DETROIT, MICHIGAN - MAY 17: Evan Mobley #4 of the Cleveland Cavaliers leaves the court at the end of the first half against the Detroit Pistons in Game Seven of the Second Round of the NBA Eastern Conference Playoffs at Little Caesars Arena on May 17, 2026 in Detroit, Michigan. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) | Getty Images
We don’t yet know how the Cleveland Cavaliers will choose to handle this summer. What we do know, however, is that they’ll have plenty of options.
According to Sam Amick of The Athletic, the Oklahoma City Thunder won’t be interested in Giannis Antetokounmpo in a possible trade. They might, however, be open to trading for Evan Mobley.
“There has long been chatter about the Thunder having interest in Cleveland big man Evan Mobley, but Cavaliers general manager Koby Altman insisted in an end-of-season press conference that Mobley wasn’t going anywhere,” Amick wrote.
Trading with Oklahoma City is risky. They seem to win nearly all of the trades they make since the awful James Harden trade 14 years ago. If they have an interest in a player, there’s usually a good reason why.
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At the same time, Mobley could be more valuable to a Western Conference team than he is to the Cavs. Theoretically, he’s as good a matchup as any for San Antonio Spurs superstar Victor Wembanyama. That San Antonio core is going to be standing in the Thunder’s way for the next several years. Finding a better way to contain Wemby should be a top priority for them.
The Thunder do have a bevy of assets that could interest the Cavs. They own plenty of first-round picks over the next six seasons, including several from the Los Angeles Clippers, Denver Nuggets, and the Spurs. That is in addition to players like Jaylen Williams and Chet Holmgren, who could be interesting return packages for Cleveland.
Altman said last week that the plan is to build around this core. Things change quickly in the NBA. Especially if teams get into a bidding war and you receive an offer you can’t refuse.
As of now, it seems like the Cavs are committed to this core. But again, that’s what we thought just before the last trade deadline as well.
The Spurs are so much more than just Victor Wembanyama.
He gets the vast majority of the attention, given his stature as a burgeoning face of the league and must-watch skill set as a 7-foot-4 unicorn.
At his best, he impacts the game more than any other star with his scoring, defending and rebounding prowess.
But the Spurs wouldn’t be here — as the Knicks’ opponent in the Finals — without Wembanyama’s stellar supporting cast.
“Obviously, Wemby’s going to get a lot of attention in terms of game plan and media,” Josh Hart said after practice Sunday. “But you can’t sleep on guys like De’Aaron [Fox], [Stephon] Castle, [Dylan] Harper, [Julian] Champagnie, because if you do that, it’s going to be a long series. We’ve got to give those guys the respect they deserve and come out focused.”
Much of that supporting cast revolves around the Spurs backcourt.
It is one of the more dynamic backcourt units in the league.
San Antonio Spurs guard Stephon Castle (5) and guard Dylan Harper (2) react in the fourth quarter against the Oklahoma City Thunder during game seven of the western conference finals for the 2026 NBA playoffs at Paycom Center. Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images
And they’re almost all young — Castle is 21, Harper is 20, Devin Vassell is 25 and Champagnie is 24.
The 28-year-old Fox is the elder statesman of the group.
“They’re relentless,” Miles McBride said Sunday. “I feel like they just have this … they’re young. They have that mentality of, ‘Just go out there and scrap and make it a tough game.’ So, I love that, and we’ll be ready ourselves.”
The Knicks perimeter and point-of-attack defense has been terrific this postseason.
Mikal Bridges and Hart, in particular, have repeatedly stifled opposing ball handlers — whether it was Nickeil Alexander-Walker and (eventually) CJ McCollum in the first round, Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe in the second round or James Harden and Donovan Mitchell in the conference finals.
Fox, Castle, Harper, Champagnie and even Vassell are all capable of erupting for big scoring nights.
Excluding the games Wembanyama missed with a concussion and the game from which he was ejected early, the Spurs had someone other than him lead them in scoring eight times this postseason.
It was Castle five times, Fox twice and Harper once.
How the Knicks try to defend Wembanyama is of utmost importance.
De’Aaron Fox #4 of the San Antonio Spurs dribbles the ball during the game against the Oklahoma City Thunder during Game Seven of the NBA Western Conference Finals on May 30, 2026 at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. NBAE via Getty Images
But how they fare against the Spurs backcourt will be a major factor in the series.
And the ability of that backcourt to break down defenses and get into the paint only makes Wembanyama more dangerous by forcing his defender to help off him.
The backcourt’s 3-point ability also plays a pivotal role in making defenses pay for doubling Wembanyama or packing the paint to limit his interior presence.
Castle and Harper are also terrific perimeter defenders.
They will be two of the Spurs’ top options to guard Jalen Brunson.
“They’re young, athletic, physical, can do a little bit of everything,” Hart said. “Can shoot the ball, finish at the rim at a high level.”
The Spurs have a few important veterans, in addition to Fox, to complement all their youth.
Harrison Barnes is an NBA champion.
Keldon Johnson, the Sixth Man of the Year, is playing his seventh season in the league.
Luke Kornet is in Year 9 and on his sixth team.
“Having the mix that they have with Wemby is a nice recipe,” Knicks coach Mike Brown said Sunday. “… If Fox is in, their backcourt — Fox is a veteran, seasoned player that has been in the playoffs before, been in a Game 7 now a couple of times, and been an All-Star, Clutch Player of the Year, a talented guy. … [Barnes] has been around a long time too, and he’s been on the big stage a few times.
“So they have a nice mix of veteran players and guys that are starting to get in their prime around Wemby. And I think when you have that, you have different messages that you can get from different guys all the time.”
Yes, Wembanyama is the phenom around whom this Finals revolves. But the Spurs have given him a perfect supporting cast — one that makes him even harder to stop.
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Chet Holmgren attempted two shots in Game 7 of the Western Conference finals. He absorbed plenty of shots from critics afterward.
And the Oklahoma City Thunder spent Day 1 of the offseason making clear that they support him.
If the ballyhooed matchup in the West finals was Holmgren vs. San Antonio's Victor Wembanyama, then it was a one-sided one. Wembanyama had the superior numbers in the series and the Spurs wound up prevailing, while Holmgren was barely a factor offensively with the Thunder season on the line Saturday night.
"Every minute Chet Holmgren’s been on the team, we’ve been the 1 seed in the Western Conference," Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said Sunday, when the team gathered for end-of-season meetings. “And it wasn’t the case before Chet was healthy.”
Holmgren had likely his best season, with career-highs of 17.1 points and 8.9 rebounds per game. He made All-NBA for the first time, All-Defensive for the first time as well, got his first All-Star nod, plus was second in the Defensive Player of the Year balloting.
He finished second in that voting behind Wembanyama — just like he did for Rookie of the Year in 2024, and just like the Thunder did in these West finals.
“We need Chet. We need Chet Holmgren,” Thunder guard and back-to-back reigning NBA Most Valuable Player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said. “Before Chet was here, we weren’t who we are today. We didn’t have the success we had today. When he’s the best version of himself, we’re the best version of ourselves and it’s no secret.”
It's easy to envision the West finals matchup — Thunder vs. Spurs — becoming a rivalry for years to come. Both teams have young, obviously highly talented corps, and now they have the ingredient that all rivalries truly need, that being a playoff matchup, to help provide fuel.
“I definitely think that they’re different in terms of I don’t think there’s another team that has their play style, their personnel,” Holmgren said. “They're unique in that way. You can’t just kind of play like a base normal, ‘this is what we kind of do on an average Tuesday night’ type of thing.”
And while the outside world might have looked at Holmgren as one of the reasons why Game 7 didn't go Oklahoma City's way, the rest of the Thunder disagreed.
Gilgeous-Alexander, for example, pointed to himself — and that was after he had a brilliant 35-point effort in the deciding game against San Antonio. He even went as far as to describe a second straight MVP season as “a failure.”
“I failed at my goal,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “I didn’t achieve what I wanted to achieve, but through my experiences, I learned the most about myself and I make the greatest amount of increases I have in my career when I fail at my goal and don’t get what I want. And I look at this no different. I didn’t get where I wanted to go this season. There’s a reason for that. Now I have to look at that reason and try to make sure it never happens again.”
BROOKLYN, NY - OCTOBER 20: The Brooklyn Nets honor The National Anthem during a preseason game against the New York Knicks on October 20, 2016 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2016 NBAE (Photo by Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images) | NBAE via Getty Images
How do title contending NBA teams build their rosters? This year’s NBA Finals is, as they say, a study in contrasts. The San Antonio Spurs are largely organic, with most of their key players selected in the NBA draft by the Spurs, or are the sort of players that any team can acquire to play for them at low cost. The New York Knicks are almost the complete opposite of that. The Spurs had a tough series against the Occupied North Texas Thunder, who might have fit into this picture, but fortunately for my tenuous sanity, I don’t have to talk about them, or how they were built.
Let’s look at Houston’s neighbor to the south, San Antonio, first. In the sort of odds defying miracle the NBA seems to specialize in recently (cf Dallas Mavericks), the most obvious likely generational player since LeBron James, Victor Wembanyama wanted to go to San Antonio, and in a made for the NBA miracle, lo, he did indeed go to the Spurs. Whatever we might think about it, the Spurs, after drifting along for years doing nothing much, have again drafted a generational center. (Provided his health holds up, he’s very young yet, and Yao Ming, for example, hardly missed a game early on.)
So there’s one part of a common formula, draft a superstar. The Rockets, by contrast, don’t seem to have drafted that era defining, or even plain vanilla, superstar. Maybe a younger Rocket is less precocious than Wemby? Certain Rockets players have an early career profile that fits within the trajectory of well known superstars, but also within the more common trajectories of Hall of Very Good players. Time will tell. The Spurs might have drafted another star in Dylan Harper, as the balls have been very kind to them in the right seasons.
What the Spurs had pre Wemby was a very good supporting cast tasked with doing too much as the primary players of those San Antionio teams. If Devin Vassell is your fourth best player, you have a very good fourth player indeed. If he’s your lead guard, it’s a problem. Keldon Johnson always seemed like a very limited player to me, with approximately two things he could do on offense, but as a sixth man, well, he’s Sixth Man of The Year. (But in a crucial game seven, Krash Johnson made a layup with his left hand, so anything is possible I suppose.)
The Spurs also have the much lauded Stephon Castle, in the Amen or Tari Eason role. He’s great in that role, and provides a kind of defensive forcefulness none of the others Spurs provide, including Wemby. Castle, as his stats without Wemby clearly show, is a player who, at this point in his career, would struggle greatly as a primary offensive hub, but he doesn’t have to do that.
The Spurs traded not that much to the Kings to bring Cypress Lakes own De’Aaron Fox to San Antionio, as the Spurs evidently realized this team was ready to compete immediately with Wembanyama taking center stage. He’s been injured a lot, and erratic, but despite being “too small” by the terms of certain NBA thought processes, does what smaller players typically do, which is move differently, and faster, and typically react more quickly and effectively than much larger ones. This doesn’t always make up for not being as tall, but teams that lack that sort of play have real weaknesses in certain respects (in my opinion, long rebounds is one of those weaknesses, as that sort of rebound strikes me as a reaction driven rebound). Fox provides solid distribution and attacks in the half court, something other Spurs struggle to do. He can also get his own shot, which on a team of mostly outside shooters, is crucial.
Finally there’s the MVP of Game 7 of the WC Finals, Julian Champagnie. Julian was undrafted in 2022, and was signed as a two-way player by the 76ers, who sent him to the GLeague. In February of 2023 he was waived by the 76ers, and was signed by the Spurs. He’s mostly been a bench shooter, with a somewhat erratic profile, 38% from three last season, 32% this season. He’s an active and good defender at 6’6”, and basically got the Spurs over the line into the Finals with a 6-10 shooting night from three point range. He’s a player any team could have signed off waivers in 2023, but San Antonio signed him.
As an amusing highlight of this Finals, the Spurs erstwhile player of the future, PG, and general annoyance, Jeremy Sochan is merely a deep bench player. For the Knicks. Not every picks works out, even on a team that’s had a goodly number of picks work out.
So there’s the Spurs, built largely through through glorious draft fortune, with a couple of canny acquisitions in the mix. They’re in the NBA Finals. That means that unless your team, the Rockets, say, has that sort of draft success, it’s doomed, right?
Meet the New York Knickerbockers.
Dallas Mavericks, Utah Jazz, Philadelphia 76ers, Toronto Raptors, Minnesota Timberwolves.
That’s who drafted the Knicks most likely starting lineup. Jalen Brunson came from Dallas, Josh Hart initially from Utah, Mikal Bridges was a 76er to start his career, OG Anunoby won a title with the Raptors, and Karl-Anthony Towns was of course, a Timberwolf. The Knicks either signed, or traded for, an entire NBA Finals starting lineup. The Knicks may be short on “assets”, obviously the key marker of success in the NBA, but somehow reaching the Finals might make their humiliatingly asset-light existence sting a bit less. Especially in New York, a great basketball town utterly starved of recent success.
Of players we’re likely to see much of on the court for the Knicks exactly one, one, was a Knick draft pick: Mitchell Robinson. Every other player we’re likely to see play for the Knicks entered the NBA with another franchise. I’m not sure we’ve ever seen a Finals team that featured zero starters (maybe Robinson will start some games, I don’t know) that were drafted by that team.
What does this mean for the Rockets? To me it signals that there’s more than one way to reach the promised land, and if one way isn’t working, change the approach. So while this piece isn’t directly Rockets related, I think it’s encouraging in some respects. At the start of this season many thought your could write the NBA title winner, the OKC Thunder (good riddance) in ink before a game was played. There is no “One True Way”, and who would have thought the Knicks, after living on the seafloor of the NBA like a flounder for decades, would be a powerhouse built entirely through trades and signings, something the Knick weren’t particularly known for being good at, to say the least.
Maybe San Antionio and their great good fortune, and shrewd pickups, are inevitable, but if this season shows us anything, it’s that inevitability is hardly inevitable.
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK - MAY 30: Luke Kornet #7 of the San Antonio Spurs blocks the shot of Isaiah Hartenstein #55 of the Oklahoma City Thunder during the game during Game Seven of the NBA Western Conference Finals on May 30, 2026 at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2026 NBAE (Photo by Zach Beeker/NBAE via Getty Images) | NBAE via Getty Images
This was a moment that nobody expected. At the start of the season, the San Antonio Spurs were seen as a borderline playoff team, possibly a play-in squad. Now, just seven months later, the Spurs are Western Conference champions. In the last game of a hard-fought series with the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder, the Spurs went into enemy territory and convincingly took Game Seven 111-103.
The WCF victory was an emotional experience for this young Spurs squad, led by the 22-year-old phenom, Victor Wembanyama, and early-20s stars like Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper. In a short period of time, this team has come so close to the pinnacle of the league. They’ll need four more wins to get there. San Antonio is a -200 favorite to win the NBA Finals on FanDuel.
The Spurs outdueled the Thunder with defense. Wembanyama kept them out of the paint with his paint defense. San Antonio’s perimeter defenders were able to keep OKC’s supporting players at bay, while Shai Gilgeous-Alexander went off for 35 points. On the other end, the Spurs knocked down big shot after big shot to fend off the Thunder on their way to victory.
Spoiler alert: every Spur got a good player grade in Game Seven! We’ll dive into why below. As a quick reminder, player grades are based on each player’s on-court performance, going beyond just the stat sheet. A “B” grade represents the average performance for an individual. If a player logs fewer than 5 minutes or plays only in garbage time, their grade will be incomplete.
It wasn’t Wembanyama’s most dominant performance of the series, but it was just enough to propel his team to victory. He led the Spurs in scoring once again, with some big shots from deep. Wembanyama hit spot-up jumpers and a huge step-back three late in the game to pad the Spurs’ lead.
The most impressive aspect of Wembanyama’s performance is what he didn’t do. With about 7 minutes left in the game, Wembanyama picked up his fifth foul. That’s a lot of time to play an aggressive team while being on the brink of fouling out. Wembanyama finished the game not only fending off the Thunder at the basket, but also played under control in the final minutes to make sure he remained in the game until the final buzzer. It showed a huge amount of maturity on Wembanyama’s part to finish out the game as he did.
Fox struggled with an ankle injury for most of the WCF. It affected his speed to the basket, the strength of his jumper, and his overall scoring prowess. He looked much healthier in Game Seven. Fox hit some big three-pointers off the dribble and got the mid-range game working on his way to 15 points. When the Thunder tried to switch him onto SGA, he held his own as well as San Antonio’s other defenders. It was a gutsy performance from the veteran guard. Now he will have three full days to rest and heal before facing the New York Knicks in the Finals.
Every time the Thunder would make a run, it felt like the Spurs had a response. Castle was behind a lot of them. He followed up the best defensive play of the game (more to come on that) with a mid-range jumper that gave the Spurs the cushion they needed to win. It wasn’t his best defensive game, and he once again struggled with turnovers, especially late in the game. However, Castle gave the Spurs a lot of the energy and force that they needed, especially when the score got close.
Whatever Champagnie asks for in extension talks this offseason, he deserves. The Spurs wing was fantastic in the WCF and played a huge role in them closing the series out in Game Seven. Any time the ball found an open Champagnie, it felt like it was going in. He was 6 of 10 from three, hitting big shot after big shot. He played a strong defensive game while making some big rebounds down the stretch. His shooting altered this series in a major way. San Antonio will need him to stay hot in the Finals.
Ironically, Vassell struggled a bit in Game Seven despite being one of the Spurs’ most consistent performers in the series. The moment most people will remember from him in this game was the dunk as the clock wound down, and the catharsis that came along with it. His jumper was off for the majority of the game after hitting a mid-range jumper and a three-pointer early in the game. The Spurs will need his jump shot and defensive effort against the Knicks.
Harper looks like he is completely back to full health. His late explosion for a missed dunk over the top of the Thunder late in the game was a sign that his youthful legs are feeling good, and was probably the only silly mistake he made in the game. His shot-making was fantastic in Game Seven. He hit a pair of three-pointers and some tough mid-range jumpers. Harper seems to be getting better as the playoffs go on. This has been a truly special run for a 20-year-old guard.
Johnson showed up when the Spurs needed him in the fourth quarter. He hit two big threes and had a clutch offensive rebound and put-back. It was the type of energetic performance the team needed from a role player late in the game to come away with the victory. It was a great moment for Johnson, after he had struggled to contribute for most of the playoffs.
Kornet made the biggest play of the game, and that’s why he gets a perfect grade. After Isaiah Hartenstein swiped the ball away from the Spurs, Kornet chased him down like LeBron James in the 2016 NBA Finals, met him at the rim, and blocked the dunk. I’m not kidding when I say it is probably the most impactful block in the NBA Playoffs since LeBron’s chasedown.
Grade: A+
Harrison Barnes
3 minutes, 0-for-1 shooting, 0-for-1 threes, -5
Mitch Johnson went with a shortened rotation in a must-win game. Barnes played just three minutes and failed to register a statistic.
So it’s the New York Knicks vs. the San Antonio Spurs for all of Adam Silver’s marbles, rings and trophies. After record-breaking TV audiences justified by great games, the Spurs joined the Knicks Saturday in the NBA Finals will begin Wednesday night in San Antonio. Then after two games in Texas, the best-of-seven heads to New York a week from Monday.
Expect the Garden and the city to be wild, particularly if President Trump holds to his plan to attend. (If the Finals reach Game 6 on June 16, things will get really interesting. That afternoon, France, home of Victor Wembanyama, will play Senegal at MetLife Stadium. Will Wemby attend? He’ll have plenty of time to make it across the river. World Cup begins at 3:30 p.m.; the Finals at 8:30 p.m.)
If that makes you feel irrelevant in New York sports, you have a case. At this point in time, the Brooklyn Nets are the most irrelevant franchise among the nine New York area teams from the Islanders in the east to the Devils in the west, It can be argued that the Liberty currently is more relevant. In the NBA, they may not be the most irrelevant — Thank you, Vivek Ranadive — but not a lot of people are opening conversations this summer with the line, “how about them Nets?!?” Considering how well the Knicks are playing, don’t expect to hear it for a while either. As we’ve written, the Nets are spending millions of dollars on “generational fandom” — getting New York kids while they’re young — but having the Finals in New York is going to likely trump that (sorry.)
So, we wait: to see what the Brooklyn brass from Joe Tsai and Sean Marks down to the scouting staff are planning for the franchise’s next big milestone: what they will do in the NBA’s second straight consecutive generational draft: stay put, move up, move down, acquire a second first round pick, etc. Lottery luck is a sunk cost — very sunk — right now, but don’t expect them to dwell on it.
There’s been little intelligence on where they stand, but you can get a bit of a hint of how the process works if you got back to last year’s SCOUT docu-series, the fourth episode in particular. It opens with the May scouting meeting, Sean Marks presiding:
The episode focuses on the final month of the Draft process, from the Lottery to Draft Night. The May meeting, Marks tells his scouts, is “one of the last times you guys will be together here.” It features snippets of debates on what appears to be multiple prospects who unfortunately are not identified. The debates include comments on a player’s skillsets, willingness to touch the paint, etc. as well as their basketball intelligence and their general intelligence. There were — and are again no doubt — debates we don’t see on aspects of the process like prospects character, fit. etc. At one point, Marks divides the scouts up to see if they can get a consensus on a prospect. (About half the scouts in the video are still around.)
You also see snippets of the team’s interviews of the prospects they ultimately chose at Nos. 8, 19, 22, 26 and 27, surrounded by Marks, his assistant GMs, Jordi Fernandez and his assistant coaches. Then it’s flash forward to Draft Night itself where franchise officials are given the privilege of calling the picks into the league office and the celebrations that followed after each pick. Some in the media criticized those moments, but when you’ve had as few picks of your own — and no lottery picks — over the previous 15 years, seize the moment.
Draft Night 2026, or should we say Nights since the 60 selections are now broken into two nights, should be interesting since virtually every draftnik, a subset of pundits, have their own opinion on what the Nets will do, what’s a good offer, etc. Last year, the Nets tried to move up, didn’t like the price they would’ve had to pay and essentially chose quantity over quality. Since we don’t know what they considered pricey, we can’t even debate their wisdom.
Two years ago, Simone Casali, the Nets well respected chief international scout, spoke with a reporter for the Italian basketball federation about the pitfalls of a typical Draft Night riven by surprises.
“There, mistakes are the order of the day because there are things that you cannot predict, or that you predict from one perspective and not another,” said Casali who’s worked with the Nets since Marks has been GM.
The key he said is being prepared as best you can and not have improvise on the fly.
“In the NBA, a lot can change from one moment to the next, I cannot know when we will have a choice available and how high. It can happen, for example, that on the night of the Draft you suddenly find yourself with choices available as a result of a trade: you cannot afford to improvise.”
The surprises, he argued, don’t stop on Draft Night.
“We must not underestimate how history is full of players who struggled in their first team and then exploded in the second because there they found the right situation and the right context. You can make mistakes for no reason or get it right simply by luck,” he told Dario Ronzulli of FIP.it.
Word to the wise.
Now arriving at HSS Training Center?
We still don’t have a read on who among the top prospects have been in or who’s been scheduled. There were reports that A.J. Dybantsa might even be willing to work out. That decision ultimately will rest with him and more likely his agent. Agents don’t want their clients to waste time or risk injury by scheduling workouts with teams that are unlikely to be on the board when Adam Silver starts to read off names. So IF Dybantsa does show his wares at HSS Training Ceneter, that MIGHT mean his agent thinks anything is possible… or not.
In the meantime, what we have seen and are seeing, particularly this weekend, is a stream of tweets mostly from draftniks identifying lower ranked prospects taking the elevator at 168 39th Street to the eighth floor and that dramatic view.
Among those we’ve seen linked to the Nets as we noted last week is Keba Keita, the 6’9” BYU center who played with both Dybantsa and Egor Demin. He’s not not on anyone’s top 100 Big Board, let alone mock draft. There’s a lot.
Other unranked players who’ve been in or have been scheduled, according to reports, include local product Cruz Davis, Hofstra’s high scoring 6’3” lead guard; Malik Dia, a 6’9” 3-and-D type who played four years at three southern schools, Vanderbilt, Belmont, then his final two years at Ole Miss; and Grant Newell, a similar sized forward who played at California, North Texas and most recently Western Kentucky. None mocked nor Big Board ranked.
Jaden Henley, Grand Canyon’s 6’7” wing, is ranked in the top 100, just short of the second round at No. 67. According to our Connor Long, he too has been in. Then, there’s 3-point specialist Isaac McKeenly, Mikel Brown’s 6’4” backcourt running mate at Louisville. He’ll be in Monday, according to reports. He’s listed at No. 89 by ESPN’s Woo but others have him a late second rounder.
Why are the Nets, currently with picks at Nos. 6, 33 and 43, working out players who’ll likely be sitting at home on Draft Night rather than in the NBA Draft Green Room at Barclays? That need to be ready for any eventuality Simone Casali spoke about is one reason. The Nets also are looking for players to fill out the two Summer League rosters. the training camp invite list and the Long Island Nets roster.
For example, with back-to-back Summer Leagues in Sacramento and Las Vegas from July 4 through 19, expect rosters with less overlap than you might think. But the key reason for so many is simple: NBA teams like setting up scrimmages for the bigger prospects and so there’s a need to fill out those mini-rosters, sometimes on short notice.
Draft Sleeper of the Week: Karim Lopez
Karim Lopez is a 6’9.5” (in sneakers) Mexican hooper who’s played last two seasons with the New Zealand Breakers of the Australian National League. So he’s been around. He is the most likely international player to make the Lottery this season. He’s also among the youngest players in the Draft, having just turned 19 on April 12. Plus, his hands are the second biggest ever measured at the NBA Draft Combine, a fingernail short of Kawhi Leonard whose nickname is “The Claw.” Certain other elements of his game may very well appeal to the Nets, like his quick thinking with the ball, position-less resume’ and an ability to use those hands, a near 7-foot wingspan and near 9-foot standing reach to protect the rim.
Take a look at his highlights:
And no, there is no indication that the Nets are planning to take him at No. 6. Not that we know anyway. But in the darker regions of Nets Twitter, some fans rank that fear nearly as high as their concern last year that Sean Marks would move up only to choose Kon Knueppel. How’d that work out, sports fans?
Jeremy Woo reported this week the Nets are indeed interested in him, calling him a “development bet,” so short of a “sure thing” that depending on who you read or talk to descibes Darius Acuff, Mikel Brown, Kingston Flemings or Keaton Wagler (alphabetical order, we note. We’re not giving anything away.)
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.
“Trade back?” That suggests Woo may have some insight into the Nets plans. Currently, most mock drafts have Lopez in a narrow range, from as high at No. 10 to a low of 17. One team, the OKC Thunder, just happens to have two picks at Nos. 12 and 17 and multiple rationales to move out of one of those spots. The combined first year salaries of those picks is $10 million. Include them in the Thunder’s payroll calculations and OKC will be nearly $40 million over the second apron at $261 million, per Bobby Marks. They’re also thinking of salary dumps and who has $30 million in cap space?
Moreover, the Thunder have two 20-year-olds, Thomas Sorber and Nikola Topic, who sat out all (Sorber) or most (Topic) of last season due to injury and illness. Who knows, Nets and Thunder might have other things to talk about…
As one NBA decision-maker told ND re all those Nes draft assets and cap space the Nets have accumulated has one overarching advantage. They’re not going to use all of them.
“No, the only reason you bank firsts like that is be able to strike opportunistically,” he said and moving up, down or around qualifies.
One thing we also know is that Sean Marks personally scouted Lopez — twice, once when he was 17 in September 2024 at the NBL Blitz showcase on Australia’s Gold Coast, then again last January at the Blitz in Perth in Western Australia. Perth is 11,627 miles from Brooklyn. Although Marks says that, generally, basketball in Australia (and his homeland of New Zealand) is too good to be ignored, it’s a good bet that few if any NBA general managers have ever traveled that far to look at a prospect or prospects. (The other top Australian target he saw in January, Dash Daniels, Dyson’s brother dropped out recently.)
Some Nets fans claim Marks interest and his travel can be dismissed because, after all, he still has family and friends Down Under. They contend, without any evidence, that this could be no more a personal trip with scouting thrown in. Well, there is video evidence that scouting was a priority. Again, here’s SCOUT, episode 1 (about 11 minutes in), showing Marks and then scout Richard Midgley in Australia two years ago attending games and talking prospects.
Was Marks talking about Lopez when he told Midgley, “It’s important to get here early and see guys?” And indeed, Marks and Midgley’s trip came a month after Lopez signed with the Breakers. (Or maybe we’re just trolling… again.)
Do Nets have best trade assets going forward?
Jack Hughes of Bleacher Report this week ranked the teams with the five best trade assets in the NBA. The Thunder was No. 2, the Spurs No. 3, the Hornets No. 4, the Grizzlies at No. 5. At No. 1 in Hughes’ rankings … drum roll … are the Nets. While the teams just beneath them include teams with stars like Ja Morant or De’Aaron Fox who could get their clubs big returns, the Nets top ranking is dependent on their draft stash and particularly the picks acquired in the Mikal Bridges and Cam Johnson trades.
Writes Hughes:
That 2027 Knicks selection may not land near the front of the first round, but each of the other three could be highly valuable lottery tickets. With the new lottery odds set to take effect and a pair of costly rosters in Denver and New York that may need to be torn down before the decade is out, Brooklyn is positioned to cash in.
He is not one to dismiss the remaining haul from the Bridges trade either, despite Bridges heroics for the Knicks.
The Mikal Bridges trade is the gift that keeps on giving, as the Nets have three totally unprotected future firsts coming from the New York Knicks. Those picks will convey in 2027, 2029 and 2031. After that, Brooklyn will collect the spoils of last offseason’s Michael Porter Jr. deal, which secured it the rights to the Denver Nuggets’ unprotected 2032 first-rounder.
He also looks at the Thunder situation and those two first round picks discussed above:
They’ll select 12th and 17th in the upcoming draft and could certainly look to move both of those picks for additional value. It’s easy to forget, but the Thunder’s last two first-rounders—Nikola Topić and Thomas Sorber—have played a combined 10 professional games due to injury. If OKC believes either of them is rotation-worthy going forward, it could easily flip its picks in the 2026 draft. Or, those two prospects could head out in a deal to make room for new rookies.
Of course, as we keep saying, the Nets certainly have all the tools to move forward and with some luck, quickly, but the question will remain execution, how they use those assets. We will start to get a good read on that question, starting in a little more than three weeks.
May 30, 2026; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA; San Antonio Spurs center Luke Kornet (7) blocks Oklahoma City Thunder center Isaiah Hartenstein (55) in the fourth quarter during game seven of the western conference finals for the 2026 NBA playoffs at Paycom Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images | Jerome Miron-Imagn Images
Coming into the playoffs, Luke Kornet was considered one of, if not the top backup center in the NBA. He’d already won a championship backing up Kristaps Porzingis in Boston two years ago and seemed primed to do it again backing up Victor Wembanyama. He was great all year, helping the Spurs thrive when Wemby missed 12 games early in the season with a calf strain and a few more here and there throughout the regular season.
When the playoffs came Kornet’s minutes dropped as Wemby’s rose, and outside of admirably filling in at starting center when a concussed Wemby missed Game 3 against the Trail Blazers in Round 1, he has seemed less productive compared to the regular season. But is that actually true, or is it as simple as Wemby has just been so good (for the most part, a “poor” game from him in these playoffs has been what we would have considered average in the regular season) that a drop-off when he leaves the court is inevitable, making Kornet suffer by comparison?
Kornet is a funny, nerdy dude who has helped bring a lightheartedness to the locker room while the young team navigates immense pressure that just keeps building the further they go in the playoffs, while also being one of the few veterans with playoff and championship experience. However, because of the Spurs struggles with Wemby off the court, especially in the Western Conference Finals, Kornet has become a bit maligned, even though he was far from the only bench player who struggled against the champs.
But then, in one fell swoop, it all changed. The Spurs were holding on to a precarious 97-91 lead with under seven minutes to go in Game 7 in Oklahoma City with the Finals on the line — a game in which they had led most of the way and staved off a few runs already but had to assume one last ditch effort was coming from the defending champions — and it looked like that Thunder run may have been coming when Wemby had to sit after picking up his 5th foul.
Isaiah Hartenstein, who had been a thorn in the Spurs’ side all series, jumped in front of a Dylan Harper pass to Kornet and started heading the other direction. It didn’t seem like a Spur would catch up to him, especially with Cason Wallace running with him to box out any chasers, but as he went up for the dunk, in swooped Kornet from behind to pin the dunk off the glass, even as Hartenstein used an off arm to attempt to stave him off. The Spurs got the rebound, and a Stephon Castle jumper on the other other end completed the four-point swing, turning what could have been a precarious 4-point lead back into an 8-point lead while sucking the life out of the arena.
In a series that has been all about the stars (and surviving without them), the maligned Kornet ended up with arguably the biggest play of the series. Wemby would soon return to help finish the Thunder off, but that one play epitomized what Kornet has been to the Spurs all season: reliable and ready when called upon. It usurped his game-winning block in Orlando — complete with hilarious pose — as his best play of the season, and depending on what the Spurs do in the Finals, could go down in Spurs lore as one of their top blocks, let a lone plays, among many in franchise history. (I hate to bring up the comparison, but it kind of reminded me of Kawhi Leonard’s chase-down block of Russell Westbrook in part of a series of plays to clinch the Western Conference Finals in 2014 in none other than OKC.)
During and after the game, Kornet’s teammates were in awe and thrilled for him. “I was so stoked. I was so proud of him, so happy,” Wembanyama told reporters after the game. “That is the definition of a winning play. It’s whoever wanted it more.” In that moment, Kornet wanted it more than anyone. It was redemption following what many saw as a rough series from him (but again, it seemed like he was more a scapegoat for the entire bench’s struggles, as well as a bit of a victim of Wemby’s greatness).
Of course, Kornet wasn’t the only bench player to get some redemption last night, as Sixth Man of the Year Keldon Johnson scored 9 of his 11 points in the fourth quarter around the same time to help counter four three-pointers from Wallace. And let’s not forget De’Aaron Fox, who missed both of the first two games and struggled at times with a high angle sprain, having a big game last night as well.
Overall, Game 7 felt was The Redemption Game. It was redemption for all the franchise has been through since 2018, for the rebuild, for general manager Brian Wright, and for a fan base that has been waiting to feel this level of elation again. But of all the redemption to go around from last night, Kornet’s will be remembered the most.
SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA - NOVEMBER 05: Will Richard #3 of the Golden State Warriors looks on against the Sacramento Kings in the first half of an NBA basketball game at Golden 1 Center on November 05, 2025 in Sacramento, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images) | Getty Images
It’s rare that we get a best performance in a loss here at Golden State Of Mind, but in a year where the Warriors were short handed and in need of desperate help, you gotta spotlight great contributions regardless. Especially when they come from a rookie like Will Richard against the Sacramento Kings.
This entry is about happened inside a 121-116 loss to the Kings on November 5. There are games where the result and the story point in different directions, and this was completely one of those games.
A new splash is rising in the Bay Area?👀
Rookie Will Richard shined in his first start, posting 30 pts, 7 reb, 3 ast, and 5 3PM in a loss to the Kings — could he be the Warriors’ spark this season?💦 pic.twitter.com/aihKohmwdQ
Richard scored 12 points in the first quarter alone, went 10-of-15 from the field for the night with five threes, grabbed seven rebounds, added three assists and a steal, and finished with 30 points in his first career NBA start. He became the first Warriors player drafted in the second round or later to score 20 or more points in his first career start since Eric Paschall in 2019, and matched the second-most points ever scored by a Warriors player in his first start, sitting alongside John Lucas while Anthony Morrow’s 37-point record still stands alone at the top.
None of that was supposed to happen on a back-to-back in Sacramento with Steph Curry, Jimmy Butler, and Draymond Green all sitting out.
What makes this entry belong in the series isn’t just the number. It’s the way Richard played, which Steve Kerr described afterward in terms that didn’t sound like a coach searching for encouraging words about a young player. Kerr said Richard had shown since training camp that he was an NBA player, that the poise was real, that the decision-making under pressure was real, and then called him a hell of a player in a way that had the directness of a statement rather than a compliment.
Will Richard 30 PTS, 7 REB, 3 AST, 1 STL, 10/15 FG, 5/8 3FG, 83 TS% Against the Kings on Nov 5th 2025.
Will Richard recorded his first career 30 point game in this matchup against the kings. pic.twitter.com/R9uksniX0B
Richard’s own postgame quote is the one that sticks. He said he is a big believer in controlling what you can control, that whatever role he is in he wants to do whatever it takes to help the team win, and that whether he is playing or not playing he just wants to see the team win. That is either something a 22-year-old says because he knows what sounds right, or something a 22-year-old says because he actually means it, and the fact that he said it two games after sitting out as a healthy scratch and one game after dropping 30 on a professional defense suggests he meant every word of it.
Yes, the Warriors lost. But Richard scored 30 points in his first career start, in a season where Golden State needed every reason for optimism it could find. As silver linings go, this one has some real legs to it. Can’t wait to see what Richard does for the squad next year!
As we recap the individual best performances from Golden State Warriors from this past season, there’s a lot of heartbreak to parse through. The week before February 5 had been genuinely ugly for the Golden State Warriors. Jimmy Butler had the horrific ACL injury. Then the emotional whirlwind of a trade deadline as the team shipped out Jonathan Kuminga and Buddy Hield, two players the locker room genuinely spoke well of and cared for. Stephen Curry was watching from the bench in street clothes again. Head Coach Steve Kerr was so disgusted by how his team played against Philadelphia two days earlier that he promised changes in Phoenix, and the emotional weight of everything sitting on that roster was real and visible.
Then Pat Spencer walked into Mortgage Matchup Center and decided this was a good night to have the best game of his career.
Spencer scored a career-high 20 points on six threes, added six rebounds, four assists, and two steals, and provided the kind of high-velocity offensive juice that Golden State had been missing since Curry went down. He was doing it at a moment when his two-way contract was about to become a standard NBA deal, a promotion he had earned through the kind of steady, unspectacular professionalism that doesn’t always get its flowers.
Spencer was genuinely having fun out there, shooting with the looseness of a man who understood exactly what this night meant and refused to let the weight of the week land on him. The enthusiasm was real; the gratitude was visible. And six threes into the fourth quarter, the building knew it too.
He gobbled up every minute Kerr gave him, knocked down open threes with the confidence of a guy who had been waiting for this night to arrive, and gave a crowd in Phoenix something to watch that it had no particular reason to care about. That kind of performance is contagious in a way that’s hard to quantify, and the Warriors needed someone to play loose and free and unafraid on a night when the entire roster had every reason to feel heavy.
The Warriors were down 14 in the fourth quarter and came back to win 101-97 on a 25-7 run to close it, with De’Anthony Melton tying the game and Gui Santos hitting the go-ahead layup in the final minute. Kerr said afterward it felt like they had won a championship, which sounds like hyperbole until you understand what the previous ten days had actually felt like inside that organization. Spencer’s own postgame framing captured the week honestly. He acknowledged the human cost of what the trade deadline does to people, noted that most fans forget the human aspect of those decisions, and then said simply that you have a game to play and you have to find your head space and compete.
Spencer found his head space in Phoenix by shooting 6-of-11 from three and reminding everyone watching that joy is its own kind of fuel. February 5 was the night the rest of the basketball world found out.
PHILADELPHIA, PA - APRIL 24: The sneakers worn by VJ Edgecombe #77 of the Philadelphia 76ers during the game against the Boston Celtics during Round One Game Three of the 2026 NBA Playoffs on April 24, 2026 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2026 NBAE (Photo by Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images) | NBAE via Getty Images
Mitchell Robinson did individual work at Knicks practice on Sunday, May 31 with his hand protected, but coach Mike Brown said the center is uncertain for Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Wednesday. That decision will ultimately belong to the medical staff.
Robinson, 28, broke his right pinky finger during Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals against Cleveland and had surgery to repair it. He plans to play against the San Antonio Spurs with a brace protecting it.
Brown said to reporters after practice that Robinson has to be cleared by the medical staff first.
He wouldn’t be the first player to will himself through something like this, and with Robinson, the bar for playing hurt is already set high. The longest-tenured Knick has battled through a broken right hand, a broken right thumb, a broken right foot and multiple surgeries on a stress fracture in his left ankle over eight seasons in New York. This year, he had finally gotten healthy enough to make a big impact. He played 60 games, his most since 2021-222, and has been one of New York’s most important role players in the playoff run.
During the regular season, Robinson led the team in blocks and was second in rebounding. His presence changes the game on the glass. New York’s offensive rebounding percentage jumps nearly 10 points with him on the court. In the playoffs, he's shooting 73.7% from the floor across 13 games off the bench and is fourth on the team in both blocks and rebounds.
If he can’t play on Wednesday, that creates a heavier burden for Karl-Anthony Towns and likely forces seven-footer Ariel Hukporti into more playing time.
OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA - MAY 30: Victor Wembanyama #1 of the San Antonio Spurs celebrates after being awarded the Earvin "Magic" Johnson MVP Trophy after defeating the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game Seven of the NBA Western Conference Finals at Paycom Center on May 30, 2026 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Let’s bring it back full circle, baby.
The last time the San Antonio Spurs were genuinely feared in the Western Conference, Kawhi Leonard was arguably the most dangerous two-way player on the planet and the Warriors were the only thing standing between San Antonio and another dynastic chapter. Then came the 2017 Western Conference Finals when Kawhi’s tender ankle buckled on Zaza Pachulia’s foot, the series ended before it really started, and a dynasty died in the cruelest possible way. Not in a Game 7 or in a shootout. On a hardwood floor in Oakland, in a moment that still makes Spurs fans go quiet.
We always knew the Spurs would come back though. That is what San Antonio does. And they roared back last night in the Western Conference Finals when that young team walked into the building of the reigning champions and refused to blink.
Mitch Johnson's 9-man playoff core, averaging exactly 24 years of age, becomes the youngest core group of players on a team headed to the NBA Finals. They are way ahead of schedule.
Now here is the part that should genuinely terrify the rest of the league. Victor Wembanyama is 22. Stephon Castle is 21. Dylan Harper is 20. Most contenders spend their first deep playoff run figuring out whether they belong. The Spurs spent theirs taking the entire conference and breaking their back over their knee. They are not arriving on schedule. They are arriving ahead of it, and that gap between expectation and reality is exactly what makes San Antonio dangerous right now.
What their coach Mitch Johnson built this season should not exist yet, with a locker room where the future is old enough to rent a car but not old enough to remember most of Tim Duncan’s championships. And somehow they walked into Oklahoma City and took a Game 7 from the defending champs. Julian Champagnie, 22 years old, made six threes and scored 20 points when the Spurs needed someone fearless to be exactly that. De’Aaron Fox, the veteran in the room at 28, steadied a group of 20-year-olds when the crowd was shaking the walls. Keldon Johnson drained back-to-back threes in the fourth quarter to end any real conversation about a Thunder comeback. And Luke Kornet materialized out of nowhere to block an Isaiah Hartenstein dunk with six minutes left, a play Champagnie called the biggest of the entire game, a play that took all the life out of the building and ended OKC’s last real hope.
That is not talent alone. That is a team that trusts each other completely.
And at the center of all of it stands Wembanyama. He finished Game 7 with 22 points, seven rebounds, and went 3-for-5 from three in a game where OKC needed stops more than oxygen. For the series he averaged 27.3 points, 10.9 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 2.7 blocks and 1.4 steals, shot 40 percent from deep, and held Chet Holmgren, an All-NBA selection this season, to two shot attempts and four points in the deciding game. The Spurs were plus-62 with him on the court across the entire series. He became the first player in playoff history to record at least 15 made threes and 15 blocks in a single series. He imposed his will on a championship-level opponent and made it look inevitable.
Let’s just not forget the (many) people who were saying, back during Victor Wembanyama’s rookie season, that he was overrated, fragile, incapable of winning games, etc., and that Pop didn’t know what he was doing anymore with him and the team. (Ooh I heard that so many times).…
After punching their ticket Saturday night, Wembanyama said winning the Larry O’Brien Trophy feels like the meaning of his life. Then he said he wants to do this fifteen or twenty more times. The man is 22 and already addicted to the feeling of winning.
That is a potential dynasty in its first chapter. This is the first time the Spurs have reached the Finals since 2014, the first time without Gregg Popovich on the bench, the first time without Tim Duncan on the roster. The organization did not just rebuild. It remembered who it was, found arguably the most gifted big man the sport has ever produced, and got back to the promised land faster than anyone thought possible.
That is what five championships of institutional knowledge looks like when it finally has the right pieces again. They’re only four wins away from completing one of the most remarkable organizational resurrections in professional sports history The West belongs to San Antonio right now!
The only question left is whether the Knicks got the memo.
OKLAHOMA CITY — With the financial hammer of the NBA's tax aprons swinging their direction, the Thunder have some hard decisions to make this summer.
Whatever moves Oklahoma City's front office makes, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander does not plan on consulting with them.
"I will give zero input," Gilgeous-Alexander said after a crushing Game 7 loss. "I will let Sam Presti, the greatest GM ever, do his job."
With or without SGA's counsel, Presti has some tough calls to make. The Thunder need to get better — because the young Spurs are only going to get better — yet the Thunder's payroll is about to skyrocket as the max extensions for Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams kick in. It's a fine line to walk.
Go after Antetokounmpo? Mobley?
That need to get better has led to speculation that the Thunder might look at a Giannis Antetokounmpo trade. While there's a lot of random speculation online, even the well-connected and respected Sam Amick at The Athletic floated it as something for the Thunder to consider. The idea is that OKC needs someone to match up better with Victor Wembanyama, and the Thunder do have good young players and a stockpile of picks, including two in this year's first round (Nos. 12 and 17), which is what Milwaukee wants in an offer. Amick also noted league sources told him the Thunder aren't interested.
Don't expect this — it's completely out of character for OKC and a questionable (at best) basketball fit.
Bringing in Antetokounmpo means "let's take the ball out of the two-time MVP's hands" and bring in a guy famous for not working well off the ball, considerably older than the core (31) coming off an injury-riddled season and wanting a max extension, who also would dramatically alter one of the best locker room chemistries in the league. Does that seem wise?
What everyone seems to be missing: The Thunder are not way behind the Spurs. Game 7 did feel like a passing of the torch, but this was a tight series, and if the Thunder had one (or both) of Jalen Williams and Ajay Mitchell healthy, or they got the win in Game 1, this article might be about what the Spurs need to do in the offseason. Also, Isaiah Hartenstein did a good job on Wembanyama this series and it's not like Antetokounmpo or anyone else would have done dramatically better.
Amick at The Athletic also mentions that the Thunder front office has long liked the Cavaliers Evan Mobley, but at his end-of-season press conference, Cleveland president Koby Altman made it clear his team had no intention of trading the former Defensive Player of the Year.
Decisions Thunder face
With the Holmgren and Williams rookie extensions starting, plus Gilgeous-Alexander already making $40.8 million (and his supermax extension kicks in for the 2027-28 season), Oklahoma City is about to jump up to being the most expensive team in the NBA — a team $28.6 million into the second apron next season as currently constructed (based on Spotac).
They also have three players on team options where they could save money.
• Isaiah Hartenstein, a $28.5 million team option. With how valuable he proved in the playoffs and going up against Wembanyama, Oklahoma City will want to keep him around. The smart move may be to negotiate with him, not pick up the option but then sign him to an extension for less per year but more total money (three years, $70-$75 million?).
• Lu Dort, $17.7 million team option. This will sting for Thunder fans, but is it time to move on? Not just because he struggled against the Spurs, but also because with Alex Caruso already locked up on an extension, with Williams healthy next season and Cason Wallace returning, there wouldn't be much pain in trading him. Or, just let him walk.
• Kenrich Williams, $7.1 million team option. Another case where if the Thunder decide they want to bring him back is the move to waive him and negotiate a contract for closer to the minimum?
Those are rather straightforward, but Presti is incredibly creative — just ask Gilgeous-Alexander. Which means he will think of something, but the tax aprons are coming for the Thunder the next few years, and it's going to be difficult to keep this team together as is.
The New York Knicks are back in the NBA Finals, for the first time since 1999. It's a reminder that the Jets haven't played in the Super Bowl since 1999.
Jets receiver Garrett Wilson is nevertheless happy for the Knicks and the New York fans. And the situation makes him even more determined to deliver a similar experience for Jets fans.
"The city deserves it, right?" Wilson told reporters recently. "And then when you see the way they receive it, it's just like, 'Oh, yeah, I mean, we wish it could happen every year, man.' Seeing the people, the way they get behind their team.
"I know Jet fans are, you know, like frothing at the mouth to cheer like that, and we want to give it to them. I personally want to give it to them, you know, the most. . . . Yeah, man, it's cool to see, and I'm glad I'm up here for it. I'm rooting the Knicks on like hell. And yeah, man, you know, that gives us a taste of what it might look like when we figure this thing out, which, you know, we're excited for the opportunity."
So will Wilson be going to one of the games? He laughed before saying, "Them jawn's expensive. So, not yet. I'm gonna be watching."
For Game 3 on Monday, June 8, against the Spurs, the cheapest ticket to Madison Square Garden on a popular reselling site that we won't mention (because they don't pay us to do that) is $4,486. Which Garrett could easily afford, given his average salary of $32.5 million.
The best seats for Game 3 are currently more than $28,000 each. Which he could still easily afford.
But here's the reality. If they lose, he'll wish he hadn't spent the money. And, if they win, that $28,000 will be gone forever. Even at $32.5 million per year, it's smart to not spend foolishly.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MAY 25: Knicks fans celebrate winning the eastern conference championship against the Cleveland Cavaliers on May 25, 2026 in New York City. The Knicks last reached the NBA Finals in 1999, falling to the Spurs, and are seeking their first championship since defeating the Lakers in 1973. (Photo by David Dee Delgado/Getty Images) | Getty Images
It’s Sunday once more, and you know what that means — it’s time for our weekly social media roundup! Ever since Aaron Judge dropped a home run into the short porch against the Tampa Bay Rays last Sunday, the Yankees have been on a roll — and yet, they are currently the second biggest sports story in the Big Apple. How have they responded on social media? Let’s find out!
I wanna party like it’s 1973
This past Monday, the New York Knicks completed a sweep over the Cleveland Cavaliers, punching their ticket to their first NBA Finals appearance since 1999. YES Network researcher/statistician James Smyth took advantage of the fact that ESPN had the Monday broadcast in Kansas City and made sure he was in attendance for the historic moment.
While there, he commented on the fact that the Cavs played “Sweet Caroline” down by…well, down by a lot.
CC Sabathia, meanwhile, took to Facebook to share his excitement.
Behind the NY
The Yankees released episode nine of Behind the NY this week, focusing on Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s charity fashion show.
Game Belts
Thanks to a few wins, the Yankees passed the game belt around quite a bit this week — but not as much as they should have, according to some reports. Online speculation originally suggested that the team left the belt in New York, and did not get it back until Wednesday. That, however, seems a tad outdated, because they’ve only shared the game belt a couple times this week.
DJ LeMahieu had his debut as the manager of the Royal Oak Leprechauns, and guess who threw out the ceremonial first pitch? Former teammate Gleyber Torres! Now with the Tigers, he’s rehabbing from an oblique strain but had time to pop over to support his fellow erstwhile Yankees infielder.
