The Celtics have some big questions to answer this offseason. After back-to-back disappointing exits in the playoffs, Brad Stevens and the front office are likely to make significant changes in order to bolster the roster and thrust them back into legitimate title contention.

And whether it’s a Giannis trade or a less explosive move, the Celtics need to improve their front court. 

Coming into the 2025-2026 season, the Celtics center rotation was viewed as being one of the worst in the league. While Neemias Queta showed the world that was a horrendous assessment that he is a capable and even high-level starting center, it was a disaster showing from not just Queta, but all of the Celtics’ big men in the first-round matchup against the Philadelphia 76ers.

To be fair to Queta, it was his first playoffs, and a bad series doesn’t erase an incredible regular season, nor does it mean he can’t continue to develop and stamp himself as one of the league’s more stable and impactful centers. That being said, for the Celtics to compete at the highest level, upgrading the big man room is a priority. 

I think the context of the current league landscape as it pertains to big men is important. When you examine the elite teams over the last few seasons, most of them employ high-level big men. Victor Wembanyama and Nikola Jokic sit alone at the mountain top and are the engines of their teams’ dominance. Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein provide an elite defensive floor and ceiling for the Oklahoma City Thunder, Karl Anthony Towns and Mitchell Robinson are a two-way overwhelming physical force, and Al Horford and Kristaps Porzingis were dominant in their own right for the Celtics on the way to a championship in 2024. While the Cleveland Cavaliers exited the 2026 Eastern Conference Finals with a whimper, they still employed two versatile big men in Evan Mobley and Jarret Allen. The only recent Eastern Conference finalist that hasn’t employed an elite big man was the 2025 Indiana Pacers with Myles Turner, but he provided the rare skill set of being a six-foot-eleven center that can shoot the three at a good clip and protect the rim at an acceptable level.

So, how do the Celtics acquire an elite big man? Do they need an elite big man? From my perspective, there are two approaches Brad Stevens could take to revamp his big man rotation: The Big Splash approach and the Platoon Approach. 

The Giannis trade

If you have watched the Western Conference Finals and wondered how anyone can stop the alien that resides in San Antonio, the answer might be a Freak from Greece. The Giannis trade that makes the most sense to me sends Jaylen Brown to Portland, Giannis to Boston, and the Bucks get their own draft picks back with Jerami Grant, Toumani Camara, and Kris Murray as the salary that goes back to Milwaukee. Everyone is happy. 

I think the injury concerns regarding Antetokounmpo are overstated. In the 2025 season, just one season ago, Giannis played 67 games and placed third in MVP voting. He then put up 33 points, 15 rebounds, and 7 assists in a first round series loss to the Indiana Pacers, doing so with Damian Lillard sidelined with an Achilles tear. He dragged that team as far as one human being possibly could.

The obvious counterargument is that Giannis isn’t a traditional big man, so does he actually solve your front court issues? The data says yes. Giannis hasn’t historically played at center for the majority of his minutes, but he has thrived at the five. From 2020, the year the Bucks won the title, to 2025, in minutes with Brook Lopez off the court and Giannis and Bobby Portis on the court, the Bucks had a 7.5 net rating, a number that would have ranked fifth in the NBA this past season.

Now, imagine instead of sharing the court with Bobby Portis, Giannis is sharing the court with Jayson Tatum. Giannis is a surefire top-five talent, and in my opinion, is a seamless and versatile fit with Tatum. These types of players do not become available very often. If the goal for the Celtics is to win an NBA title, passing on the upside of a Giannis trade would be a mistake. 

Can the Celtics unlock Evan Mobley’s potential? 

Evan Mobley is a fantastic basketball player, the winner of the 2025 Defensive Player of the Year, and a versatile two-way seven-footer who in theory would be a perfect fit next to Jayson Tatum. On the other hand, Mobley is prone to disappearing acts, like when he turned in a 9-point, and 1-rebound game against the Detroit Pistons in the second round. Evan Mobley paired with Jayson Tatum would be a lethal combination. Mobley gives you the defensive versatility that you lost when Al Horford left, and he gives you an offensive pop with his passing, ability to finish around the basket, and the skill to knock down the occasional three pointer.

Where this idea falls apart is the only way for the Celtics to realistically acquire Evan Mobley is by trading Jaylen Brown. The risk is too significant. Mobley has not consistently shown that he is worth the $270 million contract he signed. While Jaylen didn’t have his best playoffs, we know he is a consistent and dominant player in both the regular season and playoffs. And that’s before we factor in Jaylen’s emotional connection to the city of Boston. If the Celtics are going to trade Jaylen Brown, it needs to be for a package that is overwhelming in some combination of established talent and draft compensation. Evan Mobley does not fit that description. 

A smaller but still quite a big splash: Isaiah Hartenstein

I will say off the top that this scenario is very unlikely. The Thunder are likely to simply pick up Hartenstein’s team option this offseason and move off another player(s) salary to ensure they stay out of the second apron. However, if OKC decide they don’t want to pay Hartenstein $28.5 million next season, then the Celtics could absorb him into the $27.7 million trade exception the team generated in the Anfernee Simons trade, via a sign and trade. Again, this is very unlikely, but maybe the Thunder think it’s time to move on from Hartenstein.

This move is obviously appealing to the Celtics as they can acquire a talented big man without having to give up any significant assets. Another reason why this trade is unlikely, is that it would push the Celtics back into the luxury tax, meaning they would not be resetting the repeater tax , which they are on track to do if they stay under for one more season. However, the Celtics could get back under the luxury tax by moving Sam Hauser or Derrick White in trades that shed salary. Stevens can worry about those boring details if this unlikely scenario eventuates. 

Big Man by platoon approach 

I’m confident Neemias Queta can be a contributor on a team that wins a championship. I’m less confident that he can anchor a rotation that doesn’t have at least one if not multiple players that are close to his talent level behind him. The most simple and clean path to the Celtics improving the big man room is through the $15 millin mid-level-exception they will have access to in the offseason. If the Celtics can sign another impact big man with their MLE while also trading for another solid but cheap big man or getting a value big man on a veteran’s minimum contract, the rotation and overall foundation of the team will be in much better shape. 

Starting with an old friend, Robert Williams III. Yes, there are injury concerns. But once we move into this group of players, we start to find significant flaws with everybody. I’m not even sure Williams will be attainable for the MLE due to his phenomenal play in both the regular season, but especially in the playoffs. Despite all of the injuries, Rob still jumps off the screen with his outlandish blend of lob finishing, rim protection, offensive rebounding and high post passing. Rob is at the top of my wish list.

Next, we try to weaken an Eastern Conference rival. Welcome to Boston, Mitchell Robinson. The Knicks are going to be up against the second apron this offseason and Robinson may become a casualty of that reality. It’s hard for me to gauge the market on Robinson, but I could see him getting a contract from anywhere between $15 million and $25 million. Robinson is not without his own injury concerns, but he appears to have found the right amount of minutes for his body to allow him to decimate opponents at the rim on both ends every night. 

Our last mid-level-exception option: Sandro Mamukelashvili. I think Mamu would be a wonderful fit in Boston. He would give the Celtics more lineup versatility with the ability to play the five or the four. A small ball lineup of Mamu, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Hugo Gonzalez, and Baylor Scheierman is packed full of skill, defensive versatility, and plus rebounding. Mamukelashvili is a high-volume shooter with a great feel for the game. He would add some needed juice to the Celtics offense. 

Moving on to the bargain bin where we welcome home another old friend, Al Horford. This is a controversial name, I know. Horford has left the Celtics at some of their lowest moments. I’m willing to look past this if he is willing to return to Boston on a veteran’s minimum contract. As we saw in the Play-In Game between the Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Clippers, Big Al can still turn back the clock. I believe Horford still has good basketball left in the tank, and I’m not dissuaded by the loyalty stuff. Bring Al home. 

While we are taking an emotionally complicated trip down memory lane, it feels appropriate to remind everyone that Kristaps Porzingis is a free agent. I’m personally happy to be out of the Porzingis business and I understand this opinion might feel hypocritical considering I have argued for several guys with injury concerns throughout this article. However, Porzingis’ health concerns are too much for me. KP played 32 regular season games this past season. I’m out. 

Here is where I show my bias as an Australian. Jock Landale, get ready to learn what it’s like to be a beloved role player at TD Garden. Landale would add a different, but still impactful, element to the big man group. Landale lacks the typical size and athleticism to be a starting caliber center in the NBA, but he’s big enough, is a high IQ player, has an incredible motor, and is just an all-around good basketball player. And maybe most importantly, Celtics fans would get to utilize the Jock O’clock nickname. Landale would be a shrewd signing for the veteran’s minimum. 

Some trade candidate honorable mentions: 

• Isaiah Stewart – Would the Pistons be interested in Sam Hauser and Baylor Scheierman in return for the bruising big man? Stewart didn’t cover himself in glory in the second round against the Cleveland Cavaliers, but that was likely due to a lower body injury limiting his athleticism. Stewart has shown he can be an elite rim protector while flashing some three-point shooting ability. 
• Paul Reed – If the Pistons don’t want to part ways with Stewart, can we interest them in a Sam Hauser for Paul Reed, Marcus Sasser and a second round pick trade? Giving up Hauser for this return feels like the Celtics are losing the trade. However, Paul Reed would provide the Celtics another look in their big rotation. A switchable, athletic, silky passing big. As the Celtics roster stands right now, the only way for the Celtics to utilize a switch-everything defensive scheme is by playing no centers. Reed would allow the team to switch-everything, but with a big man on the court. 
• Day’Ron Sharpe – Would the Nets send Sharpe to the Celtics for a second round pick? Sharpe would then slot into the $8.2 million trade exception that was acquired in the Georges Niang trade. Sharpe fits a similar archetype to Reed. Sharpe is athletic, young, versatile, and boasts some three-point shooting upside. Both Reed and Sharpe would be great additions to the big man group. 

Some calls are worth making even when the answer is probably no. You have to at least call about Naz Reid. The Daniel Gafford and Wendell Carter Jr. conversations probably don’t get too far either. These players would likely have to be brought in through the $27.7 million trade exception. 

Free agent honorable mentions. 

• Moritz Wagner – A Celtics legend returns home. Wagner hasn’t been the same player since he tore his ACL, but that’s why the Celtics might be able to acquire him for cheap and hope that he has a resurgent season.
• Brook Lopez – Lopez’s lack of foot speed is hitting catastrophic levels. However, he is still seven-feet tall and able to consistently stretch the floor. 
• Charles Bassey – I don’t know why Bassey can’t seem to hang on to a roster spot in the NBA. Every time I see him play, he looks like an NBA player to me. 

I’m sure I have missed the player that Brad Stevens will bring in to reinforce the center rotation, but one way or another, the Celtics big man rotation will be better next season. By adding any of the names mentioned the Celtics will have improved and that’s without baking in any potential improvement from Amari Williams, or the chance that Brad Stevens drafts the next Nikola Jokic with the 27th overall pick.

The question is whether Brad and the front office have the stomach for the big swing. The platoon approach is the safer, more financially responsible path, and it may well be enough to get the Celtics back to the Finals. But safe doesn’t win titles. The Celtics won the 2024 NBA title by aggressively pursuing Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis three summers ago. If the opportunity to land Giannis presents itself, Stevens needs to take it. If it doesn’t, the platoon approach is a viable fallback. Either way, the Celtics big man rotation will look meaningfully different next season. It has to. 

The New York Knicks have been so good that they decided adding a little plot twist to their Finals run was good to make the story a bit spicier.

Alas, Mitch’s pinky went sideways.

Good news? It was just a scare in the middle of a long tale and won’t seemingly impact the big man.

Mike Brown

On Mitchell Robinson’s injury not occurring in Game 4 or practice:

“Mitchell Robinson did not sustain his broken pinky in a game or in practice.”

On Mitchell Robinson’s surgery and limiting focus to availability:

“I don’t obviously know much about the details. Obviously, I know that he had surgery and all that. For me, it’s the same thing. I haven’t — I don’t want to know. Just let me know if he can play, and when he can play.”

On the difficulty of generalizing how players handle a broken finger:

“It varies. It’s just different strokes for different folks, you know what I’m saying? Like, it may be one way for me but a different way for him — so it’s different. That’s hard to kind of generalize [playing with a broken finger] for the entire population.”

On preparing without knowing Robinson’s Game 1 status:

“For me, I’m always going with whoever is available today. And he didn’t practice today. So we’re getting whoever we need ready to go. … I don’t want to know, just let me know if he can play and when he can play. Just like we normally would, we’re getting everyone else ready to go.”

On potentially facing San Antonio or Oklahoma City in the Finals:

“If we expect to be who we think we are, then at the end of the day it doesn’t matter. If we play San Antonio, it’ll save me some money because my family lives in San Antonio. I don’t have to buy airline tickets. But at the end of the day, both teams are great and both teams will be a challenge for us.”

On the Knicks’ offensive evolution throughout the season and playoffs:

“You know, I always look at it as just evolving. You know, I came in with an idea during training camp, and for the most part, I thought it was pretty good. It didn’t fit everybody exactly how I thought it would, and so you try to tweak some things as you move along, and we made a pretty big tweak about halfway through the year. And then in the playoffs … Atlanta, they’re really good, Quin Snyder and his group. And all these teams have been really good, and they’ve made us play a little different. We played a little different where we emphasized certain things against Cleveland that we didn’t emphasize as much against Philly, that we didn’t emphasize as much against Atlanta, and so continuing to try to find ways to help the group score in the half-court was something that we all opened our minds to. After I think Game 3, it’s like, bam, here it is.”

On navigating Finals distractions and staying intentional:

“There are a lot more distractions that you have to navigate. So you have to be, I was talking to Allan Houston and he used the right word when I was talking to him about it, but you have to be real intentional about what you’re doing because you’re gonna get pulled in so many different directions. And everybody is human and it’s natural to get pulled here, get pulled a little here, get pulled a little there and think that you’re OK. But at the end of the day, after doing the media and practice, you’re getting pulled in three or four different directions because you’re gonna have your family around you, you’re gonna have friends around you, you’re gonna have people wanting tickets, you’re gonna have people wanting you to go on this show, that show. At the end of the day, you may not realize it, but it can be fatiguing for you to do all of that stuff while trying to focus on some of the biggest games of your life. Again, going off of what word Allan Houston used, trying to be intentional about everything that we do during this time, while keeping an edge, is gonna be huge.”

On staying even-keeled amid adversity:

“I feel like I’m pretty good at that. We all have had curveballs come at you that are bigger than (Robinson’s injury) in life, and trying to even do it when you have those curveballs helps you prepare for something that is really a kid’s game. So that’s what I try to do, no matter what it is.”

On welcoming input from players and coaches when adjusting his strategy:

“I get welcoming suggestions from our players. I get welcoming suggestions from our coaches, and I always just try to say, ‘Hey, this is probably the best for the team,’ and go with it. Fortunately, it helped us out during that series, and it’s helped us out since.”

On conceptual offense and playoff adjustments:

“Everybody grows in their journey. And being an assistant in Golden State helped out a lot. Almost everything they do is conceptual. When you get to the playoffs, everybody first of all knows exactly what play is coming. So if I were sitting here going ‘Two up! Two up! Two up!’ every single one of our opponent’s assistants would be like, ‘Pick-and-roll coming.’ And they know ahead of time exactly what’s coming and the game is physical, so they’re gonna really bump you to mess with your frontcourt pace, and it’s gonna disjoint you offensively. If you can understand, OK, hey, let’s get the flow. Let’s play in flow, and it’s read-and-react based off where the ball goes and where the body goes, now it’s a lot harder for their staff to help them ahead of time … And if your guys understand concepts and can play conceptual basketball offensively, come playoff time versus very good defensive teams that only get better as you advance, it gets more physical, which can disjoint you offensively, you’ll have a better chance at having some success, because like I said, they don’t know exactly what’s coming in a timely manner.”

On Karl-Anthony Towns showing more than just scoring:

“It’s awesome because KAT, everybody looks at KAT as a scorer. ‘Oh, he can score. He doesn’t do this. He doesn’t do that, but he can score.’ And to make it — especially as an All-Star/leader/one of the guys — this far, you have to bring more to the table. And it’s great because he can be able to display to the entire world that he’s more than just a talented scorer.”

On meeting Ben Stiller and celebrity Knicks fans:

“Ben Stiller was over there. I don’t think I’ve ever met Ben, but he was over there, and she was like, ‘Ben’s over there.’ I was like, ‘Go get a picture. I’m sure he’ll take a picture with you.’ [She was like], ‘No, I can’t do it.’ ”

On getting to know Fat Joe during the season:

“I’ve actually gotten to know Fat Joe a little bit. He used to kill me about my shoes. He used to kill me. He’d try to tell me I need to get some Nikes because they got more cushion and all this stuff. He took a picture with my stepson and my stepson was fired up, and I’ve always been a fan of his. But he’s probably the only one that I’ve really gotten to know.”

On Leon Rose and James Dolan building the roster:

“Leon … and his staff have done a frickin’ fantastic, fantastic job. And I’d even take it a step further. It doesn’t happen if Mr. (James) Dolan wants to keep his hands in his pocket and not allow Leon to go do his work.”

Karl-Anthony Towns

On reaching the NBA Finals for the first time:

“It means a lot. To finally, like I said after [Monday’s] game, get over that hump. Being in the conference finals is a huge accomplishment, but really, we all know what we’re all looking for is the opportunity to play in the NBA Finals. As a competitor, as an athlete, you [try] to give yourself a chance every single year. The last three years I have, but finally this year I was able to, in the third year, get over that hump and give myself a chance to see what I can do.”

On the magnitude of representing the Knicks and Madison Square Garden:

“My mom, when she immigrated here, understood the magnitude of Madison Square Garden. Madison Square Garden and the Knicks is not just an American top-end sports team, it’s a worldwide brand. And to be part of Knicks history is truly such an honor. My family has always had such respect and love for the Knicks, and my father having ties to the Knicks, it was just kind of guaranteed I was going to fall into this role of being a Knicks fan growing up.”

On Jeremy Lin inspiring his Knicks fandom:

“I truly, though, I want to give a shout-out to Jeremy Lin, because he really made me a Knicks fan and had me at Modell’s going crazy trying to find his jersey. I have so much love for Jeremy Lin, he’s one of my favorite Knicks of all time, one of my favorite players of all time. He made me so passionate about the Knicks. It’s crazy now that I’m in this position, I’m in this chair, talking to you guys as a Knicks player. Derek [Lapinski, the Knicks’ PR director] showed me the other day [a video] of Jeremy Lin on social. For him to even mention me was kind of crazy because the love I have for him and what he’s done for me and my Knicks fandom is second to none.”

On trusting the roster amid uncertainty around Robinson:

“Whatever the picture ends up being, us having those trials and tribulations for the last two years where things weren’t looking good — just like at the end of December with the 2-9, 11-game stretch — it shows that we have resilience, and we’ll go out there and we trust everyone in this locker room. It’s an unfortunate thing that happened to him. If this playoff run has shown anything, I feel, to the fans and media, 1 through 15 will go out there and put the Knicks jersey on and get the job done, and we truly believe in that. So, this is a situation that we’ve garnered enough experience and trust in each other that whatever the picture ends up being when we step on that court on Wednesday, we feel confident.”

On preparing during the extended break before the Finals:

“We have to prepare, and we’re preparing every single day for whatever the situation may be, and we’re just ready. We have a lot of days — we’ve been fortunate. It’s a fortunate thing that it happens when we have a lot of time or we can figure out a lot of the puzzle. But we don’t know what the picture is yet until we get to Wednesday next week.”

Jalen Brunson

On Juan Soto using his celebration:

“It’s pretty dope to see, for sure.”

On adjusting offensively during the playoffs:

“I feel like we’ve always had different ways to approach things. What’s the frequency of what we’re running at the time? Being able to have that in our back pocket and obviously being able to adjust during the playoffs is not that easy, but it’s definitely something that we’ve practiced and we gotta continue to make good habits out of those.”

On what leading the Knicks back to the Finals means for his family:

“That’s a question, I’d love to answer later.”

On blocking out distractions during the Finals:

“I think it’s different for everybody. I’ve been off social media. I may post one thing and then just go back to deleting it. You just gotta block out the noise. You gotta do whatever you can to make sure you’re locked in. Everyone is different. Every individual has their way of blocking out things. It’s important to not hear some of the things. When there’s negative things being said about you, it’s important to ignore them. When there’s positive things about you, it’s easy to read them and feel good. You can’t do one and not the other. So just block it out as best as you can.”

On staying locked in, entering the Finals starting on the road and after another long break:

“Comparing our situation from last time, just being mentally and physically locked in. I think that’s really important for us and that’s what we have to focus on these next couple of days.”

Mikal Bridges

On handling outside praise before the Finals:

“Just worry about what we have to do to be better. Not get too into the media and all the stuff. A lot of questions, a lot of talk about how great we are, how great we’ve been. That doesn’t matter, we just gotta worry about being ourselves and stay locked in. And go win.”

OG Anunoby

On the Knicks’ long path to the Finals:

“Jules went to the Knicks. Then Thibs was hired. Drafted Mitch, RJ, Quick. Guys coming every year, getting better and better. Jalen came, Josh, Donte, Isaiah. Each year, progression. Noticed it from afar, and since I came it’s been same thing. Getting better and better each year.”

On Mitchell Robinson’s importance and taking it day by day:

“Mitch is very important. He’s an amazing player. It’s unfortunate what happened, but I’m sure — just take it day by day now.”

On the team’s health entering the Finals:

“We’re very fortunate. No one wants to have any setbacks. Any team in the playoffs is gonna have setbacks, so we’ve been pretty fortunate. [We] had this come up, [so] just take it day by day, figure it out.”

Landry Shamet

On staying focused despite reaching the Finals:

“Job’s not done. It means everything to be going to the Finals, and we’ve got a lot more to do. Really proud of this group and happy to be a part of this group, and we all know what it’s going to require from us moving forward. That’s all I’m thinking about.”

Juan Soto

On supporting the Knicks during their Finals run:

“We just gotta keep cheering for the Knicks. Let’s go Knicks.”

Carl Banks

On winning a championship in New York:

“There’s nothing like winning a championship in New York. I want it to happen for them. It’s just everybody loves you for what you did. No one can ever take that away from you. It just changes your life.”

Darryl Strawberry

On the demands and rewards of winning a title in New York:

“There’s nothing greater than winning a title in New York because you have to deal with so much animosity through the media and fans. They demand a lot. When you finally do reach that pinnacle, it brings so much joy to everyone. And it’s forever. You’re an icon. You are a hero here … It’s very hard. But the fans love you forever. I’ll put it this way, they love you forever and they embrace you because you stood up to the challenge. It’s not just about playing here. It’s about everything that goes on. If you never played here, you would never have a clear understanding of it.”

Ben Stiller

On offering to take a photo with Mike Brown’s family:

“I am available for any picture any time with any member of Mike Brown’s immediate or extended family or friends. This man has taken us to the finals. In his first year here.”

Mike Breen

On Knicks fans enduring years of struggles:

“I’m so happy for the fan base because there were so many nights where they were dreadful, one of the worst teams in the league. The fans never went away.”

On Walt Frazier being rejuvenated by this Knicks team:

“I was worried he was going to retire because he was so sick of the bad play. Now, I think he wants to keep going year after year.”

Today Harrison Barnes celebrates his 34th birthday. As one of the elder statesmen with the San Antonio Spurs, Barnes has been a leader both on and off the court. In addition to his athletic ability, his philanthropic endeavors have been recognized throughout the league.

Barnes was drafted by the Golden State Warriors 7th overall in 2012. In 2015, he won an NBA title with the Warriors. He, along with Luke Kornet, are the two current members of the Spurs with NBA Championships.

The following year, the Warriors tallied the greatest regular season record in NBA history going 73-9. In the Western Conference Finals, they met the Oklahoma City Thunder. And on May 30, 2016 — ten years ago today — Harrison Barnes won his last Game 7 against that very Thunder team, advancing to the NBA Finals.

Can Barnes and the Spurs grant a birthday victory? Let’s blow out the candles and sing him a rousing rendition of “Happy Birthday.”

This game is going to be epic. For the young Spurs, this is the most important NBA game they have ever played. In fact, after the Spurs tied the series on Thursday night, Dylan Harper stated Game 7 will be the biggest game he’s played in. When asked what was the biggest game so far, he said, “this one tonight” referring to Game 6.

For Barnes, this is his furthest he’s been in the postseason in quite some time. He has the opportunity to make it to the big show a decade after back-to-back trips in the early years of his career. Back then, he was on the court with a generational player being coached by a man who credited much of his learning to Gregg Popovich.

While the situation may bear similarities, tomorrow’s game will determine if the Spurs will make their first NBA Finals in a dozen years. The last time Barnes was in this situation, the Warriors fought their way into their second consecutive title run. He was a young player. Now, he brings institutional knowledge to a team looking to secure a shot to play the New York Knicks next week. But first, they have to get through tonight.

Happy birthday, Harrison, may this be your best day yet.

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This is not difficult. Don’t get cute. Don’t get smart. Washington Wizards general manager Will Dawkins should keep it simple and just pick the guy they think is likely to be the best NBA player and move on to the next opportunity.

There are several reasons for this. For starters, decades of NBA Draft experience says that the answer to the question in the headline is simple: do not pick for fit. Washington Wizards general manager and the team’s decision-makers would be wise to accept this lesson, even in a year with multiple high-quality prospects.

The most famous blunder stemming from picking for fit was probably when the Portland Trail Blazers chose Kentucky center Sam Bowie over Michael Jordan because they thought they needed a center.

As former Indiana University head coach Bob Knight said, “Then play Jordan at center.”

This leads me to the second major reason to pick upside and talent over fit — team needs and fit is a moving target. The reality is that no team is so talented that they can’t use another great talent. If they’re truly having a positional logjam, they can always make a trade. It turns out, other teams will pay for talented players.

But even without injuries, team needs change fast. For example, look back to 2020 when the Wizards picked Deni Avdija over Tyrese Haliburton, in large reason because the front office at the time thought they were well-stocked at guard. After all, Bradley Beal was a two-time All-Star and John Wall was slated to return.

Their trade of Wall brought back Russell Westbrook — another guard.

The case for picking Avdija was that he had good size and and some guard-like skills, and that he’d pair well with Rui Hachimura as highly switchable forwards. That was the theory.

Except…well…Haliburton was the better prospect. No insult to Avdija but still. Haliburton was crazy productive in the NCAA, had an infectious and ebullient leadership style, and a funky-junky jumper and all-around game that just worked. He was All-Rookie, and in four seasons was a two-time All-Star, twice named All-NBA, and was the best player on a team that reached game seven of the NBA Finals.

Meanwhile, back in Washington, Westbrook wanted out after a season and suddenly the Wizards were back in the market for guards.

The point: needs change. Often fast.

The third major reason to pick talent over fit is that even savvy basketball executives have difficulty determining how players actually fit together — even when the players are established veterans. The Milwaukee Bucks paid a ransom for Damian Lillard because it seemed a sure thing that Lillard and Giannis Antetokounmpo would make a devastating pick-and-roll combo. On the court, they were kinda okay together but true synergy never coalesced.

The reality is that skilled players usually can figure out how to work together effectively. They can develop fit. Not always, of course — ego, money, health, and other factors come into play too. But that’s true even when positions and skills seem to fit like puzzle pieces. Think about Kyrie Irving asking for a trade after three straight trips to the NBA Finals, which included winning a championship. He wanted out from LeBron James’ considerable shadow despite what seemed to be an ideal on-court fit.

The fourth major reason: NBA teams are choosing young men in their late teens or early twenties. Most prospects — especially those at the top of the draft — have been the best player on virtually every team they’ve ever played on. Some guys will learn lessons from NBA-level competition and work themselves into stars. Some will adapt themselves into roles with varying degrees of responsibility. Others won’t rise to the challenge or they’ll get distracted and never become contributors.

Which is which is challenging enough without layering on guesses about how they’ll fit on court with other NBA players.

The only exception to the rule is if two or more prospects are essentially equals. Then go ahead and pick for a perceived positional need. This kind of thing is pretty rare, though. Especially at the top of the draft.

This year’s NBA draft is strong at the top. My stat-based prospect evaluation tool Ye Olde Draft Analyzer (YODA for short) has four players with grades consistent with being the number one overall pick in most drafts — Cam Boozer, AJ Dybantsa, Darryn Peterson, and Caleb Wilson. But they’re not co-equals.

A strong majority of public-facing talent evaluators believe Dybantsa has the highest upside. The betting odds at FanDuel agree on the top pick and point towards a hierarchy of Dybantsa, Peterson, Boozer, and Wilson.

This doesn’t mean Dybantsa should be the pick. The lesson for the Wizards is to conduct a thorough evaluations, decide which of these prospects is most likely to have the best NBA career, and then pick that guy. Let the coach and the players figure out how to make it work on the floor. Make a trade down the road if they can’t. But don’t waste time guessing at perceived fit. The first step in building a great basketball team is collecting talent.

Greetings, Panthers fans. Welcome to the weekend.

Feel free to use this thread to chat about (almost) anything you want: video games, food, movies, non-football sports, you name it. As long as it’s allowed by the site’s ToS, it’s fair game here.

You know the drill.

This is now an open thread

This one is a bit personal for me.

I’ve been a Nikola Vučević fan since he was traded from Philadelphia to Orlando, and for years I hoped the Montenegrin big man would eventually suit up for the Boston Celtics. That trade to Orlando happened back in 2012, when I was still in high school. Fast forward 14 years, and the wish finally came true when Boston acquired Vučević.

Unfortunately, 12 games into his Celtics tenure, Vučević suffered a fractured right ring finger against the Dallas Mavericks and missed the next 14 games.

In the 16 regular-season games he played for Boston, Vučević averaged 9.7 points, 6.6 rebounds and two assists while shooting 34% from 3-point range and 43.9% from the field.

The numbers don’t jump out, but there are plenty of explanations as to why he wasn’t an instant fit. 

The biggest factor was the injury. Vučević simply didn’t get enough time on the court with his new teammates to learn everyone’s tendencies and settle into the system. From the moment he arrived in Boston, he was already playing catch-up.

Vučević has never been known as a great defender, so adjusting to Joe Mazzulla’s system was always going to take time. With such a strong emphasis on communication and knowing every assignment, he needed reps that he ultimately never got. By the time he returned from injury, he had only four games left in the regular season to ramp up before the playoffs began.

Celtics President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens also acknowledged the impact the injury had on Vučević’s season. “He’s our only unrestricted free agent. I thought, obviously, getting traded here when he did, he had some moments. Broke his finger, that probably set him back,” Stevens said. 

There were flashes during the season that showed what Vučević could bring to the roster. Against Brooklyn, he posted 28 points and 11 rebounds. In his Celtics debut against Miami, he recorded a double-double in a win.

In the playoffs, though, Vučević struggled. 

Facing the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round was never an ideal matchup for him, and that showed throughout most of the series. His season ultimately ended with a DNP-CD in Game 7.

“This was a hard matchup for all of us. I think when I looked at it the other day, he ended up being a plus in the series, but it was back and forth with all those guys,” Stevens said.

“I thought Vuč gave us all that he had and did what we asked. It was a hard matchup,” Stevens added. “I have a lot of respect for Vuč as a person and as a pro. I know he was really good in our locker room. I thought he was a really good person to have around.”

As the team’s lone unrestricted free agent, it’ll be interesting to see what Vučević prioritizes this offseason. Is it money? A contender? A mix of both?

If the Celtics want him back, they can certainly offer him a chance to compete for another title, though it would likely need to come on a team-friendly contract, if not a veteran minimum deal.

If Vučević is open to returning, I’d be all for bringing him back on a reasonable contract. He’s still a solid frontcourt option and could provide valuable depth alongside Neemias Queta and Luka Garza.

A hard-fought Western Conference Finals will culminate in a Game Seven between two of the best teams in the NBA. The San Antonio Spurs will venture to Oklahoma City to take on the Thunder after a dominant 118-91 win in Game Six. It will be the biggest game of many of the young Spurs’ careers.

The Spurs took down the defending champions in Game Six thanks to an elite defensive performance. That same level of shut-down defense has been hard to come by on the road in this series. San Antonio will need to bring the same level of aggression and attention to defensive detail they’ve had at home to the sea of blue in OKC.

It all starts with Victor Wembanyama, who has been up and down in the series. When Wembanyama dominates, the Spurs do too. Oklahoma City has done whatever they can to slow down the 7-foot-4 alien. It’s on Wembanyama and the Spurs to find a way to free him up for easy looks in this elimination game.

Oklahoma City will come into Game Seven down two key players: Jalen Williams and Ajay Mitchell. Williams suited up in Game Six but looked extremely limited. He is ruled out for Game Seven. The Thunder will rely on the two-time MVP, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and the guard duo of Jared McCain and Alex Caruso to handle the ball and guard the perimeter.

The winner of Game Seven will go on to face the New York Knicks, who are on a 10-game winning streak heading into the NBA Finals. In many ways, this series has been two heavyweights trading major blows to qualify for the championship fight. We’ll see who lands the final knockout punch on Saturday night.

San Antonio Spurs (3-3) vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (3-3)

May 29th, 2026 | 7 PM CT

Watch: NBC / Peacock | Listen: WOAI (1200 AM)

Spurs Injuries: No injuries to report.

Thunder Injuries: Thomas Sorber – Out (knee), Ajay Mitchell – Out (calf), Jalen Williams – Out (hamstring)

What to watch for:

Wembanyama’s performance

It’s pretty simple: Wembanyama has to dominate for the Spurs to win. The Thunder have done everything in their power to keep him out of the paint. They’ve put stronger defenders on him to push him out of the paint. They’ve doubled him on lobs and sent two defenders at his post touches. The Spurs responded to this in Game Six by trying to get Wembanyama involved in empty-side pick-and-rolls or setting screens to get him moving toward the paint. Wemby mainly hurt the Thunder from deep in Game Six, but he’ll do his best work inside. A standout performance would establish him as one of the best players in the world.

Winning the possession battle

Mistakes will bury a team in Game Seven. Giving up second-chance points or easy buckets off of turnovers are debilitating when the stakes are high. San Antonio has done much better at taking care of the basketball since De’Aaron Fox returnred in Game Three. They have given up some offensive rebounds here and there in this series, mainly on long boards or when Wembanyama is out of position after going for a block. Minimizing turnovers and easy offensive boards will be crucial in Game Seven.

Guard play

This series has been defined by guard play. The Spurs haven’t relented guarding SGA with physical defenders like Stephon Castle and Devin Vassell. While SGA hasn’t had a great series, his teammates have picked up the slack. McCain and Caruso have been awesome at home. San Antonio can’t let the Thunder’s role players heat up. McCain and Caruso can swing this game with their effort and shot making. Similarly, Dylan Harper and Castle can give the Spurs an edge by aggressively attacking the paint and putting pressure on the Thunder’s paint defenders. Watch out for Fox’s shot making. He’s been cold all series, but could be due for a big game.

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

Oklahoma City; Saturday, 8 p.m. EDT

LINE: Thunder -3.5; over/under is 212.5

WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: Series tied 3-3

BOTTOM LINE: The San Antonio Spurs visit the Oklahoma City Thunder in game seven of the Western Conference finals. The Spurs defeated the Thunder 118-91 in the last matchup on Friday. Victor Wembanyama led the Spurs with 28 points, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder with 15.

The Thunder are 41-11 against Western Conference opponents. Oklahoma City ranks third in the league with 34.6 defensive rebounds per game led by Chet Holmgren averaging 7.0.

The Spurs have gone 36-16 against Western Conference opponents. San Antonio is second in the Western Conference with 47.0 rebounds per game led by Wembanyama averaging 11.5.

The Thunder's 13.8 made 3-pointers per game this season are only 0.8 more made shots on average than the 13.0 per game the Spurs give up. The Spurs are shooting 48.3% from the field, 4.6% higher than the 43.7% the Thunder's opponents have shot this season.

TOP PERFORMERS: Gilgeous-Alexander is averaging 31.1 points and 6.6 assists for the Thunder. Holmgren is averaging 15.1 points over the last 10 games.

Stephon Castle is scoring 16.6 points per game and averaging 5.3 rebounds for the Spurs. Wembanyama is averaging 25.8 points and 11.1 rebounds over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Thunder: 7-3, averaging 113.9 points, 41.2 rebounds, 26.2 assists, 10.6 steals and 4.1 blocks per game while shooting 46.6% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 109.3 points per game.

Spurs: 6-4, averaging 116.7 points, 48.7 rebounds, 25.5 assists, 9.0 steals and 7.0 blocks per game while shooting 46.1% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 108.8 points.

INJURIES: Thunder: Ajay Mitchell: out (calf), Jalen Williams: out (hamstring), Thomas Sorber: out for season (knee).

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

___

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

As Linsanity took over the NBA, Karl-Anthony Towns was as big a fan as anyone. 

When asked Friday about his Knicks fandom growing up, Towns gushed about Jeremy Lin. 

“I truly want to give a shoutout to Jeremy Lin because he really made me a Knicks fan and had me at Modell’s,” Towns said. “It was crazy trying to find his jersey. I have so much love for Jeremy Lin, he’s one of my favorite Knicks of all time, one of my favorite players of all time. He made me so passionate about the Knicks. It’s crazy now that I’m in this position, in this chair, talking to you guys as a Knicks player. [They] showed me the other day Jeremy Lin on social [media], for him to even mention me was kind of crazy because the love I have for him and what he’s done for me and my Knicks fandom is second to none.” 

Towns was in high school when Linsanity peaked. 

A New Jersey native, Towns also explained why he chose the Knicks over the Nets. 

“My mom, when she immigrated here, she understood the magnitude of Madison Square Garden,” Towns said. “… I grew up, obviously, in Jersey, obviously it was so much easier for me to get New Jersey Nets tickets and see Kenyon Martin, Vince Carter, Jason Kidd, but my family has always had such respect and love for the Knicks and my father having ties to the Knicks, it was kind of guaranteed I was going to fall into this world of being a Knicks fan growing up.” 

OG Anunoby was injured and did not play in the series, but he has some Finals experience — from when he was with the Raptors in 2019. 

“We were a very close team, and it was a very talented team,” Anunoby said. “I learned a lot from watching a lot of great teammates. It was really a cool experience winning that.” 

He also learned a crucial lesson. 

“I was younger back then,” Anunoby said, “so I didn’t realize how hard it takes to get back.”

All these years later, one lesson from Jay Wright has stayed with Jalen Brunson. 

“One thing he always said, it’s plastered on every wall, every shirt, the inside of our jerseys — everything — was attitude,” the Knicks’ superstar guard recalled, referring to the former Villanova coach. “Controlling your attitude. I don’t really say that as much as I used to, but I think my kind of twist on it is being able to control what you can control.” 

It’s been a big part of his success. Despite winning two national championships at Villanova and being the consensus National Player of the Year in 2017-18, Brunson was a second-round pick. It wasn’t until his fourth season in the NBA that he began to establish himself as a starter. When Brunson joined the Knicks, there was plenty of criticism that he was overpaid. 

Tuning out the noise — whether it is positive or negative — has been instrumental to his ascension. 

“Controlling your attitude, controlling your effort, those are the things you can control and that’s something he said every day,” Brunson said of Wright. “That’s how we ended huddles, that’s how we started games, practices. It’s kind of what his motto was and once we believed in it, everything became easier.” 

Brunson, of course, isn’t the only former Villanova star on the Knicks. Josh Hart and Mikal Bridges were teammates with the Wildcats, too.

They are looking to become the fifth group of teammates to win an NBA and NCAA championship together.

The previous ones are Derek Anderson and Antoine Walker (Kentucky, Heat), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Lucius Allen (UCLA, Bucks), John Havlicek and Larry Siegfried (Ohio State, Celtics) and Bill Russell and K.C. Jones (San Francisco, Celtics). 

“Man, you can tell Coach Wright has instilled a lot of great qualities in all of these guys,” Mike Brown said. “They’re selfless. They all have a competitive spirit. They’re all about the right stuff, and they’re great human beings to be around. 

“So I’m sure it wasn’t just Coach Wright who helped raise them, but to be able to play for him and have that continue at the highest level while competing for championships in college definitely made my job easier. When you have guys like that and those guys are the leaders of your team, we were talking about all of them, and then it rubs off on everybody else, and it just makes for a fantastic environment to be a part of.”

Right now, Kelsey Pfendler is out on the open ocean, trying to become the first American woman (and the youngest + fastest) to solo row the Mid-Pacific.

Typically, the route runs from Monterey, CA, to either Hanalei Bay or Honolulu, a distance of roughly 2,000+ nautical miles (depending on how much one gets knocked off course).

Only two other women have accomplished this feat. The fastest, Lia Ditton, did it in 86 days. Pfender is currently on Day 9. And as of 5 pm this afternoon, she has traveled 327 nautical miles so far.

Her tracker estimates that she will arrive in Hawaii on August 28th.

I’ve always wondered what it is that spurs people into taking on tasks like this. Is it just something different in their brain chemistry? Is it a latent ability to turn a journey of 2,000+ miles into digestible chunks of distance and time? A talent for being able to ignore discomfort and focus purely on the light at the end of the tunnel?

Every now and then, I find myself tuning into the History Channel’s survivalist competition show Alone, watching people who’ve willingly isolated themselves out in the subarctic wilderness huddle in makeshift shelters, collecting food in the most rudimentary ways imaginable, and trying to avoid predators, while the voice of Ned Stark echoes in my head.

“Why would anyone sign up for this?” I say to myself, as I contort my body into just the right angle for me to flick a particularly large food crumb from my chest into the trash can.  

Impressive display of physical and intellectual powers aside, I think this neglects a question that’s almost as good: why would anyone watch this?

It’s days upon days of watching people making minor improvements against a tide of self-imposed difficulties, while they try to avoid committing/falling prey to a competition-ending mistake.

And yet, I know that if there were a live camera of Pfendler’s journey, I’d be checking it at least a couple of times a day, just out of sheer morbid curiosity.

How do I know this? Because I’ve been writing about the Spurs for years now, from the last season of playoff berths through both the worst and most middling parts of a rebuild, and I couldn’t stop watching their games.

Not even on nights when they were blown out in the middle of already sprawling losing streaks, and the game wasn’t mine to write about. Even if I missed it in real time, I’d find myself watching it later, combing through the carnage for a bright spot that I could cling to.

I can’t for the life of me explain why I did that. And I think it’s safe to presume that I’m not the only Spurs fan who is at a loss in this regard. I could have just tuned out until the Spurs were good again and skipped out on the self-imposed misery of trying to chart progress in a vacuum of talent.

Instead, I found myself paying even closer attention than I did during the good years. You just cannot plot the minutiae of positive development at a distance; it asks more of you than that.

There’s something extra precious about joy when you really have to dig for it. When you’re trying your best to find something good in a challenging situation, championing players whose stories or improvements you might otherwise have glossed over in the heady days of consistent victory.

I think in some ways I learned more about what makes for good basketball watching bad teams than I did watching the Spurs when they were at their best. You develop an even stronger appreciation for the miracle of the 2014 Beautiful Game when you’ve seen what the opposite of what that looks like, and how hopeless it can feel.

This might be the most I’ve ever appreciated a Spurs team, even as someone who was there for all five championships. I didn’t have this context in 1999. Suddenly, they were on the television, and I had missed most of the struggles prior to 1995.

And these Spurs aren’t just winning. They’re thrashing a championship roster. They’re going toe-to-toe with a team that’s every bit as deep and brimming with assets, and that already made it over the hump, and they’re doing it through injuries, and adjustments, and spurts of officiating so questionable that fans from other regions of NBA Twitter/the media have united over it.

They’re on the cusp of greatness. It happened so fast, and so agonizingly slowly, like the accruing defeats and eventual victory of potty-training one’s children. I don’t wanna go back, but I can’t exactly forget the journey either.

I watched the Spurs play perfectly balanced basketball last night with the satisfaction of Thanos wiping out half a planet in service of his vision of the greater good. You could see the desire in their faces, like you do when a good boxer pulls himself up off the mat.

Every increment we’ve watched so far, they’ve lived. You could see it in the way that Devin Vassell stuck doggedly with his man, and the extra effort that Keldon Johnson made to avoid being a defensive liability, after spending years in no-man’s land and focusing on the little things while other teams and players contended for something that felt more substantial.

You could see it in Julian Champagnie’s focus, as he played at with such ignited fervor that he led the starting lineup in +/- after spending most of the series being targeted by the Thunder on the less-glamorous end, and after years battling his way through the G-league, to the bottom of the roster, to a critical slot spacing the floor for a monk-like Victor Wembanyama, so locked in that he was almost detached in his fury, detonating on Oklahoma City players both inside the paint and outside the arc, until their heads were almost visibly spinning.

You could see it in the old-man voodoo that Harrison Barnes broke out, determined to make the most of his time on the court and his first (and maybe last) legitimate shot at the Finals in a decade, after almost 400 games spent in the basketball purgatory otherwise known as Sacramento.

If there’s a glaring difference between the mentalities of the Spurs and the Thunder, it’s that one of these teams is still coming from a place of struggle. The pain of losing is still fresh and real and far too close for comfort — for the players, for the staff, for the fans.

Outside of the tracking map on her website, the only other record of Kelsey Pfendler’s journey are the short daily videos she posts as updates (and, I suspect, proof of life).

On the 6th day of her journey, she encountered incoming rough-weather conditions. Though her small boat is built to self-right in the event of capsizing, she spent part of the day securing items to the tiny vessel and charging her solar batteries.

I can only imagine how frightening it was to continue rowing on the open, endless water cresting in 14-foot waves and storm-force winds, but her video from the 8th day was much more disconcerting.

Still enduring the remnants of undesirable weather in combination with the forceful opposing currents off the coastline of California, she had been rowing with all her might to merely hold her position for over a day, and she was near tears in a mixture of physical exhaustion and sleep deprivation.

But then, near the end of the two minutes of explanation, she visibly rallied. Having rowed this route once before, in a team of 4, she had known what she was getting herself into. She had known how hard this would be, she said, and then she focused on how close she was to finally turning fully west and hitting the trade winds and currents that would assist her in the length of her journey.

She wasn’t focused on the remaining distance or how early she was in her journey, just that (what she believed to be) the hardest part was almost over.

And that’s exactly what this whole stretch of seasons has felt like to me. The Spurs are going into Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals. Win or lose, they’ve finally turned the corner westward, and though a considerable distance is still stretching out before them, the currents and winds are friendlier than they’ve been in a long, long time.

There have been so many days where it felt like the Spurs were fighting to just hold position, both in the past and in the current series from Game 2 onward. Maybe that’s why I couldn’t stop watching.

I’ve always argued that much of the interest in sports revolves around its imitation of life, and the way it rewards hard work in opposition to reality. But perhaps it’s just that it’s easier to access optimism in that arena.

Live is long and full of so much losing, and sometimes it feels like we’re all just fighting to reach the trade winds.

The Spurs and Kelsey Pfendler are both finally there, and we get to rejoice with them. Maybe it’s always been about the rejoicing.

One way or another, the Spurs are almost through the storm. Strap everything down. Prepare for the worst. But we’re all going to end up on the other side of it, and there’s still plenty of ocean to cross when it’s over.

It’s just nice to know that the current is finally flowing with us. However it goes, there’s comfort to be found in that.

Takeways

• After having difficulty finding a groove against the Thunder big men, Luke Kornet had his best game of the series, and it allowed San Antonio’s bench to both build and help hold their 20-point lead over OKC. While some of his ineffectiveness in the series was due to the difference between what he and Thunder players were being allowed in the paint, it was good to see him rise above it in such a critical game. He only tallied 3 points, but he diverted far more shots than his block count would suggest, and then threw down a dunk in the fourth quarter that felt like a spiritual game-ender. And though rebounds have been hard to come by, he made the most of his 13 minutes by bringing down five of them, two very critically on the offensive end. If this version of Kornet shows up in Game 7, I’d put all the money on the Spurs to win it, because the Thunder had a hell of a time making any headway against it.
• This game would not have been a blowout without Dylan Harper summoning his best, as he was an absolute nightmare for the Thunder to contain. I get that same sense of abject unfairness in watching bench players trying to deal with him that I used to get when peak Manu Ginobili got unleashed against 2nd stringers trying to make a name for themselves in the league. I don’t know how long Harper will play from the bench. He seems like he’s on too stratospheric a course for it to last too much longer, but what’s scary is the ease with which he’s dissecting championship-level defenses. He’s been playing through hamstring issues since the last series, and any lack of explosiveness hardly seems to matter because he just sees space differently than other players and/or creates it to the point that he just glides right through it. I have no idea what this kid’s ceiling is, but he’s breaking into/approaching some freaky territory for a rookie guard, and any time you’re in the same company as Magic Johnson, Manu, and Tony Parker, the future is bright beyond belief.
• I haven’t talked a whole lot about the third-stringers this postseason, seeing as they really haven’t gotten a lot of play unless it’s in a blowout, but that unit really decided to secure the lead last night, closing it out with a sequence of passing that I had no idea they were even capable of, and have sadly been unable to find in video form. I’m sure the Spurs will tighten up this part of the bench in the off-season, with Bismack Biyombo and Mason Plumlee both visibly past their expiration date, but I think we have a tendency to view everything through the lens of talent, and neglect how important certain personalities are to the success of a roster. There’s no negativety or resentment brewing at the end of the bench, and these guys deserve praise for being so wholesome in that way, and always ready to play (or, much more often, not play) without a hint of complaint. It’s certainly worth remembering and throwing a little praise their way.
• Lastly, in the event that this is the end of the season, I’d just like to thank you all for reading and engaging and bringing what you bring to the table. For a comparatively small market, we’re still towering amongst our peers in the blogosphere, and that’s down to the quality of the people who read and interact with our work. In the event that this goes sideways (*knock on wood*), I trust my colleague Charlie to ease us into the offseason in his characteristic style. But if not, I’ll see y’all back here for my first-ever Finals WWLs! I’ve run my best lap, and I’m passing on the baton. Here’s hoping Wemby’s (and Charlie’s) anchor leg gets there. In the meantime, we’ll all just keep paddling.

Playing You Out – The Theme Song of the Evening:

Currents by Eisley

A few days ago, I put out a call for Golden State Warriors mailbag questions. We didn’t get a ton this time around, but what we lacked in quantity we made up for in quality, with some excellent questions.

The boring answer is that it’s pretty rare for first-round talents to have these types of workouts. HoopsHype has been doing a fantastic job tracking all the reported workouts across the league, and a quick glance at their list reveals that only a small handful of first-rounders have had individual workouts, while the vast majority of workouts are for potential second-round picks and undrafted players.

Why is that? Because these sorts of workouts are fairly meaningless, and almost entirely meaningless for top prospects. Individual pre-draft workouts are, in essence, going through the movements of a very basic workout, with a softball job interview attached. That can still have value, but the value is primarily for deciding who to target for Summer League rosters and camp invites, and who could be a quality two-way addition. It also goes both ways: it’s an opportunity for those players to decide what team to sign with if they go undrafted.

The Warriors probably have 10-15 names they’re considering with the No. 11 pick. At this point, the Warriors have presumably seen all of them play in person, have watched virtually all of their college games, have talked with their college coaches, have had conversations with them, and have seen them at the combine. Nothing is going to change with 45 minutes of cone drills and a 10-minute interview, and so neither side is particularly interested (most projected lottery picks flatly refuse individual workouts).

That’s not to say that the Warriors haven’t gotten to know all of their potential draftees well (there’s a joke to be made somewhere in here about having dinner with them all and seeing what foreign languages they speak). But there are avenues to do that beyond the reported workouts. And while a mild-mannered workout isn’t going to impact how the Warriors feel about the 10-15 players they’ve done extreme due diligence on for their first-round pick, it can be a difference maker for the 200-300 players they’re considering for their second-round pick, two-way contracts, and Summer League roster, all of whom have had significantly less time making an impact on the organization than the first-rounders have.

Indeed, as our own Sean Keane noted in his article about the new rules, the Warriors would have had a 5.4% chance at the top pick under the new format, as opposed to the 2.0% chance they actually had. I think you hit the nail on the head: it’s going to reduce super-tanking, which is really the issue. No one cares about teams that aren’t good and aren’t making maximum effort to change that in the short term; it’s the teams that are blatantly trying to lose games that are ruining the fan experience (looking at you, Utah), and hopefully this will help keep that at bay.

NBA scouting is still nothing compared to the intense and rigorous scouting that you see in baseball, but it is still a very big deal. According to RealGM’s database, the Warriors have two scouts, two pro scouts, two international scouts, and one advance scout, but that underscores just how many hands and eyeballs are at work leading up to the draft. Assistants, special assistants, and video coordinators are all playing huge roles here, along with part-time employees. And, ultimately, everyone up to Steve Kerr and Mike Dunleavy Jr.

In general, though, these things work like a pyramid. The lowest-level people in the process compile massive amounts of info on massive amounts of players, and as it moves up the chain, players are eliminated and the fat is trimmed from the data. It’s a process that starts as soon as the college basketball season begins, and doesn’t stop until draft day.

But seriously, it’s nothing compared to baseball: according to the San Francisco Giants’ directory, they have 64 different full-time employees with the word “scout” in their title.

9ergold:
I understand you may not be able to answer this …

How can the NBA roll into the draft without first holding the Clippers accountable for hiding player payroll off the books and away from the NBA with zero draft pick penalties (as was levied against the penalty for the T-Wolves when they cheated the league on payroll hidden off the books) as well as the next season status of Kawhi, who was at the center of the matter?

It’s like Silver doesn’t plan to penalize the Clippers or Kawhi at all and acting like just nothing terrible even happened? To me, this undermines the credibility of the league, makes a joke of the NBA’s payroll & salary tier structure, and spits in the eye of every other team that didn’t cheat.

It’s a great question, and one that only Pablo Torre will be able to get to the bottom of. The simplest answer — though surely not the entire story — is that the NBA just hasn’t finished their investigation. It’s a massive investigation, and they’ve hired a huge, respected law firm to handle it. It’s going to take a while, and the league isn’t going to act until the investigation is completely concluded.

With that said, it wouldn’t surprise me if the league is waiting until after the offseason to do anything, regardless of the investigation. Assuming that they do find Kawhi Leonard and the LA Clippers guilty, it would make sense that they would seek to punish both. But what if Leonard gets traded, as has been rumored? If Leonard stays on the Clippers, the league could punish both parties in one fell swoop by suspending Leonard for a lengthy period (they would, presumably, further punish the Clippers with a fine and/or draft pick penalties).

But let’s say that the Clippers trade Leonard to, oh, I dunno … the Warriors. It’s hardly fair if the NBA then suspends Leonard for 25 games and punishes the Dubs, right? So I suspect sometime after the offseason chaos is over, the league will announce a conclusion to the investigation and some punishments that likely won’t faze Steve Ballmer.

MidcoastPerson:
Kerr emphasized that the Warriors need players who are regularly on the court. Does this mean they move on from both KP and Horford? If so, who would you replace them with?

I don’t think so. I think they very much hope that Al Horford opts into his deal, and they’ll be interested in bringing back Kristaps Porziņģis at the right price. The Dubs can talk all they want about having players regularly on the court, but at the end of the day, they’re an old team, and they’re in need of talent more than availability, so…

That said, I do think they target younger and more available players to round out the bench. They’re not bringing back both Gary Payton II and Seth Curry. But another way to address availability is to just have more players who deserve playing time. Part of why the Warriors have felt like they don’t have enough healthy bodies is because players like Trayce Jackson-Davis, Jonathan Kuminga, Quinten Post, Will Richard, and Buddy Hield fluctuated between being deserving of minutes and being glued to the bench. Get better players and it makes it easier to put up with Horford only playing 55 games.

RIP Thunder the mascot:
Steph Curry has gifted Warrior fans and the entire bay area an unquantifiable amount of sporting success and general philanthropy over the last decade and a half. Unfortunately, but predictably, there has been a diminishing return of success as his growing supermax salary has engulfed a larger % the team’s salary cap. No thanks to injuries nor Father Time, either..

It’s rare but we’ve seen players sacrifice a hit on their salary for the greater good of the team. Look no further than Jalen Brunson and the Knicks who are, not coincidentally, in the finals this year. ESPN reported that Steph is eligible to sign a 2-year 136.7 million dollar extension in August. Do you see Steph taking a pay cut via a contract extension? If so, what can we offer this game breaking talent without insulting him… without insulting the players union.. and without stirring up a Kawhi cap circumvention controversy? It’s almost sacrilege to wonder.. but I think we all know how competitive our team will be without.

I wouldn’t expect a pay cut, but you never know with Steph Curry. If someone is willing to do it, it’s him. Though they will be very careful about not circumventing the rules, as you mention.

But here’s why I don’t expect it to happen: it usually doesn’t actually do anything. When players do take discounts, it’s usually when all the pieces are in place and a star is sacrificing a few million to make it easier to retain everyone (you might recall that Kevin Durant did this when he was with the Warriors). But for a team in Golden State’s situation, Curry taking a slight discount on an extension isn’t going to change things. It’s not going to give them the money to chase a free agent this year (where his max contract is already set), and it’s unlikely to make a tangible difference in the books next offseason. In all likelihood, taking a discount really only accomplishes one thing: saving Joe Lacob and Peter Guber, the two people in the organization with more money than Curry, a few million.

Thanks for the questions, everyone!

Mike Breen had a chance to call last year’s Eastern Conference finals, even though the series was on TNT.

The longtime Knicks play-by-play announcer on MSG Network has been a prominent fixture in the NBA as the lead play-by-play caller on ESPN.

But last year, TNT’s Kevin Harlan offered Breen a chance to call the Knicks ECF series against the Pacers despite Breen’s status with the Worldwide Leader.

Breen explained the situation with The Post’s Dexter Henry on a recent episode of “New York Got Game.”

“We had the West and TNT had the East,” Breen recalled, citing that he’d be calling the series between the Thunder and Timberwolves. “Kevin Harlan, the great Kevin Harlan, who is a dear friend, they’re calling the Knicks-Pacers [series].”

Breen continued: “He calls me couple of days before the series and he says, ‘You know what?’ He goes on, ‘You’ve been waiting almost three decades for the Knicks to be in a conference final because it was the first in 25.’ He goes, ‘I want you to call the games for TNT. I’m going to go to my bosses. I’m going to tell them you should do it, and I’ll go do the West for ESPN.'”

Breen, when asked by Henry, confirmed that Harlan was serious.

“‘I know my bosses would love to have you, you deserve it,'” Breen remembered. “‘This is the team you’ve followed all this, you deserve it.’ And he goes, ‘”And even if ESPN doesn’t want to use me, and they want to use one of their announcers, whether it was Dave Pasch or Mark Jones, I’m fine, I’ll sit it out.’ That’s the kind of man Kevin Harlan is. I was so touched by that.”

Breen added that he thought about it overnight, and Harlan called him the next day, but acknowledged they both decided it might not have been the best for their employers, ESPN and TNT, respectively.

The NBA Board of Governors met on May 28 and passed a comprehensive lottery reform intended to stop tanking that will take effect starting with the 2027 draft, the league announced. Only the Memphis Grizzlies voted against the proposal, commonly referred to as the “3-2-1” model, which significantly alters how the lottery will work going forward and has some retroactive effects.

It’s not a surprise the proposal passed, as there have been rumors outlining the model and suggesting it had broad approval. Here’s all you need to know.

How the new lottery works

• The lottery will be expanded to include 16 teams.
• One of the reform’s main goals is to dissuade teams from bottoming out. To do so, the league will punish the teams with the three worst records by awarding them only two lottery balls each, out of a total of 37. Teams from fourth to 10th will receive three balls each. The ninth and 10th seeds will receive two balls, just like the bottom three. The losers of the seventh vs. eighth play-in will receive one each.
• Previously, only the top four picks would be decided by the lottery. Now, the order of all 16 picks will be decided by the lottery, but the bottom three teams can’t pick lower than 12th. Picks from 12th to 15th can’t be protected in trades.
• In hopes of deterring long rebuilding processes and preventing anyone from getting too lucky, teams won’t be able to get the top pick in consecutive drafts or to pick in the top five three times in five years. The rule starts counting from the 2025 draft and includes traded picks.
• The commissioner will have more power when it comes to curbing tanking, up to changing lottery odds or where teams pick.
• The reform includes a sunset provision, which means the changes will be in place until the 2028/29 season. After that, the league will decide whether to stick to it or make other tweaks.

Why the reform could be good

Tanking has always been a controversial topic in the NBA, where a single player can change the fate of a franchise, and the draft is the best way to secure elite talent at a cheap price and have control over it for years. The league has seen extreme versions of it before, but it was getting worse lately.

Not only were there teams that built their roster with as little proven talent as possible, but also some that had talent but were either holding healthy players out from games or sitting them in second halves to secure losses, which was even worse for optics. Something had to be done to prevent the regular season from being completely meaningless and from having games that became farces. Change was needed, and decentivizing teams from being the worst in the league should at least help avoid the most embarrassing tank jobs.

The worst teams still have a chance of getting the top pick, so anyone who tries to win but simply can’t is not automatically doomed, and the teams that were previously stuck in mediocrity because they were too good to get the best odds but not good enough to make the playoffs have a path to finding a centerpiece without having to bottom out. The draft should still provide fan bases hope, but now full teardowns won’t be as enticing, which could help with parity.

The changes are drastic, but the sunset provision shows that the league is not committed to them. If they don’t work, they can reverse them or find another solution.

Why the reform could be bad

The plan might have been discussed for years, but there wasn’t a lot of time between the news coming out that change was likely and this sweeping reform. Teams made moves thinking something similar to the now old lottery system would remain in place. The best example is the Grizzlies, which traded Jaren Jackson Jr. to the Jazz for a pick that now has zero chance of landing in the top five, because Utah has picked there twice already in the past two drafts.

As for the future, even if some of the changes might deter tanking at the lowest spots, it might incentivize it near the play-in range, as it might be better for teams to finish just below the 10th seed and get an extra lottery ball. That’s just one of many potential unintended consequences of a plan that might implement some good changes, but it is so comprehensive that it could alter how the league works in unpredictable ways, at least for the next few years. A more gradual approach might have been better.

Ultimately, even if someone agrees with all the changes in a vacuum, there should have been reforms to free agency and trading to go with them. The reason franchises in small or non-glamorous markets were more likely to tank is that it was the best and arguably the only way they could land foundational stars. Restricted free agency keeps young players with the team that drafted them, and established superstars normally dictate where they land. Tanking isn’t a good thing, and it provided no guarantees, but it at least gave franchises that can’t normally attract top-tier talent a plan on how to get it.

The changes don’t really matter for the Spurs

The Spurs already had their top three picks in five years and have a core in place that should keep them in contention for a while. The Hawks’ pick they own in 2027 seemed unlikely to land in the lottery now that Atlanta has reshaped its roster. The swap right to the Celtics’ pick in 2028 is the only one that falls into the window where the changes are guaranteed to be in place, but Boston was never expected to be a bottom-three team, and that hasn’t changed.

If anything, the reform helps the Spurs. No one will be able to land near the top of the draft consistently in the next few years and build a core that could rival San Antonio’s. The Silver and Black will be fine with these changes. Whether they are good for the rest of the league remains to be seen.

The Nets, it would seem, are more than like to take one of two lead guards on the night of June 23 at Barclays Center, either Mikel Brown Jr. or Darius Acuff. The are the most mentioned candidates for the No. 6 pick by draftniks and assorted pundits. And indeed, both are worthy of such consideration.

But, no one is claiming to know Sean Marks & co. thinking as we sit down a little more than three weeks away from the NBA’s big event. No one seemingly has the goods on who the Nets have had in HSS Training Center nor when they might work out and sit from interviews. There’s been no leaks from the annual May meeting of scouts that was featured in last year’s SCOUT docu-series.

So it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that speculation about the Nets’ likes and dislikes is rising along with fan interest. On Friday, Brian Lewis profiled Keaton Wagler who most have penciled in at No. 5 to the Clippers, while ESPN’s Jeremy Woo added some intelligence on the full-range of prospective picks between Nos. 5 and 10, suggesting the Nets may have interest in Brown, Acuff and Wagler as well as the 6’9” Karim Lopez of the New Zealand Breakers, 6’4” Houston point guard, Adary May, the 7’3” center and anchor of Michigan’s NCAA champs and Nate Ament, the 6’10” wing whose draft stock has been up and down and now up again all year long.

Lewis highlights both Wagler’s positives — his height and wingspan plus his winning ways — as well as negatives — his lack of athleticism and whether he fits with Egor Demin.

There’s a very real possibility Wagler could be available for the Nets when they’re on the clock at Barclays Center. And as many non-Peterson guards as there are in this class, Wagler is confident he’s the best of the lot.

“I think I’m just super-versatile, being able to play multiple positions, not just a point guard or just shooting guard, but being able to play on or off the ball,” Wagler said. “And then also being able to play with other really good players is a skill that I think I have, knowing when it’s my time or when it’s someone else’s time.”

Despite middling athleticism and explosion, that versatility would be useful for the Nets.

Wagler met with the Nets at the NBA Combine and they’re expected to have him in, but there are issues, chief among them his athleticism. As our Collin Helwig reported after the Draft Lottery measurements were released, he not only finished fourth among the quarter in 3/4- court sprint but placed 50th among the 70 participants. He doesn’t worry about that hurting him. The rest of the game compensates, he says.

“I mean, I’ve heard it my whole life, that I’m not the most athletic, not the fastest,” Wagler told Lewis. “I think all last year I showed that you don’t have to be the most athletic to score the ball or be a really good player. And that’s kind of what I did. I just find different ways to use my body, even though I’m not the strongest, but being the aggressor, using my pace [of play] and then getting into the lane.

“I’m definitely super-versatile, can play multiple positions — the 1, 2 right now — and I continue to put on weight and get stronger, even the 3,” Wagler told Lewis. “So, my ability would also be my playmaking ability to be able to pass the ball, make the right play, take care of the ball.

“I definitely say my vision, going along with my height, being a tall guard, is something really good to be able to come off ball-screens and read defenders, see over defenses, and … make the right play.”

And he said all the right things about playing in the Big Apple.

Woo wrote about the Nets possible interest in Wagler as part of his top 100 rankings out Friday.

Wagler’s positional size, versatility and unique trajectory have continued to set him apart as a prospect worth investing in, with teams including the LA Clippers and Brooklyn Nets closely studying his case at No. 5 and No. 6 and his draft range unlikely to stretch far beyond those teams.

Wagler wasn’t the only prospect Woo linked to the Nets eith. Of Acuff, he wrote you have to consider the Nets as possibility as well.

Acuff’s range as relatively narrow, with his best-available case beginning with the Clippers at No. 5 and Nets at No. 6, and the Sacramento Kings at No. 7 considered by many to be his floor.

His ability to score at all three levels and increased willingness to involve teammates have greatly boosted his profile as a player potentially worthy of shouldering heavy responsibility and driving good offense.

And Flemings:

Although his mechanics aren’t textbook, he has continued to flash enough shooting growth to excite teams long term, drawing consideration from teams inside the top 10 after a breakout freshman season, with his range starting at No. 5 with the Clippers

And Ament:

He continues to draw looks throughout the lottery, with the Nets and Milwaukee Bucks viewed as possible destinations — two teams that could afford him time and minutes to develop immediately. Finding the right fit will be imperative for his long-term growth.

And Mara:

Rival teams consider him to be in play as high as No. 6 for Brooklyn, with the Hawks, Warriors and Thunder also viewed as potential landing spots in the lottery. Landing with a team that wants to lean into his playmaking skills will give him the best chance to maximize his impact.

And Lopez, assuming the Nets wind up with a pick lower than No. 6:

Lopez is drawing interest from a number of teams in the lottery, including the Clippers, Nets, Bucks and Warriors, with rival teams viewing him as more of a trade-back candidate later on in the case of the Clippers and Nets.

He was helped by his combine measurements, affirming his size to play both forward positions capably and massive hands. He continues to improve and has positioned himself as an intriguing development bet coming off a strong second season in the NBL.

That covers, it would seem, the range of Nets possibilities, but as a close reading of Wo0’s reporting shows, he’s not quoting anyone inside the Nets organization. The most common sourcing is “rival teams.”

Woo hints at the possibility of a Nets move out of No. 6 or finding a way to add another pick — OKC’s two picks at Nos. 12 and 17 have often been mentioned and certainly, the Nets have the assets to make a move with 32 picks, including nine tradeable first rounders. Moreover, the Thunder have some interesting decisions to make with the payroll and rotation. Remember, they’ll be adding two former first round picks next season who have been laid low by illness — point guard Nikola Topic — and injury — big man Thomas Sorber. Both are 20. So adding two more rookies might not be the most efficient development planning. They might want to move those picks back a year or more and the Nets have the bulk of their firsts starting in 2028.

It will take a while for things to work out or even come out. It’s a rare thing for the Nets to telegraph who they like, the two exceptions being Dzanan Musa in 2018 and Day’Ron Sharpe in 2021. So as we keep saying, stay tuned and be patient.