The stunning events that occurred on Monday, namely Dallas and San Antonio moving up to No. 1 and No. 2 in the draft lottery and Celtics star Jayson Tatum tearing his Achilles tendon, will reverberate through the NBA for years to come. As Tim Bontemps of ESPN writes, there was already a significant divide in star power between the Western Conference and the Eastern Conference — now there could be a “chasm.”
“The West just keeps getting richer,” one league executive told Bontemps. “How come everybody keeps going to the West? For the veteran players, you could say it’s better weather, going to California, better organizations. But they’ve also just gotten really lucky.
“It seems like every time there’s one of these generational talents — Victor (Wembanyama), Zion (Williamson), Anthony Davis — they just end up in the West. It’s just bad luck … it is what it is.”
Aside from Indiana, New York and Cleveland, Tatum’s injury means there are suddenly major question marks in the East, which could make teams more aggressive on the trade market. There’s a possibility that Giannis Antetokounmpo could be traded to the West as well.
“Cooper Flagg is going to the West for the next 10 years, Giannis could be headed West, Tatum is out of the mix for a year and the Celtics likely are, too,” a scout said. “Good for East teams who are trying to make the Finals.”
We have more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- Former NBA swingman Lance Stephenson is signing a contract to play in the BIG3 for the 3×3 league’s upcoming season, reports NBA insider Chris Haynes (Twitter link). Stephenson, who played for eight NBA teams across 10 seasons from 2010-22, spent most of his professional career in Indiana. He last played in the G League for the Iowa Wolves in 2023/24.
- While the Pacers don’t yet know which team they’ll be facing, the Eastern Conference Finals schedule has been announced (Twitter link via Michael Preston). The series will begin on May 21, with games played every other day until a potential Game 7 on June 2.
- FIBA has announced the draw for the 2027 World Cup qualifiers, officially confirming the groups for the Africa, Americas, Asian, and European events. Team USA will be in group A of the Americas qualifiers, alongside the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, and a to-be-determined fourth team that makes it through the pre-qualifiers.
- FIBA is looking to engage the NCAA about a possible letter of clearance system for international players who want to leave their teams for a college program, per Jonathan Givony of ESPN (Twitter links). As Givony points out, international teams already have the ability to block a player from leaving if he’s under contract, so it’s unclear why the NCAA would agree to a change that would give European teams more leeway to prevent a young prospect from moving stateside.
Rory Maher contributed to this post.
Knicks gonna flop like craaazy in ecf
Refs gonna put brunson at the line more than the entire pacer tm thats guaranteed
Indy will still prevail
It’s all business $$$$, the league gives black ball to small market teams like Charlotte, Utah ect.
OKC, Minnesota, and Indianapolis are all small markets. Don’t think they’ve been blackballed.
The Jazz are one of six teams in league history that have never owned the top pick in the NBA Draft, SA have top 2 in the last 3 years and 3 first pick in 37 years and select the same type of players 7 foot and generational talent Robinson, Duncan and Wemba concincidental please. It’s fixed not casualty.
The Pacers are also one of those six teams.
Utah had Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell just a cpl years ago. They were considered a top team in the league. I don’t think Adam Silver told Danny ainge to blow up their team and suck on purpose. Then again I cant prove he didn’t. Also strange that such a faithful city and state isn’t getting more help from above…cant prove that either *shrugs*
Lol low blow.
You will never win till you give back the Jazz name.
Sell it back ……
In the last 25 yrs. The West has won 17 titles. The East has won 8. Imo all three top teams in East could win it this year. Healthy of course.
Time for orlando to step up and start running the East.
Shout out to the Mavs and Suns for doing their part to make sure the West doesn’t become too dominant.
i hate that tatum is out bc he’s very fun to watch and plays ball the right way
but if he’s out all of 2026, that opens up the east to ny + indy to dominate next year. cavs cant handle the pressure. and giannis is gone. east is up for grabs til tatum returns