Category: Basketball

Welcome to our annual Lakers season in review series, where we’ll look back at each player on the team’s roster this season and evaluate if they should be part of the future of the franchise. Today, we continue our series with a look at Austin Reaves.

Certain players are always connected to Los Angeles. There are the obvious ones, like Kobe Bryant and Magic Johnson. But you don’t have to be a legend for your entire Lakers tenure to be remembered for your time inpurple and gold.

Anytime one of the young Lakers from the post-Bryant era finds success, they get love from fans. Josh Hart remains loved by Lakers fans. And even people like Nick Young are remembered, even if they spent more time elsewhere and won a title elsewhere.

So much of Austin Reaves’ story is still left to be written, but one thing is clear: he will always be a Laker. The question is whether his journey will continue in LA.

Reaves is expected to turn down his player option and become an unrestricted free agent this summer. Throughout his career, he has far exceeded even the rosiest of projections people have had of him. He has improved every year, and with him reportedly wanting upwards of $40 million, it seems either the Lakers or another team will oblige.

In an ideal world, the Lakers can pay Reaves whatever number he wants, and that’d be that.

However, nothing is ever ideal, and the NBA operates under a restrictive new salary cap. Paying Reaves will not dramatically impact what they do this year, but in the years ahead, it could prevent LA from adding impactful new pieces.

Although letting such an uber talent like Reaves walk away could also be dire and set the franchise back for years to come.

LA has a lot of decisions to make this summer to turn this team from a fun 50-win roster to a title contender. And the first, and perhaps biggest, decision they have is what to do with Reaves.

How did he play?

It was a tale of two seasons for Reaves.

He was an offensive juggernaut this year, averaging 23.3 points, 4.7 rebounds and 5.5 assists. His scoring and rebounding numbers were career highs and his point total has increased every single season.

Not only were his numbers fantastic, but his play in key moments during the regular season also stood out. He posted his career high 51 points in a win over the Kings and he helped atone for his playoff struggles against the Wolves by hitting a game-winner against Minnesota.

AUSTIN REAVES WINS IT FOR THE LAKERS IN MINNESOTA 😱😱😱 pic.twitter.com/qftaDRTenE

— ESPN (@espn) October 30, 2025

As the season progressed, it became clear the Lakers were a better team with Luka Dončić’s running mate being Reaves rather than LeBron. So, as the season progressed, Reaves’ usage continued to increase. By March, Reaves became a higher-usage player for the Lakers than James.

This meant the ball was in Reaves’ hands more often, and there were a ton of pick-and-roll actions with him and Luka. The result? The Lakers went 15-2 in March, their best month as a franchise since the 1999-00 season.

At that point, the Lakers were the hottest team in the NBA, and Reaves’ stock was at an all-time high. However, that’s not where the story ended.

Unfortunately, Reaves suffered a Grade 2 oblique strain in early April, ending his regular season and putting his playoff availability in question.

Thanks to Reaves, working his tail off in his recovery, he was able to return in the first round against the Rockets. While his return was commendable, his play once he touched the floor left a lot to be desired.

Reaves went 4-16 in LA’s Game 5 loss against Houston. They advanced and beat the Rockets in six games, but then against the Thunder, Reaves struggled massively.

He couldn’t handle the physicality of OKC’s defenders. His field goal percentage dropped from 49% during the regular season to 42% against the Thunder. From deep, he was even worse, going from knocking down 36% of his 3-pointers to just 30%.

As an on-ball creator, he was awful. Reaves had 27 turnovers compared to just 35 assists. He also had the second-worst plus-minus on the team at -59.

As a defender, Reaves didn’t silence his critics with his second-round play. He was relentlessly attacked and demonstrated the resistance of a turnstile.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Chet Holmgren and Ajay Mitchell scored in bunches on Reaves, which is why he was often the defender they were looking for.

In Reaves’ defense, he was fresh coming off his injury, and the playoffs are a tough place to try to get back to 100% health.

Also, he improved as the series against the Thunder progressed. In Game 2, he scored a game-high 31 points on 10-16 shooting, and in Game 4, he had 27 points, seven rebounds and six assists.

What is his contract situation moving forward?

If Reaves declines his player option like everyone expects him to, he will be an unrestricted free agent. Given how good he’s been, to retain Reaves, the Lakers are likely looking at paying him $40 million or more. Although Reaves has stated he isn’t just looking to make as much money as possible. Winning matters to him as well.

The good news is that his cap hold this year will be approximately $20.9 million, which helps the Lakers this offseason. It means they’ll be able to pay him without feeling the impact of every dollar he makes right away in their books.

Should he be back?

He has his flaws like any other player, but ideally, Reaves will be back next year. He has room to grow, but has proven he’ll do the work to get there time and time again.

However, the Lakers have to be smart with what those numbers look like. Los Angeles, as currently constructed, is not good enough to win a title. Reaves is fantastic, but he’s not Luka. He doesn’t get a blank check, no questions asked. The deal has to make sense because the Lakers need flexibility to acquire players who can elevate the team to the next level even past this offseason.

The Lakers might think their backcourt’s defensive woes are exaggerated, but they aren’t lockdown defenders either. LA needs better defenders around their duo and likely a dominant frontcourt player to add to this roster.

In the end, it’s in LA’s best interest to continue this partnership with Reaves. They just need to do so while making Austin happy and still allowing them to add to their roster so they can be contenders once again.

You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88 or on Bluesky at @ecreates88.bsky.social.

The New York Knicks aren’t just NBA champions, they’re a lesson in perseverance. Proof positive why you should never quit on your team, no matter how dark it gets, no matter how bleak the future seems, no matter how much an owner tries to push you away. James Dolan’s name might be on the papers, but Saturday night proved that the Knicks don’t belong to him — they belong to New York.

It’s impossible not to love the scenes from New York following the Knicks’ breaking their 53-year championship drought. Did the celebration go too far? Sure. Did it turn the streets into anarchy? Absolutely. Did it closely resemble the Joker’s clown parade in Batman Returns? It sure did. It was also magical, inspiring, and reminded us how powerful sports can be, even as we become jaded in the face of ticket scalpers, political movements, and greedy owners who put their own motivations ahead of a city. When the dust settles, it’s about simply this: A small group of individuals who came together as a team, to bring joy to millions who have invested their heart and souls into loving a team their entire lives. People who said “this could be our year” more times than they could count, and when it comes to the NBA there is not a single more passionate, longer-suffering fanbase than the New York Knicks.

No doubt there would have been joy in San Antonio too, but it would have hit different. All due respect to Spurs fans, but even y’all have to admit that your franchise has had a horseshoe lodged up your derriere for the better part of 30 years. From drafting Tim Duncan during David Robinson’s ONE injury year to winning the Wemby sweepstakes, it just wouldn’t have been satisfying to see another Spurs win. Moreover, San Antonio is a competent, sensible organization run like a successful business — it’s not the Knicks, where fans have had to endure James Dolan’s whims at every turn, doing his level best to destroy the organization from within while playing a piano solo in his nepo band.

Dolan and the Knicks have given fans HUNDREDS of reasons to pack it in over the years. I don’t know how Spike Lee managed to endure the pain for as long as he did — but not just the pain, the promise. The possibility that Patrick Ewing, and John Starks would win a title, then if Stephon Marbury and Allan Houston could get the job done, then Carmelo, Amare, and J.R. Smith. Fans continually experience the yo-yo whiplash of made that make them believe, before seeing opportunity get yanked away, like a cat toy from a desperate tabby. They’ve seen brilliant teams under the guidance of Jeff Van Gundy, Mike D’Antoni, and Tom Thibodeau all establish specific eras of Knicks disappointment, which makes it all the more magical right now.

This Knicks team was so decidedly un-Knicks. Jalen Brunson is obviously a superstar, but this team was defined by doubt, not promise. Nobody believed Karl-Anthony Towns was good enough to be a focal point, Mickal Bridges was an overpaid addition; heck, Mike Brown was almost universally reviled when he was hired to lead this iteration of the Knicks, because his career before New York was defined by everything the organization was trying to avoid. Brown routinely led promising teams, only to fall short — and the assumption was that he would do the same with the Knicks. He didn’t. Instead, he prevailed.

The conclusion of the NBA season isn’t just for fans of the Knicks, but for every long-suffering fan in sports. A reminder that success can happen when you least expect it. If you pack it up and ignore a team, finally beaten down by the frustration — sure, nobody will know you took a break, but deep down you will. The pain is what makes moments like this legendary. The inescapably sour that finally gives way to the sweet. A chance to take to the streets, party like it’s the end of the world, and know that all the emotional effort wasn’t in vain.

James Dolan doesn’t own the Knicks, he’s merely a caretaker. This isn’t his championship, it’s New York’s. The 2025-26 season will have a legacy that exists when Dolan is gone and forgotten, which means he never really won. One billionaire can try to kill a team, but the city never let it happen. Let them be a reminder for all of us.

The Chicago Bulls plan to hire Portland Trail Blazers interim coach Tiago Splitter as their next head coach, according to a report from ESPN's Shams Charania.

Splitter took over as Portland's head coach in October 2025, after Chauncey Billups was arrested for his alleged role in an illegal gambling operation.

Splitter, 41, led the Trail Blazers to a 42-40 finish in 2025-26, taking Portland to the first round of the NBA Playoffs, where they fell in five games to the eventual Western Conference champion San Antonio Spurs.

With the Blazers, Splitter embraced speed and pace on offense, asking the team's young core to grab rebounds and sprint out into the open floor. Portland ranked ninth in the NBA in pace (101.63 possessions per 48 minutes) one season after ranking 16th (99.51). Splitter also created a fluid offensive structure that empowered players to read the defense and react with concepts and actions, as opposed to a reliance on set plays.

Under Splitter, forward Deni Avdija became a first-time All-Star after averaging 24.2 points, 6.9 rebounds and 6.7 assists per game. The Trail Blazers also saw young players like Shaedon Sharpe (20.8 points per game), Scoot Henderson (14.2) and Toumani Camara (13.4) improve their games. Portland had eight different players average double-figures in scoring this season.

In Chicago, Splitter will try to revitalize a team that has struggled to make deep runs in the postseason in recent years. The Bulls overhauled their roster during the trading deadline, adding several guards to an already deep position on the roster.

Splitter's fit with point guard Josh Giddey — a versatile, play-making guard who can create his own shot and distribute for others — should be seamless, and his success with the Bulls will depend on elevating Giddey to an All-Star-caliber player.

The Bulls also have a developing star in forward Matas Buzelis, who averaged 16.3 points and 5.8 rebounds per game this season. The most promising piece for Splitter, however, may not even be on the roster yet.

Chicago won the No. 4 overall selection in the 2026 NBA Draft, a class that is both loaded with elite talent at the top of the class and deep. The consensus best players, Darryn Peterson of Kansas and AJ Dybantsa of BYU, are expected to be off the board at that point, but that could leave North Carolina's Caleb Wilson or Duke's Cameron Boozer available for selection.

Wilson is full of promise and has the size (6-foot-10) and athletic ability to be a premier threat in the NBA.

Splitter succeeds Billy Donovan, who stepped down as the Bulls' head coach in April after six seasons.

This story will be updated with additional information.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Tiago Splitter hired as Chicago Bulls head coach

With 1.2 seconds left of game four of the 2026 NBA Finals, a sold-out Madison Square Garden erupted.

The score was 106-105 in favour of the San Antonio Spurs as they looked to level the best-of-seven series at 2-2, when New York Knicks talisman Jalen Brunson's three-point attempt was denied by the rim.

But before any Spurs defender could make the crucial rebound, a flying OG Anunoby did enough to rise through a crowd of players and palm the ball back into the basket for a one-point lead and put the Knicks on the brink of immortality.

Magic Johnson in 1986. Michael Jordan in 1996. Steve Nash in 1997. This means the company Anunoby can now put himself in with a game-winner that has gone viral and etched itself in history.

"Game four is probably the top of British basketball history," said London-born Anunoby, now a two-time NBA winner.

"Amazing for Britain and the UK and everyone who loves basketball in the UK."

Three nights after Anunoby's game-winner that sent MSG and its celebrity front row into shock, the Knicks wrapped up the series 4-1 in San Antonio for a first finals win since 1973.

Unlike his first NBA title with the Toronto Raptors in 2019, Anunoby played a significant role. Seven years ago, he was only a spectator as injury ruled him out of the entire play-offs, with the Raptors beating the Golden State Warriors in the finals.

In another tip of the hat to British basketball and its future, Anunoby's team-mates included Jeremy Sochan. While Sochan plays for Poland, because of his upbringing and allegiance to the UK he is listed as one of four UK-based players in the NBA.

Alongside Anunoby and Sochan, Amari Williams and Tosan Evbuomwan played in an NBA season that featured a record number of players from the United Kingdom this term.

• Knicks end 53-year wait for NBA Championship
• The US sporting triumph that is overshadowing the World Cup

Anunoby more than making up the numbers

If you think of the Knicks and their current squad, point guard Brunson is likely the name that springs to mind.

Not only an NBA champion, but now an NBA Finals MVP winner and an NBA all-star in each of the past three seasons.

While Brunson is the immediate franchise player, Anunoby is very much one of those right behind him.

Anunoby featured in 84 of the Knicks' 101 matches this term, all of which he played from the start. During the play-offs, he ranked second in the Knicks squad for average minutes played as well as points, assists, blocks and steals per game.

Brunson may get the plaudits, but Anunoby is among those in the supporting cast who deserve their flowers, too.

More than three billion social media views were generated from game four, one where the Knicks had earlier trailed by 29 points before the result was ultimately decided by Anunoby's dramatic winning basket.

The series itself was the most-watched on ESPN since Jordan and the Chicago Bulls won their sixth and final title 28 years ago.

The Knicks have won this title, their first in 53 years, at a canter. They won 15 of their final 16 matches of the season, 10 of the first 11 of which were by more than 10 points.

Their only loss in that run was a four-point defeat by the Spurs in game three of the finals.

What next for British basketball?

Anunoby's championship-winning season and his clutch moments throughout the year come at a timely crossroads as far as the future of British basketball is concerned.

The NBA is planning to launch an independent European league within the next 18 months. London and Manchester are in place to be hosts to a franchise each when that league is launched, currently planned for October 2027.

By the time it has launched, both cities will have hosted an NBA regular-season match in the two years leading up to what could be the biggest changes to club basketball across the United Kingdom and Europe.

"I think London, especially, is an untapped market. There's so much talent and so many people playing basketball, so I think it would be amazing to bring a team to Manchester and London and continue growing in England," said Anunoby on the prospect of a European NBA league.

"As time goes on [basketball in the UK] is going to grow more and more. I think over time more and more [young boys and girls] are going to pull up at the NBA or WNBA.

"I want them to see that someone from where they are from is doing this. There is a lot of untapped potential and hope it's going to grow. It will mean exposure, growth, more leagues, more excitement for the game."

The London Lions recently signed a multi-year deal to remain competing in EuroCup for at least the next three seasons, which could be extended to five.

Anunoby was previously a minority owner of the franchise, who are coming off the back of a domestic quadruple-winning season.

It is an exciting time for a sport that has struggled to consistently produce top-level British stars but is showing growth and enormous potential at grassroots level.

Anunoby's championship-winning run is both timely and an inspiration for the next generation of UK-based basketball hopefuls.

The 2025-26 season may have ended in disappointment as the Spurs stumbled their way through 4 fourth-quarter collapses in the NBA Finals, turning what could have been four victories and a championship into four excruciating losses in five games. However, when you look at the broader view, it helps to remember this is nowhere near what was expected of this team this season, how far ahead of schedule they are, and how much more room they have to grow.

Another thing this year’s trip to the Finals has given us is, after years of watching and waiting for two months once the season ended in April, we immediately get to turn our attention to important summer activities, such as the NBA Draft, Free Agency and Summer League with almost no time gap. Below is a list of important dates to keep in mind as the Spurs build on a highly successful season and prepare for the future.

NBA Draft

June 23, 2026 — First round

• Spurs pick 20th (via Atlanta Hawks)

June 24, 2026 — Second round

• Spurs pick 35th (via the Utah Jazz)
• Spurs pick 42th (via the Portland Trail Blazers)
• Spurs pick 44th (via the Miami Heat)

As of today, the Spurs have four total picks, including 20th overall in the first round thanks to owning the right to swap picks with the Atlanta Hawks, who will in turn pick in the Spurs’ slot of 29th (the Dejounte Murray trade keeps on giving). They also have three second round picks via other teams, while their own is going to Minnesota. (After getting a little spoiled by the lottery in recent years, waiting for 20th is going to seem like a long time.)

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Free Agency

June 14, 2026 — Teams can begin negotiating with their own free agents.

This was actually yesterday since it aligns with the first day after the end of the Finals, but with that being said, the Spurs have very few free agents of note. The most notable is Harrison Barnes, who began the season as a starter but fell out of the rotation as the season wore on and played sparingly in the playoffs. The Spurs’ other free agents include Kelly Olynyk, Jordan McLaughlin, Lindy Waters III, Bismack Biyombo and Mason Plumlee, as well as their three two-way players: Harrison Ingram, David Jones Garcia and Emmanuel Miller.

June 29, 2026 — Last day for early terminations and qualifying offers for restricted free agents.

The latter part of this day hardly matters to the Spurs since their 2022 draft class is gone, but the former could matter if they choose to decline Julian Champagnie’s team option and sign him to an extension. If that is the case, they would need to do so by this time.

June 30, 2026 — Last day for veteran extensions, negotiation period begins (5:00 PM CT).

Should the Spurs take the previously mentioned route with Champagnie, this would be the last chance for him to sign an extension, otherwise he would become a free agent. Also beginning at 5:00 PM CT, teams can begin negotiating with other team’s free agents.

July 1, 2026 — True beginning of Free Agency (list is courtesy of Hoops Rumors).

• Official start of the 2026/27 NBA league year.
• Moratorium period begins.
• Restricted free agents can sign an offer sheet.
• Teams can begin signing players to one- or two-year minimum-salary contracts.
• Teams can begin signing players to two-way contracts.
• Teams can begin signing first-round picks to rookie scale contracts.
• Teams can begin signing second-round picks using the second-round pick exception.
• Teams can begin exercising the third- or fourth-year team options for 2027-28 on rookie scale contracts.

A few notes here. One is as a reminder, the Moratorium Period is five days in which contracts can be negotiated but not signed. The other notable occurrence for the Spurs will be the bottom one, in which they can — and for all intents and purposes will — exercised the fourth-year option on Stephon Castle’s rookie contract and third-year options for Dylan Harper and Carter Bryant. (They technically have until October 31 to get this done, but it’s hard to imagine it would take that long, especially for Castle and Harper.)

July 6, 2026 — Moratorium period ends; trades, contracts and extensions can be officially signed.

Now pen can officially be put to paper for trades, contracts and extensions. The Spurs will be able to sign any new free agents, but most notably, Victor Wembanyama will become eligible to sign his rookie-scale extension. Assuming he takes the max, it will be largest rookie contract extension in NBA history and make him one of the league’s highest paid players beginning in the 2027-28 season. The base salary for his maximum extension is $251 million (or 25% of the salary cap) across five years, but it can turn into the super-max worth up to $301 million (30% of the salary cap) if he earns All-NBA honors or wins MVP or Defensive Player of the Year in the 2026-27 season. Barring him missing the 65-game limit, expect the super-max to be the case by the time it kicks in.

These are the main key dates that will be notable for the Spurs, but others within FA include:

• July 13 —Last day to withdraw qualifying offers to restricted free agents.
• July 31 — Players signed using the second-round pick exception begin to count against a team’s cap.
• August 5 — Last day for teams to issue required tenders to unsigned second-round picks..
• August 29 — Last day for teams to waive players and apply the stretch provision to their 2026-27 salaries.

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Summer League

July 3-6 — California Classic

Amidst all the chaos of free agency will be Summer League, so you don’t even have to wait a month to watch basketball again! First, the Spurs will participate in the California Classic in San Francisco, along the Warriors, Lakers and Heat. This is usually a good place to at least see the Spurs second round picks for the first time.

July 9-19 — Las Vegas Summer League

This of course is the more notable of the Summer Leagues and where you stand a better chance of seeing the Spurs’ first round pick, as well as possibly some returning faces. While I wouldn’t expect Harper to be in SL this year (he doesn’t need it), it’s quite possible Bryant gets a run as team captain so he can develop more and show the Spurs how far he has come. This could also be a chance for players like Ingram to vie for another two-way spot with the Spurs or possibly even a guaranteed contract. Unfortunately, one face we may not see is Jones Garcia, who underwent ankle surgery in February and is not expected to be ready for SL.

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It’s crazy how much quicker the offseason is when you play two extra months of ball (because math), but the lack of a long gap between April and now is certainly nice. It’s hard to believe that training camp is just a bit over three months away, and while the Spurs have some work to do this summer, expect them to return pretty much the same core team.

We will have plenty of content on potential draft and free agency prospects for the Spurs in the coming days and weeks, as well as Summer League coverage, so be sure to stick around at Pounding the Rock all summer. While this season may not have ended ideally, it was certain the best one I have covered since starting here in 2016-17, and the future couldn’t be brighter. Thank you all for your continued support!

One thing that we see every so often across sports ahead of a championship series is the “Guaranteed Ring”.

When a player plays for both finalists in a sport, they’re essentially secured a ring, as all players who suited up for a specific team in a season usually get one for their efforts, no matter how small or inconsequential.

It’s most common in MLB due to the sheer amount of roster turnover. Buddy Kennedy and Jose Ureña both played for the Blue Jays and Dodgers in 2025, but neither were in either organization by the time the World Series rolled around

Every so often, though, you get it in the NBA. Two recent examples include Torrey Craig in 2021 and Anderson Varejão in 2016. As the prophecy foretold, it happened once again in a five-year increment.

Jeremy Sochan was born in Guymon, Oklahoma, on May 20, 2003, to two former Division II basketball players. His mother, Aneta, was of Polish descent, coming from a long line of professional athletes that even has roots in the resistance of Nazi occupation in World War II with Sochan’s great-grandfather, Zygmunt.

As a child, Sochan moved from Oklahoma to France to England, where he spent much of his childhood before returning to the United States to play high school basketball in La Porte, Indiana. After leading the Polish U16 team to the 2019 FIBA U16 European Championship Division B title, he earned a scholarship to play for Scott Drew at Baylor, where he turned himself into a top-flight NBA prospect.

After briefly playing overseas with OrangeAcademy in Germany, he joined the Bears in 2021-22, where he averaged 9.2 points and 6.4 rebounds, being named the Big 12 Sixth Man of the Year as part of a stacked Baylor team that earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament a year after winning the national championship in 2021. While they were upset in the second round, Sochan had established himself as a promising prospect, enabling him to forgo his remaining eligibility to declare for the 2022 NBA Draft.

Sochan was the perfect encapsulation of teams preferring traits over college production. While guys like Jalen Brunson fall to the second round, guys like Sochan rise with their youth, size, and skill. He was an advanced passer for someone of his archetype, and despite his offensive game being very limited, teams saw a player who still had a lot of room to grow.

That’s what convinced the San Antonio Spurs to draft him ninth overall over notable players like Santa Clara’s Jalen Williams, Memphis’ Jalen Duren, and, of course, Ousmane Dieng. As the franchise’s first top-10 pick since Tim Duncan 22 years earlier, there might’ve been some unfair expectations put on him right away, but the team believed in him as the future piece of the next Spurs’ dynasty.

Things started out pretty well. In his first season, he averaged 11 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 2.5 assists as a consistent starter for a dreadful Spurs team. He flashed signs of brilliance, putting up 30-8-5 against a Suns team that went to the Finals in January, but things changed that offseason for both him and the franchise.

That dreadful season resulted in Victor Wembanyama falling into their hands. After wandering the desert since Kawhi Leonard’s departure and hoping that someone from the Sochan, Josh Primo, Keldon Johnson, and Devin Vassell quartet could break out, they were gifted the best prospect the league had seen since LeBron James.

That immediately meant everyone else was relegated to second fiddle, and while Sochan was likely never going to be a star with his offensive limitations, the fact that he was overshadowed just a year into his career might not have helped. Statistically, his next two seasons didn’t look bad at all, as he slowly improved as a shooter and seemed to form a great bond with Wemby on and off the court.

He even infuriated all Knicks fans everywhere with his 21-point performance on Christmas Day at Madison Square Garden, buoyed by going 3-for-3 from downtown.

But the cracks in the foundation showed. They seemed not to really know where to play Sochan, who was yanked around from being a wing to the team’s point guard to even being a small-ball center. His versatility made him able to weather many situations, but this was a guy who was barely able to buy a drink. That, coupled with his spacing concerns given his poor shooting, slowly degraded his play as things got worse.

The Spurs were suddenly blossoming into a powerhouse, benefitting from lottery luck in three consecutive seasons to build a young core. Guys like Johnson and Vassell settled into roles as valuable role players, but Sochan got lost in the shuffle. His minutes slowly dwindled towards the end of November and he was out of the everyday rotation by December.

In the final year of his rookie contract, it was time for a divorce. On February 11, the Spurs waived their former lottery pick just two months before free agency, but it was early enough to allow him to suit up in the NBA playoffs. Two days later, he put pen to paper with the New York Knicks.

Initially, it seemed like the Knicks would embrace him as an opportunity to play both a small-ball five role and a traditional backup power forward role, but he seemed like a square peg in a round hole with how Mike Brown tried to utilize him in the first few games. By the end of February, he was reduced to garbage time.

But even though he wasn’t playing and some believed he was a waste of a roster spot, he added something that doesn’t show up on the box score. Good vibes.

Sochan has always been a popular figure in every locker room he’s been in and has formed a nice bond with Josh Hart over their Premier League rivalry. He didn’t throw a hissy fit on the bench when he wasn’t playing. He didn’t alienate his teammates, unlike some buyout options, but he was ready when he was needed to be called upon.

The first three rounds? He wasn’t needed. Due to the many blowouts, he got some garbage time run, which even included scoring 10 points in less than four minutes in Game 5 against Atlanta, but he didn’t play any meaningful minutes through the end of the Eastern Conference Finals.

Then it just so happened that his former team was on the other side in the NBA Finals. Just two months removed from being in that locker room, Sochan became an asset. When the Knicks went over film, he would be their man on the inside.

“Being that tall he gets tired…Give him different looks and (not beat him up but) be very physical, and make him run. And he’s gonna get tired, he’s gonna have to take some plays off in my opinion”

— Jeremy Sochan on former Spurs teammate Victor Wembanyama

Sochan intel ⬇️ https://t.co/I5IPKoW4Shpic.twitter.com/uwpXZbulv8

— New York Basketball (@NBA_NewYork) June 1, 2026

Seems like he was pretty right about this, huh?

And the neat part about how this story ends up? His first meaningful minutes of the postseason came in this series. He played nine seconds in Game 3, three minutes in Game 4 due to shenanigans with the entire center rotation, and the final nine seconds of Game 5.

In Game 5, he was pestering his former teammate all game long. The exact one that dislodged his place in the Spurs’ organization. The man whose arrival started his path towards this current moment.

In the end, when the Knicks ended their 53-year title drought, guess who the man who contested the final shot was? It was Jeremy Sochan, who probably had maybe the most unnecessary contest of all time, considering the monumental risk of fouling with a four-point cushion, but we’d only remember that beyond this week if something bad had happened.

But it didn’t, and that’s how he became an NBA champion.

turn the volume 🆙 pic.twitter.com/rXDSfJ3co6

— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) June 14, 2026

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(P&T will be doing player-by-player article tributes over the next few weeks to commemorate the special team that ended our long, half-century nightmare)

With the Finals officially over, silly season is fully upon the NBA. Every team is now in the offseason and the league’s focus turns to the draft, the offseason and the future.

For the Lakers, that means a look at an upcoming free agency that will be incredibly important. One of the first pieces of business the team will need to take care of is Austin Reaves, who will almost certainly decline his player option.

While the most recent reports suggested that Reaves is looking for the max and is expected to have suitors elsewhere around the league, it seems the general consensus around the league is that he’ll remain in LA.

On Sunday evening, longtime NBA reporter Marc Stein reported that the expectation is Reaves will re-sign with the purple and gold in free agency.

The Lakers are widely expected to re-sign Reaves, whose fondness for Lakerland as well as his blossoming backcourt partnership alongside Luka Dončić are regarded as strong lures that suggest the sides will ultimately come to terms on a new pact.

After Austin spent most of the season saying he wanted to be a Laker and wasn’t even looking for the biggest payday possible, his team has tried to regain some leverage. First, they made it clear they were expecting a max deal and, last week, it was reported that the Nets and Pistons could be among the teams to pursue Reaves in free agency.

However, according to Stein, all the signals Reaves put out about wanting to remain in LA may be scaring teams away from making an offer for him.

Yet it is unclear what sort of external interest Reaves will generate after his strong production over the past two seasons … at least partly due to the inherent skepticism that stems from trying to woo him away from the Lakers. Brooklyn and Detroit have been mentioned as potential Reaves suitors, but neither is seen as a certainty yet.

A similar situation played out the last time Reaves was set for free agency. All signs were pointing to him remaining in LA, but in that instance, he was set for restricted free agency, so teams didn’t want to bother tying up cap space only to have him return to the Lakers.

This time, they may see it as a pointless venture to spend time negotiating a deal with Reaves as opposed to working out deals with free agents who actually might want to sign with the team.

If this is how teams feel, then perhaps it means the Lakers can agree to a more team-friendly deal if — or when — Reaves re-signs.

For now, though, it’ll be a lot of posturing from both sides in the final weeks leading up to the start of free agency.

You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude or on Bluesky at @jacobrude.bsky.social.

Jalen Brunson could barely find the words.

You couldn’t blame him. The man had just done the one thing he’d organized his whole life around, and he did it as the player few outside his own family ever forecasted would be the one standing there. No longer the overlooked NCAA champion. More than the second-round pick with potential to overcome his measurables. The guy who surprised Utah in the playoffs that one year. Now? Well, now that kid is the champion. The Finals MVP. He told the sideline he had no words, that he was just in awe, and for a few seconds, the kid who always had an answer didn’t have one.

I was sincerely happy for him. I still am. This is one of the great sports stories, and the fact that he isn’t ours anymore doesn’t take that away. We cheered for this guy. We watched him grow up in Maverick blue. He went and did something enormous, and there is real pride in having been there at the start of the pro leg of this journey. There is also, if I’m honest at one in the morning, the ache of what could have been.

Lisa Salters asked him afterward what he’d been telling himself about closing the game out. His confidence, Brunson said, comes from his work ethic. Every time he got the ball down the stretch, he was thinking about the summers, all of them, as far back as he can remember. About being, in his words, “me alone in the gym.” All those hours with no crowd and nothing at stake, cashing out at last on the loudest stage in basketball.

The way he cashed it is the part that should make every doubter wince. San Antonio built a roster engineered to erase a player exactly like him. Length everywhere. Dylan Harper, Stephon Castle, and Devin Vassell hounding the point of attack, long and rangy and athletic, and Victor Wembanyama waiting at the rim as the most terrifying shot-blocker in the league. Brunson gave up size and reach to all of them and beat them anyway. Herky-jerky, start and stop, a half-beat ahead possession after possession, outthinking a defense designed to think faster than he could. He poured in fifteen in the fourth quarter, one clutch shot after another, and there was nothing all that San Antonio length could do about a man who had already seen every counter in an empty gym years before. Too small, they always said. Doubted his whole life. He just kept finding a way.

Charles Barkley has spent years calling him the greatest free-agent signing in NBA history. After tonight, the room finally stopped arguing.

Here’s the hard part. The Dallas part.

This is not a missive about a franchise that should have spotted a legend. He went 33rd for reasons that made sense at the time, and when Mark Cuban shrugged that he had “no idea” Brunson would become this, I’ll grant him that one. Concede the scouting. The malpractice lives in what came next.

By Tim MacMahon’s reporting in The Wonder Boy, Brunson wanted to stay. He was eligible for a four-year extension worth up to roughly $55.5 million, and his family was so eager to put down roots in Dallas that they’d have taken less than the max. The security meant that much to him. He grew up watching his father, Rick, work through a journeyman’s NBA career on one nonguaranteed contract after another, training three times a day every summer just to earn a training-camp look, never sure when a team would move on from him. For a son raised on that, a guaranteed deal in Dallas carried a weight beyond the dollars: it was the safety his father’s career had never once promised.

The front office wouldn’t commit to it. They wanted to keep him movable, to dangle as bait for a co-star next to Luka, and they kept one eye on the luxury tax they’d ducked ever since 2011. So they waited. Through training camp. Past the January window when his camp said he would sign right then. And by the time they finally slid the same number across the table, he had outgrown it. A structuring flub on his rookie deal meant Dallas didn’t even hold the right to match. He walked for nothing. His father’s verdict was that the Mavs could have made the choice hard, and instead they “made it easy.”

Sit with the cruelty of that. This is the precise kind of player the Mavericks spent that entire era clearing cap space to chase in free agency. A natural leader. A low-ego, locker-room-raising winner who makes everyone around him better. They had him. They grew him. And because they could not stop keeping their options open long enough to back the believer right in front of them, they let him leave for the price of a goodbye.

We just passed fifteen years since 2011. You and I both remember how much had to break right that spring, how rare that alignment is, how a whole franchise’s one shining season can hinge on every piece fitting at once. The Knicks just ended a fifty-three-year wait. That is the math that turns this from a grievance into a warning: self-inflicted wounds in roster building are exactly how a fifteen-year drought hardens into a fifty-three-year one.

I have heard it said that the acquisition of Kyrie Irving effectively balanced the scales for having lost Brunson to the wind less than a year prior. To think so is pure folly and underestimates the causality of burning future assets – the 2029 first sent to Brooklyn in the Irving package – to atone for past mistakes. Think about it long enough, and loving the Mavericks post-2011 can feel like the basketball version of 12 Monkeys or Memento. We now bank on the creativity and gem-finding skills of Ujiri and company to save the Cooper Flagg era (itself an unlikely dollop of grace) from the sins of the past.

So let yourself look ahead. Barring something catastrophic, what we watched tonight is a Hall of Fame résumé manifesting in real time. More years of contention. More years leading that franchise. Some will tell you he was already a lock, and that tonight only burned off the last of the doubt.

Somewhere down the line, a kid in a Brunson jersey is going to ask why his guy ever wore blue and white. We had him first. The people who ran the team then couldn’t bring themselves to keep him.

“The Savior of the Broken”

Jalen Brunson pic.twitter.com/XkosrJYRPD

— MC Bets (@MCbets__) June 14, 2026

The Cleveland Cavaliers acquired Dennis Schroder in a deal alongside Keon Ellis with the Sacramento Kings for De’Andre Hunter around the trade deadline. Schroder was more of a salary match for the Cavaliers, but remained a mainstay of the Cavaliers’ rotation during their Eastern Conference Finals run.

All grades are based on our usual expectations for each player.

Regular Season Stats *with Cavaliers*

• 8.2 points
• 2.3 rebounds
• 4.3 assists
• 40.1% FG
• 29% 3PT FG
• 86.1% FT

Schroder is a tough guy to grade. The stat line speaks for itself; the guy had little to no juice for 70% of the games he suited up for the wine and gold. Schroder, after being traded to Cleveland, was putting on his 11th uniform in 12 years.

With a resume like that, it would be fair to expect that Schroder gets moved around for a reason. The idea of Schroder might be more appealing than the actual on-court result. That is how the acquisition resonates with me at the time of writing this post.

Schroder can have his moments on the floor. The 32-year-old guard can still show bursts off the dribble with an ability to get to the cup with ease at times. However, it was once Schroder actually had to score that I found the most frustrating. He would either put too much muscle behind these layups on a good look or throw an errant pass into traffic.

Schroder could not reliably space the floor either. In the postseason, the Cavaliers were reliant on converting on looks from the perimeter. Therefore, the opportunities and clean looks were there for him. Schroder, a career 34% three-point shooter, endured the worst shooting splits of his career with Cleveland. Not only did he have lower volume, 2.1 looks from three, but he also converted just 29% of those opportunities for the Cavs.

How much of this is because he was constantly the playing release valve for Donovan Mitchell and James Harden? Not much. I think that Schroder’s remaining juice is just running out.

Where Schroder stood out on the floor was the energy he displayed. It felt like at various times Schroder would provide the spark needed to wake the Cavaliers from the lull they were in. Every team needs a guy like Schroder, someone who will call them out for sleepwalking through stretches of the game. It was clear that this Cavaliers team and coaching staff respected Schroder’s voice.

While it is unlikely that Schroder will be on the team in 2026-27, as his salary is ludicrous at $14.8 million. The team needed more of what Schroder provided with his voice. His on-court production left much to be desired; therefore, he seems destined to be on his 12th team in 13 years next season.

Grade: C–

The Boston Celtics know they can’t run it back next season as-is.

This past season’s run was admirable. The team managed to salvage Jayson Tatum’s 62-game delay and clinch the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference with 56 wins before the postseason. But their 33.7 percent 3-point shooting clip against the Philadelphia 76ers, coupled with a frontcourt that was railroaded by Joel Embiid, forced Celtics President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens to carefully assess the shocking first-round exit.

Less than a week after the Celtics blew their first 3-1 series lead in franchise history, Stevens, during his end-of-season press conference, emphasized his desire to “generate looks at the rim.”

Stevens, on behalf of the team’s brass, referred to dunks as the preferred shot over the three. That statement was both a confession of where the Celtics went wrong against Philadelphia and an indictment of where Stevens wants to go moving forward as Boston enters a crucial offseason.

Boston ranked dead last in the playoffs in 2-point field-goal attempts and 25th in the regular season, finishing behind six non-playoff-contending teams. Rolling out Neemias Queta as the starting center, along with Luka Garza on the bench and Nikola Vučević added at the trade deadline, the Celtics struggled throughout their campaign to pressure the rim, and it caught up to them.

The disappointment and frustration in Stevens’ voice during his final meeting with reporters signaled a lesson learned. The problem now is finding a solution, and the early offseason rumblings across the league suggest Stevens has his eye on a 6-foot-11 answer: Giannis Antetokounmpo.

In April, Antetokounmpo praised Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla — midway through his award-winning job as the NBA’s Coach of the Year. The Greek Freak has had it with the Milwaukee Bucks, and the expectation is that Giannis officially departs this offseason. Boston is said to be in the running, although the price of negotiating for a two-time league MVP could put Stevens and the front office in a compromising position with homegrown Celtics star Jaylen Brown.

Brown has been the name linked to trade rumors once again. Four years ago, Boston discussed a potential trade for Kevin Durant with the Brooklyn Nets involving Brown. That triggered feelings of frustration as Brown began to side-eye the Celtics. Now, as the centerpiece in another blockbuster trade rumor implying Boston’s appetite for an upgrade, the relationship between Brown and the Celtics could reopen that very rift.

With at least some idea of what’s happening in Boston’s front office, Brown has already been cryptic about his messaging.

“The neighbors rice always smells better,” Brown posted last Thursday on X.

The neighbors rice always smells better

— Jaylen Brown (@FCHWPO) June 11, 2026

During his latest livestream, Brown vaguely touched on his future by re-asserting his confidence in what’s ahead following his career-best run with the Celtics — he averaged 28.7 points, 6.9 rebounds, and 5.1 assists, shooting over 47 percent across 71 games.

“A lot of people think they’ve seen the best version of me, and you stand corrected,” Brown told his FCHWPO Twitch livestream on Sunday night.

“No matter what the situation is, no matter what the case is, I feel confident in a sense where I’m coming into my physicality, my mental game, my weaknesses are turning into my strengths, and you have not seen the best of Jaylen Brown. I look forward to next season. We’ll see where the chips fall, but I’m excited about that.”

The risk for Stevens and the Celtics could be a rupture beyond repair, regardless of whether or not the team acquires the Greek Freak. Since the Miami Heat are also rumored to be in the mix, there’s no guarantee Antetokounmpo successfully forces Milwaukee to agree to a deal with Boston, leaving Brown’s standing with the franchise in a possibly murky spot.

If Stevens does strike a deal with the Bucks to bring Antetokounmpo to Boston, then it’s water under the bridge. If not, Brown could easily barge to the front office and demand a trade to a place where he’ll be the No. 1 once and for all. It’s already been confirmed that to some degree, Brown enjoyed being in the driver’s seat this past season and views himself as a player capable of doing that full-time.

The Athletic’s Sam Amick and Eric Nehm reported that the Celtics “pose a serious threat” in the Giannis sweepstakes if the 10-time All-Star expresses a willingness to sign a four-year, $275 million extension with Boston. It’s also likely that a third team would be necessary to facilitate any trade for Antetokounmpo, which would also likely become Brown’s next home if that scenario plays out.

So far, the Portland Trail Blazers and the Atlanta Hawks are possible third wheels floated around — both of which offer an unoccupied driver’s seat to Brown.

Some interpreted Brown’s post-Game 7 loss stream as confirmation that he wants to be the lead dog for a team. Others consider that perspective to be overblown and miscontextualized. What isn’t known is how Stevens and the Celtics view Brown’s comments.

In the final three minutes of the team’s season, Brown denied a wide-open Queta of an assist and instead deferred to Payton Pritchard for a corner three. Pritchard’s miss, with a chance to give Boston a lead over Philadelphia in Game 7, proved Brown’s decision to be costly. Stevens’ comments proved that even though Brown doubled down less than 24 hours later on his livestream, his decision doesn’t reflect what the Celtics want.  

It’s certainly difficult to imagine Stevens trading away Brown, the team’s third overall draft selection in 2017, whom Stevens coached for the first five seasons of his career. In 2023, Stevens signed Brown to a five-year, $304 million extension with the Celtics, making him the then-highest-paid player in NBA history.

However, it’s even harder to imagine Stevens staying pat after the Celtics squandered another opportunity at the NBA Finals, in a historically brutal fashion, no less.

Major changes are required this offseason. Not minor tweaks. Three years ago, Stevens blueprinted an overhaul that featured a handful of difficult departures and rewarded the Celtics with their 18th championship banner.

Heading into a season that’ll be significantly more difficult, especially in the East, Stevens understands another big swing — maybe his greatest yet — could supply restoration for the C’s.

SAN ANTONIO – New York fans were a lovely bunch of coconuts during their stay in Texas, congratulating the hosts repeatedly for the Spurs’ shimmering future, checking the views of security guard’s faces to determine if a postgame pogo pit was appropriate behavior in the upper bowl for this sort of San Antonio scenario.

It was. Knicks fans won over their hosts in the same way Knick players won over their hosts. The Knicks managed to jam a dozen of our nation’s most-visible celebrities into a short, five-game series and still emerge without threats of overexposure. Mariska Hargitay is a legend, but it ain’t as if it’s a struggle to find an episode of her television show. And of course Taylor: Ms. Swift would re-issue her appearance in Game 4 if a more productive songwriter’s take were available. As is her right.

Texas was for the punters, the traveling Knicks fans familiar with the upper bowl. Stands at-least half-filled with Knick backers watching the Lawrence O’Brien trophy handed to their Knicks for the first time in the Lawrence O’Brien trophy’s history.

The catcalls in San Antonio after Game 5 were all ball, nothing rude. And the largest chant I was around, organic and fresh and a little unsteady like a sidewalk grocer, was for Leon Rose. The GM! Nobody ever cheers a GM because every sports fan knows they could do a better job than most GMs. And while this may not be correct, sportswriters enjoy promoting the idea so as to retain readership.

Knick fans are familiar with Knick GMs shooting for the top and sending projectile pieces southward and into their own foot. Owners remain but general managers come and go, GMs representing the human element of the sport while in charge of the human element in the locker room and the field.

We won’t argue that Leon Rose’s hiring was typical, he was the NBA’s most-influential NBA agent for the bulk of his pre-Knicks run. Rose helped put together the Miami Heat’s championship Big Three, yet drew applause for daintily stepping aside without conflict or rancor after LeBron James left Rose’s stable of clients to front Rich Paul’s Klutch collective. Rose played college basketball and also used institutions of higher learning to become a dang lawyer. Hardly the picture of the coffee-stained, hapless basketball scout, standing through another Star-Spangled Banner at a VCU game in November.

Knick fans cheered throughout the Star-Spangled Banner in Game 5, nothing runs the blood like a talented youngster belting out a song that’s impossible to sing, and chanted Leon Rose’s name after winning the NBA title. All instinct, continuing with the keen and warming atmosphere that’s carried over the top of these Knicks since falling in Indianapolis in 2025.

Rose and the Knicks didn’t make large player personnel changes after that defeat, he couldn’t, wouldn’t return fair value for his stars and prevented from making large-scale changes due to the team’s top-heavy roster. Few outfits took in as much dismissal and derision as those 2024-25 Knicks, waiting out another successful regular season only to watch as team mainstays Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns turned sieves in the postseason.

They didn’t, though, and not because Rose secured the rights to temerity and strong footwork in a draft night trade. Towns’ bridge iced before his road developed, Brunson was always big on the inside, each only needed time. Rose didn’t hire the pair because of output, he brought them together to build something larger, to learn together and develop.

There were alterations: Malcolm Brogdon was signed by Rose ahead of 2025-26 in the hopes of providing competent reserve minutes at point, but Brogdon retired before the season began in spite of an available roster spot. In February Rose traded Guerschon Yabusele and Guerschon’s guaranteed contract next season for, in effect, Jose Alvarado and the chance to sign (the Queens-raised) Alvarado (who owns a $4.5 million player option for 2026-27) to a longtime deal. Guerschon, meanwhile, will shoot 40 percent from the field as starting center for the Chicago Bulls in 2026-27, a team yet to win an NBA title this century.

All the while, Rose is owed a trillion favors around the league, this transactional transaction bidness. That won’t go away with a championship, the other 29 NBA GMs think each year’s champions are nice and cute but would rather focus on their own five-year plans, championship hopes.

The Knicks ensured any detractor would only scan as sour grapes, the name of an interesting but mostly unwatchable Larry David film. Worldwide villain to billions David Zaslav mostly watched Game 3 from a courtside seat next to LD, yet nothing deterred the impartial fan for falling for the Knicks. Leon Rose’s Knicks, built by a guy who looks as if he needs to “talk to you about a thing.”

As opposed to the last Knicks personnel chief, Scott Perry, who sounds like the sort of guy to keep us in a meeting all morning without revealing a thing. Perry is the picture of executive grace, hard to imagine Scott Perry drafting a force of nature like Obi Toppin with his first ever lottery selection, but that’s where Rose went.

Rose also watched, for two seasons as Knick chief, as Jalen Brunson put up 51/39/82 in JB’s final pair of campaigns with Dallas. Orthodoxy claimed this Mavericks gig as the perfect role for Brunson, a shoot-first undersized point guard who cannot defend and will run out of energy the longer a contest moves along. Leon Rose disagreed with the consensus behind Brunson’s outlook.

Jalen owned no such difficulties putting up points, but Rose saw something in his efficiency that previous spotters may have noticed with Stephen Curry and/or Steve Nash. Simply because a player hasn’t worked 35 minutes a night yet, it doesn’t make them incapable of the feat.

In one of my last stories before 2022 Knicks camp, I reported in Leon's 1st scouting meeting in 2020, he named Dallas reserve Jalen Brunson as a top target. Perry's scouts were stunned. Leon struck out on bringing Melo to NYK as agent but hit grand-slam homer for ages with JB.

— Marc Berman (@NYPost_Berman) June 14, 2026

Rose owed New York one following the Carmelo Anthony fade, securing the bag for his client in 2014 after meetings with then-Knicks prez Phil Jackson, neither side knowing any of it work but neither willing to get in the way of NBA business.

Leon’s first coaching hire in 2020 was Tom Thibodeau, who took the Knicks from a (prorated) 27 wins to (prorated) 47 wins in his first year, making the playoffs behind the Julius Randle, RJ Barrett, Kevin Knox-core Rose and Thibs inherited. The Knicks missed the postseason in 2022 when half the league jumped Kemba Walker’s turnstile, but brought in Brunson to settle all point guard claims in 2022.

See, point guard’s been a problem in New York since these sons of guns traded Walt Frazier to Cleveland, since the days of Ticky Burden, Butch Beard, Jim Cleamons. The team never found a sage guide to work consistently alongside Patrick Ewing, rather past-prime vets and zero-prime clangers like Charlie Ward. Or trading a first-round pick for 36-year old Mark Jackson and Mark’s 19 percent turnover rate.

That a point guard led the Knicks to the title, won Finals MVP, must be the most astonishing part of New York’s championship – at least to the folks who posted on the RealGM message board two decades ago. This city destroys its quarterbacks, and Brunson’s package deal with his father raised all manner of eyebrows. Problem is: Rick Brunson can coach his tail off, and we all saw what Jalen Brunson is capable of in the of a 7’4 Defensive Player of the Year.

If Rose’s brooding presence gave New York its CAA-cultivated edge, Brunson delivered the public grin. He signed contract extensions early, ensuring all the ex-Villanova teammates Rose acquired could continue to work alongside the point guard who took them to an NCAA title. Sure, they combined for a series of enervating cellular carrier advertisements, deadening our senses throughout repeated NCAA Tournaments. But Brunson took less money in sports, the ultimate brand of divinity. Fans never forget these things no matter how much (oft-unavailable, sez this travelin’ sportswriter) rural coverage Brunson and his cohorts promised.

Rose even broke up the Wildcats, somewhat, sending Donte DiVincenzo (and Randle) to Minnesota for Karl-Anthony Towns, one of the league’s most popular and most-polarizing players. Still came out smelling like a red flower, simply because KAT is so irrepressible, so easy to root for. Rose snatched the effusive OG Anunoby from Toronto, overpaid for long reliever Mikal Bridges but so what, the Knicks required Mikal Bridges.

Thibs was let go after 2024-25, MSG broadcasts eliminating its least-liked feature: Tom Thibodeau screaming angry instructions in a silent arena toward the end of a game decided over a half-hour before.

Leon Rose knew he needed Thibodeau, some stern voice ringing in ears when the next coach came aboard. The Doug Collins-cop and Phil Jackson-cop way of leading toward a confession still owns its charms, made much easier when Mike Brown is the second detective to enter the room.

Everyone loves Mike Brown, he’s enough to goose anyone into admitting to a crime they had nothing to do with. That’s all coaching is, chiding a player after a minor indiscretion so as to stave off the likely resultant major screwup. The Knicks chewed on six coaching candidates before – yeah, let’s go here – fate ensured the best one available took the job.

Any NBA coach could have done what was obvious, trim Thibodeau-styled minutes and loosen up the Thibs-styled offense. Brown won the energy of his charges by refusing early wholesale changes outside dropping average minutes per game, making work a little easier, less distracting. Cutting minutes absolutely led to this 2026 title, the Knicks routinely dragged heels throughout the postseason under Thibs, playing five performers over 35 minutes a night is no way to run a modern NBA team.

In the championship run, Brunson was the only one at (exactly) 35 minutes per game. Bridges was never made scapegoat, Anunoby was not dismayed by his status as a third-option. At his lowest point, Karl-Anthony Towns was afforded release in the form of Brown’s old high post plays from Sacramento, nobody was removed from any familiar roles, nobody lost a spot.

Rose made sure of this, as cutting any player after the Indiana loss only creates blame (if deserved), resentment from remaining players. This particular GM was hired to provide swagger, a back-room sensibility with all beaks drained for dipping, but instead Rose found his cubs in the form of his favorite players on other teams. It was as if Rose was under direction, after watching a two decades of Knick ball since the team’s last Finals appearance, to create a team that no NBA fan could refuse.

These charmers owed New York, 53-years without a title is unacceptable for a franchise with as diligent and studied a fanbase as New York’s. Also unacceptable for the less-informed, the ones shouting “Harden sucks.” It is a large city with diverse opinions, each valued.

These Knicks lost but THREE times in the 2026 playoffs, to four teams, in 19 games. Many of these conquests were outrageous blowouts, a ruined evening for those of us NBA fans tuning in for a competitive back and forth. These were somehow fun blowouts, though. The Knicks, Leon Rose’s tell ya what I’ll do-Knicks, never became anything less than beloved.

That’s on the leader, not the boss. Building a championship NBA team is legendary stuff, but building a winner the rest of the world falls in love with? That’s the work of someone in love with his team.

Kelly Dwyer writes about the NBA at kdonhoops.com.

The Knicks' run to a championship was dominant, as they finished with the best point differential in NBA playoff history. 

One characteristic of this team that will define this run will be expecting the unexpected.

From game to game, it was impossible to tell who was going to step up. But there was always a player or two who emerged as an unsung hero. 

Starters like Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, and OG Anunoby were consistent for the most part, but the rest of the club filled in the gaps. 

To go 16-3 in the playoffs, the Knicks needed the entire roster, after depth was one of New York’s largest weaknesses the past few seasons. Last season, the Knicks were dead last in bench scoring during the regular season, and ranked 15th out of 16 teams in the postseason. 

During this year’s regular season, New York’s bench was slightly better, ranking 28th out of 30 teams. But during the postseason, the Knicks reserves became more of a significant factor, ranking eighth out of 16 teams.

Role players came up big in every game of New York’s 4-1 NBA Finals win against the San Antonio Spurs. Landry Shamet scored 13 points with three trifectas in Game 1. Mikal Bridges stepped up with 20 points in Game 2.

Josh Hart had 16 points with four three-pointers, and Jordan Clarkson put up 10 points in New York’s lone loss in Game 3. Jose Alvarado was the unsung hero of Game 4, scoring all of his eight points in the fourth quarter. The backup also gave New York another point guard capable of breaking San Antonio’s amped up defensive pressure on Brunson.

And in Game 5, the Knicks needed Brunson to carry them over the top.

Brunson scored 45 of the club’s 94 points in the championship clincher. But there was still a memorable contribution from the supporting cast. With Towns in foul trouble, Mitchell Robinson played 20 minutes and had 10 rebounds, including an offensive rebound on a missed free-throw in the closing moments. Even third-string center Ariel Hukporti had a key block in the third quarter of the title clincher.

It was like a game of whack-a-mole. One or two Knicks would struggle for a game, but then another role player would emerge. That was the case for New York during the entire playoff run.

There was Miles McBride’s 25-point eruption against the Philadelphia 76ers in Game 4 of the second round. Hart emerged with 26 points and seven assists in a signature Game 2 win over the Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Finals. Bridges played like a two-way All-Star in the second round and Conference Finals.

The importance of each role player is a reflection of Knicks head coach Mike Brown’s trust of the roster. He wasn’t afraid to go deep into the bench. Second-year point guard Tyler Kolek had a significant role in New York’s NBA Cup championship win against the Spurs in December. Rookie Mohamed Diawara was in the rotation for portions of the regular season.

And after testing different lineup combinations throughout the regular season, Brown was ready to roll with many different players throughout the playoffs. With the grueling NBA schedule and the shift to a faster pace in the league, there’s a need for depth -- and Brown wasn’t afraid to rely on it.

New York’s success is a reflection of the current NBA. Star power is the base from which a title contender can be constructed, but to win big, you need contributions across the entire depth chart.

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the NBA. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Rockets fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.

This week’s question asked you to pick a Houston Rockets player to part with. NBA trade rumors are flying now that it is the offseason, and the Rockets always find themselves connected to these things. In addition, we’ve talked endlessly here at TDS about having two non-shooters in Alperen Sengun and Amen Thompson in the lineup. We love both of those guys, but if one of them doesn’t develop a jumpshot soon, the Rockets may have to move one of them. So we asked you which one goes.

Sengun take this in a landslide, and I probably agree. I think if you end up having to choose, you choose Thompson for his capability to defend at a top level. And I think this could be a make or break year for Sengun. He needs some progress with his efficiency, his defense and his shooting, or all bets are off if he remains a Rocket or not.

Even though the season is over, don’t forget to check out our friends over at FanDuel. Odds are already out for next year’s NBA Champion. The OKC Thunder sit at the top with a +250, meaning if you wage $100 and they win, you’ll get $250 back. Our Rockets currently sit as the 10th-best odds at +4000. That’s a juicy bet if you’re feeling positive about the team this year. The defending champion New York Knicks sit at just the fourth-best odds at +750. The Thunder, Spurs and Celtics all sit in front of them.

Thanks for voting! We’ll be back soon with more Reacts!

On Saturday night, the New York Knicks snapped their 53-year title drought.

Nick Nurse and the Sixers—whose own championship drought has now reached 43 years—could learn some valuable lessons from their Atlantic Division rivals.

Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns and OG Anunoby led the way for the Knicks on their incredible championship run, but they were hardly the only players who made a major impact. Throughout the playoffs, the Knicks had a handful of reserves come up big in key moments.

Landry Shamet—who wasn’t even a sure thing to make the Knicks’ roster at the start of the season—averaged 11.5 points per game between Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinals and Game 2 of the NBA Finals. Jose Alvarado had eight points, three assists and two rebounds as the Knicks rallied from an NBA-record 29-point deficit in Game 4 of the Finals. Miles McBride buried the Sixers with seven triples in Game 4 of the conference semifinals. And Mitchell Robinson averaged 4.8 points, 5.5 rebounds and 0.6 blocks in only 13.9 minutes per game throughout the playoffs.

Brunson, Anunoby, Towns, Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart shouldered most of the load for the Knicks, but they wouldn’t have won a title without those contributions from their bench. That should be a valuable takeaway for Nurse and the Sixers, who leaned far too heavily on their starters throughout the regular season at the expense of developing their reserves.

In today’s NBA, depth is king

Under then-head coach Tom Thibodeau, the Knicks were overly reliant on their starters, much like the Sixers have been under Nurse.

In 2024-25, Hart led the league with 37.6 minutes per game. Bridges was third at 37.0, while Anunoby was fifth at 36.6. Brunson was tied for 14th at 35.4, while Towns was tied for 19th at 35.0. The Knicks were the only team with even three players in the top 20 of minutes per game, much less five.

After the Indiana Pacers ran circles around the out-of-gas Knicks in the Eastern Conference Finals last year, the Knicks parted ways with Thibodeau and hired Mike Brown as his replacement. They did so in part because he worked under Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr, who made a habit of going deep into his bench.

“In terms of the minutes, it’s a philosophy I had,” Brown told reporters ahead of the NBA Finals. “One of the many things I learned from Pop and Steve [Kerr]. Steve was really good at trying to play a lot of different guys. Not only that, a guy that hadn’t been in the rotation for a while, one game [a coach] might throw him out there as a starter. That kept guys engaged or on their toes.”

That wasn’t always a smooth process.

“No, I definitely didn’t see the bigger picture in those moments,” Hart told reporters ahead of the Finals when asked about being benched at times in the fourth quarter. “There was moments I went home and I’m like, ‘Damn, am I ass? Do I suck as a basketball player?’ There was a lot of those moments. Whenever your minutes go down or you get benched, you have that thought process. But for me, it was, okay, how can I build off of it?”

But it did pay off for the Knicks in the long run.

“Now I’m cool with it, sometimes,” Hart added. “Game 1 [of the Eastern Conference Finals], I got benched because Landry was out there hooping, and I was happy about it. But that took a little bit of time and self-reflection to get to that point.”

The Sixers haven’t reached that point yet.

Will the Sixers follow the Knicks’ lead?

Much like the Thibodeau-led Knicks, the Sixers played Tyrese Maxey a league-leading 38.0 minutes per game this past season. He averaged a career-high 28.3 points per game en route to his first All-NBA nod, but that type of workload is not sustainable in today’s NBA, particularly in the regular season.

VJ Edgecombe was second on the Sixers with 35.0 minutes per game. Brunson, who was named both Eastern Conference Finals MVP and Finals MVP, led the Knicks with 35.0 minutes per game during the regular season.

Joel Embiid (31.7 minutes), Kelly Oubre Jr. (31.5 minutes) and Paul George (30.7 minutes) all had their playing time kept relatively in check during the regular season, although that was partially due to injuries. However, Quentin Grimes (29.4 minutes) and Dominick Barlow (23.8 minutes) were the only other Sixers to play at least 20 minutes per game in the regular season.

Jared McCain, whom the Sixers sent to the Oklahoma City Thunder ahead of the trade deadline, played only 16.8 minutes per game prior to that trade. Despite landing on a Thunder team with significantly more backcourt depth than the Sixers, he averaged 18.0 minutes per game for them across 30 regular-season appearances and wound up playing a major role for them in the playoffs because Jalen Williams (hamstring) and Ajay Mitchell (calf) got injured.

Nurse seemingly had McCain on a short leash even though he was working his way back from both a torn meniscus and torn UCL in his right (shooting) hand. He never regained the form that briefly made him the Rookie of the Year favorite in Philadelphia, but with more freedom to make mistakes in OKC, he quickly found his footing again.

The Sixers don’t get take-backs on the McCain trade, but it should teach them a valuable lesson about empowering their reserves more throughout the regular season. They’re going to be top-heavy as long as they have Paul George and Joel Embiid under contract, but they can’t just rely on a six- or seven-man rotation and expect to go on a deep playoff run.

Once the postseason began, the Sixers began leaning even more heavily on their starters. Grimes was the only bench player to play at least 15 minutes per game. Perhaps Nurse didn’t trust the options at his disposal this season, but that can’t happen again next year.

The Sixers might not be as well-balanced as the Knicks’ starting five, but that doesn’t mean they can’t learn lessons from their division rivals. New team president Mike Gansey, who helped build a deep bench in Cleveland, should be emboldened to replicate that strategy in Philly after seeing how much the Knicks’ reserves contributed to their title run.

Unless otherwise noted, all stats via NBA.com, PBPStats, Cleaning the Glass or Basketball Reference. All salary information via Spotrac and salary-cap information via RealGM.

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