Poll: Pistons’ Lottery Pick
The biggest loser during the draft lottery was the Pistons. After finishing with the worst record, they entered the lottery at the top of the list. They slid all the way down to the No. 5 spot after the lottery was conducted.
The Pistons under general manager Troy Weaver are at a crossroads. The roster has been totally revamped since Weaver, who is never hesitant to wheel and deal, took over. There are lots of young players dotting the roster but it’s uncertain just how well those pieces fit.
Detroit should be significantly better next season just based on the fact it will have 2021 No. 1 pick Cade Cunningham back in action. Cunningham missed virtually the entire season due to shin surgery.
The Pistons’ 2022 lottery picks, Jaden Ivey and Jalen Duren, showed plenty of promise in their rookie campaign. Certainly, the team is excited by the prospect of Ivey and Cunningham playing together a full season with 2020 lottery pick Killian Hayes backing them up.
Detroit acquired Marvin Bagley and James Wiseman – No. 2 overall picks who were busts with their original teams – over the past two seasons. The Pistons also have two highly valued veterans in Bojan Bogdanovic and Alec Burks.
The franchise has to show major improvement next season to justify all the years of rebuilding. With the Pistons owing the Knicks a first-rounder, this could be the last time Detroit has a lottery pick in the near future.
There are a number of prospects to choose from at the No. 5 pick. Brandon Miller could theoretically slide down that far, though it’s a long shot. More likely, wings such as Cam Whitmore, Ausar Thompson and Anthony Black will be in play at that spot.
Weaver could shift gears and try to trade down in – or even out of – the first round for veteran help to give the Pistons a fighting chance to at least make the play-in tournament next season.
So what should the Pistons do with their first-rounder? Vote in our poll, then head to the comment section below to weigh in!
What should the Pistons do with the No. 5 pick?
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Hold onto it and draft the best player available 46% (685)
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Trade it to acquire a veteran starter 30% (443)
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Trade down to accumulate assets 13% (200)
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Trade up for a better pick 11% (162)
Total votes: 1,490
Celtics Notes: White, Brogdon, Officiating Report, Mid-Range Shots
Derrick White saved the Celtics’ season with a game-winning putback just before the buzzer in Miami on Saturday night, but he also made a number of underrated contributions earlier in the game, Baxter Holmes of ESPN notes.
White’s teammates shot 6-of-8 off his passes for 12 points and he held the Heat to 1-of-12 shooting when he contested a shot. That includes an 0-for-6 performance by Jimmy Butler when White was his primary defender in Game 6.
White has two years left on his four-year, $70MM contract.
We have more on the Celtics:
- Guard Malcolm Brogdon is listed as questionable for Game 7, Tim Bontemps of ESPN tweets. Brogdon suffered a right forearm strain that limited him in Game 5 and forced him to miss Game 6.
- The NBA officiating report stated the timing on allowing three seconds to remain after Butler was fouled by Al Horford was correct, Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel tweets. The officials added 0.9 seconds to the clock after a review. The report says the only incorrect calls in the last two minutes were a missed foul by Gabe Vincent against Jayson Tatum and a lane violation on Miami’s Caleb Martin.
- Mid-range shots played a key role in Game 6 as the Celtics made only 7-of-35 three-pointers and forced just five turnovers, Adam Himmelsbach of the Boston Globe observes. Based on the NBA.com shot chart, the Celtics connected on 12-of-19 shots inside the 3-point line and outside the restricted area, while the Heat were just 6-for-28 in that area.
Draft Notes: Mensah, Ellis, Hill, Perry
Forward Nathan Mensah has workouts coming up with the Hornets, Grizzlies, Pistons, Bucks and Cavaliers, Adam Zagoria tweets. Mensah averaged 6.0 points and 5.9 rebounds for San Diego State last season during its run to the title game.
We have more draft-related info:
- Arkansas’ El Ellis is withdrawing from the draft and will return to school next season, CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein tweets. Ellis is transferring from Louisville, where he averaged 17.7 points and 4.4 assists last season.
- UNLV forward Jalen Hill is also withdrawing the draft, Rothstein reports in another tweet. Hill averaged 9.7 points and 5.8 rebounds last season.
- Tylor Perry is headed to Kansas State after withdrawing from the draft, Rothstein adds (Twitter link). Perry averaged 17.3 points for North Texas last season. Perry announced he was entering the draft in early April, though he wasn’t on the official league entry list.
Community Shootaround: Raptors’ Offseason
The Raptors find themselves at a significant crossroads this offseason, with a variety of decisions to make about the direction of their roster in the short- and long-term.
Toronto’s first priority, of course, is finding a new head coach. The club let Nick Nurse go after a five-year run, during which he led the franchise to its first-ever NBA title in 2019. He was named the league’s Coach of the Year in 2020.
More recently, the team finished the 2022/23 season with a 41-41 record and the ninth seed in the East. The Raptors were quickly ousted from the postseason by the Bulls in a play-in game.
Toronto has already interviewed several candidates for the opening, and is pondering several others, per our tracker. The Raptors have spoken with – or is expected to talk to – Bucks assistant Charles Lee, Kings associate head coach Jordi Fernandez, Suns assistant Kevin Young, Spurs assistant Mitch Johnson, Grizzlies assistant Darko Rajakovic, former Nets head coach Steve Nash, Warriors assistant Kenny Atkinson, Heat assistant Chris Quinn, Nuggets assistant David Adelman, player-turned-ESPN analyst JJ Redick, and Virtus Bologna head coach Sergio Scariolo.
Toronto has also been linked to former Suns head coach Monty Williams, Williams’ former Phoenix assistant Patrick Mutombo, and Vanderbilt head coach Jerry Stackhouse. While the club had informal conversations with Las Vegas Aces head coach Becky Hammon, it is unlikely Hammon is ready to move on from her current gig just yet. The Raptors also spoke with Nurse’s former assistant coach, Adrian Griffin, though it has been reported that the Bucks plan to hire Griffin as their new head coach.
Nurse, meanwhile, is currently in the running to fill the head coaching vacancies of the Sixers or Suns.
At present, the Raptors are still fielding several veteran players from their championship run, including All-Star power forward Pascal Siakam, 2022 All-Star point guard Fred VanVleet, and 3-and-D swingman OG Anunoby. The team’s most important player, however, might be 2022 Rookie of the Year Scottie Barnes, who regressed a bit during his sophomore season. The 6’9″ forward out of Florida State didn’t evolve much as a ball-handler or scorer this year, while his defense plateaued.
In terms of potential free agents, center Jakob Poeltl will be unrestricted, while guards VanVleet and Gary Trent Jr. both have player options for next season. Veteran reserve forward Thaddeus Young, who averaged just 14.7 MPG off the bench this year, has an $8MM contract for next season that is only partially guaranteed for $1MM. The direction the Raptors ultimately opt to take could dictate what the team decides to do with Young’s money, though he probably wouldn’t command nearly that much coin in free agency at this point.
Given that the NBA is poised to have a fairly light free agent class, especially in terms of guards, both VanVleet and Trent seem to be in line for lucrative new deals somewhere. VanVleet’s option for next season is worth $22.8MM, while Trent’s would pay a guaranteed $18.6MM, plus $250K in unlikely contract incentives. As an experienced championship playmaker in his NBA prime, VanVleet should have a robust market, while Trent is a solid veteran floor spacer. Would Toronto want to re-sign both players to new long-term contracts, or try to coordinate sign-and-trades for one or both?
The 29-year-old Siakam is in the final season of a four-year, $136.9MM maximum extension he signed with Toronto during the 2020 offseason, and is now eligible for his next extension.
Should Toronto opt to ultimately rebuild its roster and prioritize its youth, it would find plenty of suitors for the contracts of Siakam and Anunoby.
The Raptors have a late lottery pick, No. 13 in this year’s draft, at their disposal, with which team president Masai Ujiri can add more young talent under long-term team control. A deal to offload Siakam or Anunoby, or perhaps VanVleet in a sign-and-trade, could probably get Toronto an even better lottery selection this year.
Trying to simultaneously compete with veterans while also developing youth, in the form of Barnes and this new lottery pick, is a difficult line to thread. The Warriors have found some some success with their “two timelines” approach, though several of their young role players failed to take next steps in their growth this season. Toronto obviously has had mixed success thus far in this department. Would the club be open to trying again?
We want to know what you think. What should the Raptors do this offseason? Which head coach among their finalists should they hire? Should they build around Siakam and/or Barnes? Head to the comments section to share your thoughts.
2023 NBA Offseason Preview: Los Angeles Clippers
The Clippers‘ dual acquisitions of Kawhi Leonard and Paul George during the 2019 offseason were supposed to make the franchise a perennial championship contender. And the team has entered virtually every training camp since then with title aspirations.
But the injury bug remains undefeated against this iteration of the Clippers. Neither Leonard nor George has played more than 57 games in a season since arriving in Los Angeles, and both players have missed crucial playoff games due to health issues.
Could this year’s Clippers have made a deep postseason run with a fully healthy roster? Maybe not. But it’s frustrating that we’ll never know for sure, since Leonard was sidelined two games into the first round due to a torn meniscus and George wasn’t able to suit up at all due to a knee injury of his own.
When Michael Winger, who left the Clippers this week after serving as the team’s general manager for the last six years, gave his first media interview after being hired by the Wizards, he said he still believes to his “core” that a team led by Leonard and George can win a championship if those two forwards stay healthy. There’s no indication that the rest of L.A.’s front office doesn’t share that view, which means there’s no reason to expect the team to break up the star duo this offseason.
Leonard and George are now both on the wrong side of 30, and the NBA’s new Collective Bargaining Agreement will make it more difficult than ever for the league’s biggest-spending teams to fortify their rosters. The Clippers’ task this offseason will be to determine how best to capitalize on a championship window that may not be open for much longer.
The Clippers’ Offseason Plan
If we assume Leonard and George aren’t going anywhere, which seems like a relatively safe bet, the question this summer is how the Clippers will improve the roster around them.
Free agency likely won’t be a viable path. While it remains unclear just how many of the rules related to the new second tax apron will go into effect in 2023/24, it sounds like teams above that second apron likely won’t have access to the taxpayer mid-level exception this offseason. Sign-and-trades also aren’t an option for taxpayers, so the Clippers would be limited to the minimum salary exception on the free agent market.
That doesn’t mean they won’t be able to add a rotation player in free agency — there may be a productive veteran or two who wants to chase a title in Los Angeles and who would be willing to sign for the minimum. But that’s not something the Clippers can necessarily count on.
The draft probably won’t be a realistic avenue for roster upgrades either. The Clippers do have a first-round pick, but due to a swap, they own Milwaukee’s first-rounder rather than their own, so they’re picking at No. 30. It’s not impossible to find a quality rotation player, or even a future impact player, at that spot — just ask Jimmy Butler, Desmond Bane, Josh Hart, Kyle Anderson, and Kevon Looney. But it’s rare for a 30th overall pick to provide useful minutes as a rookie to a team with title aspirations.
That leaves the trade market, which is the Clippers’ best hope of meaningfully upgrading – or at least balancing – their roster this offseason. Six of the 10 L.A. players who have guaranteed salaries for 2023/24 are earning between $10.5MM and $18MM, making them ideal matching pieces. And while not all of those players are expendable, there’s certainly some positional overlap in the group, so the Clippers could afford to sacrifice a little depth in a deal for the right player.
Nicolas Batum and Robert Covington, both of whom will earn $11.7MM on expiring contracts next season, look like potential trade candidates. Batum’s playing time fluctuated over the course of the season, while Covington fell out of the rotation entirely for much of the year.
Marcus Morris ($18MM) is another player whose role was cut back down the stretch — he started 65 regular season games for the Clippers, but didn’t play at all during the last nine games of the regular season or the first two games of the playoffs.
The Clippers are unlikely to trade all three forwards, but it appears there aren’t enough minutes to go around for all of them, especially when Leonard and George are available.
What will the Clippers be looking for on the trade market? A play-making point guard who can knock down an outside shot would make sense with this roster. However, given the modest appeal of veterans like Morris, Batum, and Covington and the team’s lack of movable draft assets, the front office will have to keep its expectations in check. The Clippers aren’t a team that could realistically make a play for Damian Lillard, for instance.
A reunion with Chris Paul would be possible if the Clips want to pursue it — they have the sort of tradable players who should appeal to Phoenix, and the Suns’ asking price for Paul probably won’t be substantial. But adding CP3 to this group would make the Clippers even more susceptible to the injury bug. Spencer Dinwiddie, Kyle Lowry, and Terry Rozier are among the other veteran guards who would likely be within reach for L.A.
An upgrade at the center spot may also be something the Clippers explore on the trade market, but the team likes Ivica Zubac, and Mason Plumlee was a nice fit after being acquired at the trade deadline. The only issue is that Plumlee is a free agent — re-signing him to a market-value deal will push the Clippers’ tax bill higher and its team salary further over that second apron. It may be worth it though, especially if many of the restrictions on apron teams don’t go into effect for another year. If Plumlee walks, they’ll need to find a reliable big man to back up Zubac.
Los Angeles will also have to make a decision on Eric Gordon, whose $20.9MM salary for 2023/24 is non-guaranteed. Given the Clippers’ salary situation and Gordon’s age and declining usage, it may not be prudent to retain him at that price, but it’s not as simple as waiving him and re-signing him at a lower figure. The club would lose any form of Bird rights on Gordon if he’s cut, potentially ending the relationship unless he’s willing to accept a minimum-salary deal, which seems unlikely.
The Clippers are essentially in that situation now with Russell Westbrook, who played well after signing with the team on the buyout market. Because Westbrook signed a minimum-salary deal and L.A. only has his Non-Bird rights, the team can’t offer him a salary worth more than 20% above the minimum. There will almost certainly be bidders willing to offer more than that, so unless Westbrook is open to taking a discount to stick around, his days as a Clipper may be over.
Of course, while fortifying the roster is a priority in the short term, the Clippers can’t take their eyes off the future, which brings us back to the two star forwards. Leonard and George are both eligible for extensions this offseason and will be able to reach free agency in 2024 if they don’t sign new deals before then.
On one hand, if they don’t offer extensions to Leonard and George, the Clippers run the risk of alienating their two best players and could be setting themselves up to lose one or both of them for nothing a year from now. On the other hand, locking up Leonard and George to massive new long-term contracts that run through their mid-30s feels a bit reckless, given their respective injury histories.
It will be fascinating to see how the Clippers approach those contract discussions. For what it’s worth, both Leonard and George are Los Angeles natives who joined the Clippers in large part because they wanted to be back home, so they don’t fit the profile of stars who would be quick to seek a change of scenery if extension talks don’t go as planned this summer.
Salary Cap Situation
Guaranteed Salary
Paul George ($45,640,084)- Kawhi Leonard ($45,640,084)
- Norman Powell ($18,000,000)
- Marcus Morris ($17,116,279)
- Nicolas Batum ($11,710,818)
- Robert Covington ($11,692,308)
- Ivica Zubac ($10,933,333)
- Terance Mann ($10,576,923)
- Amir Coffey ($3,666,667)
- Bones Hyland ($2,306,400)
- Total: $177,282,896
Dead/Retained Salary
- None
Player Options
- None
Team Options
- None
Non-Guaranteed Salary
- Eric Gordon ($20,917,902)
- Gordon’s salary would become fully guaranteed if he’s not waived on or before June 28.
- Brandon Boston Jr. ($1,836,096)
- Boston’s salary would become fully guaranteed if he’s not waived on or before June 30.
- Jason Preston ($1,836,096)
- Preston’s salary would become fully guaranteed if he’s not waived on or before July 2.
- Total: $24,590,094
Restricted Free Agents
- None
Two-Way Free Agents
Draft Picks
- No. 30 overall ($2,377,560)
- No. 48 overall (no cap hold)
- Total: $2,377,560
Extension-Eligible Players
- Brandon Boston Jr. (veteran)
- Paul George (veteran)
- Eric Gordon (veteran)
- Terance Mann (veteran)
- Marcus Morris (veteran)
- Mason Plumlee (veteran)
- Jason Preston (veteran)
Note: These are players who are either already eligible for an extension or will become eligible before the 2023/24 season begins. Plumlee is only eligible until June 30.
Unrestricted Free Agents / Other Cap Holds
- Mason Plumlee ($17,252,792 cap hold): Bird rights
- Russell Westbrook ($1,989,698 cap hold): Non-Bird rights
- Rodney Hood ($1,989,698 cap hold): Non-Bird rights
- Total: $21,232,188
Note: The cap hold for Hood remains on the Clippers’ books from a prior season because it hasn’t been renounced. He can’t be used in a sign-and-trade deal.
Cap Exceptions Available
- Taxpayer mid-level exception: $5,000,000
- Trade exception: $2,134,843
Note: The Clippers may not have access to any form of mid-level exception next season if certain new rules related to the second tax apron go into effect immediately.
Pacific Notes: Ishbia, Suns, Clippers, Lakers
New Suns owner Mat Ishbia‘s swift, decisive decision making thus far with Phoenix could impact how his coaching candidates view the gig, writes Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic.
As Rankin notes, within 12 hours of Ishbia assuming control over the franchise, the team had already made a massive deal, acquiring forwards Kevin Durant and T.J. Warren from the Nets for young talents Mikal Bridges and Cameron Johnson, along with several draft picks.
Ishbia also was quick to move on from head coach Monty Williams, who possessed a 194-115 regular season record with the club, just two years removed from an NBA Finals berth.
At present, Ishbia is something of a wild card as an owner, which could give some of the finalists for the head coaching vacancy pause.
There’s more out of the Pacific Division:
- The Suns and the Phoenix Mercury, the WNBA team Ishbia also purchased, have made formal bids to host future All-Star Games, Rankin writes in a separate piece. “We’re excited to partner with the city of Phoenix to engage the NBA and WNBA to bring both All-Star Games to the Valley,” Ishbia said. “Phoenix is one of the great basketball cities in the world and the perfect place to bring together the players and fans to celebrate the sport. The Phoenix Suns and Mercury want to continue finding new and important ways to partner with the city to bring real impact to our community.”
- With one of their top front office lieutenants gone, the Clippers face several looming offseason decisions, writes Law Murray of The Athletic. Former Los Angeles GM Michael Winger departed the team to run the Wizards. As Murray notes, 2023/24 marks the final season with injury-prone stars Kawhi Leonard and Paul George on guaranteed deals, as both players hold options for the 2024/25 season. Murray wonders if Clippers team president Lawrence Frank will opt to extend Leonard, George, or head coach Tyronn Lue.
- Though the Lakers could theoretically make a run for the services of Mavericks All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving in free agency or Hawks point guard Trae Young via trade, Mark Medina of The Sporting Tribune believes the club should prioritize roster continuity over splashy names.
Southeast Notes: Winger, Hornets, Hawks’ Coaches, Bitadze
New Wizards president Michael Winger loves the idea of building a foundation and he’s eager to use the lessons he learned during his time with the Cavaliers, Thunder and Clippers, writes Ben Golliver of The Washington Post. Winger is taking on one of the NBA’s biggest challenges in the Wizards, who haven’t posted a 50-win season in 44 years. He’s inheriting a team that’s desperately in need of a makeover after missing the play-in tournament, but he welcomes that opportunity.
“I wouldn’t want a ready-made organization,” he said. “That’s not very exciting. It’s going to be a matter of establishing a culture and creating an identity that we can latch onto and carry into the next half-decade. Sometimes, change for the sake of change accelerates progress.”
Winger had been with Los Angeles since 2017 and he helped team president Lawrence Frank oversee the transition from the Chris Paul–Blake Griffin era to the new-look Clippers built around Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. Winger comes highly recommended as he looks to perform a similar roster remake in Washington.
“One thing that separates Michael from others is his ability to be a couple steps ahead,” Frank said. “It’s one thing to know what you’re trying to get accomplished. But Michael can show you how the pieces on the board need to move to get it done, and how one move can set up the next. That’s invaluable.”
There’s more from the Southeast Division:
- Hornets general manager Mitch Kupchak has a talent for finding useful players late in the draft, and he’ll have an opportunity again this year as Charlotte holds five selections, per Roderick Boone of The Charlotte Observer. They Hornets landed the second slot in the lottery, and they control picks No. 27, 34, 39 and 41 as well. Charlotte has been holding workouts with a lot of players projected to go in that range, including Saturday’s session with Serbian forward Nikola Djurisic. “So at the combine, I hit some shots. I was hitting shots — five in a row, six in a row, which I think the scouts from the clubs can see me shoot, differently from in the game or practice,” Djurisic said. They could see me shoot. But I’m not worried about the 3-point shot because it will come with hard work. But they could see I’m athletic.”
- Bryan Bailey, Antonio Lang, Mike Brey and Sanjay Lumpkin will be announced as members of Quin Snyder‘s coaching staff with the Hawks, tweets Emiliano Carchia of Sportando. Jeff Watkinson and Steven Klei will be retained from the current staff, sources tell Carchia.
- The Magic have a team option on Goga Bitadze for the 2023/24 season, and Khobi Price of The Orlando Sentinel suggests that the aggressive rebounding he displayed during his brief time in Orlando will make them consider picking it up. Bitadze averaged 5.8 points and 5.2 rebounds after signing with the Magic in February, and he was the team’s primary backup center by the end of the season.
Nuggets Notes: Jokic, Front Office, Brown
Nikola Jokic enjoyed sweeping the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals, but he didn’t view it as a reason to celebrate, writes Mike Singer of The Denver Post. Jokic was typically low-key on Saturday during a session with reporters as he prepares for the first NBA Finals appearance for both himself and his team.
Denver had to overcome a large deficit in Game 4 against L.A., and the victory wasn’t secure until Jamal Murray and Aaron Gordon combined to shut down LeBron James on the final play. It set up a career milestone for Jokic, but he didn’t get emotional about it.
“The win was nice,” he said. “Like half an hour after that, it was just OK. It’s a win. I thought it’s gonna be much bigger feeling, to be honest.”
There’s more from Denver:
- Jokic’s desire to join the Nuggets a year after being drafted stemmed more from personal reasons than professional, per Mark Kiszla of The Denver Post (subscription required). Jokic played one season in the Adriatic League, but he wanted to come to the United States to be closer to his girlfriend, who’s now his wife, and his brothers. Jokic wasn’t certain that he was good enough to play in the NBA, but he asked the Nuggets if he could take part in training camp in 2015 so he could be near his loved ones. “I was more happy to be around them than to be in the NBA,” he admitted.
- General manager Calvin Booth has been in his current job for less than a year, so he wants to make sure the architects of the team get recognized for assembling a championship roster, Singer adds in another Denver Post story (subscription required). Booth offered thanks to former team president Tim Connelly, who put together a version of the Kentavious Caldwell-Pope trade before he left to take over the Timberwolves last summer, and to others who played a role in building the team’s foundation. “(Tim) deserves a ton of credit,” Booth said. “I also think Josh (Kroenke) and (former GM) Masai (Ujiri) deserve credit. … They did the Carmelo (Anthony) trade, and the Carmelo trade ended up being a lot of different assets that helped this team get to this point, one of them being Jamal with the pick swap. I feel like each iteration of the front office has helped contribute to get to this point.”
- The Nuggets were fortunate to land Bruce Brown on the second day of free agency last July, Harrison Wind and Adam Mares of DNVR Sports state on their podcast. Brown said he didn’t get any immediate offers when free agency began, so he was thrilled when Denver expressed interest.
Celtics Notes: White, Smart, Game 6, Horford
Derrick White didn’t need to wait for a review to know that his game-winning tip Saturday night left his hand before the buzzer, writes Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe. White became the latest hero in the Celtics‘ long playoff history, putting back Marcus Smart‘s miss a split second before time expired to extend this year’s wildest series to a seventh game.
After inbounding the ball with three seconds left, White crashed the boards in case of a missed shot. The Heat denied passes to Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, leaving Smart to fire up a three-pointer that rattled in and out, setting the stage for White’s putback.
“That’s the only place it could have bounced to hurt us,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “I thought we had a lot of things covered on that play, and sometimes things just don’t break your way.”
The play saved the Celtics from what was shaping up to be an epic collapse with their season on the line. They led by nine points with three minutes to play before their offense stalled, allowing Miami to take the lead on three late free throws by Jimmy Butler.
White’s tip denied the Heat a spot in the NBA Finals, at least for now, and it kept alive the Celtics’ chances to become the first team in league history to overcome a 3-0 deficit.
“The group that we have is unique, the group that we have is special,” Brown said, “and sometimes you need a little bit of luck to bring it home.”
There’s more on the Celtics:
- Smart was determined to get his shot off quickly after his potential game-winning three in Game 4 against Philadelphia was disallowed because it came after the buzzer, per Brian Windhorst of ESPN. Smart told reporters that he rushed to release the shot last night to make sure that didn’t happen again.
- A challenge used by coach Joe Mazzulla when Butler got fouled set the stage for White’s heroics. The clock was at 2.1 seconds when the whistle blew, but it was reset to 3.0 after a review of the play. The decision to change the time was made by the NBA’s review center, tweets Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald.
- A trip to Topgolf may have turned around the Celtics’ fortunes in the series, according to Jared Weiss of The Athletic. After a lifeless performance in the Game 3 loss, Al Horford decided that the players needed a fun activity to reconnect with each other, so he suggested to Mazzulla that they all skip a planned film session and go golfing instead. “That moment, that small instance, that small moment really signifies everything that we’re seeing right now,” Brown said after Saturday’s win. “In that moment, we could have chose to be like, throw in the towel, and I think like that’s what everybody was expecting or seeing or feeling, that that was coming. But no, that’s not how we wanted to go out.”
Stein’s Latest: Irving, Russell, Wizards, M. Williams, Raptors
If the Lakers opt to pursue Kyrie Irving in free agency, the Mavericks wouldn’t be interested in taking back free agent guard D’Angelo Russell as the primary player in a sign-and-trade deal, Marc Stein reports in his latest Substack column.
There hasn’t been any concrete information that trying to sign Irving is part of the Lakers’ offseason plans, Stein adds, but there’s plenty of speculation that LeBron James would like to reunite with his former Cavaliers teammate. L.A. was heavily rumored as a possible destination for Irving when he considered opting out of his contract last summer and again when he asked the Nets for a trade in February.
James’ retirement talk after being swept by Denver is widely seen as a message to the Lakers’ front office that a roster upgrade is needed, but Stein isn’t convinced that they’ll be active on the free agent market. He states that the team’s preferred plan is to reach new deals with two of its own free agents, Austin Reaves and Rui Hachimura. It’s less certain that L.A. wants to keep Russell after his disastrous performance in the Western Conference Finals, Stein adds.
The Mavericks appear committed to keeping Irving after paying a high price to acquire him from Brooklyn, according to Stein. A report last weekend indicated that a “handshake deal” may already be in place for Irving to remain in Dallas.
Stein passes along more inside information:
- Teams around the league are expecting new Wizards president Michael Winger to be aggressive in trying to reshape the roster this summer, but Bradley Beal‘s no-trade clause may complicate his plans. Stein points out that Beal has four seasons left on his five-year, $251MM contract and can’t be sent to any other team unless he agrees to the deal. Stein also wonders how the front office change will affect Kristaps Porzingis, who reportedly began extension talks in March.
- Kevin Ollie and Charles Lee were set for second interviews this week for the Pistons‘ head coaching vacancy, but Stein hears that the team hasn’t given up on its pursuit of Monty Williams. The former Suns head coach reportedly turned down a “big-money” offer from Detroit, but some members of the organization are hoping he might reconsider.
- A source tells Stein that Kings associate head coach Jordi Fernandez is a legitimate candidate to become the Raptors‘ new head coach.