Spurs’ Keldon Johnson Named Sixth Man Of The Year
For the second time in three days, a Spurs player has won a major award. After Victor Wembanyama was named the 2025/26 Defensive Player of the Year on Monday, Keldon Johnson has earned Sixth Man of the Year honors, the NBA announced today (Twitter link).
Coming off the bench in all 82 games for the 62-20 Spurs, Johnson averaged 13.2 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 1.4 assists in 23.3 minutes per game, posting a shooting line of .519/.363/.794. According to the league (Twitter link), he set a single-season franchise record by scoring 1,081 bench points, surpassing the mark previously set by Manu Ginobili, the only other Sixth Man of the Year winner in Spurs history.
Johnson epitomized the sixth man role by becoming the only NBA player in 2025/26 who appeared in all 82 games without making a single start, per the team.
Johnson earned 63 first-place votes and showed up on 96 out of 100 total ballots, accumulating 404 total points to beat out Heat forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Nuggets wing Tim Hardaway Jr., his fellow finalists. They finished second and third in the voting, respectively, with Jaquez receiving 34 first-place votes and 331 points, while Hardaway was a distant third (no first-place votes, 45 points).
In 75 games for the Heat, including 74 as a reserve, Jaquez averaged 15.4 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 4.7 assists in 28.3 minutes per game, making 50.7% of his shots from the floor.
It’s fair to wonder how big an impact the delay in award voting had on the Sixth Man of the Year race. Because a handful of stars appealed to be ruled award-eligible despite not meeting the 65-game criteria, the NBA needed a little extra time to make decisions on those cases. Ballots weren’t sent out until last Thursday and and had to be submitted by Friday evening.
By that time, the Heat had been eliminated in a play-in game that Jaquez didn’t play especially well in (he made 5-of-14 field goal attempts). That prompted at least one voter – Bill Simmons of The Ringer – to admit that he changed his vote from Jaquez to Johnson, despite the fact that Sixth Man is a regular season award.
Outside of the three finalists, nine more players received at least one vote. Timberwolves big man Naz Reid (42 points) and Thunder wing Ajay Mitchell (29) rounded out the top five, while Rockets guard Reed Sheppard (28) was the only other player to show up on more than three ballots.
Pistons big man Isaiah Stewart, Knicks center Mitchell Robinson, Timberwolves guard Ayo Dosunmu, Raptors forward/center Sandro Mamukelashvili, Spurs guard Dylan Harper, and Raptors guard Jamal Shead also earned votes. The full results can be viewed here (Twitter link).
And-Ones: Golden, Warriors, World Cup, Hifi, Aspiration
Kevin O’Connor of Yahoo Sports stated on his podcast earlier this week that the Warriors are expected to pursue Florida Gators head coach Todd Golden if Steve Kerr decides to step down, noting that Golden has an existing relationship with the Lacob family (Twitter video link). However, Golden told reporters on Wednesday that he has no plans to leave his current position.
“(I’m) definitely planning on coaching the Gators,” he said (Twitter video link).
Interestingly, Thomas Haugh‘s decision to return to the Gators for his senior year and continue playing under Golden was influenced by a conversation he had with Warriors forward Draymond Green. According to Mark Long of The Associated Press, Warriors rookie Will Richard, who played at Florida from 2022-25, arranged a conversation between his current teammate Green and his former teammate Haugh, who was viewed as a potential lottery pick if he had entered the 2026 draft.
“I think Draymond gave him great perspective on what life in the NBA is like and what life in college is like and how enjoyable it is,” Golden said. “And it allowed him to be like, ‘All right, the NBA, not sounding arrogant, but it will be there for him.’ It’s going to be there. And he only has one more opportunity to be at Florida. So they had a great conversation, and I think that got him kind of thinking.”
Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- FIBA has officially announced the hosts for the 2030 and 2031 World Cups. The women’s basketball event in 2030 will take place in Tokyo, Japan, while the men’s tournament the following year will be held in France, with games played in Paris, Lyon, and Lille (Twitter links).
- Paris Basketball guard Nadir Hifi, who went undrafted in 2023, tells the French outlet Le Parisien that he’s interested in the possibility of signing with an NBA team this offseason, as Dario Skerletic of Sportando relays. Hifi, 23, won the EuroLeague Rising Star award in 2024/25 and was the EuroLeague’s third-leading scorer this season at 18.9 points per game.
- In advance of the sentencing of Aspiration co-founder Joseph Sanberg, the NBA and Clippers owner Steve Ballmer both submitted letters to the federal judge overseeing the case, reports Baxter Holmes of ESPN. The attorney leading the league’s investigation into the Clippers’ relationship with Aspiration said Sanberg’s cooperation “substantially assisted our investigation, including our ability to develop a more complete understanding of key events,” whereas Ballmer’s attorney said the Clippers owner was “flagrantly defrauded” out of $60MM by Aspiration and requested that the judge’s sentence account for “the reputational damage that will take years to remediate.”
Darius Acuff Declares For 2026 NBA Draft
Appearing on Wednesday’s episode of NBA Today on ESPN, Arkansas freshman guard Darius Acuff told host Malika Andrews that he has decided to declare for the 2026 NBA draft (Twitter video link).
The announcement comes as no surprise, given that Acuff is widely expected to be a top-10 pick in June. He’s ranked sixth overall on ESPN’s big board and shows up at No. 5 in the latest mock draft from Jonathan Wasserman of Bleacher Report.
A 6’3″ guard, Acuff started all 36 games he played as a freshman in 2025/26 and led the SEC with 23.5 points and 6.4 assists in 35.1 minutes per contest. He also pulled down 3.1 rebounds per game and posted an excellent shooting line of .484/.440/.809.
The 19-year-old’s standout season, which included a Sweet 16 appearance in the NCAA tournament, earned him several year-end honors, including the SEC Player of the Year award and a consensus first-team All-American nod.
As ESPN’s Jeremy Woo observes, NBA scouts and executives have some concerns about Acuff’s defense, due in part to his size. However, he’s a dynamic offensive player who handles the ball well, creates – and makes – his own shots, and is a savvy finisher and play-maker.
Arkansas head coach John Calipari believes NBA teams are underrating Acuff. He has stated that Acuff is as talented as any freshman guard he has ever coached and told Marc J. Spears of Andscape last month that clubs who pass on the Razorbacks star will “regret it.”
“I said it about Tyrese (Maxey). I’ve said it about a bunch of guys,” Calipari said. “I said it about Shai (Gilgeous-Alexander): ‘You’re going to regret passing on this kid.’ And I know there are other good players, but this kid (Acuff) is unique.”
College underclassmen who want to go pro or simply test the NBA draft waters have until the end of this Friday to file their paperwork. Our early entrant tracker can be found right here.
Bulls’ Dillingham Undergoes Wrist Procedure
Bulls guard Rob Dillingham has undergone a minor surgery to remove a ganglion cyst from his right wrist, the team announced on Wednesday in a press release.
According to the Mayo Clinic, ganglion cysts are lumps filled with a “jellylike” fluid that most frequently show up on hands or wrists. They’re non-cancerous and are generally harmless, but can affect joint movement and can cause pain if they press on a nerve.
It’s unclear whether Dillingham’s play was meaningfully impacted by his cyst during the 2025/26 season, but the fact that it needed to be addressed surgically suggests it may have been bothering him.
The eighth overall pick in the 2024 draft, Dillingham was unable to carve out a consistent role in the Timberwolves’ backcourt. After spending a season-and-a-half in Minnesota, the 21-year-old was traded to Chicago at this season’s deadline as part of the Wolves’ package for Ayo Dosunmu.
Dillingham appeared in 30 games off the bench for the Bulls after that trade, averaging 9.6 points, 3.0 rebounds, and 2.8 assists in 21.5 minutes per contest and shooting 42.8% from the floor, including just 30.0% on three-pointers.
Entering the third year of his rookie scale contract this July, Dillingham will earn a guaranteed salary of roughly $6.89MM in 2026/27. The Bulls will have until October 31 to decide whether or not to exercise his $8.76MM team option for ’27/28. If that option is picked up, he’d be eligible for a rookie scale extension during the 2027 offseason and, potentially, restricted free agency in 2028.
Spurs Notes: Wembanyama, Harper, Barnes, Fox
Spurs big man Victor Wembanyama was diagnosed with a concussion after taking a scary fall to the court in the second quarter of Tuesday’s Game 2 loss to Portland, but there’s no indication he sustained any additional injuries on top of that. Head coach Mitch Johnson said as much during his post-game media session and a pair of team officials confirmed it, per Mike Finger of the San Antonio Express-News (Bluesky link).
Still, it’s little solace that Wembanyama suffered “just” a concussion, given how tricky they can be to manage. According to Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News (subscription required), the average absence for a concussion is about seven-to-10 days, per the NBA’s injury tracking data, which would mean the Defensive Player of the Year would miss at least Games 3 and 4 — and potentially more than that.
For his part, Wembanyama is hopeful of beating that timeline. Appearing on NBA Today on Wednesday (Twitter video link), ESPN’s Shams Charania reported that the third-year star reported to the Spurs’ facility today and is aiming to travel with the team to Portland on Thursday, though that has yet to be determined. According to Charania, the Spurs and Wembanyama are “taking this very much day by day” and his status for Friday’s Game 3 remains up in the air.
As McDonald writes, Wembanyama’s teammates know they have to be prepared to do a better job without him than they did down the stretch on Tuesday, when they blew a 14-point fourth-quarter lead.
“We all got to step up,” swingman Devin Vassell said. “We know what Vic brings to the table and we’ve played without him a couple of games this year. That’s huge void to fill.”
Here’s more on the Spurs:
- Wembanyama wasn’t the only Spur to suffer an injury on Tuesday, but the expectation is that guard Dylan Harper and forward Harrison Barnes will be ready for Game 3, per Tom Orsborn of the San Antonio Express-News (subscription required). Harper aggravated the left thumb injury he suffered during the Spurs’ regular season finale, while Barnes sustained a shoulder stinger as the result of a collision with Portland center Donovan Clingan. “Usually it’s ice,” Harper said of the treatment he’ll undergo before Friday’s game. “That’s about it. You can’t really do much with the thumb. Just kind of preserve it. Not really use it as much.”
- If Wembanyama misses time, the Spurs will need more from their highest-paid player, De’Aaron Fox, McDonald writes for the Express-News (subscription required). Fox scored 17 points on Tuesday, but he had nearly as many turnovers (three) as assists (four) and was 6-of-16 from the floor, including 1-of-6 in the fourth quarter. San Antonio was outscored by 14 points during his 34 minutes of action.
- The Spurs held their own defensively after Wembanyama exited Game 2, but their offense fell apart down the stretch, going 0-for-7 with a pair of turnovers in the final 3:37, as Orsborn details (subscription required). Johnson and the Spurs suggested after the game that wasn’t just about missing Wembanyama — Johnson lauded Portland’s defense and suggested his young team learned an important lesson about the level required to win a tight playoff game. “It looked like there was a level of fatigue there that kicked in just in terms of the intensity of the game and some of the output in minutes that guys had to play,” the Spurs’ coach said. “And that’s a playoff game. That’s what it’s going to feel like. And I think there’s a lot to learn.”
Raptors Notes: Ingram, Poeltl, Quickley, Ownership
After attempting just nine shots from the floor in the Raptors‘ Game 1 loss in Cleveland on Saturday, Brandon Ingram was determined to be more aggressive against Cleveland’s defense in Game 2. However, as Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca writes, Ingram wasn’t effective in Toronto’s second straight loss on Monday, missing all six of his shot attempts in the first half and finishing the game with just seven points on 3-of-15 shooting.
“Of course it would happen if you ask for more shots, that you would miss more shots,” Ingram said after Game 2. “I liked the looks that I had. I’ll continue to be aggressive. I’ll do a better job of keeping the defense off balance by getting my teammates involved and still shooting the shots that I need to shoot. It’s game to game. You make adjustments. I won’t miss all my shots.”
A star player seeking more shots and then not making the most of them could be a source of friction in some locker rooms, writes Grange, but he says that’s not the case in Toronto. Although the team heads home down 2-0 in the series and with its leading scorer averaging just 12.0 PPG on 33.3% shooting, Ingram’s teammates – including Scottie Barnes and RJ Barrett – know they need the All-Star forward to find his groove to have a chance to upset the Cavaliers.
“I just told him, ‘Stay in it. Stay in it. We need you,'” Barrett said of his message to Ingram in Monday’s second half. “He’s got us here, man. Like, the whole season, it’s been amazing for us. He’s been an All-Star. So just told him to stay in it, keep his head in it, that we need him. Because you know when I have my off nights, you know he’s right there to pick me up.”
Here are a few more items of interest on the Raptors before Thursday’s Game 3:
- After veteran big man Jakob Poeltl played just nine minutes in Game 2 and was benched in favor of rookie Collin Murray-Boyles at the start of the second half, head coach Darko Rajakovic wouldn’t say on Wednesday whether he might change his starting lineup for Game 3, per Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca (Twitter links). However, he did tell reporters that he expects more out of his veteran center. “He needs to be part of the solution for us,” Rajakovic said of Poeltl. “He needs to be more aggressive. He needs to dominate the glass. … He’s going to be a big part of Game 3 and I believe he’s going to perform really well.”
- Will Immanuel Quickley be available for Game 3 after missing the first two games of the series with a hamstring injury? The Raptors haven’t put out their injury report yet, but the starting point guard did some individual on-court work after Wednesday’s practice, tweets Lewenberg. Rajakovic said Quickley is “getting better every day,” according to Grange (Twitter link).
- Rogers Communications, the Canadian media and communications giant that currently controls 75% of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE), the Raptors’ parent company, intends to buy the remaining 25% later this year, as Kurt Badenhausen of Sportico details. Once that purchase is completed, Rogers will look to bring in minority investors for its sports assets, per Rogers CEO Tony Staffieri. In addition to the Raptors, MLSE also controls the NHL’s Maple Leafs, MLB’s Blue Jays, and MLS’ Toronto FC. Staffieri estimated that the company’s sports assets, which would likely include media properties such as Sportsnet, will have a total value exceeding $18 billion USD.
Southwest Notes: Rockets, Capela, Pelicans, Coward
After being eliminated in the first round of the 2025 playoffs due in large part to their offensive struggles, the Rockets went out and traded for Kevin Durant last summer. But as good as Durant has been over the course of the season, he hasn’t solved the team’s scoring issues, according to William Guillory of The Athletic.
As Guillory details, after missing Durant in the first game due to a knee injury, the Rockets were even worse offensively in his return in Game 2. Although the star forward made 7-of-12 shots from the floor and scored 23 points, he consistently faced double-teams and committed nine turnovers, matching his career playoff high.
The Rockets have controlled the possession battle against the Lakers, attempting 44 more field goals than Los Angeles through two games. But Houston has been outscored by 16 points and failed to reach the 100-point threshold in either game, with Alperen Sengun (15-of-39), Jabari Smith Jr. (12-of-30), and Reed Sheppard (6-of-24) not scoring efficiently.
“I definitely need to be aggressive when I get the ball to the middle. I’m just missing so many easy shots,” Sengun said after Tuesday’s Game 2 loss, per Guillory. “I need to get back to who I am and dominate the paint when I have the ball. (I’ve got to) help KD a little bit and make my teammates better as well. … I’m not missing from long distance. I’m missing from under the rim. I’ve got to make those.”
The Rockets converted just 7-of-29 (24.1%) three-point attempts on Tuesday, with Sheppard – their leading outside shooter during the regular season -only playing 11 minutes due to the fact that he hasn’t fully earned head coach Ime Udoka‘s trust on the defensive end of the court.
As Varun Shankar of The Houston Chronicle (subscription required) points out, the Rockets lack reliable three-point shooters who can hold their own defensively. Dorian Finney-Smith, Houston’s big 2025 free agent addition, was supposed to be that kind of player but hasn’t looked like his usual self since returning from offseason ankle surgery. Tari Eason also has a three-and-D profile, but he has been up and down all season, including in this series so far — after hitting 7-of-7 shots from the floor in Game 1, he made just 4-of-14 in Game 2.
As the Rockets head back home looking to turn their series around, here’s more from around the Southwest:
- Earlier in the season, former No. 1 overall pick Deandre Ayton griped about the Lakers “trying to make me Clint Capela,” a reference to his role within the team’s offense. With his Rockets facing Ayton’s Lakers in the playoffs, Capela told Melissa Rohlin of The California Post that he was “surprised” when he learned of Ayton’s comments. “I don’t know why I’m in someone else’s head. I don’t talk to the guy,” Capela said. “I mean for me, in my career, I did what I did for my team, had a lot of success. So, it worked out for me.”
- The Pelicans have at least 25 vacancies across their basketball and business operations departments, according to Shamit Dua of In The N.O., who reports (via Twitter) that the medical and performance team has seven openings. As Dua explains (via Twitter), while many of those vacancies are the result of an organizational restructuring, some staff members also left the team at season’s end because they didn’t know whether or not their contracts would be renewed.
- Yossi Gozlan of The Third Apron (Substack link) previews the Pelicans‘ offseason, evaluating how they might go about upgrading their frontcourt and weighing which of the team’s veterans are the likeliest summer trade candidates. Based on the current make-up of New Orleans’ roster, Gozlan believes the front office should consider the possibility of rebuilding around Derik Queen and Jeremiah Fears and moving several vets.
- After a promising rookie year, forward Cedric Coward is expected to play for the Grizzlies‘ Summer League team ahead of his second NBA season, according to Damichael Cole of The Memphis Commercial Appeal, who takes a look at what other young players on Memphis’ roster are likeliest to join Coward.
Key 2026 NBA Offseason Dates, Deadlines
With the 2025/26 NBA regular season in the books, nearly half of the league’s teams have shifted their focus to the offseason, and others will soon follow suit.
That means it’s time to retire our list of the NBA’s key in-season dates and deadlines for the ’25/26 campaign in favor of an updated offseason calendar of the most important dates facing teams and players in the coming months.
In the space below, you’ll find a breakdown of many of the NBA’s important dates and deadlines for the next few months, right up until training camps open for the 2026/27 season.
April 24
- Deadline for early entrants to declare for the NBA draft (10:59 pm CT).
- Note: For more information on draft-related dates and deadlines, check out our full breakdown.
May 8-10
- NBA G League combine.
May 10
- NBA draft lottery.
May 10-17
- NBA draft combine.
May 27
- Last day for early entrants to withdraw from the NBA draft and retain their NCAA eligibility (10:59 pm CT).
June 3
- NBA Finals begin.
June 13
- Deadline for all early entrants (including international players) to withdraw from the NBA draft (4:00 pm CT).
June 19
- Latest possible end date for NBA Finals.
TBD (first day after end of NBA Finals)
- Teams can begin negotiating with their own free agents.
June 23
- Day one of NBA draft (first round).
June 24
- Day two of NBA draft (second round).
June 29
- Last day for decisions on player, team, and early termination options
- Note: Certain contracts will require earlier decisions.
- Last day for teams to make qualifying offers to players eligible for restricted free agency.
June 30
- Last official day of the 2025/26 NBA league year.
- Last day for players eligible for veteran extensions in 2025/26 to sign them.
- Teams can begin negotiating with free agents from other clubs (5:00 pm CT).
July 1
- Official start of the 2026/27 NBA league year.
- Moratorium period begins.
- Restricted free agents can sign an offer sheet.
- Teams can begin signing players to one- or two-year minimum-salary contracts.
- Teams can begin signing players to two-way contracts.
- Teams can begin signing first-round picks to rookie scale contracts.
- Teams can begin signing second-round picks using the second-round pick exception.
- Teams can begin exercising the third- or fourth-year team options for 2027/28 on rookie scale contracts.
July 4-7
July 6
- Moratorium period ends (11:01 am CT).
- Teams can begin officially signing players, extending players, and completing trades (11:01 am CT).
- The 24-hour period for matching an RFA offer sheet signed during the moratorium begins (11:01 am CT).
July 9-19
- Las Vegas Summer League.
July 13
- Last day for teams to unilaterally withdraw qualifying offers to restricted free agents.
July 31
- Players signed using the second-round pick exception begin to count against a team’s cap.
August 5
- Last day for teams to issue required tenders to unsigned second-round picks.
August 29
- Last day for teams to waive players and apply the stretch provision to their 2026/27 salaries.
Late September (specific dates TBA)
- Training camps open.
Information from NBA.com was used in the creation of this post.
Draft Notes: Allen, Ngongba, Samodurov, Suigo, Dawes
Following his freshman year at Alabama, forward Amari Allen will test the NBA draft waters while maintaining his NCAA eligibility, he announced on Instagram.
Allen is viewed as a possible first-round pick — he currently ranks 29th on ESPN’s big board, while Jonathan Wasserman of Bleacher Report had him all the way up at No. 18 in his post-NCAA tournament mock draft. The 6’8″ wing is said to have good positional size and versatility and is considered a solid passer and shooter. Although he made just 1-of-16 three-pointers during SEC and NCAA tournaments, he had made 37.7% of 4.4 tries per game in 28 regular season outings before that.
In 32 total games, including 24 starts, Allen averaged 11.4 points, 6.9 rebounds, and 3.1 assists in 28.2 minutes per contest, earning a spot on the All-SEC Freshman team.
Here are a few more draft-related notes:
- Duke’s Patrick Ngongba had been considered a possible first-round pick, but he’ll be returning to the Blue Devils for his junior season, according to the school (Twitter link). The big man emerged as Duke’s starting center in his sophomore year, averaging 10.1 PPG, 5.8 RPG, and 2.0 APG in 32 games (21.9 MPG). ESPN’s Jeremy Woo previously noted that some evaluators believed Ngongba wasn’t ready for the NBA’s level of physicality and would benefit from another year in college.
- Alex Samodurov, a 21-year-old power forward who plays for the Greek team Panathinaikos, is declaring for the 2026 NBA draft, agent Alex Saratsis tells Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress (Twitter link). According to Givony, Samodurov is also considering the possibility of coming stateside to enroll in a college program. He played a limited role for Panathinaikos in 2025/26, averaging just 6.2 minutes per game in 13 EuroLeague appearances.
- Italian center Luigi Suigo, the No. 41 prospect on ESPN’s board, is still weighing whether to enter the NBA draft or play college basketball, writes Dario Skerletic of Sportando. Illinois, Purdue, Indiana, St. John’s, Duke, and BYU are among the programs that have been linked to Suigo, who is currently playing for KK Mega Basket in Serbia, Skerletic adds.
[UPDATE: Suigo will test the draft waters while continuing to weigh his options, Givony reports (Twitter links). - Junior forward Keanu Dawes is testing the draft waters this spring, according to Givony (Twitter link). Dawes may end up returning to school for his senior year though. After spending the past two years playing for Utah, he entered the transfer portal and has signed with Kansas. In 32 starts last season for the Utes, the 6’9″ forward averaged 12.5 PPG, 8.8 RPG, and 2.2 APG in 30.8 MPG.
Suns Notes: Williams, Allen, Goodwin, Ott, Brooks
Suns center Mark Williams, who missed 15 games in March due to a third metatarsal stress reaction in his left foot, sat out last Friday’s play-in game vs. Golden State and Sunday’s Game 1 against Oklahoma City due to what the team called left foot soreness. According to Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic, Williams was wearing a walking boot at the Suns’ facility on Tuesday.
However, when head coach Jordan Ott was asked on Tuesday if Williams would be ruled out for the rest of the first-round series, he said the club is “just continuing to take it day-by-day,” per Rankin. And the Suns’ injury report doesn’t suggest they’re necessarily expecting a lengthy absence for the big man — he’s considered questionable to suit up on Wednesday for Game 2.
Still, it’s worth noting that Williams’ injury designation has been updated to “left foot third metatarsal stress reaction,” confirming that the soreness he’s experiencing is directly related to the issue that sidelined him last month.
We have more on the Suns, including a couple more injury updates:
- Suns wing Grayson Allen hasn’t played since April 10 due to a left hamstring strain, despite being listed as available for each of the team’s past two contests. He went through a full practice on Tuesday and is “definitely making progress,” according to Ott (via Rankin). Allen is considered questionable for Game 2, though even if his status is upgraded, it’s unclear whether he’ll actually see any action.
- Suns guard Jordan Goodwin, who missed seven straight games in left February and early March due to a left calf strain, is dealing with soreness in that same calf. As Rankin notes, he missed the second half of Sunday’s game and is listed as questionable to play on Wednesday. “(He) feels pretty good,” Ott said on Tuesday. “I don’t think it’s quite as bad as it was in February. We know it’s the playoffs. We always talk about all hands on deck. So we’ll take whoever we can get at this time of the year. Any minutes from any of those guys is impactful and helpful for our group. We’ll wait and see (Wednesday).”
- Ott was impressive during his first regular season as a head coach, but he faces a new challenge in these playoffs against the defending champions and the No. 1 seed in the West, writes Doug Haller of The Athletic. While Haller acknowledges that no one expects Ott’s Suns to beat Oklahoma City, he says it’s important the team is competitive over the course of the series.
- Suns forward Dillon Brooks – who earned praise from rival Draymond Green for the impact he has made in Phoenix this season, as Taylor Wirth of NBC Sports Bay Area details – says he’s determined to make Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander work harder on defense in Game 2, per Rankin. “You see a guy like that going hard on the offensive end all game and trying to get a rest on defense,” Brooks said. “I’ll find a way to make him use his legs, use his hands, use his mind on that defensive end, most of the time, he’s going to break down and then you can go out and make plays.”