Jalen Williams, Ajay Mitchell Ruled Out For Game 7
The defending champion Thunder will be playing without two of their primary offensive initiators when they face San Antonio on Saturday in Game 7 of the Western Conference finals, tweets Justin Martinez of The Oklahoman.
Star wing Jalen Williams has been ruled out due to left hamstring strain injury management, while second-year guard Ajay Mitchell remains sidelined with a right soleus (calf) strain.
Williams returned to action on Thursday in the Game 6 loss to the Spurs, but was clearly hindered, which head coach Mark Daigneault admitted after the 25-year-old had one point, one assist and two turnovers and was minus-18 in 10 minutes. Williams aggravated a left hamstring strain in Game 2 vs. the Spurs and missed Games 3 through 5.
A member of the All-NBA Third Team in 2024/25, Williams initially strained his left hamstring in Game 2 of the first-round series vs. Phoenix, which Oklahoma City went on to win 4-0. He missed the entire second-round sweep of the Lakers as a result of the injury.
Mitchell was excellent against Los Angeles in the second round after an up-and-down first round against the Suns. The 2024 second-round pick had a relatively slow start to the Western finals against the Spurs, then strained his calf in Game 3.
The Thunder have gone 1-1 so far vs. San Antonio without both Williams and Mitchell, losing Game 4 on the road and winning Game 5 at home. Game 7 will be played in Oklahoma City.
Sixers To Hire Mike Gansey As President Of Basketball Operations
Cavaliers general manager Mike Gansey has reached an agreement to become the Sixers‘ new president of basketball operations, sources tell Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).
Gansey will replace Daryl Morey, who was fired after Philadelphia was swept by New York in the second round of the playoffs.
A former college basketball player at St. Bonaventure and West Virginia, Gansey was viewed as a potential NBA draft pick in 2006 but he contracted MRSA during the pre-draft process, ultimately signing a non-guaranteed training camp deal with the Heat. He was waived after being hospitalized for two weeks and losing 30 pounds as a result of the infection, per ESPN, then contracted MRSA again in his ankle, which required surgery.
“I mean people have lost lives from this, have lost body parts,” Gansey said in 2007. “It’s something you don’t want to mess around with, and if you see any little thing that looks suspicious, get it checked out. You never know what it could be.”
Gansey played in a couple of summer leagues, but never suited up in the NBA, having spent time in the G League (then called the D-League) on top of playing professionally in Italy, Germany and China. He transitioned to a front office role with the Cavaliers in 2011/12.
The 43-year-old steadily worked his way up the ranks with his hometown team. Gansey was named the G League’s Executive of the Year in April 2017, then was promoted to assistant GM of the Cavs a few months later. He was elevated again to GM in 2022 and has been in that role with Cleveland for the past four years.
This will be Gansey’s first opportunity to run a team of his own, as he has spent the past several years working under Cavaliers president of basketball operations Koby Altman. Bob Myers, who led the search process, is expected to collaborate with Gansey during key times of the league year, including the draft, free agency and trade deadline.
The Cavs have won 51, 48, 64 and 52 regular season games over the past four years with Gansey as general manager, making the playoffs on each occasion. Cleveland was eliminated from the postseason last week when the team was swept by New York in the Eastern Conference finals.
Gansey and Sixers assistant GM Jameer Nelson were reportedly the frontrunners for the top front office job in Philadelphia, with Phoenix Mercury GM Nick U’Ren and Timberwolves GM Matt Lloyd viewed as the other finalists. Multiple reports have indicated that Nelson, a former NBA point guard, is likely to be promoted.
Knicks Notes: Finals Mandate, Robinson, Brunson, Rose
Even before Knicks owner James Dolan spoke in January about his team “absolutely” needing to make the NBA Finals, coming out of the East had been the goal – and the expectation – for Knicks players and coaches, writes Jared Schwartz of The New York Post.
“We all had that aspiration regardless, so we didn’t really need to hear that because we all wanted that moment, we all wanted to see that, especially after last year being in the Eastern Conference finals and coming up short,” Knicks big man Karl-Anthony Towns said. “We understand that we’ve gotta take that next step. So what he’s talking about is also how we all felt.”
Dolan’s Finals-or-bust mandate raised some eyebrows at the time. At that point in the season, the Knicks were in the midst of a four-game losing streak and a stretch of nine losses in 11 games, which allowed the Celtics to pass them for good in the Eastern Conference standings. But according to Josh Hart, the team didn’t feel any additional pressure as a result of Dolan’s remarks.
“Not pressure, because I think that’s the goal that we all kind of have,” Hart said. “Obviously, it hits a little bit different when the big dog says it. But that’s the goal that each and every one of us has. And we’re our own biggest critics, so this kind of adds a little bit more fuel to that internal fire of the hunger to get there.”
We have more on the Knicks:
- Mitchell Robinson‘s broken pinky finger didn’t occur during a game or practice, according to head coach Mike Brown (Twitter link via Fred Katz of The Athletic). When Brown was asked a follow-up question about how Robinson injured the finger, a Knicks media relations staffer stepped in and said, “We’re not going to get into specifics.” As we relayed earlier today, Robinson is undergoing surgery to repair the fracture and is aiming to suit up in Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Wednesday. According to Jeff Stotts of In Street Clothes (Twitter link), no player since 2005 has missed fewer than 14 days due to a pinky fracture that required surgery, so Robinson will be looking to beat that timeline by a considerable margin.
- With New York just four games away from a championship, current Las Vegas Aces coach Becky Hammon was asked about her December 2023 assertion on ESPN that the Knicks wouldn’t be able to win a title while being led by a small guard like Jalen Brunson. “I don’t know why everybody’s so stuck on that,” Hammon said this week, per Devon Henderson of The Athletic. “I said it two years ago. I stand by it. There’s no air to be cleared. I said what I said. He proves me wrong, he proves me wrong. Good for him. But I do think the two best teams are in the West.
- The Knicks’ run to the NBA Finals is a testament to Leon Rose‘s decision-making and roster-building, according to Ian Begley of SNY.tv, who suggests certain moves the president of basketball operations didn’t make – such as trading for Donovan Mitchell – were as important as the ones he did make.
- Who will the Knicks be rooting for in Game 7 of the Western Conference finals on Saturday? James L. Edwards III of The Athletic considers whether New York would match up better with the Thunder or Spurs, ultimately concluding that San Antonio would be the more favorable opponent.
Magic To Hire Sean Sweeney As Head Coach
The Magic are finalizing a deal with top Spurs assistant Sean Sweeney and will hire him as their head coach, sources tell Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link). He’ll receive a four-year deal, reports Chris Mannix of SI.com (Twitter link).
Jake Fischer and Marc Stein of The Stein Line had reported earlier today that Orlando was “very interested” in Sweeney, who was connected to multiple teams with head coaching vacancies this offseason. The Magic had also been considering Jeff Van Gundy and Billy Donovan, who were the club’s other finalists, per Charania (Twitter link).
Sweeney, who joined the Nets as a video coordinator in 2011, was promoted to an assistant coaching role in Brooklyn in 2013, then followed Jason Kidd to Milwaukee, working as a Bucks assistant from 2014-18. Following a three-year stint as a Pistons assistant from 2018-21, Sweeney reunited with Kidd in Dallas, serving as an assistant for the Mavericks from 2021-25.
A year ago, Sweeney left Dallas to become the lead assistant under Mitch Johnson in San Antonio. He earned the title of associate head coach with the Spurs and was responsible for running the team’s defense, which improved from 25th in defensive rating in 2024/25 to third in ’25/26.
After they parted ways with former head coach Jamahl Mosley, there was a sense that the Magic might be seeking a veteran head coach with prior experience, since they were seeking a candidate who could help the team make a deeper playoff run following three consecutive first-round exits. However, the Magic will opt for another first-time head coach, as Sweeney “blew away” the team during the interview process, as Charania writes in a full story.
According to Charania and Stein (Twitter link), Magic officials flew to San Antonio during the Western Conference finals to meet with Sweeney. The plan is for the veteran assistant to finish out the remainder of the postseason with the Spurs before joining the Magic. That could happen within the next few days if the Spurs are unable to beat the Thunder in Game 7 on Saturday.
The Bulls had interest in Sweeney, who was also said to be in the mix for the Pelicans’ head coaching job before New Orleans hired Mosley. Additionally, there was a belief that the Mavericks might seek a reunion with their former assistant, though there hasn’t been much chatter about that job, so it’s unclear if Dallas ever really pursued him.
With Sweeney headed to Orlando, three head coaching searches are now complete, as the Magic join the Pelicans (Mosley) and Bucks (Taylor Jenkins) in hiring new coaches. The Bulls, Mavericks, and Trail Blazers still have openings.
Fischer/Stein’s Latest: Sweeney, Sixers, Snyder, Harden, Bulls
A league source tells Jake Fischer and Marc Stein of The Stein Line (Substack link) that the Magic are “very interested” in hiring Spurs associate head coach Sean Sweeney to fill their head coaching vacancy. Orlando officials were planning a trip to San Antonio this week to interview Sweeney during the Western Conference finals, according to the authors.
Sweeney, who’s in his first season with the Spurs, is considered the architect of the team’s aggressive defense that has helped to fuel this year’s playoff run. The Magic were perennially among the league’s best defensive teams under Jamahl Mosley, so the infrastructure is already in place for Sweeney to succeed.
Former Bulls head coach Billy Donovan and current Clippers assistant Jeff Van Gundy are the only candidates reported to have interviewed for the Magic opening since Mosley was fired May 4. Sweeney has also been linked to the head coaching vacancies in Chicago and Dallas.
Fischer and Stein share more inside information from around the league:
- Cavaliers general manager Mike Gansey and Phoenix Mercury GM Nick U’Ren recently had interviews in Philadelphia to become the Sixers‘ head of basketball operations. Sources tell Fischer and Stein that Gansey and Sixers assistant GM Jameer Nelson are considered the leading candidates for the position.
- An extension for Hawks head coach Quin Snyder has been considered “inevitable” since the team’s playoff run ended, according to Fischer and Stein. They cite regular season rumors that Snyder could have been a potential candidate to replace Kenny Atkinson in Cleveland, but sources tell them that Atkinson was always expected to remain with the Cavaliers for a third season.
- Fischer and Stein’s sources also say the Cavaliers are optimistic about re-signing James Harden to a multiyear deal with a lower annual salary than the $39.4MM he made this season. “Rough early estimates” are in the range of $30MM per year, which could help the team escape the second apron.
- The Bulls are closer than the Mavericks to completing their head coaching search, but they’re still talking to several prospects, according to Fischer and Stein. Known candidates so far include Minnesota’s Micah Nori, Miami’s Chris Quinn, Cleveland’s Johnnie Bryant, Oklahoma City’s Dave Bliss and former New Orleans interim coach James Borrego. Nori is also a finalist for the Trail Blazers‘ opening, along with Van Gundy, Boston’s Tyler Lashbrook, Utah’s Mike Williams and acting head coach Tiago Splitter.
Cavs’ Altman Hopes To Reach Extension With Donovan Mitchell
Cavaliers president of basketball operations Koby Altman confirmed at Friday’s end-of-season press conference that reaching an extension with Donovan Mitchell will be a priority, Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com writes in a subscriber-only piece.
“Donovan is our guy,” Altman told reporters during the 32-minute exchange. “He’s elevated everything about this franchise and this organization, so when he professes his love for being here, we’re fortunate to have him and we’ll work out those details when it comes time.”
The 29-year-old guard has one guaranteed year left on his current contract at $50.1MM, along with a $53.8MM player option for 2027/28. He will become extension-eligible July 7 when the Cavs can offer a new four-year deal worth up to $272MM, but Fedor notes that it may be in Mitchell’s best interest to wait.
Mitchell will be a 10-year veteran next summer, which allows him to sign a five-year supermax deal in the neighborhood of $350MM. He will also become eligible for certain contract perks, including a no-trade clause.
Altman didn’t directly answer a question about whether he plans to submit an extension offer to Mitchell on July 7, Fedor adds.
“All I can tell you is Donovan has been steadfast in how much he loves it here and so there hasn’t been any question of will he be here and does he want to be here,” Altman said. “I think that’s the biggest thing, right? That’s the best thing, right? When we have a superstar of his caliber that wants to be in Cleveland, that’s our best ambassador, that’s our best recruiter … I think the bigger question is the one that’s been answered is, does he want to be here and does he want to be here long term? I think he’s answered that. He’s still playing the best basketball of his career, and he finally broke through to get to a conference finals and he wants more. We’re getting him at his peak right now and we hope that that continues.”
Mitchell indicated a desire to remain in Cleveland after the team’s playoff run came to an end on Monday, saying “I love it here” at the post-game press conference. He also expressed confidence that the organization can continue to compete for a championship.
The Cavaliers have focused on building a title contender around Mitchell ever since he was acquired from Utah in the summer of 2022. He’s coming off his seventh straight All-Star season and earned Second-Team All-NBA honors after averaging 27.9 points, 4.5 rebounds and 5.7 assists in 70 games.
“Eight long years to get back here,” Altman said of the conference finals appearance, which was the team’s first since 2018. “The four years without him, no playoffs. Four years with him, playoffs.”
Cavaliers Considered Unlikely To Pursue Giannis Antetokounmpo
The Cavaliers‘ concerns about whether Giannis Antetokounmpo would sign an extension in Cleveland will likely keep them out of the trade sweepstakes for the Bucks star, according to Jake Fischer and Marc Stein of The Stein Line (subscription required).
There has been some speculation that the Cavs might be willing to part with Evan Mobley to acquire Antetokounmpo and maximize their title chances by teaming him with Donovan Mitchell and James Harden. However, sources tell Fischer and Stein that Cleveland “should be regarded as unlikely to factor into the trade chase” for Antetokounmpo.
The authors note that Cavaliers general manager Koby Altman seemed to verify that sentiment as his end-of-season press conference Friday morning when he stated that Mobley is “part of our future.” Altman sidestepped a specific question about Antetokounmpo, telling reporters, “We’re not going to speculate on any player outside these walls.”
The report from Fischer and Stein gels with a weekend story from Joe Vardon of the Athletic claiming that Cleveland hasn’t expressed any interest in a Mobley-Antetokounmpo swap.
Antetokounmpo will earn $58.5MM next season and holds a $62.8MM player option for 2027/28. The ability to opt out and become an unrestricted free agent next summer gives him a degree of control in choosing his next team. It also makes potential suitors reluctant to part with valuable assets such as Mobley without an assurance that Antetokounmpo plans to stay long-term.
Fischer reported earlier this month that the Cavaliers might be viewed as a reasonable destination for Antetokounmpo if they encountered playoff disappointment again. The team wound up reaching the Eastern Conference finals, but mostly wasn’t competitive during a four-game sweep by New York.
Fischer and Stein also state that the Cavs are reluctant to part with Mobley because he’s only 24 and can provide “a legitimate bridge to a successful post-Mitchell future.” They add that team officials haven’t forgotten how difficult it was to rebuild after LeBron James left Cleveland in 2010 and 2018 and they’re hesitant to part with Mobley unless it’s a “sure-thing trade.”
Southeast Notes: Black, Diabate, Wizards
The sixth overall pick in the 2023 draft, Magic guard Anthony Black will become eligible for a rookie scale extension this offseason as he enters his fourth year in the league. With significant long-term money already owed to Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner, Desmond Bane, and Jalen Suggs, Orlando will likely be cautious in its negotiations with Black. But he has emerged as a key part of the team’s rotation, so it seems safe to assume the club will be interested in a new deal.
Black would absolutely reciprocate that interest, suggesting to Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel (subscription required) that he’d welcome the opportunity to sign an extension with the Magic in the coming months.
“It’s just an opportunity to officially stamp it as like my home,” Black said. “It’s just something I’ll be looking forward to doing. Starting my young life, this is the first city I’ve played in, so it would mean a lot being able to play here for years.
“Obviously I want to win a lot too and I feel like we’re in a great position to do that and we came really close to doing that,” he continued. “So, for me, that would be ideal, but it’s the NBA and it’s always a decision that has to be made.”
We have more from around the Southeast:
- Hornets center Moussa Diabate had a breakout year in 2026/27, establishing career highs in points (7.9), rebounds (8.7), assists (1.9), and blocks (1.0) per game as he started 47 games in the middle. The 24-year-old, who is entering the final season of his minimum-salary contract in Charlotte, tells Rod Boone of The Charlotte Observer that he has no intention of getting “complacent” and wants to continue improving, especially on the offensive end. “Not saying that at the end of the day, I want to (have) a pull-up jumper and all this, but being a threat offensively is going to make me even better, and it’s going to help my teammates,” Diabate said. “So for me, definitely being comfortable with the ball more. Whether it’s me pushing it on the break or just on my handoffs or anything like that, me driving to the basket. Just really expand my game.”
- NBA fans in Washington haven’t had much to cheer about in recent years, as the Wizards have been below .500 for eight straight seasons and haven’t won more than 18 games in a season since 2022/23. However, as Josh Robbins of The Athletic details, ticket sales are soaring in D.C. in the wake of trades for Trae Young and Anthony Davis and the team’s draft lottery win. President of business operations Jim Van Stone told Robbins the team has seen a 190% increase in new full-season ticket revenue from 2025 to 2026.
- In case you missed it, we rounded up several notes on the Heat on Thursday night, including items on Pelle Larsson, Davion Mitchell, and the team’s offseason plans.
NBA Officials Explain Thinking Behind Draft Lottery Changes
After the Board of Governors approved changes to the draft lottery format on Thursday, members of the league office explained on a conference call why the NBA felt those changes were necessary, writes John Hollinger of The Athletic.
Speaking to reporters, NBA executive VP and head of basketball operations James Jones said that the league’s ability to punish tankers under the previous system by conducting investigations and levying fines wasn’t satisfactory — especially since those tanking teams often had plausible deniability when it came to decisions related to lineups and player availability.
“Having done a lot of these investigations and inquiries with teams, when you get to the place of investigating your way to an outcome, it’s really hard to say that it’s just not coaching error, bad player performance, or some underlying basketball (thing),” Jones said. “It’s all subjective. We want to be in a place where no matter the outcome of the game, you don’t feel like you’re better off if you lose. You can’t punish your way to that.”
In addition to flattening teams’ odds throughout the lottery and introducing a “relegation zone” for the bottom three clubs in the NBA, whose odds at a top pick become slightly less favorable, the new format will give the league office wider latitude to penalize teams believed to be tanking.
While league officials don’t anticipate teams tanking the 7/8 play-in game or trying to get to No. 9 or No. 11 in their conference to get an extra lottery ball, commissioner Adam Silver will have the ability to reduce a team’s lottery odds or modify its draft position if it’s egregiously tanking in those situations.
“The consensus was that teams would not want to do that for one lottery ball, (but) that’s why they added additional disciplinary pieces as a fallback,” said Evan Wasch, the NBA’s executive vice president, head of basketball strategy and growth.
Here are a few more highlights from the conference call:
On the top-five restriction affecting the Grizzlies:
Because the new format includes a rule prohibiting teams from winning a top-five pick in three consecutive years, the Grizzlies won’t be able to get a top-five selection via Utah’s first-rounder, which they control from the Jaren Jackson Jr. trade, since the Jazz landed at No. 5 in 2025 and No. 2 in 2026. Wasch explained that by applying that restriction to a team’s first-rounder even if that team no longer owns it, the league is attempting to avoid creating an “imbalance” between traded and non-traded picks.
“It essentially becomes a windfall to the teams that own those (traded) picks, because unlike other picks, they would benefit from the upside of the restrictions without any of the downside,” Wasch said, per Hollinger. “If you were to grandfather traded picks, you essentially differentiate those picks as being more valuable than all other picks. … That didn’t feel like a systematically fair way to go about this.”
According to Wasch, this rule was communicated to teams prior to this year’s draft lottery, so if the lottery results had played out differently, it may have been a different team – rather than Memphis – affected by the rule.
For what it’s worth, while the Grizzlies were upset enough by this rule that they were the lone team to vote against the lottery changes on Thursday, they still may benefit from the new system. If an improved Jazz team ends up in the 8-11 range in the West next season, the Grizzlies will still likely end up with a better pick than they would have had under the old format, even if the ceiling isn’t as high.
Wasch’s full comments on the Jazz/Grizzlies pick and the rule change impacting it can be viewed here (Twitter link via Drew Hill of The Daily Memphian).
On why the top-five restriction is written the way it is:
As Hollinger notes, there have been questions about why the rule prohibiting teams from being in the top five for three straight years wouldn’t apply – for example – to any pick that the Jazz controlled in 2027, rather to their own pick that they no longer control.
However, multiple GMs have pointed out to The Athletic that this would’ve create imbalances in the trade market. For instance, if the Jazz still owned their 2027 pick and were prohibited from landing in the top five, but could trade it to a team that would be able to turn it into a top-five pick, “There would have been a market inefficiency, and it would have undermined the integrity of the rule,” Wasch said.
There would be other ways for teams to exploit that loophole, Hollinger notes — for instance, two teams with roughly similar expectations could trade picks with each other to circumvent the restrictions.
On why the top 16 picks in the second round will be in reverse order of the first round:
As first reported on Thursday, the new format calls for the lottery order to be flipped in round two. That means the team that wins the No. 1 overall pick will get the 46th overall pick and the team that picks 16th in the first round will get the No. 31 pick, regardless of win-loss record.
According to Wasch, there were two reasons for this decision. For one, the league wanted to “counterbalance to the luck of the draw in the first round.” Additionally, while it’s probably unlikely that a team would tank for a higher second-round pick, league officials didn’t want that to even be an option.
Jalen Williams ‘Obviously Not 100%’ In Return
Returning on Thursday from a three-game absence following his second left hamstring strain of the postseason, Thunder forward Jalen Williams showed clear rust during the team’s 118-91 loss, writes Tim MacMahon of ESPN.
Coming off the bench for the first time since December 22, Williams scored a single point in his 10 minutes of action. He also committed a pair of turnovers and Oklahoma City was outscored by 18 points during his time on the floor. The 25-year-old, who made the All-NBA third team a year ago, didn’t speak to the media after the game, MacMahon notes, but head coach Mark Daigneault came to his defense.
“He’s obviously not 100%,” Daigneault said. “He didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t know what to expect. So it was a matter of getting him out there in kind of an insulated role and see what he can bring to the team.
“He’s an All-Star player, he’s an All-NBA player. He hasn’t done a full return to play (protocol) like he would if this was the regular season, and yet he just wants to do whatever he can to try to contribute whatever he can to the team. I give him a lot of credit to get himself out there. He did the best he could. He’s certainly not the reason we lost.”
Williams missed 26 of 28 games from January 19 to March 21 due to right hamstring issues, then strained his left hamstring in Game 2 of the Thunder’s first-round series vs. Phoenix. He returned to action for the start of the Western Conference finals following an absence of nearly four weeks, but re-injured the left hamstring in Game 2 last Wednesday, forcing him to the sidelines again.
Oklahoma City has posted an 8-1 record during the playoffs when Williams has been inactive. However, seven of those wins came in games that Ajay Mitchell played. Mitchell, who has been the Thunder’s go-to starter when Williams is out, has been sidelined for the past three games vs. San Antonio due to a right soleus (calf) strain. OKC has 21-point and 27-points losses during that stretch.
Speaking to reporters, including MacMahon, after Thursday’s loss, Daigneault admitted he’s not sure what Williams’ role will look like in Game 7 on Saturday.
“There’s a lot of conversations to be had,” Daigneault said. “I don’t have any information about how he came out of the game. Relative to the situation, I thought he looked pretty good, but we’ll see how he feels. We’ll huddle back up and do everything we can to get him ready and then take it from there.”