The Grizzlies locked up the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference with a convincing win over the Mavericks on Friday night in Memphis.
The Grizzlies scored the first seven points of the game and built a double-digit lead within the first five minutes. They never trailed en route to a 120-106 victory, locking up the No. 8 seed in the West and lining up a first-round series with the top-seeded Thunder.
Jaren Jackson Jr. (24 points, seven rebounds), Ja Morant (22 points, nine assists, seven rebounds), and Desmond Bane (22 points, nine assists) led the way for the Grizzlies, overcoming a 40-point performance by Dallas big man Anthony Davis.
While the Heat became the first No. 10 seed to win back-to-back play-in games earlier in the night, the No. 10 Mavericks couldn’t repeat that feat, bringing a tumultuous season in Dallas to a close. The Western play-in tournament played out largely as expected, with the No. 7 Warriors and No. 8 Grizzlies entering the playoffs with the same seeds they held at the end of the regular season.
Memphis’ win was crucial for the Wizards, who will now receive the Grizzlies’ first-round pick — it will be either No. 18, 19, or 20, depending on the results of a Monday tiebreaker. If the Grizzlies had lost on Friday, Washington would have instead received a pair of future second-round picks, since that first-rounder was top-14 protected.
The Mavericks will now be a lottery team and will end up either 11th or 12th in the pre-lottery draft order, depending on the results of a tiebreaker with Chicago.
While the Grizzlies will be significant underdogs against the 68-win Thunder in round one, it’s worth noting that Memphis was the second seed in the West for weeks at a time during the season, including as late as February 28. If the Grizzlies, who went 35-16 prior to the trade deadline, can recapture that form, they have a chance to make it a competitive series.
The Grizzlies will have their star point guard available on Friday vs. Dallas as they look to clinch the eighth and final playoff seed in the West. After testing out his injured ankle during pregame warmups, Ja Morant will be in Memphis’ starting lineup, tweets Damichael Cole of The Memphis Commercial Appeal.
Morant turned his right ankle in the third quarter of Tuesday’s loss to Golden State when he came down on Buddy Hield‘s foot. Although he looked hobbled for the rest of the night, the 25-year-old was able to finish the game and vowed to suit up on Friday.
However, after being diagnosed with a right ankle sprain, Morant didn’t practice on Thursday and was listed as questionable for Friday’s do-or-die game, with Grizzlies interim head coach Tuomas Iisalo referring to him as a game-time decision, per Cole.
Shams Charania of ESPN said during an appearance on NBA Today (Twitter video link) that Morant underwent an MRI on the injury, and while it showed no structural damage, the sprain is considered “severe.” According to Charania, the Grizzlies guard received an injection on Thursday to address swelling and pain in the ankle and got another injection on Friday (Twitter link).
After missing most of the 2023/24 season with a shoulder injury, Morant was limited to 50 appearances in ’24/25, having dealt with a series of injuries, including some recurring issues in his surgically repaired shoulder. He was still effective when he did suit up, averaging 23.2 points, 7.3 assists, and 4.1 rebounds in 30.4 minutes per contest.
As expected, both Anthony Davis (adductor strain) and Brandon Williams (oblique strain) will be available on Friday for the Mavericks, according to the team (Twitter link). Both players had been listed as probable.
The winner of Friday’s Southwest Division showdown will face Oklahoma City in the first round of the playoffs, while the losing team will end up in the draft lottery.
Mavericks guard Brandon Williams suffered a left oblique strain on Sunday, but he wasn’t going to let that stand in the way of his first postseason opportunity, writes Grant Afseth of Dallas Hoops Journal (subscription required). After sending a text to head coach Jason Kidd promising that he was fine to play, Williams delivered 17 points and five assists in 18 minutes off the bench Wednesday as Dallas extended its season with a win at Sacramento.
“Ultimately, I was ready,” Williams said. “The medical staff, training staff and everybody that played a good part. And then my teammates lifted me up, hooking me up. So, it was just up to me to come out here and just play my all.”
Williams, who spent most of the season on a two-way contract, helped Dallas survive a manpower shortage caused by injuries and hard-cap spending restrictions. He averaged 8.3 points, 1.8 rebounds and 2.3 assists during the regular season and was rewarded with a two-year standard contract on April 10. He has some security for the first time in his NBA career and looks ready to be a valuable contributor if Dallas can reach the playoffs by winning at Memphis tonight.
“Oh, my goodness! B-Will? I can’t say enough good things about him,”Klay Thompson said. “To go from being a two-way player to making an impact in the play-in — it’s a testament to his hard work and his character. He’s got a really bright future in this league.”
There’s more on the Mavericks:
Players are expecting a tough matchup with the Grizzlies, whether or not Memphis has Ja Morant, who suffered an ankle injury on Tuesday, per Mike Curtis of The Dallas Morning News. The Mavs lost to the Grizzlies by 35 points in the regular season finale as both teams rested their best players. “I’ve been in a playoff series with them before,” Anthony Davis said. “Not sure about the update on Ja, but they still play well without Ja as well. Nothing changes. (Desmond) Bane got in a good rhythm (Tuesday). Big (Zach) Edey. He’s a big body. Jaren Jackson. All-Star. Defensive Player of the Year candidate, so it’s going to be a battle. We gotta come in locked in and prepared.”
It has been a tumultuous season in Dallas coming off last year’s run to the NBA Finals, but Daniel Gafford sidestepped a question on whether it would be considered a failure if the Mavericks don’t win at Memphis, Curtis tweets. “We’re gonna save that question for whenever it ends,” Gafford said, “because we don’t plan on losing tonight.”
The Mavericks appear to be nearing the end of their long-time relationship with the NHL’s Dallas Stars as tenants of American Airlines Center and Reunion Arena, according to Lia Assimakopolous of The Dallas Morning News. At a press conference with week with selected media members, CEO Rick Welts talked about moving into a new arena when the current lease expires in 2031. “At least for this point, we think the best option for the Mavericks right now and for the experience of going to Mavericks games would be to build a basketball-first facility,” Welts said.
Appearing Wednesday on the Pat McAfee Show (Twitter video link), commissioner Adam Silver tried to quash a persistent rumor that the Mavericks’ owners are conspiring to move the team to Las Vegas.
The higher seed came out on top in each of the No. 7 vs. No. 8 play-in games on Tuesday, but the two lower seeds pulled off upsets in the No. 9 vs. 10 contests on Wednesday, setting up a pair of No. 8 vs. 10 matchups on Friday to determine the final playoff teams in the Eastern and Western Conferences.
In the East, the No. 10 Heat will visit the No. 8 Hawks in a second consecutive battle of divisional rivals for Atlanta. The first of those matchups didn’t go well for the Hawks, who really struggled to get the ball in the basket against the NBA’s No. 2 defense on Tuesday in Orlando.
Trae Young (8-of-21), Zaccharie Risacher (2-of-10), and Caris LeVert (3-of-11) were among the players who had poor shooting nights vs. the Magic. Atlanta made a season-low four 3-pointers on the night and shot just 38.1% from the floor, including 19.0% from beyond the arc.
While the Heat weren’t quite as good defensively during the regular season as Orlando, they also ranked in the top 10 in defensive rating and played very well on that end of the court in Wednesday’s win over Chicago. The Bulls scored just 90 points on 39.8% shooting (27.0% on three-pointers). As the Hawks return home, they’ll need to figure out how to make more headway against the Heat’s defense than they did against the Magic’s.
The Hawks, who won 12 of their last 20 games of the regular season, had more momentum entering the play-in tournament than the Heat, who won just 12 of their last 33. Atlanta will also have home-court advantage on Friday.
But the two teams split their season series, and given how the first round of the play-in tournament played out, oddsmakers aren’t willing to give Atlanta the typical edge that would be awarded to the higher seed and home team. As I was writing this article, BetOnline.ag modified their betting line, which had been a pick-em, to make the Heat one-point favorites.
Over in the West, it’s the No. 8 Grizzlies hosting the No. 10 Mavericks in a battle of teams whose seasons have taken a nose-dive since the trade deadline. While Dallas was hammered by injuries and has been dealing with the fallout of the immensely unpopular Luka Doncic trade, Memphis has undergone a head coaching change and fell several spots in the standings.
The only reason the Grizzlies didn’t have the worst record (13-18) among all 10 Western Conference playoff/play-in teams between February 7 and the end of the regular season is because the Mavericks (12-18) were slightly worse.
Both teams were competitive in their first play-in matchups though. Memphis took the Warriors down to the wire in Golden State on Tuesday, while Dallas comfortably handled the Kings in Sacramento on Wednesday. There’s no shortage of talent on either roster, especially in the frontcourt, where Grizzlies big man Jaren Jackson Jr. is a candidate for All-NBA and Defensive Player of the Year honors, while Mavericks big man Anthony Davis would have been too if he’d played enough games to qualify.
The Mavs’ Achilles heel is in their backcourt, where star point guard Kyrie Irving is unavailable after going down in March with a season-ending ACL tear. Dallas actually went without a starting point guard vs. Sacramento, rolling with a jumbo lineup featuring Davis, Dereck Lively, P.J. Washington, Naji Marshall, and Klay Thompson.
But former two-way player Brandon Williams, who was promoted to the 15-man roster in the final week of the season, showed why Dallas wanted him for the postseason. The undrafted point guard put up 17 points and five assists in 18 minutes off the bench — the Mavs outscored Sacramento by 24 points during those minutes.
The Grizzlies’ own star point guard, Ja Morant, vowed to play in Friday’s do-or-die game, but it remains to be seen how effective he’ll be. Morant sustained a sprained right ankle on Tuesday and clearly lost a step late in the game as he tried to play through that injury.
Home-court advantage could end up being a real factor here. The Grizzlies posted a 26-15 record in Memphis this season, while the Mavs went just 17-25 on the road. That’s likely a major reason why the oddsmakers at BetOnline currently have Memphis as the six-point favorite.
We want to know what you think. Will either the Heat or Mavericks become the first No. 10 seed since the play-in tournament was implemented in 2021 to earn a playoff spot? Or will the Hawks and Grizzlies defend their home courts and earn first-round series against Cleveland and Oklahoma City, respectively?
Vote in our poll, then head to the comment section below to weigh in with your thoughts and predictions!
The Mavericks‘ play-in game victory in Sacramento had special meaning to Klay Thompson. He scored 23 points against the Kings, making five three-pointers along the way. Thompson missed all 10 of his field goal attempts last season against Sacramento in the play-in tournament, which wound up being his last game in a Warriors uniform.
“I wasn’t going to define myself off one bad shooting night,” he said, per Tim MacMahon of ESPN. “I mean, I’ve had some of the greatest shooting nights in the history of the game. So even someone in my caliber can go 0-for. … I try to not even think about that, but at times you do because you’re human. But you just keep going out there and do what you love.”
Dallas will now battle the Grizzlies for the No. 8 seed on Friday.
“I’m still alive. I’m excited,” Thompson said. “I get to go to Memphis. It was really fun (Wednesday) because you could just be fully immersed in the experience, and we’ve had a tumultuous season, to say the least. The injury bug has struck us like I’ve never seen before, but we’re still here playing postseason basketball.”
We have more from the Southwest Division:
Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison‘s contentious press conference, in which he stated he didn’t regret trading Luka Doncic, wasn’t something he suggested, ESPN’s Sham Charania tweets. “Nico Harrison did not want to do this closed-door roundtable. This was not his idea,” Charania said during an appearance on NBA Countdown. “This was something that was enforced by their owner, Patrick Dumont.”
Now that Joe Dumars has been officially hired as the Pelicans president of basketball operations, he has two big decisions to make, Rod Walker of NOLA.com writes. His first major decision will be whether to retain head coach Willie Green. As the offseason progresses, he’ll have to choose whether to retain Zion Williamson as the franchise player or trade him and take the franchise in another direction.
Dumars has spent the last three years as the NBA’s head of basketball operations and commissioner Adam Silver thanked him for his service in a statement relayed by The Athletic’s Sam Amick (Twitter link). “Joe brought tremendous credibility to his role at the league office and is one of the most genuine and respected people in all of basketball,” Silver said. “His exceptional playing career and tenure as an executive provided him with an elite understanding of the game and strong relationships around the NBA. We are grateful for Joe’s leadership over the past three years and wish him well as he begins his new role with the Pelicans.”
The Warriors are actually the betting favorite to win their first-round series against Houston even though the Rockets are the No. 2 seed. Much of that is due to Golden State’s wealth of playoff experience — Rockets coach Ime Udoka says he and his staff will have to do their best to neutralize that advantage. “The experience for our young guys will be new,” he hold Mark Medina of Athlon Sports. “But as far as me and my staff and what we’ve experienced, I don’t think there is a whole lot that’s going to surprise us or be different. It’s just our young guys getting experience for the first time and going through the playoff prep and all the specifics of how much more you have to dig in.”
The Mavericks are optimistic that Kyrie Irving could be playing again by January, Shams Charania of ESPN said on Wednesday during an appearance on NBA Countdown (Twitter video link).
Irving suffered a torn ACL in his left knee on March 3 and underwent surgery about three weeks later. The team didn’t provide a recovery timetable following the procedure, but players can often take a year or more to come back from ACL tears. If Charania’s timeline is accurate, Irving is on track to fully recover within about 10 months.
The 33-year-old guard was playing at an All-NBA level before the untimely injury, averaging 24.7 points, 4.8 rebounds and 4.6 assists through 50 games with .473/.401/.916 shooting numbers. In February, he was selected as an All-Star for the ninth time in his career.
The loss of Irving sent the Mavs into a spiral that resulted in a 39-43 record, a 10th-place finish in the West and a spot in tonight’s play-in game. They were often short on personnel as their two-way players used up their eligibility, and they were unable to fill an open roster spot until April 10 due to a first-apron hard cap.
The more immediate issue with Irving is a nearly $44MM player option that he holds for next season. His decision is due by June 25, and Charania hears that the Mavericks would prefer to sign him to a new three-year contract. That would align him with Anthony Davis as well as general manager Nico Harrison.
April 16th, 2025 at 6:02pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum
Wednesday evening will see four teams in very different places fight for the opportunity to earn the No. 8 seeds in their respective conferences.
For the third straight season, the 39-43 Bulls will be squaring off against the 37-45 Heat in a play-in tournament game. This year, however, Chicago seems to have the edge. Per BetOnline stateside and BetVictor Canada, the Bulls are a marginal favorite as the home team.
Having moved on from former All-Star wings DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine, Chicago has been emphasizing more pace and ball movement. Star guards Coby White and Josh Giddey are propelling a fast-breaking offense that won 15 of its last 20 games to close out the 2024/25 regular season.
Rookie forward Matas Buzelis has benefited mightily from extended run to close out the year, while center Nikola Vucevic has adapted well to this speedier iteration of the team, operating as a trailing big who can be a release valve in these frenetic offensive sets.
Recently extended guard Lonzo Ball (wrist) and new trade acquisition Tre Jones (foot) will miss Wednesday’s game.
The No. 10 Heat, meanwhile, have been up and down since their blockbuster midseason Jimmy Butler trade. Armed with new additions Andrew Wiggins, Davion Mitchell and Kyle Anderson, the club stumbled into a 10-game losing skid that was immediately followed by a six-game winning streak. Miami, which controls its own 2025 first-round pick as long as it lands in the top 14, might be happy to lose this matchup and reset with a quick rebuild through this year’s loaded draft lottery.
Chicago team president Arturas Karnisovas has been a frequent source of fan ire. He and ownership would probably like to see the young Bulls appear in their first playoff series since 2022. If Chicago does clinch a playoff appearance by beating Miami and then the Hawks in Friday’s final play-in game, would it prompt Karnisovas to shy away from the kinds of personnel changes he might otherwise pursue this summer, including a Vucevic trade for draft equity?
The Mavericks, on paper, are fielding the most talented squad out of the four Wednesday teams. Had nine-time All-Star guard Kyrie Irving not torn his ACL, Dallas could have been in the thick of the playoff hunt. Instead, the 39-43 Mavs are clinging to the Western Conference’s No. 10 seed. With most of the rest of the roster healthy, the club will be riding a super-sized frontcourt lineup centered around 10-time All-Star big man Anthony Davis as its two-way fulcrum.
Dallas was constructed to win around Luka Doncic. After sending him to Los Angeles in exchange for Davis, three-and-D swing Max Christie, and a 2029 first-round draft pick, the front office was roundly criticized. Still, with Irving, Davis, and talented two-way wings and frontcourt pieces, a healthy version of this team looks like it could be a legitimate tough playoff out. Due to the timing of Irving’s recovery and Davis’ extensive injury history, it’s unclear when exactly that healthy iteration might next be available.
Meanwhile, Doncic has raised the Lakers’ ceiling. If Dallas misses the playoffs, will the club’s new ownership cohort look to penalize Nico Harrison for the most unpopular transaction in its franchise’s history? The Mavericks do have the highest upside of any of the teams in action on Wednesday, but that comes with a massive health caveat.
Dallas will be facing off against a mostly-healthy Kings club for the right to play the Grizzlies on Friday.
After Sacramento team owner Vivek Ranadive fired former Coach of the Year Mike Brown midway through the season, guard De’Aaron Fox pushed for – and received – a deal to the Spurs. The 40-42 Kings have since struggled with their newest impact player, LaVine, under interim head coach Doug Christie. Sacramento is loaded with ball stoppers – including LaVine, DeRozan, and Malik Monk – but has perhaps the more talented offense than Dallas sans Irving, thanks in large part to do-everything All-Star center Domantas Sabonis.
Should Sacramento get booted in this initial play-in tournament matchup, would Sabonis at least explore a trade out of town? A report in March suggested that the big man is expected to “seek clarity” this offseason on the Kings’ direction.
Just two years ago, during Brown’s inaugural season, the Kings finally seemed to have discovered a direction and identity. Now, the club is floundering in mediocrity. Massive changes — perhaps starting with Christie and Sabonis — could be underway for the team this summer, barring a strong playoff run.
We want to know what you think. How will the offseason play out for the the teams that get bounced in Wednesday’s games? What changes would – or should – be made if all four clubs eventually fail to qualify for the playoffs?
When the 2024/25 season began, the Mavericks were coming off a 50-win year and an appearance in the NBA Finals. The Kings were coming off a 46-win campaign and had added DeMar DeRozan in free agency. Dallas had championship aspirations, while Sacramento felt good about its chances of making it back to the playoffs after being eliminated in the play-in tournament last spring.
But neither team’s season played out as hoped. The Mavericks’ shocking decision to trade Luka Doncic caused a fan revolt, but it was really the team’s health issues that sunk its hopes of contending for a title. Big men Dereck Lively, Daniel Gafford, and newly acquired Anthony Davis all missed significant time in the second half of the season due to injuries, while a torn ACL ended Kyrie Irving‘s season in early March.
Even without Doncic, a fully healthy version of this Mavericks team could’ve been a force to be reckoned with in the postseason. But losing Irving cost Dallas its top ball-handler and play-maker, forcing the team to lean heavily on guards like Spencer Dinwiddie and Brandon Williams and significantly lowering its ceiling.
While the Irving-less Mavs are unlikely to win a title this year, that doesn’t mean they can’t win a play-in game. They’ll visit Sacramento on Wednesday as the No. 10 seed in the West and will face a No. 9 Kings team whose season didn’t go much better than Dallas’ did.
Acclimating DeRozan didn’t go as smoothly as hoped and the Kings fell well below .500 two months into the season, leading to the ouster of head coach Mike Brown. Interim head coach Doug Christie helped turn things around in the short term, but just a few weeks later, word broke that the team was looking to trade De’Aaron Fox — he was ultimately sent to San Antonio.
While the Kings’ trade of its star point guard wasn’t nearly as controversial as the Mavericks’, it didn’t exactly kick-start a memorable second half. Zach LaVine, the centerpiece of Sacramento’s return in that three-team blockbuster, wasn’t an ideal fit — the team had a -3.8 net rating during his 1,170 minutes on the court, and his 119.9 defensive rating was easily the worst mark among the team’s rotation players.
Given the way the seasons have played out in Dallas and Sacramento, both teams have the profile of a one-and-done play-in team, but someone has to win on Wednesday and earn the right to face Memphis on Friday for the No. 8 seed in the West. For what it’s worth, oddsmakers favor the home team — the Kings are 4.5-point favorites, per BetOnline.ag.
Over in the East, a familiar matchup is on tap for Wednesday evening. If there’s such a thing as a play-in rivalry, Bulls vs. Heat qualifies. Miami defeated Chicago in the win-or-go-home play-in game for the No. 8 seed in 2023 and again in 2024. The two teams will square off in a single-elimination matchup for a third straight year, though this time it’s just for the right to stay alive and face Atlanta for the No. 8 seed on Friday.
Like Dallas and Sacramento, both the Bulls and Heat traded away star players this season, though those situations played out in very different ways.
LaVine, who had been on the trade block for multiple seasons, was a model citizen in Chicago and was enjoying a nice individual bounce-back season, though it wasn’t translating to team success — at the time he was dealt to Sacramento, the Bulls were just 21-29. And in the immediate wake of the trade, things didn’t improve — Chicago lost six of its next seven games to fall to 22-35 and appeared ticketed for the lottery.
Unexpectedly, though, the team suddenly began showing signs of life, led by breakout star Coby White and buoyed by trade-deadline additions like Tre Jones, Kevin Huerter, and Zach Collins. From March 6 onward, the Bulls improbably won 15 of their last 20 games and ranked in the top 10 in the NBA in both offense and defense.
The Heat’s season followed almost the opposite trajectory. Their star, Jimmy Butler, was disruptive and did all he could to publicize the fact that he had no interest in continuing his career in Miami, earning multiple team-imposed suspensions leading up to the trade deadline. But the team held its own amid the drama and was actually above .500 (25-24) on the day Butler was sent to Golden State.
Even though Butler hadn’t actually been playing much for the Heat for weeks, his departure kicked off an ugly downturn for the club, which wrapped up its season by going just 12-21 after the trade deadline. That stretch was salvaged to some extent by a six-game winning streak in late March and early April, but was otherwise pretty brutal — no playoff or play-in team had a worst post-deadline record than Miami, and a handful of lottery teams (Phoenix, Portland, and Toronto) were better.
Despite those late-season results, the Bulls are favored by just one point over Miami on Wednesday, according to BetOnline, with oddsmakers perhaps respecting the Heat’s wins over Chicago in each of the past two play-in tournaments.
We want to know what you think. Are you taking the favorites and picking the Kings and Bulls on Wednesday, or do you expect to see at least one upset in the No. 9 vs. 10 games? Which teams will keep their seasons alive and which ones are headed home?
Vote in our poll and head to the comment section below to share your thoughts and predictions.
The official candidates for Clutch Player of the Year have been revealed, NBA analyst Kevin O’Connor tweets. Here’s the list of candidates that voters can select for the award, as chosen by the league’s 30 head coaches:
We have more from around the international basketball world:
While the NBA is trying to establish a new league in Europe, NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum insists that the goal is not to replace the EuroLeague, Eurohoops relays via a Reuters interview. “Our goal is to create a commercially viable league that features high quality on -court competition and respects the rich tradition of European basketball. And we think that that will better serve fans and players on the continent,” Tatum said. He notes that there are major cities in Europe that don’t have a team where the NBA can establish roots. “There are big markets in Europe that aren’t being serviced today, where there are millions of basketball fans that aren’t being serviced,” he said. London, Paris, Berlin and Rome are among the candidates that NBA Europe considers as prime targets.
The Athletic’s John Hollinger reveals his award picks. He has Gilgeous-Alexander atop his MVP list and the Rockets’Amen Thompson as his Defensive Player of the Year. O’Connor, writing for Yahoo Sports, has the same duo winning those awards. They also both have Stephon Castle taking Rookie of the Year honors, Payton Pritchard atop their Sixth Man of the Year lists, and Kenny Atkinson as Coach of the Year.
Kentucky junior guard Otega Oweh will test the draft waters, Jeff Goodman of Field of 68 tweets. Oweh averaged 16.2 points, 4.7 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.6 steals this past season. He played his first two seasons at Oklahoma.
Detailing some of the issues that led to Mike Budenholzer‘s ouster in Phoenix, NBA insider Chris Haynes (YouTube link) reports that Budenholzer told Bradley Beal earlier in the season that he wanted him to play more like Jrue Holiday.
That was “not well-received” by the three-time All-Star, Haynes says, and Phoenix-based insider John Gambadoro confirms as much. According to Gambadoro (Twitter link), Beal responded by telling Budenholzer, “Don’t ever disrespect me like that. Don’t ever tell me to play like another player.”
Communication with his players was a recurring issue for Budenholzer in Phoenix, per Haynes, who says the veteran head coach also butted heads with Jusuf Nurkic by criticizing his screening ability and telling him he’s a “bad teammate.” Haynes previously reported that Budenholzer told Devin Booker to “tone it down vocally” during games and film sessions, which ESPN’s Brian Windhorst confirms.
Booker began speaking to reporters more late in the season about the importance of his “voice,” which was intentional, sources tell ESPN. As Windhorst explains, Booker appeared to be sending a message to a coach on his way out and making it clear he’ll have more say going forward.
“[I need] to be a leader and use my voice more,” Booker said last week. Asked if he was referring to speaking to teammates, coaches, or management, the star guard added, “Everybody.”
Here’s more out of Phoenix:
The Suns have privately acknowledged they made a mistake by not involving Kevin Durant and his manager/agent Rich Kleiman when they explored trade possibilities involving Durant prior to February’s deadline, Windhorst writes. The front office wanted to keep discussions closed like Dallas did with Luka Doncic, Windhorst explains, but word leaked after the Suns had to talk to possible third-team facilitators. All parties will be involved in that process during the offseason, with Kleiman planning to travel to Phoenix this week to have discussions with the Suns, sources tell ESPN.
While it may be a challenge for the Suns to find an appealing trade with a team willing to extend Durant, it’s possible there will be potential suitors who are OK with taking on the risk of acquiring the star forward as a one-year rental, says Windhorst. “Durant is a top-three name in this league,” a high-ranking NBA official told ESPN. “I can see a team who’d love to have him for a season just to sell tickets.”
Booker will be eligible this season for a two-year, maximum-salary extension and the expectation is that the Suns will put that offer on the table, sources tell ESPN. Windhorst refers to that potential deal – which would lock up Booker through 2029/30 – as being worth $149.8MM, but that’s just a projection for now, based on the cap increasing by the maximum 10% in each of the next four seasons.
After letting go of former head coach Monty Williams, Suns owner Mat Ishbia was “very focused” on hiring a replacement with a championship on his résumé, which was a major factor in the team choosing Frank Vogel in 2023 and Budenholzer in 2024, Windhorst writes. This time around, the team may prioritize a candidate who is better suited to build relationships with players, according to Windhorst, who hears from sources that Ishbia will be paying former Suns coaches about $18MM next season.
According to Haynes (YouTube link), the Suns are expected to “look into and evaluate” the following head coaching candidates as they decide who they want to try to interview: former Kings coach Mike Brown, current Pelicans coach Willie Green, Heat assistant Chris Quinn, Cavaliers assistant Johnnie Bryant, Mavericks assistants Sean Sweeney and Jared Dudley, Rockets assistant Royal Ivey, their own assistant David Fizdale, and former Suns assistant (and current BYU head coach) Kevin Young. That may not be a comprehensive list of candidates for the job.
The Grizzlies scored the first seven points of the game and built a double-digit lead within the first five minutes. They never trailed en route to a 120-106 victory, locking up the No. 8 seed in the West and lining up a first-round series with the top-seeded Thunder.
Morant turned his right ankle in the third quarter of Tuesday’s loss to Golden State when he came down on 
Irving suffered a 
But neither team’s season played out as hoped. The Mavericks’ shocking decision to trade