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Dumars: Zion To Remain Pelicans’ Franchise Cornerstone

June 4th, 2025 at 1:36pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Zion Williamson will remain the Pelicans‘ franchise cornerstone, new executive vice president of basketball operations Joe Dumars told Rod Walker of the New Orleans Times-Picayune. Dumars cleared up any speculation regarding the possibility of Williamson being traded this offseason.

“I’ve had really good conversations with Zion,” Dumars said. “We’ve had lunch. Dinner. Watched playoff games together. We’ve done it all. I’ve had some real honest conversations with him. Some real direct and honest conversations. We’re going to go forward with Zion. He’s going to continue to be a focal point here as we go forward.”

Naturally, Williamson has to hold up his end of the bargain. His career has been marred by numerous injuries. He missed the entire 2021/22 season due to foot ailments and appeared in no more than 30 games in three of his other five seasons, including this past year.

When he’s been on the court, Williamson has been a stat-stuffer, averaging 24.7 points, 6.6 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 1.0 steal per game over the course of his career. The conversations between Dumars and Williamson have included expectations that the former No. 1 overall pick will get in top shape and do everything possible to stay on the court. He has three years remaining on his maximum-salary contract, which isn’t fully guaranteed.

“We’ve had some real direct conversations with him about that,” Dumars said. “Expectations. Accountability. That’s our plan going forward with Zion.”

Williamson has been in the news recently, as a woman who says she dated him for several years has filed a lawsuit against the Pelicans forward, alleging rape and abuse. Williamson’s legal reps have called the allegations “categorically false and reckless.”

While Dumars declined to comment on Williamson’s legal issues, Pelicans owner Gayle Benson did briefly address them earlier this week, saying “You know, lawsuits are lawsuits. You really can’t … You don’t know. I mean people can sue you for anything. There’s no reason. You can be innocent or not. It’s just something that people do, unfortunately.”

Dumars did confirm that Williamson represented the team at the draft lottery last month to make a statement about the 24-year-old’s status within the organization.

“I sent him to the lottery for a reason,” Dumars said. “I want him to start focusing on the responsibilities of being the best player here and the focal point. There are some responsibilities that come with that. Go represent your organization.”

Dumars also discussed with Walker his thoughts on retaining Willie Green as head coach.

“It’s hard for me to come in here and say, ‘Here’s how I assessed Willie last year,” Dumars said. “I wasn’t here. All I can do is move forward and guide and create and lead and put expectations on what we need to do here to be successful. And only then can I judge Willie or anyone else. I was pleased with what I heard. I’m looking forward to going forward and working with Willie and to push us to success. You’ve got to set the bar. And that’s what we’re going to do.”

Suns To Hire Cavs Assistant Jordan Ott As Head Coach

June 4th, 2025 at 11:53am CST by Dana Gauruder

The Suns are hiring Cavaliers assistant Jordan Ott as their new head coach, ESPN’s Shams Charania reports. Ott has been an NBA assistant since 2013.

Ott becomes the team’s fourth head coach in four seasons. Suns owner Mat Ishbia fired Monty Williams after the 2022/23 season, shortly after taking control of the franchise. NBA veteran head coaches Frank Vogel and Mike Budenholzer only lasted one season apiece before they were dismissed.

Phoenix will now turn to a veteran assistant receiving his first crack as a head coach.

Ott emerged from a group of at least 15 candidates, according to Charania. He has agreed to a four-year contract, 98.7 FM Phoenix talk show host John Gambadoro tweets.

Ott has long-time ties to Ishbia, Jeff Goodman notes (Twitter link). Ott is a former Tom Izzo staffer at Michigan State, where Ishbia played as a walk-on.

He began his NBA coaching career as a video coordinator with the Hawks. He served as a Nets assistant from 2016-22, then moved on to the Lakers until this past season. He followed former Nets coach Kenny Atkinson to Cleveland after Atkinson got the top job with the Cavs.

Another Cavs assistant, Johnnie Bryant, was the other finalist for the Suns job. Heat assistant Chris Quinn and Dallas assistant Sean Sweeney were also confirmed to be under consideration during the final round of interviews, with Thunder assistant Dave Bliss and Suns assistant David Fizdale reported to be in the mix too.

Ott will be taking over a franchise in a state of flux. Ishbia’s plans to win a championship by building a super-team around Kevin Durant, Bradley Beal and Devin Booker failed miserably, with the Suns not even qualifying for the postseason in Budenholzer’s only season at the helm.

The Suns are expected to pursue trades involving Durant and Beal, though Beal would have to waive his no-trade clause. Booker was heavily involved in the search process during the final stages and gave Ott a stamp of approval as his top choice as well, Charania tweets.

As for Bryant, he’s rumored to be a candidate for the Knicks’ opening. Bryant was an assistant under Tom Thibodeau with the Knicks until this season.

Latest On Kevin Durant

June 4th, 2025 at 9:02am CST by Luke Adams

After reporting before the end of the regular season that there was some mutual interest between the Spurs and Suns star Kevin Durant at the trade deadline, ESPN’s Shams Charania reiterated that point last week during an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show (Twitter video link). Charania’s reporting has since been confirmed by a plugged-in Phoenix-area insider.

“The team that I heard last night in speaking to somebody pretty close to the situation with KD is keep your eye on the Spurs,” John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 said during the Burns & Gambo show on Tuesday (YouTube link; hat tip to RealGM). “KD could have some interest in the Spurs. That might be a good landing spot for him, with (De’Aaron) Fox and (Victor) Wembanyama and an up-and-coming team on the rise that has a great defensive anchor.”

Gambadoro speculates that a Durant deal with San Antonio might include Harrison Barnes‘ $19MM expiring contract and a young player like Devin Vassell, who will make $27MM next season. While Vassell is primarily a shooting guard like Devin Booker, the Suns figure to prioritize acquiring the best young talent they can, rather than a perfect positional fit.

“You could (say), ‘Oh, you don’t want a guy who plays the same position as Booker,'” Gambadoro continued. “But you might have to take back somebody that plays the same position. You need to get younger talent. You could always trade somebody down the road, or move somebody to small forward instead of the two-guard spot, or you could have somebody be the point guard and not the two guard.”

As Gambadoro observes, the Suns will also likely be seeking draft assets in a deal for Durant, including perhaps a 2025 pick. That’s one reason why he thinks a deal could come together at some point in the coming weeks, prior to free agency.

“I expect – I’m not guaranteeing this, but I would expect – that a KD deal would happen right before the draft,” Gambadoro said. “Because you’d want to include draft capital in any deal, so I think that a Kevin Durant trade would come up this month, sometime before the draft. Probably close to the draft, if it’s going to happen.”

Marc Stein recently reported that the league-wide belief that a Durant trade will happen this offseason has only increased as the Suns trend toward hiring a first-time head coach. On Tuesday, Kelly Iko of The Athletic indicated that the Suns and Rockets have continued to talk about a possible Durant trade and shared some additional details on those discussions.

Tyus Jones Among Point Guards On Kings’ Radar

June 4th, 2025 at 7:16am CST by Luke Adams

The Kings are expected to explore both the trade market and free agency this offseason in search of help at the point guard position, league sources tell Michael Scotto of HoopsHype.

According to Scotto, Tyus Jones is one of several veteran point guards who is on Sacramento’s radar heading into the summer. Jones will be an unrestricted free agent after spending the 2024/25 season on a minimum-salary contract with Phoenix.

Jones, who earned $15MM in 2022/23 and $14MM in ’23/24, was viewed as a candidate for a mid-level deal last offseason and reportedly received offers worth more than the minimum. However, he wasn’t enamored with any of those offers and Phoenix gave him the opportunity to play a starting role for a team with championship aspirations.

Unfortunately for Jones and the Suns, the season didn’t play out as they’d hoped. The 29-year-old put up solid numbers, including 10.2 points and 5.3 assists per game with a 41.4% mark on three-point attempts, but Phoenix’s offense was less effective than it had been the year before and Jones lost his starting job during the second half.

Jones is considered a strong facilitator and shooter who takes excellent care of the ball — his 1.1 turnovers per game in 2024/25 represented a career high. However, he’s not a big-time scorer who can generate his own shot and is a little undersized on the defensive end.

When I previewed the Kings’ offseason on Tuesday, I mentioned Jones as one of many free agent point guards who might hold some appeal for a Sacramento team that traded former starter De’Aaron Fox away in February. Chris Paul, Dennis Schröder, D’Angelo Russell, Malcolm Brogdon, and Tre Jones are some of the other point guards who are on track for free agency and aren’t considered locks to re-sign with their current teams.

Based on Sacramento’s current cap position, the club should have the non-taxpayer mid-level exception (worth a projected $14.1MM) available this summer.

Jazz’s Austin Ainge On Tanking: ‘Won’t See That’ In 2025/26

June 3rd, 2025 at 4:00pm CST by Luke Adams

Asked during his introductory press conference on Monday about whether the Jazz intend to continue tanking and manipulating players’ minutes in 2025/26, new president of basketball operations Austin Ainge offered a succinct response, per Kevin Reynolds and Andy Larsen of The Salt Lake Tribune and Tony Jones of The Athletic.

“You won’t see that this year,” Ainge said.

The Jazz held several of their most effective veteran players – including Lauri Markkanen, Walker Kessler, John Collins, Collin Sexton, and Jordan Clarkson – out of games or limited their minutes down the stretch last season. While the team’s leaders might have said that approach was about developing young players, it was more about improving Utah’s lottery odds. That backfired on lottery night last month, as the Jazz fell to No. 5 in the 2025 draft after posting an NBA-worst 17-65 record.

Based on conversations with team sources, Jones writes, Ainge’s vow not to tank in 2025/26 could mean one of two things. While it’s possible that Utah focuses on improving its roster and adding veteran talent around Markkanen in the hopes of moving up the standings next season, it also could mean the Jazz simply double down on their youth movement and trade away some of their current vets who would help them win more games.

Even without manipulating players’ minutes, Utah could very well be the worst team in a competitive Western Conference in ’25/26. All 10 clubs that made the playoffs or play-in tournament are expected to remain in win-now mode, with the Suns, Trail Blazers, Spurs, and Pelicans potentially all looking to break into that group as well. In other words, the Jazz don’t necessarily need to explicitly tank to end up with another high draft pick in 2026.

It’s also worth noting that the Jazz will owe their 2026 first-round pick to the Thunder if it lands outside the top eight. If it falls within the top eight, Utah would keep it and would no longer owe Oklahoma City a pick. That figures to be a major factor working against the idea of trying to move up the standings by adding veteran help this summer.

We have more out of Utah:

While the Jazz were disappointed that the lottery didn’t put them in position to draft a potential franchise cornerstone like Cooper Flagg or Dylan Harper, Ainge said on Monday that winning the lottery isn’t the only way to find that kind of player. “If you look at the playoffs and look at all the best players in the NBA, and how many of them went No. 1, it’s better to have the No. 1 pick,” Ainge said, per Reynolds of The Salt Lake Tribune. “But there’s a lot of other stars that came from all over the draft, and certainly the Jazz have a long history of second-rounders that become All-Stars. So (getting the No. 1 pick) is not the only way to do it.”
Utah isn’t known as a popular free agent destination, but Ainge believes players will want to come if the team can build a positive culture, like his old team in Boston did. “It’s the same. Honestly, I think this is a great place,” he said, according to Reynolds. “Players want hope. They want to win. They want great culture. They want great coaching. They want great teammates. So that’s what we have to give.”
The Jazz’s pre-draft workouts to this point have mostly featured prospects they view as second-round picks or undrafted free agent targets, according to Jones. The club intends to bring in candidates for its No. 21 pick within the next couple weeks and potential targets at No. 5 later this month, Jones adds. Besides No. 5 and No. 21, Utah owns the 43rd and 53rd overall picks, though Ainge said on Monday that everything is on the table with all of those picks, so the club may end up trading one or more of them.
At least one team drafting in the lottery has already engaged the Jazz in discussions about a possible deal, sources tell Jones.

Knicks Dismiss Tom Thibodeau

June 3rd, 2025 at 2:03pm CST by Luke Adams

2:03 pm: The Knicks have formally confirmed in a press release that they’ve relieved Thibodeau of his duties.

“Our organization is singularly focused on winning a championship for our fans. This pursuit led us to the difficult decision to inform Tom Thibodeau that we’ve decided to move in another direction,” Rose said in a statement. “We can’t thank Tom enough for pouring his heart and soul into each and every day of being the New York Knicks head coach. He led us not only with class and professionalism for the past five seasons, but also to tremendous success on the court with four playoff berths and four playoff series victories.

“Ultimately, we made the decision we feel is best for our organization moving forward. Tom will always be a part of our Knicks family and we truly wish him nothing but the best in the future.”

1:41 pm: The Knicks are parting ways with head coach Tom Thibodeau, reports Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).

The timing of the move is surprising, given that New York just had its best season in a quarter-century, coming within two wins of appearing in the NBA Finals for the first time since 1999. While there were rumblings earlier in the year that Thibodeau would be on the hot seat if the Knicks made an early playoff exit, that chatter had quieted down following playoff series wins over the Pistons and Celtics.

Steve Popper of Newsday (Twitter link) says he heard from a source that Thibodeau believed he’d need to win that second-round series against Boston to keep his job. However, even that upset win proved not to be enough. The organization – which is “singularly focused” on winning a championship – believes a new voice on the sidelines can help the team take its next step toward a title, Charania explains (via Twitter).

According to Stefan Bondy of The New York Post (Twitter link), the decision to fire Thibodeau was made by president of basketball operations Leon Rose, with the support of ownership.

Thibodeau, who coached the Bulls from 2010-15 and the Timberwolves from 2017-19, was hired by the Knicks ahead of the 2020/21 season. He posted a 226-174 (.565) regular season record across his five years with the franchise, leading the Knicks to four playoff appearances and four series wins, with an overall record of 24-23 (.511) in the postseason. He was named the NBA’s Coach of the Year in 2021.

Thibodeau has received criticism over the years for his tendency to lean very heavily on his starters and not make much use of his bench. However, his players have typically been vocal in their support for him. Following the team’s elimination from the postseason over the weekend, Jalen Brunson bristled at speculation about his head coach’s future, responding, “Is that a real question right now? You just asked me if I believe he’s the right guy. Yes. Come on.”

The Knicks will still owe Thibodeau at least $30MM in guaranteed money, sources tell Ian Begley of SNY.tv (Twitter link). He had signed a three-year extension last summer that was set to go into effect in 2025/26.

New York will be just the second NBA team to launch a head coaching search this spring, joining the Suns. Phoenix has reportedly narrowed its search to a pair of Cavaliers assistants, Johnnie Bryant and Jordan Ott.

Wolves’ Tim Connelly On Minnesota: ‘It Feels Like Home’

June 2nd, 2025 at 2:44pm CST by Rory Maher

Timberwolves president of basketball operations Tim Connelly reportedly has an opt-out clause in his contract this offseason, but it sounds like he intends to stay in Minnesota.

“It feels like home. … I think you guys are stuck with me,” Connelly told media members today, per Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic (Twitter link).

The news doesn’t come as a surprise. Multiple reporters — including Brian Windhorst, Marc Stein and Jake Fischer, Michael Scotto, and Krawczynski — have indicated that signing Connelly to a new contract was a priority and the team was optimistic an agreement would be reached. Connelly is said to have a good working relationship with new majority owners Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez, who are expected to be approved by the league’s Board of Governors later this month.

Connelly was rumored to be a top target of the Hawks in their search for a new head of basketball operations and was also linked to the Nuggets’ vacancy. Connelly ran Denver’s front office from 2013-22, putting its championship core together, though he technically missed out on that title by leaving a year early.

The 49-year-old has pulled off some blockbuster trades since he was hired by the Timberwolves in 2022, acquiring Rudy Gobert from Utah later that year and sending Karl-Anthony Towns to New York last October in exchange for Julius Randle, Donte DiVincenzo, Keita Bates-Diop (who was later waived) and a first-round pick.

The Wolves have made the playoffs each of the past three seasons with Connelly as the head of basketball operations, including — most recently — back-to-back trips to the Western Conference Finals for the first time in franchise history.

Here are a few more highlights from Connelly’s press conference:

Randle, Naz Reid and Nickeil Alexander-Walker could all be free agents this summer — Randle and Reid hold players options for 2025/26, while Alexander-Walker is unrestricted. Connelly says the team is “cautiously optimistic” it will be able to bring back all three rotation players, as Krawczynski relays (via Twitter). “We’re very appreciative of what the market might look like,” Connelly said. “We’re pretty cautiously optimistic we’re in a good place with all of the guys. Most importantly, they want to be here.”
Connelly praised head coach Chris Finch for the “great” job he has done over the past couple years, tweets Chris Hine of The Star Tribune. “It’s not easy what we’ve tasked him with the last couple of years (multiple major trades),” Connelly said. “… It’s a testament to his intelligence, his ability to be creative and to coach any group we put in front of him.”
Connelly was also complimentary of Finch’s coaching staff for its adaptability and player development skills, according to Krawczynski (Twitter link). “Someone is going to smartly hire (assistant) Micah Nori as a head coach soon.”
Connelly thinks Anthony Edwards will have a “challenging” offseason in front of him as the Wolves attempt to take the next step, but he’s confident in the star guard’s two-way ability (Twitter video link via Scotto) “The sky is the limit,” Connelly said of Edwards. “We think he’s going to be one of the best players of all time, and we think he’s on that track.”

Jordan Ott, Johnnie Bryant Finalists For Suns’ Head Coaching Job

June 2nd, 2025 at 11:14am CST by Luke Adams

11:14 am: While Ott is a finalist for the Suns’ head coaching vacancy, Shams Charania of ESPN confirms, it’s Bryant – not Quinn – who joins him in that final group. According to Charania, the two Cavaliers assistants will meet in person with Ishbia, Gregory, and Suns CEO Josh Bartelstein in Michigan.

Bryant, who was hired last offseason as the Cavaliers’ associate head coach, previously worked for the Jazz (2014-20) and Knicks (2020-24) as an assistant.

John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 (Twitter link) reports that the Suns are expected to make their decision by the end of the week.

8:50 am: After reporting over the weekend that the Suns are expected to advance two or three finalists to the last round of their head coaching search to meet with team owner Mat Ishbia, NBA insider Marc Stein (Substack link) says Heat assistant Chris Quinn and Cavaliers assistant Jordan Ott have been “repeatedly forecasted in league coaching circles” to reach that final stage of the search process.

Quinn, a former NBA player, worked as an assistant for Northwestern in 2013/14 before joining Miami’s coaching staff under Erik Spoelstra in 2014. He has since emerged as Spoelstra’s top lieutenant, having spent more than a decade on the Heat’s bench and served as the club’s acting head coach when Spoelstra has had to miss games.

Ott was part of coaching staffs with the Hawks, Nets, and Lakers before reuniting with Kenny Atkinson in Cleveland a year ago. Ott, who previously worked under Atkinson in Brooklyn and attended Michigan State like Ishbia, was reportedly a finalist last spring for the head coaching job in Charlotte that ultimately went to Charles Lee.

Quinn and Ott are among four candidates confirmed to have interviewed with Suns general manager Brian Gregory, along with Cleveland assistant Johnnie Bryant and Dallas assistant Sean Sweeney.

According to Stein, the expectation was that Gregory would meet with Thunder assistant Dave Bliss in Oklahoma City over the weekend. Stein doesn’t confirm that the meeting took place as planned, but notes that Bliss wasn’t expected to fly out to meet the Suns while his team was preparing for the NBA Finals.

Marc J. Spears of Andscape and NBA insider Chris Haynes (Threads link) have both stated that Suns assistant and former NBA head coach David Fizdale was also still in the mix for Phoenix’s coaching vacancy entering the team’s third round of interviews. The club initially identified between 15 and 20 candidates for the job before advancing nine of those candidates to the second round of the process.

Mutual Interest Between Raptors, Giannis Antetokounmpo?

June 2nd, 2025 at 10:42am CST by Luke Adams

“Mutual interest” exists between the Raptors and Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, veteran beat writer Doug Smith writes in his latest mailbag for The Toronto Star.

Antetokounmpo is reportedly mulling his future in Milwaukee and is expected to let the Bucks know at some point soon whether he remains committed to the team or would prefer to seek a change of scenery. While Shams Charania of ESPN reported a few weeks ago that Antetokounmpo is more “open-minded” than in the past about taking the latter route, there has been no indication to this point that he’s looking to leave the Bucks.

It’s no surprise that the Raptors would have interest in Antetokounmpo if the Bucks were to entertain the idea of trading him. Toronto’s president of basketball operations Masai Ujiri has long coveted the two-time MVP, having reportedly made efforts to trade into the 2013 draft to select him, and the Raptors are said to be viewed by rival teams as a candidate to pursue a major move this summer.

Antetokounmpo’s potential interest in the Raptors would be more notable. The star forward has always spoken highly of Ujiri, who helped Giannis gain Greek citizenship when his family moved from Lagos, Nigeria to Athens, per Smith. There has also been speculation that if Antetokounmpo were to seek a trade, he might prefer to remain in the Eastern Conference, where the path to the NBA Finals in the coming years looks far less crowded. But again, that’s just speculation.

With no indication yet that Antetokounmpo will request a trade and the Raptors certain to face a ton of competition if he does, the odds are against the 30-year-old ending up in Toronto, Smith acknowledges.

Still, he views Toronto as a trade partner that would make some sense for the Bucks, given that the Raptors control all their own future first-round picks and have a variety of sizable contracts that could be considered for inclusion in a trade package for matching purposes. They also have enough wing depth that they could give up a strong combination of young players and veterans without becoming shorthanded at the position, Smith adds.

Jazz Hire Celtics’ Austin Ainge As President Of Basketball Ops

June 2nd, 2025 at 9:12am CST by Luke Adams

The Jazz have hired veteran Celtics executive Austin Ainge as their president of basketball operations, the team announced today in a press release. Tim Bontemps and Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link) first reported the news.

Ainge has spent 17 years with the Celtics, including the last 14 in the front office. He was initially hired as a scout, then spent a couple seasons coaching Boston’s G League affiliate in Maine from 2009-11 before transitioning to a front office position. He served as the club’s director of player personnel and scouting until 2019 and has been an assistant general manager for the past six years.

Ainge has played a significant role in the Celtics’ scouting and pre-draft process over the past decade-plus. The Jazz’s announcement today notes that he “helped to identify” the draft selections of Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum.

“We’re absolutely thrilled to welcome Austin Ainge as our new president of basketball operations,” Jazz owner and governor Ryan Smith said in a statement. “Austin is one of the brightest minds in the NBA—his 17 years with the Celtics have given him incredible insight into every part of an organization. I’ve known Austin for 15 years, and I’ve watched him grow into an accomplished, innovative, and strategic basketball executive who’s ready to lead this organization.”

Obviously, beyond his relationship with Smith, Ainge has a strong connection to the front office in Utah, where his father Danny Ainge has been the franchise’s CEO and alternate governor since 2021. The elder Ainge and general manager Justin Zanik have collaborated on roster decisions in recent years, with Zanik focused on day-to-day operations in his GM role.

A president of basketball operations title suggests that Austin will be above Zanik and below his father in Utah’s front office hierarchy. The Jazz’s press release implies they’re simply adding the newest hire to the current group rather than the move being part of a larger restructuring of the front office.

“Austin is experienced, forward-thinking, and laser-focused on building a championship-caliber program,” Smith said. “He has been instrumental in every aspect of building great teams – from scouting the best players to constructing a winning roster.

“In this new role leading the Jazz front office, Austin’s ability to identify great talent, scout, and partner with Danny, Justin, and (head coach) Will (Hardy) and the rest of the front office team will be key. Hiring Austin couldn’t be coming at a better time as we build up as an organization towards our ultimate goal of championship-level basketball.”

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