Southwest Notes: Spurs, Johnson, Grizzlies, Rockets
After losing Game 5 of the NBA Finals, the Spurs had to conduct their final media obligations of the season, knowing the kind of celebration underway by their opponents. It’s a feeling they’re not likely to forget, Jeff McDonald writes for the San Antonio Express-News.
“It hurts a lot. Hearing that right now, seeing them storming the court on our home court, it’s tough,” Devin Vassell said. “We know we’ll do everything we can — scratch, fight — to get back into this position and have a different outcome.”
For the second-youngest Finals team in league history, the way the series played out is sure to leave a lasting impression, but also valuable lessons for how a team that wants to win it all needs to prepare itself, emotionally and physically.
“All five games in the series had the same scenario,” Victor Wembanyama said. “How relentless we were in our mistakes and (how relentless) they were in punishing them.”
Head coach Mitch Johnson is hoping that the experience only makes them hungrier to get back to the Finals and avenge this loss, a sentiment echoed by the team’s young star center.
We have more from around the Southwest Division:
- Keldon Johnson had a strong season for the Spurs, winning Sixth Man of the Year while averaging 13.2 points per game. However, he was unable to get going in the Finals, as his scoring dropped to just 4.4 points per game. He’s trying his best to learn from the disappointment and come back a better, more prepared player. “When you get in the playoffs, every game is different,” he said. “Every possession matters. You can’t look forward through things. You got to be locked in every possession, every detail, and take that in. Every game is different. Every game may need something different. And that’s what I feel like my biggest takeaway is from playoffs.”
- The Grizzlies are in the early stages of their rebuild, coming into the offseason with an interesting young core highlighted by breakout rookie Cedric Coward and the number three pick in the 2026 Draft. Despite their age and flexibility, they likely won’t be a cap space team this summer, Yossi Gozlan notes in his offseason preview for The Third Apron. That will allow them to take in more money in a trade than they send out, give them the freedom to pursue sign-and-trades, and give them access to both their $15MM non-taxpayer mid-level exception and their $5.5MM biannual exception. Finding an end to the Ja Morant trade saga will also be key to laying the foundation for whatever comes next.
- After a first-round loss in the 2026 playoffs, the Rockets enter the offseason with real questions on how to elevate the team into more of a true contender. They will have to be somewhat careful in terms of negotiations with restricted free agent Tari Eason, Keith Smith writes in an offseason preview for Spotrac, but retaining him should still be a priority. They can also renegotiate Fred VanVleet‘s contract. The veteran point guard’s importance was clear in how much Houston struggled to form a cohesive offensive identity. Any real changes would likely have to come through the trade market, with players like Jabari Smith Jr., Reed Sheppard, and Steven Adams potential additions to any star package. Smith speculates that a five-year, $185MM extension makes sense for Amen Thompson, an elite defender who should be able to play a role he’s more comfortable with when VanVleet returns to play.
Sixers Notes: Offseason, Graves, Okorie, Johnson, Lendeborg
The Sixers made their first major offseason move when they fired former president of basketball operations Daryl Morey and replaced him with Mike Gansey, a longtime Cavaliers executive. Now they’ll be turning their attention to roster transactions — they can begin negotiating with their own free agents on Sunday, while the draft takes place June 23 and 24.
There are also a few more subtle offseason questions for the franchise, writes Gina Mizell of The Philadelphia Inquirer, including what Elton Brand‘s new role will be with the team. The 76ers’ longtime general manager is no longer in the front office after Jameer Nelson was promoted, but he reportedly agreed to a new position with the Sixers’ parent company.
Will the Sixers will make further changes to their front office or adjust Nick Nurse‘s coaching staff? That’s another offseason question posed by Mizell.
We have more on the 76ers:
- Philadelphia controls the 22nd pick in the 2026 draft. In a conversation with Adam Aaronson of PhillyVoice, draft evaluator Logan Adams made the case for the 76ers selecting Santa Clara forward Allen Graves, assuming he’s still available at that spot.
- In a similar story for PhillyVoice, Aaronson spoke to Brian Geisinger about Ebuka Okorie‘s strengths and weaknesses and his potential fit with the 76ers. For what it’s worth, Graves is ranked No. 17 on ESPN’s big board, while ex-Stanford guard Okorie is No. 27.
- Appearing on the PHLY Sixers podcast (YouTube link), Michigan assistant coach Mike Boynton discussed the 2025/26 seasons of Morez Johnson and Yaxel Lendeborg and how the championship-winning big men could fit with Philadelphia if they’re available at No. 22 (or the Sixers trade up).
Knicks Notes: Brunsons, Hart, Bridges, Championship
Captain Jalen Brunson was the Knicks‘ hero once again in Saturday’s championship-clinching Game 5 victory, scoring 45 of New York’s 94 points en route to being named the unanimous Finals MVP. Brunson said the pressure of intense playoff moments is nothing compared to what his father, assistant coach Rick Brunson, faced during his journeyman NBA career, as Marcus Thompson II of The Athletic details.
“No pressure. No pressure whatsoever,” Jalen Brunson said. “My dad being on eight or nine unguaranteed contracts throughout his career and not knowing when you’re going to get cut, when a team is going to move on from you, while your family is on the East Coast and you are wherever you are in the country. That’s pressure.
“Working out three times a day in the summertime and watching him push himself just to get a training camp deal, that’s pressure. I’m very fortunate to be in the position I am and I definitely think I worked pretty hard. So when the opportunity presented itself like it did today, I just trusted my work. … I’m just never afraid to fail.”
Rick Brunson called it “surreal” watching his son lead the Knicks to their first title in 53 years, according to Thompson.
“I can’t imagine,” Rick said, shaking his head. “I never thought he’d get to this level. I’d be lying to you if I said I thought he would be this good. I just wanted someone to come to New York, run a team, and hopefully have a chance to win a championship. And for him to be the guy to help me help the team, this is surreal.”
Here’s more on the new NBA champions:
- Brunson’s decision to sign an extension in the 2024 offseason rather than waiting for a more lucrative contract in 2025 free agency played a key role in helping the front office built out the roster around him, writes James L. Edwards III of The Athletic. “He understands what winning is about,” head coach Mike Brown said. “He took a pay cut that I wouldn’t take. Every time they would throw that number in front of me, I would say no, and I feel like I’m a great guy. He set the bar. That set the standard.”
- CJ Moore of The Athletic recently spoke to several people associated with Villanova about Brunson, Josh Hart and Mikal Bridges, the trio of Knicks who played college ball together with the Wildcats. “When things are going against them, they don’t show too much body language,” said Matt Kennedy, a former Villanova walk-on, several days before New York’s historic Game 4 comeback. “The big thing at Villanova was attitude, and don’t show your emotion. I think that’s what’s allowed them to come back in a lot of games, that mindset and attitude; you can’t really break them. They’re just gonna keep coming and coming and coming at you.”
- Hart said after Game 5 that his bond with Brunson and Bridges will last a lifetime, per Howie Kussoy of The New York Post. “Those are my brothers for life,” Hart said. “We have a bond that’ll never be broken. We won a championship together in college, but this one obviously takes the cake. We’ve been built for this moment. We’ve all been forged in the fire … Coach [Jay] Wright helped us be cut from a different cloth. No matter the moment, it’s never too big for us.”
- ESPN’s Vincent Goodwill takes a look at the Knicks’ path to the championship, noting that the team’s dominant playoff run was unexpected even though New York was one of the preseason favorite in the Eastern Conference. Tim Bontemps of ESPN says OG Anunoby‘s game-winning tip-in in Game 4 was the team’s defining moment while taking a deeper dive at the Knicks’ lengthy title drought.
- Kristian Winfield of The New York Daily News and Fred Katz of The Athletic take behind-the-scenes looks at the Knicks’ celebration in San Antonio.
International Notes: EuroLeague FAs, Fournier, Ferrell, Washington
While several EuroLeague players have already reached contract agreements for next season (and beyond), there are still some top players on the open market, writes Stefan Acevski of Eurohoops.
Longtime NBA power forward Trey Lyles, who starred for Real Madrid last season, is the top-ranked player on Acevski’s list, which also features recent NBA veterans like Daniel Theis (AS Monaco), Cory Joseph (Olympiacos) and Braxton Key (Valencia).
Here are a few more notes from overseas:
- French wing Evan Fournier recently helped Olympiacos win both the EuroLeague Final four and the Greek league finals, winning MVP on both occasions, per Mike Gkioulenoglou of Eurohoops. Fournier, a 12-year NBA veteran who last played for Detroit in 2023/24, talked about the incredible fan support he’s received since he joined Olympiacos, his fluctuating role throughout the season, and a desire to see the playoffs occur in a different order in the future. “Panathinaikos is a really good team. They play extremely hard, but to be honest, Europe has to think of a better way to end the season,” Fournier said. “To go from the EuroLeague to domestic Finals is very hard. You kind of check out, win or lose. And especially us, I think we have the hardest Finals in Europe, so you go from winning to jumping into another war. I wish we could have ended the season with the EuroLeague and not the Greek Finals.”
- Veteran guard Yogi Ferrell has officially re-signed with Buducnost in Montenegro, relays Johnny Askounis of Eurohoops. The 33-year-old, who played five seasons in the NBA, had a strong season during both EuroCup and ABA League action in 2025/26.
- Partizan has parted ways with Duane Washington, who had spent the past two years with the Serbian club (Twitter link via the team). A 26-year-old guard who played two years in the NBA, Washington led the ABA League in points per game this season and put up solid numbers in the EuroLeague (14.9 points on .450/.377/.800 shooting splits in 21.9 minutes per game) as well.
And-Ones: TIME List, Flight Risks, Option Dates, Power Rankings
Lakers superstar LeBron James tops TIME’s 2026 list of the 100 Most Influential People in Sports. The four-time MVP isn’t the only person affiliated with the NBA on the list, as Victor Wembanyama, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Brunson, Cooper Flagg, Stephen Curry, Mavericks president Masai Ujiri and Shams Charania of ESPN are also present.
Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report lists his 10 biggest “flight risks” — the players most likely to change teams — in free agency. Four Lakers — Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura, Andre and James — are on Pincus’ list, as are Heat forward Andrew Wiggins and Sixers guard Quentin Grimes. Wiggins ($30.2MM) and Ayton ($8.1MM) both hold player options for 2026/27.
- While most player and team option decisions for next season are due by June 29, in some cases the deadlines are a little sooner, notes Brett Siegel of ClutchPoints (Twitter link). Trae Young (Wizards) and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (Grizzlies), for example, have until June 23 to decide whether they want to pick up their lucrative player options, while the Clippers have until June 26 to determine what to do with their $16MM option on Bodan Bogdanovic.
- Ten ESPN insiders have voted on their power rankings for 2026/27, with the Thunder, Spurs, Knicks, Celtics and Pistons comprising the top five. The Kings, Nets and Wizards are at the bottom end of the rankings.
Spurs Notes: Wembanyama, Vassell, Harper, Fox, Castle, Barnes
The Spurs‘ inexperience and inability to close out games turned out to be their undoing in the NBA Finals, writes Michael C. Wright of ESPN.com. The team built double-digit leads in all five games of a series it lost 4-1, Wright notes, including a 16-point lead in Saturday’s Game 5, when San Antonio was eliminated.
Finals MVP Jalen Brunson led the Knicks to a 21-7 run to end Game 5, a consistent theme throughout the series. New York won its four games by 16 combined points, a slim yet triumphant margin.
“The margin for error is very thin,” said Wembanyama, who averaged 7.8 points in fourth quarters during the series but shot just 34.0% from the field. “Our domination stints are absolute. We absolutely dominated for most of the series. But our errors, our mistakes are punished so hard that we can’t have ups and downs like this so much, you know? The ups are OK. The downs are the reason we lost.”
Saturday’s loss started well for the Spurs, who limited the Knicks to just 37 points in the first half, their lowest total of 2025/26 (regular season or playoffs). But the Spurs only managed 42 first-half points of their own, and more importantly scored just 18 in the fourth quarter, when New York scored 29 (Brunson alone had 15 points on 4-of-6 shooting) and wound up winning by four.
“There’s a lot that goes into it,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. “We didn’t deserve to win the games. There’s a lot of levels of execution. There can be rebounding. There can be end-of-game details. There can be starting the game where you get the lead and then you don’t sustain that. We weren’t ready to win an NBA championship. The better team won. We did a lot of good things, and we didn’t finish the job.”
Wembanyama and the Spurs are determined to use the bitter taste of disappointment as a learning lesson, according to Wright.
“What I’m pissed about is, there’s probably a hundred games before we can be back in the Finals,” Wembanyama said. “I don’t know how to say it in English. But I’m going to have to hold that inside of me, slow down, wait and execute for a hundred games. It’s going to be all of it [shaping my mentality in the future]; who we are, what we’re made of, our experiences.
“This has been a hell of a year in terms of experience. I don’t think we could have learned more and gained more experience in one playoff run and in one season, and personally in 18 months. This is the biggest lesson of my life, the biggest learning moment. I can’t tell you exactly what the lesson is. But we’re learning from that. I’m learning more than any other time in my life.”
Here’s more on the Spurs:
- Devin Vassell was among the players who lamented the team’s late-game miscues in the series, per Jared Weiss of The Athletic. He also acknowledged the pain of hearing the Knicks celebrate on the Spurs’ home floor. “Obviously, in the finals, with everything being amplified, one mistake can cost you a game. I think we had a couple that cost us multiple,” Vassell said.,
- Standout rookie Dylan Harper led San Antonio with a team-high 25 points (on 10-of-19 shooting) to go along with five rebounds and four assists in Game 5, observes Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio Express-News (subscriber link), though he missed three layups and a free throw late in the loss when he was running on fumes. “There was some good, some bad,” Harper said. “There were a lot of possessions I want to take back and do differently. But that’s now how the ball bounced. Just got to keep moving on.”
- While Harper was a bright spot, fellow guards De’Aaron Fox (seven points on 3-of-15 shooting) and Stephon Castle (six points on 1-of-10 shooting) struggled mightily in Game 5, Orsborn adds. “I got shots I’ve made in the past and sometimes you just don’t make them,” Fox said. “Some felt good. Back rim, in and out. It is what it is. Obviously, I wish I made those shots, but that team is physical. They force you into taking jump shots and try to keep you out of the paint. But shots just didn’t go down for me.”
- Vassell praised Harper after the game, referring to him as a “star in the making,” though he raised some eyebrows when he suggested last year’s second overall pick was upset with his playing time and role throughout 2025/26 (Twitter video link via Sam Vecenie of The Athletic).
- While San Antonio certainly seems to be on an upward trajectory, there’s no guarantee the team will be back in the NBA Finals next season, notes Kelly Iko of Yahoo Sports. “I think you have to look at it for the season it’s been,” veteran forward Harrison Barnes told Yahoo Sports. “The pain of losing in the Finals, and ultimately you have to accept that. There’s no guarantee that this group will ever have the opportunity to achieve that. Some players in this room may be able to get back to the Finals, some players in this room may be able to win a championship. I think accepting what this moment has been, where we come to as a team, and hopefully as guys continue on in their careers — whether it’s five, 10, 15 years — they’ll use this as a reference point.”
Draft Decisions: Amini, Ishchenko, Ferrari, Suigo
Iranian forward Mohammad Amini will keep his name in the 2026 NBA draft, agent Xavier Severin tells Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress (Twitter link). Saturday at 5:00 pm ET was the league’s official withdrawal deadline for international early entrants.
Amini, 21, has spent the past four seasons playing for Monaco and Nancy Basket in France’s top domestic league, the LNB Élite. He averaged 7.8 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 1.8 assists on .500/.265/.625 shooting splits in 27 games (22.6 minutes per contest) in 2025/26.
Here are a few more notes on international early entrants:
- Vsevolod Ishchenko is also staying in the draft, agent Alex Saratsis tells Givony (Twitter link). The Russian wing averaged 8.7 PPG, 4.6 RPG, 2.0 APG and 1.3 SPG on .506/.451/.781 shooting in 48 games (23.6 MPG) this past season for Lokomotiv Kuban. He’s ranked 60th on ESPN’s big board, making him a potential second-round pick.
- Italy’s Francesco Ferrari has withdrawn from the draft after gauging the interest from NBA teams ahead of Saturday’s deadline, according to BasketNews contributor Orazio Francesco Cauchi (Twitter link). Ferrarri, who reportedly interviewed with the Pistons, Hawks and Bucks, played for Virtus Bologna in the Lega Basket Serie A last season, averaging 4.4 PPG and 2.2 RPG in 11 games (10.2 MPG).
- Italian center Luigi Suigo, who withdrew from the draft and committed to playing for Villanova next season, discussed his decision in a recent interview with Sky Sport, as Iacopo De Santis of Pianeta Basket relays. “Unfortunately, two or three days before the draft combine, I sprained my ankle in practice. I couldn’t participate in the drills, which I believe would have significantly raised my draft stock,” Suigo said in part. “I did a few workouts; I trained with the Wizards, Spurs, and Celtics. They went well. My plan was to remain in the draft if I had a guarantee of being selected within the top 20 picks. I have a lot of confidence in myself. And now, the important thing is to work hard. Villanova will be a place where I can do that very well. [If I had stayed in the draft] I could have remained in the first round, possibly with Boston (No. 27). But I don’t want to rush things. I decided to get an extra year of development, and to declare again next year for a higher pick. The earlier you are drafted, the more a franchise is committed to your development.”
- As our early entrant tracker shows, Serbian center Pavle Backo is the only international prospect we haven’t seen an update on regarding whether he stayed in or withdrew from the draft. The NBA figures to reveal its official list of early entrants within the next few days.
2026 NBA Offseason Preview: Boston Celtics
After winning their 18th title two years ago, the Celtics decided to run back the same core roster to try to defend their title in 2024/25, operating over the restrictive second tax apron to do so. A mysterious ailment caused Kristaps Porzingis' significant issues in the second half of that campaign, but Boston still entered last year's playoffs with an excellent 61-21 record and the team was considered to be on a short list of legitimate contenders.
After beating Orlando in a physical first-round matchup, the Celtics were upset by the 51-31 Knicks in a six-game second-round series. Disaster struck in Game 4, when star forward Jayson Tatum tore his Achilles tendon in the fourth quarter of a game Boston ultimately lost to fall behind 3-1 in the series.
Boston's unwillingness to be further hamstrung by the second apron led to the moves president of basketball operations Brad Stevens made last summer, when he traded Jrue Holiday's long-term deal for the expiring salary of Anfernee Simons (we'll circle back to him shortly) and sent Porzingis to Atlanta in a deal that brought back Georges Niang, who was subsequently flipped to Utah.
The cost-cutting maneuvers, combined with Tatum's injury, contributed to an outside perception that the Celtics wouldn't necessarily be upset if 2025/26 ended up being a "gap year." They were projected to win 42.5 games by sportsbooks, yet they wound up going 56-26, far exceeding external expectations and earning Joe Mazzulla a Coach of the Year award.
Boston's season was highlighted by the play of Jaylen Brown, who thrived as the primary offensive option with Tatum sidelined; the emergence of Neemias Queta as a starting-caliber center; another strong season from Payton Pritchard; the heady two-way play of Derrick White, who was named first-team All-Defense but struggled throughout 2025/26 with his outside shot (32.7% after converting 38.7% of his three-point looks in the three seasons prior); and the March return of Tatum, who looked healthy and capable of playing at or above his previous All-NBA level.
The Celtics also received positive contributions from their minimum-salary free agent additions (Luka Garza and Josh Minott, though Minott was later traded to Brooklyn); first-rounder Hugo Gonzalez was a pleasant surprise as a rookie; and young players like Jordan Walsh and Baylor Scheierman continued to improve and played rotation roles on the wing at different times.
Boston made another series of cost-cutting moves before the deadline to duck the luxury tax, including trading Simons to Chicago for Nikola Vucevic. Then Tatum came back, and suddenly the Celtics looked like contenders again.
However, after building a 3-1 lead in their first-round series against the Sixers, the Celtics collapsed, dropping the final three games to lose in seven. Tatum was reportedly dealing with some knee discomfort in Game 6 and wound up missing Game 7.
The Celtics' Offseason Plans
The Celtics have had a ton of success with Tatum and Brown as their top two players, making the Eastern Conference finals multiple times, advancing to the NBA Finals in 2022, and winning the championship in 2024. However, the team's heavy reliance on three-point shooting does lead to a considerable amount of offensive volatility. Boston doesn't put a lot of pressure on the rim or score much in the paint, which Stevens noted after the season; those comments subsequently led to speculation about a possible pursuit of Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Knicks Win First Championship Since 1973; Brunson Named MVP
For the first time in 53 years, New York has an NBA title to celebrate. The Knicks finished off a thrilling NBA Finals with a 94-90 win Saturday night in San Antonio.
Jalen Brunson was named Finals MVP, wrapping up the series with 45 points in Game 5. He was overwhelmed by the moment in a post-game interview on ABC (Twitter video link), taking a long time to compose himself before calling it “everything I ever dreamed of.”
With a huge contingent of Knicks fans cheering them on after making the trip to San Antonio, Brunson said the championship is “the reason I came to New York” as he accepted the Bill Russell NBA Finals MVP Award.
Head coach Mike Brown thanked owner James Dolan and team president Leon Rose before giving a shout-out to New York fans for their support. Sources tell NBA insider Chris Haynes that the Knicks plan to fly back to New York City tonight to continue their celebration (Twitter link). Dolan implored New Yorkers to be safe and said the championship parade will be held on Thursday (Twitter link via Brett Siegel of ClutchPoints).
Saturday’s game followed a familiar pattern as San Antonio built a large early lead before the Knicks began to chip away. New York scored just 13 points in the first quarter as the Spurs flashed a dominant defense built around Victor Wembanyama patrolling the paint. San Antonio kept the lead for most of the game, but the Knicks put together another late rally led by Brunson, who finished 14-of-27 from the field and 4-of-7 from three-point range.
Mikal Bridges (14 points), Josh Hart (13) and OG Anunoby (11) were the only other Knicks players to hit double figures, but Brunson made plenty of big shots with the game in the balance. It was a difficult night for Karl-Anthony Towns, who was in foul trouble all game and finished with two points and 10 rebounds in less than 23 minutes.
Rookie guard Dylan Harper carried the offensive load for the Spurs, posting 25 points, five rebounds and four assists in 31 minutes off the bench. Wembanyama contributed 19 points, 14 rebounds and five blocks.
“We weren’t ready to win an NBA championship,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said after the loss, per Siegel (Twitter link). “The better team won. We did a lot of good things, and we didn’t finish the job. That’s what it is.”
Even though the series lasted just five games, it will go down as one of the most competitive in NBA Finals history, according to Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic (Twitter link). New York outscored San Antonio by just 12 total points, which is tied for the closest Finals ever that went five or fewer games.
The Knicks also set a record with the longest drought between championships, notes Law Murray of The Athletic (Twitter link), breaking the old mark of 50 years held by Milwaukee (1971-2021).
The long-awaited title is the result of several gutsy moves by Rose and the front office, states Kevin O’Connor of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). Rose made the decision a year ago to fire head coach Tom Thibodeau, who had just taken the team to the conference finals, and replace him with Brown, who was dismissed by Sacramento in the middle of last season.
Rose’s transformation of the Knicks from a perennial loser to a title contender began with the 2022 signing of Brunson in free agency, but it also included ambitious trades that brought in Anunoby, Hart, Towns and Bridges, as well as smaller moves to pick up Landry Shamet and Jose Alvarado.
“I found a home in New York,” Hart said during the post-game celebration (Twitter link from James L. Edwards of The Athletic). “They embrace for who I am, and I’m not perfect.”
As always, the end of the NBA Finals marks the beginning of the league’s offseason. Starting Sunday, teams will be permitted to negotiate with their own free agents and extension-eligible players — contract agreements reached before the end of the month with those players can be officially finalized in July. Trade restrictions are also lifted, as all 30 teams are now able to make deals.
The major decision for New York in its quest to repeat will be how to handle Mitchell Robinson as he approaches unrestricted free agency. Robinson is the longest-tenured Knick and an indispensable part of the second unit, but the team already has a very expensive roster in place. Jordan Clarkson and Shamet will also be unrestricted free agents, while Alvarado holds a $4.5MM player option.
The Spurs’ roster is more stable as most of their rotation is on low-cost rookie deals. Wembanyama, Devin Vassell and Keldon Johnson will all be extension-eligible this summer, as will Julian Champagnie, whose contract includes a $3MM team option for next season. It will be interesting to see whether San Antonio decides to explore trade opportunities involving De’Aaron Fox, who suffered through a difficult Finals and has a four-year, maximum-salary extension that’s about to kick in. That contract is worth a projected $221.76MM.
The Spurs and Thunder are listed as the early co-favorites for next year’s title by DraftKings, relays Bill Speros of The Boston Herald (Twitter link).
Franz Wagner Hopes To Move Past Injury Issues
Magic forward Franz Wagner is coming off the most frustrating season of his NBA career, as a recurring left high ankle sprain caused him to miss 48 games. In an interview with Cyro Asseo of HoopsHype, Wagner talks about the difficulty of not being able to overcome the injury and admits it might have been a mistake for him to play when the team visited his native Germany on January 15.
“It was very challenging. At the end of the day, if we’re not healthy as athletes, we can’t do our jobs, so that’s the most important thing,” Wagner said. “And so there’s always that pressure that you need to be out there and perform and help the team out. So not being able to do that and not seeing the results in rehab, too, when you’re going really hard, it was really frustrating for me. And basically, trying to rehab the same injury three times in a year was tough for me, always having the same kind of setback feeling.
“The way it went, I probably shouldn’t have played (in Germany). Everybody understands the situation that it was, and honestly, I hate to say it, but I don’t really regret the decision to play. It was that special of a moment for me, and for a lot of other people who were there. So, it just happened to be a bad moment in time, probably, but maybe some people hate me for this, but it was a really special moment for my family and me. So, I was happy that I got the chance to at least be out there.”
Wagner’s season got off to a promising start, as he averaged 23.4 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 3.8 assists in his first 23 games. He suffered the injury in the next contest and sat out 16 straight games before returning for a pair in Berlin and London. He was sidelined for another nine games after that, then came back on February 9 and 11 before experiencing another setback. He returned for six games in April, then played the first four games of a playoff series against Detroit before suffering a right calf strain.
Wagner addressed several more topics in the interview. Here are a few highlights:
Playing in front of the Berlin crowd a few months after capturing gold at EuroBasket:
“You gotta understand, basketball is a very much growing sport in Germany, and we have had great success with the national team these last couple of years. So in my mind, I’m trying to capitalize on the moment a little bit, and the game in Berlin was a big part of that. Like I said, we need as many people, as many kids starting the sport to play, and that’s kind of the whole goal of this, to grow the sport at home. And moments like that, I know I would have killed to be at an NBA game when I was a kid. So, I know how special it was for everybody who was there.”
His offseason approach to avoid more injuries:
“It’s rehabbing first of all, the injuries that I did have, and then sort of addressing some of the patterns, maybe why injuries keep coming up. That’s the goal: that you’re not hurt at all, and not just treating symptoms when they come up, but taking preventive measures. I have a great amount of time now in the summer to do some of that.”
The coaching change in Orlando, with Spurs top assistant Sean Sweeney replacing Jamahl Mosley:
“For sure, it’s very exciting for all of us. We’ve played pretty much the same core together for five years, and it’s gonna be a lot of change in the building next year. I haven’t met Sweeney yet in person, but just texting back and forth, you can feel the excitement from him too. And it speaks to his work ethic as well as character. Getting a job that young is not easy. It hasn’t been too much; he’s still in the Finals. I also want to respect that, but we’re all really excited for next year.”