Victor Wembanyama Exits Monday’s Game With Rib Contusion
Spurs star Victor Wembanyama has been ruled out of the second half of Monday’s matchup vs. Philadelphia due to a left rib contusion, the team announced (Twitter link via Jared Weiss of The Athletic).
According to Weiss, the injury occurred in the first half when the French big man fell to the ground. Luke Kornet started the third quarter with Wembanyama sidelined.
The silver lining for Wembanyama is he was able to play 16 minutes in the first half, so the appearance will still count toward the 65-game minimum. The 22-year-old had one previous outing where he played 17 minutes and that will also count toward the games-played requirement.
Wembanyama needs to play at least 20 minutes in one of San Antonio’s final three games to be eligible for major postseason awards. He will be at 64 regular season games if that comes to fruition, and the reason that would be enough to qualify is he played in the NBA Cup final, which counts toward the minimum requirement even though the statistics from that game aren’t officially recorded.
The No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 draft, Wembanyama had 17 points, five rebounds and three blocks in his 16 minutes Monday. The team was plus-seven when he was on the court.
Assuming he qualifies, Wembanyama is viewed as a lock to win Defensive Player of the Year and appears likely to be a finalist for MVP. He’s a strong candidate for first-team All-NBA as well.
In the latest straw poll from ESPN’s Tim Bontemps, which was released Thursday morning, Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was the overwhelming favorite to win his second consecutive MVP award. The Canadian superstar received 88 of the 100 potential first-place votes for a total of 958 points.
Wembanyama, who has touted his own MVP credentials a couple times in recent weeks, was in second place with eight first-place votes and 644 total points. Nuggets center Nikola Jokic, who has either won or finished second in MVP voting in each of the past five seasons, was in third with 500 points.
The only other player to receive a first-place vote was Celtics wing Jaylen Brown, who received one and was in fifth place with 123 points. Lakers guard Luka Doncic was fourth with 347 points.
Of course, the bigger concern for the Spurs is the health of their best player as they look to make a deep playoff run. Wembanyama has also been battling right ankle pain the past few weeks, though that injury evidently doesn’t bother him all the time.
Korver, Dunleavy, Fields Reportedly Among Bulls’ GM Targets
In addition to confirming the Bulls have been connected to Timberwolves general manager Matt Lloyd, Kurt Helin of NBC Sports adds a few other names to watch as Chicago begins its front office search.
Hawks assistant general manager Kyle Korver, Warriors GM Mike Dunleavy Jr., former Hawks GM Landry Fields, and CAA’s Austin Brown are among the other potential targets for the Bulls in the wake of the firings of Arturas Karnisovas and Marc Eversley, league sources tell NBC Sports.
As Helin writes, Dunleavy is “highly unlikely” to leave his job with the Warriors, so his inclusion could be more of a “wish list play” for Chicago. The 45-year-old spent three seasons with the Bulls near the end of his playing career, which spanned 15 years (from 2002-17).
Korver, a longtime NBA sharpshooter whose playing career ended in 2020, joined the Hawks in the summer of 2022 as the team’s director of player affairs and development and was promoted to assistant GM in January 2023. He’s another ex-Bull, having played two seasons in Chicago.
Fields, 37, played five NBA seasons before eventually transitioning to a front office role. He was Atlanta’s GM for three seasons prior to being let go in last April. The team won 41, 36, and 40 games in his three years at the helm, making a single playoff appearance during that time and not advancing past the first round.
Fields was hired in January to be the new president of league operations for Overtime Elite. OTE is transitioning to become a national prep league, a source tells Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress (Twitter link), rather than running its own teams and housing players year-round.
Brown, the co-head of CAA’s basketball division, is one of the most powerful agents in the NBA. He was linked to the Hawks’ front office search last May, and his client list includes Donovan Mitchell, Cooper Flagg, Trae Young, Jaren Jackson Jr., OG Anunoby, and many other noteworthy current and former players, per RealGM.
Bulls Rumors: Donovan, Front Office, Ownership, Ivey, More
The Bulls fired executive VP of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas and general manager Marc Eversley on Monday, but Marc Stein reported on Sunday that the team hopes to retain head coach Billy Donovan, and Shams Charania of ESPN has heard the same (Twitter video link).
“My understanding is the Bulls want to keep [Billy Donovan] as long as he wants to be there, in Chicago,” Charania said on NBA Today.
Donovan, who signed a multiyear extension with the Bulls last summer, is expected to draw interest from rival NBA teams with head coaching vacancies this offseason, according to Jake Fischer of The Stein Line (Twitter link), who confirms Chicago would like to keep the 60-year-old.
As for potential front office replacements, Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic suggests Timberwolves GM Matt Lloyd could be a name to watch (Twitter link). Lloyd is well regarded around the league and began his NBA career in Chicago, Krawczynski notes.
Here are some more rumors and notes on the Bulls:
- Team sources tell Jamal Collier of ESPN that ownership had been considering a front office overhaul “for weeks,” and the urgency to do so increased after the team traded for — and then waived — Jaden Ivey. While the front office defended the homework it did prior to acquiring Ivey, ownership had questions about the process involved and Karnisovas and Eversley had a “credibility problem” around the league and with the team’s fans, according to Collier.
- Collier hears there was a “growing disconnect” between the front office and several areas of the organization, not just ownership. Bulls employees were reportedly unsure of the team’s direction after it traded away several veterans ahead of the February deadline to add seven second-round picks. “People didn’t know the plan,” one team source told ESPN on Monday. “They didn’t know the process. We needed to move on — with a clean slate and start this thing over.”
- According to Collier’s sources, Karnisovas and Eversley long maintained they were “working under the constraints of ownership,” which was reluctant to embark on a rebuild. Donovan also isn’t a fan of rebuilds, Collier writes, even though the team was stuck in mediocrity for years.
- Collier suggests the front office’s relatively underwhelming trade returns also factored into the decision to let Karnisovas and Eversley go, pointing out that the team took to long to break up the previous core roster of Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan, Nikola Vucevic, Alex Caruso, Coby White and Lonzo Ball. “We took too long to pick a lane,” the team source told ESPN. “The Lonzo thing just really messed them up. We saw that success early on, and didn’t have the foresight to pivot early.” Ball missed two-plus years due to a knee injury which required multiple surgeries.
- While the Bulls want to retain Donovan, Collier hears it may not be as head coach, depending on what Donovan wants to do in the future. As Collier writes, Donovan’s father and mother-in-law both passed away within eight days of each other in February, and there has been previous speculation that the veteran coach might take a year off to reevaluate his options moving forward.
Southeast Notes: Black, Heat, KD, George, Swirsky
The Magic will get a key rotation player back on Monday against Detroit, as Anthony Black has been upgraded to available, the team announced (via Twitter).
As Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel tweets, Black was initially listed as questionable, then was upgraded to probable and available. The third-year guard, who was having a breakout season prior to suffering a left lateral abdominal strain on March 7, has missed Orlando’s last 16 games due to the injury.
Black, 22, will be eligible for a rookie scale extension this summer. He was the sixth overall pick in the 2023 draft.
Here’s more from the Southeast:
- The Heat should consider adding a “disruptor” to their front office to challenge the current regime’s ways of thinking, contends Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel. Miami is likely headed to the play-in tournament fourth the fourth straight season, and while the team has had many developmental success stories over the years, the Heat are still the lacking top-end talent necessary to break out of their current cycle of mediocrity, Winderman explains. A drastic overhaul would be an overreaction and unlikely anyway given the lengthy tenures of the majority of the front office, but it’s clear the current roster isn’t good enough, Winderman adds.
- Rockets star Kevin Durant made a “lasting mark” on Kyshawn George in what turned out to be the Wizards wing’s final game of 2025/26, writes Nick Friedell of The Athletic. George, who suffered a partial UCL tear in his left elbow in the third quarter of the game, grew up watching Durant. “I’m working on particular parts of my game that he’s pretty much mastered over his career,” George told The Athletic. “There’s no better way than to learn from the best. So I just went and asked him a couple questions and he was cool enough to answer.” Durant, 37, said he’s happy to pass on his knowledge to the next generation of players. “If somebody has a question, needs some advice, and seeks it out, then I’m gonna give it to him as honest as I can,” Durant said. “I want players to reach their full potential. And I want them to get everything on and off the court cause there’s a lot that comes with this lifestyle if you do it right.”
- Capital City Go-Go assistant coach TC Swirsky has agreed to join the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury as an assistant under Nate Tibbetts, reports Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (via Twitter). Before joining the Wizards‘ G League affiliate, Swirsky was previously the head coach of the Memphis Hustle, Scotto notes.
Cade Cunningham Ruled Out For Monday’s Game
4:45 pm: Cunningham and Stewart have been downgraded to out, tweets Patterson, but head coach J.B. Bickerstaff is hopeful both players will return before the regular season ends (Twitter link via Omari Sankofa II of The Detroit Free Press).
“There’s no way to replicate what a game is other than playing the game … specially ramping up to the intensity of playoff basketball it would be beneficial for the guys, and the group,” Bickerstaff said.
12:46 pm: The latest Pistons injury report suggests that franchise player Cade Cunningham will return before the end of the regular season.
Cunningham has been upgraded to doubtful for tonight’s game at Orlando, according to The Athletic’s Hunter Patterson (Twitter link). The team had issued an update on Thursday stating that Cunningham would be reevaluated in one week but it appears that timeline has accelerated.
Cunningham has been sidelined since March 17, when he suffered a collapsed lung while diving for the ball against Washington. Officially diagnosed as a left lung pneumothorax, the injury prevented Cunningham from receiving consideration for postseason awards. He has appeared in 61 games but only played five minutes against the Wizards. He would need to play in five more games for eligibility and the Pistons, who have already sewn up the top seed in the East, only have four games left.
However, getting Cunningham some playing time before the regular season ends should prove beneficial when the Pistons begin their postseason run. While it’s unlikely he’ll play today, it appears that he should be back in action by the Pistons’ final regular-season game on Sunday.
Cunningham is averaging 24.5 points, 9.9 assists and 5.6 rebounds. Detroit has shown its depth and resilience with Cunningham on the mend. The Pistons won that March 17 contest and have gone 8-2 in his absence.
In another Pistons development, key frontcourt reserve Isaiah Stewart has also been upgraded to doubtful. Stewart has been sidelined since March 13 due to a left calf strain.
Southwest Notes: Wemby, Champagnie, Pels, Rockets, Davison
Spurs center Victor Wembanyama missed last Thursday’s win at the Clippers with a right ankle injury that has been bothering him for multiple weeks, writes Jeff McDonald of The San Antonio Express-News.
“That ankle is still angry at him,” head coach Mitch Johnson said.
Despite the discomfort, the two-time All-Star big man has been putting up spectacular statistics lately, McDonald notes, and Johnson suggested Wembanyama was held out Thursday for precautionary reasons — it was the second night of a back-to-back.
Wembanyama, 22, needs to play in two of San Antonio’s final four regular season games to qualify for major postseason awards. He’s only at 62 appearances right now, but the NBA Cup final counts toward the 65-game minimum requirement even though the statistics from that game aren’t officially recorded.
Here’s more from around the Southwest:
- Julian Champagnie set the Spurs‘ single-season record for three-pointers made in Saturday’s overtime loss in Denver, per McDonald. The fourth-year small forward converted six threes during the game, moving him up to 192 on the season, one past Danny Green, who set the previous record in 2014/15. “Obviously I put the work in and I’m confident in my own abilities,” the 24-year-old Champagnie said, “but any record you get to break in this league is a blessing.”
- The Pelicans aren’t trying to lose games because they don’t control their first-round pick, but they haven’t had any success trying to win games lately either, according to Rod Walker of NOLA.com. New Orleans blew a 17-point lead during Friday’s loss at Sacramento, then followed that up with a four-point home loss to Orlando. The Pelicans are riding an eight-game losing streak with three games left on their schedule.
- Rockets head coach Ime Udoka has been rotating between Tari Eason and Reed Sheppard as the fifth starter the past couple weeks. William Guillory of The Athletic examines which player makes sense to stick in the starting unit, writing that Eason gives the team a higher floor, but Sheppard provides a higher ceiling. “Me and Tari have talked to each other, and neither one of us care who starts,” Sheppard said. “It doesn’t matter to us. We just want to win.” Who finishes the game is ultimately more important than who starts, Guillory observes, but this could also be an important “crossroads” for both Houston and Sheppard, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2024 draft.
- Fourth-year guard JD Davison has reached the 50-game active limit and won’t be able to suit up for the Rockets‘ final four regular season games unless he’s promoted to a standard contract, tweets Keith Smith of Spotrac. Davison, last season’s G League MVP as a member of the Celtics, is currently on a two-way contract. The Rockets have also reached their under-15 limit, Smith adds, so unless they add a 15th player, their other two-way players can’t be active for the rest of the season either.
SGA, Jaylen Brown Named Players Of Week
Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Celtics forward Jaylen Brown have been named the Western and Eastern Conference Players of the Week, respectively, according to the league (Twitter links). This includes games played from March 30 through April 5.
Gilgeous-Alexander, the NBA’s reigning Most Valuable Player, averaged 31.7 points, 5.7 assists and 5.3 rebounds per game in three Thunder victories as he puts the finishing touches on another MVP-caliber season. That three-game stretch included a 47-point outburst in an overtime win over the Pistons last Monday.
It’s the fourth Player of the Week award this season for Gilgeous-Alexander, who also claimed it twice in November and once in January. He and Luka Doncic are the only players to win the weekly award four times this season.
Brown earned Player of the Week honors for the third time in 2025/26 and the seventh time of his career by averaging an East-leading 31.0 points, 5.8 assists, 5.5 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game as Boston went 3-1. Celtics wings have now been named Player of the Week on each of the past two Mondays, as Jayson Tatum won the award last week.
Kevin Durant (Rockets), Cooper Flagg (Mavericks), Jrue Holiday (Blazers), Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray (Nuggets), and Victor Wembanyama (Spurs) were the other Western Conference nominees, according to the NBA.
Nickeil Alexander-Walker (Hawks), OG Anunoby and Karl-Anthony Towns (Knicks), LaMelo Ball (Hornets), Desmond Bane (Magic), Jalen Duren (Pistons), Donovan Mitchell (Cavaliers) and Jayson Tatum (Celtics) were also nominated in the East.
Bulls Fire Top Execs Arturas Karnisovas, Marc Eversley
The Bulls have fired Arturas Karnisovas, the team’s executive vice president of basketball operations, and Marc Eversley, their general manager, according to a press release.
“Arturas and Marc have led with a deep commitment to the Chicago Bulls. These decisions are never easy, especially when they involve people we respect both personally and professionally,” Bulls CEO and president Michael Reinsdorf said in a statement. “We are grateful for their dedication and the work they’ve put in over the past six years.
“At the same time, we have not had the success our fans deserve, and it’s my responsibility to go in a new direction. This move is about positioning our team for sustained success moving ahead. I want our fans to know that I hear you and understand the frustration. I feel it as well. I know this will take time, and I am fully committed to getting this right. At the Chicago Bulls, our focus remains on building a team that can compete at the highest level and ultimately contend for championships. We are committed to taking the necessary steps to move the Bulls forward in a way that makes our fans proud.”
The Bulls have gone through several roster upheavals since hiring Karnisovas and Eversley, yet the team has been stuck in an endless cycle of mediocrity. Both men arrived in Chicago in 2020 to revive a franchise that dominated the NBA landscape in the 1990s. The club improved its record from 31-41 in 2020/21 to 46-36 the following season but the franchise has been spinning its wheels since that point.
The Bulls have posted losing records ever since, with win totals of 40, 39 and 39 over the past three seasons. Chicago is 29-49 after the front office made several moves during the trade deadline that once again put the franchise in rebuild mode. The Bulls haven’t won a playoff series in 11 consecutive seasons, counting this lottery-bound campaign.
As ESPN’s Bobby Marks points out (Twitter link), the replacements for Karnisovas and Eversley will have plenty of work to do this offseason. Chicago can be aggressive with $65MM of cap space, along with its lottery pick.
This also increases the uncertainty regarding the status of head coach Billy Donovan. Donovan was reportedly a candidate for the North Carolina head coaching job, but the Tar Heels on Monday chose to hire former Nuggets coach Michael Malone.
Reinsdorf is expected to address the media at some point on Tuesday. Reinsdorf, along with senior advisor John Paxson, Brian Hagen, Pat Connelly and JJ Polk, will collectively lead the basketball operations department during the executive search, according to Chicago Sports Network’s K.C. Johnson (Twitter link).
Former Nuggets Coach Michael Malone Headed To UNC
Former Nuggets head coach Michael Malone is the surprising choice as North Carolina’s new head coach, ESPN’s Pete Thamel reports.
North Carolina had been looking for a high-profile coach to take over the program after firing Hubert Davis. Final Four coaches Tommy Lloyd and Dusty May were reportedly high on the wish list but both opted to stay put at their respective universities. Bulls coach Billy Donovan was also a prominent target, according to The Athletic’s Brendan Marks, so the hiring of Malone came seemingly out of nowhere.
Malone, 54, is the all-time winningest coach in Denver history with a 471-327 career record and led the Nuggets to their only NBA championship in 2023. He has since spent time as an analyst and commentator for ESPN. Malone certainly would have been high on the list of many NBA teams looking for new coaches this offseason and beyond. Instead, he chose to take over an elite college program.
In his Sunday column, Marc Stein reported that the Bulls would like to retain Donovan, who received a multiyear extension after the Knicks were denied permission to talk to him about their head coaching vacancy last summer. Donovan reportedly wanted to wait until after the season concluded on Sunday to potentially meet with the Tar Heels, but North Carolina decided to pivot to Malone.
With the UNC off the table, Donovan could be more inclined to remain in his current job.
Dillon Brooks Has Tech Rescinded, Can Play Tuesday
Suns wing Dillon Brooks has received a reprieve from the league office.
His technical foul that was issued with 7:24 remaining in the fourth quarter of Phoenix’s game against the Bulls on Sunday has been rescinded, per the NBA (Twitter link). Brooks had faced a suspension for picking up his 18th technical, which would have triggered an automatic one-game league ban. He’ll now be able to suit up against his former team, the Rockets, on Tuesday.
Brooks and Bulls guard Mac McClung both received technicals for a verbal dust-up during the contest. McClung’s technical was also rescinded by the league.
Brooks was previously suspended for the Suns’ game against the Spurs on Feb. 19 after receiving his 16th technical the previous week. Brooks then broke his left hand against Orlando on Feb. 21 and missed more than five weeks of action. He returned last Tuesday and was assessed his 17th tech that night. He has averaged 12.3 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.0 assists over the last three games.
A player who accumulates 16 technical fouls in a season is automatically assessed a one-game suspension and faces additional one-game bans for every two techs beyond that.
Phoenix, which has the seventh-best record in the West, is still clinging to small hopes of moving past Minnesota and avoiding the play-in tournament.