Bulls Hire Bryson Graham As Head Of Basketball Operations
The Bulls have officially hired Bryson Graham to lead their basketball operations department, per a team press release. Graham’s title will be executive vice president of basketball operations.
“We’re excited to name Bryson Graham as our Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations,” Bulls president and CEO Michael Reinsdorf said in a statement. “Bryson is an elite talent evaluator who has earned tremendous respect across the league, and that stood out immediately during our process. He has worked his way up through basketball operations from the ground level, and that experience has given him a deep understanding of how to build and sustain a successful organization.
“He is an effective communicator, a disciplined and thoughtful decision-maker, and someone who truly connects with players and people. He understands today’s league, today’s players, and what it takes to develop talent and build a winning culture. Just as important, Bryson is committed to building a high-level group around him. He knows what he does well, and he is focused on surrounding that with strong leadership across strategy, scouting, and player development. This is an important step for our organization. We know there is work ahead, but we are confident in Bryson’s ability to lead, build, and move us forward.
The news was first reported by Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter links).
Graham was the Hawks‘ senior VP of basketball operations for the 2025/26 season. He spent 15 years in New Orleans before that, Charania notes, working his way up the ranks from an intern to general manager.
The 39-year-old was GM for the Pelicans under former top executive David Griffin until the end of last season, when Griffin was fired and replaced by Joe Dumars. Graham is highly regarded around the league for his scouting acumen, Charania writes, which will be important for the rebuilding Bulls.
While Timberwolves GM Matt Lloyd had been reported by some outlets as the frontrunner for the top front office job in Chicago, Marc Stein of The Stein Line reported over the weekend that Graham, Pistons senior vice president Dennis Lindsey, and Celtics assistant GM Dave Lewin were still in contention for the position as well.
According to Charania, the Bulls conducted in-person interviews last week and considered Graham, Lloyd and Lindsey over the weekend before selecting Graham on Monday.
K.C. Johnson of Chicago Sports Network says (via Twitter) there were four finalists, and hears all of them interviewed well. However, Graham was the unanimous pick, Johnson reports.
In a full story for ESPN.com, Charania and Jamal Collier report that Graham (in his executive role with Atlanta) helped facilitate trade talks between the Hawks and Pelicans last summer, when New Orleans moved up from No. 23 to No. 13 to select Maryland big man Derik Queen. The 2026 first-rounder the Pelicans sent the Hawks is unprotected and will be the most favorable of the Pels’ and Bucks’ picks.
Trey Murphy III (No. 17 overall), Herbert Jones (No. 35), Dyson Daniels (No. 8) and Nickeil Alexander-Walker (No. 17) are among the players Graham has been credited for drafting, in addition to his work on trades.
Graham will replace former head of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas, who was fired near the end of the regular season alongside ex-GM Marc Eversley.
Southeast Notes: Hawks, Magic, Banchero, Riley
While the Hawks‘ playoff run ended in disappointing fashion, it helped them gain a better understanding of the roster and where it needs to go moving forward, Lauren Williams writes for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The Hawks have two first-round picks and plan on not skipping steps as they work to build the team into a contender. They also have financial flexibility, which could be used to bring in free agents or negotiate new deals with current players. They are unlikely to make a huge swing, but will continue to build piece by piece.
“We’re not a single player away from being what we want to be,” general manager Onsi Saleh said. “When I came here, the biggest thing was, how do we become sustainable?”
CJ McCollum is likely to return, as is Jonathan Kuminga, Williams writes. On the other hand, she considers players like Gabe Vincent, Keaton Wallace, Buddy Hield, and Tony Bradley “a coin toss” to be back.
We have more from around the Southeast Division:
- The Magic failed to end a 16-year run without winning a playoff series, falling in Game 7 to the Pistons after having held a 3-1 series lead. They have to be wondering what would have happened had wing Franz Wagner not missed the final three games of the series, writes Josh Robbins of The Athletic. The series showed that Orlando needs someone who organizes the offense, rather than the point-guard-by-committee approach the team employed this season. Guard Desmond Bane also pointed to rebounding as an area that cost the Magic, as they were out-rebounded in all four losses, notes Jason Beede of the Orlando Sentinel (Twitter video link).
- Magic star Paolo Banchero had an up-and-down series, and he issued a warning that the team is not at the level it needs to be after the Game 7 defeat. “Losing in the first round is not acceptable. That should be the attitude,” he said, per HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto (Twitter video link). “It shouldn’t be comfortable in the building. It should be everybody on their Ps and Qs feeling pressure to be great. I think that’s the mindset that needs to be there from top to bottom.”
- Much of Pat Riley‘s end-of-season press conference has been widely discussed, but some talking points from the Heat president deserve more attention, according to Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald. Twice in the presser, Riley seemed to hint that head coach Erik Spoelstra needed to be more willing to allow young players to play through mistakes. “Even if it costs you during the regular season, you got to play it through their bad times, and you got to play it through their ups and downs,” he said. “I’ve read all the criticism of our young players, but nobody ever really… gives them the space to be young and to make mistakes, and not to be who you think they should be in three or four years…. They’re not the top five picks in the draft.” He also seemed to hint at the possibility of putting the Heat’s lottery pick, which projects to be 13th overall, on the table in a potential deal for a star, while adding that he doesn’t want to bring in someone he considers “damaged goods.”
Fischer’s Latest: Blazers’ Backcourt, Young, Hawks, Rockets
The Trail Blazers expect Damian Lillard to be back next season, but his return raises questions about the direction of Portland’s backcourt moving forward, Jake Fischer writes for the Stein Line (subscriber link).
The Blazers have Jrue Holiday under contract for at least one more season – he holds a $37.2MM player option for 2027/28 – as well as former No. 3 overall pick Scoot Henderson, who had a torrid start to the first-round series against the Spurs before going cold in the final two games.
The team believes that Lillard and Holiday can function well together in the backcourt, according to Fischer, but with a long-term decision still to be made on Henderson, it’s possible the Blazers could look to open up minutes for the young guard, who averaged 15.0 points per game in his first career playoff series, by moving Holiday in a trade.
The veteran guard and two-time NBA champion said he’d prefer for that not to happen.
“I don’t like being traded and moved,” Holiday said. “I like being a part of something and building.”
We have more from Fischer’s latest newsletter:
- While rumors have circulated about Anthony Davis‘ future with the Wizards, including reports of potential interest from Portland, Fischer notes that the expectation remains that Washington will come to terms on a lucrative long-term extension for star point guard Trae Young. Young played just five games for the Wizards after being traded from the Hawks, averaging 15.2 points and 6.2 assists in 20.8 minutes per game.
- After a successful season followed by a devastating Game 6 blowout at the hands of the Knicks, the Hawks are not expected to go star-hunting this summer, despite having a handful of very good trade assets. Instead, the team is expected to focus on locking in deals for CJ McCollum, Jonathan Kuminga, and head coach Quin Snyder, who has one more year on his contract, Fischer reports. He adds that Bryson Graham, the vice president of basketball operations, remains in play for the Bulls’ head of basketball operations job.
- The Rockets came to terms with not being a true championship contender when they lost Fred VanVleet to an ACL tear before the season, but a first-round loss to the Lakers and chemistry questions surrounding Kevin Durant could lead to an “all options on the table” summer outlook, Fischer writes, especially given the possibility that players like Kawhi Leonard, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Donovan Mitchell hit the trade block. Houston’s front office will now take stock of the team’s current ceiling and decide from there whether the roster needs margin tweaks or more substantial changes. Fischer adds that Amen Thompson is expected to be in the mix for a max contract extension after averaging 19.2 points, 7.0 rebounds, 5.7 assists, and 2.0 steals per game in his first playoff run, a year after being voted onto the All-Defensive first team.
Knicks Notes: Hart, Clarkson, Alvarado, Towns
The Knicks‘ series against Atlanta turned around after Josh Hart demanded to be given the full-time defensive assignment on CJ McCollum, Stefan Bondy of The New York Post writes in a subscriber-only piece. After McCollum hit a game-winning shot to give the Hawks a 2-1 series lead, Hart made sure the coaching staff understood his intentions.
“I cursed out one of our defensive [coaches] for taking me off him at the end of Game 3,” said Hart, who also walked into the coaches’ room at halftime of Game 4 to make sure it didn’t happen again. “I said, ‘I’m on him. Don’t take me off him. I’m guarding him. And that was the challenge I wanted.”
The difference was stark, Bondy notes, as McCollum averaged 27 points per game in the first three games of the series while shooting 51% from the field and 39% on three-pointers. Over the final three games, he was limited to 11.3 PPG while his shooting dropped to 39.5% from the field and 10% from beyond the arc. He averaged 3.3 turnovers in that span and only 1.3 assists.
“At a certain point, it’s just pride,” Hart said. “It’s wanting to obviously try to stop him, to limit him. Games 1 and 2, he had (about) 30 (per game). It was just a pride thing. Go out there and get stops.”
There’s more from New York:
- The additions of Jordan Clarkson and Jose Alvarado have given the Knicks more depth than they’ve had in recent seasons, notes Howie Kussoy of The New York Post. That backcourt duo has teamed with Mitchell Robinson and Miles McBride to provide a reliable second unit that takes some of the stress off the starters. Clarkson and Alvarado both fell out of coach Mike Brown’s rotation late in the season, but they’ve reemerged since the playoffs began. “[Being out of the rotation is] definitely challenging, but I’ve been in the league for 12 years. I know how it goes,” Clarkson said. “Just continue to stay ready. There’s a locker room of young guys and other people, watching me and seeing how I react to those things. Set an example for them. Continue to stay locked in. … Just wait for my opportunity to go out there and play. Everybody setting that example and having everybody ready is big for the team.”
- The first-round series featured Karl-Anthony Towns‘ best sustained performance since Brown took over as head coach, observes Ian Begley of SNY.tv. There were season-long concerns about whether Towns could adjust to Brown’s system, but he was dominant against Atlanta, posting a combined plus-62 rating over the final three games of the series. “I never doubted my ability,” Towns said. “I never doubted the work I put in. It’s just – you gotta adjust, you gotta adjust. Especially (with) a lot of new things being thrown at you, you’re being asked to do a lot more things – some things that (haven’t) consistently been asked of me in my career. It’s one thing anyone who knows me, who’s followed my career, I’m willing to sacrifice and do whatever it takes for the team to win.”
- James L. Edwards of The Athletic considers whether the Knicks are now in the best position of anybody to win the East.
Hawks Notes: Future, Elimination, Snyder, Offseason
The Hawks were humbled by the Knicks on Thursday, losing the deciding Game 6 at home by 51 points. Although obviously disappointed with Thursday’s result, general manager Onsi Saleh was pleased with the progress the team made throughout 2025/26 and he told the players on Friday that they have plenty of room for growth, per Lauren L. Williams of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (subscription required).
“The best version of ourselves is yet to come,” Saleh said. “I think everybody is really pissed off, frustrated from yesterday, and that’s a good thing. You got to take that, internalize that, understand what the summer entails.
“You feel that experience against those guys, and this is what the playoffs look like, and a lot of our guys have not done it, especially in their roles. So everybody was focused, I would say. There’s a focus for next season already for our group, and that’s going to be super exciting.”
As Williams notes, the Hawks control two first-round picks in the upcoming draft, including one in the lottery. Saleh said the team will take a best-player-available approach to those selections.
“We’re not one player away from this,” Saleh said. “The best iteration of this team is going to be through development and our players currently getting better. We’re really excited about the future and what holds there, with the draft to the flexibility moving forward, all that stuff. We’re in a good place (and) position, set up moving forward.”
Here’s more from Atlanta:
- Jake Fischer of The Stein line recently reported that the Hawks are open to extending head coach Quin Snyder, who’s entering the final year of his contract. Saleh praised Snyder during Friday’s media session, tweets Kevin Chouinard of Hawks.com. “He has been an unbelievable partner in all of this, and it has been so nice, just having a partner who you’re so aligned with. It makes it easy,” Saleh said. “I understand the types of players that work for him and understand the types of guys that make sense for us as an organization, and we always have healthy dialogue. We talk every day. He’s unbelievable.”
- Maura Carey of The Associated Press relays some quotes from Snyder, Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Jalen Johnson following Thursday’s loss, which eliminated Atlanta from the playoffs. “This is a big learning experience, not only for myself, but just everybody in general. And I’m going to take a lot from this and continue to get better from it,” All-Star forward Johnson said. “We’re growing. We’re going to grow from this. We’re going to definitely be better from it.”
- John Hollinger of The Athletic takes a deep dive into the Hawks’ offseason, predicting that the team will probably look to trade either Zaccharie Risacher or Corey Kispert this summer after both played very modest roles in the first-round series vs. New York. The Hawks will have a lot of financial flexibility this offseason and could go in a number of different directions, but Hollinger expects the team to operate over the cap rather than with room. ESPN’s Bobby Marks previews Atlanta’s offseason as well, writing that figuring out what to do with CJ McCollum (unrestricted free agent) and Jonathan Kuminga ($24.3MM team option) will be top priorities for the front office.
Mitchell Robinson, Dyson Daniels Fined By NBA
Knicks center Mitchell Robinson has been fined $50K and Hawks guard Dyson Daniels has been docked $25K for their roles in an on-court altercation during New York’s series-clinching victory on Thursday, the NBA announced in a press release (Twitter link).
The two players got tangled up during a free throw attempt by OG Anunoby with 4:39 left in the second quarter of the Knicks’ blowout win (YouTube link). Both Robinson and Daniels were determined to have escalated the situation, ultimately leading to their ejections.
According to the league, Robinson’s harsher penalty “takes into account his inappropriate post on social media in reference to the incident” following the game. That expletive-laden Instagram story – which didn’t directly reference Daniels but seemed to be aimed at him – can be viewed here.
Daniels and Robinson had been going at each other throughout the six-game first-round series. Robinson received an unsportsmanlike technical in Game 2, when he committed a moving screen on Daniels and then walked over the Australian guard, who was knocked to the ground (YouTube link).
Robinson is earning a little under $13MM in the final year of his contract, while Daniels is making $7.7MM in 2025/26 before his four-year, $100MM rookie scale extension kicks in next season.
Mitchell Robinson, Dyson Daniels Ejected Thursday
Knicks center Mitchell Robinson and Hawks guard Dyson Daniels were ejected from Thursday’s Game 6 matchup between the two teams, tweets Fred Katz of The Athletic.
The two players got tangled up during a free throw attempt by OG Anunoby with 4:39 left in the second quarter (YouTube link). There was some pushing back and forth, with several Knicks staffers — including head coach Mike Brown — attempting to restrain Robinson near the sideline.
After the scuffle cleared, the officials conducted a review, which led to both players receiving technical fouls and ejections.
New York was up a stunning 50 points at the time, dominating Atlanta in every facet of the game. The Knicks’ 47-point halftime lead was the largest in NBA playoff history, per ESPN’s research (Twitter link).
As Katz observes, Daniels and Robinson had been going at each other throughout the series. Robinson received an unsportsmanlike technical in Game 2, when he committed a moving screen on Daniels and then walked over the Australian guard, who was knocked to the ground (YouTube link).
While I’d be surprised if Robinson receives a suspension for Thursday’s incident, his status is at least worth monitoring for Game 1 of New York’s next playoff series. The Knicks will face the winner of Boston vs. Philadelphia in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Hornets’ Moussa Diabate Wins 2025/26 Hustle Award
Hornets big man Moussa Diabate is the winner of the NBA’s Hustle Award for the 2025/26 season, the league announced today.
The Hustle Award, which debuted in 2017, isn’t voted on by media members, players, or executives like other end-of-season awards. It’s based on a statistical formula that utilizes several “hustle” stats and is designed to recognize players whose efforts might not appear in the box score but “impact winning on a nightly basis.”
Among qualified players, Diabate ranked first on a per-minute basis in offensive box outs, fourth in screen assists, eighth in offensive loose balls recovered, 10th in contested two-point shots, and 11th in defensive box outs and contested three-point shots.
Diabate set new career highs in games played (73), starts (47), and minutes per game (26.0) in 2025/26, helping provide some stability at the five for a Hornets team whose center position looked like a major question mark entering the season following the offseason trades of Mark Williams and Jusuf Nurkic. The 24-year-old was among the Hornets who played key roles in the team’s improvement from 19 wins in 2024/25 to 44 victories this season.
Hawks guard Dyson Daniels was the runner-up for the Hustle Award, per the NBA, with 2025 winner Draymond Green of the Warriors finishing in third. Grizzlies rookie Cedric Coward and Knicks swingman Josh Hart rounded out the top five.
Fischer’s Latest: Snyder, McCollum, Kennard, Bulls, Morant
After leading the Hawks on a 19-5 run to close out the season after the team traded away star point guard Trae Young, head coach Quin Snyder is believed to have “strong” front office support for a new contract, according to Jake Fischer of The Stein Line (Substack link), who notes that Snyder has one more year left on his current deal. Extension talks between Snyder and the Hawks are expected to happen soon after the team’s season ends, Fischer adds.
CJ McCollum, who will be an unrestricted free agent, was identified as a possible extension candidate shortly after he was acquired by Atlanta in January. Nothing that has happened since then has changed that, with Fischer suggesting there’s mutual interest between the veteran guard and the Hawks in working out a new deal this summer.
Here are a few more rumors from around the NBA, via Fischer:
- Although the Lakers could have a significant amount of cap room this summer, that will depend in large part on what happens with their own free agents. It remains to be seen whether LeBron James will be back, but Austin Reaves will almost certainly require a lucrative new deal, and according to Fischer, sharpshooter Luke Kennard is increasingly viewed as a player Los Angeles would like to re-sign. Kennard will only have Non-Bird rights, which would allow the Lakers to offer a starting salary worth up to $13.2MM (120% of his current $11MM salary), though they could theoretically go higher than that using cap room or – if they operate as an over-the-cap team – the non-taxpayer mid-level exception.
- Restricted free agent centers like Jalen Duren of the Pistons, Walker Kessler of the Jazz, and Mark Williams of the Suns are expected to try to generate interest from Chicago, Fischer reports. As he explains, the Bulls project to have the most cap room of any NBA team, so they have the means to make a big-money offer to an RFA center — the threat of an offer sheet could be the best way for a player like Duren, Kessler, or Williams to gain leverage and maximize his earnings, either with his current team or an outside suitor like Chicago.
- The Jazz aren’t viewed as a plausible landing spot for Ja Morant this offseason, so don’t expect him to reunite with his former Grizzlies teammate Jaren Jackson Jr., Fischer writes. However, Fischer has heard “predictive murmurs” that the trade market for Morant should be more active in the summer than it was in February, when league-wide interest in the star guard was “extremely minimal.”
Knicks Notes: Brunson, Towns, Anunoby, Alvarado
A change in strategy by the Hawks set up Jalen Brunson for his best performance of the series in Tuesday’s Game 5, writes Vincent Goodwill of ESPN. Coach Quin Snyder opted to switch Dyson Daniels onto Karl-Anthony Towns, who posted a triple-double on Sunday. That gave Brunson more freedom to operate, and he responded with 39 points while shooting 15-of-23 from the field as the Knicks cruised to a 29-point win.
“It’s like a chess match,” Brunson said. “If someone makes a move, you’ve got to make another move. You’ve got to wait to see what they do. The way we play, we’ve got to be ready for anything.”
Atlanta posted a pair of one-point victories in Games 2 and 3 to take the lead in the series, but New York has been dominant since then, holding the Hawks to 42.7% from the field and 27.7% from three-point range in the last two outings. CJ McCollum, who looked like the star of the series early on, was limited to six points on Tuesday.
“It’s been a multitude of things. We picked it up as a unit,” Brunson of the Knicks’ defense. “They’ve also gotten a lot of looks. and we were lucky they were missing. I think us being on the same page, both sides of the ball, was a factor.”
There’s more from New York:
- The defensive adjustment didn’t seem to bother Towns, who finished with 16 points, 14 rebounds and six assists as the Knicks ran their offense through him most of the night, observes Zach Braziller of The New York Post. Towns was able to overpower Daniels in the paint and use his size advantage to get the ball to open teammates. “I feel like passing’s been my thing since I came into the league. Sometimes the scoring gets more noticed than the passing,” Towns said. “But I’m glad I have the opportunity to show what I can do, passing-wise. I’ve just got to continue to stay disciplined, continue to make the right play, regardless if it’s the scoring play or the hockey assist.”
- OG Anunoby may be New York’s best player throughout the series, Braziller adds in a separate story. Anunoby turned in another great game with 17 points, 10 rebounds, two steals and a plus-19 rating, and his teammates are recognizing the contribution he’s making every night. “He’s one of the best two-way players in the NBA,” Towns said. “This series has been great for him to show the world on a big stage something that we always thought he was. When you have someone like that who is that good offensively and even better defensively, weirdly enough, it’s special. I believe he’s going to be First Team All-Defense, and he deserves it.”
- After not playing in the series opener, Jose Alvarado has worked his way back into the rotation, per Jared Schwartz of The New York Post. He came off the bench to score 12 points in 12 minutes in Game 5 and helped the Knicks pull away early in the second quarter. Schwartz notes that Alvarado’s latest chance came after guards Landry Shamet and Miles McBride struggled earlier in the series.