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And-Ones: Gambling, Doncic, Thompsons, DPOY, More

April 24th, 2025 at 8:01am CST by Luke Adams

As part of their anonymous poll of 158 NBA players, the full results of which can be viewed here, Sam Amick and Josh Robbins of The Athletic got several interesting responses about the league’s gambling partnerships and the impact they’ve had.

Of The Athletic’s poll respondents, 46% felt the partnerships were bad for the NBA, while 34% said they were good — the remaining 20% were either undecided or were somewhere in the middle. The general consensus is that those partnerships have benefited the league financially but have increased the likelihood of players being harassed by fans.

As Amick and Robbins write in a separate story, players around the league also sounded off on February’s shocking Luka Doncic trade, questioning not only the Mavericks‘ decision to deal the perennial All-NBA first-teamer but also the timing of the move.

Some players who spoke to The Athletic acknowledged that the trade wouldn’t have looked quite so bad if not for the injury woes that tanked the Mavericks’ season, while others said it was too early to render final judgment. But the responses Amick and Robbins got strongly suggested that the only players fully on board with the deal were anonymous Lakers, including one respondent who said, “I think it (was a) phenomenal decision. So smart. Wise. I’m a Nico Harrison fan.”

Here are more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

  • In an entertaining feature for ESPN.com, Michael C. Wright takes a closer look at the rapid rise of twin brothers Amen Thompson and Ausar Thompson, who have met their goal of making the playoffs for the first time this year, with the Rockets and Pistons, respectively. Now, they’re ready to take that goal one step further. “I want to see him in the Finals,” Amen told Wright. “That would be fire. But just one of us wins. I know who that’s going to be.” Ausar shares his brother’s goal, but disagrees with his prediction about which team would come out on top. “Man, we would whoop ’em,” Ausar said. “This year, when we played, when we had all of our players, we beat them.”
  • With the NBA set to announce its Defensive Player of the Year award winner on Thursday evening, Josh Robbins of The Athletic spoke to 13 head coaches and assistants around the league about who deserves the honor. Hawks guard Dyson Daniels and Thunder wing Luguentz Dort were the top vote-getters in Robbins’ poll — Dort isn’t among the three finalists for the award.
  • Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report looks ahead to the offseason and identifies under-the-radar teams that might make sense as destinations for 10 potential trade candidates around the NBA, ranging from stars like Kevin Durant and Trae Young to role players such as Marcus Smart and Daniel Gafford.
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Rockets Notes: Offensive Woes, Green, Holiday

April 22nd, 2025 at 9:51pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Rockets scored just 85 points in Game 1 of their first-round series against the Warriors. That has to change dramatically for the higher-seeded Rockets to win the series, Michael Wright of ESPN notes.

“Some guys did struggle offensively — you’re not going to overreact to one game,” coach Ime Udoka said after Sunday’s loss. “But if guys do play better, we have a chance there. Ten-point loss and like I said, holding somebody to 95; it was an offensively poor showing. The defense was good enough. But I’m not going to overreact to that game. It’s some of those guys’ first times and we had our chances.”

Game 2 will be held on Wednesday.

  • Houston’s Game 1 offensive performance can’t be easily dismissed, according to Kelly Iko of The Athletic. The Warriors are led by stars Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler, who have many years of playoff experience and can create offense when needed, while the Rockets simply don’t have a player like that on their roster.
  • Jalen Green, who averaged 21 points per game during the regular season, shot 3-for-15 from the field and scored seven points in the series opener. He was also limited to two assists. “They went after him some, but he played in the crowd a little bit too much,” Udoka said,  per Jonathan Alexander of the Houston Chronicle. “It’s not really the turnovers as much as the shots in the crowd where you have to find your outlet … When he has isolations, you’ve got to find your outlet. That’s going to be a big key in this series.”
  • Udoka might expand his eight-man rotation in Game 2 to include Aaron Holiday, an above-average three-point threat. “Yeah, we were considering it last game,” Udoka told Danielle Lerner of the Houston Chronicle. “That unit in the third quarter was running well and so we went with them, stuck with them, but Aaron’s played well against them. Obviously, not just the shooting, his physicality and aggressiveness on defense helps as well. And so yeah, we’re not just tied down to our guys. I think a big part of it was finding the rhythm with our guys and kind of sticking with them through their first experience in the playoffs. That’s part of it, no doubt but yeah Aaron’s had a great series against Golden State.”
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Pacific Notes: Lakers, Van Gundy, Butler, Warriors, Durant

April 21st, 2025 at 9:15pm CST by Dana Gauruder

If practice makes perfect, the Lakers should be in good shape for Game 2 of their first-round series against Minnesota. The Lakers had their best practice in months, coach JJ Redick said on Monday, per Dave McMenamin of ESPN.

Los Angeles lost by 22 points on Saturday. The Lakers will look to even the series on Tuesday.

“Hopefully, we can just right our wrongs,” guard Austin Reaves said. “We played bad, they shot the ball really well. They’re obviously a really good team that’s physical. We got to match that. Tomorrow it’ll be different story.”

We have more from the Pacific Division:

  • How has Jeff Van Gundy impacted the Clippers as an assistant in his returning to coaching? He’s been a major reason why their defense was strong enough to make the postseason. “He loves us being aggressive, attacking the ball,” Clippers guard Kris Dunn told the Sporting News’ Stephen Noh. “We’re not playing back on our heels. We’re being the aggressor and trying to dictate the game.”
  • Jimmy Butler had a huge game as the Warriors grabbed a 1-0 series against the Rockets on Sunday night. Butler supplied 25 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists and 5 steals. He scored six points in the last 1:43 to put the game away, ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk notes. “He has that impact every game,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said of the team’s blockbuster midseason addition. “He calms things down. He’s very confident. He’s very poised. He always believes we’re going to win. Jimmy is — he’s one of the best players in the league, and that’s what the best players in the league do. It’s not just about scoring or stats. It’s about settling the game down, having the presence and the nature to compete and win games like this.”
  • The Rockets, despite their strong regular season record, have been subpar in the half-court in 2024/25. The Warriors believe they can win the series by preventing Houston from getting easy baskets, Anthony Slater of ESPN writes. “But we’ve got to recognize that we don’t need to take chances in this series,” Kerr said. “We need to be clean with our execution in transition. We don’t need to dribble through traffic. We don’t need to throw lob passes to try to get a dunk. We’ve gotta be rock solid. If we’re rock solid, smart and tough, I think we’ll be in good shape.”
  • If the Suns deal Kevin Durant this offseason, which veteran players could they try to acquire in return? Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic takes a look at 10 potential targets.
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2025 NBA Draft Tiebreaker Results

April 21st, 2025 at 4:28pm CST by Luke Adams

Tiebreakers among teams with identical regular-season records were broken on Monday through random drawings to determine the order for this year’s draft prior to the lottery.

The results are as follows, according to a press release from the league (Twitter link):

  • Phoenix Suns (No. 9) over Portland Trail Blazers (No. 10)
    • The Suns will get one more lottery ball combination (out of 1,000) than the Trail Blazers.
    • The Suns’ pick will be sent to the Rockets.
  • Dallas Mavericks (No. 11) over Chicago Bulls (No. 12)
    • The Mavericks will get one more lottery ball combination (out of 1,000) than the Bulls.
  • Sacramento Kings (No. 13) over Atlanta Hawks (No. 14)
    • The Kings will get one more lottery ball combination (out of 1,000) than the Hawks.
    • The Kings’ pick will be sent to the Hawks if it’s outside of the top 12.
    • The Hawks’ pick will be sent to the Spurs.
  • Memphis Grizzlies (No. 18) over Milwaukee Bucks (No. 19) over Golden State Warriors (No. 20)
    • The Grizzlies’ pick will be sent to the Wizards.
    • The Bucks’ pick will be sent to the Nets.
    • The Warriors’ pick will be sent to the Heat.
  • Los Angeles Lakers (No. 22) over Indiana Pacers (No. 23) over Los Angeles Clippers (No. 24) over Denver Nuggets (No. 25)
    • The Lakers’ pick will be sent to the Hawks.
    • The Clippers’ pick will be sent to the Thunder.
    • The Nuggets’ pick will be sent to the Magic.

While the tiebreaker winner will pick ahead of the loser(s) in the first round, that order will be flipped in the second round.

For instance, the Warriors’ second-round pick (traded to the Grizzlies) will be at No. 48, followed by the Bucks’ pick (traded to Detroit) at No. 49, and the Grizzlies (traded to New York) at No. 50 — that’s the opposite of their order in the first round.

For lottery teams that finished with identical records, the second-round order is still to be determined depending on the lottery results.

For example, if Phoenix’s first-round pick (traded to Houston) stays at No. 9 and the Blazers’ first-rounder stays at No. 10, Portland’s second-round pick (traded to Toronto) would be at No. 39 and Phoenix’s (traded to Washington) would be No. 40. But if the Trail Blazers win the No. 1 overall pick on lottery night, moving ahead of Phoenix in the first round, then the Suns’ second-round pick would be No. 39, while Portland’s would be No. 40.

We’ll publish the full lottery odds and pre-lottery draft order for 2025 later tonight.

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Stein/Fischer’s Latest: Kuminga, Suns, Jones, Williamson, Nowitzki

April 20th, 2025 at 9:47pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Jonathan Kuminga‘s role in the playoffs will be closely watched around the league as he heads into restricted free agency, Marc Stein and Jake Fischer of The Stein Line report (Substack link).

Kuminga never entered the game in the Warriors‘ play-in victory over Memphis on Tuesday. It’s expected that Kuminga will have at least a limited role in the first-round series against the Rockets as Golden State tries to combat Houston’s athleticism.

Coach Steve Kerr has stated publicly that the combination of Kuminga and Jimmy Butler at the forward spots hasn’t worked well due to spacing issues — both are subpar three-point shooters. The coaching staff had hoped that Kuminga might be further along in developing his play-making skills.

The front office and Kuminga couldn’t meet his asking price during rookie scale extension talks. He was seeking more than $30MM annually. The Nets are a potential suitor with enough cap space to give Kuminga a lucrative contract, but a sign-and-trade with another team could be a potential option this summer.

Here’s more from the latest Stein Line round-up from Stein and Fischer:

  • The Suns are unlikely to pursue another veteran coach after Frank Vogel and Mike Budenholzer lasted just one season apiece. However, Pelicans coach Willie Green is a potential candidate if new New Orleans president of basketball operations Joe Dumars doesn’t retain Green. Cavaliers associate head coach Johnnie Bryant, Rockets assistant coach Royal Ivey and Mavericks assistants Jared Dudley and Sean Sweeney could also be in the mix, Stein and Fischer confirm. Those names were all previously reported.
  • It’s not a certainty Suns top executive James Jones will hold onto his job. Owner Mat Ishbia could make a change in the front office before a new head coach is hired, Stein and Fischer note.
  • Dumars will take his time before deciding whether he’ll look to shop oft-injured franchise player Zion Williamson. There’s some skepticism around the NBA that the Pelicans will continue to ride with Williamson as their cornerstone piece.
  • The Pelicans‘ decision to hire Dumars a day after David Griffin was let go and the Kings’ same-day hiring of Scott Perry to replace Monte McNair have both faced scrutiny around the league, with sources wondering why the teams didn’t conduct more thorough searches, Stein and Fischer say. Dumars was also said to be high on Sacramento’s list.
  • Dirk Nowitzki has an office at the Mavericks‘ practice facility but he’s rarely there, which speaks to his distance from the Mavericks current ownership group and general manager Nico Harrison. Nowitzki was named a special advisor to former majority owner Mark Cuban, who no longer has much say in personnel decisions, including the blockbuster Luka Doncic deal.
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NBA Announces Finalists For 2024/25 Awards

April 20th, 2025 at 6:22pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and Nuggets center Nikola Jokic are the three finalists for the league’s Most Valuable Player award this season, the league announced on Sunday (Twitter link).

While all three players put up monster numbers, Gilgeous-Alexander is generally considered the favorite to win the award due in large part to the Thunder’s team success this season. Oklahoma City won a league-high 68 regular season games, compared to 50 for Jokic’s Nuggets and 48 for Antetokounmpo’s Bucks.

The finalists for each award represent the top three vote-getters. The winners will be announced at a later date.

Here’s a rundown of the finalists for the major NBA awards voted on by media members:

Coach of the Year

  • Kenny Atkinson (Cavaliers)
  • J.B. Bickerstaff (Pistons)
  • Ime Udoka (Rockets)

Rookie of the Year

Sixth Man of the Year

Defensive Player of the Year

Most Improved Player

Clutch Player of the Year

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Kenny Atkinson Wins Coaches Association Award

April 19th, 2025 at 11:27am CST by Luke Adams

Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson has won the Michael H. Goldberg award for the 2024/25 season, earning Coach of the Year from the National Basketball Coaches Association, according to a press release.

This award, introduced in 2017 and named after longtime NBCA executive director Michael H. Goldberg, is voted on by the NBA’s 30 head coaches, none of whom can vote for himself.

It isn’t the NBA’s official Coach of the Year award, which is voted on by media members and is represented by the Red Auerbach Trophy. The winner of that award will be announced later this spring.

J.B. Bickerstaff (Pistons), Mark Daigneault (Thunder), Ime Udoka (Rockets), and – interestingly – Michael Malone (Nuggets) also received votes from their fellow coaches for this year’s NBCA award. Malone was let go by Denver earlier this month.

Atkinson was hired by the Cavaliers last June and was tasked with turning the team into a legitimate title contender following a 48-win season and a second-round playoff exit. Despite the fact that Cleveland’s roster didn’t undergo any major changes last summer, the team had one of the best years in franchise history, racking up 64 wins and holding the No. 1 spot in the Eastern Conference for nearly the entire season.

After the Cavs placed 16th in the NBA with a 114.7 offensive rating in 2023/24, Atkinson helped turn the unit into the league’s top-ranked offense in ’24/25 — Cleveland’s 121.0 offensive rating led the league by a comfortable margin. The club also ranked eighth in defensive rating (111.8) and third in overall net rating (+9.2).

The NBCA Coach of the Year award has frequently been a bellwether for the NBA’s Coach of the Year honor, which bodes well for Atkinson. In six of the eight years since the award’s inception, the winner has gone on to be named the NBA’s Coach of the Year, including in 2024 when Daigneault won both awards.

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Western Notes: Popovich, Durant, Rockets, Thompson, Randle, DiVincenzo

April 18th, 2025 at 4:53pm CST by Luke Adams

Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich, who spent most of the season away from the team while recovering from a stroke, was taken to a hospital on Tuesday following a medical incident at a restaurant, as first reported by TMZ and confirmed by Shams Charania of ESPN.

According to TMZ, Popovich was taken out of the restaurant on a stretcher and was transported to a hospital in an ambulance after officials reportedly received a call about a patron who had “fainted” while eating dinner. The incident was described as non-life-threatening, per TMZ, and Popovich was said to be alert and talking by the time he entered the ambulance. The Spurs coach is now home and doing fine, Charania confirms.

Popovich was replaced on the Spurs’ bench by assistant coach Mitch Johnson in early November after suffering a stroke. Although he didn’t return to his role this season, though he met with players in February and put out a statement indicating he hopes to eventually reclaim his spot on the sidelines.

It’s still unclear whether or not that will ultimately be possible. At age 76, Popovich is the oldest head coach in NBA history by a considerable margin — he passed Hubie Brown (71) for that mark several years ago.

Here’s more from around the Western Conference:

  • Following the latest round of rumors linking Kevin Durant to Houston, Marc Stein and Jake Fischer of The Stein Line (Twitter link) say a Rockets pursuit of the Suns forward actually appears “less likely” than previously believed. Stein and Fischer have repeatedly reported that Houston is focused more on stars who would better fit the timeline of the team’s young core, rather than a veteran like Durant who will turn 37 later this year.
  • Rockets guard Amen Thompson has been one of the NBA’s breakout players of the 2024/25 season, emerging in his second season as a candidate for Most Improved Player, All-Defense, and even Defensive Player of the Year. Chris Mannix of SI.com takes an in-depth look at one of Houston’s long-term cornerstones, whose improvement on both ends of the court has earned high praise from head coach Ime Udoka. “When I coached Kyrie (Irving, in Boston), you would be wowed at something he did offensively every night,” Udoka said. “It’s the same thing with Amen on the defensive end. You can’t teach what he does. … He can be a top 15-level player. All-NBA level. People are seeing flashes. We see more.”
  • It’s rare for major NBA trades to occur at the start of training camp, but that’s when the Timberwolves and Knicks completed their blockbuster deal that sent Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo to Minnesota for Karl-Anthony Towns. As Chris Hine of The Star Tribune details, the unexpected move upended the lives of Randle and DiVincenzo off the court as well as on it, and it took the duo some time to adjust to the change of scenery. Hine explores how the two Timberwolves got settled in Minnesota and how their increased comfort level helped fuel an impressive late-season run for the club, which won 17 of its last 21 games.
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Southwest Notes: Thompson, Harrison, Dumars, Udoka

April 17th, 2025 at 10:55am CST by Dana Gauruder

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.”
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Scott Perry Considered Frontrunner For Kings’ GM Job

April 17th, 2025 at 9:14am CST by Dana Gauruder

Longtime NBA executive Scott Perry is considered the frontrunner for the Kings’ general manager job, Sam Amick and Anthony Slater of The Athletic report.

The organization is looking for a replacement for Monte McNair, who mutually agreed with ownership to part ways after a five-year run. The Kings were eliminated from the play-in tournament by Dallas on Wednesday.

Perry was the Kings’ VP of basketball operations and has a strong working relationship with Sacramento owner Vivek Ranadive. Perry has a 25-year front office resume that has included stints with the Pistons, SuperSonics, Magic and Knicks. Former Nuggets GM Calvin Booth, who lost his job last week, is also expected to receive consideration.

While former GM Vlade Divac is still within the organization as VP of basketball and franchise operations, he’s not considered a candidate for the top executive job. Team sources tell The Athletic that Divac won’t be returning to the front office in any formal capacity.

As for the head coaching job, Doug Christie hasn’t been given any promises to have the interim tag removed, but he’s well-positioned to keep the job. Christie replaced Mike Brown in late December.

According to The Athletic, McNair didn’t want to fire Brown and he also recently clashed with ownership regarding Christie’s status beyond this season, with Ranadive backing Christie. The decision to acquire DeMar DeRozan in a sign-and-trade last offseason and deal for Zach LaVine at the trade deadline may also have been driven by ownership, per Amick and Slater.

McNair, who spoke with the team minutes after the loss to the Mavericks, may not be out of a job for long. He could return to the Rockets, where his former co-worker, Rafael Stone, is the GM. He also has close ties with Sixers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey.

Booth’s potential candidacy and McNair’s potential reunion with Houston were previously reported.

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