Community Shootaround: Giannis Antetokounmpo’s Future
Through the first two games of the Bucks‘ first-round series vs. Indiana, Most Valuable Player finalist Giannis Antetokounmpo has put up absolutely massive numbers, including averages of 35.0 points, 15.0 rebounds, and 4.0 assists per night on 65.1% shooting.
But he has gotten little help from his teammates in either game. Milwaukee has been outscored by 29 points when Antetokounmpo is on the floor and dropped both contests in Indiana. The Bucks are now heading back home facing a 2-0 deficit in the series.
In both 2023 and 2024, the Bucks were eliminated in the first round of the postseason without Antetokounmpo, who was unable to suit up due to injuries. With their star forward healthy and available this spring, the Bucks had higher expectations and haven’t given up on achieving them — the series is hardly out of reach if Milwaukee can defend its home court in Games 3 and 4.
However, the Pacers have looked like the better team so far, overwhelming the Bucks with their fast-paced offensive attack and creating a difficult hole for Milwaukee to climb out of.
Point guard Damian Lillard has only just returned from a month-long absence due to a blood clot in his calf and doesn’t look like he’s in peak form, while trade-deadline acquisition Kyle Kuzma hasn’t been particularly effective through two games, scoring just 12 total points on 5-of-15 shooting and grabbing three rebounds in 52 minutes of action.
As ESPN’s Brian Windhorst noted on the latest episode of his Hoop Collective podcast (YouTube link), a third consecutive first-round exit would be a disaster for the Bucks, who posted their lowest regular season winning percentage (.585) since 2017/18, have been a taxpaying team for several years, and no longer have the assets to pursue major roster upgrades. It would also lead to serious scrutiny of Antetokounmpo’s future in Milwaukee.
“Giannis has been just awesome this season,” Windhorst said (hat tip to RealGM). “He has clearly understood that they’re challenged. And he has cut the BS out of his game and cut the fat out of his game and tried doing everything he can to carry this team, and they’re just not good enough. What is he supposed to do?
“This is the elephant in the room in the league right now. This team is losing tens of millions of dollars. They’re out all their draft picks. (Brook) Lopez and (Bobby) Portis are free agents.”
Windhorst’s ESPN colleague Tim MacMahon followed up by describing the Bucks’ future as “bleak” and suggesting that Antetokounmpo may have to decide soon whether he wants to be a player who spends his entire career with one franchise or if he wants to move to a situation where he’d have a better chance to compete for more titles while he’s still in his prime.
Even if the Bucks are eliminated by the Pacers in the coming days, that decision doesn’t necessarily need to be made this summer. Antetokounmpo remains under contract with the Bucks for at least two more years, with a player option on his contract for the 2027/28 season. And Windhorst stresses that there’s no indication the two-time MVP is looking for an exit ramp.
“From talking to people in and around Milwaukee, Giannis has given no indication throughout this entire season that he is not 100% focused on maximizing what the Bucks have,” Windhorst said. “This (speculation) is people in the league looking at the lay of the land, not anything that Giannis has said to anybody.”
Still, it’s not uncommon for situations like this one involving star players to reach a head well before the player reaches free agency. “This is what people in the league are talking about as they’re watching these series,” Windhorst added.
The Nets, armed with significant cap flexibility and a huge collection of extra first-round picks, have made no secret of the fact that they’re prepared to make a major push for Antetokounmpo if the Bucks are open to considering a trade — reports for the better part of a year have indicated he’s Brooklyn’s “Plan A.” But they’d have plenty of company if Giannis ever ends up on the trade block.
We want to know what you think. Can the Bucks come back and win this first-round series vs. the Pacers? If not, will this offseason represent a tipping point for Antetokounmpo’s future or will he remain committed to Milwaukee going forward?
Head to the comment section below to weigh in with your thoughts on the outlook for Giannis.
Haliburton Shrugs Off ‘Overrated’ Label, Addresses Pacers/Bucks Animosity
When The Athletic anonymously asked 90 players around the NBA which player is the most overrated in the league, no one received more votes (13) than Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton. Asked about those poll results after The Athletic published them on Tuesday, Haliburton made it clear he wasn’t fazed.
“I must be doing something right if that’s the case,” the Pacers star said, per James Boyd of The Athletic. “I don’t have a big speech or comment on it. All I care about is this locker room and winning games, and we’re in position to go to Milwaukee and continue this series on. … I know who I am. I’m confident in my own skin and not worried what anybody thinks.”
Although Haliburton was the top vote-getter in the poll, a total of 33 players earned at least one vote, with 19 players named multiple times. Rudy Gobert and Trae Young finished second and third behind Haliburton, followed by Jimmy Butler in fourth. Giannis Antetokounmpo and LeBron James were among the others who received multiple votes.
When he was asked about Haliburton’s spot atop the list, Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle denounced the results more strongly than his starting point guard did, interrupting Boyd before he had finished his question.
“I heard about this and the other guys on the list were Jimmy Butler and Giannis,” Carlisle said (Twitter video link via iPacers.com). “I want to see the guys’ faces that voted those guys. … This is a bull—t poll. Not everybody even answered in the poll. Guys were able to answer if they wanted to. They were asked on camera or with a microphone. The whole thing’s bull—t, OK? And it’s really a shameful thing.
“Jimmy Butler would be a finalist for MVP if he had gotten to Golden State a month and a half earlier (with) what that guy’s done. And Giannis? Are you kidding me?”
Haliburton has done all he can in the first two games of the Pacers’ first-round series to prove the “overrated” label is erroneous. He handed out 12 assists and was a +27 in a Game 1 win on Saturday over the Bucks, then led his team to a Game 2 victory on Tuesday with 21 points and another dozen assists.
Haliburton has also gotten into it with opposing point guard Damian Lillard in both games, first when Lillard was on the bench in Game 1 and then when the two players were on the court in Game 2.
As Stephen Holder of ESPN relays, the Pacers guard downplayed those altercations as two “competitors” going at it in a playoff atmosphere. However, Haliburton didn’t deny the fact that there’s some animosity between the two Central Division teams, who have now faced each other in 17 regular season and playoff games since the start of the 2023/24 season.
“We don’t have to sit here and act like it’s any secret,” he said after Tuesday’s win. “We don’t like them, they don’t like us and that’s just what it is. And I think they live for this, we live for this, so I could (not) care less. I’m out here just trying to help my team win a game.”
Haliburton said he expects the rest of the series to maintain the same intensity level.
“Everybody says the league rivalries aren’t here anymore,” he said. “Well, it’s right here. So, this is an interesting series. We’ve played each other, it feels like, a million times over the last two years. I’ve seen every different coverage that they could throw at us. And I feel like those guys probably feel the same way about us. But there’s still a lot of series, you’ve got a lot of games to play. So, I’m sure there’ll be more heated moments, more competitive moments.”
Rutgers’ Ace Bailey Declares For NBA Draft
Rutgers guard/forward Ace Bailey, considered one of college basketball’s top prospects, has declared for the 2025 NBA draft, he tells Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).
A freshman in 2024/25, Bailey averaged 17.6 points, 7.2 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 1.3 blocks, and 1.0 steal in 33.3 minutes per game across 30 outings (all starts) for the Scarlet Knights, posting a shooting line of .460/.346/.692. He was named to the Big Ten’s All-Freshman team, as well as the All-Big Ten third team.
The No. 3 pick on ESPN’s big board, right behind Rutgers teammate Dylan Harper, Bailey had a “polarizing” season, Jeremy Woo noted in ESPN’s most recent mock draft, but the 6’10” swingman’s rare skill set ensured that he remains near the top of most NBA evaluators’ boards.
“I did good,” Bailey told ESPN. “I could have done way better, but I matured this season. The game slowed down for me. My IQ got higher. I got faster and way stronger. My ball-handling and shooting tightened up. Rutgers had me guarding everyone from point guards to power forwards. I learned a lot.”
ESPN’s Jonathan Givony writes that Bailey has “exceptional” shot-making ability and has displayed impressive defensive intensity. He’s also one of the youngest prospects in the 2025 draft class — he’ll turn 19 in August.
“I’m nowhere close to reaching my potential,” Bailey said. “I’m still young, still learning, but I’m working every day. My play-making is improving. NBA teams will get an energetic player ready to talk, lead and put people in the right positions. I can take a good team to a better level.”
Rockets Notes: Offensive Woes, Green, Holiday
The Rockets scored just 85 points in Game 1 of their first-round series against the Warriors. That has to change dramatically for the higher-seeded Rockets to win the series, Michael Wright of ESPN notes.
“Some guys did struggle offensively — you’re not going to overreact to one game,” coach Ime Udoka said after Sunday’s loss. “But if guys do play better, we have a chance there. Ten-point loss and like I said, holding somebody to 95; it was an offensively poor showing. The defense was good enough. But I’m not going to overreact to that game. It’s some of those guys’ first times and we had our chances.”
Game 2 will be held on Wednesday.
- Houston’s Game 1 offensive performance can’t be easily dismissed, according to Kelly Iko of The Athletic. The Warriors are led by stars Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler, who have many years of playoff experience and can create offense when needed, while the Rockets simply don’t have a player like that on their roster.
- Jalen Green, who averaged 21 points per game during the regular season, shot 3-for-15 from the field and scored seven points in the series opener. He was also limited to two assists. “They went after him some, but he played in the crowd a little bit too much,” Udoka said, per Jonathan Alexander of the Houston Chronicle. “It’s not really the turnovers as much as the shots in the crowd where you have to find your outlet … When he has isolations, you’ve got to find your outlet. That’s going to be a big key in this series.”
- Udoka might expand his eight-man rotation in Game 2 to include Aaron Holiday, an above-average three-point threat. “Yeah, we were considering it last game,” Udoka told Danielle Lerner of the Houston Chronicle. “That unit in the third quarter was running well and so we went with them, stuck with them, but Aaron’s played well against them. Obviously, not just the shooting, his physicality and aggressiveness on defense helps as well. And so yeah, we’re not just tied down to our guys. I think a big part of it was finding the rhythm with our guys and kind of sticking with them through their first experience in the playoffs. That’s part of it, no doubt but yeah Aaron’s had a great series against Golden State.”
Pelicans’ Dumars Won’t Reveal Plans For Zion Williamson
New Pelicans executive vice president of basketball operations Joe Dumars wouldn’t tip his hand regarding his plans for Zion Williamson.
In his introductory press conference, Dumars said he’s had multiple discussions with the team’s oft-injured franchise player but didn’t reveal any details, according to Brett Martel of The Associated Press.
“At the league office, I’ve had to talk to Zion a few times,” said Dumars, who spent the past three seasons as the NBA’s executive vice president and head of basketball operations. “I won’t go into those conversations. But we talked since then, and I’ve talked to Zion since I became the EVP here, and we had exceptional conversations on the phone.”
There’s been plenty of speculation that Williamson could be one of the big names on the trade market this summer. The former No. 1 overall pick appeared in just 30 games this season, making it the fourth time he’s played 30 or fewer games in his six-year career. Williamson, who missed the entire 2021/22 season, still has three years left on his max contract.
Dumars, the longtime Pistons president of basketball operations, says he wants to “find out what’s happening” regarding the rash of injuries that have hit the roster the past two seasons. He also wants a high level of professionalism and commitment throughout the organization. Williamson was suspended one game this season for violating team policies.
“You have to set standards — and you can’t waver from those standards,” Dumars said.
As for head coach Willie Green, Dumars once again didn’t indicate whether he’d return or not, though Green was in attendance at the press conference and Dumars paid him a compliment.
“I’ve been knowing Willie forever — great man,” Dumars said.
A Louisiana native, Dumars indicated he was content with his NBA office job but was persuaded to return to his home state to revive the Pelicans franchise.
“Sometimes opportunities come along and, you know, right place, right time, right people,” Dumars said.
International Prospects Ruzic, Lewis Declare For Draft
A pair of international prospects, Croatian power forward Michael Ruzic and South East Melbourne wing Malique Lewis, are entering the draft, ESPN’s Jonathan Givony reports (Twitter links).
The 6’10” Ruzic is just 18 years old. He’s played for Joventut Badalona in Spain the past two seasons, posting modest numbers. He has averaged 5.0 points and 1.7 rebounds in 15.4 minutes per game through seven EuroCup contests this season. In Liga ACB action, Ruzic played 14 games and averaged 2.6 points and 1.8 rebounds in 11.8 minutes per contest.
Ruzic is ranked No. 49 on ESPN’s Best Available list.
Lewis, 20, played for SE Melbourne in Australia’s National Basketball league this season. He averaged 6.8 points and 4.1 rebounds in 21.5 minutes per game while making 34 appearances.
In 2023/24, Lewis played in the NBA G League for the Mexico City Capitanes. He averaged 9.0 points, 6.0 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.0 steals in 27.7 minutes per game while seeing action in 34 contests. He made 37.7% of his 3-point attempts that season, though that success rate dropped in 31.6% in Australia.
Lewis is currently ranked No. 69 by ESPN, making him a possible second-round pick.
Celtics’ Payton Pritchard Named Sixth Man Of Year
Celtics guard Payton Pritchard has won the Sixth Man of the Year award, the NBA announced on Tuesday (Twitter link).
Pritchard beat out the other finalists, the Pistons’ Malik Beasley and the Cavaliers’ Ty Jerome, for the honor. Pritchard received 82 of a possible 100 first-place votes and recorded 454 total points. Beasley notched 13 first-place votes and 279 points, while Jerome earned two first-place votes and 91 points.
Pritchard posted career-high numbers across the board for the defending champions, averaging 14.3 points, 3.8 rebounds, 3.5 assists, and 0.9 steals in 28.4 minutes per game.
Pritchard, who played 80 regular season contests, shot 47.2% overall and 40.7% from distance. He’s in the first year of a four-year, $30MM contract that he signed in October 2023, which now looks like a major bargain.
Beasley, playing on a one-year contract, averaged 16.3 points, 2.6 rebounds, 1.7 assists, and 0.9 steals in 27.8 minutes per night and didn’t miss a game. The three-point specialist shot 43% overall and 41.6% from distance and was a major reason why Detroit more than tripled its win total.
Jerome, who barely played last season due to an ankle injury, averaged 12.2 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 3.4 assists in 19.9 minutes per game while making 70 appearances. He shot 51.6% overall and 43.9% from three-point land.
This is the second time in three seasons a Celtics guard has won the award. Malcolm Brogdon earned Sixth Man honors in 2023. The Timberwolves’ Naz Reid captured the award last spring.
In total, eight players showed up on at least one Sixth Man ballot this year, with five players receiving a first-place vote. The full results can be viewed here.
Central Notes: Jerome, Schröder, Cunningham, Patton
Ty Jerome, a Sixth Man of the Year award finalist, continues to pump up his value heading into unrestricted free agency. The Cavaliers guard poured in 28 points in 26 minutes during his first postseason game on Sunday.
“This is who Ty is. This is not a shock,” Donovan Mitchell said, per ESPN’s Brian Windhorst. “I know everybody’s going to react like this is a shock that he’d been doing this for us all year.”
Jerome burst onto the scene after missing virtually all of last season due to an ankle injury.
“You get time to reflect on where you need to take the next step,” Jerome said, per The Athletic’s Joe Vardon. “Going into the offseason, your back’s kind of against the wall. You don’t play any games. I don’t really have a huge body of work in the NBA. And you kind of have one last shot, in a way, to make it right.”
We have more from the Central Division:
- Dennis Schröder is proving to be one of the most valuable pickups at the trade deadline. Needing backcourt depth with Jaden Ivey sidelined, the Pistons traded for Schröder. The veteran point guard, who’s headed to free agency, delivered a 20-point performance in the Pistons’ Game 2 upset of the Knicks on Monday night. That included a clutch three-pointer to stave off New York’s late rally. “The ultimate trust,” Detroit coach J.B. Bickerstaff said of playing Schröder in crunch time, per The Athletic’s Hunter Patterson.
- Cade Cunningham played up to his All-Star status with 33 points. The Pistons guard is eager to play postseason games in front of the home fans. He’ll get that opportunity in Game 3 on Thursday and Game 4 on Sunday. “It feels good representing the city like we did (Monday),” Cunningham told John Niyo of the Detroit News. “It’s something that the city’s been waiting on for a long time, so we feel good about it and we’re ready to get back to the crib. … It’s gonna be a lot of fun. I’m excited to see it.”
- The Bulls didn’t pick up their option on Peter Patton‘s contract, letting their director of player development go after two seasons. That was an unpopular decision among the players, Julia Poe of the Chicago Tribune confirms. Coby White, Ayo Dosunmu, Josh Giddey and Matas Buzelis improved their shooting under Patton’s tutelage and publicly praised him. Patton didn’t hold back his opinions on how the team could improve on and off the court and that didn’t always sit well with members of the team’s brass, Poe notes. The Chicago Sun-Times previously reported that Patton’s exit left some players “beyond pissed.”
Mavs Rumors: Health/Performance Team, Doncic, Dumont, Harrison, Kidd
Within an in-depth story focused on the changes made with the Mavericks‘ health and performance department in recent years, Tim MacMahon of ESPN shares several details that reflect poorly on the team’s current management, starting with the firing of longtime director of health and performance Casey Smith in 2023.
As MacMahon explains, several sources believe general manager Nico Harrison fired Smith – who was close with longtime Mavs star Dirk Nowitzki as well as Luka Doncic – because he wasn’t enough of a yes-man.
“(Harrison) was 100 percent threatened by him,” a team source told MacMahon. “He’s going to show that I’m in charge and nobody else can question that.”
MacMahon also reports that the relationship between new director of player health and performance Johann Bilsborough and athletic performance director Keith Belton has been frosty, writing that Bilsborough doesn’t respect Belton’s acumen. Belton was hired by the Mavs first, with Bilsborough later hired as his superior.
A January disagreement over how Dereck Lively‘s foot injury was being handled led to a “loud, heated confrontation” between the two men, according to MacMahon, who hears from one source that the altercation was “coming for a long time.”
Here’s more on the Mavs:
- Both MacMahon and Grant Afseth of Dallas Hoops Journal (Substack link) say the calf strain Doncic sustained on Christmas Day was a source of major tension between the Mavs and the guard’s camp. The team believed that Doncic could be back in two to three weeks and Harrison thought the injury was related to Doncic’s conditioning, whereas the star guard’s camp was adamant that he needed to sit out for six weeks to fully recover and believed the injury stemmed from the fact that he returned too soon from a previous heel issue. “That deepened the divide,” a source told ESPN.
- In the wake of the Doncic trade, Mavericks governor Patrick Dumont no longer views Harrison as having “irreproachable basketball expertise,” sources tell Tim Cato of DLLS Sports (subscription required). Dumont has been especially frustrated that Harrison either didn’t foresee or didn’t better prepare him for the extreme negative reaction to the trade from the fan base, Cato adds.
- Within the same story, Cato cites sources who say that Jason Kidd “resented” the Doncic trade, even though the Mavs head coach shared some of Harrison’s frustrations about Doncic’s work habits. Kidd felt he was being asked to reinvent a roster and a system that had previously been built around Doncic, Cato explains, noting that the coach’s frustration was a factor in his decision to skip a mandatory press conference in February on the same day Doncic made his Lakers debut.
Pacific Notes: Leonard, Bol, Kings, Murray, Ellis
Limited by injuries, veteran forward Kawhi Leonard appeared in just four playoff games for the Clippers from 2022-24 and wasn’t himself last spring, scoring just 24 total points in the two postseason appearances he was able to make. So it was a welcome sight to see a healthy Leonard in peak form on Monday in Denver, writes Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.
Leonard was dominant on both ends of the court, scoring 39 points on 15-of-19 shooting and holding Nuggets players to five points on 2-of-12 shooting when he was the primary defender, per Shelburne. Led by their star forward, the Clippers pulled out a 105-102 win to even the series at one game apiece.
“I’m just happy that I’m able to move,” Leonard said after the game. “That’s what I’m taking pride in is just being healthy. I sat and watched these playoff games and series the past two years. So being able to be front-line out there, it just feels good for me no matter which way the game goes.”
While Leonard has faced criticism over the years due to a perception that he requires constant “load management,” teammate James Harden made it clear that Leonard has worked incredibly hard behind the scenes to get back to 100% and to turn in performances like Monday’s.
“It’s every single day. It’s the preparation. It’s like the treatment, it’s strengthening, you know what I mean, of body, it’s correctives and then it’s going on court and putting it all together,” Harden said. “Luck hasn’t been on his side or whatever case you might call it. But he loves to hoop. And as you see, when he’s on the court, he’s a killer. So I’m glad he’s in a good space right now.”
Here’s more from around the Pacific:
- Suns forward Bol Bol played relatively well as a regular part of the rotation for about a month after the trade deadline, then logged just 29 total minutes across six outings in Phoenix’s final 16 games. According to NBA insider Chris Haynes (YouTube link; Twitter video link), the decision to remove Bol from the rotation stemmed from an incident during a March 12 game vs. Houston. Former head coach Mike Budenholzer was “irate” over the fact that Bol made no effort to come to his teammate’s defense during an altercation between Mason Plumlee and Steven Adams, shooting layups away from the crowd as other players converged on the scrum (Twitter video link).
- In a YouTube video and an Insider-only ESPN.com article, Bobby Marks of ESPN explores what’s on tap for the Kings this summer after a disappointing 2024/25 season that resulted in a change atop their front office. While much of the focus in Sacramento will be on Domantas Sabonis, DeMar DeRozan, and Zach LaVine, who have earned a combined 11 All-Star nods, Marks points out that the team will also face decisions on Keegan Murray, who is eligible for a rookie scale extension, and Keon Ellis, who could be made a restricted free agent if his team option is declined.
- Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee also considers the next steps for the Kings, noting that new general manager Scott Perry will have to “reestablish a sense of direction and trust” within the organization and will have to make several major decisions, starting with whether or not to retain head coach Doug Christie.