Pacers’ NBAGL Affiliate Rebrands As Noblesville Boom
The Pacers‘ G League affiliate will no longer be known as the Indiana Mad Ants. According to a press release from the team, the NBAGL club has been rebranded as the Noblesville Boom.
The new nickname, per today’s announcement, is a tribute to the phrase “Boom, baby!” made famous by former Pacers coach and commentator Bobby “Slick” Leonard, who passed away in 2021.
The G League team was known from 2007-23 as the Fort Wayne Mad Ants. That nickname was a reference to “Mad” Anthony Wayne, the namesake of Fort Wayne, who was a general in the American Revolutionary War and a U.S. congressman.
The club relocated from Fort Wayne to Indianapolis in 2023 and temporarily kept the Mad Ants nickname, but it was determined that a rebrand was necessary as the team makes the move to Noblesville for the 2025/26 season.
The Boom have revealed their new color scheme and logo on their official website, as well as via a promotional YouTube video. A new court design, mascot, and uniforms will be unveiled in the coming months, ahead of the ’25/26 season.
In the past, the make-up of the G League typically changed a little from year to year as teams relocated or the league introduced expansion franchises. That won’t happen as often going forward now that each NBA team has an affiliate of its own – especially since many of those affiliates are conveniently located near their respective NBA homes – but we could still see rebrands like this one happen every now and then.
Duke’s Kon Knueppel Entering 2025 NBA Draft
Duke wing Kon Knueppel is declaring for the 2025 NBA draft and will go pro, he announced today on social media (Instagram link).
“Forever a Blue Devil,” he wrote in his Instagram post. “Taking the Brotherhood with me to the next chapter.”
Knueppel was a full-time starter as a freshman on a Duke team that made the Final Four this spring. Across 39 games, he averaged 14.4 points, 4.0 rebounds, 2.7 assists, and 1.0 steal in 30.5 minutes per contest, with a shooting line of .479/.406/.914.
Although the Blue Devils fell short of the championship game, Knueppel cemented his status as a projected lottery pick with a handful of strong performances in the NCAA Tournament. He scored 20 points vs. Arizona in the Sweet 16 and 21 against Alabama in the Elite Eight. He contributed 16 points and seven rebounds in Duke’s Final Four loss to Houston.
ESPN’s Jonathan Givony and Jeremy Woo have Knueppel coming off the board at No. 8 in their most recent mock draft, noting that the 19-year-old gave the Blue Devils elite efficiency and spacing as a freshman while also showing more than expected as a play-maker and defender.
Jonathan Wasserman of Bleacher Report also has Knueppel at No. 8 in his most recent mock draft, while Sam Vecenie of The Athletic places him at No. 6.
Pelicans Hire Joe Dumars As Head Of Basketball Operations
April 16: The Pelicans have officially hired Dumars to lead their front office, announcing in a press release that he has been named their new executive vice president of basketball operations.
“Joe’s achievements as a renowned Hall of Fame player, NBA champion and front office executive are indisputable,” Pelicans governor Gayle Benson said in a statement. “I have a great deal of respect for what Joe has already accomplished as a player and executive, but more importantly I admire his character and leadership. His vast experience and relationships throughout the NBA, along with his strong leadership qualities, will have a tremendous impact on our organization and our goal of winning an NBA championship.
“While at the league, he was involved in every aspect of basketball operations and got unparalleled perspective and knowledge of the most effective personnel, strategy and tactics throughout the league. That will benefit our team immediately as we move forward. I am delighted to welcome Joe, his wife Debbie, and their children Jordan and Aren to the Pelicans.”
In a statement of his own, Dumars said the Pelicans’ roster features “a lot of talent,” adding that he envisions overseeing a “disciplined team that is built on toughness, smart decision-making and a no-excuses mindset.”
April 15: The Pelicans and Joe Dumars are finalizing a deal that will make him the team’s new president of basketball operations, sources tell Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link). Charania first reported on Monday that Dumars had emerged as a “serious frontrunner” for the job.
A Hall of Famer as a player, Dumars began his front office career in 2000 as Detroit’s president of basketball operations. He remained in that role until 2014, earning Executive of the Year honors in 2003 and building the Pistons team that won a championship in 2004.
Dumars turned the Pistons into a perennial contender during the first half of his front office tenure in Detroit, making a series of savvy moves to compile a roster led by Chauncey Billups, Ben Wallace, Rasheed Wallace, Richard Hamilton, and Tayshaun Prince. The club advanced to at least the Eastern Conference Finals for six straight years from 2003-08, making two NBA Finals appearances during that time.
However, Dumars made his share of missteps while running the Pistons, most memorably drafting Darko Milicic with the No. 2 overall pick in 2003, right ahead of Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh, and Dwyane Wade. Detroit had a losing record in each of Dumars’ last six seasons at the helm and wasn’t set up for success following his exit.
Dumars later had a stint in the Kings’ front office, working in a variety of roles in the organization from 2019-22. He joined Sacramento as a special advisor to then-GM Vlade Divac and became the Kings’ interim head of basketball operations when Divac was fired in 2020.
Dumars subsequently transitioned into a chief strategy officer role following the hiring of general manager Monte McNair and held that title for two years before joining the league office as the NBA’s executive vice president of basketball operations in 2022. He has been in that position under commissioner Adam Silver for the last three seasons.
A Louisiana native who played his college ball at McNeese State, Dumars will be returning home for his new job with the Pelicans. He’ll be replacing former executive vice president of basketball operations David Griffin, who was let go by the club on Monday following a disappointing 21-61 season.
New Orleans’ 2024/25 season was decimated by injuries, some of which are expected to carry over to ’25/26, but there’s a solid foundation of talent on the roster for Dumars to work with. Forwards Zion Williamson and Herbert Jones, guard Dejounte Murray, wing Trey Murphy, and center Yves Missi are all locked up for multiple seasons, with CJ McCollum set to enter the final year of his contract.
The Pelicans also control all of their own future first-round picks, along with Indiana’s 2026 first-rounder (top-four protected) and the right to swap picks with Milwaukee in 2026 and 2027 (the Bucks’ 2027 pick is top-four protected). New Orleans’ 2025 first-rounder projects to be in the top half of the lottery.
The future of head coach Willie Green is uncertain — reporting on Monday indicated his status would be decided after a new head of basketball operations is hired, so Dumars will presumably be heavily involved in the decision on whether to retain Green or seek a new coach.
Dumars will be tasked with turning a Pelicans team with just one 50-win season (in 2008) and two playoff series victories (2008 and 2018) since its inception in 2002 into a contender.
Central Notes: Bulls Play-In, Vucevic, Pistons, Haliburton
Tempo will be a key in the Bulls’ play-in game against the Heat tonight, Julia Poe of the Chicago Tribune writes. Chicago will want to speed up the game, while the Heat would prefer a half-court battle.
“Our identity is up and down — and it’s not a secret,” guard Josh Giddey said. “Everyone knows the way we play.”
Coby White says the Bulls need to match the Heat’s physicality. Chicago lost to Miami in the play-in round in each of the last two seasons.
“I feel like Miami — the last two years we played them in the play-in — they physically dominated us,” White said.
We have more from the Central Division:
- Bulls center Nikola Vucevic remains one of the league’s most consistent players, Darnell Mayberry of The Athletic writes. Vucevic averaged a double-double this season. “It’s the hardest thing in this league,” he said. “There’s so many games. There’s a lot of ups and downs. You win, you lose. You have good games, bad games. But you just have to learn to deal with it and move on. I just try to bring it every night and do what I do and not get out of that. I’ve had better years and worse years, but I don’t think there’s been a huge difference in the way I’ve played and my numbers. So, I take a lot of pride in it. I try to bring it every night.”
- Coach J.B. Bickerstaff has a warning for the younger players on the Pistons — you’re about to step into a new dimension. They’re about to get a taste of postseason basketball, a totally different experience from regular season action. “It’s a completely different basketball game,” he said, per Keith Langlois of Pistons.com. “And until you’re in it, it’s hard to understand it. We’ve been through this before. At some point in time, we were all kids and didn’t listen to our parents, either, and didn’t figure it out until we experienced it on our own. That’s what the playoffs are. We can tell guys what to expect, but until we experience it you don’t understand just how different it is from an intensity standpoint, from the execution of schemes, the importance of possession-by-possession basketball.”
- The Pacers enter the playoffs as the No. 4 seed with a home-court advantage over Milwaukee in the first round. They made a surprise run to the conference finals last season. Expectations are different this time around, Dustin Dopirak of the Indianapolis Star writes. “I think even last year we were just satisfied with being in the playoffs,” guard Tyrese Haliburton said. “Everything from there was kinda playing with house money to be honest with you. This year I think we have real expectations to do something special as a group and when I say something special, I mean a championship. That’s definitely an expectation we’ve had since the start of the year. That doesn’t change.”
Warriors Notes: Butler, Curry, Layoff, Odds, Kuminga
Jimmy Butler took full advantage of the Grizzlies’ decision to use center Zach Edey as the primary defender on him during Tuesday’s play-in game. Butler feasted on the matchup, erupting for 38 points on 12-for-20 shooting, seven rebounds, six assists and three steals in the Warriors’ 121-116 victory.
“He just told me: ‘I don’t care who guards me. Just give me space. Give me the ball. I’ll make something happen,’” coach Steve Kerr said. “And that’s the beauty of Jimmy.”
Butler had more room to shoot from the perimeter but instead chose to attack the basket. Only two of his buckets were three-pointers.
“I’d rather drive into the paint,” Butler said, per Anthony Slater of The Athletic. “Get me a layup, a middy or pass the ball to somebody that’s probably a much better shooter than I am. I think you and probably everybody else want me to shoot more threes. But I like shooting some layups.”
We have more on the Warriors:
- Stephen Curry racked up 37 points on Tuesday. He scored 15 of those points in the final 7:02 as the Warriors clinched the No. 7 seed. They’ll face the Rockets in the next round. “It’s just a reminder that it’s not guaranteed,” Curry said, per ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk. “I don’t care how talented you are. You look around the league, you could argue more talented teams that we have that are on the outside looking in. So you appreciate the moments. That’s why we have been talking for the last two months [about] how important it is to play meaningful games. And now we have a series that’s going to be full of meaningful games.”
- The Warriors have essentially been in playoff mode since the All-Star break. They’ll now get a little time off before the series opener in Houston on Sunday night. “We desperately needed to win this game and get four days [off],” Kerr said. “Our guys have basically been playing knockout games for about three weeks. One high-level game after another. So to get this one, it took 83 games, but we are right where we want to be. Which is back in the playoffs and we got a chance.”
- Forget the seedings. The Warriors are a -220 favorite on Bet MGM’s Sportsbook to win their first-round series vs. the Rockets, Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press tweets.
- Jonathan Kuminga didn’t get off the bench in the play-in game. Draymond Green expects Kuminga to play a role against the Rockets in the first round, Slater tweets. “He’ll contribute (in the Houston series)…The challenge for him is to stay mentally engaged,” Green said. Kuminga will be a restricted free agent this summer.
Florida’s Condon To Enter Draft While Maintaining NCAA Eligibility
Florida big man and potential first-round pick Alex Condon is declaring for the draft but will leave open the possibility of returning to college next season, Jonathan Givony of ESPN reports.
Condon is ranked as the No. 29 prospect in ESPN’s projections but he’ll maintain his college eligibility as he prepares for the draft. The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie has the 6’11” Condon coming off the board with the No. 37 pick in his latest mock draft.
Condon was named third-team All-SEC after averaging 10.6 points, 7.5 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.3 blocks per game in 24.9 minutes for the national champions. The Australian-born prospect didn’t start playing serious organized basketball until he was 16, so there’s room to grow his skills.
He wants assurances he’ll go in the first round — otherwise, he’ll try to help the Gators repeat.
“There’s no way I could go to any other school,” Condon told Givony. “If I have confirmation from NBA teams that I’m in the 15-30 range, if something is guaranteed, I will consider keeping my name in. I have a great situation at Florida. It would have to be something pretty special, my family would have to agree that we can’t turn that down.”
Givony notes that Condon was a significant conduit in Florida’s ball-screen offense with his ability to be a play-maker out of dribble handoffs. He displayed superior ability as a passer and off-the-ball defender, plus a high motor.
“We play through the bigs at Florida,” Condon said. “My job is to get the ball to our guards, and then crush the glass. My defense is NBA-ready. I already know how to switch ball-screens and stay in front of smaller guards, which you need to do in the NBA. I still have a lot of room for improvement, especially offensively. Most guys have been playing a lot longer than me. The next thing I need to tap into is my shooting. I shoot very well in drills but need to transfer that to games. If I come back to school, I will shoot it with more confidence.”
Poll: Who Will Win Wednesday’s Play-In Games?
When the 2024/25 season began, the Mavericks were coming off a 50-win year and an appearance in the NBA Finals. The Kings were coming off a 46-win campaign and had added DeMar DeRozan in free agency. Dallas had championship aspirations, while Sacramento felt good about its chances of making it back to the playoffs after being eliminated in the play-in tournament last spring.
But neither team’s season played out as hoped. The Mavericks’ shocking decision to trade Luka Doncic caused a fan revolt, but it was really the team’s health issues that sunk its hopes of contending for a title. Big men Dereck Lively, Daniel Gafford, and newly acquired Anthony Davis all missed significant time in the second half of the season due to injuries, while a torn ACL ended Kyrie Irving‘s season in early March.
Even without Doncic, a fully healthy version of this Mavericks team could’ve been a force to be reckoned with in the postseason. But losing Irving cost Dallas its top ball-handler and play-maker, forcing the team to lean heavily on guards like Spencer Dinwiddie and Brandon Williams and significantly lowering its ceiling.
While the Irving-less Mavs are unlikely to win a title this year, that doesn’t mean they can’t win a play-in game. They’ll visit Sacramento on Wednesday as the No. 10 seed in the West and will face a No. 9 Kings team whose season didn’t go much better than Dallas’ did.
Acclimating DeRozan didn’t go as smoothly as hoped and the Kings fell well below .500 two months into the season, leading to the ouster of head coach Mike Brown. Interim head coach Doug Christie helped turn things around in the short term, but just a few weeks later, word broke that the team was looking to trade De’Aaron Fox — he was ultimately sent to San Antonio.
While the Kings’ trade of its star point guard wasn’t nearly as controversial as the Mavericks’, it didn’t exactly kick-start a memorable second half. Zach LaVine, the centerpiece of Sacramento’s return in that three-team blockbuster, wasn’t an ideal fit — the team had a -3.8 net rating during his 1,170 minutes on the court, and his 119.9 defensive rating was easily the worst mark among the team’s rotation players.
Given the way the seasons have played out in Dallas and Sacramento, both teams have the profile of a one-and-done play-in team, but someone has to win on Wednesday and earn the right to face Memphis on Friday for the No. 8 seed in the West. For what it’s worth, oddsmakers favor the home team — the Kings are 4.5-point favorites, per BetOnline.ag.
Over in the East, a familiar matchup is on tap for Wednesday evening. If there’s such a thing as a play-in rivalry, Bulls vs. Heat qualifies. Miami defeated Chicago in the win-or-go-home play-in game for the No. 8 seed in 2023 and again in 2024. The two teams will square off in a single-elimination matchup for a third straight year, though this time it’s just for the right to stay alive and face Atlanta for the No. 8 seed on Friday.
Like Dallas and Sacramento, both the Bulls and Heat traded away star players this season, though those situations played out in very different ways.
LaVine, who had been on the trade block for multiple seasons, was a model citizen in Chicago and was enjoying a nice individual bounce-back season, though it wasn’t translating to team success — at the time he was dealt to Sacramento, the Bulls were just 21-29. And in the immediate wake of the trade, things didn’t improve — Chicago lost six of its next seven games to fall to 22-35 and appeared ticketed for the lottery.
Unexpectedly, though, the team suddenly began showing signs of life, led by breakout star Coby White and buoyed by trade-deadline additions like Tre Jones, Kevin Huerter, and Zach Collins. From March 6 onward, the Bulls improbably won 15 of their last 20 games and ranked in the top 10 in the NBA in both offense and defense.
The Heat’s season followed almost the opposite trajectory. Their star, Jimmy Butler, was disruptive and did all he could to publicize the fact that he had no interest in continuing his career in Miami, earning multiple team-imposed suspensions leading up to the trade deadline. But the team held its own amid the drama and was actually above .500 (25-24) on the day Butler was sent to Golden State.
Even though Butler hadn’t actually been playing much for the Heat for weeks, his departure kicked off an ugly downturn for the club, which wrapped up its season by going just 12-21 after the trade deadline. That stretch was salvaged to some extent by a six-game winning streak in late March and early April, but was otherwise pretty brutal — no playoff or play-in team had a worst post-deadline record than Miami, and a handful of lottery teams (Phoenix, Portland, and Toronto) were better.
Despite those late-season results, the Bulls are favored by just one point over Miami on Wednesday, according to BetOnline, with oddsmakers perhaps respecting the Heat’s wins over Chicago in each of the past two play-in tournaments.
We want to know what you think. Are you taking the favorites and picking the Kings and Bulls on Wednesday, or do you expect to see at least one upset in the No. 9 vs. 10 games? Which teams will keep their seasons alive and which ones are headed home?
Vote in our poll and head to the comment section below to share your thoughts and predictions.
Which teams will win Wednesday's play-in games?
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Sacramento Kings and Chicago Bulls 42% (245)
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Sacramento Kings and Miami Heat 25% (144)
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Dallas Mavericks and Chicago Bulls 21% (120)
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Dallas Mavericks and Miami Heat 13% (73)
Total votes: 582
Knicks Notes: Rotation, McBride, Robinson, Towns, Bridges, Brunson, Toughness
How low will coach Tom Thibodeau go? In this instance, we’re talking about his rotation.
Thibodeau sliced his rotation to eight players in last year’s playoffs, then cut it to seven when injuries struck. The New York Post’s Stefan Bondy anticipates that Thibodeau will rely heavily on his starting unit once again in the opening-round series against Detroit.
Miles McBride and Mitchell Robinson appear to be the only locks to get steady playing time off the bench. Landry Shamet, Cameron Payne and Precious Achiuwa are the other reserves who could be called upon but it’s likely only one will get rotation minutes, according to Bondy, who recommends that the hot-shooting Shamet should be the choice.
Here’s more Knicks news:
- It’ll be the first postseason with the Knicks for Karl-Anthony Towns and Mikal Bridges, the front office’s two major acquisitions to become a championship-level team. The pressure will be on that duo to produce, Mike Vaccaro of the New York Post opines. “I think for me and Mikal, we just wanted to show our value to the team,” Towns said. “And I think that throughout the year, we’ve had the opportunity to do that, to our fans and our teammates and our coaching staff.”
- Jalen Brunson, who returned from an ankle injury this month to play four games, says that past playoff experiences will help the club navigate this postseason, Peter Botte of the New York Post writes. “I think for us, it’s, like any other season, it’s a roller coaster every year, there’s gonna be ups and downs, and it’s all about how you manage it,” Brunson said. “But now that the regular season’s over, it’s all about how we can move on and be better the next day. I know it’s a term that people don’t like to hear, but we learn from what we did in the past, good and bad, and move on and get better. That’s the name of the game at this stage of the season. … So we’re just focused. We still got a long way to go with preparation, still got a long way to go making sure we’re ready to go for Saturday. We’ll be ready.”
- The talent is there but are the Knicks tough enough to make it past the physical Pistons and other potential opponents? Newsday’s Steve Popper explores that topic in a subscriber-only story.
Central Notes: Giddey, Ball, Jones, Buzelis, Pistons, Sims
Bulls guard Josh Giddey is dealing with a muscle issue on the side of his hand but he’s expected to suit up for the play-in game against Miami on Wednesday, K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Sports Network reports.
“It’s just about managing the pain,” Giddey said, adding that the injury will be addressed in the offseason (Twitter links).
Giddey can’t imagine watching Wednesday’s game in street clothes.
“I’m good to go,” he said, per Julia Poe of the Chicago Tribune. “Play-in game, must-win game, there’s not way I’m going to sit out.”
Lonzo Ball (wrist) and Tre Jones (foot) won’t play.
We have more from the Central Division:
- Bulls rookie Matas Buzelis plans to play for the Lithuanian national team, but he’s unsure about representing his country this offseason. “I’m not sure that I will come this summer. We have problems with the coaches,” he told Johnny Askounis of Eurohoops.net, referring to controversial comments by an assistant coach of the senior national team, Tomas Pacesas. “I have to talk to Jonas [Valanciunas], Domantas [Sabonis] and see what they will do.” Lithuania will participate in the EuroBasket tournament this summer. Sabonis is expected to sit out for personal reasons, while Valanciunas is expected to play.
- The Pistons apparently don’t want Little Caesars Arena to have a large continent of Knicks fans during the first round of the playoffs, Stefan Bondy of the New York Post writes. Potential ticket buyers for upcoming playoff games in Detroit must produce a credit card with a mailing address “located in Michigan and in certain parts of Ohio, Indiana and Ontario, Canada,” according to Ticketmaster. However, a Pistons spokesman told Bondy that the restrictions are intended to target ticket brokers and reduce fraud.
- Bucks coach Doc Rivers is “pretty sure” reserve big man Jericho Sims will be available for their opening-round series against Indiana. Sims participated in a majority of Tuesday’s practice, Eric Nehm of The Athletic tweets. He hasn’t played since March 16 due to a thumb injury.
And-Ones: Clutch Player Award, NBA Europe, Award Picks, Oweh
The official candidates for Clutch Player of the Year have been revealed, NBA analyst Kevin O’Connor tweets. Here’s the list of candidates that voters can select for the award, as chosen by the league’s 30 head coaches:
- Anfernee Simons, Trail Blazers
- Anthony Edwards, Timberwolves
- Darius Garland, Cavaliers
- De’Aaron Fox, Spurs
- DeMar DeRozan, Kings
- Derrick White, Celtics
- Donovan Mitchell, Cavaliers
- Jaylen Brown, Celtics
- Jalen Brunson, Knicks
- Jayson Tatum, Celtics
- Kevin Durant, Suns
- Kyrie Irving, Mavericks
- LeBron James, Lakers
- Luka Doncic, Lakers
- Nikola Jokic, Nuggets
- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Thunder
- Stephen Curry, Warriors
- Trae Young, Hawks
- Tyler Herro, Heat
- Tyrese Maxey, Sixers
Curry won the award last year.
We have more from around the international basketball world:
- While the NBA is trying to establish a new league in Europe, NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum insists that the goal is not to replace the EuroLeague, Eurohoops relays via a Reuters interview. “Our goal is to create a commercially viable league that features high quality on -court competition and respects the rich tradition of European basketball. And we think that that will better serve fans and players on the continent,” Tatum said. He notes that there are major cities in Europe that don’t have a team where the NBA can establish roots. “There are big markets in Europe that aren’t being serviced today, where there are millions of basketball fans that aren’t being serviced,” he said. London, Paris, Berlin and Rome are among the candidates that NBA Europe considers as prime targets.
- The Athletic’s John Hollinger reveals his award picks. He has Gilgeous-Alexander atop his MVP list and the Rockets’ Amen Thompson as his Defensive Player of the Year. O’Connor, writing for Yahoo Sports, has the same duo winning those awards. They also both have Stephon Castle taking Rookie of the Year honors, Payton Pritchard atop their Sixth Man of the Year lists, and Kenny Atkinson as Coach of the Year.
- Kentucky junior guard Otega Oweh will test the draft waters, Jeff Goodman of Field of 68 tweets. Oweh averaged 16.2 points, 4.7 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.6 steals this past season. He played his first two seasons at Oklahoma.