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.”
Pelicans’ Dumars Won’t Reveal Plans For Zion Williamson
New Pelicans executive vice president of basketball operations Joe Dumars wouldn’t tip his hand regarding his plans for Zion Williamson.
In his introductory press conference, Dumars said he’s had multiple discussions with the team’s oft-injured franchise player but didn’t reveal any details, according to Brett Martel of The Associated Press.
“At the league office, I’ve had to talk to Zion a few times,” said Dumars, who spent the past three seasons as the NBA’s executive vice president and head of basketball operations. “I won’t go into those conversations. But we talked since then, and I’ve talked to Zion since I became the EVP here, and we had exceptional conversations on the phone.”
There’s been plenty of speculation that Williamson could be one of the big names on the trade market this summer. The former No. 1 overall pick appeared in just 30 games this season, making it the fourth time he’s played 30 or fewer games in his six-year career. Williamson, who missed the entire 2021/22 season, still has three years left on his max contract.
Dumars, the longtime Pistons president of basketball operations, says he wants to “find out what’s happening” regarding the rash of injuries that have hit the roster the past two seasons. He also wants a high level of professionalism and commitment throughout the organization. Williamson was suspended one game this season for violating team policies.
“You have to set standards — and you can’t waver from those standards,” Dumars said.
As for head coach Willie Green, Dumars once again didn’t indicate whether he’d return or not, though Green was in attendance at the press conference and Dumars paid him a compliment.
“I’ve been knowing Willie forever — great man,” Dumars said.
A Louisiana native, Dumars indicated he was content with his NBA office job but was persuaded to return to his home state to revive the Pelicans franchise.
“Sometimes opportunities come along and, you know, right place, right time, right people,” Dumars said.
International Prospects Ruzic, Lewis Declare For Draft
A pair of international prospects, Croatian power forward Michael Ruzic and South East Melbourne wing Malique Lewis, are entering the draft, ESPN’s Jonathan Givony reports (Twitter links).
The 6’10” Ruzic is just 18 years old. He’s played for Joventut Badalona in Spain the past two seasons, posting modest numbers. He has averaged 5.0 points and 1.7 rebounds in 15.4 minutes per game through seven EuroCup contests this season. In Liga ACB action, Ruzic played 14 games and averaged 2.6 points and 1.8 rebounds in 11.8 minutes per contest.
Ruzic is ranked No. 49 on ESPN’s Best Available list.
Lewis, 20, played for SE Melbourne in Australia’s National Basketball league this season. He averaged 6.8 points and 4.1 rebounds in 21.5 minutes per game while making 34 appearances.
In 2023/24, Lewis played in the NBA G League for the Mexico City Capitanes. He averaged 9.0 points, 6.0 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.0 steals in 27.7 minutes per game while seeing action in 34 contests. He made 37.7% of his 3-point attempts that season, though that success rate dropped in 31.6% in Australia.
Lewis is currently ranked No. 69 by ESPN, making him a possible second-round pick.
Celtics’ Payton Pritchard Named Sixth Man Of Year
Celtics guard Payton Pritchard has won the Sixth Man of the Year award, the NBA announced on Tuesday (Twitter link).
Pritchard beat out the other finalists, the Pistons’ Malik Beasley and the Cavaliers’ Ty Jerome, for the honor. Pritchard received 82 of a possible 100 first-place votes and recorded 454 total points. Beasley notched 13 first-place votes and 279 points, while Jerome earned two first-place votes and 91 points.
Pritchard posted career-high numbers across the board for the defending champions, averaging 14.3 points, 3.8 rebounds, 3.5 assists, and 0.9 steals in 28.4 minutes per game.
Pritchard, who played 80 regular season contests, shot 47.2% overall and 40.7% from distance. He’s in the first year of a four-year, $30MM contract that he signed in October 2023, which now looks like a major bargain.
Beasley, playing on a one-year contract, averaged 16.3 points, 2.6 rebounds, 1.7 assists, and 0.9 steals in 27.8 minutes per night and didn’t miss a game. The three-point specialist shot 43% overall and 41.6% from distance and was a major reason why Detroit more than tripled its win total.
Jerome, who barely played last season due to an ankle injury, averaged 12.2 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 3.4 assists in 19.9 minutes per game while making 70 appearances. He shot 51.6% overall and 43.9% from three-point land.
This is the second time in three seasons a Celtics guard has won the award. Malcolm Brogdon earned Sixth Man honors in 2023. The Timberwolves’ Naz Reid captured the award last spring.
In total, eight players showed up on at least one Sixth Man ballot this year, with five players receiving a first-place vote. The full results can be viewed here.
Central Notes: Jerome, Schröder, Cunningham, Patton
Ty Jerome, a Sixth Man of the Year award finalist, continues to pump up his value heading into unrestricted free agency. The Cavaliers guard poured in 28 points in 26 minutes during his first postseason game on Sunday.
“This is who Ty is. This is not a shock,” Donovan Mitchell said, per ESPN’s Brian Windhorst. “I know everybody’s going to react like this is a shock that he’d been doing this for us all year.”
Jerome burst onto the scene after missing virtually all of last season due to an ankle injury.
“You get time to reflect on where you need to take the next step,” Jerome said, per The Athletic’s Joe Vardon. “Going into the offseason, your back’s kind of against the wall. You don’t play any games. I don’t really have a huge body of work in the NBA. And you kind of have one last shot, in a way, to make it right.”
We have more from the Central Division:
- Dennis Schröder is proving to be one of the most valuable pickups at the trade deadline. Needing backcourt depth with Jaden Ivey sidelined, the Pistons traded for Schröder. The veteran point guard, who’s headed to free agency, delivered a 20-point performance in the Pistons’ Game 2 upset of the Knicks on Monday night. That included a clutch three-pointer to stave off New York’s late rally. “The ultimate trust,” Detroit coach J.B. Bickerstaff said of playing Schröder in crunch time, per The Athletic’s Hunter Patterson.
- Cade Cunningham played up to his All-Star status with 33 points. The Pistons guard is eager to play postseason games in front of the home fans. He’ll get that opportunity in Game 3 on Thursday and Game 4 on Sunday. “It feels good representing the city like we did (Monday),” Cunningham told John Niyo of the Detroit News. “It’s something that the city’s been waiting on for a long time, so we feel good about it and we’re ready to get back to the crib. … It’s gonna be a lot of fun. I’m excited to see it.”
- The Bulls didn’t pick up their option on Peter Patton‘s contract, letting their director of player development go after two seasons. That was an unpopular decision among the players, Julia Poe of the Chicago Tribune confirms. Coby White, Ayo Dosunmu, Josh Giddey and Matas Buzelis improved their shooting under Patton’s tutelage and publicly praised him. Patton didn’t hold back his opinions on how the team could improve on and off the court and that didn’t always sit well with members of the team’s brass, Poe notes. The Chicago Sun-Times previously reported that Patton’s exit left some players “beyond pissed.”
Mavs Rumors: Health/Performance Team, Doncic, Dumont, Harrison, Kidd
Within an in-depth story focused on the changes made with the Mavericks‘ health and performance department in recent years, Tim MacMahon of ESPN shares several details that reflect poorly on the team’s current management, starting with the firing of longtime director of health and performance Casey Smith in 2023.
As MacMahon explains, several sources believe general manager Nico Harrison fired Smith – who was close with longtime Mavs star Dirk Nowitzki as well as Luka Doncic – because he wasn’t enough of a yes-man.
“(Harrison) was 100 percent threatened by him,” a team source told MacMahon. “He’s going to show that I’m in charge and nobody else can question that.”
MacMahon also reports that the relationship between new director of player health and performance Johann Bilsborough and athletic performance director Keith Belton has been frosty, writing that Bilsborough doesn’t respect Belton’s acumen. Belton was hired by the Mavs first, with Bilsborough later hired as his superior.
A January disagreement over how Dereck Lively‘s foot injury was being handled led to a “loud, heated confrontation” between the two men, according to MacMahon, who hears from one source that the altercation was “coming for a long time.”
Here’s more on the Mavs:
- Both MacMahon and Grant Afseth of Dallas Hoops Journal (Substack link) say the calf strain Doncic sustained on Christmas Day was a source of major tension between the Mavs and the guard’s camp. The team believed that Doncic could be back in two to three weeks and Harrison thought the injury was related to Doncic’s conditioning, whereas the star guard’s camp was adamant that he needed to sit out for six weeks to fully recover and believed the injury stemmed from the fact that he returned too soon from a previous heel issue. “That deepened the divide,” a source told ESPN.
- In the wake of the Doncic trade, Mavericks governor Patrick Dumont no longer views Harrison as having “irreproachable basketball expertise,” sources tell Tim Cato of DLLS Sports (subscription required). Dumont has been especially frustrated that Harrison either didn’t foresee or didn’t better prepare him for the extreme negative reaction to the trade from the fan base, Cato adds.
- Within the same story, Cato cites sources who say that Jason Kidd “resented” the Doncic trade, even though the Mavs head coach shared some of Harrison’s frustrations about Doncic’s work habits. Kidd felt he was being asked to reinvent a roster and a system that had previously been built around Doncic, Cato explains, noting that the coach’s frustration was a factor in his decision to skip a mandatory press conference in February on the same day Doncic made his Lakers debut.
Pacific Notes: Leonard, Bol, Kings, Murray, Ellis
Limited by injuries, veteran forward Kawhi Leonard appeared in just four playoff games for the Clippers from 2022-24 and wasn’t himself last spring, scoring just 24 total points in the two postseason appearances he was able to make. So it was a welcome sight to see a healthy Leonard in peak form on Monday in Denver, writes Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.
Leonard was dominant on both ends of the court, scoring 39 points on 15-of-19 shooting and holding Nuggets players to five points on 2-of-12 shooting when he was the primary defender, per Shelburne. Led by their star forward, the Clippers pulled out a 105-102 win to even the series at one game apiece.
“I’m just happy that I’m able to move,” Leonard said after the game. “That’s what I’m taking pride in is just being healthy. I sat and watched these playoff games and series the past two years. So being able to be front-line out there, it just feels good for me no matter which way the game goes.”
While Leonard has faced criticism over the years due to a perception that he requires constant “load management,” teammate James Harden made it clear that Leonard has worked incredibly hard behind the scenes to get back to 100% and to turn in performances like Monday’s.
“It’s every single day. It’s the preparation. It’s like the treatment, it’s strengthening, you know what I mean, of body, it’s correctives and then it’s going on court and putting it all together,” Harden said. “Luck hasn’t been on his side or whatever case you might call it. But he loves to hoop. And as you see, when he’s on the court, he’s a killer. So I’m glad he’s in a good space right now.”
Here’s more from around the Pacific:
- Suns forward Bol Bol played relatively well as a regular part of the rotation for about a month after the trade deadline, then logged just 29 total minutes across six outings in Phoenix’s final 16 games. According to NBA insider Chris Haynes (YouTube link; Twitter video link), the decision to remove Bol from the rotation stemmed from an incident during a March 12 game vs. Houston. Former head coach Mike Budenholzer was “irate” over the fact that Bol made no effort to come to his teammate’s defense during an altercation between Mason Plumlee and Steven Adams, shooting layups away from the crowd as other players converged on the scrum (Twitter video link).
- In a YouTube video and an Insider-only ESPN.com article, Bobby Marks of ESPN explores what’s on tap for the Kings this summer after a disappointing 2024/25 season that resulted in a change atop their front office. While much of the focus in Sacramento will be on Domantas Sabonis, DeMar DeRozan, and Zach LaVine, who have earned a combined 11 All-Star nods, Marks points out that the team will also face decisions on Keegan Murray, who is eligible for a rookie scale extension, and Keon Ellis, who could be made a restricted free agent if his team option is declined.
- Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee also considers the next steps for the Kings, noting that new general manager Scott Perry will have to “reestablish a sense of direction and trust” within the organization and will have to make several major decisions, starting with whether or not to retain head coach Doug Christie.
NBA Fines Anthony Edwards $50K For Exchange With Fan
Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards has been fined $50K by the NBA for directing inappropriate language and making an obscene gesture toward a fan, the league announced today in a press release (Twitter link).
The incident occurred midway through the third quarter in Game 1 of the Wolves’ series vs. the Lakers on Saturday.
A video clip circulated on social media showing Edwards responding to fans heckling center Rudy Gobert by reminding them of Gobert’s career earnings (Twitter video link). The Wolves guard earned his fine in the last few seconds of that clip when he escalated the trash talk by telling a fan, “My d— bigger than yours.”
Edwards was fined several times by the league over the course of the season for various transgressions, including repeatedly using profane language during media interviews. He was docked $320K for six separate incidents prior to the playoffs, and that total doesn’t include the $242K he lost as a result of a one-game suspension or the smaller fines automatically assessed for each of his league-leading 17 technical fouls.
All that lost salary still represents a relative drop in the bucket for Edwards, who had a cap hit of $42.2MM this season and is owed $202.4MM over the next four years.
Grizzlies Notes: Game 1 Loss, Morant, Bagley
After falling behind by as many as 56 points, the Grizzlies lost by 51 to the Thunder on Sunday in Game 1 of their first-round series. However, as Tim MacMahon of ESPN and Damichael Cole of The Memphis Commercial Appeal write, Memphis’ players didn’t seem demoralized by the loss in the locker room after the game.
Star point guard Ja Morant vowed, “We will never play that bad again,” while wing Desmond Bane spoke about the need to “turn the page fast” ahead of Tuesday’s Game 2.
“At the end of the day, it’s one game,” Bane said on Sunday. “If we lose by 50 or lose on a buzzer-beater, the series is still 1-0. Not the result we wanted for sure, but still got a good opportunity to get one on the road in two days.”
Grizzlies big man Jaren Jackson Jr., the team’s most valuable player during the regular season, had his worst game of the season in Game 1, with four points, three rebounds, and three turnovers. He’s not expecting a repeat of that showing.
“In every area, I can get better,” Jackson said, according to William Guillory of The Athletic. “There’s so much room for improvement after a loss like that. It’s definitely just one game. That’s how a series works. We can’t really overthink things in any way. … I’m going to figure out a way to play better and get myself involved in the series. Then, we’ll be good.”
Here’s more on the Grizzlies:
- After the Grizzlies defeated Dallas in Friday’s play-in game, Morant referred to his right ankle sprain as a “difficult” injury and hinted that he wouldn’t have been on the court if it were a regular season contest. “Obviously, regular season games, it’s not win or go home,” Morant said (story via ESPN). “So this one was way more difficult — the whole process, like, learning what I would have to do to be able to get out there. I was kind of questioning it, but with our staff, the doctors, they gave me all the info I needed and [in the] simplest terms so I will understand.” Following Sunday’s Game 1 vs. Oklahoma City, Morant declined to say whether he was still receiving pain-killing injections for the ankle and dismissed the idea that the injury affected his performance. “It felt good,” he said, per MacMahon.
- A trade-deadline acquisition, big man Marvin Bagley III averaged just 8.3 minutes per game in 12 appearances for the Grizzlies in the regular season. On Sunday, the former No. 2 overall pick racked up 17 points on 8-of-8 shooting in 16 minutes across the first three quarters. Bagley’s strong play was one of the few bright spots in an otherwise forgettable game and could earn him a longer look going forward, per Michael Wallace of Grind City Media. “Marvin’s performance was extremely encouraging,” interim head coach Tuomas Iisalo said. “In the absence of (injured forward) Brandon (Clarke), we have not been strong in those minutes. And it seems like we’ve found a solution with Marvin.”
- Even if the Grizzlies play better for the rest of the series than they did in Game 1, the same will likely be true of Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who scored a season-low 15 points on 4-of-13 shooting on Sunday, writes Darnell Mayberry of The Athletic, noting that doesn’t bode well for Memphis.