Trail Blazers Owner Addresses Accusations Of Cheapness, Other Topics
Tom Dundon‘s reputation for thriftiness has become a punchline throughout the NBA since he took over as owner of the Trail Blazers in late March, so it was bound to be a topic when he appeared on the Game Over podcast with Max Kellerman and Rich Paul. Dundon, who also owns the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes, told the hosts that he has a track record of being willing to spend to make that franchise successful, Joe Freeman of The Oregonian relays in a subscriber-only story.
“I just don’t want to waste money. I want to invest it,” Dundon said. “I’ll have many masseuses. I’ll have the best food. We’re going to take care of the players, because it helps you win. It’s part of the deal. Some of the stuff about how we’re going to run the business; Portland spends $100MM more a year on their business than the Hurricanes do, not including players.
“The Hurricanes, since I bought the team, have the first or second-best record in the league. So, I’m just not going to waste $100MM, just because somebody wants to write an article calling me cheap. I’m just not going to do it. And so, it’s hard because I don’t think about a budget when it comes to the playing team and how to make sure we win. Some of the stuff that was blamed on money is actually not 100% true.”
Among the stories painting Dundon as cheap was a report in April that he didn’t have two-way players Caleb Love, Chris Youngblood and Jayson Kent travel with the team for the first two games of a playoff series in San Antonio. Dundon called that decision a result of being new to the league, saying he didn’t realize that bringing those players is common practice.
“I just made a mistake. I just don’t understand the league,” he said. “In hockey, we don’t travel extra people, because we’re not on vacation. We’re here to win, so we don’t want a distraction. The NBA seems to live with those distractions. It’s not how I think about it. So, you’ve got to learn what’s the differences between the two leagues.”
Freeman passes on several more Dundon quotes from the interview:
On reports that he had staffers check out of their Phoenix hotel rooms early to avoid paying for an extra day:
“The hotel story with the staff is an interesting story, I think, because, normally, when you travel, you get late checkout, right? In this case, in sports, it’s usually like 5% and never comes up. Because it was last-minute — going to Phoenix, there was no hotels — I guess Phoenix in March is a pretty popular place. So, I had trouble getting hotels. And the hotel really wanted us to be out early because they needed the rooms. And so, they wanted us to pay for a second night. And so, we did that for the coaches and the players. But we got (them) to let us leave at 1 o’clock. And I had a room at the hotel. I was there. So, I’m like, lunch starts at 1:45. We have a huge ballroom with this really nice lunch for everybody. So, I said, ‘Look, we’ll do the players and the coaches. We’ll stay. We’ll pay the extra night. For the staff, we’ve got this big ballroom with food. We’ll go down there and work.’ And everyone was down there. I was down there. I actually learned a lot during that hour, because I got to talk to some of the training staff, etc.
“I would do it again. I think it’s actually pretty stupid to think that people who are there to work, who are being fed, and 45 minutes later — they weren’t in the lobby — they brought their bags down in the room right by where the bus was, right next to my bag. And we sat down there and talked. And if that’s too hard for people, I’m not right for them. I want that culture.”
On whether he’s willing to pay the luxury tax to build a winning team:
“(General manager) Joe (Cronin) called me — and I don’t even know if it was allowed — he called me at the trade deadline. Technically we didn’t own the team yet, (but) he had a deal — actually two different deals — but one in particular where we would have gone into the tax. And it would have been whatever, $20 million. I was fine with it. I want to run the business properly. But I want to win more than I want to make money. And that seems kind of obvious if you’re in this business, right? Winning is the only reason you do it. Why would you buy a team?
“And so, obviously … a lot comes with staying in that tax in the NBA, right? They’ve made the rules in a way that it’s complicated. But to go in strategically because you can pick up a young player or have a chance to win … we would definitely do it. And I’ve got to think most people would. I don’t know many owners that wouldn’t do that. I don’t think we operate any differently. I hope we’re … in a position where going in the tax means we have a chance to win. And if we have a chance to win, the tax is irrelevant.”
On rumors that the Blazers might leave Portland:
“When I bought the Hurricanes, all I heard — because I was from Texas — we were going to move the team to Houston. Moving a team is difficult. We didn’t move the Hurricanes. We ended up getting a deal done. We went through the same thing in Portland. Before I even bought the team, I had an agreement with the city and the state. We had an agreement in principle. They’ve already approved half of it. Assuming that all gets done, then this is a non-story. For me, it’s never been really a thing. We didn’t buy the team to move it. We bought the Portland Trail Blazers.”
OG Anunoby: Hamstring Injury ‘Wasn’t Like The Previous Ones’
No official announcement has been made on the status of OG Anunoby, but he’s back to being a full participant in practice and looks like he’ll be ready when the Eastern Conference finals start on Tuesday, Kristian Winfield of The New York Daily News writes in a subscriber-only piece.
Anunoby, who didn’t return in the second-round sweep of Philadelphia after straining his right hamstring in Game 2, met with reporters after Saturday’s practice and indicated that the injury was relatively mild.
“It wasn’t like the previous ones, for sure,” Anunoby said. “So, it was better than before.”
He was referring to a left hamstring strain in 2024 that knocked him out of the Eastern Conference semifinals against Indiana. He hurt the same hamstring again in November and was sidelined for nine games.
“I never think about the past. Just dealing with it in the moment,” Anunoby added. “It didn’t feel as bad as it had in the past when it happened.”
The latest injury occurred in the final minutes of New York’s Game 2 victory on May 6. Anunoby was listed as questionable for Games 3 and 4 before being eventually being downgraded to out. He did some work at Wednesday’s practice and was able to participate fully on Friday and Saturday.
“He’s been back. He looks good to me,” Mikal Bridges said. “So I think maybe the crowd, maybe the fans and media worried a little bit more, but I know how OG works and how his body is. I think he’ll be all right.”
Anunoby has played an important role in the Knicks’ postseason dominance, averaging 21.4 points and 7.5 rebounds in eight games before the injury while shooting 61.9% from the field and 53.8% from three-point range. Miles McBride took his place in the starting lineup for the past two games.
The Knicks have been enjoying some rest and preparing for the next round since finishing off their sweep, but they won’t know their opponent until the conclusion of Sunday night’s Game 7 between Cleveland and Detroit.
“I think everyone’s excited for the games to start, so just letting the other series play out,” Anunoby said. “So if it was tomorrow — it’s going to be Tuesday now — just be ready whenever it is.”
Celtics Notes: Tatum, Repeater Tax, Free Agency, Brown
Jayson Tatum entered this season just hoping to recover from his torn Achilles and help the Celtics by playoff time. His goals for 2026/27 are much loftier, relays Souchi Terada of MassLive, as Tatum said in a recent appearance on the “Glass Half Full” podcast with Craig Melvin that he dreams of “winning another championship and holding up Finals MVP.”
Tatum was part of the title-winning team in 2024, but he watched teammate Jaylen Brown get named MVP of both the NBA Finals and Eastern Conference Finals. Tatum’s play-making and defense were vital in the series against Dallas, but he struggled with his shot and Brown put up better overall numbers.
Tatum also addressed his physical status after soreness in his left knee forced him to miss Game 7 of the first-round loss to Philadelphia. He’s looking forward to training normally this summer without having to face a long rehab process.
During the conversation, Tatum revaled that he inquired about whether there was anything he could have done to prevent the Achilles injury.
“I asked the doctor, ‘If I got an MRI the day before, would you have been able to tell me I was at risk?’” Tatum said. “He was like, ‘Honestly, you might not want to hear this, but your tendon looks perfectly healthy.’ It was just an unlucky moment. And that was hard to hear because I was doing everything right. I was taking care of my body. I was getting treatment. I was doing all my strength work, every game day.”
There’s more from Boston:
- President of basketball operations Brad Stevens talked about the need for a talent upgrade at his end-of-season press conference, but that could lead to some difficult financial decisions, notes Brian Robb of MassLive. The Celtics were able to duck below the tax line this year, and they’ll need to do so again to reset the repeater clock. The team has about $181MM committed to 11 players for 2026/27, putting it roughly $19MM below the projected $200.5MM tax line.
- In a mailbag column, Robb looks at potential moves involving LeBron James, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Obi Toppin. He also examines the center market, pointing to the Knicks’ Mitchell Robinson and the Trail Blazers’ Robert Williams as the best available free agents, but stating that their current teams can offer them more than the Celtics could. The Magic’s Moritz Wagner and the Bulls’ Zach Collins could also be options, but Robb suggests the Celtics might be better off looking for trades.
- Brown discusses his reaction to being benched early in his career during an appearance on the “State of the Game” video series, per Robb.
Spurs Notes: Castle, Harper, Fox, Conference Finals
The Spurs didn’t need much time to grow into a contender. Three years after the lottery win that brought Victor Wembanyama to San Antonio, the team is headed to the Western Conference finals with several rotation players who are even younger than he is.
After eliminating the Timberwolves on Friday with a 30-point win at Minnesota, coach Mitch Johnson said his players never focused on any issues their inexperience might cause, relays Dave Campbell of The Associated Press.
“I understand the general expectations of what we were supposed to do in October aren’t necessarily aligned with where we’re at right now,” Johnson said. “We never talked about what we were going to be or what we were going to do. We just knew that we had a lot of potential and we were going to try to be the best team we could be.”
Wembanyama gets the most attention, but the Spurs have plenty of weapons around him – building the team by drafting well and taking advantage of some good fortune in the lottery. Stephon Castle, the fourth pick in 2024, led the way in Game 6 with 32 points and 11 rebounds while shooting 5-of-7 from three-point range. Rookie guard Dylan Harper, the No. 2 pick last summer, continued his outstanding series with 15 points and five rebounds off the bench.
“We’re a really talented group that plays together and plays very selfless, and we’re all young,” Castle said. “I think we can beat anybody on any given night. Us just being very selfless in the way we move the ball, it’s just fun to play.”
There’s more on the Spurs:
- At 28, De’Aaron Fox is enjoying his role as a mentor to his two young backcourt partners, per Michael C. Wright of ESPN. Fox, who was acquired from Sacramento at last year’s deadline, is trying to build on their natural talents and create a winning culture. “I want them to feel that success from as early as you can get it in your career because you never know when those things can come back around,” he said. “[I] just give them little tidbits that they can get here or there because they’re just so talented. Just giving them a cheat sheet to kind of maneuver throughout the league. I try to add what I can to what they can already do. They can already do a lot of things.”
- Minnesota coach Chris Finch admits he made a mistake by beginning Friday’s game with center Rudy Gobert guarding Castle, Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio Express-News writes in a subscriber-only story. “I’ll take the blame for the start of the game,” Finch said. “We flipped the matchups around. We tried to do some things there that maybe slow down their start. Allowed Castle to get hot early, that certainly wasn’t the plan. That’s on me.”
- The Spurs seem mentally prepared for the challenge of facing the defending champion Thunder in the conference finals, observes Kelly Iko of Yahoo Sports. “The nature of the playoffs means that we’re going to play against better and better teams,” Wembanyama said. “And that was already elite between the first and second round. But we have the guidance. Good coaching staff, the best actually, so we can trust them.” Justin Martinez of The Oklahoman offers a series preview with a comparison of the two teams in several important areas.
Pistons’ Robinson, LeVert, Huerter Questionable For Game 7
The Pistons have listed guard/forwards Duncan Robinson (low back soreness), Caris LeVert (right heel contustion) and Kevin Huerter (left adductor strain) as questionable for Sunday’s do-or-die Game 7 against Cleveland, according to Hunter Patterson of The Athletic (Twitter link).
All three players were also listed as questionable for Friday’s Game 6 win in Cleveland, which evened the second-round series at three games apiece. Robinson, LeVert and Huerter were all upgraded to available prior to that victory.
Huerter reportedly received an injection prior to Game 6 after aggravating his adductor injury, which had caused him to miss two-plus weeks. He didn’t end up playing on Friday, but Robinson and LeVert both played significant roles with the Pistons facing elimination for the fourth time this postseason.
Robinson, who was limited in Game 4 due to the back issue that caused him to miss Game 5, recorded 14 points (including converting four of his seven three-pointers), two rebounds, two assists in 20 minutes. The veteran shooting guard has been a key floor spacer and secondary play-maker in his first season in Detroit. He came off the bench in Game 6 for the first time this season (Daniss Jenkins got his second straight start).
LeVert, meanwhile, had eight points, three rebounds, three assists, one steal and one block in 29 minutes on Friday. The veteran wing is facing his former team with a chance to advance to an Eastern Conference finals vs. New York.
Wolves Notes: Edwards, Roster, Giannis, Randle, Hyland
Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards made an unusual gesture during Friday’s Game 6, congratulating the Spurs during a timeout with Minnesota down 33 points at home with 8:01 remaining (YouTube link). Edwards said it was an acknowledgement that San Antonio was the better team, per Myron Medcalf of ESPN.
As Medcalf writes, the Timberwolves have now lost three consecutive playoff elimination games by an average of 27 points. They lost at home to Dallas in Game 5 of the 2024 Western Conference finals, at Oklahoma City in Game 5 of the 2025 Western finals, and at home to San Antonio on Friday in the conference semifinals.
When asked if there were any common themes during those three losses, Edwards replied, “Good question. No comment.”
According to Medcalf, Edwards said he was content with the current roster, but he also said the Wolves didn’t prepare like a championship contender.
“I feel like you’re supposed to build championship habits or playoff habits in a regular season,” Edwards said. “No, we didn’t build the habits during the regular season.”
Here’s more on the Wolves:
- Marcus Thompson II of The Athletic views Edwards’ gesture as a sign that the 24-year-old guard recognizes the Timberwolves have been passed in the West’s hierarchy and believes it was a message to the front office to trade for Giannis Antetokounmpo. As Thompson observes, while Edwards publicly said the roster wasn’t an issue, he also suggested his teammates didn’t take advantage of the double teams he faced. “It was no struggle,” Edwards said of handling the defense’s extra attention. “Just trusting in my teammates, trusting in the next action we’re going to make something happen. And I feel like we did, man. We just couldn’t make enough shots to win the game. I think that’s just what it came down to.” That’s not exactly a bold statement, considering Julius Randle (three points on 1-of-8 shooting), Rudy Gobert (zero points on 0-of-4 shooting) and Jaden McDaniels (13 points on 4-of-13 shooting, five fouls in 23 minutes) combined to score 16 points on 5-of-25 shooting in Game 6.
- According to Medcalf, Edwards said the following when asked how the Wolves can catch up to the Thunder and Spurs, with other teams lurking in the West: “I don’t know, man. I don’t think that’s a question for me.“
- Randle, who was a game-worst minus-34 in 23 minutes, looks “miscast” as a No. 2 option when playing against title contenders, according to Thompson, who points out that Game 6 was so lopsided because San Antonio’s secondary stars — including Stephon Castle, who had a game-high 32 points, 11 rebounds and six assists — dominated. Randle had no answers for trying to score on Victor Wembanyama throughout the series, Thompson writes.
- Backup guard Bones Hyland hopes to re-sign with Minnesota as an unrestricted free agent, tweets Chris Hine of The Star Tribune. “It feels like where I belong so I definitely want to come back,” Hyland said.
Chris Finch Expected To Remain Timberwolves’ Head Coach
Within a story examining the big-picture implications of the Timberwolves being eliminated from the playoffs following Friday’s lopsided Game 6 loss to San Antonio, Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic states that head coach Chris Finch “will be back for his sixth full season” in 2026/27.
Finch has compiled a 258-193 record (.572 win-loss percentage) in parts of six seasons at the helm in Minnesota. The Timberwolves have posted a winning record and made the playoffs in each of his five full years on the job, including back-to-back trips to the Western Conference finals in 2024 and 2025.
The Wolves had another uneven regular season in 2025/26, winning 49 games for the second straight year and entering the playoffs as the sixth seed. Minnesota upset the third-seeded Nuggets in round one before falling to the No. 2 Spurs in the Western semifinals.
Finch was a longtime assistant before he landed the Wolves’ top coaching job in February 2021. The 56-year-old, who has two years left on his contract, Krawczynski notes, suggested after the team was eliminated that some roster tweaks might be necessary to try to catch up to the defending champion Thunder and the rising Spurs.
“You either gotta be a problem or have a solution,” Finch said. “You have to be built in a way that troubles your opponent with something they don’t have or have something to counter what they do have.”
Krawczynski also confirms that owners Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez are interested in signing president of basketball operations Tim Connelly to a contract extension, and writes that team employees on both the business and basketball sides of the organization were happy Matt Lloyd stayed in his role as general manager. Lloyd was a finalist for the Bulls’ top basketball operations job before they hired Bryson Graham.
Elliot Cadeau Withdrawing From Draft, Returning To Michigan
Junior guard Elliot Cadeau is withdrawing from the 2026 NBA draft and returning to Michigan for his senior season, agent Drew Gross tells Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports (Twitter link).
A 6’1″ point guard, Cadeau tested the draft waters this spring after he helped lead the Wolverines to the NCAA championship in early April. He was named to the NCAA All-Tournament team and took home Most Outstanding Player honors as well after averaging 12.3 points, 7.5 assists, 3.7 rebounds and 1.7 steals while shooting 38.7% from long distance in six games during the tournament.
Cadeau, who played his first two college seasons at UNC prior to transferring to Michigan, appeared in all 40 of the Wolverines’ games in 2025/26. He averaged 10.5 PPG, 5.9 APG, 2.7 RPG and 0.9 SPG in 27.3 MPG, with a shooting line of .411/.376/.709.
A New Jersey native, Cadeau was invited to attend the G League combine earlier this month and reportedly worked out for the Knicks on May 5. His decision to withdraw doesn’t come as a surprise, as he wasn’t on ESPN’s latest big board of the top 100 prospects in the class of 2026.
Mike Conley Wants To Continue Career
Timberwolves guard Mike Conley wants to play at least one more season, he told Chris Hine of the Minneapolis Star Tribune (Twitter link).
“I think I might’ve proved to myself I can play a little longer,” he said.
Conley will be an unrestricted free agent this summer. The 38-year-old began the season with the Timberwolves but endured a tumultuous journey during the trade deadline.
The Timberwolves sent Conley to Chicago in a salary-dump trade on February 3, with the Bulls flipping him to Charlotte along with Coby White a day later, just ahead of the Feb. 5 trade deadline. The Hornets subsequently cut him, which cleared the way for the 38-year-old to return to Minnesota.
NBA rules prohibit a player who is traded and then waived to immediately re-sign with the team that traded him away. However, that restriction only applied to the Bulls, not the Timberwolves, since Conley was traded twice.
His playing time increased late in the regular season and he was part of the postseason rotation. He appeared in 12 playoff games, including five starts, and averaged 4.4 points and 2.7 assists in 14 minutes per game.
Conley has played 1,220 regular season games and 120 playoff games in a career that began in 2007 with Memphis.
Cavs Notes: Mitchell, Thompson, Game 7, Harden
Donovan Mitchell failed to carry the Cavaliers into the conference finals in Game 6 against Detroit on Friday. Mitchell scored a series-low 18 points on 6-of-20 shooting and had as many turnovers (three) as assists in the 21-point loss.
“I can’t dwell on it,” Mitchell said. “I missed shots tonight. … I’ve been making them most every game of this series, and tonight I didn’t.”
Mitchell must get past this clunker and deliver in Game 7 at Detroit on Sunday, Jason Lloyd of The Athletic opines. The outcome of Game 7 will have major implications for Mitchell and the franchise.
Lloyd also speculates that Mitchell might be hiding an injury, noting that he hasn’t looked like himself for most of this postseason.
Here’s more on the Cavaliers:
- A controversial ruling allowed the Pistons’ defensive ace, Ausar Thompson, to stay in the game. While fighting through a screen during the second quarter, Thompson threw Sam Merrill to the court with his arm around Merrill’s neck. However, the officials assessed Thompson with a Flagrant 1 foul, rather than ejecting him. Lead official Zach Zarba explained the decision. “The criteria for a flagrant foul 2 would be windup, impact and follow-through,” Zarba said, per The Athletic’s Joe Vardon. “On this particular play, there was impact and follow-through, but there was no windup. It was unnecessary contact but also not excessive, so that’s why it wasn’t upgraded to a Flagrant 2.”
- James Harden said the Cavs need to match Detroit’s defensive intensity to win Game 7, per Cleveland.com. “Not shooting the basketball well, I wouldn’t say it’s an excuse, but it’s not a reason. Our defense has to be the priority from the beginning of the game until the last buzzer,” he said. “That’s priority number one. And I don’t think we necessarily did that from the beginning of the game until the final buzzer, which is the reason why we didn’t play well. We feed off our defense, our energy comes from our defense, and we didn’t do that well enough like they did. So then our offense is a little bit more difficult just because you’re not getting stops. So we got to take the ball out, and it’s just a trickle effect. So in order to win this game, we gotta hang our hats on the defensive end, and we should be in a good position.”
- At least for now, Harden has passed Stephen Curry on the all-time playoff scoring list, Daniel Oyefusi of ESPN notes. Harden moved into 10th place during the first quarter on a step-back three-pointer from the right wing. That gave him 4,148 postseason points. Curry has scored 4,147 points in the playoffs.