Month: May 2025

Pacific Notes: Curry, Warriors, Suns, Harden

Warriors star Stephen Curry, who injured his right thumb in January and re-injured it late in the regular season, has had that thumb wrapped during games and has been icing it after games, but he said following Wednesday’s loss to Houston that it’s not affecting how he plays, per Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN.

As Youngmisuk details, after a Golden State broadcaster suggested that Rockets defenders appear to be targeting Curry’s thumb when he shoots, Warriors players and head coach Steve Kerr were asked whether that’s something they’ve noticed. Kerr didn’t dispute that it’s happening, but pointed out that it’s not against the NBA’s rules.

“The rule is once the shot has been released, you’re allowed to hit a guy’s arm,” Kerr said. “And so what’s happened in the league this year is, players always are, they’re going to outsmart the rules. They know what they’re doing. So players all over the league are just taking shots at guys’ shooting hands after the release because they know it’s not going to be a foul. And I’m very confident that next year the league will fix it because it’s only a matter of time before somebody breaks a thumb or breaks a hand or whatever. But these are the rules.

“I do believe they’re allowed to call a flagrant if they want. The refs can call flagrant if a guy winds up and takes a shot. But no, it’s been happening across the league all year long. It’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard, but we have to take it through the league process to get that changed. … I know we got 30 coaches who all think it’s just idiotic that we allow this, so we’ll have to take it through the competition committee, all that stuff this summer and eventually we’ll get it fixed.”

Here’s more from around the Pacific:

  • Trailing by 27 points at halftime on Wednesday, Kerr and forward Draymond Green decided during the break that the Warriors shouldn’t chase a comeback for more than about five minutes in the second half if they weren’t making up any ground, writes Anthony Slater of The Athletic. With 5:50 left in the third quarter and Houston still up by 29, Kerr pulled all of his starters and didn’t use them for the rest of the night. “I wasn’t going to chase this game with Game 6 coming up in 48 hours,” Kerr said. “Unless we made a huge run, we kind of had an idea that we’d pull the plug.” Golden State’s reserves eventually cut the deficit to 13 points with five minutes left in the fourth quarter, but Kerr opted against bringing back his first-stringers at that point. “When you make a move like that, the starters on the bench, you can’t go back to them,” he explained. “It’s not the right thing to do.”
  • The Suns are expected to announce changes to their front office either by the end of this week or early next week at the latest, says John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 (Twitter link). It’s unclear exactly what those changes might look like, but NBA insider Marc Stein (Twitter link) hears that one option in play is promoting VP of player programming Brian Gregory to a more prominent position. Suns owner Mat Ishbia is a fan of Gregory, who has a “significant voice” in the team’s draft strategy, Stein adds.
  • With their season on the brink entering a do-or-die Game 6 vs. Denver, the Clippers will need more from their stars to force a Game 7, writes Law Murray of The Athletic. Thursday’s game will be an especially big one for James Harden, who has been held to 13.0 points per game on .400/.250/.643 shooting in the Clippers’ past two losses and hasn’t spoken to the media after either game, Murray notes. Harden could become a free agent this summer if he declines a $36.3MM player option.

LeBron James Expresses Uncertainty About Future

In the wake of a Game 5 loss to Minnesota on Wednesday night that brought the Lakers‘ season to an end, star forward LeBron James expressed uncertainty when asked about his future and how much longer he plans to continue playing, as Dave McMenamin of ESPN relays.

“I don’t know,” James said. “I don’t have an answer to that. Something I’ll sit down with my family, my wife and my support group and kind of just talk through it and see what happens. And just have a conversation with myself on how long I want to continue to play. I don’t know the answer to that right now, to be honest. So we’ll see.”

James holds a player option for 2025/26 worth approximately $52.6MM. Discussing what next season’s Lakers roster might look like, he said he’ll have “a lot to think about myself.” The four-time MVP subsequently clarified that any uncertainty he’s feeling is about how far off his retirement might be — not whether he wants to remain in Los Angeles.

“Just continuing to play, I don’t know where I’m at,” James told ESPN. “That’s what that is. Not coming back to play here. Just playing, period.”

James isn’t the only Laker facing a big contract-related decision who wasn’t ready to make any definitive statements immediately after the team’s season came to an end. Star point guard Luka Doncic, who will become fully extension-eligible on August 2, said he’s “really glad” to be in L.A. (Twitter video link via Michael Scotto of HoopsHype), but will need some time to consider his contract options.

Forward Dorian Finney-Smith, a midseason acquisition who helped stabilize the Lakers’ defense, will have to make a decision on a $15.4MM player option this offseason. Finney-Smith said he hasn’t thought about that option yet, per Jovan Buha of The Athletic (Twitter link).

Even if the Lakers work out new deals with James, Doncic, and Finney-Smith this summer, the roster has a glaring hole in the middle that will need to be addressed in the coming months.

Head coach J.J. Redick moved Finney-Smith into his starting lineup in Game 5 ahead of big man Jaxson Hayes, who was a DNP-CD, and the Lakers played most of the night without a real center. Maxi Kleber made his Lakers debut coming off foot surgery, but saw just five minutes of action.

The Timberwolves capitalized in a major way on the Lakers’ lack of frontcourt size, making 20-of-22 (90.9%) of their shots in the restricted area, according to Jack Borman of Locked on Sports Minnesota (Twitter link).

Los Angeles was also out-rebounded by a 54-37 margin. Rudy Gobert grabbed 24 rebounds on his own, and his nine offensive boards were more than the eight collected by the Lakers’ entire team. That rebounding disparity helped the Wolves attempt 11 more field goals and eight more free throws than L.A.

The Lakers reached an agreement prior to February’s trade deadline to acquire third-year center Mark Williams from Charlotte, but they ultimately opted to void that trade due to concerns about Williams’ physical. Shortly after Los Angeles was eliminated from the postseason on Wednesday night, the Hornets big man published a tweet consisting of just a single character: a smiley-face emoji.

Asked after Wednesday’s game whether playing centerless basketball so frequently caught up with the Lakers, James jokingly refused to comment (Twitter video link via HoopsHype).

“My guy A.D. said what he needed, and he was gone the following week. So I got no comment,” James said with a smile, per Dan Woike of The Los Angeles Times. “With that uniform on every night, I gave everything I had. And that’s all that matters.”