Anthony, Howard Headline 2025 Hall Of Fame Class
Former NBA stars Carmelo Anthony and Dwight Howard headline the 2025 Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame class, reports Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link). The organization has confirmed the news.
The full list of inductees is as follows:
- Carmelo Anthony – 10-time All-Star, six All-NBA teams, three Olympic gold medals with Team USA, NCAA championship with Syracuse, member of the 75th Anniversary team.
- Dwight Howard – Eight-time All-Star, eight All-NBA teams, three Defensive Player of the Year awards, five rebounding titles, NBA champion, Olympic gold medal.
- Sue Bird – 13-time WNBA All-Star, eight-time All-WNBA, four-time WNBA champion, five Olympic gold medals.
- Maya Moore – Seven-time All-WNBA, six-time WNBA All-Star, four-time WNBA champion, 2013 Finals MVP, 2014 MVP.
- Sylvia Fowles – Eight-time All-WNBA, eight-time WNBA All-Star, four-time WNBA Defensive Player of the Year, two-time WNBA champion, two-time Finals MVP, 2017 MVP.
- Danny Crawford – Officiated over 2,000 regular season games and 30 NBA Finals.
- Billy Donovan – Currently head coach of the Bulls, Donovan will be inducted for his accomplishments at the college level, including winning back-to-back national championships with Florida in 2006 and ’07.
- Micky Arison – The longtime Heat owner was inducted as a contributor. Miami has won three NBA titles and made the NBA Finals seven times during his tenure.
- 2008 U.S. Olympic Men’s Team – Known as the “Redeem Team,” the Americans went 8-0 en route to a gold medal in Beijing after finishing with a surprising bronze in 2004.
As Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press notes, Anthony and Howard will essentially be inducted twice in the same year, as both were members of Team USA in 2008. Dwyane Wade, Jason Kidd, Chris Bosh and Kobe Bryant, all of whom were already in the Hall of Fame, were also members of that team, as were LeBron James and Chris Paul — both of whom are still active NBA players.
The 17 finalists for the 2025 class were announced in February.
Raptors Re-Sign Cole Swider
The Raptors have re-signed forward Cole Swider after his 10-day contract expired overnight, according to Blake Murphy of Sportsnet.ca (Twitter links).
Swider is ineligible for a second 10-day deal with the Raptors because there are fewer than 10 days remaining in the 2024/25 season. For now, his second agreement with Toronto will cover the rest of ’24/25, though there’s a chance the Raptors could renegotiate his contract to tack on another year before the final day of the regular season on April 13, Murphy reports.
Swider, who was in camp with the Pacers last fall, signed a two-way contract with the Pistons at the start of the regular season and was waived in January. He has spent most of the season in the G League, first with the Motor City Cruise and more recently with the South Bay Lakers, who traded for his rights in February.
In 31 total outings for those two NBAGL clubs, Swider averaged 21.0 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 2.1 assists in 34.6 minutes per game, with an excellent shooting line of .482/.442/.952.
A three-year veteran, Swider has suited up for the Lakers, Heat, Pistons and Raptors after going undrafted out of Syracuse in 2022. He has appeared in six games for Toronto in ’24/25, averaging 6.5 PPG and 2.3 RPG while shooting just 29.0% from long distance in 17.8 MPG.
Yaxel Lendeborg Entering Draft While Maintaining Eligibility
UAB power forward Yaxel Lendeborg, who led the Blazers in points (17.7), rebounds (11.4), assists (4.2), steals (1.7) and blocks (1.8) per game this past season, plans to enter the 2025 NBA draft while maintaining his college eligibility, he tells Jonathan Givony of ESPN.
Ranked No. 28 overall on ESPN’s latest big board (Insider link), Lendeborg says he is committed to the draft process, but if he instead uses his final season of eligibility, he intends to transfer to Michigan.
“I’m focused on the draft process and making the NBA right now,” Lendeborg said. “I want a guaranteed contract. That’s the biggest thing. Make sure I am in a good spot. I would prefer to play college basketball in Ann Arbor than be in and out of the G League on a two-way. I want to find a safe spot.”
As Givony writes, Lendeborg has an unusual background for a possible first-round pick, as the 22-year-old grew up playing video games and not basketball. Since he started playing organized basketball much later than most prospects, he believes he is “just scratching the surface” of what he “can evolve into, and with more work I can reach that potential.”
According to Givony, Lendeborg is only the second Division I player in history to record at least 600 points, 400 rebounds and 150 assists in a season, joining Hall of Famer Larry Bird. He was named first-team All-AAC and Defensive Player of the Year each of the past two seasons, Givony adds.
Maryland’s Derik Queen To Enter 2025 NBA Draft
Maryland star Derik Queen has decided to leave school early and go pro, he said on SportsCenter with Scott Van Pelt (YouTube link).
“I’m proud to say I’m entering the 2025 NBA draft,” the 6’10” center said.
Queen’s decision isn’t a surprise. He is projected to go No. 10 overall in ESPN’s latest mock draft, per Myron Medcalf of ESPN.com, and is the No. 10 prospect on their latest big board (from last week).
Queen was highly productive in his freshman season with the Terrapins, averaging 16.5 points, 9.0 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 1.1 steals and 1.1 blocks in 36 appearances (30.4 minutes per contest). He helped guide Maryland to a 27-9 record and a spot in the Sweet 16, scoring 27 points in a loss to Florida.
As Metcalf notes, the Baltimore native boosted his stock with some impressive postseason performances, including a game-winner in the second round of the NCAA tournament against Colorado State.
Grizzlies Notes: Defense, Jackson, Iisalo, Aldama, Morant
The Grizzlies‘ offense has been under the spotlight since Taylor Jenkins‘ ouster last week due to the massive changes the coaching staff made to its system coming into the season and the steps the team has taken recently to undo some of those changes. However, the Grizzlies’ play on the defensive side of the ball has been a bigger issue during the club’s recent slide, William Guillory of The Athletic wrote this week after the Warriors put up 134 points against Memphis in a Tuesday win.
The Grizzlies performed better defensively in Thursday’s win over Miami, but a unit that had the NBA’s seventh-best defensive rating prior to the All-Star break has still ranked just 20th in the league since then.
Although Defensive Player of the Year candidate Jaren Jackson Jr. missed five games during that stretch due to an ankle sprain, the team’s decline in effectiveness on that end of the court can’t be chalked up to being without its top rim protector for a little over a week. Jackson has posted a 115.2 defensive rating during his time on the court since the All-Star break, compared to a 106.4 pre-All-Star mark.
Here’s more on the Grizzlies:
- Who exactly is new Grizzlies interim head coach Tuomas Iisalo? In another story for The Athletic, Guillory profiles Jenkins’ replacement, noting that the Finnish assistant was a relative unknown to most NBA fans before his promotion last week. “He’s a really smart guy. No bulls–t,” Grizzlies wing Desmond Bane said. “It’s all about winning and how you get there. Nothing else really matters. He’s not a man of many words if you ain’t talking about basketball.”
- The Grizzlies and Santi Aldama didn’t agree to a rookie scale extension prior to the 2024/25 season, but locking up the forward in restricted free agency this summer is reportedly a priority for the front office. Speaking to Cyro Asseo de Choch of HoopsHype, Aldama said he wasn’t bothered by putting off contract talks until the 2025 offseason. “Yeah, figure it out later,” he said. “At the end of the day, I want to be somewhere where we’re winning and where we’re fighting for the right stuff. I think here, we got a great thing going. We have a great relationship here, so I would love for it to keep that way. I’m just focusing on taking it day by day, getting better day by day. And that stuff will take care of itself.”
- In case you missed it, Grizzlies star Ja Morant was fined $75K earlier today for making finger-gun gestures during Thursday’s game in Miami. Damichael Cole of The Memphis Commercial Appeal explains why the NBA hit Morant with a fine for that gesture even though there are several players around the league who perform similar celebrations.
Previewing 2025/26 Player Option Decisions
A total of 20 NBA veterans hold player options on their contracts for the 2025/26 season, as our free agent list shows.
Those 20 players range from superstars like LeBron James to reserves like Eric Gordon. The value of their respective options reflects that wide gap -- James would earn nearly $53MM if he opts in for next season, while Gordon would earn just shy of $3.5MM.
Still, despite the huge difference between those two players' potential '25/26 salaries, Gordon may be the one of the two more likely to pick up his option and lock in that guaranteed money for next season. Each player facing an option decision will weigh several factors, including his 2024/25 performance, his role, his age, and what sort of offers might be available to him on the open market if he opts out.
Most players holding options won't have to finalize a decision until the league-wide deadline of June 29, but it's not uncommon for certain options to be exercised in April, shortly after a player's season wraps up. So we're looking ahead today at all 20 of those decisions to try to get a sense of which direction they might go.
Let's dive in...
Pistons Clinch First Playoff Berth Since 2019
With their win in Toronto on Friday, the Pistons have officially clinched a top-six spot in the Eastern Conference, securing their first playoff berth since the 2018/19 season (Twitter link).
It’s the latest achievement in what has been a remarkable turnaround for the Pistons, who posted the worst record in the NBA – and the worst mark in franchise history – a year ago when they went 14-68. Detroit has more than tripled that win total this season, sitting at 43-34 with five games still to play.
The Pistons’ bounce-back season has been driven by an All-NBA caliber performance from former No. 1 overall pick Cade Cunningham, though he wasn’t in action in Friday’s playoff clincher, having missed his sixth consecutive game due to a left calf contusion.
Instead, it was rising third-year center Jalen Duren (21 points, 18 rebounds, six assists, four blocks), Sixth Man of the Year contender Malik Beasley (21 points), and veteran role player Tim Hardaway Jr. (23 points) who played key roles in the 117-105 win over the Raptors.
Veteran forward Tobias Harris and second-year wing Ausar Thompson are among the other most important contributors in Detroit, along with veteran guard Dennis Schröder, who has taken on a role similar to the one Jaden Ivey played before breaking his leg in January.
While the Pistons have now secured their spot in the postseason, their exact seed in the Eastern Conference is still to be determined.
Friday’s victory moves them a half-game ahead of the 42-34 Bucks for the No. 5 spot, which would likely line them up for a first-round date with the No. 4 Pacers. Sliding to No. 6 would probably result in a matchup with the Knicks in round one, though neither New York nor Indiana is officially locked into its seed yet.
As Omari Sankofa II of The Detroit Free Press notes, the Timberwolves are now assured of receiving the Pistons’ 2025 first-round pick, which had been top-13 protected.
Dwight Howard Elected To Hall Of Fame
Former NBA center Dwight Howard has been elected to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame and will be part of the class of 2025, reports Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).
The first overall pick in the 2004 draft, Howard immediately became the starting center for the Magic and spent the next eight seasons in Orlando, winning three Defensive Player of the Year awards with the team and finishing in the top five in MVP voting in four consecutive seasons from 2008-11. The Magic made the playoffs in six straight years during Howard’s tenure, appearing in the NBA Finals in 2009.
From 2012-22, Howard bounced around the NBA, spending time with the Lakers, Rockets, Hawks, Hornets, Wizards, and Sixers. He had three separate stints with the Lakers during that decade and won his first and only championship with the team in 2020.
Howard earned a total of eight All-Star nods and appeared on eight All-NBA teams, including five First Teams, over the course of his 18-year NBA career. In addition to winning DPOY three times, he made an All-Defensive team five teams, including claiming a spot on the First Team for four years in a row from 2009-12.
Howard led the league in rebounding five times and currently ranks 10th on the NBA’s all-time rebounding list. He was also the league leader in blocked shots twice and ranks 13th all-time in that category.
The big man didn’t play college basketball but fortified his Hall of Fame résumé by winning an Olympic gold medal with Team USA in Beijing in 2008.
The Hall of Fame will officially announce its full class of 2025 on Saturday at the NCAA Final Four. According to reporting from Charania, Howard and another former NBA star, Carmelo Anthony, will be among the first-ballot selections in that group.
Pelicans Notes: Alvarado, McCollum, Zion, Tax, Brooks
With most of the Pelicans‘ usual starters shut down for the rest of the season, guard Jose Alvarado has become a primary scoring option, having led the team with 16 field goal attempts in each of the past two games. Typically a complementary player on offense and more of a defensive specialist, Alvarado admitted that the new role has taken some getting used to, per Rod Walker of NOLA.com.
“When you have guys like CJ (McCollum) and Zion (Williamson) and Trey Murphy who create so much attention, you get the easier shots,” Alvarado said. “Now they are all out and the scouting (reports) are more about you in that sense. The guys know my weaknesses and not my weakness, so they test you mentally. You’ve got to continue to make shots and continue to improve. You’re going to turn the ball over, but you’ve got to keep going. You’re going to miss shots, but you’ve got to keep shooting.”
Alvarado’s performance as a go-to scorer has been up and down. He’s made just 11 of those 32 shot attempts over the past two games, including 1-of-12 three-pointers, while turning the ball over nine times. Still, he appreciates that he and some of his fellow role players are getting the chance to take on additional responsibilities as the season winds down.
“The positive is that it’s a season that Jose gets to grow,” Alvarado said, referring to himself in the third person. “Young guys get to grow. A chance to see what you’re capable of doing. …The younger guys and me are learning a lot. I’m learning as this process goes on and it’s going to get me better later in my future. I have to understand that.”
Here’s more on the Pelicans:
- In a separate story for NOLA.com, Walker explains why it was a no-brainer for the Pelicans to shut down Williamson and McCollum for the final two weeks of the season due to health issues.
- Speaking to Mark Medina of Sportskeeda, McCollum discussed his right foot injury and expressed optimism that he’ll fully recover soon enough to have a relatively normal offseason and be 100% healthy when training camp opens in the fall. McCollum also touched on several other topics in the interview, including his belief that Williamson’s professionalism and work ethic have improved this season and what he thinks a fully healthy version of this Pelicans team would be capable of.
- The Pelicans’ team salary is technically over the luxury tax line by about $530K following their signing of Kylor Kelley to a 10-day deal, notes Eric Pincus at his Subtack. However, ownership isn’t about to pay a tax bill for the first time in franchise history. As Pincus explains, a $700K bonus for Dejounte Murray currently counts against the cap because it was considered likely entering the season, but Murray won’t earn it after appearing in just 31 games this season. Once that bonus comes off the cap after the season, New Orleans’ team salary will dip back below the tax line by approximately $170K.
- Rookie forward Keion Brooks, who signed a two-way contract with the Pelicans on January 9, had appeared in just two NBA games for the team until March 21. Since then, he has played in six straight and averaged 8.8 points and 3.5 rebounds on 52.4% shooting in 22.3 minutes per night. Brooks, who says he wants to display his versatility and show he’s a “winning player,” is taking full advantage of his opportunity, Walker writes for NOLA.com. “He’s showing that he belongs here,” Alvarado said of his teammate. “It’s not only about scoring, but it’s about his effort in everything he does. Defensively and rebounding. Obviously the offense is going to show. I’m happy for him. He’s going to be a good player in the NBA.”
Knicks’ Anunoby: ‘I Should Win Defensive Player Of The Year’
In a wide-open Defensive Player of the Year race with no clear frontrunner, Knicks forward OG Anunoby became the latest player to make a case for himself.
“I think I should be on First Team All-Defense,” Anunoby said on Friday, according to Stefan Bondy of The New York Post. “I think I should win Defensive Player of the Year. I’ve always felt that way.”
Long viewed as one of the NBA’s top perimeter defenders, Anunoby has only been formally recognized for his performance on that end of the court once, when he was named to the All-Defensive Second Team in 2023.
That’s due in part to his injury history — 2022/23 was the only season in his last four before this one in which he has played more than 50 games. He believes it’s also a result of the way his defensive impact manifests beyond the box score.
“There’s no stats for (the offensive player calling a screen to avoid you),” Anunoby said. “There’s no stat for picking up a dribble to pass. Or shot attempts — like holding the other player to no shot attempts, there’s no stat for that. So (award voters) can’t really tell. They just always give it to the big men.”
Anunoby has appeared in 70 games this season and ranks sixth in the NBA in minutes per night. He’ll set a career high in games played if he sees action in five of the Knicks’ remaining six contests, so availability isn’t a concern this time around. And while his case for All-Defense and DPOY is predicated on more than just statistics, he’s one of just three NBA players who has registered at least 100 steals and 60 blocks this season.
Anunoby is still a long shot for Defensive Player of the Year due to the Knicks’ relatively average defense (their 113.4 defensive rating is 13th in the NBA) and the fact that voters typically favor big men, as he pointed out. But he’s a solid candidate for an All-Defense spot. The 27-year-old admitted on Friday that being rewarded for his defense with either honor would be “pretty important to me,” as Bondy relays.
Spurs big man Victor Wembanyama was considered the heavy favorite for the Defensive Player of the Year award this season before he was ruled out for the season in February after being diagnosed with a deep vein thrombosis in his right shoulder. Since then, the betting odds have shifted frequently, with multiple players considered the new frontrunner for days or weeks at a time.
Warriors forward Draymond Green has been the candidate making his own case most vociferously in recent weeks. Cavaliers big man Evan Mobley and Hawks guard Dyson Daniels haven’t advocated for themselves as aggressively, but others have done so on their behalf.