And-Ones: Porzingis, Windler, Walker, Awards Ballot
Assuming he’s healthy, Celtics center Kristaps Porzingis intends to play for Latvia during the EuroBasket tournament this summer, as EuroHoops.net relays.
“Whether I want to play for the national team or not – that’s a silly question,” Porzingis said, according to FIBA. “The past few summers didn’t work out because I was injured. I’ve never refused the national team. When I haven’t played, it’s because of injuries. This summer, I’ll be there. Health is the main thing – then everything else will follow.”
Here are a few more items of interest from around the basketball world:
- Former NBA wing Dylan Windler spent the 2024/25 season with the Perth Wildcats of the National Basketball League. The Australian team announced in a press release that it has re-signed the 28-year-old to a new two-year contract. “It just felt right to come back to Perth, I feel like we’ve got some unfinished business in the playoffs after going out in the semi-finals like we did,” Windler said. “We enjoyed it there and it’s a great situation for me basketball-wise and I look forward to continuing to build on the team that we had last year and see what new faces we can bring in and what we can build together.”
- Veteran NBA guard Kemba Walker, who made four All-Star teams during his time in the league, announced his retirement as a player last July. However, evidently he will return to the hardwood this summer, according to Chris Haynes, who reports (via Twitter) that Walker has reached an agreement to play in the BIG3. Dwight Howard will also be competing in the 3-on-3 league. Walker spent this past season as a player enhancement coach with the Hornets.
- Tim Bontemps of ESPN has an official NBA awards ballot. He recently revealed his choices for all the major 2024/25 awards as well as some of the reasoning behind the selections. Perhaps most interestingly, Bontemps voted for Clippers center Ivica Zubac as Defensive Player of the Year, with Cavaliers forward/center Evan Mobley finishing as his runner-up.
G League’s All-Defensive, All-Rookie Teams Unveiled
The NBA has officially announced (via Twitter) the G League’s All-Defensive Team for the 2024/25 season. Here’s the full five-player list:
All-NBA G League Defensive Team
- Braxton Key, Santa Cruz Warriors
- Ibou Badji, Wisconsin Herd (Bucks‘ affiliate)
- Isaiah Miller, Austin Spurs
- Isaac Nogues, Rip City Remix (Trail Blazers‘ affiliate)
- Moses Brown, Westchester Knicks
The top rookies of the NBAGL season were also unveiled on Thursday (Twitter link). They are as follows:
All-NBA G League Rookie Team
- Trey Alexander, Grand Rapids Gold (Nuggets‘ affiliate)
- Daniss Jenkins, Motor City Cruise (Pistons‘ affiliate)
- Jahmir Young, Windy City Bulls
- RayJ Dennis, Indiana Mad Ants (Pacers‘ affiliate, which has been rebranded as the Noblesville Boom)
- David Jones Garcia, Mexico City Capitanes (not affiliated with an NBA team)
Key, who was recently promoted to a standard contract with Golden State, was named the NBAGL’s Defensive Player of the Year, while Alexander won Rookie of the Year. Badji, who recently signed with a Spanish club, and Nogues, who has declared for the 2025 NBA draft, finished second and third in DPOY voting, respectively. Jones Garcia was the runner-up for ROY, with Young finishing third.
As our tracker shows, Alexander, Jenkins, Young and Dennis are on two-way contracts with their respective NBA clubs.
Journeyman center Brown also earned a spot on the All-NBA G League Second Team, while Alexander made the Third Team.
2024/25 All-NBA G League Teams Announced
In a series of tweets, the NBA has announced the three All-NBA G League teams for the 2024/25 season. Here’s the full list of honorees:
First Team
- JD Davison, Maine Celtics ^
- Oscar Tshiebwe, Salt Lake City Stars (Jazz‘s affiliate) *
- Mac McClung, Osceola Magic *
- Jaylen Nowell, Capital City Go-Go (Wizards‘ affiliate)
- Malachi Flynn, Austin Spurs
Second Team
- Mason Jones, Stockton Kings *
- Elijah Harkless, Salt Lake City Stars *
- Bryce McGowens, Rip City Remix (Trail Blazers‘ affiliate) *
- Moses Brown, Westchester Knicks
- Drew Timme, Long Island Nets ^
Third Team
- Chuma Okeke, Westchester Knicks ~
- T.J. Warren, Westchester Knicks
- Trey Alexander, Grand Rapids Gold (Nuggets‘ affiliate) *
- Josh Christopher, Sioux Falls Skyforce (Heat‘s affiliate) *
- Isaac Jones, Stockton Kings ^
* Denotes two-way contract
^ Denotes standard contract
~ On a standard contract with the Cavaliers
While each player selected has some level of NBA experience, four of them — Flynn, Nowell, Brown and Warren — are currently free agents. Of that group, only Warren didn’t appear in an NBA regular season game during the ’24/25 campaign.
Davison, Tshiebwe and Nowell finished first, second and third in voting (in that order) for this season’s G League Most Valuable Player award, so it’s no surprise that they made the First Team. McClung, who was the league’s 2023/24 MVP, helped Osceola make the NBAGL Finals this spring, with the final spot going to former Pistons guard Flynn, who signed a 10-day contract with Charlotte last month.
Mason Jones recently helped Stockton win its first G League title, earning Finals MVP in the process. He’s joined on the Second Team by NBAGL Most Improved Player Harkless, McGowens, Brown, and Timme.
Former first-round pick Okeke signed a pair of 10-day contracts with Philadelphia before signing with Cleveland ahead of the playoffs. NBA veteran Warren, G League Rookie of the Year Alexander, Heat two-way guard Christopher, and Kings big man Jones round out the Third Team.
Davison and Isaac Jones were promoted from two-way deals to standard contracts at the end of the season. Timme was an NBA free agent before Brooklyn gave him a two-year standard contract in March due to his strong play in the NBAGL.
Hoops Rumors Chat Transcript: 4/17/2025
Hoops Rumors hosted a live chat today at 1:00 pm Central time (2:00 pm Eastern).
Damian Lillard Cleared To Practice, Out For Game 1
April 17: Although Lillard has been ruled out for Game 1 of the Bucks/Pacers series on Saturday, he has been cleared of his deep vein thrombosis and is no longer taking blood-thinning medication, sources tell Charania (Twitter links). It’s a remarkable turnaround for the veteran point guard, who will resume contact workouts and ramp up toward a return, Charania adds.
According to Sam Amick and Eric Nehm of The Athletic (Twitter links), Lillard played three-on-three on Wednesday and practiced on Thursday.
April 15: Bucks star Damian Lillard, who was diagnosed with deep vein thrombosis in his right calf last month, has made “significant progress” in his recovery but won’t be available when the first round of the playoffs tip off this weekend, reports Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter links).
As Charania details, there’s still optimism that Lillard will be medically cleared to return at some point before Milwaukee’s season ends. The star point guard will continue to increase his basketball activities this week.
The Bucks confirmed Charania’s update, as Eric Nehm of The Athletic relays (via Twitter).
“Damian’s most recent weekly scan shows that his injury has significantly improved, which will enable him to move ahead safely with increased basketball activity,” general manager Jon Horst said in a statement. “Damian’s health remains our No. 1 priority. We have followed strict protocols and will continue to do so. We are pleased with the positive news about Damian’s progress.”
Lillard has been on the shelf since March 18. Reporting one week later indicated that he had been diagnosed with a blood clot in his calf and was on blood-thinning medication. He was ruled out indefinitely at that time, with one report stating there was a “great deal of optimism” that he’d be able to return at some point this spring.
Health issues have contributed to the Bucks’ first-round exit in each of the last two postseasons. Giannis Antetokounmpo has only been available for three of 11 playoff games during that time, and Lillard was forced to the sidelines for two games in last year’s first-round loss to Indiana.
While Antetokounmpo is healthy entering this year’s rematch with the Pacers, not having Lillard available figures to adversely affect the Bucks’ chances of advancing to round two.
Lillard earned his ninth All-Star nod in his second season in Milwaukee in 2024/25, averaging 24.9 points, 7.1 assists, and 4.7 rebounds in 36.1 minutes per game across 58 starts. He recorded a shooting line of .448/.376/.921, improving on the percentages he posted during his first year as a Buck in ’23/24.
Southwest Notes: Thompson, Harrison, Dumars, Udoka
The Mavericks‘ play-in game victory in Sacramento had special meaning to Klay Thompson. He scored 23 points against the Kings, making five three-pointers along the way. Thompson missed all 10 of his field goal attempts last season against Sacramento in the play-in tournament, which wound up being his last game in a Warriors uniform.
“I wasn’t going to define myself off one bad shooting night,” he said, per Tim MacMahon of ESPN. “I mean, I’ve had some of the greatest shooting nights in the history of the game. So even someone in my caliber can go 0-for. … I try to not even think about that, but at times you do because you’re human. But you just keep going out there and do what you love.”
Dallas will now battle the Grizzlies for the No. 8 seed on Friday.
“I’m still alive. I’m excited,” Thompson said. “I get to go to Memphis. It was really fun (Wednesday) because you could just be fully immersed in the experience, and we’ve had a tumultuous season, to say the least. The injury bug has struck us like I’ve never seen before, but we’re still here playing postseason basketball.”
We have more from the Southwest Division:
- Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison‘s contentious press conference, in which he stated he didn’t regret trading Luka Doncic, wasn’t something he suggested, ESPN’s Sham Charania tweets. “Nico Harrison did not want to do this closed-door roundtable. This was not his idea,” Charania said during an appearance on NBA Countdown. “This was something that was enforced by their owner, Patrick Dumont.”
- Now that Joe Dumars has been officially hired as the Pelicans president of basketball operations, he has two big decisions to make, Rod Walker of NOLA.com writes. His first major decision will be whether to retain head coach Willie Green. As the offseason progresses, he’ll have to choose whether to retain Zion Williamson as the franchise player or trade him and take the franchise in another direction.
- Dumars has spent the last three years as the NBA’s head of basketball operations and commissioner Adam Silver thanked him for his service in a statement relayed by The Athletic’s Sam Amick (Twitter link). “Joe brought tremendous credibility to his role at the league office and is one of the most genuine and respected people in all of basketball,” Silver said. “His exceptional playing career and tenure as an executive provided him with an elite understanding of the game and strong relationships around the NBA. We are grateful for Joe’s leadership over the past three years and wish him well as he begins his new role with the Pelicans.”
- The Warriors are actually the betting favorite to win their first-round series against Houston even though the Rockets are the No. 2 seed. Much of that is due to Golden State’s wealth of playoff experience — Rockets coach Ime Udoka says he and his staff will have to do their best to neutralize that advantage. “The experience for our young guys will be new,” he hold Mark Medina of Athlon Sports. “But as far as me and my staff and what we’ve experienced, I don’t think there is a whole lot that’s going to surprise us or be different. It’s just our young guys getting experience for the first time and going through the playoff prep and all the specifics of how much more you have to dig in.”
Kings Part With GM Monte McNair
10:47 am: The Kings issued a statement that they have officially parted ways with McNair, James Ham of The Kings Beat tweets.
12:41 am: After five years together, the Kings and general manager Monte McNair have mutually agreed to part ways, per Sam Amick of The Athletic (Twitter link).
The news broke just minutes after Sacramento was upset at home by the Mavericks, 120-106, in the West’s No. 9 vs. No. 10 play-in tournament game on Wednesday, ending the Kings’ season.
As ESPN’s Shams Charania writes, McNair’s tenure with the club included three consecutive seasons of 40 or more wins and a .488 overall win percentage (195-205).
The Kings snapped a 16-year playoff drought in 2023, posting a 48-34 record and securing the Western Conference’s No. 3 seed. But that was the team’s lone playoff appearance during McNair’s tenure, as the club was eliminated in the play-in tournament in each of the past two seasons.
This season, Sacramento fired former Coach of the Year Mike Brown after a 13-18 start. All-Star guard De’Aaron Fox was subsequently dealt to San Antonio in a three-team blockbuster deal with Chicago after he made it clear he wouldn’t sign an extension with the Kings. Under interim head coach Doug Christie, the Kings went 27-24 to finish the season.
McNair isn’t the only Sacramento mainstay who’s moving on this offseason. According to Mark Haynes of The Sacramento Observer (via Twitter), assistant coach Jim Moran is joining the college ranks, and will serve as an assistant under Florida State head coach Luke Loucks. Loucks was on the Kings’ coaching staff before being hired by the Seminoles in March.
As we noted earlier today when we wrote about McNair being on the hot seat, former Kings assistant general manager, Wes Wilcox also left the club in March to serve as the general manager at the University of Utah.
Following Wednesday’s defeat, Christie reflected on his uncertain future with the club, tweets James Ham of The Kings Beat.
“This is where I want to be, I think you all know that,” Christie said. “I need to finish what I started.”
According to Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee (via Twitter), Christie told reporters that he had not received any indication he would be returning as the Kings’ coach next season.
Scott Perry Considered Frontrunner For Kings’ GM Job
Longtime NBA executive Scott Perry is considered the frontrunner for the Kings’ general manager job, Sam Amick and Anthony Slater of The Athletic report.
The organization is looking for a replacement for Monte McNair, who mutually agreed with ownership to part ways after a five-year run. The Kings were eliminated from the play-in tournament by Dallas on Wednesday.
Perry was the Kings’ VP of basketball operations and has a strong working relationship with Sacramento owner Vivek Ranadive. Perry has a 25-year front office resume that has included stints with the Pistons, SuperSonics, Magic and Knicks. Former Nuggets GM Calvin Booth, who lost his job last week, is also expected to receive consideration.
While former GM Vlade Divac is still within the organization as VP of basketball and franchise operations, he’s not considered a candidate for the top executive job. Team sources tell The Athletic that Divac won’t be returning to the front office in any formal capacity.
As for the head coaching job, Doug Christie hasn’t been given any promises to have the interim tag removed, but he’s well-positioned to keep the job. Christie replaced Mike Brown in late December.
According to The Athletic, McNair didn’t want to fire Brown and he also recently clashed with ownership regarding Christie’s status beyond this season, with Ranadive backing Christie. The decision to acquire DeMar DeRozan in a sign-and-trade last offseason and deal for Zach LaVine at the trade deadline may also have been driven by ownership, per Amick and Slater.
McNair, who spoke with the team minutes after the loss to the Mavericks, may not be out of a job for long. He could return to the Rockets, where his former co-worker, Rafael Stone, is the GM. He also has close ties with Sixers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey.
Booth’s potential candidacy and McNair’s potential reunion with Houston were previously reported.
Latest On Kevin Durant
It will likely be a couple more months before any offseason trades are completed, but the rumors surrounding Suns star Kevin Durant are already beginning to pick up steam now that Phoenix’s season is over.
Reporting earlier this week indicated that Durant’s manager Rich Kleiman planned to travel to Phoenix this week to talk to the Suns about the veteran forward’s future. On Wednesday, appearing on NBA Today (Twitter video link), ESPN’s Shams Charania made it clear that the Rockets could emerge as a serious suitor for Durant if they make an early postseason exit this spring.
“This is a Houston team we need to keep an eye on in this playoff run,” Charania said. “… There is going to be a level of mutual interest – there has been already – with them and Kevin Durant with the Suns. If they win a couple rounds, they might be good where they’re at. If you lose early, don’t win enough to where you want to, could you look at a guy like Kevin Durant once again this offseason? Monitor them.”
Reports throughout the 2024/25 season indicated that the Rockets weren’t looking to break up their young core and that if they did make a blockbuster deal, they’d be focused more on a younger star who better fit their timeline than a player like Durant, who will turn 37 this September. However, a first-round exit as the West’s No. 2 seed could alter the front office’s thinking on both counts.
Plugged-in Phoenix-based reporter John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 (Twitter links) notes that he has been discussing the possibility of the Rockets pursuing Durant for weeks on his radio show and views Houston as one of the top three likely suitors for the Suns star, along with the Timberwolves and Knicks.
A deep playoff run for any of those three teams would probably diminish their appetite for major changes, according to Gambadoro, who adds that the Spurs and two or three other teams could also emerge as suitors.
Charania previously identified all four of those teams (Houston, Minnesota, New York, and San Antonio) and the Heat as clubs that had some level of mutual interest with Durant prior to February’s trade deadline. Golden State also pursued him at that time, but Durant wasn’t open to a reunion.
Houston is loaded with young players and draft assets, including a handful of Suns picks, putting the team in a favorable position to make a strong offer for Durant. In addition to controlling Phoenix’s 2025 first-rounder, which will almost certainly be in the top 10, the Rockets also own the Suns’ unprotected 2027 pick and will receive the two most favorable 2029 first-rounders out of their own, Dallas’, and Phoenix’s.
According to Gambadoro (via Twitter), it’s “very unlikely” that the Rockets would be willing to give up Phoenix’s 2025 lottery pick in any deal for Durant. However, it’s possible that those future Suns draft assets could be part of any discussions between the two teams.
While it remains to be seen where Durant will be playing next fall, it’s a safe bet it won’t be in Phoenix, per Gambadoro, who adds in another tweet that the former MVP is “gone for sure.”
Bulls Notes: Play-In Loss, White, Karnisovas, Huerter
The Bulls‘ season ended in familiar fashion on Wednesday night with another loss to Miami in the play-in tournament, writes Julia Poe of The Chicago Tribune. This is the third straight year that it’s happened, and Wednesday’s game wasn’t close, with the Heat pulling away early while sinking a barrage of outside shots.
Poe notes that Miami scored 39 points in the first quarter and 32 more in the second quarter, neutralizing the Bulls’ game plan of pushing the pace in transition because they constantly had to inbound the ball after made shots. The Heat connected on 10 three-pointers in the first half and held a 24-point lead at intermission.
The home crowd found a little bit to cheer about as the Bulls briefly cut the lead to 13 points in the fourth quarter, but Miami quickly responded to put the game away. With a 39-43 record and an early postseason exit, Poe points out that it’s Chicago’s worst season in four years. The loss ensures the Bulls’ first-round pick will be in the lottery, but they’ll have minuscule odds of moving up to one of the top four selections.
There’s more from Chicago:
- Coby White believes the Heat’s experience in big games made the difference, per Andrew Seligman of The Associated Press. White, who had been on a scoring tear to close out the regular season, finished with 17 points but shot just 5-of-20 from the field. “We didn’t really have game-plan discipline,” he said. “We beat them in the regular season. We thought if we just do what we normally do, then we’ll be good. But obviously, they’ve got guys that have been to the finals. They’ve got guys that know what it takes. They got a head coach who’s one of the best head coaches in the league. They came in and they were the better team tonight.”
- Executive VP of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas should be embarrassed that he wasted another season on player development instead of finding a way to get elite talent on the roster, contends Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times. Cowley states that every mistake the front office has made over the past five years was on display Wednesday night, but the ultimate difference was dominant shooting by Miami’s Tyler Herro, who finished with 38 points. “You look at any great team, they have ‘a guy’ that’s really, really elite,” coach Billy Donovan said. “And a lot of times it’s in the backcourt. I think Coby made a really good jump, and wherever he gets to, I don’t know. Josh (Giddey) made a nice jump. I’m sure those will be all things the front office will take a look at as they go into the draft and free agency. I don’t disagree with you because that’s kind of been the case. I think what’s changed is the number of guys you needed.”
- Kevin Huerter, who was acquired from Sacramento in February, is hoping for a long-term future in Chicago, Cowley adds in a separate story. Huerter still has one season left on his contract, and he wants to find some stability after being dealt twice in the past three years.