Bulls Notes: Donovan, McClung, Giddey, Jones, Ivey
Billy Donovan is seriously giving thought to leaving the Bulls at the conclusion of the season, Brett Siegel of ClutchPoints reports.
Siegel hears that Arizona head coach Tommy Lloyd was North Carolina’s top choice to become its head coach. However, Lloyd agreed to a five-year deal to stay at Arizona, which makes Donovan the Tar Heels’ clear choice for the job.
Donovan is committed to the Bulls through the remainder of the season and won’t make any decisions on his future until April 12, Siegel adds. However, there is a growing belief around the league that Donovan will leave the franchise.
Here’s more on the Bulls:
- Mac McClung has done it again. The three-time NBA dunk contest champion has been named NBA G League MVP for the second time, the NBA announced (via Twitter). McClung, who is on a two-way contract, has been playing for the Windy City Bulls. The 27-year-old guard put up huge numbers in the regular season, averaging a G League-best 31.8 points, 7.9 assists, 3.6 rebounds and 1.2 steals on .515/.381/.781 shooting in 29 games (37.3 minutes per contest). Rockets two-way guard Tristen Newton and Kings swingman DaQuan Jeffries finished second and third in voting, respectively.
- Josh Giddey (hamstring) and Tre Jones (ankle) have been upgraded to probable for tonight’s game against the Knicks, K.C. Johnson of Chicago Sports Network tweets. McClung is also probable with abdominal tightness.
- Brian Sandalow of the Chicago Sun Times details how the team has tried to move on from the Jaden Ivey saga. Ivey was waived earlier in the week following several controversial live streams on social media, among other factors.
Pacific Notes: Doncic, Jackson, Harris, Gillespie
If Lakers star Luka Doncic can’t play the remainder of the regular season — which seems likely due to his hamstring injury — he would be the first scoring leader to not make an All-NBA team since 1976, according to Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press.
Doncic needs to play in one more game to reach the 65-game threshold for All-NBA consideration. The star guard is averaging 33.5 points per game, nearly two more than Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (31.6), who’s second in the league. In 1976, Bob McAdoo won his third consecutive scoring title and was second in the MVP race but didn’t make All-NBA.
On a related topic, Doncic’s absence will test the team’s depth, Thuc Nhi Nguyen of the Los Angeles Times points out. Marcus Smart has missed the last six games with an ankle sprain, though he could return this weekend. Bronny James could see his backcourt role expand in Doncic’s absence.
Here’s more from the Pacific Division:
- The Clippers, who are already dealing with a number of frontcourt injuries, may not have Isaiah Jackson for the rest of the season. Jackson has a high ankle sprain and will not join the team on its road trip. He will be out at least one week, Janis Carr of the Orange County Register tweets.
- The Kings’ NBA G League GM, Gabriel Harris, is heading to the college ranks, as he’ll be named the University of Memphis Tigers’ general manager, Michael Scotto of HoopsHype tweets. Harris and the Stockton Kings won the 2025 G League championship.
- Collin Gillespie, who is headed to free agency this summer, set the Suns’ franchise record for three-pointers in a season on Thursday night, according to The Associated Press. Gillespie set the mark in the second quarter of the Suns’ 127-107 loss to the Hornets. He made his 227th three-pointer from the wing, surpassing the record of 226 threes, set by Quentin Richardson in the 2004/05 season. “It’s a great accomplishment,” Gillespie said. “And I’m extremely grateful and thankful to everybody here for helping me, but at the end of the day, it doesn’t really mean much right now with the loss.”
NBA G League Announces ROY, DPOY, COY Award Winners
Clippers two-way guard Sean Pedulla has been named the NBA G League’s Rookie of the Year for the 2025/26 season, the league announced in a press release.
Pedulla, who went undrafted out of Mississippi last June, averaged 23.6 points, 6.7 assists, 5.0 rebounds and 1.6 steals in 28 combined games (32.0 MPG) with the Rip City Remix (the Trail Blazers‘ affiliate) and the San Diego Clippers this season. He posted a shooting line of .443/.369/.845.
Pedulla ranked first in points per game and second in assists per game among rookies who qualified.
The 23-year-old signed a two-way contract with Los Angeles in February. He has made four NBA appearances with the Clippers this season, averaging 3.3 PPG in 5.8 MPG.
Raptors two-way guard Alijah Martin and Clippers two-way forward Norchad Omier finished second and third in voting for the award, respectively, per the NBA (Twitter link).
The NBAGL also announced the Defensive Player of the Year and Head Coach of the Year award winners. Dallas Legends (Mavericks’ affiliate) center Jamarion Sharp won the former award, while Mexico City Capitanes coach Vitor Galvani won the latter.
Sharpe averaged 7.1 PPG, 7.3 RPG, and a league-high 3.9 BPG across 25 regular season appearances for the Legends (24.9 MPG). Lakers two-way guard Chris Manon and Martin of the Raptors finished second and third in voting, respectively.
Galvani guided the Capitanes to a 24-12 record in his first season with the team, who entered the G League playoffs as the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference. It’s the first NBAGL playoff appearance for the league’s lone independent club.
Greensboro Swarm (Hornets‘ affiliate) head coach DJ Bakker and Osceola Magic head coach Dylan Murphy finished second and third in voting, respectively.
All three awards were voted on by G League head coaches and general managers, according to the NBA.
Cavs Notes: Allen, Mobley, Enaruna, Fanan, Playoffs
Jarrett Allen‘s right knee injury remains a concern for the Cavaliers as the regular season winds down. Allen missed 10 consecutive games in March due to what multiple people within the organization have referred to as “severe” tendonitis, according to Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com (subscription required). Allen has been back in the starting lineup for two of the team’s past three contests, but that doesn’t mean he’s fully healthy.
“Definitely still sore out there. Definitely not 100 percent,” the Cavs’ center told Fedor after Tuesday’s loss to the Lakers. “I’m not able to put a lot of pressure on my knee sometimes. Jumping and landing on the knee still hurts. Not as much as before, when I first got hurt, but still managing it and definitely still struggling with it.”
While head coach Kenny Atkinson expressed hope that Allen will be back to full strength for the playoffs, the 27-year-old admitted he’s not sure whether or not that will be the case, as Fedor relays.
“I don’t know,” Allen said. “It’s just the truthful answer to that. Hopefully it gets better. I’ve gone through tendonitis all of my career. That’s just a big man’s thing you have to deal with. I think it is going to get better. We have been doing so much to make it get better — and it has — but I can’t answer that question.”
We have more on the Cavs:
- After not making this year’s All-Star Game, Evan Mobley was challenged by Atkinson to come out of the break with a “chip on your shoulder,” Fedor writes in another story for Cleveland.com (subscription required). Mobley has responded to that challenge admirably. Prior to a quiet game on Tuesday vs. the Lakers, he had put up 20.2 points, 9.6 rebounds, 2.6 assists, and 1.5 blocks per game while shooting 62.4% from the floor in his first 17 post-All-Star outings. “It was a simple conversation about using it as a chip on my shoulder and knowing the value that I bring to this team,” Mobley said of his February discussion with Atkinson. “Since then, just been working and trying to get better with the team as new guys came. Just focus on my game and trying to expand it as much as possible.”
- Rookie forward Tristan Enaruna, who is on a two-way contract with the Cavaliers and is in his second season in the G League, has been named the NBAGL’s Most Improved Player (Twitter link). After averaging 11.0 points per game on .466/.294/.588 shooting in 46 appearances for the Maine Celtics last season, Enaruna has increased those numbers to 20.3 PPG with a .548/.378/.750 shooting line in 38 outings for the Cleveland Charge in 2025/26. Bucks two-way player Cormac Ryan was the runner-up for the award, with another Charge player – guard Darius Brown II – placing third in voting.
- Enaruna wasn’t the only member of Charge to be recognized today by the G League. The team’s general manager, Liron Fanan, was named G League Basketball Executive of the Year for 2025/26, becoming the first woman to win the award (Twitter link). Fanan helped compile a Charge roster that went 23-13 during the regular season and had six players – including Enaruna and Brown – called up to the NBA.
- The Cavaliers can officially clinch a playoff spot on Wednesday, but it will require the Sixers to lose to the 17-58 Wizards, per the NBA (Twitter link). Washington has won just one of its last 20 games.
Pistons Notes: LeVert, Jones, Division Title, Ivey
After signing a two-year, $28.9MM contract with the Pistons last summer, Caris LeVert has had the worst statistical season of his career. His 7.5 points and 19.5 minutes per game are career lows, as is his 41.8% shooting percentage from the floor. The 31-year-old, who has made 223 career starts, is also on track to finish a season without starting a single game for the first time since he entered the league in 2016.
“It has been up-and-down for me all season,” LeVert told Coty M. Davis of The Detroit News. “Obviously, everyone wants to play well. Everyone wants to play a lot of minutes. For me, the most frustrating part has been all about my game and minutes. But, it is what it is.”
Health issues have contributed to LeVert’s struggles. He underwent surgery on his right wrist shortly before training camp, delaying his preparation for the season, then battled knee problems. He has also dealt with a more unusual health issue since then, as he informed Spencer Davies of RG.org.
“I had a weird, like, vertigo sickness for like a month-and-a-half; I just got over that a few weeks ago,” LeVert said. “So this year’s been kinda weird for me, but I feel really good right now. As far as preparation, I think just doing more as far as table work, stretching on my own, getting my sleep, diet — just to another level.”
While it’s been a somewhat disappointing year for LeVert on an individual level, he tells Davies that he has made an effort to be a positive locker-room leader as one of the elder statesmen on a younger roster. The fact that it has been a hugely successful season from a team perspective has also allowed him not to worry as much about his own struggles.
“We control our own destiny from now until the end of the season. I think it has been amazing for what we have done as a team,” LeVert told Davis. “We are building in the right direction.”
We have more out of Detroit:
- Pistons two-way player Isaac Jones has nabbed NBA G League Player of the Month honors, according to the league (Twitter link). Playing for the Motor City Cruise, Jones averaged 29.7 points and 10.1 rebounds per game while shooting 68.4% from the field in March. The second-year forward began the season with Sacramento and was claimed off waivers by Detroit when the Kings cut him in November. He was waived by Detroit in early February, but the team brought him back on a two-way deal a week later.
- While winning the Central division is far less important than claiming the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference would be, the Pistons were still pleased about clinching their first division title since 2008, writes Omari Sankofa II of The Detroit Free Press. “You take pride in understanding how hard it is to do any of those things in this league,” head coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “You take pride in the fact that you have a group of young guys, young men who collectively have grown and achieved certain milestones. It’s a part of the process, and we expect more. But you just respect how difficult it is to do any of those things in this league. It is a big deal for our guys and this organization to get ourselves back in that position and in position to do more, because you can’t win the level you want to win at if you don’t take those steps.”
- Bickerstaff also spoke on Tuesday about Jaden Ivey, whom he coached for a season-and-a-half before the former No. 5 overall pick was traded to Chicago in February. Ivey was waived this week due to “conduct detrimental to the team,” according to the Bulls. “I know how it’s been extremely difficult for him as far as the way he was playing, the injuries, trying to make the comeback and trying to overcome that. I don’t think we can overlook the human aspect of these things and how that impacts people and their decisions,” Bickerstaff said (Twitter link via Sankofa). “Having said that, I also believe the NBA is one of the most inclusive environments in pro sports. and it’s a genuine thing that celebrates different ethnicities, heritages, sexual preferences, whatever it may be. The NBA brings people together. … This environment should be an environment that supports that and gives people the opportunity to be the best version of themselves no matter who that is or what they believe, or what choices they may make that don’t impact or infringe on other people.”
Northwest Notes: SGA, Hartenstein, Pullin, Gordon, Johnson
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has a chance to win Most Valuable Player honors for the second straight season. He’s battling the Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic, the Spurs’ Victor Wembanyama and the Lakers’ Luka Doncic — the league’s top scorer — for that distinction.
However, SGA declined to argue his case following an overtime win over Detroit on Monday, according to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin. The Thunder star is the league’s second-leading scorer at 31.6 points per game while averaging a career-high 6.5 assists as well.
“No, I’m good. Thanks for asking, though,” he said. “Yeah, I’m good. I let my game do the talking.”
[RELATED: Spurs’ Victor Wembanyama Argues MVP Case]
Gilgeous-Alexander does believe the MVP talk is a benefit to the NBA.
“I think it’s good for the league. I think it’s good chatter,” he said. “It gives people something to talk about. There’s a lot of good players in this league and a lot of guys in the conversation because of that.”
Here’s more from the Northwest Division:
- Isaiah Hartenstein‘s decision to bolt the Knicks in free agency during the summer of 2024 has proven to be a wise one, Stefan Bondy of the New York Post writes. Hartenstein collected a three-year, $87MM payday and he’s become the Thunder‘s defensive anchor while also getting more offensive opportunities. “I think [the play-making] has always been there,” Hartenstein said. “I think before I got to the Knicks, it was one of the main things I was doing with the Clippers. But I think as an NBA player you just have to put your ego aside and kind of do what’s best for the team. I think when I was with the Knicks, I kind of had to change the role I was playing. And so, again, I’m just here to help the team whatever way I can, and I think with the Knicks it was more doing stuff differently.” He’s averaging 9.4 points, 9.7 rebounds and 3.7 assists in 24.8 minutes per game this season.
- Timberwolves two-way player Zyon Pullin has been named the NBA G League Player of the Week, the league announced (via Twitter). The award covers games played from March 23-28. In two games, Pullin averaged 37.5 points and 5.5 assists while making 75 percent of his three-point attempts. The undrafted 25-year-old has appeared in just two games for Minnesota this season.
- The Nuggets got some good news on the injury front, Vinny Benedetto of the Denver Gazette reports. After missing Sunday’s win over the Warriors due to a calf issue, starting power forward Aaron Gordon returned to practice Tuesday ahead of Wednesday’s game in Utah. “’AG’ looked good today. His comfort level seemed like it was in a good place with the calf. I’m hoping he’ll play (Wednesday),” Nuggets coach David Adelman said. Cameron Johnson, who left Sunday’s game with back spasms, also practiced. “They just kind of popped up on me, maybe after a little bit of contact or something,” Johnson said. “I’m fine now, though. It goes away.”
Pelicans’ G League Affiliate To Become Laketown Squadron
The Pelicans announced Monday in a press release that their G League affiliate will move from Birmingham, Alabama to Kenner, Louisiana, and will be renamed the Laketown Squadron.
“We are proud to bring the Squadron and NBA G League basketball to the City of Kenner and Laketown Park,” Pelicans governor Gayle Benson said in a statement. “We thank Kenner Mayor Michael Glaser and the Kenner City Council for their partnership in making this move possible, and we look forward to growing our basketball fan base and investing in this vibrant, family-oriented community.”
The team will play at the 3,700-seat Pontchartrain Center in Laketown Park, which is set to undergo renovations in preparation for next season. The work will include new locker rooms, upgraded audio and lighting systems, and enhanced video boards.
Kenner is located about 13 miles from New Orleans, making it easier to shuffle players back and forth between the NBA and G League teams. It should be much more convenient than operating out of Birmingham, which is more than 300 miles away.
“The close proximity to Kenner gives us the ability to better align our basketball operations and coaching strategies, integrate player development, and enhance roster flexibility throughout the season,” stated Pelicans executive vice president of basketball operations Joe Dumars. “We are excited to announce this move and look forward to deepening our connection with the local community.”
The Pelicans’ G League affiliate was introduced in 2019 as the Erie BayHawks before relocating to Birmingham in 2021. The team wrapped up its season on Friday, so the arrangement with Birmingham is officially over.
“We are extremely grateful for the partnership we have built with the City of Birmingham including the fans, community partners, and civic leaders who supported the Squadron on and off the court,” Benson said. “Birmingham remains an important part of our region, and we thank Mayor Randall Woodfin and BJCC CEO Tad Snider for their leadership and support through this transition.”
And-Ones: All-Defense, G League Playoffs, Acuff, Fertitta
Yahoo Sports contributor Nekias Duncan lists his picks for the two All-Defensive teams (as of March 27). Victor Wembanyama, Chet Holmgren, Rudy Gobert, Bam Adebayo and Derrick White comprise Duncan’s first team, while Cason Wallace, Stephon Castle, Dyson Daniels, Scottie Barnes and Marcus Smart are on the second.
Duncan also cites nine honorable mentions who didn’t quite make the cut, including Evan Mobley, last year’s Defensive Player of the Year. Duncan says Ausar Thompson would replace Smart if he qualifies; the third-year forward needs to play at least 20 minutes in seven of Detroit’s last eight games to be eligible (Smart may not qualify either due to the requirements of the 65-game rule).
Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- The 16-team field and schedule for the NBA G League playoffs has been set, the league announced in a press release. The Osceola Magic (26-10) are the top seed in the Eastern Conference, while the South Bay Lakers (26-10) are the No. 1 seed in the West. The NBAGL playoffs feature a single-elimination tournament until the finals, which is best-of-three. Osceola and the Stockton Kings (23-13, the third seed in the West) faced off in last year’s finals, with Stockton winning the title.
- Darius Acuff Jr. is widely projected to be a top-nine pick in the upcoming draft and one NBA general manager recently told Marc J. Spears of Andscape he thinks the Arkansas guard is the third-best prospect in the 2026 class, behind BYU’s AJ Dybantsa and UNC’s Caleb Wilson. Razorbacks head coach John Calipari, who has coached numerous future NBA stars in college, says teams would be foolish to pass over Acuff, a first-team All-American as a freshman. “Pass on him, you’ll regret it,” Calipari told Andscape. “I said it about Tyrese (Maxey). I’ve said it about a bunch of guys. I said it about Shai (Gilgeous-Alexander): ‘You’re going to regret passing on this kid.’ And I know there are other good players, but this kid (Acuff) is unique.”
- Rockets owner Tillman Fertitta and his family have reached an agreement to purchase the WNBA’s Connecticut Sun and relocate the team to Houston, confirms Alexa Philippou of ESPN. Chris Baldwin of PaperCity Magazine first reported the news. The plan is for the Sun to finish 2026 in Connecticut before relocating in 2027. The Fertitta family is spending $300MM to buy the team, which is expected to be called the Comets. The Houston Comets were a WNBA team from 1997-2008.
Central Notes: Nance, Cunningham, Cavs, McClung
When the Bucks promoted forward Pete Nance to their 15-man roster, they dipped into their room exception to sign him to a new three-year, $5.81MM contract that exceeds a minimum deal in terms of both first-year salary and total years, Hoops Rumors has confirmed.
The Bucks used roughly $5.13MM of their room exception last summer to re-sign Kevin Porter Jr., and it has been prorating downward since January 10, but the team still had a portion of it left to put toward Nance’s contract.
Nance received a $600K salary for the rest of this season, well above his prorated minimum of $277,137. As a trade-off, the deal includes a non-guaranteed minimum salary ($2,497,812) for 2026/27, with a non-guaranteed minimum-salary team option ($2,707,612) for ’27/28.
Nance’s 2026/27 salary would become guaranteed if he remains under contract through July 4, 2026.
We have more from around the Central:
- In the wake of the NBPA issuing a statement criticizing the 65-game rule in support of Pistons guard Cade Cunningham, agent Jeff Schwartz added his voice to those arguing that his client doesn’t deserve to miss out on All-NBA recognition this season. “Cade has delivered a first-team All-NBA season,” Schwartz told ESPN’s Shams Charania. “If he falls just short of an arbitrary games-played threshold due to legitimate injury, it should not disqualify him from recognition he has clearly earned over the course of the season. The league should be rewarding excellence, not enforcing rigid cutoffs that ignore context. An exception needs to be made.” Cunningham, who was diagnosed last week with a collapsed lung, appears unlikely to make the five additional appearances necessary to meet the 65-game threshold.
- The Cavaliers beat Orlando on Tuesday for their fourth consecutive win, but head coach Kenny Atkinson expressed displeasure after the game with his defense, which surrendered 131 points in the victory, writes Joe Vardon of The Athletic. “I just told the team in the locker room, if we’re going to play defense like this, we’re going to have a short playoff stint,” Atkinson said. “… We’re the number one offensive team over the last (several) games. But there’s two sides of the ball. We’re tilted one way right now. … You have to be good on both ends. You got to be top 10 (on) offense and defense; it gives you the best chance. We’re not.” Atkinson added that the “guys who defend” will be the ones who are part of his rotation in the playoffs.
- One of just two players in NBA history to win three dunk contests, Bulls two-way guard Mac McClung now holds another record. He’s the G League’s new all-time leading scorer across the regular season, Tip-Off Tournament, and postseason, having surpassed Renaldo Major‘s 5,299 total points, according to the league (Twitter link). Major still holds the NBAGL record for regular season points (5,058).
Pacers Notes: Slawson, Zubac, Haliburton, Bell
The Pacers have been impressed by Jalen Slawson since he signed a two-way contract at the end of last month, according to Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star (subscriber link). The former second-round pick had a big game on Wednesday, recording 17 points, seven rebounds, four assists and three blocks in 37 minutes, and helped spark a fourth-quarter comeback that came up short.
“His energy and effort is really, really amazing,” center Ivica Zubac said. “That’s one of the starting things you have to have when you’re getting your chance just to get on the floor. You have to show energy, make effort plays.
“He’s blocking shots. He’s rebounding. He’s making the right reads, cutting to the right spots, taking open shots, taking good shots. He doesn’t really force it. He’s been great, defending his tail off. He’s been doing everything we want him to do and playing with a lot of energy and force. We all gotta play like that.”
Head coach Rick Carlisle also praised Slawson’s defensive activity, and noted that the 26-year-old forward has grown increasingly comfortable on the other end as well.
“He’s making better reads the more he plays,” Carlisle said. “You can see he has good feel. He can drive it. He’s got ball skills. He can throw late lobs and see things. Guys that can do a lot of different things like that sometimes are challenged with decisiveness, but he’s becoming more decisive the more he plays. … We all like what we see.”
Here’s more on the Pacers:
- Zubac was forced out of Wednesday’s loss in the fourth quarter after being elbowed in the head by Donovan Clingan when the Blazers big man was trying to dunk a lob (Twitter video link). As Dopirak writes in another subscriber-only story, Zubac had a sizeable lump on the right side of his head in the locker room, but he said he wasn’t experiencing headaches and didn’t have to enter the concussion protocol. “It’s not like that,” Zubac said. “I just got popped in the head and it swelled up, but no headaches or anything. I feel good.“
- In an interview with DJ Siddiqi of Casino.org, star point guard Tyrese Haliburton discussed his rehab from a torn Achilles tendon, his confidence in the team’s ability to bounce back next season, and more. Haliburton said he doesn’t have any specific goals for 2026/27. “None that I’ve thought through yet,” he said. “For me, it’s just about coming back and being the best version of myself. As far as giving myself an objective or anything, I haven’t really thought about it. Obviously I want to get exactly back to where I was and beyond. And win a championship of course. I just really want to get back to full health and get back to attacking every day as hard as I can being away from the court.”
- Indiana’s G League affiliate, the Noblesville Boom, has officially reacquired ex-NBA big man Jordan Bell, tweets Scott Agness of Fieldhouse Files. As Agness notes, the Boom already held Bell’s returning player rights — he was on the roster in ’24/25 prior to suffering a season-ending left knee injury that required surgery.