Eastern Notes: Nets, Marks, Jenkins, Heat, Magic
Sunday’s draft lottery was disastrous for the Nets, who fell from third in the pre-lottery order — tied with three other teams for the best chance at landing No. 1 — to sixth overall. Several reporters described owner Joe Tsai, Brooklyn’s drawing room representative, as appearing “despondent” after the drawing occurred.
According to Brian Lewis of The New York Post (subscriber link), the onus is on general manager Sean Marks to figure out a way to make the best of the situation after Brooklyn dropped in last year’s lottery as well, falling from sixth to eighth and selecting Egor Demin.
Two league sources told Lewis the Nets will look to move up from sixth, but it remains to be seen how that will play out. Rival executives believe the Clippers could be open to moving down from No. 5, Lewis adds.
While Marks said the Nets would be “opportunistic” and “look at everything” regarding the possibility of moving up, he wasn’t sure that landing at sixth would necessarily make the team more aggressive on the trade market.
“Hard to tell. It’s all about how these guys develop,” Marks said, per Lewis. “I don’t think you want to make rash decisions before you’ve seen how they look. We all know there’s a group in this draft that could be game-changers; but I said could be because you never know. You get whether it’s six months from now or two years from now and there’s always surprises.
“So every draft there’s a guy who people didn’t quite expect to be [that good] if you do the redraft. So for us, it’ll be still about having patience. But at the end of the day, we’ve got optionality. We’ve maintained flexibility, we’ve got the cap space and assets. So the word would be opportunistic.”
Here’s more from around the Eastern Conference:
- Taylor Jenkins received a six-year contract when he was hired to be the head coach of the Bucks, ESPN’s Shams Charania reports within his story about Milwaukee seeking trade offers for Giannis Antetokounmpo. Jenkins was considered the top coaching candidate on the market, Charania writes.
- The Heat stayed at No. 13 in the draft lottery, which was their most likely outcome. If they keep the pick instead of trading it, who will they select? Three of the four mock drafts that were updated on Sunday had Miami selecting Alabama guard Labaron Philon, with Arizona guard Brayden Burries, Mexican forward Karim Lopez, Michigan big men Yaxel Lendeborg, Aday Mara and Morez Johnson, Washington center Hannes Steinbach, and Houston big man Chris Cenac among the other prospects projected to go in that range, notes Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald.
- Magic president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman said last week that the team would evaluate “everything” that led to a disappointing season, including injuries being a factor in the team’s first-round loss to Detroit, writes Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel. “We look at everything,” Weltman said. “There’s nothing from scouting to analytics to performance to medical that we don’t turn over every rock over the summer. We’ll have deep-dive evaluations on everything.”
Sixers Notes: Edgecombe, Maxey, Offseason
The Sixers‘ season ended in disappointing fashion on Sunday, as the team was thoroughly outplayed — and swept — by New York in the Eastern Conference semifinals. If there’s a reason to believe in the 76ers’ future, it’s largely due to the impressive play of rookie VJ Edgecombe, writes Kyle Neubeck of PHLY Sports.
“Playing against the Celtics to now against New York, it was tricky. I was guarded differently,” Edgecombe said on Sunday. “I’m gonna take some time, look back at it after a couple of weeks or so.
“I refuse for, coming into next year, a team won’t ever leave me open. Even during the regular season, I was shooting the ball pretty well, and the playoffs come, and it’s just a different vibe, you know? Intensity’s higher, closeouts are a lot quicker, but I’m going to go in, and I’m gonna work. I’m gonna work. I’m gonna work. I’m going to do whatever I got to do to get better, make life easier for [Tyrese Maxey] and the rest of my teammates, take some of the pressure off some of the load offensively off of them.”
In addition to offensive improvements, the 6’4″ guard hopes to continue honing his craft on the defensive end as well, per Neubeck.
“Defensively, I’m gonna keep getting better, keep learning. For the rest of my career, I want to go out and say I can go guard whoever I have to go guard,” Edgecombe said. “I’m just excited to see how this offseason is gonna look for me, and next year I’m coming back better, stronger, faster, more athletic, whatever I gotta do.”
Here’s more from Philadelphia:
- Maxey had an excellent season for the Sixers and will almost certainly earn his first All-NBA berth in 2025/26, but he struggled with double-teams and traps in the second-round matchup vs. the Knicks, according to Gina Mizell of The Philadelphia Inquirer. Maxey is hoping he’ll be able to play off the ball more often in 2026/27 as Edgecombe works on initiating the offense. “When you’re in front of the defense all the time,” Maxey said. “ … it gives [the opponent] opportunities that have the entire team kind of load up. And I feel like that’s one thing that really good players and great players can do. They can be on the ball [and] make plays on the ball, but they can also play off the ball and contribute that way, use their gravity that way.”
- Although The Athletic reported on Monday that president of basketball operations Daryl Morey and head coach Nick Nurse could be dismissed, Adam Aaronson of PhillyVoice doesn’t expect that to happen after the 3-1 first-round comeback against Boston. Still, he acknowledges the possibility can’t be ruled out after the 76ers were swept in the second round. Aaronson also provides an overview of the team’s offseason, noting that Quentin Grimes, Kelly Oubre Jr. and Andre Drummond are the 76ers’ primary free agents.
- ESPN’s Bobby Marks previews the Sixers’ offseason, writing that they’ll likely be over the first tax apron if they re-sign Grimes and Oubre. Gauging the trade market for Joel Embiid and Paul George to build around Maxey and Edgecombe would be an ideal outcome for Philadelphia, but Marks views that scenario as unlikely given how much money those two aging stars are owed.
Pistons’ LeVert Available, Huerter Out For Game 4
6:35 pm: LeVert has been upgraded to available but Huerter has been ruled out again, according to Patterson (Twitter link).
2:54 pm: The Pistons have two reserves listed as questionable for Monday’s pivotal Game 4 against the Cavaliers. Caris LeVert is dealing with a right heel contusion and Kevin Huerter is on the injury report due to a left adductor strain, according to Coty Davis of the Detroit News.
LeVert’s minutes have fluctuated quite a bit during the postseason. He’s played as much as 25 minutes but also logged a DNP-CD in Game 7 against Orlando in the opening round. He has played an average of 13 minutes against Cleveland in the first three games of the second-round series and recorded six points and four steals in 17 minutes in Game 3.
Huerter played steady minutes as a reserve in March and April during the regular season. He came off the bench in the first four games against Orlando but was injured after a three-minute stint in Game 4.
Both players were present for the morning shootaround on Monday, Hunter Patterson of The Athletic tweets.
Draft Notes: Dybantsa, Peterson, Top Picks, Lottery, More
While the Wizards will perform their “due dilligence and bring in as many of the top potential prospects” as they can after landing the first overall pick in the draft lottery, David Aldridge of The Athletic says he’ll “eat his hat” if they don’t end up selecting BYU forward AJ Dybantsa.
According to Aldridge, the Wizards have long had their eyes on the 2026 draft and view Dybantsa as a player “who could become their version of Anthony Edwards or Cade Cunningham or Cooper Flagg.” Washington has gotten very lucky since the team embarked on its full-fledged rebuild, Aldridge notes, landing the second, sixth and first picks the last three years.
“I think (president) Michael (Winger) and I, when we had the vision a few years ago, we wanted to give ourselves as many cracks at the apple as possible,” general manager Will Dawkins said. “Year 2, we felt fortunate that we were able to stay where we were at. We were supposed to pick two, and we picked two.
“Last year, we were right at two and fell back to six. Disappointing, because you always want to be able to have the power of choice. And that’s what we have this year, which is why we’re really, really excited.”
The Wizards have been “the NBA’s most woebegone franchise” for generations, according to Aldridge, but were certainly in a celebratory mood on Sunday.
Here’s more on next month’s 2026 NBA draft
- Jeff Goodman of the Field of 68 (Twitter link) asked 15 NBA executives which player they’d select No. 1 overall, with 12 selecting Dybantsa and three choosing Kansas guard Darryn Peterson, who was once considered the top prospect in the class before injuries and cramping issues derailed his freshman season.
- Dybantsa, Peterson and Cameron Boozer are among the five top prospects who made their case to go No. 1 overall at Sunday’s lottery, according to Marc J. Spears of Andscape. Dybantsa said he’s been striving to the first player selected since he started playing the sport. “If I go there, it will be a great opportunity. They have a great young core,” Dybantsa said of Washington.
- For his part, Peterson offered the following comments to Andscape: “I feel the basketball part will take care of itself. I know what everybody can do, but I feel like I can come in and be the best teammate I can be, give great effort every day, and be on time. We all can hoop. It’s going to be the stuff off the court. … I am a point guard. I’m the best when I have the ball in my hands. Off the court, I’m going to be the best pro.”
- The Nets, who fell from No. 3 to No. 6, and the Kings, who lost a tiebreaker against Utah to determine the fourth-best pre-lottery odds, were two of the primary draft lottery losers, writes John Hollinger of The Athletic. Sacramento fell from No. 5 to No. 7, while the Jazz moved up from No. 4 to No. 2. Hollinger also wonders if Darius Garland may be on the trade block again in the near future after the Clippers landed the fifth overall pick, since most prospects projected in that range are point guards.
- ESPN insiders react to the draft lottery results and ask questions about each team in the lottery.
Lakers Notes: 3-0 Deficit, Hachimura, Reaves, Caruso, Ayton
The Lakers are facing playoff elimination on Monday after dropping the first three games of their second-round series against the defending champion Thunder. Head coach JJ Redick shared his message to his players after Sunday’s practice, writes Broderick Turner of The Los Angeles Times.
“Our first slide that we put up in training camp was [to] win the day,” Redick said. “Today was a quick offensive review and then just going over some stuff defensively. Got to win today and we got to win tomorrow. We know what we’re facing being down 3-0. So it’s just more of a mindset check than anything else.”
No playoff team has blown a 3-0 series lead, with those clubs holding a 161-0 series mark in those situations, Turner notes.
Forward Rui Hachimura, who has been on a “heater,” as Redick put it, is averaging 18.3 points while shooting 57.1% from long distance against Oklahoma City. He said the Lakers can’t afford to make mistakes or to have a drop in energy, particularly in the third quarter.
“I feel like every game we’re getting closer,” said Hachimura, an impending free agent. “Especially last night … apparently we had the best offensive game of the series, even the playoffs. I think we had really good looks, great looks. But I think defensively we, especially in the third quarter, we kind of slowed down. I don’t know [if] we got burned out or we got tired, whatever.
“So, I think our focus is like how we play in the first half we have to do in the whole game. … That’s going to be our goal.”
Here’s more on the Lakers:
- Hachimura talked about how the Lakers have focused so much of their defensive attention on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who has struggled in the series by his lofty standards, but have gotten torched by several other Thunder players, per Khobi Price of The California Post (Twitter video links). The 28-year-old Japanese forward also discussed what Los Angeles could learn from Oklahoma City, Price adds. “Everybody knows their roles,” Hachimura said. “Whatever they give them, the coaches, the team, giving them the roles, they understand it. They for sure have no complaints, they embrace their roles…basketball is a team sport. Everybody [has] a role. I can see that everybody knows that, what they’re supposed to do or not. So I think that’s where the difference is.”
- The Lakers initially thought Austin Reaves wouldn’t return from his strained oblique until the conference finals, but the 27-year-old guard spent extended time in a giant hyperbaric chamber at the UCLA medical center and made it back for Game 5 of the first round, as Ramona Shelburne of ESPN details. “I left my house every day around 7:30 in the morning to get treatment and didn’t come home until about 8 at night,” Reaves told ESPN. “I was going crazy trying to get back. … I was in that hyperbaric chamber all the time.”
- Even if the Lakers had been healthy, their star-driven approach has revealed an “uncomfortable lesson,” Shelburne writes, as the Thunder are the superior team not just because of their top-end talent but because of their depth and continuity. Former Laker and current Thunder guard Alex Caruso says it’s a joy being on such a connected team. “It feels great to be a part of,” Caruso said. “You do it the right way and then you have people that you enjoy being around every day, and it makes it really simple.”
- Starting center Deandre Ayton had a couple defensive miscues in the third quarter of Game 3, when the Thunder broke the game open. Redick was asked about the plays on Sunday, as Price relays (Twitter video link). “I’ve been around DA for a season now. I know how special he is for our group to succeed,” Redick said. “And I told him this morning, I said to him in the Houston series at one point he was the big part of the reason we were winning the series. He was a big part of the reason we won the series. I believe in him and he’s going to help us win tomorrow.”
Hoops Rumors Chat Transcript: 5/11/2026
Hoops Rumors hosted a live chat today at 3:15 pm Central time (4:15 pm Eastern).
Central Notes: Bulls, Pacers, Harden, Atkinson
The Bulls enjoyed some lottery luck on Sunday, jumping from the No. 9 slot to No. 4. Their new head of basketball operations, Bryson Graham, couldn’t contain his enthusiasm about the team’s good fortune, according to The Athletic’s Jon Greenberg.
“It’s exciting, man,” he said. “I can’t believe it. I just got the job and I got the fourth pick. It’s crazy, man!”
However, Graham also knows that getting that No. 4 pick, potentially either Caleb Wilson or Cameron Boozer, won’t turn the franchise into an instant contender.
“Let’s not sit here and say because we have the fourth pick and all of a sudden this franchise is back, you know what I mean?” Graham said. “But this is just a good opportunity to add high-level talent to our group and build this, and like I keep saying, layer it appropriately. So it’s exciting, man.”
Here’s more from the Central Division:
- On the flip side, the Pacers not only didn’t get a top four pick, they had to convey the No. 5 pick to the Clippers, courtesy of the Ivica Zubac trade. President of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard issued an apology to the team’s fans over the loss of the pick. He provided more insight to the media why he didn’t get greater protections on the pick. “Everybody says, ‘Why didn’t you protect it a lot deeper?'” Pritchard said, per Dustin Dopirak of the Indianapolis Star. “Unfortunately, we weren’t able to. That was the vig for us to get Zu. You look at a lot of these big trades that are out there. You see four and five and six (first-round picks) and (first-round pick) swaps around a star with potential. We think Zu is a great fit for us. At the end of the day, this is what is really important. I felt like, for a championship team, we needed a starting center. That was priority one. They’ve earned the right to try to get a championship. That was not doable protecting this to eight or nine or 10 or wherever.” Pritchard added the Clippers would not budge from their demand that the pick only have top-four protection. “It was negotiated,” hehard said. “And we fought like heck. They’re very good negotiators. We would not have gotten Zu if we didn’t protect it to four. That’s just it.”
- Prior to the lottery, Pacers general manager Chad Buchanan said that regardless of what happened in the lottery he would be seeking help on the free agent and trade markets, Tony East of Forbes.com writes. “I think one thing this season revealed for us is the need for some scoring off our bench… Probably from the wing position,” he said. “Losing (Bennedict Mathurin), you lose some of that. But I think this team, we have some depth. We still have some holes to fill,” Buchanan said. An upgrade at backup center could also be on his agenda.
- James Harden made several clutch baskets to lift the Cavaliers to a Game 3 victory over Detroit on Saturday. According to Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com, coach Kenny Atkinson gave Harden a de facto pep talk during a phone conversation after Game 2. “It started (Friday). I just doubled down with him in our conversation. I told him, ‘You’re our guy.’ In between games, I think that’s when you really coach,” Atkinson said. “I think that’s where you make your money in this league. You have to have those conversations. Pick guys up when it’s not going perfect. Reaffirm your belief in them. Just double down on the trust you have in them. I was just like, ‘Man, we are good, you are good, you are making the right plays, you are doing the right things, you are helping us, you have done everything we have asked in terms of buying in.’ I told him, ‘Just keep playing to win. I trust you implicitly.’”
Bucks Open For Business On Antetokounmpo Trade Offers
In the aftermath of the lottery, the Bucks are prepared to listen to trade offers for two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo, ESPN’s Shams Charania reports.
However, the Bucks are in no rush to make a deal. There is expected to be a “robust” market for Antetokounmpo, according to Charania, and ownership and front office officials will carefully sift through offers with a high asking price. Milwaukee is seeking a young blue-chip talent and/or a surplus of draft picks.
According to previous reports, the Celtics, Magic, Trail Blazers, Warriors, Heat, Rockets and Raptors are among the potential suitors for Antetokounmpo.
The Bucks listened to offers for Antetokounmpo prior to February’s trade deadline but opted to put off those discussions until the offseason. They will now engage in those conversations once again. The playoff results could also factor into the number of teams that will make an offer. That group includes the Timberwolves, Cavaliers, Knicks and Lakers, who all pursued Antetokounmpo at the February deadline.
After one Bucks co-owner – Wes Edens – told ESPN in March that the team figures to either trade or extend their franchise player in the coming year, another one of the team’s co-owners – Jimmy Haslam – said last Wednesday that he’d like to see the team reach a resolution on Antetokounmpo by next month’s draft.
“Sometime over the next six or seven weeks we’ll decide whether Giannis is going to sign a max contract and stay with us or he’s going to play somewhere else,” Haslam told reporters during a news conference introducing Taylor Jenkins as the Bucks’ new coach.
Rumors surrounding Antetokounmpo have been persistent since last summer – when the star forward reportedly expressed interest in a move to New York – and only intensified during the season, even after the he stayed put through the trade deadline. Giannis and the Bucks clashed publicly on multiple occasions. The two sides were at odds over his ability to return to action following a knee injury, and Antetokounmpo took exception to those aforementioned remarks made by Edens.
Haslam has said publicly and privately that the Bucks will work with Antetokounmpo in the coming weeks on an outcome that works for both the team and the two-time MVP, according to Charania, who says Giannis’ belief that the time has come for both sides to move on hasn’t changed, even though he has never explicitly made a trade request.
Milwaukee didn’t have any luck in Sunday’s lottery and are slotted at the No. 10 pick. None of Antetokounmpo’s projected suitors, such as Miami and Golden State, moved into the top four.
There are two more years left on Antetokounmpo’s contract, but the final year is a player option worth $62.8MM, so he could become an unrestricted free agent in 2027. Any potential suitor will likely want to know if he’s willing to sign an extension before trading away multiple assets.
Wembanyama Escapes Fine, Suspension After Game 4 Ejection
The Spurs lost Game 4 of the conference semifinals to the Timberwolves on Sunday night after Victor Wembanyama was tossed for elbowing Naz Reid during the first half. The superstar big man will not face an additional penalty, ESPN’s Shams Charania tweets.
Wembanyama will not be suspended or fined by the league in the aftermath of the ejection, according to Charania, and will be eligible to play against the Timberwolves on Tuesday night in San Antonio.
Minnesota outscored San Antonio 34-25 in the fourth quarter of a 114-109 victory that knotted the series at 2-apiece. The Timberwolves will have to deal with Wembanyama’s towering presence in the pivotal Game 5. The Spurs center was coming off a huge 39-point, 15-rebound, 5-block performance in Game 3 when San Antonio grabbed a 2-1 lead in the series.
Wembanyama was initially called for an offensive foul during the second quarter incident in Game 4 but it was upgraded to a flagrant 2, which comes with an automatic ejection, upon review. The NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year only had four points and four rebounds in 12 minutes prior to the ejection.
Spurs coach Mitch Johnson commented afterward that a possible suspension for Wembanyama “would be ridiculous.” That is no longer a concern.
As for a fine, Wembanyama will face the standard $2K penalty for any flagrant or technical foul, but Charania’s reporting indicates the NBA won’t be assessing any additional fine on top of that after reviewing the incident.
Daryl Morey, Nick Nurse May Be Replaced After Sweep
The thrill of beating Boston in the first round was short-lived for the Sixers, and major changes could be coming for the franchise this offseason. Multiple sources tell Tony Jones of The Athletic that the jobs of president of basketball operations Daryl Morey and head coach Nick Nurse will both be reevaluated. Jones adds that ownership hasn’t reached any final decisions and will take a few days to address the state of the franchise before determining whether to make changes.
“Uncomfortable conversations” are necessary on several fronts, according to Jones, and the most important one is how to handle Joel Embiid. Jones notes that Embiid frequently clashed with the front office and coaching staff throughout the season, and he publicly implored management to do something other than “ducking the luxury tax” leading up to the trade deadline.
Jones reports that Embiid and other players didn’t support the decision to send second-year guard Jared McCain to Oklahoma City in a deal that only netted draft picks in return. Jones states that Embiid made a noticeable effort to avoid directly criticizing the front office in interviews after that trade was announced.
After being held out of an April 1 game at Washington, Embiid responded with an angry Twitter post stating, “I guess they won’t let me play basketball!!” When reporters asked about the post two days later, he responded, “I wanted to play basketball. I wasn’t allowed to play basketball. I think this is more of a question for Daryl Morey and whoever makes the decisions.”
The Sixers have to be encouraged by Embiid’s playoff performance, even though he was only available for 38 games during the regular season. He managed to return from an emergency appendectomy and was an offensive force in the first-round comeback against Boston.
Embiid’s injury history and contract situation – he has two guaranteed years left at nearly $58MM and $62.6MM, plus a $67.2MM player option for 2028/29 – make it extremely difficult for Philadelphia to trade him. But Jones emphasizes that he has to be more in sync with the front office and coaching staff to be fully effective.
Jones cites a mixed case for keeping Morey in charge of the franchise. Although he was heavily criticized for parting with McCain, Morey realized that he would never become a starter with Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe in the backcourt, and getting a first-round pick for a projected reserve is good value. Morey also deserves credit for taking Edgecombe with the third pick in last year’s draft and Maxey at No. 21 in 2020. Dominick Barlow, who was brought in on a two-way contract last summer, turned out to be an important addition.
But Morey is also responsible for giving the huge extension to Embiid and a pricey free agent deal to Paul George that will limit the Sixers’ flexibility for nearly the rest of the decade. Jones points out that having them alongside Maxey and Edgecombe creates two versions of the same team that don’t fit together well.
Regarding Nurse, sources tell Jones that there are concerns about his ability to control the locker room. He cites an incident at an April 1 shootaround where several players met with members of the coaching staff to air complaints about “certain players’ participation in team activities” and the overall direction of the season. The level of tension was so high that there were concerns that the shootaround might have to be canceled, according to Jones’ sources, but enough was resolved that it was able to continue.
Jones believes that Nurse deserves credit for winning 45 games with an injured roster, and his players never stopped playing hard. They responded to Nurse’s public criticism after a Game 4 loss to Boston and rallied to win the series.
After the fate of Morey and Nurse is decided, the Sixers will have to address their roster. Jones identifies a need for more shooting, rebounding and positional size among the forwards. They have a talented core in place and Edgecombe should continue to improve as he gets older, but the New York sweep is an indication that they’re not ready to compete with the best teams in the East.