Lakers Hiring Rohan Ramadas As Assistant GM
The Lakers will hire former Pelicans vice president of strategy and operations Rohan Ramadas as assistant general manager, according to Dave McMenamin and Shams Charania of ESPN. Ramadas will work directly under team president and GM Rob Pelinka.
Ramadas joined the Pelicans in September of 2024 as senior director of analytics and innovation. He was promoted to the VP position last May.
The move was confirmed by Dan Woike of The Athletic (Twitter link), who points to Ramadas’ scientific-based background, which includes more than 12 years with The Aerospace Corporation, and states that he’s “regarded as very smart by people in the league who know him.”
“He’s a literal rocket scientist,” a Pelicans source told McMenamin and Charania, adding that Ramadas implemented AI and coded models to help the front office in New Orleans.
Pelinka said at his end-of-season press conference that the organization had plans to hire two assistant general managers – one to specialize in pro and draft scouting as well as player development, and another to focus on strategy, particularly analytics and the salary cap.
The Lakers held face-to-face meetings with many of the candidates during the draft combine in Chicago, sources tell McMenamin and Charania.
Knicks Notes: Brown, Towns, Shamet, Anunoby, Winning Streak
The Knicks‘ decision to replace Tom Thibodeau as head coach was one of the most controversial moves of last summer, but Mike Brown has the organization on the verge of its first NBA Finals appearance since 1999. It wasn’t always a smooth transition, as Karl-Anthony Towns in particular struggled to adjust to the new system, but Towns offered a strong endorsement of Brown after Saturday’s Game 3 win at Cleveland, according to Ian Begley of SNY.tv.
“With Mike, he had to learn us and adjust to us,” Towns said. “On the flip side, we had to do the same as well. Now, we are at a point where we are both working seamlessly. We understand each other’s language. He is getting the best from us and we are getting the best from him. I think that speaks to a season, especially a first season with a new coach and a new system and a new philosophy. It’s a testament to the players to do an amazing job coming together and showing that unity that made us special last year. But the coaching staff being receptive to the players and adjusting with us and finding the way to get the most out of us.”
Begley notes that while Thibodeau was notorious for giving heavy minutes to his starters, Brown has made it a priority to develop a reliable second unit. Landry Shamet, Jordan Clarkson and Jose Alvarado have joined Miles McBride and Mitchell Robinson as dependable contributors off the bench during the team’s playoff run.
“Everybody wants to see each other do well genuinely,” Shamet said. “I mean that. If you guys write that in your report, it’s not some locker room banter or BS. It’s like spiritual with this group. You know, we’ve got a lot of guys who are more than capable of being in certain situations, and we cheer each other on. Next man up. It’s a beautiful thing, and it’s what we have, and this locker room. So it’s special.”
There’s more on the Knicks:
- OG Anunoby said it was “cool” to receive Second-Team All-Defensive recognition, but his teammates and coaches see it as more of a slight than an honor, Kristian Winfield of The New York Daily News writes in a subscriber-only piece. “The versatility he brings to this team — we’re a top-five defensive team. Top-five defensive team, OK?” Brown said. “… The versatility that that guy brings to this team is off the charts, and I hope the voters get it right the next time around. I’m happy he’s Second Team. He deserves something, but it was wrong.”
- Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson has been impressed by the Knicks’ ability to avoid any kind of “letdown” in the playoffs, relays Zach Braziller of The New York Post. The team has won 10 straight games, many in convincing fashion, and is outscoring opponents by an average of 22.5 PPG during that stretch.
- While New Yorkers are ecstatic about the prospect of reaching the NBA Finals for the first time in 27 years, the team remains focused on the need to get one more win, per Steve Popper of Newsday (subscription required). Players plan to approach Monday’s Game 4 at Cleveland the same as any other playoff contest. “We don’t wanna get ahead of ourselves, because as soon as we start getting ahead of ourselves, that’s when disaster always occurs, it seems,” Brown said. “And so for us, starting with me, making sure everybody in the organization on down understands it’s about the next game. And really, it’s about the next possession. And I try to block out everything else as best I can and not think about ‘what ifs,’ because I know for me, it would distract me 100% at this time of the year.”
Spurs Notes: Vassell, Wembanyama, Popovich, Fox
The Spurs evened up the Western Conference finals Sunday night with a smothering defensive effort, holding Oklahoma City to its lowest point total since December of 2021 in a 103-82 victory, Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio Express-News writes in a subscriber-only story. San Antonio was aggressive from the start, forcing 17 Thunder turnovers and harassing them into shooting just 33% for the game.
Stephon Castle was the primary defender on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, while several other players also helped to hold the two-time MVP to 19 points on 6-of-15 shooting. The Spurs altered their strategy by using single coverage on SGA and staying close to the Thunder’s outside shooters, who only hit one three-pointer in the first half and wound up at 18.2% from beyond the arc for the game.
“That’s what we hang our hat on, the defensive end,” Devin Vassell said. “We felt like those two games they won we just weren’t ourselves. We weren’t playing to a level we could. We were leaving them open way too much. So (tonight) we were in a lot of great rotations, guarding the ball and that helped us make them miss and get us out in transition.”
The performance by Vassell, who tallied 13 points, six rebounds, three assists, one steal and one block in 33 minutes, has been especially gratifying for head coach Mitch Johnson, Orsborn adds. Johnson was Vassell’s developmental coach when San Antonio drafted him in 2020 and has pushed him to expand his game throughout his six seasons in the league.
“It’s been personally for me really fun to observe him because when we first drafted him, he was kind of a, not to be lazy, but a three-and-D generalization is kind of the bucket he was in, and he’s developed into a heck of a scorer in this league,” Johnson said. “And at times when you are a young player it’s hard to increase your offensive load and still continue to put that same energy into defense. He probably went away from it a little bit, and now to see him have the two-way impact he has is very impactful for our team and very rewarding for someone who has been with him from his rookie year.”
There’s more on the Spurs:
- Victor Wembanyama continues to set records during his first trip to the playoffs, notes Michael C. Wright of ESPN. After posting 33 points, eight rebounds, five assists and three blocks on Sunday, Wembanyama joined Bill Walton as the only players with at least 300 points, 150 rebounds and 50 blocks in their first postseason since blocks became an official statistic in 1974. Wembanyama now has 324 playoff points, breaking Stepen Jackson’s franchise record for a player in his first postseason.
- Former head coach Gregg Popovich inspired the team with a fiery speech after the Game 3 loss, Wright adds. De’Aaron Fox said it’s the first time this season that Popovich has come to the locker room to address the players. “Every team gets blown out, but just mentality wise, I think that was one of the worst games we had probably of the season,” Fox said. “Then, Pop came in after the game. He saw it, we all saw it. We all felt it. Coming into this game, we wanted to make sure that mentality was out the door. Even if we lost this game, as long as we came in with the right mentality and played the right way, we could be OK with losing the game. The way that we lost [Game 3] I think hurt more than losing the game, and that was pretty much for everybody in the locker room.”
- Fox continues to feel the effects of a high right ankle sprain that forced him to miss the first two games of the series, per Jeff McDonald of The San Antonio Express-News (subscription required). Fox was noticeably limping afterward, but he was still the game’s leading rebounder with 10 boards. “I don’t know how many of them I actually jumped for,” he said. “But I mean, that’s half the battle – instinct.”
2026 NBA Offseason Preview: Utah Jazz
The Jazz had a relatively quiet offseason after finishing the 2024/25 season with a 17-65 record, the worst mark in the NBA. Utah had a 52.1% chance of staying in the top four at the 2025 draft lottery, but the team lost what was essentially a coin flip (47.9%), landing at its draft floor at No. 5.
In addition to selecting former Rutgers wing Ace Bailey with the fifth pick, the Jazz were also involved in a pair of trades last summer. The first saw the team send Collin Sexton and a 2030 second-round pick to Charlotte for Jusuf Nurkic, and the second sent John Collins to the Clippers in a three-team deal that netted the Jazz a 2027 second-round pick, Kevin Love, Kyle Anderson, and a traded player exception.
It's hard to say if the Jazz had any intentions of trying to be more competitive in '25/26, but considering they would have owed their 2026 first-round pick to the Thunder if it landed outside of the top eight, the team was certainly incentivized to finish near the bottom of the standings again to ensure that didn't happen. And Utah wound up being near the forefront of the tanking conversation in an unusual season in which several teams were especially focused on draft positioning due to the widely perceived strength of the 2026 class.
The Jazz would likely point to starting center Walker Kessler suffering a torn labrum in his left shoulder in training camp, an injury he aggravated just five games into the season, as the beginning of downward trend for the rest of '25/26. They were 2-3 when it was reported that Kessler would undergo season-ending surgery and just 16-35 after a win at Indiana snapped a six-game losing streak on February 3.
That's also the date the Jazz made one of the more interesting deals ahead of the February deadline, acquiring Jaren Jackson Jr., John Konchar, Vince Williams Jr., and Jock Landale from the Grizzlies in exchange for Kyle Anderson, Georges Niang, Taylor Hendricks, Walter Clayton, the Lakers’ 2027 first-round pick (top-four protected), either the Cavaliers', Timberwolves', or Jazz's 2027 first-round pick (whichever is most favorable), and the Suns' 2031 first-round pick.
Memphis had renegotiated Jackson's descending rookie scale extension during the 2025 offseason in order to bump his '25/26 salary high enough to sign him to a new veteran extension that reflected the value of a regular All-Defensive contributor who had made All-Star appearances in two of his previous three seasons. Jackson will earn $49MM, $50.5MM and $52MM over the next three years before he has to decide whether to exercise a $53.5MM player option for '29/30.
Utah, meanwhile, projected to have a good deal of cap room this summer, and rather than using it on free agents, the team made a pre-agency move for a player signed to a lucrative long-term contract.
The Jazz have been atrocious defensively in the four years since they traded Rudy Gobert to Minnesota, ranking 23rd, 30th, 30th and 29th in the league in defensive rating from 2023-26. Jackson, who turns 27 in September, is a former Defensive Player of the Year who's versatile enough on offense to play in a jumbo-sized frontcourt that also features Kessler and Finnish star Lauri Markkanen.
However, Jackson's fit with the team remains theoretical for now -- he only made three cameo appearances for the Jazz after the deal, having undergone surgery to address a benign growth in his knee, and he didn't get a chance to play with Kessler at all. While the sample size was obviously tiny, the team did perform very well when the former No. 4 overall pick was on the court.
Shutting down Jackson was the first in a series of "future-focused" moves for the Jazz, who ruled out Nurkic and Markkanen for the remainder of the season shortly thereafter. Keyonte George, who had a breakout third season and was dealing with ankle injuries at the time, only played a handful of games to finish out '25/26.
Unsurprisingly, those tanking maneuvers resulted in the Jazz falling down the Western Conference and NBA standings, as they went just 6-25 over the final two-plus months to finish with a 22-60 record. That tied Sacramento for the fourth-worst mark in the league.
The Jazz won a tiebreaker with the Kings ahead of the draft lottery which turned out to be highly consequential, as Utah moved up from No. 4 to No. 2 on lottery night while Sacramento fell from No. 5 to No. 7. Winning the tiebreaker also guaranteed Utah could end up with no worse than the eighth overall pick, meaning the selection was guaranteed to stay with the Jazz even if they hadn't gotten lucky in the lottery.
While four years of losing isn't easy to stomach for fans, the Jazz are well positioned going forward as a result of their good fortune in the lottery. They'll be able to add a potential franchise-changing talent on a very cap-friendly contract, locking in four years of team control and giving the front office time to determine the best ways to build out the roster.
Utah also enters the offseason with a surplus of future first-round picks and the financial flexibility to continue to seek upgrades on the trade market, though the club lacks the sort of mid-sized contracts necessary to add another near-max cap hit like Jackson's.
The Jazz's Offseason Plans
The Jazz have three major decisions to make this offseason: Deciding which prospect to select No. 2 overall, figuring out what a new contract for restricted free agent Kessler will look like, and determining how high they're willing to go in rookie scale extension talks with Keyonte George.
Malachi Moreno Withdrawing From Draft
After declaring for the 2026 NBA draft as an early entrant, freshman big man Malachi Moreno is withdrawing from consideration and returning to Kentucky for his sophomore season, Jeff Goodman of Field of 68 reports (via Twitter).
Moreno is a 19-year-old center who averaged 7.8 points, 6.3 rebounds, 1.8 assists, and 1.5 blocks per game this season for the Wildcats. He stood out as a strong offensive rebounding prospect with intriguing play-making and solid rim protection, though he struggled at times to finish at the rim.
Measuring over 6’11.25″ barefoot with a 9’3.5″ standing reach and weighing nearly 243 pounds, Moreno has very good size for a big man, and he moves well despite not being the most explosive athlete. He was ranked 47th on ESPN’s big board.
Moreno’s return will help bolster Kentucky’s frontcourt for next season.
NCAA early entrants who are testing the draft waters have until the end of the day on May 27 to withdraw their names if they want to retain their college eligibility. The full list of early entrants can be found right here.
Northwest Notes: Jazz, Love, Irving, Wolves
The Jazz have a chance to add a critical piece to their rebuild after landing the second pick in the loaded 2026 draft. While many of the discussions around the pick have focused on AJ Dybantsa (BYU) and Darryn Peterson (Kansas), two other players are well worth discussing, Sarah Todd writes for The Deseret News.
Cameron Boozer (Duke) and Caleb Wilson (UNC) are two power forwards with franchise-changing potential who are genuine threats to upset the top of the draft order, Todd writes.
Boozer, who has well-documented ties to Utah and the Jazz organization, is generally considered to have a slightly lower ceiling than that of Dybantsa or Peterson due to his athletic limitations, but his cerebral game and ability to shoot and pass at a high level could help mitigate that. Meanwhile, Wilson is an athletic marvel with a burgeoning mid-range shot-creation skill set who reportedly impressed during the combine due to his demeanor in interviews.
Private workouts and medical results could end up having a large impact on how the order of the top four shakes out.
The Jazz have a loaded starting rotation of big men, but the Spurs have shown this year that bringing a No. 2 overall pick off the bench can still yield major dividends.
We have more from around the Northwest Division:
- Caleb Love will be a free agent after playing last season on a two-way contract with the Trail Blazers. In his limited opportunities, Love showed that he’s clearly an NBA player and still has room to grow, writes Joe Freeman of The Oregonian. “He’s got some (stuff) to him,” an anonymous scout told Freeman. “They have to make a decision with him. I think he’s better than a two-way contract guy. He played both sides of the ball in the games that I saw. He’s a physical guard. He created. He’s crafty with the ball. You want to see if he can be disciplined enough to incorporate everything into the system.”
- The Timberwolves need to find a secondary offensive star to pair with Anthony Edwards and the well-rounded skill set of Jaden McDaniels, and they should take a hard look at Mavericks star guard Kyrie Irving, opines Jim Souhan of the Star Tribune. As Souhan explains, given its relative lack of trade assets, the team doesn’t necessarily seem like a strong contender for a Giannis Antetokounmpo trade, but Irving could be more attainable and would help to alleviate the defensive attention that Edwards receives.
- The Wolves held a pre-draft workout on Friday that featured sharp-shooting forward Milan Momcilovic out of Iowa State, per Darren Wolfson of KSTP (Twitter link). The 6’8″ junior shot 48.7% from three this season on 279 total attempts. He has until Wednesday to decide whether he will stay in the draft. Alex Karaban (UConn), Ebuka Okorie (Stanford), and Ja’Kobi Gillespie (Tennessee) have also worked out for the Wolves, per HoopsHype. Minnesota holds the 28th and 59th picks in this year’s draft.
Thunder’s Jalen Williams Out For Game 4
The Thunder will once again be shorthanded in Game 4, as Jalen Williams has been downgraded to out with left hamstring soreness, Rylan Stiles of SI.com notes (via Twitter).
Oklahoma City took Game 3 by a score 123-108 without Williams and will try to replicate that success as the team looks to take a 3-1 lead over the Spurs heading back home.
The Thunder were already down one rotation player, as word broke on Saturday that they would be without breakout guard Ajay Mitchell due to a right soleus strain. Mitchell has started a majority of the games Williams has missed this postseason; with him sidelined, the Thunder will need to find another source of offense to help complement the rest of the starting lineup.
Cason Wallace will start in place of Williams, per Justin Martinez of The Oklahoman (via Twitter). Alex Caruso and Jared McCain have stepped up offensively throughout the series, and their contributions will be even more important with a pair of rotation regulars sidelined.
NBA Announces 2025/26 All-NBA Teams
The league has officially announced its three All-NBA teams, recognizing the top performers for the 2025/26 season (all Twitter links).
A total of 100 media members voted on the All-NBA teams, with First Team votes counting for five points, Second Team votes counting for three points, and Third Team votes counting for one point.
This year’s All-NBA teams are as follows (each player’s point total is noted in parentheses):
First Team
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Thunder (500 points)- Nikola Jokic, Nuggets (500)
- Victor Wembanyama, Spurs (498)
- Luka Doncic, Lakers (482)
- Cade Cunningham, Pistons (414)
Second Team
- Jaylen Brown, Celtics (384)
- Kawhi Leonard, Clippers (277)
- Donovan Mitchell, Cavaliers (276)
- Kevin Durant, Rockets (241)
- Jalen Brunson, Knicks (197)
Third Team
- Tyrese Maxey, Sixers (168)
- Jamal Murray, Nuggets (149)
- Jalen Johnson, Hawks (125)
- Jalen Duren, Pistons (121)
- Chet Holmgren, Thunder (87)
Gilgeous-Alexander and Jokic, this season’s Most Valuable Player and runner-up, respectively, were the only unanimous first-teamers, with Wembanyama coming a single vote away — he had one Second Team vote to go along with 99 First Team votes.
Doncic and Cunningham each technically fell short of meeting the 65-game minimum required to be eligible for All-NBA and other major awards, but they appealed that ruling and were deemed award-eligible by the league. Doncic would have met the criteria if he hadn’t missed time due to the birth of a child, while Cunningham fell short after suffering a collapsed lung, so both players were granted “extraordinary circumstances” exceptions.
Notably, Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards, who played 61 games, also applied for an extraordinary circumstances exception. However, his request was denied, so his name didn’t show up on award ballots even though he likely would’ve been voted onto an All-NBA team if voters could’ve selected him. Stephen Curry, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and LeBron James – who had made 21 consecutive All-NBA teams – were among the other superstars who didn’t meet the 65-game criteria.
Outside of the 15 players who made All-NBA teams, another dozen players showed up on at least one ballot, starting with Trail Blazers forward Deni Avdija, who had 26 voting points (Twitter link).
Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns (14 points), Raptors forward Scottie Barnes (9), Cavaliers guard James Harden (6), Rockets center Alperen Sengun (6), Hornets guard LaMelo Ball (5), Spurs guard Stephon Castle (5), Heat big man Bam Adebayo (4), and Celtics guard Derrick White (3) all earned multiple votes, while Mavericks forward Cooper Flagg, Raptors forward Brandon Ingram, and Cavaliers big man Evan Mobley earned one Third Team vote apiece.
As usual, there are also financial implications worth noting related to the All-NBA teams. First and foremost, Duren will now be eligible to sign a contract with the Pistons that starts at up to 30% of the 2026/27 salary cap as a restricted free agent this summer. That means he could earn up to a projected $287.1MM over five years.
If he hadn’t made All-NBA, Duren’s maximum five-year contract with Detroit would’ve been worth a projected $239.3MM. Either way, the most a rival team can offer him is four years and $177.4MM.
Maxey and Cunningham are on their way to meeting the super-max (ie. Designated Veteran) criteria but would need to earn All-NBA honors again in 2027 to become eligible for maximum-salary extensions worth up to 35% of the cap instead of 30%.
Wembanyama is in a similar boat — despite making the All-NBA First Team and being named Defensive Player of the Year, he would need to achieve one of those feats again in 2027 in order to increase the maximum value of his next contract from 25% to the cap to 30% via the Rose rule. Wembanyama will be eligible to sign a rookie scale extension this offseason and is a lock to do so.
Paolo Banchero and Jalen Williams had Rose rule language in their maximum-salary rookie scale extensions, which were signed last offseason and will go into effect this July. They could’ve increased their respective starting salaries beyond 25% of the cap if they’d made an All-NBA team, but neither player did.
Interestingly, the maximum-salary rookie scale extension that the Thunder negotiated with Holmgren in 2025 did not include a Rose rule escalator, so the projected value of the big man’s contract (five years, $239.3MM) remains unchanged even though he earned a spot on the Third Team. It’ll go into effect this year and will be identical to Williams’ deal.
Finally, Edwards would have become eligible to sign a super-max extension with the Timberwolves during the 2027 offseason if he had been named to an All-NBA team this season. Because he didn’t qualify, he’ll need to make All-NBA next season in order to meet the performance criteria for a Designated Veteran extension.
And-Ones: Lewis, Sochan, Fournier, Parker
The 2026 draft class lost another guard prospect on Friday, as ball-handler Acaden Lewis opted to remove his name from the draft pool, per Jon Rothstein of CBS (via Twitter). Lewis will instead transfer to Miami after leaving Villanova.
A 6’2″ left-handed point guard, Lewis showed a good deal of craft and skill as a play-maker for the Wildcats as a 20-year-old freshman, averaging 5.3 assists per game while posting a 33.7% assist percentage. He was second in the Big East in total assists and assists per game and third in steals.
Despite averaging 12.2 points per game, Lewis struggled with his efficiency throughout the season, shooting just 27.0% from three and 58.3% on free throws. He was also sixth in the Big East in turnovers.
Lewis, who visited Miami before eventually committing to Villanova, will look to form an imposing two-way partnership with athletic big man Somto Cyril, who is a high-level lob threat and rim protector.
We have more news from around the basketball world:
- Knicks forward Jeremy Sochan has been named to Poland preliminary roster for this summer’s World Cup qualifiers, Johnny Askounis writes for Eurohoops. Sochan will be a free agent this summer and the next round of qualifying games will take place in early July, so it remains to be seen whether the former lottery pick will suit up for the Polish team in those games. The 32-man preliminary roster is expected to be pared down to 15 players by June 8, Askounis notes.
- Longtime NBA wing Evan Fournier has been named MVP of the EuroLeague Final Four after scoring 20 points with five rebounds and four assists to help Olympiacos win the tournament over Real Madrid, Askounis writes. After the game, he thanked the fans, whom he credited for the victory, congratulated Madrid on its season, and downplayed the notion that failing to make the Final Four last season was a source of motivation for him. “Honestly, no,” he said. “My motivation comes from love.”
- Spurs legend Tony Parker is expected to become the head coach of ASVEL Villeurbanne in France for next season and is on track to earn a salary of approximately 1.2 million Euros, which would make him the highest-paid coach in the history of the French League, writes Donatas Urbonas of Basket News. Parker, who is currently the team’s president, was previously a shareholder before selling his stake in the team, is also looking to bring in national team head coach Vincent Collet as either a lead assistant or a consultant as he seeks to surround himself with experienced, capable voices. Collet worked as a consultant for the Cavaliers this season. Urbonas reports that several new investors are expected to join ASVEL, a major change in the finances for the club, which had one of the lowest budgets in EuroLeague this season.
Sixers Notes: 22nd Pick, McCain, Drummond, Grimes
The Sixers have the 22nd pick in the 2026 draft and could use a rookie who can come in and contribute right away. But the team has an even more pressing concern: finalizing their next head of basketball operations.
Bob Myers, the president of the Sixers’ ownership group, would ideally like that decision to be made before the team is on the clock, but he’s not setting anything in stone, Adam Aaronson writes for PhillyVoice.com.
“If it hasn’t happened, that’s okay, too,” Myers said. “But the goal would be to have someone in place for the draft to get acclimated with the new group… whoever we hire, not sure who that will be, will likely, possibly already be evaluating the draft from where they’re coming from … But yeah, I’d like to, and I hope to, but it’ll be as much time as required to get the best person. Because again … the goal would be to have someone that’s the right person for a long amount of time after that.“
In terms of which prospects are being tied to the Sixers, there’s an emphasis among draft analysts on getting the team either a forward to address its thin depth on the wing or a center who can help solidify the position if and when Joel Embiid misses time.
Allen Graves, a raw forward from Santa Clara with intriguing defensive play-making, Dailyn Swain, a slashing wing from Texas, and Luigi Suigo, a 7’3″ giant out of Italy with interesting offensive upside, are all players who have been mocked to Philadelphia at No. 22.
Given that the Sixers have three players on max contracts, two of whom have some level of injury risk, drafting someone who can help right away is particularly important for this franchise, Gina Mizell says in a video for the Philly Inquirer about storylines for the offseason.
We have more from the Sixers:
- Jared McCain could have held a grudge against the Sixers and Daryl Morey after the team’s former president of basketball operations said he “sold high” on the young guard when trading him to the Thunder. But after his 24-point explosion in a Game 3 win over the Spurs, McCain chose the high road. “It’s never to prove anybody wrong. I try to keep a positive outlook. I like proving my support system right, the people who really believed in me, I like proving them right,” McCain said, per HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto (Twitter video link). “… Daryl’s still the guy that drafted me, so I’ll always have love for him for that. He trusted me, believed in me enough to take me at the 16th spot, so I’m forever grateful for that, no matter what.”
- Andre Drummond had an interesting season for the Sixers, performing well at the beginning and end of the year despite long stretches where he was relatively ineffective, Aaronson writes. Drummond managed to turn himself into something of a stretch five and is still a good rebounder, though he’s not nearly as elite on the boards as he once was. The question is whether the team can upgrade his spot on the cheap, given its lack of financial flexibility. If the answer is no, Drummond could find himself reunited with the team he has played over 100 games for over the last two seasons.
- After signing his qualifying offer following a lengthy game of chicken in restricted free agency last summer, Quentin Grimes was not able to recapture the magic he showed late in the 2024/25 season, writes Aaronson in his end-of-season review. Instead of proving himself to be a team cornerstone, he instead showed that he was more of a solid rotation player. While they could technically keep both free agents, the Sixers will most likely want to choose one of Grimes or Kelly Oubre Jr. to retain next season, according to Aaronson. That’s a complicated decision for several reasons. Oubre was more established this season in his role and will likely be cheaper than Grimes, who is younger and a better shooter. However, the team holds Grimes’ full Bird rights, which gives them more flexibility to sign him after trying to fill other holes. There’s also the question of whether Grimes would want to stay. There’s a lack of upward mobility in the backcourt pecking order behind Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe, and last summer’s protracted negotiation that didn’t result in a deal may have soured him on Philadelphia, though the departure of Morey could help smooth over any lingering resentment that remains.