Combine Notes: Dybantsa, Boozer, Peterson, Wilson
Potential No. 1 pick AJ Dybantsa is approaching this week’s draft combine in Chicago like a “job interview,” writes Josh Robbins of The Athletic. Dybantsa has been wearing a suit and tie not only in his meetings with team executives, but even for his sessions with the media.
“I had interviews this morning with different teams, and I mean, I never had a job before,” Dybantsa told reporters on Wednesday. “I was 13 (when I) started taking basketball serious. But this is like my first job interview. So my dad’s kind of like, ‘You know, this is your job interview. So come professional, come in a suit.’”
By noon Wednesday, Dybantsa had talked with the teams holding the top five picks in the draft – the Wizards, Jazz, Grizzlies, Bulls and Clippers – along with the Hawks and Mavericks, according to Robbins. His case for being selected first overall includes a mixture of versatility, dedication to the game and fan appeal.
“I’m super versatile as a player,” Dybantsa said. “I think I can guard one through four, play one through four. I think that I can play a little bit of combo guard if you need me to. I can be that jumbo wing if you need me to. I play the game the right way. So I try to play to win, try to make my teammates better. But I’m super exciting as a player, super explosive. I fill seats.”
There’s more from the combine:
- The other projected top-four picks, Cameron Boozer, Darryn Peterson and Caleb Wilson, were also asked why they should be taken first, Robbins adds. Boozer responded, “I think my mind, for sure,” along with his “feel for the game” and competitiveness. Peterson stated that he can fit with any team and dispelled rumors that he only wants to play point guard. Wilson cited his “leadership and focus” in addition to his on-court talents and said the hand injury that derailed his collegiate season is no longer an issue. “My hand’s perfectly fine now,” he said, “and I feel like it offered me a different perspective on basketball in general, just because once I injured my hand, now I’m way more grateful to play. Every day I wake up and I get the opportunity to play and just be able to shoot and dribble and stuff like that. I just feel grateful for the opportunity, and I wasn’t as grateful as I am now.”
- Wilson displayed his knowledge of Chicago by talking about Michael Jordan, “The Last Dance” documentary and SLAP, which is the acronym new Bulls executive vice president of basketball operations Bryson Graham uses to sum up what he looks for in a player – size, length, athleticism and physicality, per Julia Poe of The Chicago Tribune (subscription required). Wilson fits those characteristics and may be an easy choice for Chicago if he’s still on the board at No. 4, but the Bulls also hold the 15th pick and plan to talk to roughly 20 players this week, according to Poe.
- Talent evaluators and executives at the combine view Dybantsa, Peterson, Boozer and Wilson as a “big four” in the draft, with the next tier starting once they’re off the board, relays K.C. Johnson of Chicago Sports Network (Twitter link).
Board Of Governors Will Consider “3-2-1” Lottery Reform Plan
Appearing Wednesday on Stephen A. Smith’s radio show (YouTube link), commissioner Adam Silver confirmed that the “3-2-1” lottery reform plan will be submitted to the Board of Governors when they meet later this month, relays Tim Bontemps of ESPN.
“What we’ve essentially done, and we have a proposal that we’re going to be bringing to our team owners at the end of May, and that is to create essentially a system of flat odds, so that you have no particular incentive to be bad,” Silver said. “There’s even something we’re calling draft relegation, that if you’re one of the bottom three teams in the league, you’ll actually have worse odds than teams that sort of are four through up until teams make the playoffs. We’re still playing a little bit with the system there.”
Bontemps points out that the Wizards, Jazz, Grizzlies and Bulls, who landed the top four spots in the lottery, all made an effort to improve their draft status by losing games as the season wore on. Utah was fined $500K in February for “conduct detrimental to the league” after not playing Lauri Markkanen and Jaren Jackson Jr. in the fourth quarter of a pair of games.
Silver stated that the new plan will give the league additional powers to punish teams that engage in overt tanking.
“And also ultimately additional authority for the league office that if we do see that type of behavior where there’s a sense that teams aren’t going all out to win, that we can actually take away draft lottery balls, we can change the order of the draft,” Silver told Smith. “Teams have to know it’s not just about paying a financial fine, which they may think is worth it in order to get a top pick, but that it’ll directly impact their ability to get a top draft pick.”
Bontemps cites a “near universal belief” throughout the league that some type of lottery reform will be adopted in response to the growing problem of obvious tanking in the past few years.
The “3-2-1” system gets its name from the varying amount of lottery balls teams would be assigned depending on their place in the standings. Those that finish with the fourth-worst through the 10th-worst record would receive three lottery balls each, while the bottom three teams would only get two. The ninth and 10th play-in seeds in each conference receive two lottery balls each, while the losers of the 7-8 play-in games would have one apiece.
It’s a huge change from the current system, which includes 1,001 possible combinations of ping pong balls and gives significantly better odds to the teams with the three worst records.
The proposal would take effect for next season if it’s approved by the Board of Governors, but it’s only scheduled to last through 2029. That’s when a new collective bargaining agreement will be negotiated that could contain fresh anti-tanking measures.
“The system that we’re going to be putting in front of our teams will be in effect for three years,” Silver said. “What we’re telling our teams is, the term people use is it will ‘sunset.’ In other words, this is going to be a new flat-odd system. It’ll be in place for three years and will give us time for additional study to see whether there are other creative ways to better distribute players.
“And it’ll also give us an opportunity to see how our teams respond to the system, because one thing I’ve learned, whether it’s new provisions in the collective bargaining agreement, new provisions in the draft lottery, which as you know we’ve changed many times over the years, the teams are incredibly innovative and creative at coming up with ways to work the system.”
Sixers Notes: Morey, McCain, Trade Deadline, Embiid, Front Office Candidates
Daryl Morey’s post-trade assessment that “we sold high” when he sent Jared McCain to Oklahoma City in February continues to be mocked in Philadelphia, writes Adam Aaronson of The Philly Voice. That trade, combined with the failure to get another player to replace McCain in the rotation, may have led to Morey’s dismissal this week as the Sixers‘ president of basketball operations.
The only return in that deal with the Thunder was a first-round pick originally belonging to Houston that wound up at No. 22 in this year’s draft. McCain’s roster spot was given to Cameron Payne, who had been playing in Serbia, but he was waived after suffering a hamstring strain in the final week of the season. Two-way player Dalen Terry was promoted to take his place and saw minimal playing time in the postseason.
Morey approached the deadline looking for “cost-effective role players with multiple years of control,” a source tells Aaronson, and his top target was Thunder shooting guard Aaron Wiggins. Morey was hoping to land Wiggins as part of the McCain deal, but Philadelphia would have needed to include multiple other players to make the trade work. OKC held onto Wiggins, and Aaronson notes that McCain has played a role in pushing him out of the rotation.
Aaronson also hears that Morey offered multiple second-round picks to the Bulls for Jalen Smith, but Chicago opted to keep him. Two other prime targets were Rockets forward Tari Eason and Pelicans forward Saddiq Bey, who both remained with their teams through the deadline. Aaronson’s source said the Sixers also made attempts to land the Mavericks‘ Naji Marshall, the Timberwolves‘ Donte DiVincenzo, the Warriors‘ Brandin Podziemski and the Suns‘ Ryan Dunn. None of those players wound up being traded.
Morey also liked the potential fit of Ayo Dosunmu, who has been a valuable contributor in Minnesota’s playoff run, according to Aaronson’s source, but didn’t prioritize him because of his expiring contract. Aaronson reports that the team also had some interest in Vit Krejci, who was sent from Atlanta to Portland four days prior to the deadline in exchange for two second-round picks. Philadelphia had numerous second-rounders to offer, but Morey reportedly didn’t want to commit to a deal with so much time remaining before the deadline.
There’s more on the Sixers:
- Morey’s relationship with star center Joel Embiid appeared to deteriorate throughout the season, Aaronson adds. Embiid expressed displeasure with management at the trade deadline and again when he was held out of a game in early April, and he refused to comment directly on Morey when asked about their relationship during the playoffs.
- Bob Myers, who will be leading the search to replace Morey, could probably have the job if he tells managing partner Josh Harris that he wants it, Aaronson suggests in a separate story. If Myers opts to remain in his current role as president of sports for Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, Aaronson identifies a few other candidates, including Elton Brand, who served as Morey’s top assistant, and Vince Rozman, who spent 16 years with the organization before joining OKC’s front office in 2022. Pistons senior vice president Dennis Lindsey and Timberwolves GM Matt Lloyd, who were both finalists to run Chicago’s front office, are also on the list, along with Spurs assistant GM Dave Telep, Celtics assistant GM Dave Lewin and prominent agents Austin Brown and Alex Saratsis.
- In a mailbag column, Aaronson examines some options for the Sixers in free agency and explains why the team shouldn’t try to trade for Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Lakers Notes: LeBron, Reaves, Doncic, Front Office
Speaking to reporters at his end-of-season press conference on Tuesday, Lakers president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka confirmed that the team would welcome back LeBron James if he wants to re-sign in free agency, per ESPN’s Dave McMenamin. Pelinka pointed out that “any team, including ours” would love to have James on its roster.
“We probably haven’t seen a player that has honored the game to the extent that he’s honored the game,” Pelinka said. “He’s given so much to his teammates, to this organization. And the thing we want to do more than anything else is honor him back.
“… The first order of business there is allowing him to spend the time he needs to decide what his next steps are. Does he want to play another year in the NBA? And that’ll be [decided through] family time, I think time with his inner circle. And we just want to honor that for him.”
As McMenamin writes in a separate story, James and the Lakers haven’t always seen eye to eye — LeBron believes the team has taken him for granted at times, and a source close to him suggests Los Angeles tried to “push him out the door” after acquiring Luka Doncic last year. However, their relationship was described as mostly “harmonious” during the 2025/26 season, according to McMenamin, who says it could be in both sides’ best interests to keep it going.
As McMenamin writes, the last time James signed with Los Angeles, he took a little less than the max and conveyed that he would’ve been willing to take a bigger pay cut if the team had been able to land one of the free agent targets on his wish list. That precedent suggests the 41-year-old will be “reasonable” in contract talks this offseason, though a source familiar with James’ thinking tells ESPN that he won’t just be seeking a specific dollar figure and that the Lakers’ approach to negotiations will matter.
“The Lakers can’t just offer James a number. They have to offer a why behind that number,” one agent told McMenamin. “Their plan for any discount would have to be coherent.”
Here’s more on the Lakers:
- In addition to addressing James’ upcoming free agency, Pelinka also expressed strong interest on Tuesday in re-signing Austin Reaves if he declines his option in favor of free agency, which is considered a lock. “He started his journey here as a Laker and has made it very clear to us that he wants his journey to continue as a Laker,” Pelinka said, according to McMenamin. “And we feel the same way. We want his odyssey to continue to unfold in the purple and gold. … Both sides have made it abundantly clear that we want to work something out where he continues his prolific career here.”
- Lakers head coach JJ Redick, who also appeared at Tuesday’s presser, told reporters that his goals for next saeson are to improve the defense and develop a stronger, more reliable bench. He also echoed Pelinka’s message about bringing back James and Reaves alongside Doncic. “We want that core to be back together,” Redick said. “All three of those guys showed a lot of growth this year. I think a lot has been made about Luka’s fitness level and his dedication to that. He was great throughout the season. He’s still in fantastic shape six weeks after an injury. But he’s also grown as a leader.”
- Pelinka confirmed that building a roster that complements Doncic and maximizes his strengths is the Lakers’ top priority, as Dan Woike of The Athletic relays. “The archetype of the roster that we want is going to be retrofitted around Luka and the things he needs,” Pelinka said. “Clearly, he’s that leader and that player for the future that we want to build the right way around.”
- Pelinka told reporters, including Thuc Nhi Nguyen of The Los Angeles Times, that the team plans to hire two assistant general manager this offseason and has already begun interviewing for those positions. One of those two new hires will focus on pro and draft scouting and player development, while the other would be on the strategy side, with a focus on analytics and the salary cap. “It’s not that we’ve had holes in those places,” Pelinka said. “We got a great team of people that works incredibly hard. It’s just we want to add more to that.”
2026 NBA Offseason Preview: Washington Wizards
After Washington won 15 games in 2023/24 and 18 in '24/25, it was more of the same for the organization in '25/26. Determined to hang onto the top-eight protected 2026 first-round pick they owed the Knicks, the Wizards were in no rush to take a step toward contention this past year.
Among the seven players who logged the most total minutes for Washington in 2025/26, six were 21 years old or younger as of opening night (the seventh, Justin Champagnie, is just 24). And the most effective of those players, like Alex Sarr and Kyshawn George, had their playing time reduced during the second half of the season when they were healthy enough to suit up at all -- neither Sarr nor George played more than 26 minutes in a game after the trade deadline as the Wizards finished with an NBA-worst 17-65 record.
Still, there were signals throughout the '25/26 campaign that it wasn't quite the same as the previous two seasons in D.C. For one, the Wizards made a pair of surprising in-season trades for veteran stars whose value had dipped due to health- and contract-related concerns. In landing Trae Young from Atlanta and Anthony Davis from Dallas, Washington acquired a duo with 14 All-Star appearances between them and didn't have to pay a premium to do so.
The cost for Young was just CJ McCollum, a veteran on an expiring contract who didn't appear to be part of the Wizards' long-term plans, and Corey Kispert, a solid shooter whose ability to stay on the floor in the playoffs was a question mark. No draft picks changed hands in that swap.
The price tag for Davis was slightly higher in terms of draft assets, but the two first-round picks Washington gave up in the deal had limited value -- one is the No. 30 pick in 2026, while the second is the Warriors' top-20 protected 2030 first-rounder, which will turn into a single second-round selection if it doesn't land between 21-30. Washington also gave up three second-rounders to go along with a package of non-core players headlined by Khris Middleton's expiring contract.
Because Young and Davis were both dealing with health issues and the Wizards had no desire to upgrade in the short term by rushing them back, we still haven't really gotten the sense of how either star will fit on this roster. Young played just five games after being traded from Atlanta to Washington, while Davis has yet to make his Wizards debut. But both players should be healthy entering training camp this fall, and they offer intriguing upside for a team that finally appears ready to move beyond perpetually rebuilding.
This year has also looked a little different for the Wizards in another very important way. After sliding all the way to No. 6 in last year's draft lottery and missing out on potential stars like Cooper Flagg, Dylan Harper, VJ Edgecombe, and Kon Knueppel, Washington was the big winner in the 2026 lottery. The Wizards became the first - and likely last - team since the current lottery format was implemented in 2019 to claim the No. 1 overall pick after finishing with the league's worst record.
Tre Johnson isn't a bad prospect by any means, but after he was all the Wizards had to show for a second consecutive season among the NBA's bottom-feeders, some fans in D.C. were left wondering whether a third straight year in the cellar would really be worth it. Sunday's lottery outcome provided a definitive answer of "yes."
The Wizards' Offseason Plans
Of course, while winning the lottery was a feel-good moment for a Wizards team badly in need of one, any victory laps would be premature. Before celebrating its good fortune, the front office needs to make sure it nails that pick.
Draft Notes: Graves, Okorie, Evans, Veesaar, Kayil
When he declared for the 2026 NBA draft earlier this spring, Santa Clara freshman forward Allen Graves also entered the NCAA transfer portal. However, he has been focused more on improving his draft stock than on lining up a new college for next season, per Jeff Borzello of ESPN (Twitter link).
According to Borzello, Graves said he has only had conversations with two schools since entering the transfer: LSU and Duke. Kentucky also reached out to his representatives, Graves said, but LSU and Duke would be his top two choices if he decides to play his sophomore season.
For now though, Graves is leaning toward keeping his name in the draft pool as long as he feels confident about being a first-round pick, which seems like an increasingly realistic outcome. In their most recent mock drafts, Kevin O’Connor of Yahoo Sports had Graves at No. 16 overall, Jonathan Wasserman of Bleacher Report had him at No. 20, and ESPN’s Jeremy Woo had him at No. 22.
Here are a few more draft-related updates from this week’s combine:
- Stanford guard Ebuka Okorie, who is viewed as a possible first-round pick, intends to remain in the draft and forgo his remaining NCAA eligibility, according to Borzello (Twitter link). “I already talked with (Stanford coach) Kyle Smith and I talked to my agents and my family,” Okorie said. “I’m staying in the draft.” When Okorie declared for the draft, he was said to be leaning strongly toward going pro but was leaving the door open for a return to Stanford.
- As expected, Duke wing Isaiah Evans and UNC center Henri Veesaar, who rank 21st and 31st, respectively, on ESPN’s big board, will keep their names in the draft and go pro, according to Borzello (Twitter links). Evans said that he’s “fully in” and hasn’t talked to the Blue Devils at all about returning, while Veesaar said he’s “all-in” on the draft. “It’s 100% my decision to stay. I think it’s the right decision, basketball-wise,” the North Carolina big man added.
- German point guard Jack Kayil had committed to Gonzaga for the 2026/27 season, but he plans to remain in the draft instead of going to college, agents Kevin Bradbury and Milan Nikolic tell Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress (Twitter link). Kayil is ranked just 61st on ESPN’s board, but he has receiving “first-round feedback” in Chicago this week after an excellent season with the German team Alba Berlin, Givony reports.
- Givony (Twitter link) passes along the names of several of the notable prospects who aren’t participating in 5-on-5 scrimmages at the combine, pointing out that some of them may have already decided to return to school and won’t want to risk suffering an injury.
Keegan Murray Undergoes Arthroscopic Ankle Surgery
Kings forward Keegan Murray underwent a “minimally invasive” arthroscopic procedure on Tuesday in order to remove loose bodies from his left ankle, a league source tells James Ham of The Kings Beat (Twitter link).
According to Ham, the surgery requires a recovery period of six-to-eight weeks. That timeline suggests Murray should recover in plenty of time to be ready for training camp in late September, assuming he doesn’t experience any setbacks.
After appearing in 80, 77, and 76 regular season games during his first three years in the NBA, Murray was beset by health problems in 2025/26. His season debut was delayed until November 20 after he underwent surgery on his left thumb; he later missed a pair of games in December due to a mild calf strain; then he was out for several weeks with a left ankle sprain and returned for just four games before he aggravated that ankle injury, ending his season.
In total, Murray made just 23 regular season appearances, averaging 14.0 points, 5.7 rebounds, 1.7 assists, and 1.6 blocks in 34.5 minutes per game. His shooting percentages of 42.0% from the floor and 27.7% on three-pointers were career lows, but the sample size was relatively small.
The Kings clearly view Murray as an important part of their future, having signed him to a five-year, $140MM rookie scale extension last October. That deal, which runs through 2030/31, will go into effect in July as Murray’s rookie deal expires.
Murray is currently the only player on the Kings roster who is owed guaranteed money beyond the 2027/28 season, though youngsters Nique Clifford and Dylan Cardwell have non-guaranteed salaries for ’28/29.
And-Ones: McGrady, First-Rounders, Combine, Rozier
Former NBA guard Tracy McGrady, a seven-time All-Star who earned a spot in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, has accepted a role at Wagner College, the school announced in a press release. McGrady has been named the strategic advisor for the men’s basketball program.
In his new role, McGrady will assist with NIL deals, marketing, player development, and “expanding Wagner’s reach beyond its traditional areas of engagement on and off the court,” according to today’s announcement.
McGrady will forgo a salary and will serve in a volunteer capacity — his son, Laymen, will be a freshman at Wagner this season after spending a year at Oral Roberts as a redshirt in 2025/26.
Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- Based on his conversations with NBA executives at this week’s draft combine in Chicago, Jake Fischer of The Stein Line (Substack link) expects fewer first-round picks to change hands in trades beginning this offseason. As Fischer explains, teams are wary about how valuable a late-lottery pick could become under the NBA’s new lottery reform plan, which will likely make them more reluctant to surrender those selections.
- Also reporting from the combine, Jonathan Wasserman of Bleacher Report takes a look at the winners and losers so far among this year’s draft-eligible prospects. While some of Wasserman’s choices overlap with ESPN’s picks that we passed along on Tuesday, Bleacher Report’s draft guru also identifies Arkansas’ Darius Acuff and Houston’s Kingston Flemings as winners, noting that Acuff’s measurements compared favorably to Damian Lillard‘s, while Flemings showed off an impressive three-pointer during shooting drills. Vanderbilt’s Tyler Tanner, whose height was determined to be below 5’11”, and Alabama’s Amari Allen, who came in at just over 6’5″, are among Wasserman’s combine losers so far due to their official measurements.
- The NBA and former Heat guard Terry Rozier met with an arbitrator last month for a second time to renew their battle over whether or not Rozier is entitled to receive his full $26.6MM salary for 2025/26 as he faces federal charges following his arrest last fall. Rozier won an initial arbitration case earlier this year, but the league is still arguing that his salary should be reduced. Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic has the details on the latest arbitration session.
Josh Giddey Undergoes Arthroscopic Procedure On Ankle
Bulls guard Josh Giddey recently underwent a successful arthroscopy on his right ankle, the team announced today (via Twitter).
According to the Bulls, the plan is for Giddey to resume basketball activities in approximately three months, which would be in mid-August. The expectation is that the 23-year-old will be ready to go for the start of training camp in late September.
Giddey was limited to 54 appearances in 2025/26, but his lengthiest absences were the result of hamstring issues. Still, he has dealt with repeated right ankle problems over the past two years too, dating back to when he first injured the ankle at the 2024 Olympics while playing for Australia’s national team. He said back in September 2024 that he sustained a ruptured ATFL (anterior talo-fibular ligament); since then, he has sprained the ankle multiple times.
While Chicago’s roster figures to undergo some major changes this offseason under new head of basketball operations Bryson Graham, Giddey looks like one of the few players whose spot should be relatively safe.
The former Thunder lottery pick, who has been the Bulls’ starting point guard since being traded to Chicago during the 2024 offseason, set new career highs in points (17.0), assists (9.1), and rebounds (8.3) per game this past season while posting a shooting line of .448/.364/.763. He negotiated a long-term contract with the team as a restricted free agent last offseason and still has three years and $75MM left on that deal.
Central Notes: Wade, Bulls, Malone, Pacers
After falling behind 2-0 to Detroit in the Eastern Conference semifinals, Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson and his staff considered making a starting lineup change, writes Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com (subscription required). However, Atkinson decided to stick with forward Dean Wade as the fifth starter alongside his “core four” of Donovan Mitchell, James Harden, Evan Mobley, and Jarrett Allen.
Wade, who will be an unrestricted free agent this summer, has rewarded Atkinson’s faith in him, according to Fedor. While the 29-year-old only scored three points in nearly 40 minutes of action across Games 3 and 4, he has been a crucial part of the Cleveland’s defensive plan against All-Star guard Cade Cunningham. According to NBA’s matchup data, Cunningham had five points, two assists, and four turnovers on 2-of-8 shooting when Wade was his primary defender in the two games in Cleveland.
“I thought Dean Wade took his defense to another level,” Atkinson said after Monday’s win. “To have a 6-foot-9 body that can lean on Cade and make things difficult, I thought that was key.”
No Cavaliers player has a higher individual net rating during the postseason than Wade. The team has outscored its playoff opponents by 10.6 points per 100 possessions during his 262 minutes of action and has been outscored by 10.2 points per 100 possessions in the 271 minutes he hasn’t played.
“All the lineups with Dean, we rebound better and we defend better,” Atkinson said.
Here’s more from around the Central:
- The Bulls have plenty of work to do on the roster this summer, according to Keith Smith of Spotrac, who suggests in his offseason preview that Matas Buzelis looks like the only young player on the roster who is guaranteed to be a long-term cornerstone. Smith explores potential uses for Chicago’s cap room, noting that taking on unwanted contracts attached to more valuable assets is probably the safest approach. If the Bulls want to target a restricted free agent, they’d be better off working out a sign-and-trade than risking an offer sheet that might gets matched, Smith adds.
- In a pair of subscriber-only stories for The Chicago Tribune, Julia Poe considers the Bulls‘ draft options with the fourth and 15th overall picks and reports that Bryson Graham has made his first personnel change since being hired as the team’s executive VP of basketball operations, having let go of Windy City Bulls general manager Josh Malone.
- Revisiting the trade that saw the Pacers give up a handful of assets – including what turned out to to be the No. 5 pick in this year’s draft – for Ivica Zubac, Jay King of The Athletic questions whether acting with such urgency to address the team’s hole at center was the right call. As King observes, even though they appeared in the 2025 NBA Finals, there’s no guarantee that a healthier version of the Pacers will be able to get back to that level next season, especially since so much is hinging on Tyrese Haliburton recapturing his prior form after an Achilles tear, one of the most difficult injuries to return from.