Jayson Tatum Out For Game 2 Due To Wrist Injury
5:25 PM: Tatum has officially been ruled out for Game 2, per Tim Bontemps of ESPN (Twitter).
3:14 PM: Celtics forward Jayson Tatum has been listed as doubtful to play in Game 2 of the team’s first-round series vs. Orlando on Wednesday, as Jared Weiss of The Athletic tweets. Tatum’s injury designation is a right distal radius bone bruise.
The Celtics star injured his right wrist in the fourth quarter of Game 1 on Sunday when he drove to the basket and was met by Magic defenders Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Wendell Carter Jr. The Orlando duo collided with the Celtics star and sent him to the floor and into the basket stanchion (Twitter video link via ESPN).
Tatum grabbed his right wrist and remained on the floor for some time. He was eventually able to get up and remain in the game, but he seemed to be favoring that wrist for the rest of the night. Following Boston’s victory, the six-time All-Star underwent an X-ray, which he said came back clean.
While Tatum initially expressed optimism about his availability going forward, Shams Charania of ESPN reported today during a SportsCenter appearance (Twitter video link) that the 27-year-old underwent an MRI and was diagnosed with a bone bruise. Charania referred to it as a “pain tolerance” injury that could linger, adding that Tatum’s availability for Game 2 is “up in the air.”
Head coach Joe Mazzulla told reporters earlier on Tuesday that Tatum is considered day-to-day, per Souichi Terada of MassLive.com.
If Tatum is unable to play on Wednesday, the Celtics figure to lean more heavily on starters Jaylen Brown, Derrick White, Jrue Holiday, and Kristaps Porzingis for offense, with Payton Pritchard and Sam Hauser among the reserves who could see more significant roles.
Southeast Notes: Young, Rozier, Love, Magic, Wizards
Asked during an appearance on The Dan Patrick Show (YouTube link) about Trae Young‘s future in Atlanta, NBA insider Chris Haynes said the Hawks guard has expressed to him that he’s “down with the process” and wants to see a young Atlanta team “turn the corner.” However, while Haynes hasn’t heard anything from Young’s camp to indicate that he’s seeking a change of scenery, he acknowledged that there are “definitely teams out there who are monitoring his situation.”
Within his preview of the Hawks’ offseason, John Hollinger of The Athletic also explores what’s in store for Young and the Hawks, noting that it’s hard to get a read on the team’s direction because there are already so many individuals who have some say in the front office, even before Atlanta hires a new head of basketball operations.
In addition to team owner Tony Ressler and his son Nick Ressler, executives who have a voice in personnel decisions include general manager Onsi Saleh, assistant GM Kyle Korver, and advisers Chris Grant and Chris Emens. Tony Ressler also sometimes asks for input from people outside of the basketball operations department, including minority owner Grant Hill. According to Hollinger, Hill is viewed by some sources as Ressler’s top choice to run the front office, but seems satisfied with his USA Basketball job.
While there has been “chatter” about the possibility of the Hawks entertaining a Young trade this offseason, it remains to be seen how strong his market would be, according to Hollinger, who suggests one possible reason the team traded Dejounte Murray instead of Young a year ago was because it would’ve been more difficult to extract value for Young.
We have more from around the Southeast:
- Terry Rozier (ankle sprain) and Kevin Love (personal reasons) will be unavailable for the Heat in Game 2 of their series vs. Cleveland on Wednesday. Head coach Erik Spoelstra says he “feels” for both players, praising Rozier for maintaining a good work ethic even when he’s out of the rotation and adding that the team is there for Love during “what he’s going through,” per Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald.
- Rozier told reporters that he’s “super frustrated” about injuring his ankle in a scrimmage, but he said the injury is already improving and didn’t require an MRI, according to Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel. The Heat guard described his status as “day to day.”
- The Magic aren’t bothered by Al Horford‘s complaints about Orlando’s “extra” physicality in Game 1, including a hard foul by Kentavious Caldwell-Pope that resulted in Celtics star Jayson Tatum injuring his wrist. According to Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel (subscription required), head coach Jamahl Mosley said he didn’t think Caldwell-Pope deserved to be called for a flagrant foul on that play, while guard Cole Anthony said the Magic play “the right way” and aren’t trying to hurt anyone. “We’re going to keep mucking it up,” Anthony added. “You’re just giving us good feedback.”
- The Wizards were voted the NBA’s second-worst organization in The Athletic’s latest player poll, with Brian Keefe receiving the most votes for the league’s worst coach. As Josh Robbins of The Athletic writes, those results suggest the Wizards have work to do to adjust the outside perception of the team, though veterans like Malcolm Brogdon and Khris Middleton have said since arriving in D.C. that they’ve been pleasantly surprised by how the organization functions.
Eastern Notes: Bucks, Lillard, Pritchard, Holiday, Beasley
After seeing his starters get thoroughly outplayed in the first two games of their first-round series vs. Indiana, Bucks head coach Doc Rivers is considering the idea of tweaking the lineup for Game 3, according to Eric Nehm of The Athletic. Whether it’s the personnel or the approach, something has to change on Friday, Rivers acknowledged.
“We’ve gotten off to two poor starts, and we’ve got to make an adjustment there, for sure,” the Bucks said following Tuesday’s Game 2 loss. “We’ll just see. We have time. We have 48 hours. I’m not gonna tell you what I’m doing right now because I don’t know, but we’ll figure it out, I’m very confident about this series. Very.”
The Bucks started Giannis Antetokounmpo, Brook Lopez, Kyle Kuzma, and Taurean Prince alongside Ryan Rollins in Game 1, with Damian Lillard replacing Rollins in Game 2. Those two units were the most frequently used Milwaukee lineups after the All-Star break, but they haven’t been effective so far in the playoffs — the starters were outscored by 15 points in about 17 minutes in Game 1 and by nine points in 16 minutes in Game 2.
“We don’t want to put ourselves in a hole early in the game,” Antetokounmpo said. “I think we’ve done it in two games. We also did it in the third quarter. It’s hard to play from behind. We just gotta be smarter the way we play, be more urgent when we start the game; hopefully we can be the one to set the tone and not them.”
Here’s more from around the Eastern Conference:
- In his first game back after being sidelined for over a month due to a blood clot, Lillard played 37 minutes on Tuesday and said he “felt pretty good,” though he acknowledged he still needs to work a little more on his cardio, per Michael Marot of The Associated Press. “I got a little winded, but I think everyone got a little winded,” said Lillard, who had 14 points and seven assists in the Bucks‘ Game 2 loss. “I wasn’t really thinking about if I was tired, it was just like I’m out here and I’ve got to do what I got to do.”
- Celtics guard and newly minted Sixth Man of the Year Payton Pritchard made a compelling case for an increased role by scoring 19 points on 6-of-8 shooting in 25 minutes of action in Sunday’s Game 1 win, writes Brian Robb of MassLive.com. Pritchard is a strong candidate to get a minutes bump in Game 2 on Wednesday with Jayson Tatum considered doubtful to play.
- Whether or not Tatum is available, the Celtics would like to see more of the Jrue Holiday they got in Game 1, according to Jay King of The Athletic. Holiday took another step back on offense this season, posting his lowest scoring average (11.1 PPG) since his rookie year in 2009/10, but he has found many other ways to contribute. On Sunday, he made a trio of three-pointers and racked up three steals, prompting teammate Al Horford to tell reporters that Holiday “changed the game” with the energy he brought in the third quarter. “That’s the Jrue I love, you know what I mean?” Jaylen Brown added. “That’s the Jrue I remember competing against.”
- Pistons wing Malik Beasley has been sued by Daniel Hazan, his former agent, tweets Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic. The lawsuit alleges that Hazan’s agency paid Beasley a $650K advance on future marketing revenue and that the veteran swingman breached their agreement by signing with a new agency in February, Vorkunov explains, adding that Hazan is seeking $1MM.
Kings’ Perry Plans To Make Decision On Coach Within Next Week
New Kings general manager Scott Perry told reporters during his introductory press conference on Wednesday that he intends to make a decision on the team’s head coaching situation within the next week, per Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee (Twitter link).
Perry will have to determine whether he wants to retain interim head coach Doug Christie for the 2025/26 season or launch a search for a new coach.
Perry praised Christie on Wednesday, noting that he has known the former NBA guard since he was a player in Toronto and has spoken to him since being hired by the Kings on Monday. However, Sacramento’s new head of basketball operations also said he has been receiving calls from potential coaching candidates who are interested in the job and that he still needs to consider his options.
Christie, who had been an assistant under head coach Mike Brown, was promoted in December when the Kings parted ways with Brown following a 13-18 start to the season. Sacramento’s performance was up and down the rest of the way and the team was unable to secure a playoff spot through the play-in tournament, but Christie did post a winning record of 27-24.
Anderson has reported that Christie has a good chance to hang onto the job, but has stressed that nothing’s official yet.
Here are a few other notes from Perry’s first media session upon returning to the Kings:
- Perry, who briefly served as Sacramento’s VP of basketball operations in 2017, said he and Kings owner Vivek Ranadive have kept in touch since then, so when Ranadive decided to revamp the team’s front office, he and Perry had an easy conversation that developed quickly, according to James Ham of The Kings Beat (Twitter link).
- Addressing the point guard position and adding length and athleticism to the roster will be some of the top offseason priorities for the front office, Perry told reporters (Twitter link via Ham).
- According to Perry, Ranadive has “pledged his support and his resources” and empowered the new GM to make the personnel decisions necessary to build a sustainable winner in Sacramento (Twitter links via Ham).
- Asked about comments he made during a 2023 podcast appearance questioning whether Zach LaVine is a winning basketball player, Perry responded that he’s “not worrying about it haunting me,” adding that has already spoken to LaVine and that his job will be to build around the guard’s strengths (Twitter link via Ham).
- Sean Cunningham of FOX 40 in Sacramento has uploaded the full half-hour video of Perry’s Wednesday media session to Twitter. It can be viewed in full right here.
UNC’s Drake Powell Entering 2025 NBA Draft
North Carolina freshman Drake Powell has decided to declare for the 2025 NBA draft, he tells Jonathan Givony of ESPN (Twitter link).
Powell has the option of testing the draft waters while maintaining his NCAA eligibility and then withdrawing from the process next month in order to return to school. However, neither Givony’s report nor Powell’s own announcement (via Instagram) says anything maintaining his college eligibility, so it sounds like he intends to go pro.
A 6’6″ wing, Powell started 24 of his 37 games for the Tar Heels in 2024/25, submitting relatively modest averages of 7.4 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 1.1 assists in 25.6 minutes per game.
Although his counting stats didn’t jump off the page, Powell has shown off legitimate potential as a three-and-D player. He made 37.9% of his outside shots as a freshman and Givony describes him as one of the best perimeter defenders in the 2025 draft class.
[RELATED: 2025 NBA Draft Early Entrants List]
Givony and Jeremy Woo rank Powell 31st overall on ESPN’s big board of 2025 prospects, meaning he’s viewed as a borderline first-round pick at this point.
Former Lottery Pick Jimmer Fredette Announces Retirement
Former BYU standout and NBA lottery pick Jimmer Fredette has announced his retirement from basketball, as Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press relays. Fredette published a social media post confirming the news (Twitter link).
“It’s time to say goodbye to basketball,” Fredette wrote. “I have loved every second of my career through the good and the bad! … Basketball has taken me all around this world: from Glens Falls NY, to BYU, the NBA, China, Greece, and even Team USA at the Olympics! This game and my love for it has shaped me into the person I am today and for that I am forever grateful. So many memories and amazing moments. It wasn’t always easy, but it was always worth it! The next journey starts now.”
An NCAA scoring champion and the Naismith College Player of the Year in his final season at BYU, Fredette was drafted 10th overall in 2011 on behalf of the Kings, who acquired his rights from Milwaukee in a draft-night deal.
The 6’2″ guard struggled to establish himself as a reliable NBA rotation player, averaging 6.0 points and 1.4 assists in 13.3 minutes per game across 241 career regular season appearances for Sacramento, Chicago, New Orleans, New York, and Phoenix from 2011-19.
Fredette, who is now 36, spent several years during his playing career overseas, establishing himself as a star in China with the Shanghai Sharks from 2016-19 and later returning to the Sharks for one more season. He also spent a year in Greece with Panathinaikos.
During the final act of his career, Fredette focused on 3×3 basketball and represented Team USA at several international competitions, including the 2023 FIBA 3×3 World Cup and the 2024 Olympics.
Fredette earned a variety of accolades over the course of his career, claiming MVP honors and three All-Star nods in the Chinese Basketball Association, winning a Greek League championship, and bringing home a pair of gold medals from the 2022 FIBA 3×3 AmeriCup and 2023 Pan American Games.
Community Shootaround: Giannis Antetokounmpo’s Future
Through the first two games of the Bucks‘ first-round series vs. Indiana, Most Valuable Player finalist Giannis Antetokounmpo has put up absolutely massive numbers, including averages of 35.0 points, 15.0 rebounds, and 4.0 assists per night on 65.1% shooting.
But he has gotten little help from his teammates in either game. Milwaukee has been outscored by 29 points when Antetokounmpo is on the floor and dropped both contests in Indiana. The Bucks are now heading back home facing a 2-0 deficit in the series.
In both 2023 and 2024, the Bucks were eliminated in the first round of the postseason without Antetokounmpo, who was unable to suit up due to injuries. With their star forward healthy and available this spring, the Bucks had higher expectations and haven’t given up on achieving them — the series is hardly out of reach if Milwaukee can defend its home court in Games 3 and 4.
However, the Pacers have looked like the better team so far, overwhelming the Bucks with their fast-paced offensive attack and creating a difficult hole for Milwaukee to climb out of.
Point guard Damian Lillard has only just returned from a month-long absence due to a blood clot in his calf and doesn’t look like he’s in peak form, while trade-deadline acquisition Kyle Kuzma hasn’t been particularly effective through two games, scoring just 12 total points on 5-of-15 shooting and grabbing three rebounds in 52 minutes of action.
As ESPN’s Brian Windhorst noted on the latest episode of his Hoop Collective podcast (YouTube link), a third consecutive first-round exit would be a disaster for the Bucks, who posted their lowest regular season winning percentage (.585) since 2017/18, have been a taxpaying team for several years, and no longer have the assets to pursue major roster upgrades. It would also lead to serious scrutiny of Antetokounmpo’s future in Milwaukee.
“Giannis has been just awesome this season,” Windhorst said (hat tip to RealGM). “He has clearly understood that they’re challenged. And he has cut the BS out of his game and cut the fat out of his game and tried doing everything he can to carry this team, and they’re just not good enough. What is he supposed to do?
“This is the elephant in the room in the league right now. This team is losing tens of millions of dollars. They’re out all their draft picks. (Brook) Lopez and (Bobby) Portis are free agents.”
Windhorst’s ESPN colleague Tim MacMahon followed up by describing the Bucks’ future as “bleak” and suggesting that Antetokounmpo may have to decide soon whether he wants to be a player who spends his entire career with one franchise or if he wants to move to a situation where he’d have a better chance to compete for more titles while he’s still in his prime.
Even if the Bucks are eliminated by the Pacers in the coming days, that decision doesn’t necessarily need to be made this summer. Antetokounmpo remains under contract with the Bucks for at least two more years, with a player option on his contract for the 2027/28 season. And Windhorst stresses that there’s no indication the two-time MVP is looking for an exit ramp.
“From talking to people in and around Milwaukee, Giannis has given no indication throughout this entire season that he is not 100% focused on maximizing what the Bucks have,” Windhorst said. “This (speculation) is people in the league looking at the lay of the land, not anything that Giannis has said to anybody.”
Still, it’s not uncommon for situations like this one involving star players to reach a head well before the player reaches free agency. “This is what people in the league are talking about as they’re watching these series,” Windhorst added.
The Nets, armed with significant cap flexibility and a huge collection of extra first-round picks, have made no secret of the fact that they’re prepared to make a major push for Antetokounmpo if the Bucks are open to considering a trade — reports for the better part of a year have indicated he’s Brooklyn’s “Plan A.” But they’d have plenty of company if Giannis ever ends up on the trade block.
We want to know what you think. Can the Bucks come back and win this first-round series vs. the Pacers? If not, will this offseason represent a tipping point for Antetokounmpo’s future or will he remain committed to Milwaukee going forward?
Head to the comment section below to weigh in with your thoughts on the outlook for Giannis.
Haliburton Shrugs Off ‘Overrated’ Label, Addresses Pacers/Bucks Animosity
When The Athletic anonymously asked 90 players around the NBA which player is the most overrated in the league, no one received more votes (13) than Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton. Asked about those poll results after The Athletic published them on Tuesday, Haliburton made it clear he wasn’t fazed.
“I must be doing something right if that’s the case,” the Pacers star said, per James Boyd of The Athletic. “I don’t have a big speech or comment on it. All I care about is this locker room and winning games, and we’re in position to go to Milwaukee and continue this series on. … I know who I am. I’m confident in my own skin and not worried what anybody thinks.”
Although Haliburton was the top vote-getter in the poll, a total of 33 players earned at least one vote, with 19 players named multiple times. Rudy Gobert and Trae Young finished second and third behind Haliburton, followed by Jimmy Butler in fourth. Giannis Antetokounmpo and LeBron James were among the others who received multiple votes.
When he was asked about Haliburton’s spot atop the list, Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle denounced the results more strongly than his starting point guard did, interrupting Boyd before he had finished his question.
“I heard about this and the other guys on the list were Jimmy Butler and Giannis,” Carlisle said (Twitter video link via iPacers.com). “I want to see the guys’ faces that voted those guys. … This is a bull—t poll. Not everybody even answered in the poll. Guys were able to answer if they wanted to. They were asked on camera or with a microphone. The whole thing’s bull—t, OK? And it’s really a shameful thing.
“Jimmy Butler would be a finalist for MVP if he had gotten to Golden State a month and a half earlier (with) what that guy’s done. And Giannis? Are you kidding me?”
Haliburton has done all he can in the first two games of the Pacers’ first-round series to prove the “overrated” label is erroneous. He handed out 12 assists and was a +27 in a Game 1 win on Saturday over the Bucks, then led his team to a Game 2 victory on Tuesday with 21 points and another dozen assists.
Haliburton has also gotten into it with opposing point guard Damian Lillard in both games, first when Lillard was on the bench in Game 1 and then when the two players were on the court in Game 2.
As Stephen Holder of ESPN relays, the Pacers guard downplayed those altercations as two “competitors” going at it in a playoff atmosphere. However, Haliburton didn’t deny the fact that there’s some animosity between the two Central Division teams, who have now faced each other in 17 regular season and playoff games since the start of the 2023/24 season.
“We don’t have to sit here and act like it’s any secret,” he said after Tuesday’s win. “We don’t like them, they don’t like us and that’s just what it is. And I think they live for this, we live for this, so I could (not) care less. I’m out here just trying to help my team win a game.”
Haliburton said he expects the rest of the series to maintain the same intensity level.
“Everybody says the league rivalries aren’t here anymore,” he said. “Well, it’s right here. So, this is an interesting series. We’ve played each other, it feels like, a million times over the last two years. I’ve seen every different coverage that they could throw at us. And I feel like those guys probably feel the same way about us. But there’s still a lot of series, you’ve got a lot of games to play. So, I’m sure there’ll be more heated moments, more competitive moments.”
Rutgers’ Ace Bailey Declares For NBA Draft
Rutgers guard/forward Ace Bailey, considered one of college basketball’s top prospects, has declared for the 2025 NBA draft, he tells Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).
A freshman in 2024/25, Bailey averaged 17.6 points, 7.2 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 1.3 blocks, and 1.0 steal in 33.3 minutes per game across 30 outings (all starts) for the Scarlet Knights, posting a shooting line of .460/.346/.692. He was named to the Big Ten’s All-Freshman team, as well as the All-Big Ten third team.
The No. 3 pick on ESPN’s big board, right behind Rutgers teammate Dylan Harper, Bailey had a “polarizing” season, Jeremy Woo noted in ESPN’s most recent mock draft, but the 6’10” swingman’s rare skill set ensured that he remains near the top of most NBA evaluators’ boards.
“I did good,” Bailey told ESPN. “I could have done way better, but I matured this season. The game slowed down for me. My IQ got higher. I got faster and way stronger. My ball-handling and shooting tightened up. Rutgers had me guarding everyone from point guards to power forwards. I learned a lot.”
ESPN’s Jonathan Givony writes that Bailey has “exceptional” shot-making ability and has displayed impressive defensive intensity. He’s also one of the youngest prospects in the 2025 draft class — he’ll turn 19 in August.
“I’m nowhere close to reaching my potential,” Bailey said. “I’m still young, still learning, but I’m working every day. My play-making is improving. NBA teams will get an energetic player ready to talk, lead and put people in the right positions. I can take a good team to a better level.”
Rockets Notes: Offensive Woes, Green, Holiday
The Rockets scored just 85 points in Game 1 of their first-round series against the Warriors. That has to change dramatically for the higher-seeded Rockets to win the series, Michael Wright of ESPN notes.
“Some guys did struggle offensively — you’re not going to overreact to one game,” coach Ime Udoka said after Sunday’s loss. “But if guys do play better, we have a chance there. Ten-point loss and like I said, holding somebody to 95; it was an offensively poor showing. The defense was good enough. But I’m not going to overreact to that game. It’s some of those guys’ first times and we had our chances.”
Game 2 will be held on Wednesday.
- Houston’s Game 1 offensive performance can’t be easily dismissed, according to Kelly Iko of The Athletic. The Warriors are led by stars Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler, who have many years of playoff experience and can create offense when needed, while the Rockets simply don’t have a player like that on their roster.
- Jalen Green, who averaged 21 points per game during the regular season, shot 3-for-15 from the field and scored seven points in the series opener. He was also limited to two assists. “They went after him some, but he played in the crowd a little bit too much,” Udoka said, per Jonathan Alexander of the Houston Chronicle. “It’s not really the turnovers as much as the shots in the crowd where you have to find your outlet … When he has isolations, you’ve got to find your outlet. That’s going to be a big key in this series.”
- Udoka might expand his eight-man rotation in Game 2 to include Aaron Holiday, an above-average three-point threat. “Yeah, we were considering it last game,” Udoka told Danielle Lerner of the Houston Chronicle. “That unit in the third quarter was running well and so we went with them, stuck with them, but Aaron’s played well against them. Obviously, not just the shooting, his physicality and aggressiveness on defense helps as well. And so yeah, we’re not just tied down to our guys. I think a big part of it was finding the rhythm with our guys and kind of sticking with them through their first experience in the playoffs. That’s part of it, no doubt but yeah Aaron’s had a great series against Golden State.”