Category: Basketball

Giannis Antetokounmpo has an NBA championship ring and a Finals MVP trophy from 2021. He has two NBA MVP trophies.

However, after lifting Greece to the bronze medal in EuroBasket Sunday, he called that his greatest accomplishment.

"This is probably one of the biggest accomplishments that I've ever accomplished as an athlete. I know I've won an NBA championship, but there's no feeling like representing your national team and representing 12 million people that breathe and live this national team. This is probably the greatest accomplishment so far in my life."

Greece has the bronze because Antetokounmpo was dominant on Sunday, scoring 30 points and pulling down 17 rebounds to lead Greece to a 92-89 win over Lauri Markkanen and Finland.

This was the first time Greece has medaled at EuroBasket since it took the bronze in 2009.

Behind the play of the Kings' Dennis Schroder and the Magic's Franz Wagner, Germany took the EuroBasket crown, defeating the silver medal team Turkiye, led by the Rockets' Alperen Sengun.

Kobe Bufkin has played in just 27 NBA games across two seasons — because of time in the G-League and injuries — but at Summer League in Las Vegas this July he showed some potential as a point guard who could run the pick-and-roll, like during his 29-point outing against the Heat (17 in the fourth quarter to spark a comeback win).

That was enough to get the Nets to take a chance on him.

Atlanta is trading Bufkin to Brooklyn for cash considerations, a story broken by Shams Charania of ESPN.

For Atlanta, this is a salary dump. The Hawks save Bufkin's $4.5 million salary, putting them $7.7 million below the luxury tax line and $15.4 million below the first apron, where they are hard-capped (plus they create a trade exception they can use for the next year). For the Nets, this move puts them above the league's salary floor, but they still have $11.4 million in cap space to facilitate trades.

The Nets also get a one-year roll of the dice on Bufkin, to see if he is the point guard who was putting up so many points in Las Vegas, or if he is more the guy who was committing turnovers and not shooting consistently while he was doing so. This is the kind of move Nets GM Sean Marks made a lot during his first rebuild, taking a shot on a flawed player with potential to see if other teams have given up too quickly. Sometimes that works out, sometimes it doesn't, but it's a risk worth taking for the Nets, who are in the middle of another rebuild.

A common refrain about the 2025 WNBA season has been how much more parity exists across the league than in recent years. There’s an argument to be made that potentially five out of the eight teams currently in the playoffs have a fair shot to contend for the WNBA championship due to how rosters are constructed and the coaches for those teams.

Because of that parity and due to some unfortunate injuries to key players around the league throughout the season, determining season-ending awards has been more difficult than in recent memory. This was the fourth season that I cast my vote across the variety of awards that the league gives out to those who performed exceptionally during the 2025 regular season.

Ballots were officially due from voters by noon ET on Friday, September 12. The league will roll out the winners of these awards as the WNBA playoffs continue. Who probably will win and who should win? In this article, I'll reveal my ballot as well as who I expect will actually take home the various awards.

WNBA Most Valuable Player Award

Who should win:Napheesa Collier  — F, Minnesota Lynx

My vote went to Collier simply because she was incredibly consistent throughout the entire season. She was the best player on the most consistent team all season long. But also Collier made league history in a really meaningful way and became the first player in WNBA history to record a 50-40-90 (overall field goal percentage, three-point field goal percentage and free throw percentage) while averaging over 20 points per game. A 50-40-90 has only been accomplished one other time in league history when Elena Delle Donne did the same in 2019 while averaging 19.5 points per game. She won her second MVP award that very season.

Who will win: A’ja Wilson — C, Las Vegas Aces

Wilson will win because of how recency bias has often swayed WNBA voters. Wilson’s ability alongside her head coach Becky Hammon to rally the troops to start performing at their potential after the Aces fell 111-58 to Collier’s Minnesota Lynx has made a significant impression on voters. The Aces haven’t lost a game since that August 2 blowout game.

Also, Collier missed a bit over three weeks following that blowout. She sprained her right ankle in the third quarter of that game and for a while the Lynx kept their head above water and didn’t endure a huge amount of drop off. Since the Aces’ entire way of playing is based upon Wilson and her strengths, her team is much less capable and performs a lot worse without her. The on-off numbers don’t lie here.

WNBA Defensive Player of the Year

Who should win: Alanna Smith  — F, Minnesota Lynx

Being a great defender isn’t incumbent on just how many blocks and steals a player has or if they lead the league in defensive rebounding. Those are worthwhile numbers to consider, but those aren’t the be-all and end-all to determine who has been the most impactful defender in the league. I voted for Smith because of how much she anchors the Lynx’s defense and style of play even while Napheesa Collier was out with an ankle injury.

“I think [Smith] does more for us that doesn’t show up on the stat sheet than probably any other player in the league,” Kayla McBride said on August 10 during the three weeks Collier was out with her ankle sprain. “Her ability to put her body on the line and just the awareness and the competition level that she has on a nightly basis for us is priceless. We can put her on anybody.”

Smith has been the anchor of the team that was the top defense all season long. She’s an undersized center that often takes a lot of contact and uses her competitive nature in addition to her high basketball instincts to make some of the most dominant players in the league feel uncomfortable.

Who will win: A’ja Wilson — C, Las Vegas Aces

Defensive player of the year is one of the most difficult awards to assess simply because defensive aptitude is really difficult to determine just by box score stats like blocks, steals and defensive rebounds. Wilson averaged the most blocks this season with 2.3 and she averaged the second most defensive rebounds (7.9) to just Angel Reese with 8.5. Without her on the floor, the Aces’ defensive rating drops around 10 points.

The case for Wilson as DPOY is really quite similar to hers for MVP. While the Aces’ defense finished the regular season ranked eighth overall, along the last 15 games of the season it was ranked second led by Wilson. If recency bias prevails, I wouldn’t be shocked if Wilson wins her third DPOY.

WNBA Most Improved Player

Who should win: Veronica Burton — G, Golden State Valkyries

Who will win: Veronica Burton

Note: Burton was announced as the winner in overwhelming fashion on Monday afternoon, taking 68 out of the 74 votes.

Burton took such a huge jump as a player who got waived by the Wings a season ago, to a backup point guard on a veteran heavy Connecticut Sun team during the second half of the 2024 season to now the starting point guard on a playoff team in the Golden State Valkyries.

Burton has not only the narrative on her side but also the numbers. Her minutes have gone up year over year by over 131%, her scoring increased year or year by over 283% and her average assists also went up year over year by over 215%

While candidates like Azura Stevens, Allisha Gray, and Aliyah Boston all made fair cases when it came to their improved ceilings as players, there wasn’t a more dramatic year over year jump that overcame Burton’s. She earned my vote for that very reason and it is fair to assume that she earned the majority of the voting pool’s votes for that reason as well.

WNBA Sixth Player of the Year

Who should win: Natisha Hiedeman — G, Minnesota Lynx

The only rule the WNBA has to qualify for this award is that the player must come off the bench in more games than she has started. While Naz Hillmon only started in 17 games out of the 44 games she played, Hiedeman has only come off the bench this season. Hideman’s role all season long has been about providing a lot of energy off the bench when Courtney Williams isn’t playing her best. To me that’s a textbook definition of a sixth player of the year.

Although, Hiedeman definitely had some recency bias on her side when it came to getting my vote. In her last ten games of the season including the Lynx’s first playoff win against the Valkyries, Hiedeman has averaged 12.8 points, 52.3% shooting and 48.6% shooting from three-point range.

Who will win: Naz Hillmon — F, Atlanta Dream

The sixth player of the year and most improved awards can sometimes overlap. Is this an award about who is the best player coming off the bench or is this about which player has stood out the most in their role coming off the bench? Hillmon’s case as sixth player of the year is confusing to me simply because she was elevated off the bench with over a month left of the season. Once Brittney Griner injured her neck, Dream head coach Karl Smesko moved Hillmon to the starting lineup and didn’t really look back. Hillmon is starting in the playoffs.

Hillmon is such an important connector for the Dream and her development starting off as a back-to-the-basket post in college and then completely transforming her game so that she’s a tweener who can do a little bit of everything is incredibly impressive. There might be a desire to award a player on the Dream especially with Smesko most likely losing out on coach of the year and Allisha Gray not being in top contention for MVP.

WNBA Rookie of the Year

Who should win: Paige Bueckers — G, Dallas Wings

Who will win: Paige Bueckers

Bueckers proved to be exactly who many thought she would be while a star in college at Uconn. She’s a generational talent who plays on both sides of the ball who can create at a high level for herself and others. She’s someone who coaches and GMs build a team around and that’s exactly what I expect to be in the future of the Wings all things being equal.

Bueckers’ ability to take over a game was put on display on August 20 against the Sparks when she set a WNBA rookie record for points scored in a game with 44. She recorded the most points by player during the 2025 regular season in addition to becoming the first player in WNBA history to score over 40 points while shooting at least 80% from the field.

While Sonia Citron and Kiki Iriafen had impressive rookie seasons, they didn’t have to carry the load that Bueckers did when it came to scoring and distributing the basketball. Bueckers still managed a super high level of play all the while her team had 28 total injuries and 121 games lost to injury, some of the highest margins in the league.

WNBA Coach of the Year

Who should win: Natalie Nakase — Golden State Valkyries

Who will win: Natalie Nakase 

While I voted for Nakase and believe she’s the front runner, Karl Smekso achieved a huge feat. Not only did he transform one of the most inconsistent offenses in 2024 into a powerhouse in 2025, but he did so with players that didn’t fit his vision for how he likes to play. General Manager Dan Padover signed two back-to-the-basket centers for a team that was expected to play at a high pace and get up a ton of three-pointers. Smesko made lemonade out of lemons.

But the reason I voted for Nakase and why this is a relatively simple pick to make is because she took an expansion team without any top end talent to the postseason and coached that team to have the third-best defense in the league. No other expansion in league history has ever reached the playoffs. That’s a story in itself that reflects the buy-in that Nakase got from her players. Also, the Valkyries had some of the most injuries this season in the WNBA and the team still performed well enough to make the playoffs.

2025 All-WNBA Teams

I truly believe that Collier, Wilson, Thomas, Mitchell and Gray were the most consistently great players this season and that’s what All-WNBA ought to be about. The second team, however, is so difficult to judge just because Stewart and Ionescu both had moments where they were brilliant and had to uplift their heavily injured stricken team. Boston took a massive leap this year as a scorer and facilitator but also struggled when the Fever were absolutely decimated by injuries.

Nneka Ogwumike’s efficiency and consistency and the fact that she shot 51.9% from the field this season on a team that really struggled to create open looks on offense in the Storm is part of why she earned my second team vote here. While Young started out less efficient and potent than she’s expected to be just like the majority of that Las Vegas Aces team to start the season, she embraced her new role as the Aces’ primary ball handler and facilitator. Her pick-and-roll chemistry with A’ja Wilson has been untenable at points during the regular season.

My votes

First Team:

Napheesa Collier, A’ja Wilson, Alyssa Thomas, Kelsey Mitchell, Allisha Gray

Second Team:

Nneka Ogwumike, Jackie Young, Aliyah Boston, Breanna Stewart, Sabrina Ionescu

Projected honorees

First Team:

A’ja Wilison, Napheesa Collier, Alyssa Thomas, Kelsey Mitchell, Allisha Gray

Second Team:

Nneka Ogwumike, Jackie Young, Aliyah Boston, Sabrina Ionescu, Kelsey Plum

WNBA All-Defensive Teams

The Lynx, the Dream, and the Valkyries all had the top three defenses in the league during the regular season. And as a result, my ballot reflected that. My first team included two Lynx players in Smith and Collier, two of the best defenders on the best defensive team in the league.

My second team was littered with players from the Dream and the Valkyries for that very reason. Brionna Jones anchored the Dream’s paint defense while Rhyne Howard took a step forward defensively proving she could competently defend forwards and guards. Burton was an excellent point of attack defender this year and Fágbénlé made it so difficult for centers like Aliyah Boston, Brionna Jones and Jonquel Jones to play well. Gabby Williams made my ballot because of how she averaged 2.3 steals a game while the Storm’s defensive rating drops 7 points without her on the floor.

Breanna Stewart earned my vote simply because of how much the Liberty’s defense suffered without her on the floor. Her ability to roam everywhere, help her teammates and then recover to hold her assignment which can be any player type of the floor, was something that stood out in particular this year.

Also, I expect that players like Ezi Magbegor and rookie Saniya Rivers are going to get votes simply because of their defensive reputation. Magbegor is known for her defensive excellence while Rivers also had a ton of stocks (steals and blocks combined) and became the second rookie in league history to have 100 steals and 100 blocks in a season.

My votes

First Team

Alanna Smith, A’ja Wilson, Napheesa Collier, Gabby Williams, Breanna Stewart

Second Team

Alyssa Thomas, Brionna Jones, Temi Fágbénlé, Veronica Burton, Rhyne Howard

Projected honorees

First Team:

A’ja Wilson, Alanna Smith, Alyssa Thomas, Gabby Williams, Veronica Burton

Second Team:

Rhyne Howard, Breanna Stewart, Allisha Gray, Ezi Magbegor, Saniya Rivers

2025 WNBA All-Rookie Team

The 2025 rookie class will be one remembered for how deep it truly was. There are some years when it’s difficult to fill out an All-Rookie team just because so few rookies registered meaningful impacts, see 2021 and 2022. But 2025’s rookie class was not only highlighted by college draftees, but it also was highlighted by some international players who came over as a result of smart front office scouting.

The first three in Bueckers, Citron, and Iriafen are a given, but the final two spots were much more difficult. My decision came down to how Monique Akoa Makani and Te-Hina Paopao impacted their teams during critical moments rather than the rookies that scored the most points. Ako Makani has burst onto the scene as a really solid two-way presence able to lock-down an opponent’s best offensive threat. Paopao filled in at backup point guard multiple times when Dream starting point guard Jordin Canada dealt with multiple injuries during the regular season.

My votes

Paige Bueckers, Sonia Citron, Kiki Iriafen, Monique Akoa Makani, Te-Hina Paopao

Projected honorees

Paige Bueckers, Sonia Citron, Kiki Iriafen, Janelle Salaün, Dominique Malonga

When Victor Wembanyama went out last season with a blood clot in his shoulder, the San Antonio Spurs turned to Bismack Biyombo. They signed the veteran big man and he played in 28 games for them, starting 26, giving them 5.1 points and 5.6 rebounds a game.

That was enough for the Spurs to bring him back. The Spurs have agreed to a one-year contract with Biyombo, a story broken by Shams Charania of ESPN.

Biyombo, entering his 15th NBA season, is an insurance plan for the Spurs. Wembanyama will start at center and seems poised for another huge leap entering his third season (which should scare the league). Behind him, the Spurs added Luke Kornet for depth. Biyombo slots in behind them at the five, he's not going to see a lot of run, but it's smart to have the veteran in house.

This is likely a fully guaranteed contract at the veteran minimum. That brings the Spurs up to a full roster of 15 heading into training camp, although Lindy Waters III is only partially guaranteed.

Jonathan Kuminga wants to be somewhere he is given a legitimate chance to shine. Right now he's a power forward on a team that already has Draymond Green and Jimmy Butler, a team coached by Steve Kerr, who has never fully trusted him. The Golden State Warriors want a Kuminga contract that is primarily a trade chip, with a team option on the final season. Kuminga doesn't want to have his fate in the hands of a fickle trade market.

Which is why there remains a stalemate on a new Kuminga contract despite the Warriors increasing their offer to three years, $75.2 million, with a team option on the final year, reports Shams Charania and Anthony Slater at ESPN. That team option makes this a much more tradable contract. Even though the new offer would guarantee $48.3 million for Kuminga over the next two years — literally doubling how much money he has made in the NBA over his first four years — what Kuminga wants most is an opportunity. Something he has felt he never really got a fair chance at under Kerr. That's why one of Kuminga's counteroffers was the same contract, but with a player option in the final year.

All that boiled over and led to this exchange between Kuminga and Warriors owner Joe Lacob, ESPN reports.

But there was an underlying question from the Lacob side that felt most pressing. "Do you want to be here?"...

So Kuminga turned the question back on Lacob and the Warriors. "Do you even want me here?"

What Kuminga's camp wanted was a sign-and-trade this summer, but the offers that came in were not enough for Golden State. For example, Sacramento reportedly offered Dario Saric, Devin Carter and a lottery-protected first-round pick (some rumors suggest Malik Monk was the player to go with the pick). Phoenix made an offer as well that didn't include a first-rounder. What Kuminga liked about both of those situations was less about the money — which was close per year to what the Warriors just offered — and more that it was a three- or four-year contract with a player option, and both teams were going to make him their starting four.

Kuminga's leverage in negotiations with the Warriors is that he could follow the route Cam Thomas took in Brooklyn, sign the one-year qualifying offer at $7.8 million, which gives him a no trade clause for this season (which he could waive for the right deal) and would make him an unrestricted free agent next summer when half-a-dozen teams or more will have cap space to sign free agents. Kuminga's agent reportedly made a "souped-up" qualifying offer proposal, where Kuminga gets more than the $8 million but on a very tradable one-year contract. The Warriors don't like that because of the risk he could walk away at the end of the season for nothing if no trade is found.

Kuminga, 22, averaged 15.3 points and 4.6 rebounds in 47 games last season (he missed time with an ankle injury).

The Warriors remain in a holding pattern while the Kuminga situation plays out. Golden State has agreements in place to sign Al Horford at the taxpayer mid-level exception, then sign some combination of De'Anthony Melton, Gary Payton II and Seth Curry at the veteran minimum. To do that, the Warriors (hard-capped at the second apron) can't offer Kuminga more than $22.5 million for the first year of his contract. At that price, he's not going to accept the team option on the final season.

So the Warriors remain stuck, trying to work out something with Kuminga before the Oct. 1 deadline when he would just take the qualifying offer.

Dennis Schroder has been in plenty of big moments before. He's played in NBA conference finals games with the Hawks and Lakers. He's played in the Olympics. He helped lift Germany to the last World Cup title.

With the EuroBasket championship in the balance, Schroder took over and scored the game's final six points, lifting Germany past Türkiye to the title.

"We never shy away from the big moments. ... Everybody is so confident," Schroder said postgame, via the Associated Press. "Just big-time plays from big-time character people."

Germany won the most recent World Cup behind the play of Schroder, and they finished fourth in the Paris Olympics. Germany is playing fantastic team basketball right now.

Schroder, who will suit up for Sacramento this season, finished this game with 16 points and 12 assists and was named EuroBasket MVP for his play. What makes Germany so formidable is their depth of talent: Orlando's Franz Wagner had 18 points with eight rebounds, his teammate Tristan Da Silva added 13, while former NBA player Isaac Bonga led the team with 20 points.

Türkiye was led by the Rockets' Alperen Sengun, who had 28 points in this game to cap off a breakout tournament. Former NBA players Cedi Osman (23 points) and Shane Larkin (13 points) had big roles for Türkiye as well.

Earlier in the day, Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 30 points and pulled down 17 rebounds to spark Greece past Finland in the bronze medal game.

Antetokounmpo, Sengun, Schroder, Wagner and Slovenia's Luka Doncic were named to the All EuroBasket first team.

Fred VanVleet. Amen Thompson. Kevin Durant. Alperen Sengun.

Four of the starting five for the Houston Rockets are locked in, but coach Ime Udoka has a deep roster and can go a lot of other directions with that fifth spot — and it's something he could change game-to-game depending upon matchups. Udoka told Ben DuBose of RocketsWire that he wanted this to play out in training camp, then make his call (hat tip Hoops Rumors).

"It's to be determined. I do think Jabari (Smith Jr.) showed tremendous growth this offseason, and obviously he started the majority of his time here, before the injury. But we'll take a look at everything. We feel we have incredible depth this year and a lot of versatility, so we could go a number of different ways, as far as that. I think some of that will be proven in training camp."

Smith is the most logical person to be the fifth starter, giving the Rockets both size and shooting. Smith averaged 11.8 points and 6.7 rebounds a game, shooting 34.6% from beyond the arc, in 39 games as a starter last season. Then Smith fractured his hand, Thompson was moved into the starting lineup to replace him, and by the time Smith was healthy, there was no way Thompson was coming out of the starting lineup. That said, Smith thrived in a bench role averaging 13.2 points and 7.7 rebounds a game in fewer minutes.

If he wants to go with size, Udoka could start Steven Adams at the five next to Sengun, they played well off each other last season. If Udoka wants a more traditional wing in that mix, Dorian Finney-Smith is a strong two-way player, plus there is Jeff Green on the roster.

This is what training camp is for — nobody goes in with all the answers, the best teams are open to possibilities. In the end, Smith likely gets the job, but there will be some interesting things to watch in Rockets training camp beyond Kevin Durant.

Much like we have started to see in the NBA, it's a changing of the guard in EuroBasket as a generation of stars still at their peak — Nikola Jokic (Serbia), Giannis Antetokounmpo (Greece), Luka Doncic (Slovenia) — could not lift their teams to the championship game. However, a younger generation of stars, leading deeper teams, will play for the title.

It will be Alperen Sengun and Türkiye against Franz Wagner and Germany for the EuroBasket crown, with the game on Sunday in Latvia. Here is everything you need to know about watching the game.

EuroBasket 2025 championship, Germany vs. Türkiye: How To Watch

Germany vs. Tyrkiye tips off Sunday, Sept. 14 at 2:00 PM ET (9:00 PM local time where the game is played in Riga, Latvia).

In the United States, games can be streamed on Courtside 1891, FIBA's official streaming platform. All EuroBasket games can also be viewed through DAZN on the Courtside app.

Alperen Sengun vs. Franz Wagner

While led by young NBA stars, Germany and Türkiye are playing for the EuroBasket crown because they are the best, deepest teams in the tournament. Both play strong defense, and both are 8-0, with Türkiye winning its games by an average of 19.5 points and Germany by 26.8.

That said, the stars have stood out. For Germany, Orlando's Franz Wagner has averaged a team-best 21.1 points per game plus 5.6 rebounds. He's been a force.

Wagner may not be Germany's best player in this tournament, however. Sacramento Kings guard Dennis Schroder is averaging 20.9 points and 6.6 assists a game, running the offense like a seasoned veteran. There are a number of players on the German squad NBA fans will know, including Wagner's Orlando teammate Tristan Da Silva, as well as former NBA players Daniel Theis and Isaac Bonga.

Sengun clearly has been Türkiye's best player, averaging 20.8 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists a game — he has been at the heart of everything.

Like Germany, Türkiye has several names NBA fans will know on the roster, including current 76ers big man Adem Bona as well as former NBA players Cedi Osman and Shane Larkin.

In a friendly before EuroBasket, Germany beat Türkiye by two points. In terms of common opponents at EuroBasket, there was just one: Germany beat Portugal by 27, while Türkiye beat them by 41.