offer available while supplies last and subject to Pluckers’ offer terms.

As you can see, there are many ways to watch and to share in the experience with your fellow Pounders.

Be safe and Go Spurs Go!

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Our community guidelines apply which should remind everyone to be cool, avoid personal attacks, not to troll and to watch the language.

The Dallas Mavericks have not seen much of Dereck Lively throughout his nascent career. In fact, the promising young center has played in only 98 of 240 (41%) possible regular season games since being selected with the number 10 pick in 2023. The bulk of his missed games stacked up this past season, when he only logged time in seven contests before undergoing season-ending foot surgery.

Lost in the mix of the NBA Draft Lottery, the hiring of Masai Ujiri and Mike Schmitz and the firing of now-former head coach Jason Kidd, was an update provided by Lively himself. Lively joined Myles Turner and Breanna Stewart on the Game Recognize Game podcast to discuss a range of topics, beginning with his recovery process.

Seen throughout the season with some combination of walking boot and scooter, and even sporting a cane for a while, Lively offers the good news of having jettisoned all of that. “No boots, no crutches, just normal walking shoes,” he said when asked about his current status, following that up with “it’s solely just getting back to building my lower leg strength.”

That last part sounds concerning, but underscores what Lively has been through in a long recovery process. He has not seen game action since December, so a measured process to his return is to be expected. Fortunately, he has over four months before next season tips off and it sounds as though he is well on his way to putting all of this behind him.

Lively is certainly on the Cooper Flagg timeline, but whether or not he is part of Ujiri’s long-term vision is yet to be determined. Lively is up for a contract extension prior to next season, so it will be interesting to see what happens. Does Dallas package him up as part of a rebuild, or do they have confidence in a return to form and attempt to lock down his services on a favorable deal as he comes off a lengthy injury hiatus?

When healthy, he is an exciting, dynamic player that can bring a defensive presence and offensive lob threat (with a burgeoning three-point shot?) that can help the Mavs. Hopefully he will find a more permanent return to action right here with the Mavericks.  

I invite you to follow me @_80MPH on X, and check back often at Mavs Moneyball for all the latest on the Dallas Mavericks

Good morning, BBN!

We have all been on Milan Momcilovic watch over the last few days as we wait for the top uncommitted transfer to announce where he will play his college basketball next season.

It finally came late Monday night when Momcilovic announced his commitment to the Kentucky Wildcats. It marks one of the biggest commitments in recent memory for the basketball program, as well as the biggest recruiting win Mark Pope has had as a coach.

It also saved Kentucky’s 2026-27 season. While the pre-Momcilovic roster had some nice potential, it’s hard to see that group doing anything more than maybe sneaking into the Sweet 16 with a good draw.

Now we can start thinking about a fun season that ends with a special March Madness run.

While Kentucky now has its roster pretty much set, should we also be on commitment watch for a new assistant coach?

Only one name has really been connected to the final assistant coach opening on Mark Pope’s staff as they have honed in on former NBA superstar and current announcer Jamal Crawford.

It has been over a month since Crawford was initially linked to the job, and according to the most recent reports by Jack Pilgrim and Jacob Polacheck of KSR, he is still considering it.

With his NBC duties now over as the NBA Finals move to ESPN and ABC, will we finally get an answer from Crawford? If we do, it should be coming soon, especially with the summer recruiting circuit heating up.

This once again has some similarities to the Tyran Stokes recruitment all-over it. How so? Well, if Crawford really does finally turn it down, they will enter summer basketball with an open seat. Now, although we haven’t heard any other names connected, you have to believe they have been doing their due diligence.

At least, that is what we can hope.

Now, we wait on the former NBA Sixth Man of the Year.

Tweet of the Day

What a walk-off.

Headlines

Kentucky Football is Building Sweat Equity to Start Summer Program- KSR

Should be a fun fall in Lexington.

Kentucky vs. Louisville WBB will be at Rupp Arena- KSR

This should be fun!

2026 Elite 11 Finals- Cats Pause

The UK commit shines at Elite 11.

Randall Cobb Named to 2027 College Football Hall of Fame Ballot- UK Athletics

Let’s go!

Kentucky still outside of Preseason Top 25s ahead of Milan Momcilovic’s decision- KSR

This would change a lot.

Eagles trade AJ Brown to Patriots- ESPN

Brown is reunited with Vrabel.

Myles Garrett traded to the Rams- ESPN

A blockbuster in the NFL.

2026 Women’s College World Series: Reigning champ Texas sweeps Tennessee, advances to WCWS finals- CBS

The Longhorns return to the finals.

Sixers draft profile: Bennett Stirtz is a polished, battle-tested guard  originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

A scouting report on NBA draft prospect Bennett Stirtz: 

• Position: Guard
• Height: 6-foot-2.5 (without shoes)
• Weight: 186 pounds 
• College: Iowa 

Strengths

Stirtz had an incredible rise from Division II Northwest Missouri State to Drake to Iowa alongside head coach Ben McCollum. As he climbed the ranks, Stirtz kept improving and showing he very much belonged. 

He took on a huge workload last season as Iowa’s lead guard (37.7 minutes per game), helped the No. 9 seed Hawkeyes reach the Elite Eight, and averaged 19.8 points, 4.4 assists, 2.6 rebounds and 1.4 steals. 

Stirtz shoots with range, variety and volume. On top of his three-point shooting, he can keep the scoreboard moving with crafty finishes inside and soft touch on well-honed floaters, runners and leaners. Over his two Division I seasons, Stirtz went 48.7 percent from the floor, 37.2 percent from three-point range and 82.0 percent at the foul line. He got up 6.9 threes per game as a senior and fired away with the kind of confidence that’s needed in the NBA. 

“I feel like I’m the best shooter in this draft and I want to prove that my whole basketball career,” Stirtz told the Big Ten Network’s Andy Katz.

Stirtz is a polished pick-and-roll ball handler who’s clever about manipulating defenses but doesn’t force high-risk passes. He posted a 2.40 assist-to-turnover ratio last year.

Weaknesses

Stirtz isn’t a player with much blow-by explosiveness or traditional athleticism. Defensively, he knows there will be major challenges against NBA speed and strength. 

“That’s the main thing that we’re working on right now,” he said in an interview with League Him’s Jacob Myers. “Just watching the NBA, they pick on dudes. They get the same dude in the action every time who they don’t think can guard. I don’t want to be that guy. … I want to be able to guard in the league and be able to guard different positions.

“I think playing (almost) 40 minutes (per game) this year, it didn’t help because I was so tired and I was doing so much on the offensive end. Trying to get a breather, it was on the defensive side of the ball. So that was a tough spot for this year, but I really want to be become a great defender.”

Is Stirtz truly an elite shooter? He might make that look like a silly question, but Stirtz was 10 for 39 from three-point territory (25.6 percent) in the 2026 NCAA tournament, including an 0-for-9 game against Florida. Much of that can be chalked up to having to take difficult off-the-dribble looks and the toll of game after game with zero rest. It wouldn’t be surprising at all if Stirtz has more open shots next to NBA talent and hits a high percentage. However, his ceiling would obviously be lower if he doesn’t end up as a full-blown sharpshooter. 

In terms of upside, it’s also notable that Stirtz will turn 23 years old in October. He’s an unconventional prospect and could continue making significant development, but NBA teams will generally expect more growth from the younger players in this draft class. 

Fit

With Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe as backcourt cornerstones, Stirtz would presumably not step into the Sixers’ starting lineup as the 22nd pick. 

In the event that most of Stirtz’s college strengths translate to the NBA, it’s still easy to envision him being a valuable piece. The Sixers could absolutely use more three-point shooting and more players capable of handling the ball besides Maxey and Edgecombe.

Last week, I had recap duties for the Mets’ series opener against the Reds. After the Mets suffered another in a long line of hapless losses, I chose to mostly write about the New York Knicks, who at that time were one win away from the NBA Finals. A dereliction of duty? Perhaps, but in my defense: Can you really blame me for preferring in that moment to talk about the Knicks—who went on to finish their sweep of the Cavaliers that night and be declared Eastern Conference champions for the first time since 1999, i.e. the first time since I’d started watching them in the mid-2000s—over a Mets team that has spent their 2026 trying—and mostly failing, despite a decent winning streak here and there—to simply hold their head above water?

I don’t even live in New York right now, but even hundreds of miles away it’s pretty clear that a certain blue and orange squad has taken over the hearts and minds of the city, and it ain’t the one we usually talk about on this site.

From my Mets fan point of view, 95% of me has appreciated having the Knicks as a diversion from the awful baseball we’ve been subjected to over the past couple months. No matter how terrible things have been at Citi Field, it’s been a comfort to know that all I needed to do was wait until the next game at Madison Square Garden to experience some significantly better vibes. I fear for what things will be like in the dog days of July and August when I will be forced to give all my attention to the Mets once more (perhaps some people could simply spend those months building up anticipation for football season, but as a Jets fan… well, yeah).

That other 5%, however, is a different story. That other 5% is looking at what’s happening with the Knicks and wondering when we will get to experience something similar with the Mets. And to be clear, I’m not just talking about making a championship run, though of course, that is the ultimate goal in all sports. But what I’m looking at is not just the last two months of basketball, but rather the past four years of it. During that time, the Knicks have accomplished something that the Mets have pretty much never accomplished during their entire history: continuous relevance.

Let’s back it up. Even those who don’t watch basketball probably know that the 21st century had not been kind to the Knicks before the 2020s. The organization spent the first two decades of the 2000s being a perennial laughingstock, putting up just three winning seasons in nineteen years from 2001 to 2020 and winning just one playoff series in those three winning seasons from 2011-2013. But then Leon Rose took over as team president in 2020, and a series of moves—most notably, the free agency signing of Jalen Brunson—transformed the team’s identity. They easily made the postseason in all four seasons since Brunson joined the team, and they had some measure of success once there in each of those seasons, as they won at least one playoff series in all four years before finally making it to the Finals this year. Now they are a mere four wins away from giving Knicks fans their first title since 1973, an event which would undoubtedly cause New York City to burn to the ground. If you need any more evidence for how thoroughly the team has taken over the city, look no further than Mayor Zohran Mamdani signing an executive order to repeal kids’ bedtimes for the Finals, a decision I was sure to inform my sister about so she could adjust my three-year-old nephew’s sleeping schedule accordingly.

Again, winning a championship is the final goal, and if the Knicks don’t manage to get it done this year or in the near future it will certainly limit the level of fondness we can feel about this era in the years to come. But there is still something to be said about rooting for a team that is always a factor come playoff time, that goes into each season genuinely believing that it has a chance at being the last squad standing. Having spent most of my life rooting for a team that was always a laughingstock of the sport instead of at the forefront of it, it has been a special feeling to get to experience the latter for a change and I have tried not to take that for granted.

The Mets, on the other hand? Making the playoffs four years in a row is something the franchise has quite literally never done. Their record is two straight years, which they’ve only accomplished twice (1999-2000 and 2015-2016). In theory, it should be easier than ever to finally break that streak nowadays with the expansion of the wild card. They had the chance to make the playoffs in consecutive seasons for the third time in history last year, but their collapse prevented that from happening. And barring a miraculous turnaround, odds are they won’t be making the playoffs this year, either, so the stretch of perennial irrelevance will continue for an unforeseen period of time. Despite playing in a league whose collective bargaining agreement is far more generous towards big market, deep-pocketed franchises in comparison to a salary cap league like the NBA, the Mets have simply never been able to establish the kind of year-to-year consistency that the Knicks have had for the past few years.

This should all be familiar enough to those of us who have rooted for the team for a while, so why complain about it now? Well, beyond the fact that the Knicks are now reminding us what extended success looks and feels like, there’s also the fact that this time a year ago, it really and truly seemed like things were finally changing for the better.

The Mets had their rich owner and a president of baseball operations who was seen as one of the best in the business. They were coming off a magical 2024 season in which they came up just short, but not before getting one over on some of the foes (the Braves and the Phillies, namely) who have historically been the ones to get the last laugh over the Mets. They had won a bidding war for one of the best players on the planet, beating the goddamn Yankees, of all teams. And in the first half of 2025, they were succeeding at the major league level while also boasting a strong farm system and improved player development apparatus. A World Series victory was not guaranteed, of course, but it seemed like another playoff berth was in store and that a string of them would still follow in the years to come. If you get enough bites at the apple, eventually it stands to reason that you’ll have a pretty good chance at winning it all.

Mets fans have certainly fallen victim to false hope before, but this didn’t feel like that at all. This felt sustainable. This felt real.

But we all know how things played out from there. The second half of 2025 was a slow-moving train wreck, and they missed the playoffs by one game. After a tumultuous offseason which still ended with most people feeling optimistic about how things would go this year, 2026 has largely picked up right where the end of last season left off. And now, 2024 looks like what 2015 and 2006 were before them: not the start of an exciting new era of Mets baseball, but rather a flash in the pan, an oasis of glory (and fairly limited glory at that, given that all of these seasons ended without a ring) amid a desert of ineptitude. Indeed, one good season a decade seems to be all that the baseball gods see fit to give us.

So while watching the Knicks has given me all sorts of joy over the past couple months, it has also made me look at the Mets and wonder: When is it their turn? When will we finally get to see not just a good season here and there, but rather an extended period of meaningful, important, and just plain good baseball? Every single time we think they’re on the verge, things go wrong. Players get hurt, prospects bust, managers and GMs get fired. All of this has happened before, and seemingly, all of it will happen again. And again. And again. It’s the sort of thing that can make a skeptic believe in curses.

So again: When it is the Mets’ turn? Usually when we ask a question like that, we’ll be able to offer some kind of attempt at a sensible answer. But I’ve got nothing for this one. All I can do is watch the Knicks and be reminded of what it is that we’ve been missing.

If there’s a silver lining here, it’s this: The current success of the Knicks showed how dramatically a franchise’s fortunes can change before you know it. One day you can be the worst-run team in the league, and then you hire the right person and sign the right player and suddenly you’re at the top of the organizational rankings. One day, perhaps we will look up and the Mets will have accomplished the same level of annual relevance that the Knicks have achieved over these past few years. Maybe it will even still be the current people in charge to get them there; after all, for all the things that have gone wrong over the past calendar year, they still have some bright young players on their roster, and their player development apparatus remains far ahead of where it was just a few years ago.

So yes, maybe we will finally see the Mets get over the hump if we just wait a little bit longer. But we have already been waiting so long, and despite all the positive steps they had seemed to have taken over the past few years, it still oftentimes feels like we remain so far away. 

Last season, with Victor Wembanyama shut down by mid-February with a blood clot, the San Antonio Spurs lurched to a 34-48 record.

Now, just four wins away from an NBA title, these young Spurs are on the cusp of recasting the balance of power in the league and announcing itself as a dynastic force.

Wembanyama is 22. Stephon Castle 21 and Dylan Harper 20.

The average age of the Spurs (25.06 years old) makes San Antonio the second-youngest team to reach an NBA Finals in the shot clock era.

Even their head coach, Mitch Johnson, is young; he’s 39 and in his first full season on the job. And if he can top the New York Knicks in the NBA Finals, which begin Wednesday, June 3, he would become the fifth-youngest head coach to win an NBA championship since 1970.

These Spurs, it would seem, are ahead of schedule.

That has been the predominating thought surrounding San Antonio’s ascension, but that framing is too simplistic. Yes, the Spurs are winning as a very young team, but that notion minimizes other qualities necessary in championship teams, qualities the Spurs have: commitment to an identity, maturity, a willingness to adapt, a willingness to sacrifice.

SPURS VS. KNICKS: Who has the edge in NBA Finals?

Jeremy Lin couldn’t have timed it better.

This week, the player responsible for perhaps the NBA’s most potent cultural phenomenon is stepping into a new broadcast role while the iconic franchise linked to his fame is competing for an NBA championship.

Lin, whose memorable play for the New York Knicks during the 2011-12 season sparked the international “Linsanity” craze, is joining ESPN’s NBA Finals coverage as an analyst. He will appear on "NBA Today," "SportsCenter" and possibly other network programs through the duration of the Knicks-Spurs series.

Lin makes his ESPN debut on Wednesday, June 3 on "SportsCenter" with Scott Van Pelt live in Washington D.C.

And yes, Lin told USA TODAY Sports in an interview on June 1, he is excited to see his former team four wins away from an NBA title.

“I always felt like Knicks fans deserve the best performances. They’re so passionate,” Lin said. “And as cool as it was for me to give good performances only for that stretch of time, I genuinely wish that I was able to do more. I genuinely wish I was able to stay longer, genuinely wish that I could have a lot more success and done things in the playoffs for the Knicks, but that never came to fruition.”  

The Western Conference Finals are depressing.

Some Rockets fans are watching them for keys to the future. What do they have that we don’t?

What if the answer is “just about everything”?

Beyond Rockets fans, NBA observers love to watch the Finals in search of the new “meta”. Slow bigs are out. No, wait, they’re fine, but small guards are out. No, wait!

Well, Jalen Brunson, much to Becky Hammond’s chagrin, is heading to the NBA Finals. Isaiah Hartenstein is as traditional a big man as one can be.

The truth is much simpler, and much bleaker. As the NBA optimizes, it veers towards the singularity. You need a top-10 player. You need depth at every position. You need it all.

Someone let Rafael Stone and/or Ime Udoka know that you also need multiple ball handlers.

Rockets must add backcourt depth this summer

Although they surely know that. Needing something is different from getting it.

The available free agents seem either undesirable or unattainable. The Rockets should have the taxpayer’s Mid-Level Exception (MLE)…I think?

That shouldn’t be enough for Anfernee Simons, Coby White, or maybe even Quentin Grimes. It’d likely fetch you Gabe Vincent or Bogdan Bogdanovic, but it’s hard to say if either cracks the 2026-27 rotation. There isn’t really a free agent guard who finds that sweet spot between good enough to play and too good to pay.

That said, the trade market is a bit easier to navigate.

Let’s assume, for argument’s sake, that Rafael Stone isn’t looking to blow up the team or fork over his best assets. He’s looking at marginal gains. If that assumption holds, he’s probably looking at trading Dorian Finney-Smith and/or Clint Capela, along with second-round draft capital, for a meaningful reserve guard.

That could create its own issues. The Rockets may be hoping Finney-Smith can regain some form and bolster their wing depth. Fair. Surely, they see that Capela wasn’t a feasible rotation option in the playoffs, so at least trading him should be on the table.

The trade market is different from the free agent market. We don’t know who’s on the trade market. We do have educated guesses. Continuing to operate on the assumption that Stone isn’t willing to move a first-round pick, the list of reasonable candidates is somewhat slim.

If he’s willing to move Finney-Smith, Malik Monk has become a popular target. He can create his own shot and make plays for teammates. This is the type of lead guard the team needs, even if his defensive effort will infuriate Udoka on a routine basis.

The Hornets fell out of love with Tre Mann this year. I won’t pretend to have watched enough Hornets games to understand why, but I do know that Mann can play. He can handle the ball and shoot off the dribble. Reviews of Mann’s defense have been mixed, but there seems to be an understanding that he plays hard, which might be enough under Udoka’s tutelage.

Here’s one more name: Jaden Hardy. He scored 12.3 points per game while shooting 42.0% from deep during his 23 games with the Wizards. Sure, he dished out a comically low 1.3 assists per game, but the Rockets need a guard who can generate offense by hook or by crook.

Jordan Hawkins? D’Angelo Russell? Marcus Sasser? These are all guys in Capela’s salary range who would be upgrades over Aaron Holiday. That’s the (limited) criteria here. One thing is clear: The Rockets need a guard.

As it stands, the Rockets have a third-year (and functionally, a sophomore) guard in Reed Sheppard, Fred VanVleet coming off a potentially career-altering injury, Amen Thompson (who is a guard in the same sense that the shadows in Plato’s cave were representations of reality), and Holiday. That will not suffice:

The Western Conference Finals gave you proof.

The Path, Part II: An uncomfortable middle road for Celtics' offseason originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

Editor’s Note: As the Celtics begin an uncertain offseason, Insider Chris Forsberg is rolling out a three-part series called “The Path,” in which he breaks down three potential avenues for president of basketball operations Brad Stevens to take this summer. You can read Part I here.

Let’s start this uncomfortable conversation with two unassailable facts: 

1. After seasons in which the Celtics have fallen short of expectations, Brad Stevens and his front office staff have rarely sat on their hands. Boston’s brass typically has made bold summer decisions aimed at thrusting the team closer to title contention. 
2. If the desired pathway forward is to keep the superstar tandem of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown together, there are very few ways to make bold changes around them without moving off the other remaining pieces of the championship core.

Which leads us to Part 2 of our summer pathway series, which we’re dubbing an “uncomfortable middle road.”

With Tatum and Brown set to make a combined $115.6 million and account for 70 percent of the salary cap next season, the spotlight falls on the three other players making more than a minimum salary: Derrick White ($30.3 million), Sam Hauser ($10.8 million), and Payton Pritchard ($7.8 million).

No one wants to entertain the idea of moving on from what remains of Boston’s title core — especially just one year after bidding farewell to Kristaps Porzingis, Jrue Holiday, Al Horford, and Luke Kornet. But the reality is that the Celtics don’t have many other ways to infuse talent, at least without utilizing their available exceptions and trying to navigate the luxury tax in the process. 

In Monday’s Part I, we investigated the “small tweaks” path, which could patch some holes that the playoffs exposed in this core.

Today, it’s time to get a little more uncomfortable. 

Mission statement

Commit to bringing back the Jays but revamp the core pieces around them, using key members of the 2024 championship team as assets in trades and then utilizing available exceptions to fill out a roster that still accomplishes tax goals by season’s end.

The path

1. Reaffirm a commitment to Tatum and Brown as the core of the team.
2. Trade some combination of White, Hauser and (less likely) Pritchard.
3. Cross your fingers on the continued improvement of young core.
4. Hunt low-cost, high-reward targets with available exceptions to fill out the roster.

We can hear your snarling through your computer or phone. I have a young niece, Allie, who worships Derrick White. She might revoke her Celtics fandom if they trade him, and might attack me for even writing this article.

But the reality is that, if you’re not convinced small tweaks are enough to push this team forward, then it’s going to take some pain to get to the level these Celtics yearn to reach.

Just revisit past failures. Stiff-armed by the veteran Warriors in the 2022 NBA Finals, the Celtics crafted a package built around a young Aaron Nesmith and traded for Malcolm Brogdon.

Even after Brogdon produced a Sixth Man of the Year season, it was clear the Celtics needed a larger overhaul of their core, and Stevens made the tough choices the following summer to send out Marcus Smart, Robert Williams III and Brogdon in order to bring back Holiday and Porzingis.

Those moves were jaw-droppers in the moment. It forced the Celtics to move on from beloved pieces of their core. But it got the team where it wanted to go by delivering a 2024 title.

The wish list

Here’s the hard part: Trading any of the White-Hauser-Pritchard trio is neither ideal nor easy to find surefire upgrades.

Every team in the league is searching for their own Derrick White, and even in a poor shooting season, he was vital to Boston’s overall success given his absurd basketball IQ, particularly on the defensive end. Hauser is making less-than-midlevel money and is the sort of bargain shooter whom every contender covets. Pritchard can sign a big-money extension in October but remains maybe the best value in the NBA for the next two seasons.

The uncomfortable question is whether the Celtics missed a chance to fully cash in on White’s value last offseason when teams such as the Magic were launching first-round picks for players like Desmond Bane, and do you wait any longer as lottery reform and a new CBA make it tougher for teams to part with draft assets? 

Good luck finding a deal involving White that shores up Boston’s frontcourt. Could you flip White to his hometown Nuggets in exchange for Aaron Gordon? Sure, and if you could guarantee us 70-plus games of a healthy Gordon, we’d at least listen. But Gordon is only a year younger and makes the same money.

You could call the Cavaliers about Jarrett Allen, but they’re already swimming in guards, especially if they bring back James Harden. We’d call the Timberwolves to see if there’s anything you can build around Naz Reid, though he’s as beloved there as White is here.

Maybe you contact Detroit about a deal bringing back Ausar Thompson and Isaiah Stewart? If Portland strikes out on a Giannis Antetokounmpo pursuit, could you pitch them on reuniting the Holiday/White backcourt in exchange for some younger pieces?

You can reach out to New Orleans about a deal built around Trey Murphy III but likely need a third team to ensure White lands with a contender.

The Hauser situation is slightly less complicated. It’s not hard to hunt moves where Hauser’s salary helps target a big man. Detroit, whose lack of shooting was obvious during its own early playoff exit, might be intrigued by a Hauser-for-Stewart swap. The Celtics have a gaggle of young wings who can try to fill Hauser’s void — even if few in the league can shoot it as well as Hauser has in his Boston tenure. 

It probably doesn’t even make sense to ponder Pritchard trades until his next deal kicks in, but again, because Boston has a limited number of salaries between the Jays and the minimums, he has to at least be included in this discussion.

Stephen Lew-Imagn Images

What it looks like

We come away from this exercise wondering if the better path is a bigger splurge involving one of the Jays. (Much more on that Wednesday). Alas, this is what the Celtics’ front office is left exploring.

If the team simply moves Hauser, it feels more like a small-tweak summer. Finding the right White package isn’t easy, especially because Boston might value his day-to-day impact more than any team left leery by an outlier shooting season for a soon-to-be 32-year-old.

One more thing to keep in mind this summer: If Boston stays under the luxury tax for one more season, resets pesky repeater penalties and puts itself in position to make 2023-type swings to bolster the supporting cast next summer, then it would also be beneficial to have more mid-tier salaries to build deals around.

The lack of those contracts right now complicates roster building. Splitting White’s $30 million between two players — and then utilizing exceptions to add more contracts around midlevel money — could help the long game.

But does it make the Celtics better now? These are the tough conversations that Stevens and his staff must tackle this summer. 

Just one more sleep, and the lights will shine bright.

Just one more day for the Knicks to finally grace the NBA Finals stage once again.

We’ve been waiting for 27 years. We can make it there.

Mike Brown

On the pressure of coaching in the Finals:

“You have to have some sort of fight in you. It doesn’t matter where you are. There’s pressure when you’re sitting in the seat. And it’s warranted because of what we get paid.”

On his prior Finals experience making it easier for him to navigate:

“Just the magnitude of it, being through it. This is my seventh time now being in the Finals. It won’t be overwhelming.”

On Mitchell Robinson’s status before Game 1:

“I’m just waiting on the medical staff. He just did individual work today. I’m waiting on the medical staff to let me know what the next step is.”

On getting ready for a hostile road environment in Game 1 at San Antonio:

“[We need to be] aware that we’re going into an environment where the opposing team is going to generate a lot of energy. Our crowd is one of the best, if not the best in the league, and the energy that we get from playing here at Madison Square Garden is unbelievable. There are probably other buildings where, in their players’ minds, they give them that same energy. So, knowing that it’s going to be hostile, we don’t have the energy of the crowd to help us get over the hump. So we have to come out, not coming out jumping on them, but we have to come out with a purpose, not just physically but mentally as well, so that we don’t fall behind big, because the crowd will really feed into that.”

On defending Wembanyama’s size and skill:

“You just hope [with] a guy like that, you can find ways to make him work. You pray. I have some buddies that are monks — I can’t go to them because he’s got that part of the religion all wrapped up.”

On keeping Wembanyama guessing offensively:

“At his size and his talent and his ability, you’ve got to hope he misses some, but you’ve got to keep mixing things up so you can keep him trying to guess. He’s got a great feel, so it’s going to be hard, but you keep him trying to guess and try to make him work.”

On not expecting Wemby to defend Karl-Anthony Towns in the Finals:

“I imagine Wemby won’t guard him as much. They put a small on KAT quite a bit. Either way, whether Wemby is on him or a small is on him, we always wanna try to move KAT around. Hopefully we’ll be able to do that against San Antonio.”

On Josh Hart’s subtle impact on everything:

“He does so many little things that if you’re not careful, you won’t appreciate them. I got to give him probably more leash than anybody else. I got to let him go be him and get out of his way.”

On finding stability through adversity:

“You find stuff that you can hold onto to help lift you up through some tough times. At the end of the day, yes, we get paid a lot of money and yes, this is a big business, and you respect everybody has to have an opinion, because we’re in the public eye, and you respect that there’s going to be change and you just embrace it.”

On Landry Shamet’s playoff surge:

“When you see a guy like him, getting here the hard way, all the work he’s put in, it makes you giddy inside.”

On lessons from the NBA Cup championship against the Spurs:

“There’s a lot. We’re the same but different team, and same with them. We played different guys during that Cup run. They played different guys during that Cup run. You can tell that they’ve matured as a group. You can tell we’ve matured as a group. So just going through that experience and having that type of pressure, where it’s the only game being played, was something that you can always kind of carry over to try to understand that, you know what, there’s a lot going on around you. We still have a job to do. We have to be very intentional with everything we do, because you’re going to be pulled at in a ton of different directions. But at the end of the day, it’s all about going out and playing that game and getting a win.”

On believing the Knicks were built for the NBA Finals:

“I truly felt that this team was an NBA Finals team. I thought we had a true opportunity. Because some jobs you take, you’re like, ‘OK, we can get better. We have a chance to make the playoffs right now.’ But this one, I felt we legitimately had a chance if we could help them figure it out, and the players could stay together during the process, especially when we hit adversity.”

On when he sensed the team peaking late in the regular season:

“Down the stretch of the regular season, like, with, I don’t know, six, seven games to go, after Landry got back, I think I started to see us play some good basketball and do some things, do more things that were selfless, or more sacrificing from the group. So, maybe then. Right where we need to be at the right time of the year.”

Karl-Anthony Towns

On the Knicks reviving hope in New York:

“I feel like the word hope has been gone from the New York Knicks for a long time. And for me and OG to be part of this team that revives the word hope in the city, it’s something special. It’s something really, really special, and it’s an honor.”

On earning respect from Knicks fans:

“I can remember draft day a while ago. The Knicks were not good, and people didn’t seem to care as much about [them]. It’s been an honor to be part of this team, be part of this organization, like bring the word ‘hope’ back to the city. To have the Knicks be where we’re at right now and to be so respected in the city. I’ve always said the best currency you could earn in New York City is not money, it’s respect. And to have the respect of the fans in the city, we’re rich beyond belief here in the city.”

On maximizing this Finals opportunity:

“I don’t think anybody who’s made the finals would say they don’t feel like a winner. And I also think that when you get an opportunity like this, you have to maximize it. You never know if you get another chance, you never know what life has in store for all of us. And these opportunities are very far and few between, and you gotta make the most of them.”

On finding the 1999 Finals shirt right before his Knicks debut:

“I didn’t know that was gonna come back to be a photo that we all remember. I grew up a Knicks fan, and to be my first game as a Knick, officially, after a wild training camp that I didn’t get to have [because he had to wait a few days for the trade to become official], and really meeting my teammates for the first time at Charlotte for that preseason game… it was a special moment for me and my family. I remember my father was there, my wife was there, and it was one of those moments. I found that shirt in my first days of actually being on the team. I found it in Charleston (S.C.), funny enough. While they were practicing, I was out vintage shopping in the city and I found the shirt and funny enough, I wore that shirt for the first game and here we are. Looking back at that shirt as an omen.”

On not reading too much into previous Spurs matchups:

“The Finals are won by a team, and I think both of our teams are different than what you saw at the [NBA] Cup. Even though we were blessed to be able to win it, we’re not the same team that we were at the Cup, nor are they the same team that they were at the Cup.”

On the need for attacking Wembanyama as a team:

“It’s not even a personal thing for me. It’s about our team doing what we’ve been doing, which is play high-level defense, and utilizing those turnovers in the defense to get our offense going. So as long as our team plays with that kind of energy and discipline and game plan execution, we have a chance.”

On Josh Hart’s impact on winning:

“He just impacts the game. He impacts winning. The perfect example for any basketball player who wants to learn how to truly impact the winning of the team.”

Josh Hart

On learning to play through imperfection:

“I think I started to learn to play the game and give myself more grace and not to try to be perfect and I’m happy with that.”

On whether the NBA Cup final offers lessons for the Finals:

“No, that was December. Obviously, there was good energy around that, but I don’t think that’s really going to be any equivalent to what the atmosphere or the energy is going to be like at their place, obviously at the Garden. Technically, that game didn’t happen, so I don’t think there’s anything we can learn from.”

On the team’s selfless identity during the playoff run:

“This team was a selfless group. At the end of the day we know we’re willing to sacrifice our own individual performance or stats or accolades for the betterment of the team. When you have not just one, two or three, but a whole team of those kinds of guys, that kind of character, it puts you in a position to be successful.”

Mikal Bridges

On admitting overconfidence after going up 2-0 in the 2021 Finals:

“I remember going up 2-0 [and] I thought we was good. We ’bout to win the chip, especially in the West, especially then, the West all had tough teams. East, we were like, whatever … We go see Milwaukee, we’re over here like, ‘Pfft.’ I’m like, ‘It’s light. It’s the East. It’s Milwaukee. I know they got Giannis [Antetokounmpo] and obviously they got hoopers, but the West is tougher than the East.’ We’re like, ‘We good.’ Go up 2-0, we’re looking like, ‘Exactly. This is what we’ve been talking about. It’s the East, bruh. We’re about to win this.’ And then they went on to win four straight. I just couldn’t believe it.”

On learning from 2021 and staying focused during the current Finals run:

“[There are] a lot of questions, a lot of talk about how great we are, how great we’ve been. It doesn’t matter. We just got to worry about being ourselves and stay locked in. It’s great to get there, but that’s not our main goal.”

Miles McBride

On his takeaways from the NBA Cup experience:

“Yeah, honestly, I think it was a great opportunity for us to play a high-stakes game. Obviously, I didn’t play, but I played in Cup games. So I feel like we treated it close to a playoff game. We haven’t been to the Finals. They haven’t been to the Finals. So it’s going to be totally different and a lot has happened since then, so just excited for this.”

On how to keep Victor Wembanyama out of the paint:

“Obviously, you have to figure out how to get him out of the paint, how to run him, those little things. I feel like OKC did a decent job of that. But he’s a special player. Honestly, what I think they do a great job … their guards put a lot of pressure on the ball handler, which is forcing him into Wemby. If you’re playing off the ball, not setting screens and allowing him to roam freely without being touched, it’s different if somebody is screening you and then you’re getting over things. So I feel like just being physical and bringing a presence to him and to their team.”

Landry Shamet

On Karl-Anthony Towns’ shooting changing defensive plans from opponents:

“Every team is going to play the game, mess with matchups and whatnot. Obviously, Karl’s shooting is something that anybody has to honor, and that changes the game plan entirely. You have to prepare for that, [as well] the pick-and-roll with Jalen and KAT, with a versatile shooting big who can also roll and make plays in the pocket. As well as he’s been passing the ball and facilitating, I could go on and on about what KAT brings to us. … However they decide to match up with it, there’s going to be pros to that; there’s also going to be cons to that, and areas that we’re going to try to exploit.”

On not dwelling on past series momentum:

“All that [Cleveland] stuff’s behind us. And the reality is our job at hand right now is making sure our bodies are right; making sure our minds are right; making sure we’re paying attention to details. We’ve been incredibly sharp and locked-in, and taking care of [what we can] control was just really all you can do. And then when the ball is tipped up here in a couple of days, it’ll be right back into the swing of things of a series.”

On staying present during the playoff run:

“This has been a special run. I’m trying to not take any of it for granted or miss out on any of it. But the main thing is, stay focused on one minute at a time, one game at a time. I’ll give myself the time to reflect on all that when it’s all said and done. The love from New York has been undeniable and that’s one thing I’ll happily acknowledge and it’s right back to you guys. Now my focus is trying to go win Game 1.”

Mike Breen

On Knicks fans waiting decades for a trip to the Finals:

“I can’t tell you how many fans over the past couple of weeks, when you see them on the street or anywhere, they say, ‘Oh, I’ve waited my whole life for this.’ Now, some of them might be 17 years old and haven’t been around for that long, but there are a lot of people, even my age, who don’t really remember the championship years. For them to experience this is special.”

On the Knicks’ resilience during the season:

“They had stretches of uneven play, stretches where you see they were still a work in progress. That, to me, is [what is] most impressive — even in the ups and downs, the ebb and flow of a regular season, they stuck together, they kept working, and it just all clicked in the playoffs to the point where this is one of the great playoff runs in NBA history.”

Chris Childs

On similarities between the 1999 run and this Knicks team:

“Yeah, it’s really similar. The only difference is that we swept one series during our run and this current team swept two. It’s like déjà vu all over again. But honestly, I don’t think the results are going to be the same this time around. Being in this current atmosphere and stratosphere, it’s just their time. It’s been so long since New York has been here, and I think these guys have a real taste to get the job done—even though it’s going to be tough. Facing San Antonio is no joke. Whatever that dude is over there—Victor Wembanyama looks like Kevin Durant and Bill Russell had a baby. It’s going to be a battle, but I think our guys are ready.”

On his X-factor and Finals prediction:

“I think this series is going to go six games. As for the X-factor, this championship grind is going to come down to Miles ‘Deuce’ McBride shooting the ball well and giving us that crucial spark off the bench. We also need solid production out of Landry Shamet. If those guys can consistently step up and give the Knicks 10 points or more a game off the pine, the Knicks are beating the Spurs in six.”

Jamal Crawford

On the Knicks’ connection with their fanbase:

“This is crazy, I have not played here in almost 20 years at that point, and they still show that kind of love. Once A Knick, Always A Knick, and they truly make you feel that.”

On the Knicks’ belief during this run:

“They’re playing with a certain belief, like no matter the situation, no matter the outcome, they feel like they can win the game, like no matter how they start, if they get down during the course of a game, they play with a different belief. And the belief is like the strength in numbers. They’re believing that somebody will step up, somebody will provide a spark — obviously Jalen and KAT and OG and Mikal and Josh — but then you’ll have Deuce come in, Mitchell Robinson to come in and get some offensive rebounds. They have so many different weapons, and they’re all pulling in the same direction, they have a different type belief in each other. It’s really a championship-contending type belief.”

On whether size determines whether a player can become a champion after Becky Hammon’s take:

“No, I think anybody can be a champion. I think sometimes heart goes over height. I also think thinking quick on your toes and having supreme basketball IQ can negate even the biggest people.”

Marcus Camby

On his message to the Knicks entering the Finals:

“I would tell the Knicks right now to enjoy the moment, play for your brothers, and leave everything out there on the basketball court because it’s not promised that we will get to this position again.”

On why he believes the Knicks can win:

“I just think they’re playing their best basketball right now. They’ve been scoring at a high clip, shooting the ball at a high percentage, everything just seems to be clicking right now. … I think if guys can stay healthy during this Finals run, I think we’ll have a real good shot at bringing the title home to New York.”

Zohran Mamdani

On temporarily repealing bedtimes for Knicks Finals games:

“As Mayor, you’re forced to make many difficult decisions. This was not one of them. Go Knicks.”

Basketball gods blessed fans with most compelling NBA Finals since Warriors-Cavs originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Precisely when it is apparent that Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant and LeBron James are descending from their peaks, the basketball gods bless us with the most compelling NBA Finals since all three were featured in firefights between the Warriors and Cavaliers.

The NBA’s New York headquarters is alive with the clinking of champagne glasses and the ringing of slot-machine jackpots. Maybe singing. The celebration began Saturday night, and the league hopes it continues through June 19, when Game 7 is scheduled.

On one side, the hoop gods are giving us the veteran New York Knicks, with their devout and long-suffering fan base, standing behind an undersized star while representing America’s largest city. Many consider New York basketball heaven and Madison Square Garden the mecca.

On the other side, we’re getting the youthful San Antonio Spurs, more than a decade removed from metronomic excellence. Now, featuring Victor Wembanyama, the global game’s latest phenomenon, a 22-year-old wunderkind reaching to seize the royal torch from Steph, KD and LeBron.

Such disparate characterizations ought to make this battle immune to apathy. Both fan bases are rabid, but some of that energy already is spreading (mostly toward the Spurs). It’s tough for any fan to avoid interest, or at least a measure of curiosity.

Which is why Game 1 on Wednesday projects to be the first this century to attract more than 20 million viewers, blowing past the 2016 Finals opener – Curry and the Warriors vs. James and the Cavs – to become, if not surpass, the most-watched Finals Game 1 ever with Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls.

Game 1 might be the most consequential of these Finals.

If the Spurs prevail, it will sprinkle plenty of seasoning on their internal confidence. Moreover, they will have flattened the momentum the Knicks generated while winning 11 consecutive playoff games by a record-setting margin of 24.8 points. New York likely would recover, but the shield of invincibility that carried them into June will be shattered.

If the Knicks, after eight days without a game, stroll into Frost Bank Center and emerge victorious, it could put doubt in the minds of the Spurs. After methodically conquering Western Conference foes on increasingly larger stages, including defending champion Oklahoma City, are the much younger but wholly impetuous Spurs mature enough to stay solid on the ultimate stage?

Their coach, Mitch Johnson, thinks they are.

“With just how young and talented (we) are, to be able to be this resilient, especially against some teams that have been here,” Johnson told reporters over the weekend. “Playing Minnesota, they’ve been in the conference finals the last two years. OKC has been to the conference finals last two years, been the 1 seed the last three years and just won a championship.

“Being able to do it against those types of teams, I think prepares you for whatever you’re going to see at the end.”

The Knicks, however, bring a whole different level of experience, overall and in the postseason. Their rotation is laden with players between 28 and 31 years old, prime years. Aside from 25-year-old guard Miles McBride, New York’s top eight players have a combined 464 games of playoff experience.

New York is new to The Finals, its first since 1973, but this is a very familiar path.

This is Johnson’s first full season as head coach; he has coached 18 playoff games. He has done a tremendous job, but The Finals can raise the heat to an altogether different level. There is some uncertainty about whether the Spurs, with their talented but occasionally erratic youngsters, are ready for this.

The oddsmakers don’t think they are. One reason is the postseason experience not only of players but of coach Mike Brown. He has 100 playoff games as head coach, with four different franchises: the Cavaliers, Lakers, Kings and now the Knicks. That’s in addition to his 12-0 record as temporary head coach of the Warriors when Steve Kerr was sidelined for medical reasons.

Brown believes the Knicks, as their record indicates, are peaking.

“Our group is playing good basketball, and they’re doing it in different ways,” Brown told reporters last week. “They’re doing it differently depending on who our opponent is. And when you show that type of versatility on both ends of the floor, it just adds to your belief.”

“I’ve said it before, you use regular season to get ready for the postseason. And our guys did a hell of a job with that.”

New York will face a level of physicality not felt on its road through the Eastern Conference. But previous postseason setbacks have left the kind of wounds that result in scar tissue. These Spurs, by contrast, barely have been scratched.

This series, however, is about more than deciding a champion. It’s about one team exorcising decades of despair and the other introducing a monster capable of terrorizing the league for many years.

The marquee is appealing, the lights are bright and eyeballs will be plentiful. These Finals bring the kind of spectator nirvana not seen since 2016, when Curry and Warriors – after coming back to eliminate Durant and Thunder in the conference finals– took a 3-1 lead over James and the Cavs, only to fall in seven.

May we get seven games in these Finals. No doubt the NBA wants it. And why wouldn’t its fans?

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Why Zaza Pachulia hopes ‘disgusting' U.S. grassroots basketball can reset originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

At a time when so many Americans inject jingoism into their veins and claim global superiority, our national sports landscape is providing a compelling rebuttal. Nowhere is the evidence more potent than in the NBA, where the United States has been shut out for eight consecutive Most Valuable Player awards.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, a Canadian citizen who plays for Oklahoma City, last month won the award for the second straight year. Furthermore, no American finished among the top four in the voting. Detroit’s Cade Cunningham was fifth.

While there still is plenty of exceptional talent in the U.S., this should sound alarms.

Theories are plentiful, but much of the blame for the national slide is directed not at the NBA but at the development levels, where poor habits and other influences are pervasive. The general belief is that it is the first place in need of a reset.

Former Warriors center Zaza Pachulia, who won two championships with Golden State, has two sons, both of whom play prep basketball in the East Bay. Davit, 17, at De La Salle in Concord, and Saba, 16, at Las Lomas in neighboring Walnut Creek.

Pachulia, born and raised in Eastern Europe, is among the parents displeased with what he has seen not so much at high schools but within the amateur circuit. He shared his thoughts during a guest segment on the Dubs Talk podcast.

“This is all new for me,” Pachulia, whose family has settled in America, said on the latest episode of NBC Sports Bay Area’s “Dubs Talk” podcast. “I was born and raised in Georgia, and played in Turkey before I got drafted (in 2003). So, I’m coming from the European culture, right? So, this is new for me. And it’s mind-boggling, to be honest. It’s sad. I feel like I feel I genuinely feel bad with what I see on the grassroots in basketball.

“Hopefully, it’s going to change. I’m not going to get into a lot of details, because there’s so many things to talk about because it’s really broken in my opinion.”

Though Pachulia did not call out the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU), it has been a target for at least the last two decades. Its influence – and the amount of money involved – has grown exponentially over the past 20 years. In some cases, the AAU circuit can be an introduction to college or the G League. In other cases, its emphasis on tournaments over structured practices can be detrimental to developing skills.

Meanwhile, the European model, with a shallower pool of elite athletes, focuses more on the essential elements of basketball. There tends to be more structure, with a consistent emphasis on fundamentals.

“Some 16-year-olds trained in Europe have more advanced skills than some 20-year-olds in America,” one NBA scout told NBC Sports Bay Area.

There was a time not so long ago when NBA franchises paid little attention to basketball beyond American shores. What began in the 1980s as a curiosity, with few foreign-born players making an impact – Vlade Divac, Sarunas Marciulionis, Dikembe Mutombo, Hakeem Olajuwon, Drazen Petrovic to name five – has become a movement. 

All 30 NBA franchises now have multiple scouts flying all over the planet in search of talent. They usually get there after players with NBA potential have been discovered by agents who have associates or contacts planted on every broadly inhabited continent.

The NBA decades ago expressed a goal of becoming a global force, and it has succeeded.

“It’s great for the game, in my opinion, that you have players from different parts of the world that come in this amazing country and amazing league and being really, really good,” said Pachulia, whose 16-year NBA career ended in 2019. “It’s only going to raise the bar. And at the end of the day, it’s a competition, right?”

The U.S. has a clear advantage in the depth of elite NBA talent. But the league’s longtime standard bearers – Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant and LeBron James – are aging out. The last of the three to finish among the top five in MVP voting is Curry (in 2021), who also is the last to win the award (2016).

Gilgeous-Alexander, 27, won the 2026 MVP award by a decisive margin. Finishing was Denver center Nikola Jokić, the 31-year-old 7-foot Serbian who won the award in 2021, 2022 and 2024. In fourth place was Lakers guard Luka Dončić, born in Slovenia. At 27, he would like to believe he will have many opportunities to hoist the award in the future.

Or maybe not. The third-place finisher was center Victor Wembanyama, born in France but the future of San Antonio. At age 22, his impact is potent enough to keep SGA from winning a third MVP award, Jokić from winning a fourth or Dončić from winning his first.

Wembanyama’s presence with the Spurs, who are built to contend for many years, also will make it difficult for young American stars such as Anthony Edwards, Paolo Banchero, Cooper Flagg or Cunningham to win the award. 

The trend that began in 2019, Giannis Antetokounmpo, born and raised in Greece, won the first of his back-to-back MVP awards, is unprecedented in the NBA. And unlikely to fade anytime soon.

“Don’t be too dramatic (when implying) international players are dominating the league,” Pachulia said. “That’s beautiful. I’d say that’s embrace it. That’s celebrated.

“But at the same time, I would say, hopefully, grassroots in [the] U.S. will be better than what is now. It’s sad what I see. It’s disgusting. I’m disgusted with it, to be honest. It’s so much politics, so many wrong things. And this country is so powerful, man, and . . .  I just expect and want to see grassroots to be better here.”

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New York Knicks (53-29, third in the Eastern Conference) vs. San Antonio Spurs (62-20, second in the Western Conference)

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

LINE: Spurs -4.5; over/under is 218.5

NBA FINALS: Spurs host first series matchup

BOTTOM LINE: The San Antonio Spurs host the New York Knicks to open the NBA Finals. San Antonio and New York tied the regular season series 1-1. The Knicks won the last regular season meeting 114-89 on Sunday, March 1 led by 25 points from Mikal Bridges, while Victor Wembanyama scored 25 points for the Spurs.

The Spurs have gone 32-8 in home games. San Antonio is 8-5 in games decided by less than 4 points.

The Knicks are 23-19 on the road. New York is seventh in the league with 45.6 rebounds per game. Karl-Anthony Towns paces the Knicks with 11.9.

The Spurs make 48.3% of their shots from the field this season, which is 2.3 percentage points higher than the Knicks have allowed to their opponents (46.0%). The Knicks are shooting 47.8% from the field, 2.7% higher than the 45.1% the Spurs' opponents have shot this season.

TOP PERFORMERS: Wembanyama is averaging 25 points, 11.5 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 3.1 blocks for the Spurs. Stephon Castle is averaging 19.5 points over the last 10 games.

Towns is averaging 20.1 points and 11.9 rebounds for the Knicks. Jalen Brunson is averaging 27.4 points and 2.9 rebounds while shooting 51.8% over the past 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Spurs: 6-4, averaging 116.3 points, 47.9 rebounds, 25.0 assists, 8.9 steals and 6.5 blocks per game while shooting 46.1% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 108.3 points per game.

Knicks: 10-0, averaging 123.8 points, 45.0 rebounds, 28.8 assists, 9.5 steals and 4.1 blocks per game while shooting 53.7% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 99.2 points.

INJURIES: Spurs: David Jones Garcia: out for season (ankle).

Knicks: Mitchell Robinson: day to day (finger).

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