Category: Basketball

You’ll notice a trend in these homages to Golden State Warriors players best nights from last season. Many of them came with the team in injury shambles.

This entry into the series is about Quinten Post answering the call. There is a version of Post’s career where December 8 never happens. Where the Warriors keep him in Santa Cruz , bring him along in small doses, protect him from moments that are too big too fast, and let him develop on a schedule that makes everyone comfortable.

The Warriors weren’t supposed to discover anything that night other thn survival. Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, and Al Horford were out. The Chicago Bulls were coming into Chase Center expecting a soft landing against a short-handed roster, and by every reasonable measure, Golden State was the kind of team you schedule when you need to get right. But in reality the Dubs won 123-91 and never trailed, and the most important thing that happened had nothing to do with the final score.

Post made threes on the team’s second and third possessions of the game, as if he wanted to establish immediately that this was not going to be a polite, careful, let-me-find-my-footing kind of night. He finished with 19 points on five threes in 26 minutes, and somewhere in the middle of all of it, he attempted a through-the-legs pass while setting a screen that had no business being as smooth as it was.Young players trying to survive in the NBA don’t attempt passes like that. Players who believe they belong do.

The box score tells one story. But anyone watching that night understood they were seeing something else: a player stamping his arrival in the way that competent people do when they stop waiting to be introduced and just start working.

The defense is what separates this performance from a hot shooting night and puts it in this series. Post was asked to carry a heavier defensive load without Horford and Green to cover for him, and he met that challenge by making Nikola Vucevic, a multiple All-Star center, look confused for most of the evening.

Vucevic kept finding bodies where he expected space. Drives turned into kickouts. Post’s contests appeared a split second sooner than Chicago expected. Possession after possession, the Bulls discovered that attacking the rookie wasn’t producing the results they thought it would. He held Vucevic to nine points on 13 shot attempts, and that defensive performance might have been even better than the offense.

I’m taking Quinten Post vs the Bulls over any other player in NBA History

— WarriorsMuse (@WarriorsMuse) February 9, 2025

If you want to point to a night that shows what QP is capable of when the chips are stacked agains this squad, look no further than that big December win against the Bulls despite missing hall-of-famers.

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The New York Knicks have certainly waited long enough. The Eastern Conference champions will have had 10 full days off before they face the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Finals, compared to just three for the Western Conference champions.

Plenty will wonder if that rest will lead to rust for New York, but logic expects more fatigue to show up for San Antonio than anything else.

That edge, however short-lived and intangible, could prove crucial for the Knicks in the NBA Finals beginning on Wednesday, June 3.

Before diving into our NBA picks, let's take a look at the latest Knicks vs. Spurs NBA Finals odds, including the series price, spread, and total games markets.

Knicks vs Spurs NBA Finals predictions

Odds as of 5-31. 

Knicks vs Spurs series odds

Some lookahead lines expected the San Antonio Spurs to be -225 favorites if they won the West, leaving the New York Knicks at about +185. They also suggested the Knicks would be better cast as a +2.5 underdog in the series odds rather than a +1.5 underdog.

But now that San Antonio escaped the West, it is only a -210 favorite. That may not be much of a move, but cutting the Knicks’ odds to +175 is still more than a 5% move.

For that matter, odds are somewhat heavily set expecting a seven-game series. As a 1.5-game underdog, New York is juiced to -130.

Then why is the series total heavily juiced to -250 on the Under 6.5 games? That difference effectively sums up the chance of the Knicks winning the series. If they do, it is unlikely to be on the road in a Game 7, even if that is the exact path the Spurs just took to slip by the Thunder.

Knicks vs Spurs series preview

Statistical Breakdown

It becomes difficult to compare postseason résumés. The Knicks not only faced lesser competition — they did, no one needs to waste time arguing this fact — they also so laughed at that competition that it further skews any view of the Eastern Conference.

But it is worth noting that New York has shot 40.0% from beyond the arc in 14 postseason games, the best mark in the NBA, while also giving up only 30.5% from beyond the arc, also the best mark in the NBA.

It may seem overly simple to highlight that stat, but this is a make-or-miss league. And if the Spurs’ youth cannot find quality shots against the Knicks’ perimeter defense, that could prove decisive.

Unsurprisingly, given they both reached the NBA Finals, these are the two best defensive ratings in the postseason and two of the three best offensive ratings.

How the Spurs will win

In short, Victor Wembanyama.

San Antonio is deeper than New York, though at this point in the postseason, both teams should ride with the horses that got them here, and one of the greatest perks of a deeper rotation is the comfort in getting out in transition.

The Spurs turned over the Thunder with an abundance, an otherwise rather rare occurrence, and then San Antonio raced downcourt, capped by Devin Vassell’s Game 7-ending dunk. That should be especially effective when Wembanyama plays a role in transition, given Karl-Anthony Towns has long struggled in transition defense.

But beyond that, how will Jalen Brunson thrive when facing Wembanyama at the hoop? Brunson’s deep shooting has trailed off in the postseason; he wrecked the Cavaliers by getting into the paint and the midrange. Those shots should be too often obscured by Wembanyama’s long reach.

How will the Spurs win? We all know the answer. Wemby.

How the Knicks will win

Defense and experience.

New York has continued to play a relentless defense in the post-Tom Thibodeau era. That is almost a default when you have both OG Anunoby and Josh Hart in your starting lineup. If they can stifle Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper, suddenly, Wembanyama may not be enough scoring for San Antonio.

And the more pressure the Knicks can dump onto Castle and Harper, the better. This may be Wembanyama’s first playoff run, but he has seen plenty of high-pressure moments in his international and European careers. But Castle and Harper are still so young — and with due respect to Castle’s NCAA title with UConn — this is entirely new ground for them.

Harper could not get Rutgers into the NCAA Tournament last year. Could Madison Square Garden now rattle him? Not to be dramatic, but yes, it absolutely could.

Meanwhile, the Knicks are packed with veterans who should meet this moment. Because of one towering Frenchman, these rosters may appear lopsided, but some deference should be given to New York’s experience.

Knicks vs Spurs series props

Victor Wembanyama Finals MVP

-185 at bet365

That is a lot of juice, but the Spurs are -210 favorites for a reason, and if they do indeed win their first title without Tim Duncan, it will be because of another No. 1 pick manning the paint.

Presume Wembanyma has a relatively pedestrian series, at least by his standards. In 17 postseason games, he has averaged 23.2 points, 10.8 rebounds, 2.7 assists, and 3.5 blocks per game. Those are, indeed, Finals MVP numbers.

The better question may be wondering how San Antonio could win the Finals without Wembanyama being named MVP. Find the gap between this -185 price and the -210 series price.

Perhaps Jalen Brunson (+210) would average 35 points through the series and still lose? Or Stephon Castle (+5000) may average double-digit assists, sitting at 6.7 per game this postseason and 7.6 in the Western Conference Finals.

Those both seem rather unlikely. If thinking about betting the Spurs to win the Larry O’Brien Trophy, your smarter move would be to simply bet Wembanyama to win the Finals MVP.

When will series finish: Game 6

Speaking of Wembanyama in a starring role, FIFA and the World Cup organizers are thrilled the Spurs advanced to the NBA Finals. Game 6 in Madison Square Garden will tip off mere hours after France’s World Cup debut … in New Jersey.

World Cup games typically take about two hours, right? Certainly in group play. France should thus beat Senegal at about 5 ET on June 16 in the Meadowlands, and Game 6 will tip off at 8:30 ET. Traffic and chaos may make that a tighter commute than ideal, but expect plenty of French fans in the stands cheering on Victor Wembanyama.

Game 7 actually has the shortest odds in this consideration at +205, but the French aspect of Game 6 lends some value to thinking Wemby could win his first ring on the road, but also in front of favorable fans.

Karl Anthony Towns — Most threes made

+500 at bet365

The question with Karl-Anthony Towns has always been how many 3-pointers will he take, not how many of them will he make. Poor shooting spells have been distinctly rare throughout Towns’s career.

Perhaps more than ever, New York needs Towns to shoot with volume. Doing so is the Knicks’ best hope of pulling Wembanyama away from the rim.

Put Towns and Jalen Brunson into pick-and-rolls. If Wembanyama knows Towns is ready to pop from deep, he may have to play aggressively on the perimeter, giving Brunson a needed moment to find a crease.

Towns has shot 48.9% from deep this postseason. Shoot, big fella. Taking 3.2 per game will not be enough, though that number has absolutely been deflated by the Knicks’ penchant for blowouts in their last 10 games.

Shoot six or seven times from deep each game. Make three per game. That may be New York’s best offensive approach.

Best Bet

Knicks to win Game 1 & lose series 

+475 at bet3365

Parlaying these two items, with very rough math, would argue for a price closer to +300. Of course, as soon as New York wins Game 1, the series price would drastically adjust, but not by this much.

First of all, the second round went exactly to this tune, the Timberwolves slipping by the Spurs but then losing in six games.

Second of all, this is where the Knicks’ rest advantage should be most prevalent. Their Game 1 moneyline is +170; expect Game 2 to be closer to +200 no matter the Game 1 result.

This prop’s price is too high, and Game 1 is New York’s best chance at turning the series sideways. The Knicks should empty the proverbial chamber on Wednesday, though that could then become a pyrrhic victory.

This article originally appeared on Covers.com, read the full article here and view our best betting sites or check out our top sportsbook promos.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander plans to let Sam Presti cook this summer.

The two-time MVP and one-time NBA champion assures the media that he will provide no input on offseason decisions as the Thunder seek to reclaim championship status in the league following their seven-game loss to the Spurs in the Western Conference finals.

The Thunder held their exit interviews on Sunday, less than 24 hours after their season ended.

But even before that, we heard from the reigning league MVP moments after the loss to San Antonio.

“I will give zero input,” Gilgeous-Alexander said after the loss, regarding having a voice in offseason decisions. “I will let Sam Presti, the greatest GM ever, do his job.”

"I will let Sam Presti, the greatest GM ever, do his job."

Shai on the Thunder's offseason roster moves pic.twitter.com/HOwqcmE6hH

— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) May 31, 2026

Presti and the Thunder face a more difficult offseason than they’re accustomed to, with a lot of questions looming over their summer.

OKC hasn’t had to worry about finances, but that ends this summer.

Gilgeous-Alexander will enter the final year of his rookie extension, but his veteran extension will begin in 2027-28.

SGA will make north of $40 million next season before jumping up to $61 million the season after, which is the first of a four-year, $285 million deal.

Both Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams, the team’s first-round picks from 2022, are both going to begin their rookie extensions this coming season.

Holmgren, who had an infamously terrible Game 7, will go from under $14 million this past season to pocketing $41.5 million next year, the first of a $239 million deal over five years.

Williams, who made $6.5 million, will earn the same deal as Holmgren after both were extended on max contracts.

The team will be up against the second apron, potentially, depending on their roster moves.

Isaiah Hartenstein ($28.5 million) and Lu Dort ($18.2 million) both have team options for next year, making their returns unlikely without some creativity from Presti and the front office.

Additionally, the team will have to make long-term decisions soon on Cason Wallace, Kenrich Williams, and eventually, Jaylin Williams, Jared McCain, and Isaiah Joe, all of whom will see their deals end between the summers of 2027 and 2028.

Alex Caruso is also entering the second year of a four-year, $81 million contract, where he’ll make $19.5 million this coming season.

The Thunder will still have the ability to consistently retool as they’ll have 14 first-round picks between 2026 and 2033, including two this year, along with 12 second-rounders.

OKC’s picks in 2026 are at No. 12, No. 17, and No. 37, respectively, and because they have so many deals they’re committed to, with the development of recent first-round picks Nikola Topic and Thomas Sorber expected, the team is a prime candidate to take a swing this year, either in the draft or the trade market, or both.

Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs stand before the Knicks' first NBA title since the 1973 season after San Antonio's 111-103 Game 7 win Saturday at the Thunder dethroned reigning-champion Oklahoma City in the Western Conference Finals, setting the stage for a matchup that has New York laser-focused as prep begins for Wednesday's opener.

"They're a special team," Miles McBride said. "Obviously, they have a Defensive Player of the Year -- obviously, a great organization -- and they've got a lot of great young guys. So, we're just excited for this matchup."

While the Knicks exude confidence with 11 straight playoff wins and two postseason series sweeps en route to winning the Eastern Conference, the Spurs are on a run of their own after they rallied from 3-2 and won the best-of-seven set with OKC and back-to-back NBA MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

"It's going to be tough," Mike Brown said. "They're well-coached. They have an, obviously, tremendous player in Wemby. They're quote-unquote young, to a certain degree, but they have some really good veterans on the team that kind of uplift the young guys and give the young guys a lot of guidance. So, they've got a nice mix of players on their team and they're a team that comes out really aggressive and hits first, their crowd is into it and we've just have to go make sure we try to match or exceed their physicality to start the ballgame while leaning on our standards.

"The group has been resilient the whole year and we've got to keep sacrificing, we've got to keep playing with a competitive edge, we've got to stay connected, got to keep believing in each other and what we're trying to do out on the floor and if somebody's slipping in this area, that area, we've got to make sure that we help get them back on track by holding them accountable. So, all those things are going to come into play, playing a talented, well-coached team like the Spurs."

The 7-foot-4 Wembanyama jumps off the page as the 2026 NBA Defensive Player of the Year and Western Conference Finals MVP, and New York's focus figures to start there, but the Knicks are not sleeping on the depth and balance behind him, which includes rising stars with local ties.

"They're young, athletic, physical -- they can do a little bit of everything," Josh Hart said, "can shoot the ball, finish at the rim, defend at a high level. So, obviously, Wemby's going to get a lot of attention in terms of game plan and media and that, but you can't sleep on guys like De'Aaron (Fox) or (Stephon) Castle, (Dylan) Harper, (Julian) Champagnie because if you do that, it's going to be a long series. So, we've got to give those guys the respect that they deserve and come out focused."

The NBA Finals are set. Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs will face off against Jalen Brunson and the New York Knicks in a finals that will break historic NBA clichés. Either an inexperienced team will prove you don’t need experience to win a title, or that you can win a championship with a small guard that isn’t the greatest shooter of all-time (Steph Curry) leading your team in the modern NBA. Can’t forget about those Bad Boy Pistons of course!

No matter the income, a former Phoenix Sun will be victorious and win their first NBA title for the first time since Ish Smith did it with the Denver Nuggets in 2023.

If the Spurs win, Bismack Biyombo, who played on the Suns from 2022-2023, will get a ring, as will Mason Plumlee, who was on the team in 2024-25. If the Knicks win, both Landry Shamet, who was on the Suns from 2021-2023, and Mikal Bridges, who started his career in Phoenix in 2018 until he was traded for Kevin Durant in the franchise-altering deal in 2023, will get a ring. Biyombo, Shamet, and Bridges were all members of the franchise’s most successful regular season in team history, the 2021-2022 season, where Phoenix had the best record in the league and went 64-18.

Bridges, who started alongside Chris Paul, Devin Booker, Jae Crowder, and Deandre Ayton as a part of the 2021 Finals squad, had his best year as a member of the Suns in the 2021-2022 season, averaging 14 points per game on 53% shooting from the field and 37% from deep, and received All-Defensive First Team honors. Bridges didn’t miss a single game during his time as a Sun and holds the longest active streak for most games played in the NBA.

Shamet, playing a reserve role, mostly came off the bench for the team in his two seasons. The best moment of his Phoenix career came in the 2022-2023 campaign in the Western Conference Semifinals, where he hit five threes in Game 4 and scored 19 to help the Suns tie the eventual NBA Champion Nuggets 2-2 through four games.

Biyombo appeared in just 97 total regular-season games for the team over his two years, filling the role of third-string center, filling in mostly when the team was dealing with injuries or was shorthanded after the Durant trade. And Mason Plumlee had the shortest stint of them all, starting 21 of his 74 games while with the Suns. Although he was known to get into a scuffle or two.

Steven Adams and Mason Plumlee have both been ejected.

pic.twitter.com/6vFPo6kr5dhttps://t.co/xcTwpLcKuM

— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) March 13, 2025

Whether the Knicks win and Shamet and Bridges are champs, or the Spurs do and Biyombo and Plumlee are, a former Phoenix Sun will have helped hoist the Larry O’Brien trophy for the first time in a few years. The Finals start Wednesday, June 3rd, at 5:30 Arizona Time on ABC.

Cameron Boozer is one of the most NBA-ready players in the Draft. At 18, he has the build and height of Karl Malone, standing 6’9” in his gym socks and weighing in at an imposing 253 lbs. He averaged 22.7 points and 10.1 rebounds a game in a grueling ACC and March Madness schedule, starting all 38 games as a freshman. Through it all he brought consistency and maturity beyond his years and displayed an SGA-like demeanor. As his coach, Jon Scheyer, noted, “[Cameron] bring[s] it every day…bring[s] the same energy, the same preparation, regardless of what just happened…[H]e’s coming back the same way, [with the] same mentality…to dominate in every aspect” (Brian Stultz, Duke Wire, 2/27/2026).

This should be music to every Jazz fan’s tired ears. This kind of consistency and dominant confidence is largely the opposite of what we’ve watched over the last two seasons. Throw in the family connection to the Utah Jazz, with Cameron’s father, Carlos, spending six seasons playing with the Jazz and returning as a scout in the team’s front office last year, and it raises the hope that Boozer Jr. will stick around longer than just the length of his rookie contract.

Detractors (I hear you) will say, “Yes, that’s fine, but he’s not the most athletic prospect.” Admittedly, Cameron will face some challenges, especially on the defensive end, matching up against more athletic bigs. But if the Jazz are going to rebound from two of the worst seasons in their history, it will take more than highlight reels. It will take consistency, buy-in, and a super-charged work ethic, all of which Boozer has in spades. He’s the kind of player who does whatever it takes to help his team win. While carrying the scoring and rebounding load for Duke last year, for example, he also made his teammates better, dishing out a team high 4.1 assists per game.

All well and good, (you say), but don’t the Jazz have a lot of forwards already? Wouldn’t adding a dynamic guard like Darryn Peterson be a better fit? Sometimes putting too much emphasis on fit stops teams from taking the best player available. Great players find ways to make an impact and demand minutes. Look at Dylan Harper, the number two pick in last year’s draft. He was chosen by the Spurs, a guard heavy team with De’Aaron Fox, Stephon Castle and Devin Vassell standing in the way of him playing significant minutes. But Harper has played himself into being a significant part of the rotation, averaging almost 26 minutes a game in the Playoffs. As a bruiser in the paint who can wear down opposing defenses, consistently score and grab rebounds, and open up the court for his teammates, I can see Boozer carving out an important role for himself as the Jazz set their sights on post season success.

As far as NBA comparisons, Alex Golden of SI compares Boozer to a young Kevin Love or Al Horford. Not the sexiest evaluation perhaps, but consider what these two veterans achieved in their careers. Both are NBA Champions, Love with the Cavs and Horford with the Celtics. Both flirted with double doubles in points and rebounds early in their careers, are known as great team players and adapted their skill sets to the needs of their teams. And if the Jazz draft Boozer, he would have the benefit of learning from Kevin Love himself, as well as veterans like Lauri Markkanen, Jaren Jackson Jr. and Jusuf Nurkic.

Considering the skills and physical attributes Boozer already has as an eighteen-year-old, his ceiling is understandably high. A current player comparison may be Paolo Banchero of the Orlando Magic or Alperen Sengun of the Rockets, who have similar builds and imposing skill sets, and are still ascending in their own right. We have to go back a few years to find Jazz comparisons: Paul Millsap and Carlos Boozer, who played for the Jazz the last time they reached the Western Conference Finals in the 2006-2007 season. Of course, if we want to push the ceiling up to Sistine Chapel proportions, we could mention the greatest power forward in Utah Jazz history, who delivered 18.7 points and 9.3 rebounds a game at Louisiana Tech before being drafted 13th by the Jazz in 1985. Whatever Cameron Boozer’s ceiling turns out to be, let’s hope that if the team does draft him with the second pick, he, like the Mailman, will get to reach that ceiling in a Jazz uniform.

The San Antonio Spurs and the New York Knicks will face off to decide who becomes the new NBA champion in a reedition of the 1999 Finals. This time, it will be Victor Wembanyama and a young supporting cast trying to win their first ring instead of Tim Duncan and David Robinson for the Silver and Black, and Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns will be the ones hoping to deliver the first title since 1973 for their franchise.

While the betting markets slightly favor the Spurs, the Knicks are a formidable opponent that has destroyed everyone in their path this postseason. They have outscored opponents by almost 20 points per 100 possessions in the playoffs, an absurd amount, in large part thanks to their rock-solid starting lineup and the unstoppable scoring of Brunson.

San Antonio has faced tougher opposition, none harder than the reigning champions, the Thunder, but it has also been dominant. Wembanyama has been historically impressive on defense and has answered the call in big games while their guard trio continues to look like a two-way force. It should be a great matchup between the two best teams of their respective conferences.

NBA Finals schedule

Mark your calendars 📅

The official schedule of the NBA Finals between the Knicks and Spurs!

Game 1: Wednesday, June 3 at 8:30pm/et on ABC pic.twitter.com/efQTxikDHT

— NBA (@NBA) May 31, 2026

Game 1: Wednesday, June 3, 7:30 p.m. CT at the Frost Bank Center in San Antonio.

Game 2: Friday, June 5, 7:30 p.m. CT at the Frost Bank Center in San Antonio.

Game 3: Monday, June 8, 7:30 p.m. CT at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Game 4: Wednesday, June 10, 7:30 p.m. CT at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Game 5: Saturday, June 13, 7:30 p.m. CT at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio*.

Game 6: Tuesday, June 16, 7:30 p.m. CT at Madison Square Garden in New York*.

Game 7: Friday, June 19, 7:30 p.m CT at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio*.

*If necessary.

The Spurs have homecourt advantage after finishing with 62 wins to the Knicks’ 53 in the regular season.

There will be two days between Games 2 and 3, and for the rest of the way after Game 4, to account for travel time. The extra day of rest could have big implications for both teams, as they rely on a short rotation.

How to watch the NBA Finals

ABC will be in charge of broadcasting all games. League Pass will also broadcast the games, but regional restrictions apply, so make sure to check for blackouts in your area.

Serious question: are the Sacramento Kings a basketball franchise right now or postgraduate NBA talent pipeline? Have we realized that they at one point had and let go of Tyrese Haliburton (NBA Finals last year), De’Aaron Fox, Mike Brown, and Harrison Barnes (all in the NBA Finals this year)?

In Sactown, players arrive with potential and coaches arrive with ideas. Then they leave scorned with a chip on their shoulder to get their championship credentials with someone else’s logo on their chest.

This isn’t a eulogy for Fox or Mike Brown. It isn’t even really about Tyrese Haliburton, though we’ll get there. This is about a franchise that keeps finding the right people at exactly the wrong time, in exactly the wrong environment, and then watching those people walk out the door and become who Sacramento always needed them to be.

The indictment isn’t that Sacramento drafted badly; no,they found the right ones. They just consistently created conditions that made leaving feel like the only logical next move.

back to back finals appearances oh sacramento 💔 pic.twitter.com/TnqKtmPcHX

— cj (@wsgadIibs) May 31, 2026

Start with Haliburton. The Kings traded him to Indiana for Domantas Sabonis in February 2022, a deal that at the time made a certain kind of front-office sense. Sabonis came, helped Sacramento end a 16-year playoff drought, and delivered the franchise’s best season in nearly two decades. The Kings won 48 games in 2022-23, earned the Western Conference’s No. 3 seed, and for one genuinely beautiful moment looked like they were next.

Then they ran into the Warriors and lost in 7 games. At the time, it felt like a painful but necessary lesson. Young teams lose before they win. Michael Jordan went through Detroit. Stephen Curry went through L.A. and San Antonio. Sacramento looked like a team taking its first punch on the road to something bigger. It turns out that wasn’t the beginning unfortunately. The Kings spent the next two years proving that Golden State wasn’t the cause of the problem. The Warriors were just the messenger.

Because while Sacramento was losing to Golden State, Haliburton was quietly becoming one of the most clutch players in the league. He made four game-tying or go-ahead shots in the final five seconds of the fourth quarter or overtime in a single postseason. Every time the Kings lost three straight, Haliburton highlights started circulating like a seasonal allergy. Every fourth-quarter collapse came with a fresh round of “remember when they traded him?” discourse. Sacramento couldn’t escape him because Indiana kept winning and Haliburton kept looking like exactly the kind of star you spend a decade trying to find, only to trade him for the guy who was supposed to be the safer bet.

Then it got worse. Mike Brown was fired on December 27, 2024, after the Kings stumbled to a 13-18 start. Six weeks later, Fox was traded to the San Antonio Spurs in a three-team deal that returned Zach LaVine. That’s what Sacramento decided a 28-year-old All-Star point guard was worth after helping drag the franchise out of a 16-year drought.

It all started with bizarre negotiations between the Kings and Mike Brown after they missed the playoffs in ‘24.

Felt like they were so shell-shocked from being the 3 seed in ‘23 to losing the play-in, Mike was blamed. Ignoring the players regressing and injuries.

In ‘25, they…

— Allen Stiles (@The_StilesFiles) May 26, 2026

One year later, in a cruel twist, Fox/Barnes and Brown are both going to the NBA Finals as opponents. Fox and Barnes in San Antonio, surrounded by Victor Wembanyama and a cast of young stars, having helped stun the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder in a Game 7 road environment that would have broken a less resilient group. Brown is in New York, coaching the Knicks to their first Finals appearance since 1999, eleven wins deep into a run that has looked remarkably composed for a team everyone counted out.

Somewhere over the next few weeks, someone from that ex-Kings group is going to stand on a stage holding the Larry O’Brien Trophy. Kings fans will see a former coach and a former franchise player and another June spent imagining alternate timelines. The cruelest part is that neither outcome will feel surprising.

Some franchises build champions, but good ol’ Sacramento just keeps writing recommendation letters.

We don’t yet know how the Cleveland Cavaliers will choose to handle this summer. What we do know, however, is that they’ll have plenty of options.

According to Sam Amick of The Athletic, the Oklahoma City Thunder won’t be interested in Giannis Antetokounmpo in a possible trade. They might, however, be open to trading for Evan Mobley.

“There has long been chatter about the Thunder having interest in Cleveland big man Evan Mobley, but Cavaliers general manager Koby Altman insisted in an end-of-season press conference that Mobley wasn’t going anywhere,” Amick wrote.

Trading with Oklahoma City is risky. They seem to win nearly all of the trades they make since the awful James Harden trade 14 years ago. If they have an interest in a player, there’s usually a good reason why.

At the same time, Mobley could be more valuable to a Western Conference team than he is to the Cavs. Theoretically, he’s as good a matchup as any for San Antonio Spurs superstar Victor Wembanyama. That San Antonio core is going to be standing in the Thunder’s way for the next several years. Finding a better way to contain Wemby should be a top priority for them.

The Thunder do have a bevy of assets that could interest the Cavs. They own plenty of first-round picks over the next six seasons, including several from the Los Angeles Clippers, Denver Nuggets, and the Spurs. That is in addition to players like Jaylen Williams and Chet Holmgren, who could be interesting return packages for Cleveland.

Altman said last week that the plan is to build around this core. Things change quickly in the NBA. Especially if teams get into a bidding war and you receive an offer you can’t refuse.

As of now, it seems like the Cavs are committed to this core. But again, that’s what we thought just before the last trade deadline as well.

We’ll see if anything comes of this.

The Spurs are so much more than just Victor Wembanyama.

He gets the vast majority of the attention, given his stature as a burgeoning face of the league and must-watch skill set as a 7-foot-4 unicorn.

At his best, he impacts the game more than any other star with his scoring, defending and rebounding prowess.

But the Spurs wouldn’t be here — as the Knicks’ opponent in the Finals — without Wembanyama’s stellar supporting cast.

“Obviously, Wemby’s going to get a lot of attention in terms of game plan and media,” Josh Hart said after practice Sunday. “But you can’t sleep on guys like De’Aaron [Fox], [Stephon] Castle, [Dylan] Harper, [Julian] Champagnie, because if you do that, it’s going to be a long series. We’ve got to give those guys the respect they deserve and come out focused.”

Much of that supporting cast revolves around the Spurs backcourt.

It is one of the more dynamic backcourt units in the league.

And they’re almost all young — Castle is 21, Harper is 20, Devin Vassell is 25 and Champagnie is 24.

The 28-year-old Fox is the elder statesman of the group.

“They’re relentless,” Miles McBride said Sunday. “I feel like they just have this … they’re young. They have that mentality of, ‘Just go out there and scrap and make it a tough game.’ So, I love that, and we’ll be ready ourselves.”

The Knicks perimeter and point-of-attack defense has been terrific this postseason.

Mikal Bridges and Hart, in particular, have repeatedly stifled opposing ball handlers — whether it was Nickeil Alexander-Walker and (eventually) CJ McCollum in the first round, Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe in the second round or James Harden and Donovan Mitchell in the conference finals.

Fox, Castle, Harper, Champagnie and even Vassell are all capable of erupting for big scoring nights.

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Excluding the games Wembanyama missed with a concussion and the game from which he was ejected early, the Spurs had someone other than him lead them in scoring eight times this postseason.

It was Castle five times, Fox twice and Harper once.

How the Knicks try to defend Wembanyama is of utmost importance.

But how they fare against the Spurs backcourt will be a major factor in the series.

And the ability of that backcourt to break down defenses and get into the paint only makes Wembanyama more dangerous by forcing his defender to help off him.

The backcourt’s 3-point ability also plays a pivotal role in making defenses pay for doubling Wembanyama or packing the paint to limit his interior presence.

Castle and Harper are also terrific perimeter defenders.

They will be two of the Spurs’ top options to guard Jalen Brunson.

“They’re young, athletic, physical, can do a little bit of everything,” Hart said. “Can shoot the ball, finish at the rim at a high level.”

The Spurs have a few important veterans, in addition to Fox, to complement all their youth.

Harrison Barnes is an NBA champion.

Keldon Johnson, the Sixth Man of the Year, is playing his seventh season in the league.

Luke Kornet is in Year 9 and on his sixth team.

“Having the mix that they have with Wemby is a nice recipe,” Knicks coach Mike Brown said Sunday. “… If Fox is in, their backcourt — Fox is a veteran, seasoned player that has been in the playoffs before, been in a Game 7 now a couple of times, and been an All-Star, Clutch Player of the Year, a talented guy. … [Barnes] has been around a long time too, and he’s been on the big stage a few times.

“So they have a nice mix of veteran players and guys that are starting to get in their prime around Wemby. And I think when you have that, you have different messages that you can get from different guys all the time.”

Yes, Wembanyama is the phenom around whom this Finals revolves. But the Spurs have given him a perfect supporting cast — one that makes him even harder to stop.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Chet Holmgren attempted two shots in Game 7 of the Western Conference finals. He absorbed plenty of shots from critics afterward.

And the Oklahoma City Thunder spent Day 1 of the offseason making clear that they support him.

If the ballyhooed matchup in the West finals was Holmgren vs. San Antonio's Victor Wembanyama, then it was a one-sided one. Wembanyama had the superior numbers in the series and the Spurs wound up prevailing, while Holmgren was barely a factor offensively with the Thunder season on the line Saturday night.

"Every minute Chet Holmgren’s been on the team, we’ve been the 1 seed in the Western Conference," Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said Sunday, when the team gathered for end-of-season meetings. “And it wasn’t the case before Chet was healthy.”

Holmgren had likely his best season, with career-highs of 17.1 points and 8.9 rebounds per game. He made All-NBA for the first time, All-Defensive for the first time as well, got his first All-Star nod, plus was second in the Defensive Player of the Year balloting.

He finished second in that voting behind Wembanyama — just like he did for Rookie of the Year in 2024, and just like the Thunder did in these West finals.

“We need Chet. We need Chet Holmgren,” Thunder guard and back-to-back reigning NBA Most Valuable Player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said. “Before Chet was here, we weren’t who we are today. We didn’t have the success we had today. When he’s the best version of himself, we’re the best version of ourselves and it’s no secret.”

It's easy to envision the West finals matchup — Thunder vs. Spurs — becoming a rivalry for years to come. Both teams have young, obviously highly talented corps, and now they have the ingredient that all rivalries truly need, that being a playoff matchup, to help provide fuel.

“I definitely think that they’re different in terms of I don’t think there’s another team that has their play style, their personnel,” Holmgren said. “They're unique in that way. You can’t just kind of play like a base normal, ‘this is what we kind of do on an average Tuesday night’ type of thing.”

And while the outside world might have looked at Holmgren as one of the reasons why Game 7 didn't go Oklahoma City's way, the rest of the Thunder disagreed.

Gilgeous-Alexander, for example, pointed to himself — and that was after he had a brilliant 35-point effort in the deciding game against San Antonio. He even went as far as to describe a second straight MVP season as “a failure.”

“I failed at my goal,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “I didn’t achieve what I wanted to achieve, but through my experiences, I learned the most about myself and I make the greatest amount of increases I have in my career when I fail at my goal and don’t get what I want. And I look at this no different. I didn’t get where I wanted to go this season. There’s a reason for that. Now I have to look at that reason and try to make sure it never happens again.”

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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba

How do title contending NBA teams build their rosters? This year’s NBA Finals is, as they say, a study in contrasts. The San Antonio Spurs are largely organic, with most of their key players selected in the NBA draft by the Spurs, or are the sort of players that any team can acquire to play for them at low cost. The New York Knicks are almost the complete opposite of that. The Spurs had a tough series against the Occupied North Texas Thunder, who might have fit into this picture, but fortunately for my tenuous sanity, I don’t have to talk about them, or how they were built.

Let’s look at Houston’s neighbor to the south, San Antonio, first. In the sort of odds defying miracle the NBA seems to specialize in recently (cf Dallas Mavericks), the most obvious likely generational player since LeBron James, Victor Wembanyama wanted to go to San Antonio, and in a made for the NBA miracle, lo, he did indeed go to the Spurs. Whatever we might think about it, the Spurs, after drifting along for years doing nothing much, have again drafted a generational center. (Provided his health holds up, he’s very young yet, and Yao Ming, for example, hardly missed a game early on.)

So there’s one part of a common formula, draft a superstar. The Rockets, by contrast, don’t seem to have drafted that era defining, or even plain vanilla, superstar. Maybe a younger Rocket is less precocious than Wemby? Certain Rockets players have an early career profile that fits within the trajectory of well known superstars, but also within the more common trajectories of Hall of Very Good players. Time will tell. The Spurs might have drafted another star in Dylan Harper, as the balls have been very kind to them in the right seasons.

What the Spurs had pre Wemby was a very good supporting cast tasked with doing too much as the primary players of those San Antionio teams. If Devin Vassell is your fourth best player, you have a very good fourth player indeed. If he’s your lead guard, it’s a problem. Keldon Johnson always seemed like a very limited player to me, with approximately two things he could do on offense, but as a sixth man, well, he’s Sixth Man of The Year. (But in a crucial game seven, Krash Johnson made a layup with his left hand, so anything is possible I suppose.)

The Spurs also have the much lauded Stephon Castle, in the Amen or Tari Eason role. He’s great in that role, and provides a kind of defensive forcefulness none of the others Spurs provide, including Wemby. Castle, as his stats without Wemby clearly show, is a player who, at this point in his career, would struggle greatly as a primary offensive hub, but he doesn’t have to do that.

The Spurs traded not that much to the Kings to bring Cypress Lakes own De’Aaron Fox to San Antionio, as the Spurs evidently realized this team was ready to compete immediately with Wembanyama taking center stage. He’s been injured a lot, and erratic, but despite being “too small” by the terms of certain NBA thought processes, does what smaller players typically do, which is move differently, and faster, and typically react more quickly and effectively than much larger ones. This doesn’t always make up for not being as tall, but teams that lack that sort of play have real weaknesses in certain respects (in my opinion, long rebounds is one of those weaknesses, as that sort of rebound strikes me as a reaction driven rebound). Fox provides solid distribution and attacks in the half court, something other Spurs struggle to do. He can also get his own shot, which on a team of mostly outside shooters, is crucial.

Finally there’s the MVP of Game 7 of the WC Finals, Julian Champagnie. Julian was undrafted in 2022, and was signed as a two-way player by the 76ers, who sent him to the GLeague. In February of 2023 he was waived by the 76ers, and was signed by the Spurs. He’s mostly been a bench shooter, with a somewhat erratic profile, 38% from three last season, 32% this season. He’s an active and good defender at 6’6”, and basically got the Spurs over the line into the Finals with a 6-10 shooting night from three point range. He’s a player any team could have signed off waivers in 2023, but San Antonio signed him.

As an amusing highlight of this Finals, the Spurs erstwhile player of the future, PG, and general annoyance, Jeremy Sochan is merely a deep bench player. For the Knicks. Not every picks works out, even on a team that’s had a goodly number of picks work out.

So there’s the Spurs, built largely through through glorious draft fortune, with a couple of canny acquisitions in the mix. They’re in the NBA Finals. That means that unless your team, the Rockets, say, has that sort of draft success, it’s doomed, right?

Meet the New York Knickerbockers.

Dallas Mavericks, Utah Jazz, Philadelphia 76ers, Toronto Raptors, Minnesota Timberwolves.

That’s who drafted the Knicks most likely starting lineup. Jalen Brunson came from Dallas, Josh Hart initially from Utah, Mikal Bridges was a 76er to start his career, OG Anunoby won a title with the Raptors, and Karl-Anthony Towns was of course, a Timberwolf. The Knicks either signed, or traded for, an entire NBA Finals starting lineup. The Knicks may be short on “assets”, obviously the key marker of success in the NBA, but somehow reaching the Finals might make their humiliatingly asset-light existence sting a bit less. Especially in New York, a great basketball town utterly starved of recent success.

Of players we’re likely to see much of on the court for the Knicks exactly one, one, was a Knick draft pick: Mitchell Robinson. Every other player we’re likely to see play for the Knicks entered the NBA with another franchise. I’m not sure we’ve ever seen a Finals team that featured zero starters (maybe Robinson will start some games, I don’t know) that were drafted by that team.

What does this mean for the Rockets? To me it signals that there’s more than one way to reach the promised land, and if one way isn’t working, change the approach. So while this piece isn’t directly Rockets related, I think it’s encouraging in some respects. At the start of this season many thought your could write the NBA title winner, the OKC Thunder (good riddance) in ink before a game was played. There is no “One True Way”, and who would have thought the Knicks, after living on the seafloor of the NBA like a flounder for decades, would be a powerhouse built entirely through trades and signings, something the Knick weren’t particularly known for being good at, to say the least.

Maybe San Antionio and their great good fortune, and shrewd pickups, are inevitable, but if this season shows us anything, it’s that inevitability is hardly inevitable.

This was a moment that nobody expected. At the start of the season, the San Antonio Spurs were seen as a borderline playoff team, possibly a play-in squad. Now, just seven months later, the Spurs are Western Conference champions. In the last game of a hard-fought series with the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder, the Spurs went into enemy territory and convincingly took Game Seven 111-103.

The WCF victory was an emotional experience for this young Spurs squad, led by the 22-year-old phenom, Victor Wembanyama, and early-20s stars like Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper. In a short period of time, this team has come so close to the pinnacle of the league. They’ll need four more wins to get there. San Antonio is a -200 favorite to win the NBA Finals on FanDuel.

The Spurs outdueled the Thunder with defense. Wembanyama kept them out of the paint with his paint defense. San Antonio’s perimeter defenders were able to keep OKC’s supporting players at bay, while Shai Gilgeous-Alexander went off for 35 points. On the other end, the Spurs knocked down big shot after big shot to fend off the Thunder on their way to victory.

Spoiler alert: every Spur got a good player grade in Game Seven! We’ll dive into why below. As a quick reminder, player grades are based on each player’s on-court performance, going beyond just the stat sheet. A “B” grade represents the average performance for an individual. If a player logs fewer than 5 minutes or plays only in garbage time, their grade will be incomplete.

Victor Wembanyama

42 minutes, 22 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 1 turnover, 5 fouls, 7-for-15 shooting, 3-for-5 threes, +7

It wasn’t Wembanyama’s most dominant performance of the series, but it was just enough to propel his team to victory. He led the Spurs in scoring once again, with some big shots from deep. Wembanyama hit spot-up jumpers and a huge step-back three late in the game to pad the Spurs’ lead.

The most impressive aspect of Wembanyama’s performance is what he didn’t do. With about 7 minutes left in the game, Wembanyama picked up his fifth foul. That’s a lot of time to play an aggressive team while being on the brink of fouling out. Wembanyama finished the game not only fending off the Thunder at the basket, but also played under control in the final minutes to make sure he remained in the game until the final buzzer. It showed a huge amount of maturity on Wembanyama’s part to finish out the game as he did.

Grade: A

De’Aaron Fox

36 minutes, 15 points, 5 assists, 3 steals, 2 turnovers, 2 fouls, 6-for-12 shooting, 3-for-7 threes, +3

Fox struggled with an ankle injury for most of the WCF. It affected his speed to the basket, the strength of his jumper, and his overall scoring prowess. He looked much healthier in Game Seven. Fox hit some big three-pointers off the dribble and got the mid-range game working on his way to 15 points. When the Thunder tried to switch him onto SGA, he held his own as well as San Antonio’s other defenders. It was a gutsy performance from the veteran guard. Now he will have three full days to rest and heal before facing the New York Knicks in the Finals.

Grade: A–

Stephon Castle

36 minutes, 16 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists, 1 steal, 6 turnovers, 4 fouls, 7-for-15 shooting, 0-for-3 threes, +1

Every time the Thunder would make a run, it felt like the Spurs had a response. Castle was behind a lot of them. He followed up the best defensive play of the game (more to come on that) with a mid-range jumper that gave the Spurs the cushion they needed to win. It wasn’t his best defensive game, and he once again struggled with turnovers, especially late in the game. However, Castle gave the Spurs a lot of the energy and force that they needed, especially when the score got close.

Grade: B+

Julian Champagnie

38 minutes, 20 points, 6 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 turnover, 2 fouls, 6-for-11 shooting, 6-for-10 threes, +16

Whatever Champagnie asks for in extension talks this offseason, he deserves. The Spurs wing was fantastic in the WCF and played a huge role in them closing the series out in Game Seven. Any time the ball found an open Champagnie, it felt like it was going in. He was 6 of 10 from three, hitting big shot after big shot. He played a strong defensive game while making some big rebounds down the stretch. His shooting altered this series in a major way. San Antonio will need him to stay hot in the Finals.

Grade: A+

Devin Vassell

33 minutes, 11 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, 1 turnover, 1 foul, 4-for-14 shooting, 1-for-6 threes, +/- 0

Ironically, Vassell struggled a bit in Game Seven despite being one of the Spurs’ most consistent performers in the series. The moment most people will remember from him in this game was the dunk as the clock wound down, and the catharsis that came along with it. His jumper was off for the majority of the game after hitting a mid-range jumper and a three-pointer early in the game. The Spurs will need his jump shot and defensive effort against the Knicks.

Grade: B

Dylan Harper

27 minutes, 12 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 turnovers, 1 foul, 5-for-8 shooting, 2-for-3 threes, +9

Harper looks like he is completely back to full health. His late explosion for a missed dunk over the top of the Thunder late in the game was a sign that his youthful legs are feeling good, and was probably the only silly mistake he made in the game. His shot-making was fantastic in Game Seven. He hit a pair of three-pointers and some tough mid-range jumpers. Harper seems to be getting better as the playoffs go on. This has been a truly special run for a 20-year-old guard.

Grade: A

Keldon Johnson

16 minutes, 11 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 3 fouls, 4-for-8 shooting, 2-for-5 threes, +6

Johnson showed up when the Spurs needed him in the fourth quarter. He hit two big threes and had a clutch offensive rebound and put-back. It was the type of energetic performance the team needed from a role player late in the game to come away with the victory. It was a great moment for Johnson, after he had struggled to contribute for most of the playoffs.

Grade: A

Luke Kornet

6 minutes, 2 points, 4 rebounds, 1 block, 0-for-3 shooting, +1

Kornet made the biggest play of the game, and that’s why he gets a perfect grade. After Isaiah Hartenstein swiped the ball away from the Spurs, Kornet chased him down like LeBron James in the 2016 NBA Finals, met him at the rim, and blocked the dunk. I’m not kidding when I say it is probably the most impactful block in the NBA Playoffs since LeBron’s chasedown.

Grade: A+

Harrison Barnes

3 minutes, 0-for-1 shooting, 0-for-1 threes, -5

Mitch Johnson went with a shortened rotation in a must-win game. Barnes played just three minutes and failed to register a statistic.

Grade: Incomplete

Carter Bryant

3 minutes, 2 points, 1 rebound, 1-for-1 shooting, 0-for-2 threes, +2

Bryant played limited minutes, but had an awesome hanging finish over the top of the Thunder defense in his short stint.

Grade: Incomplete

So it’s the New York Knicks vs. the San Antonio Spurs for all of Adam Silver’s marbles, rings and trophies. After record-breaking TV audiences justified by great games, the Spurs joined the Knicks Saturday in the NBA Finals will begin Wednesday night in San Antonio. Then after two games in Texas, the best-of-seven heads to New York a week from Monday.

Expect the Garden and the city to be wild, particularly if President Trump holds to his plan to attend. (If the Finals reach Game 6 on June 16, things will get really interesting. That afternoon, France, home of Victor Wembanyama, will play Senegal at MetLife Stadium. Will Wemby attend? He’ll have plenty of time to make it across the river. World Cup begins at 3:30 p.m.; the Finals at 8:30 p.m.)

If that makes you feel irrelevant in New York sports, you have a case. At this point in time, the Brooklyn Nets are the most irrelevant franchise among the nine New York area teams from the Islanders in the east to the Devils in the west, It can be argued that the Liberty currently is more relevant. In the NBA, they may not be the most irrelevant — Thank you, Vivek Ranadive — but not a lot of people are opening conversations this summer with the line, “how about them Nets?!?” Considering how well the Knicks are playing, don’t expect to hear it for a while either. As we’ve written, the Nets are spending millions of dollars on “generational fandom” — getting New York kids while they’re young — but having the Finals in New York is going to likely trump that (sorry.)

So, we wait: to see what the Brooklyn brass from Joe Tsai and Sean Marks down to the scouting staff are planning for the franchise’s next big milestone: what they will do in the NBA’s second straight consecutive generational draft: stay put, move up, move down, acquire a second first round pick, etc. Lottery luck is a sunk cost — very sunk — right now, but don’t expect them to dwell on it.

There’s been little intelligence on where they stand, but you can get a bit of a hint of how the process works if you got back to last year’s SCOUT docu-series, the fourth episode in particular. It opens with the May scouting meeting, Sean Marks presiding:

The episode focuses on the final month of the Draft process, from the Lottery to Draft Night. The May meeting, Marks tells his scouts, is “one of the last times you guys will be together here.” It features snippets of debates on what appears to be multiple prospects who unfortunately are not identified. The debates include comments on a player’s skillsets, willingness to touch the paint, etc. as well as their basketball intelligence and their general intelligence. There were — and are again no doubt — debates we don’t see on aspects of the process like prospects character, fit. etc. At one point, Marks divides the scouts up to see if they can get a consensus on a prospect. (About half the scouts in the video are still around.)

You also see snippets of the team’s interviews of the prospects they ultimately chose at Nos. 8, 19, 22, 26 and 27, surrounded by Marks, his assistant GMs, Jordi Fernandez and his assistant coaches. Then it’s flash forward to Draft Night itself where franchise officials are given the privilege of calling the picks into the league office and the celebrations that followed after each pick. Some in the media criticized those moments, but when you’ve had as few picks of your own — and no lottery picks — over the previous 15 years, seize the moment.

Draft Night 2026, or should we say Nights since the 60 selections are now broken into two nights, should be interesting since virtually every draftnik, a subset of pundits, have their own opinion on what the Nets will do, what’s a good offer, etc. Last year, the Nets tried to move up, didn’t like the price they would’ve had to pay and essentially chose quantity over quality. Since we don’t know what they considered pricey, we can’t even debate their wisdom.

Two years ago, Simone Casali, the Nets well respected chief international scout, spoke with a reporter for the Italian basketball federation about the pitfalls of a typical Draft Night riven by surprises.

“There, mistakes are the order of the day because there are things that you cannot predict, or that you predict from one perspective and not another,” said Casali who’s worked with the Nets since Marks has been GM.

The key he said is being prepared as best you can and not have improvise on the fly.

“In the NBA, a lot can change from one moment to the next, I cannot know when we will have a choice available and how high. It can happen, for example, that on the night of the Draft you suddenly find yourself with choices available as a result of a trade: you cannot afford to improvise.”

The surprises, he argued, don’t stop on Draft Night.

“We must not underestimate how history is full of players who struggled in their first team and then exploded in the second because there they found the right situation and the right context. You can make mistakes for no reason or get it right simply by luck,” he told Dario Ronzulli of FIP.it.

Word to the wise.

Now arriving at HSS Training Center?

We still don’t have a read on who among the top prospects have been in or who’s been scheduled. There were reports that A.J. Dybantsa might even be willing to work out. That decision ultimately will rest with him and more likely his agent. Agents don’t want their clients to waste time or risk injury by scheduling workouts with teams that are unlikely to be on the board when Adam Silver starts to read off names. So IF Dybantsa does show his wares at HSS Training Ceneter, that MIGHT mean his agent thinks anything is possible… or not.

In the meantime, what we have seen and are seeing, particularly this weekend, is a stream of tweets mostly from draftniks identifying lower ranked prospects taking the elevator at 168 39th Street to the eighth floor and that dramatic view.

Among those we’ve seen linked to the Nets as we noted last week is Keba Keita, the 6’9” BYU center who played with both Dybantsa and Egor Demin. He’s not not on anyone’s top 100 Big Board, let alone mock draft. There’s a lot.

Other unranked players who’ve been in or have been scheduled, according to reports, include local product Cruz Davis, Hofstra’s high scoring 6’3” lead guard; Malik Dia, a 6’9” 3-and-D type who played four years at three southern schools, Vanderbilt, Belmont, then his final two years at Ole Miss; and Grant Newell, a similar sized forward who played at California, North Texas and most recently Western Kentucky. None mocked nor Big Board ranked.

Jaden Henley, Grand Canyon’s 6’7” wing, is ranked in the top 100, just short of the second round at No. 67. According to our Connor Long, he too has been in. Then, there’s 3-point specialist Isaac McKeenly, Mikel Brown’s 6’4” backcourt running mate at Louisville. He’ll be in Monday, according to reports. He’s listed at No. 89 by ESPN’s Woo but others have him a late second rounder.

Why are the Nets, currently with picks at Nos. 6, 33 and 43, working out players who’ll likely be sitting at home on Draft Night rather than in the NBA Draft Green Room at Barclays? That need to be ready for any eventuality Simone Casali spoke about is one reason. The Nets also are looking for players to fill out the two Summer League rosters. the training camp invite list and the Long Island Nets roster.

For example, with back-to-back Summer Leagues in Sacramento and Las Vegas from July 4 through 19, expect rosters with less overlap than you might think. But the key reason for so many is simple: NBA teams like setting up scrimmages for the bigger prospects and so there’s a need to fill out those mini-rosters, sometimes on short notice.

Draft Sleeper of the Week: Karim Lopez

Karim Lopez is a 6’9.5” (in sneakers) Mexican hooper who’s played last two seasons with the New Zealand Breakers of the Australian National League. So he’s been around. He is the most likely international player to make the Lottery this season. He’s also among the youngest players in the Draft, having just turned 19 on April 12. Plus, his hands are the second biggest ever measured at the NBA Draft Combine, a fingernail short of Kawhi Leonard whose nickname is “The Claw.” Certain other elements of his game may very well appeal to the Nets, like his quick thinking with the ball, position-less resume’ and an ability to use those hands, a near 7-foot wingspan and near 9-foot standing reach to protect the rim.

Take a look at his highlights:

And no, there is no indication that the Nets are planning to take him at No. 6. Not that we know anyway. But in the darker regions of Nets Twitter, some fans rank that fear nearly as high as their concern last year that Sean Marks would move up only to choose Kon Knueppel. How’d that work out, sports fans?

Jeremy Woo reported this week the Nets are indeed interested in him, calling him a “development bet,” so short of a “sure thing” that depending on who you read or talk to descibes Darius Acuff, Mikel Brown, Kingston Flemings or Keaton Wagler (alphabetical order, we note. We’re not giving anything away.)

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

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

“Trade back?” That suggests Woo may have some insight into the Nets plans. Currently, most mock drafts have Lopez in a narrow range, from as high at No. 10 to a low of 17. One team, the OKC Thunder, just happens to have two picks at Nos. 12 and 17 and multiple rationales to move out of one of those spots. The combined first year salaries of those picks is $10 million. Include them in the Thunder’s payroll calculations and OKC will be nearly $40 million over the second apron at $261 million, per Bobby Marks. They’re also thinking of salary dumps and who has $30 million in cap space?

Moreover, the Thunder have two 20-year-olds, Thomas Sorber and Nikola Topic, who sat out all (Sorber) or most (Topic) of last season due to injury and illness. Who knows, Nets and Thunder might have other things to talk about…

As one NBA decision-maker told ND re all those Nes draft assets and cap space the Nets have accumulated has one overarching advantage. They’re not going to use all of them.

“No, the only reason you bank firsts like that is be able to strike opportunistically,” he said and moving up, down or around qualifies.

One thing we also know is that Sean Marks personally scouted Lopez — twice, once when he was 17 in September 2024 at the NBL Blitz showcase on Australia’s Gold Coast, then again last January at the Blitz in Perth in Western Australia. Perth is 11,627 miles from Brooklyn. Although Marks says that, generally, basketball in Australia (and his homeland of New Zealand) is too good to be ignored, it’s a good bet that few if any NBA general managers have ever traveled that far to look at a prospect or prospects. (The other top Australian target he saw in January, Dash Daniels, Dyson’s brother dropped out recently.)

Some Nets fans claim Marks interest and his travel can be dismissed because, after all, he still has family and friends Down Under. They contend, without any evidence, that this could be no more a personal trip with scouting thrown in. Well, there is video evidence that scouting was a priority. Again, here’s SCOUT, episode 1 (about 11 minutes in), showing Marks and then scout Richard Midgley in Australia two years ago attending games and talking prospects.

Was Marks talking about Lopez when he told Midgley, “It’s important to get here early and see guys?” And indeed, Marks and Midgley’s trip came a month after Lopez signed with the Breakers. (Or maybe we’re just trolling… again.)

Do Nets have best trade assets going forward?

Jack Hughes of Bleacher Report this week ranked the teams with the five best trade assets in the NBA. The Thunder was No. 2, the Spurs No. 3, the Hornets No. 4, the Grizzlies at No. 5. At No. 1 in Hughes’ rankings … drum roll … are the Nets. While the teams just beneath them include teams with stars like Ja Morant or De’Aaron Fox who could get their clubs big returns, the Nets top ranking is dependent on their draft stash and particularly the picks acquired in the Mikal Bridges and Cam Johnson trades.

Writes Hughes:

That 2027 Knicks selection may not land near the front of the first round, but each of the other three could be highly valuable lottery tickets. With the new lottery odds set to take effect and a pair of costly rosters in Denver and New York that may need to be torn down before the decade is out, Brooklyn is positioned to cash in.

He is not one to dismiss the remaining haul from the Bridges trade either, despite Bridges heroics for the Knicks.

The Mikal Bridges trade is the gift that keeps on giving, as the Nets have three totally unprotected future firsts coming from the New York Knicks. Those picks will convey in 2027, 2029 and 2031. After that, Brooklyn will collect the spoils of last offseason’s Michael Porter Jr. deal, which secured it the rights to the Denver Nuggets’ unprotected 2032 first-rounder.

He also looks at the Thunder situation and those two first round picks discussed above:

They’ll select 12th and 17th in the upcoming draft and could certainly look to move both of those picks for additional value. It’s easy to forget, but the Thunder’s last two first-rounders—Nikola Topić and Thomas Sorber—have played a combined 10 professional games due to injury. If OKC believes either of them is rotation-worthy going forward, it could easily flip its picks in the 2026 draft. Or, those two prospects could head out in a deal to make room for new rookies.

Of course, as we keep saying, the Nets certainly have all the tools to move forward and with some luck, quickly, but the question will remain execution, how they use those assets. We will start to get a good read on that question, starting in a little more than three weeks.

Final Note

Feeling more relevant? Hope so.

Coming into the playoffs, Luke Kornet was considered one of, if not the top backup center in the NBA. He’d already won a championship backing up Kristaps Porzingis in Boston two years ago and seemed primed to do it again backing up Victor Wembanyama. He was great all year, helping the Spurs thrive when Wemby missed 12 games early in the season with a calf strain and a few more here and there throughout the regular season.

When the playoffs came Kornet’s minutes dropped as Wemby’s rose, and outside of admirably filling in at starting center when a concussed Wemby missed Game 3 against the Trail Blazers in Round 1, he has seemed less productive compared to the regular season. But is that actually true, or is it as simple as Wemby has just been so good (for the most part, a “poor” game from him in these playoffs has been what we would have considered average in the regular season) that a drop-off when he leaves the court is inevitable, making Kornet suffer by comparison?

Kornet is a funny, nerdy dude who has helped bring a lightheartedness to the locker room while the young team navigates immense pressure that just keeps building the further they go in the playoffs, while also being one of the few veterans with playoff and championship experience. However, because of the Spurs struggles with Wemby off the court, especially in the Western Conference Finals, Kornet has become a bit maligned, even though he was far from the only bench player who struggled against the champs.

But then, in one fell swoop, it all changed. The Spurs were holding on to a precarious 97-91 lead with under seven minutes to go in Game 7 in Oklahoma City with the Finals on the line — a game in which they had led most of the way and staved off a few runs already but had to assume one last ditch effort was coming from the defending champions — and it looked like that Thunder run may have been coming when Wemby had to sit after picking up his 5th foul.

Isaiah Hartenstein, who had been a thorn in the Spurs’ side all series, jumped in front of a Dylan Harper pass to Kornet and started heading the other direction. It didn’t seem like a Spur would catch up to him, especially with Cason Wallace running with him to box out any chasers, but as he went up for the dunk, in swooped Kornet from behind to pin the dunk off the glass, even as Hartenstein used an off arm to attempt to stave him off. The Spurs got the rebound, and a Stephon Castle jumper on the other other end completed the four-point swing, turning what could have been a precarious 4-point lead back into an 8-point lead while sucking the life out of the arena.

LUKE BLOCK ➡️ STEPH BUCKET!

📺@NBAonNBCpic.twitter.com/M89xcZIspF

— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) May 31, 2026

🗣️LUUUUUUUUKE!

📺@NBAonNBCpic.twitter.com/vcOnkbElMb

— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) May 31, 2026

In a series that has been all about the stars (and surviving without them), the maligned Kornet ended up with arguably the biggest play of the series. Wemby would soon return to help finish the Thunder off, but that one play epitomized what Kornet has been to the Spurs all season: reliable and ready when called upon. It usurped his game-winning block in Orlando — complete with hilarious pose — as his best play of the season, and depending on what the Spurs do in the Finals, could go down in Spurs lore as one of their top blocks, let a lone plays, among many in franchise history. (I hate to bring up the comparison, but it kind of reminded me of Kawhi Leonard’s chase-down block of Russell Westbrook in part of a series of plays to clinch the Western Conference Finals in 2014 in none other than OKC.)

During and after the game, Kornet’s teammates were in awe and thrilled for him. “I was so stoked. I was so proud of him, so happy,” Wembanyama told reporters after the game. “That is the definition of a winning play. It’s whoever wanted it more.” In that moment, Kornet wanted it more than anyone. It was redemption following what many saw as a rough series from him (but again, it seemed like he was more a scapegoat for the entire bench’s struggles, as well as a bit of a victim of Wemby’s greatness).

Of course, Kornet wasn’t the only bench player to get some redemption last night, as Sixth Man of the Year Keldon Johnson scored 9 of his 11 points in the fourth quarter around the same time to help counter four three-pointers from Wallace. And let’s not forget De’Aaron Fox, who missed both of the first two games and struggled at times with a high angle sprain, having a big game last night as well.

Overall, Game 7 felt was The Redemption Game. It was redemption for all the franchise has been through since 2018, for the rebuild, for general manager Brian Wright, and for a fan base that has been waiting to feel this level of elation again. But of all the redemption to go around from last night, Kornet’s will be remembered the most.