Lakers Notes: Doncic, LeBron, Redick, Offseason
Luka Doncic, who will become extension-eligible this summer, will have several different options available to him if he wants to sign a new deal with the Lakers. His maximum contract as of August 2 would be worth a projected $229MM over four years, but it might be more favorable for him in the long term for him to sign a three-year deal with a third-year option that would allow him to opt out in 2028, when he has 10 years of NBA experience and qualifies for a salary worth 35% of the cap.
Team sources tell Jovan Buha and Sam Amick of The Athletic that the Lakers would be amenable to whatever kind of contract Doncic wants, while sources close to the star guard tell ESPN’s Dave McMenamin that he’ll likely take his time with the decision.
A source close to Doncic tells ESPN that the five-time All-Star feels “wanted” in Los Angeles, so it seems possible that he’ll make some sort of commitment to his new team this summer. For what it’s worth, LeBron James told ESPN that he’d love to see Doncic in Los Angles long term but won’t be trying to influence his teammate’s decision.
“No, that ain’t my job,” James said, per McMenamin. “I think … I don’t think, I know, Luka knows how I feel about him. And ultimately, that trade happened for the future. That’s not for me. Luka has to decide what he has to do with his future. He’s (26) years old, I’m 40, so he can’t be basing his career off me. That’s just real.
“But I hope, obviously, (he stays long term). Laker fans f—ing love him here. L.A. has accepted him. We love him as a teammate, as a brother. But ultimately, he’s got to make a decision for him. S–t, I ain’t going to be around much longer.”
Here’s more on the Lakers:
- James will have a contract decision of his own to make this summer, and while a return to the Lakers seems likely, team and league sources who spoke to Jovan Buha and Sam Amick of The Athletic wouldn’t entirely rule out the possibility of the four-time MVP finishing his career elsewhere. Assuming he remains in Los Angeles, LeBron isn’t expected to consider taking a pay cut, according to Buha and Amick. A year ago, James shaved approximately $2.7MM off his max deal to help the team remain under the second tax apron and reportedly would’ve accepted an even bigger discount if the front office had been able to land one of the four free agent targets on his wish list (James Harden, DeMar DeRozan, Klay Thompson, or Jonas Valanciunas).
- First-year head coach J.J. Redick came under fire for his handling of the Lakers’ rotation in the first-round playoff series vs. Minnesota, as well as his abrupt exit from a press conference prior to Game 5. However, team sources tell Buha and Amick that the Lakers remain high on Redick’s future with the organization and were aware there might be some “growing pains” in year one. Redick also seems to have the full support of the locker room, with Doncic and James both expressing support for him after the team’s Game 5 loss. “I think he’s a hell of a coach,” Doncic said, per McMenamin. “I’m really glad I got coached by him these couple of months. It feels sometimes like I’m back in Europe a little bit. So I love it. We have a great bond. It’s been nothing but amazing with him as a coach.”
- Both Redick and Lakers president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka preached patience following the club’s midseason roster shake-up, as Khobi Price of The Orange County Register relays. “These things take time, particularly with the star players,” Redick said. “There’s a reason in the modern NBA history, go back the last 30, 40 years, there’s been less than a handful of All-Star players traded in-season that led directly to a championship. These things take time.” Pelinka agreed, noting that the offseason will give the Lakers an opportunity to continue building around their stars: “When you make a seismic trade at the deadline, your roster and the building around it, it’s kind of like trying to build an airplane in the sky. Now we get a chance to land that plane, put it in the hangar, and really figure out the parts of it that we need to retrofit and change. That’s what we’ll do.”
- As disappointing as their five-game playoff exit was, the Lakers provided a number of reasons for optimism and hope going forward, writes Bill Plaschke of The Los Angeles Times.
- In case you missed it, Pelinka confirmed on Thursday that upgrading the frontcourt will be one of the Lakers’ top priorities this summer.
Draft Notes: Early Entrants, T. Johnson, C. Bryant, Combine
When the NBA announced its initial early entrant list for the 2025 NBA draft, there were just 106 names on that list. As Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic writes, that’s the lowest total since 91 players declared early in 2015, which was the last year before college players were granted permission to test the draft waters while maintaining their NCAA eligibility.
According to Vorkunov, a handful of factors contributed to the major drop-off in early entrants this season, but the money now available to college players is easily the No. 1 factor. Prospects increasingly have opportunities to earn higher “salaries” playing college basketball than they would if they were a second-round pick in the NBA, Vorkunov points out.
The name, image, and likeness (NIL) money available to NCAA players isn’t just reducing the number of American-born players entering the draft. As Vorkunov details, international prospects have also become increasingly inclined to leave top teams and developmental programs in Europe in order to play college basketball, lowering the number of international early entrants.
Here’s more on the 2025 NBA draft:
- Sam Vecenie of The Athletic has published a new mock draft ahead of this year’s lottery and combine, with Texas wing Tre Johnson among his big risers — the No. 7 pick in Vecenie’s March mock draft, Johnson moves up to No. 3 this time around, with Ace Bailey slipping to No. 5. Arizona’s Carter Bryant is among the other notable risers on Vecenie’s board, moving up to No. 9 after coming in at No. 23 in his previous mock draft. According to Vecenie, Bryant has a “ton of juice when you talk to front offices” and has moved into the No. 7 to No. 16 range of the draft.
- Although Cooper Flagg is considered a high-end talent at No. 1 overall and Dylan Harper looks locked in at No. 2, teams around the NBA have “real questions” about the average value of this year’s draft class starting at No. 3, Vecenie notes within that new mock draft. While there are solid prospects to be had in the middle of the lottery and into the teens, those players come with significantly more question marks, so the results of the lottery will be especially important for teams seeking a cornerstone player, Vecenie explains.
- According to ESPN’s Jonathan Givony (Twitter link), all 75 prospects invited to this month’s NBA combine in Chicago are among the top 100 players on ESPN’s big board. ESPN’s top 56 prospects all made the cut, with No. 57 Mouhamed Faye of Reggio Emilia representing the site’s highest-ranked player who didn’t get a combine invite. Kentucky’s Amari Williams (No. 58) and Malique Lewis of South East Melbourne (No. 59) are the others in ESPN’s top 60 who weren’t invited to the event.
Bucks’ Lillard Undergoes Surgery To Repair Torn Achilles
Bucks star Damian Lillard underwent successful surgery on Friday to repair his torn left Achilles tendon, the team announced (via Twitter).
According to the Bucks, the procedure was performed in Los Angeles by renowned surgeon Dr. Neal ElAttrache, with consultation from Bucks orthopaedic surgeon Dr. Carole Vetter.
The news had been expected since word broke earlier this week that Lillard had been diagnosed with a left Achilles tear. He’ll now begin a lengthy recovery and rehab process. While the Bucks didn’t provide a timeline for Lillard’s projected return, there’s a chance the recovery will sideline him for the entire 2025/26 season, given how late in this season the injury occurred.
Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson are among the other stars in their 30s who have undergone surgery to repair Achilles tears in recent years. Durant underwent surgery in June 2019 and returned in December 2020 (at the start of the delayed 2020/21 season). Thompson’s recovery period spanned from November 2020 to January 2022.
It’s not uncommon even for a younger player to require a full calendar year to make it back from a torn Achilles. Grizzlies forward Brandon Clarke, for instance, sustained the injury on March 3, 2023 and returned to the court on March 27, 2024.
Despite the long road ahead for Lillard, who will turn 35 this July, he made it clear to Doc Rivers that he’s “not going out this way” and fully intends to eventually get back to full strength, as the Bucks head coach told reporters this week. The veteran point guard is owed a projected $54.1MM next season and holds a player option for 2026/27 expected to be worth $58.5MM.
Pelinka Confirms Upgrading Frontcourt Will Be High Priority For Lakers
Following their trade of Anthony Davis and their decision to void a deadline deal for Mark Williams, the Lakers knew for months that a lack of frontcourt depth was a problem. That issue came to the forefront in Game 5 of their first-round series vs. Minnesota, as Rudy Gobert and the Timberwolves dominated Los Angeles on the boards and in the paint en route to the victory that ended the Lakers’ season.
On Thursday, in his end-of-season press conference, Lakers president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka acknowledged that the team has work to do up front this offseason, per ESPN’s Dave McMenamin and Khobi Price of The Orange County Register.
“I think when you make a huge trade at the deadline where you trade your starting center for a point guard, of course that’s going to create significant issues with the roster, and we saw some of those play out,” Pelinka said. “We know this offseason, one of our primary goals is going to be to add size in our frontcourt at the center position. That’s going to be part of the equation. We know we have a lot of work to do on the roster, and it will look different next year, for sure.”
The Lakers thought they had acquired their center of the future on February 6 when they struck a deal to send Dalton Knecht, Cam Reddish, a future first-round pick, and a pick swap to Charlotte in exchange for Williams. Two days later, however, word broke that the Lakers were voiding the deal to concerns about Williams’ physical. Sources tell Dan Woike of The Los Angeles Times that Los Angeles’ front office made that decision due to “knee and lower leg concerns.”
While NBA rules prevent Pelinka from discussing Williams specifically, he admitted that the 11th-hour nature of that deal left the Lakers in a tough spot — once the trade deadline had passed, the team only had the ability to void or move forward with the trade, as opposed to potentially renegotiating it or making a move for another center.
“It’s very clear and it was clear then … this roster needs more size and needs a center,” Pelinka said. “That’s a very clear and obvious byproduct of trading potentially the best big in the league to Dallas to get a point guard. Of course, that’s going to open up a huge hole. The trade deadline and the moments up to it don’t allow you the requisite time to explore every single unturned stone to add a big to our roster. We just didn’t have the time after the Luka trade. But now we do.”
New Lakers franchise player Luka Doncic thrived in Dallas playing alongside a pair of rim-running lob threats in Dereck Lively and Daniel Gafford. Pelinka confirmed that’s the sort of center L.A. will likely be seeking this summer, though he added that the club is willing to be flexible in the options it considers.
“I think in terms of center traits, it would be great to have a center that was a vertical threat, lob threat, and someone that could protect the interior defensively. I think those would be keys,” he said, according to Woike. “But there’s multiple different types of centers that can be very effective in the league. There’s also spread centers that can protect the rim. We’ll look at those as well. So I wouldn’t want to limit the archetype, but we know we need a big man.”
Given their salary cap situation, the Lakers may have a hard time finding a starting center in free agency, as Jovan Buha and Sam Amick of The Athletic observe. Barring significant roster changes, the team will likely be limited to the taxpayer mid-level exception, which would almost certainly make it impossible to land a player like Myles Turner. That means L.A. is more likely to return to the trade market in search of an answer in the middle.
Nic Claxton of the Nets will likely be one name linked to the Lakers in the coming weeks and months, Woike writes. As Buha and Amick write, Jazz center Walker Kessler and Trail Blazers center Robert Williams are among the other possible trade targets who have been connected to the Lakers in the past year, while Clint Capela, Steven Adams, and Brook Lopez are among the veteran options headed for free agency who are unlikely to be as expensive as Turner.
During his final media session of the season, Pelinka made it clear that there are at least three players on the roster whom he has no interest in parting with in any deal for a center.
“The level of confidence in Austin Reaves, LeBron James and Luka Doncic is at an all-time high still,” he said, per McMenamin. “I think those three guys have incredible promise playing together. And we will collectively do a better job to make sure they’re surrounded with the right pieces to have ultimate success.”
James expressed some uncertainty about his future in the wake of Wednesday’s Game 5 loss, but the expectation at this point is that he’ll likely return to the Lakers for at least one more season. Pelinka told reporters on Thursday that he’s well aware LeBron will be monitoring the team’s roster moves as he weighs his own options.
“I think LeBron’s going to have high expectations for the roster,” Pelinka said. “And we’re going to do everything we can to meet those. But I also know that whatever it is, he’s still going to give his 110 percent every night, whether that’s scoring, assisting, defending, rebounding, leading. We know that’s always going to be 100 percent, and that never wavers.”
Southwest Notes: Grizzlies, Davis, Castle, Popovich
On paper, a 48-win season for the Grizzlies looks like a relative success on the heels of last season’s injury-plagued 27-win showing. However, the club went just 14-23 over its final 37 games (including the play-in and playoffs) and finds itself at a crossroads entering the offseason, writes John Hollinger of The Athletic, a former Grizzlies executive.
Having spoken to sources around the league, Hollinger says four main themes were brought up as issues in Memphis: Ja Morant‘s lack of dependability on and off the court in recent years; potentially investing too heavily in Desmond Bane as a third option; gradually losing several key role players (such as Dillon Brooks, Steven Adams, De’Anthony Melton, and Kyle Anderson); and an inability to hit a home run on the trade market.
Regarding that last point, Hollinger notes that the Grizzlies have made an effort to take big swings over the years — they inquired on impact wings like OG Anunoby, Mikal Bridges, and Kevin Durant. However, their most significant deal, which saw them give up multiple first-round picks in exchange for Marcus Smart in 2023, didn’t pan out. The club ultimately had to give up another first-round pick to move off Smart’s contract at this year’s trade deadline.
Here’s more from around the Southwest:
- Given the disappointment and anger that Mavericks fans felt over the team’s decision to trade Luka Doncic, the newest impact player in Dallas – Anthony Davis – is under immense pressure as he tries to fill the shoes of a beloved superstar. Mike Curtis of The Dallas Morning News (subscription required) believes Davis is well suited to take on that challenge and takes an in-depth look at the path the former No. 1 overall pick took to Dallas. “Some people play this game because they make a lot of money. Some people play this game because they care, which makes them a lot of money. AD is a guy that cares,” agent Rich Paul told The Dallas Morning News earlier this year. “He’s bringing all that growth and maturation with him. I think Dallas is actually getting the best AD.”
- After being named this season’s Rookie of the Year, Spurs guard Stephon Castle admitted this week that he doesn’t feel yet like he deserves to be mentioned alongside the franchise’s previous winners of the award (Tim Duncan, David Robinson, and Victor Wembanyama). However, as Jeff McDonald of The San Antonio Express-News (subscription required) relays, Castle also pointed out that the back-to-back Rookie of the Year honors for him and Wembanyama bode well for San Antonio’s outlook going forward. “It speaks highly of our future,” he said. “What we have going on and what we plan on doing.” Castle added that he won’t “shy away” from the target that his Rookie of the Year award puts on his back next season.
- Although Gregg Popovich will no longer coach the Spurs, his presence will be felt for years to come, according to columnist Mike Finger of The San Antonio Express-News (subscription required), who examines the way that Popovich’s influence has permeated through the organization and the impact he has made on the Spurs’ culture over the last three decades.
NBA Announces 75 Invitees For 2025 Draft Combine
The NBA announced today (via Twitter) that 75 prospects have been invited to attend this year’s draft combine, which will take place in Chicago from May 11-18.
In addition to those 75 players, a handful of standout players from the G League Elite Camp, which is also held in Chicago just before the combine begins, are expected to receive invites to stick around for the main event.
Not all of the prospects invited to the combine will end up remaining in the 2025 draft pool, since many are early entrants who are testing the waters while retaining their NCAA eligibility.
College players must withdraw from the draft by the end of the day on May 28 if they wish to preserve that eligibility, while non-college players face a decision deadline of June 15. The feedback they receive from NBA teams at the combine may be a deciding factor for players who are on the fence.
Here’s the list of players who have been invited to the 2025 draft combine:
(Note: For players in international leagues, the country listed is where they had been playing, not necessarily where they’re from.)
- Izan Almansa, F/C, Australia (born 2005)
- Neoklis Avdalas, G/F, Greece (born 2006)
- Ace Bailey, G/F, Rutgers (freshman)
- Joan Beringer, C, Slovenia (born 2006)
- Koby Brea, G, Kentucky (senior)
- Johni Broome, F/C, Auburn (senior)
- Carter Bryant, F, Arizona (freshman)
- Miles Byrd, G, San Diego State (sophomore)
- Walter Clayton Jr., G, Florida (senior)
- Nique Clifford, G, Colorado State (senior)
- Alex Condon, F/C, Florida (sophomore)
- Cedric Coward, F, Washington State (senior)
- Egor Demin, G, BYU (freshman)
- Eric Dixon, F, Villanova (senior)
- V.J. Edgecombe, G, Baylor (freshman)
- Noa Essengue, F, Germany (born 2006)
- Isaiah Evans, G/F, Duke (freshman)
- Jeremiah Fears, G, Oklahoma (freshman)
- Cooper Flagg, F, Duke (freshman)
- Boogie Fland, G, Arkansas (freshman)
- Rasheer Fleming, F/C, St. Joseph’s (junior)
- Vladislav Goldin, C, Michigan (senior)
- Hugo Gonzalez, F, Spain (born 2006)
- PJ Haggerty, G, Memphis (sophomore)
- Dylan Harper, G, Rutgers (freshman)
- Ben Henshall, G/F, Australia (born 2004)
- Kasparas Jakucionis, G, Illinois (freshman)
- Sion James, G, Duke (senior)
- Tre Johnson, G, Texas (freshman)
- Kameron Jones, G, Marquette (senior)
- Ryan Kalkbrenner, C, Creighton (senior)
- Karter Knox, F, Arkansas (freshman)
- Kon Knueppel, G/F, Duke (freshman)
- Chaz Lanier, G, Tennessee (senior)
- Yaxel Lendeborg, F, UAB (senior)
- RJ Luis, F, St. John’s (junior)
- Khaman Maluach, C, Duke (freshman)
- Bogoljub Markovic, F/C, Serbia (born 2005)
- Alijah Martin, G, Florida (senior)
- Liam McNeeley, F, UConn (freshman)
- Jalon Moore, F, Oklahoma (senior)
- Collin Murray-Boyles, F, South Carolina (sophomore)
- Grant Nelson, F, Alabama (senior)
- Asa Newell, F, Georgia (freshman)
- Otega Oweh, G, Kentucky (junior)
- Dink Pate, G/F, Mexico City Capitanes (born 2006)
- Micah Peavy, G/F, Georgetown (senior)
- Noah Penda, F, France (born 2005)
- Tahaad Pettiford, G, Auburn (freshman)
- Labaron Philon, G, Alabama (freshman)
- Drake Powell, G/F, UNC (freshman)
- Tyrese Proctor, G, Duke (junior)
- Derik Queen, C, Maryland (freshman)
- Maxime Raynaud, F/C, Stanford (senior)
- Jase Richardson, G, Michigan State (freshman)
- Will Riley, F, Illinois (freshman)
- Michael Ruzic, F, Spain (born 2006)
- Hunter Sallis, G, Wake Forest (senior)
- Kobe Sanders, G, Nevada (senior)
- Ben Saraf, G, Germany (born 2006)
- Mark Sears, G, Albama (senior)
- Max Shulga, G, VCU (senior)
- Javon Small, G, West Virginia (senior)
- Thomas Sorber, F/C, Georgetown (freshman)
- Adou Thiero, F, Arkansas (junior)
- John Tonje, G, Wisconsin (senior)
- Alex Toohey, F, Australia (born 2004)
- Nolan Traore, G, France (born 2006)
- Milos Uzan, G, Houston (junior)
- Jamir Watkins, G/F, Florida State (senior)
- Brice Williams, G/F, Nebraska (senior)
- Darrion Williams, F, Texas Tech (junior)
- Danny Wolf, F/C, Michigan (junior)
- Hansen Yang, C, China (born 2005)
- Rocco Zikarsky, C, Australia (born 2006)
It’s worth noting that the NBA and the NBPA agreed to several combine-related changes in their latest Collective Bargaining Agreement. Here are a few of those changes:
- A player who is invited to the draft combine and declines to attend without an excused absence will be ineligible to be drafted. He would become eligible the following year by attending the combine. There will be exceptions made for a player whose FIBA season is ongoing, who is injured, or who is dealing with a family matter (such as a tragedy or the birth of a child).
- Players who attend the draft combine will be required to undergo physical exams, share medical history, participate in strength, agility, and performance testing, take part in shooting drills, receive anthropometric measurements, and conduct interviews with teams and the media. Scrimmages won’t be mandatory.
- Medical results from the combine will be distributed to select teams based on where the player is projected to be drafted. Only teams drafting in the top 10 would get access to medical info for the projected No. 1 pick; teams in the top 15 would receive medical info for players in the 2-6 range, while teams in the top 25 would get access to info for the players in the 7-10 range.
Hoops Rumors Chat Transcript: 5/1/2025
Hoops Rumors hosted a live chat today at 1:00 pm Central time (2:00 pm Eastern).
Kings, Head Coach Doug Christie Finalize Multiyear Deal
May 1: Christie has formally been named Sacramento’s permanent head coach, the Kings announced today in a press release (Twitter link via James Ham of ESPN 1320).
“After careful consideration, I am excited to announce Doug Christie as the next head coach of the Sacramento Kings,” Perry said in a statement. “I’ve known Doug a long time and have been impressed with his leadership, presence, and ability to connect deeply with his players.
“He embodies the core values we believe in — toughness, discipline, professionalism, a defensive mindset, and a selfless, team-oriented approach on offense. Our goal is to support him fully and help set the stage for his long-term success. We’re excited to move forward with Doug as our leader.”
April 29: The Kings will remove the interim tag from Doug Christie and make him their permanent head coach, according to Shams Charania of ESPN, who reports that the two sides are finalizing the details of a multiyear contract.
Formerly an assistant coach under Mike Brown, Christie was elevated to head coach in December following Brown’s dismissal and led Sacramento to a 27-24 record following a 13-18 start.
As Charania notes, the Kings went 13-10 in clutch-time games under Christie after posting a 6-13 mark in those contests under Brown early in the season.
A former NBA shooting guard, Christie spent five of his 15 seasons as a player in Sacramento and was employed as a color commentator for Kings games before being hired by the franchise as an assistant during the 2021 offseason.
Christie, who initially served under Luke Walton, remained in his role as an assistant when the club parted ways with Walton and promoted Alvin Gentry to replace him during the 2021/22 season, and again when the Kings hired Brown in 2022.
This is Christie’s first stint as an NBA head coach, though he had previously gained a little experience in that role as a Kings assistant — he coached the team in December 2021 when Gentry missed time due to COVID-19 and later coached Sacramento’s Summer League team in July 2024.
After winning 20 of their first 31 games under Christie, the Kings lost 13 of their last 20 and were eliminated in the play-in tournament by a depleted Mavericks team, costing them a shot at a playoff berth.
That underwhelming finish to the season led to some speculation that the team might launch a full-fledged coaching search, but team owner Vivek Ranadive is said to be a fan of Christie, and reporting in the wake of Scott Perry‘s hiring as Sacramento’s new general manager indicated that the interim coach was well-positioned to hang onto the job.
According to Charania, Christie is expected to revamp his coaching staff this offseason after having inherited Brown’s assistants in the winter.
Bucks Notes: Giannis, Lillard, Horst, Offseason
Following the Bucks‘ third consecutive first-round playoff exit and a torn Achilles diagnosis for star point guard Damian Lillard, superstar forward Giannis Antetokounmpo finds himself under the spotlight. Speculation about whether he wants to stick with the Bucks or compete for a championship elsewhere figures to dominate the news cycle in Milwaukee until he makes a decision one way or the other.
John Hollinger of The Athletic is among the pundits to make the case that trading Antetokounmpo this offseason is the best path forward for the Bucks. While he acknowledges it’s not an easy decision, given what Giannis means to the franchise and the fact that the Bucks don’t control their own draft picks for the next several years, Hollinger believes the organization isn’t in position to maximize the remaining years of the two-time MVP’s prime.
Eric Koreen of The Athletic, conversely, contends that a player’s championship rings have become disproportionately weighed when evaluating a player’s legacy and argues that “time spent together” should be valued more highly than it is. Lillard’s own move from Portland to Milwaukee shows that a trade to a would-be contender offers no guarantees, Koreen points out, adding that Dirk Nowitzki‘s career spent in Dallas feels “right” in retrospect even though he only won a single title with the Mavericks.
For his part, Antetokounmpo wasn’t ready to discuss his future after the Bucks lost Game 5 in Indiana on Tuesday, ending their season.
“I’m not going to do this,” Giannis said when asked if he believes he can win another title in Milwaukee, per Jamal Collier of ESPN. “I’m not going to do that. I know how it’s going to translate. I don’t know, man. I wish I was still playing. I wish I was still competing and going back and working out.”
As we relayed on Wednesday, Antetokounmpo is expected to meet soon with Bucks management to discuss his and the team’s future.
Here’s more on the Bucks:
- Antetokounmpo’s season ended in unusual fashion on Tuesday, as he found himself face-to-face with John Haliburton, the father of Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton, on the court seconds after Indiana closed out a 119-118 win. As Collier writes for ESPN.com, Antetokounmpo engaged in a heated confrontation with the elder Haliburton, who later apologized for coming onto the floor and shouting at the Bucks forward, according to Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star. “His dad coming on the floor and showing me his son — a towel with his face on [it], [saying] ‘This is what we do. We do this,'” Antetokounmpo told reporters after the game. “I feel like that’s very, very disrespectful.” Giannis later said that he talked to John Haliburton after the incident and that “we’re in a good place.”
- If Lillard had finished the season healthy, he and the Bucks would likely have had a conversation about his future in Milwaukee, according to Eric Nehm and Sam Amick of The Athletic, who say there’s a chance the two sides would’ve decided they might be better off parting ways. That scenario could’ve given Milwaukee a path to revamping its roster around Antetokounmpo while sending Lillard to a contender that may be a better fit, Nehm and Amick note, but it’s off the table now that the point guard will spend the year recovering from an Achilles tear.
- Some rival executives were surprised that the Bucks extended general manager Jon Horst in April, but he was in consideration as a potential front office target for both the Suns and Pelicans before Milwaukee did that deal, league sources tell Nehm and Amick.
- Within his preview of the Bucks’ offseason, ESPN’s Bobby Marks says adding depth and shooting should be a priority this offseason for the Bucks, who will also need to add more help in the frontcourt if they lose either Brook Lopez or Bobby Portis in free agency.
Gordon Herbert To Coach Canadian National Team
Gordon Herbert will be the new head coach of the Canadian men’s basketball national team, Canada Basketball confirmed on Thursday in a press release. The news was first reported by Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca.
Herbert has more than three decades of coaching experience, including two previous stints as an assistant for Canada Basketball from 2001-02 and 2018-21.
Although he briefly served as a Raptors assistant in 2008/09 and a consultant for the Nets in 2019/20, the Canadian-born Herbert has spent most of his career overseas. He’s currently the head coach of Bayern Munich and is coming off a three-year run as the head coach of the German national team, which won the 2023 FIBA World Cup and finished fourth at the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
Herbert also previously coached professional teams in Finland, France, Greece, Austria, and Russia.
Before transitioning to coaching, Herbert played professionally for more than a decade in non-NBA leagues, primarily in Finland, and was a member of the Canadian national team at the 1984 Olympics.
“We are proud to announce Gordie as the next head coach of our Senior Men’s National Team,” Team Canada general manager Rowan Barrett said in a statement. “His championship pedigree, command of the FIBA game, and understanding of what it takes to compete for medals on the world stage make him the ideal leader for this next chapter of Canada Basketball.
“It’s great to welcome Gordie back to our program. He knows what it means to represent Canada and brings the experience, leadership, and vision to guide this group through the next chapter of our journey.”
Barrett will officially take the reins in the summer of 2026 and will be tasked with getting Canada on the podium at the 2027 World Cup and the 2028 Olympics.
Expectations for the Canadian national team are on the rise after the program earned a third-place finish at the 2023 World Cup and sent a roster made up entirely of NBA players to Paris in 2024. That team, led by Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, missed out on a medal after falling to France in the quarterfinals.
Barrett is replacing Nets head coach Jordi Fernandez, who formally stepped down from the role in February to focus on his job in Brooklyn and to spend more time with his family.