Nikola Jokic

International Notes: Jokic, Bogdanovic, Valanciunas, Micic, Hayes-Davis, Biberovic

Serbian basketball federation president Nebojsa Covic is counting on having a full team for this year’s EuroBasket tournament, including Nuggets star Nikola Jokic and Clippers guard Bogdan Bogdanovic, according to a BasketNews report. The Serbians have never won the gold medal in the event, but they would be among the favorites if all their stars are available.

The event will take place from August 27 to September 14, which Covic believes will give everyone plenty of time to recover from the rigors of an NBA season.

“I expect us to have a complete squad. I think that those constant questions about Jokic playing can create an unhealthy environment. We are all working on having a complete squad ready,” he said. “NBA stars like Nikola Jokic and Bogdan Bogdanovic now have three months of rest after the seasons they had and that were very demanding.” 

Jokic was one of the stars of last year’s Summer Olympics in Paris as Serbia captured a bronze medal and narrowly missed defeating the United States in the semifinals. He has been representing his country in international competitions since 2013.

There’s more international news to pass along:

  • Kings center Jonas Valanciunas speculated about finishing his career in the EuroLeague as he attended the league’s Final Four in Abu Dhabi, BasketNews relays in a separate story. It won’t happen for a while, as Valanciunas has two years remaining on his current contract. “I want to play in the EuroLeague, I want it for this atmosphere,” he said in an interview with SPORT24. “I want to play basketball, I want to enjoy this atmosphere.” Valanciunas played four seasons in Lithuania before coming to the NBA in 2012.
  • Suns guard Vasilije Micic wants five million euros ($5.685MM) to play in Europe next season, according to Alessandro Maggi of Sportando. Phoenix holds an $8.1MM team option on Micic for 2025/26, but that’s likely to be declined because he barely played after being acquired from Charlotte in February. Micic has received interest from Hapoel Tel Aviv and Crvena Zvezda, but Maggi states that not many European teams can meet his salary demand.
  • After capturing the EuroLeague title over the weekend, Fenerbahce is preparing for the possible loss of Nigel Hayes-Davis and Tarik Biberovic to the NBA, per Aris Barkas of Eurohoops. Hayes-Davis, 30, had brief stints with three NBA teams during the 2017/18 season, while Biberovic, 24, is a draft-and-stash prospect who was selected by Memphis in the second round in 2023. “There is serious interest in Tarık and Nigel from the NBA,” Fenerbahce general manager Derya Yannier said. “I don’t know what will happen over there. These are factors that could actually weaken our hand and prolong the process during the summer. Even before they leave, it’s difficult to have a clear view in terms of budget and roster planning.”

Western Notes: Shannon, Murray, Hetzel, Jokic

Rookie Terrence Shannon Jr. has earned more playing time in the Western Conference Finals after his performance in Game 3, according to Timberwolves coach Chris Finch. Shannon delivered 15 points in 13 minutes as Minnesota blew out Oklahoma City, cutting the Thunder’s series lead to 2-1.

“I’ve been wrestling with getting another guy in the rotation,” Finch said, per Cassidy Hettesheimer of the Minneapolis Star Tribune. “A guy that could stretch the floor in transition, be a downhill player, got a good body, physicality. … We kind of knew coming into the game that we were going to get to him. You’re definitely going to see him more.”

We have more from the Western Conference:

  • Even though Keegan Murray took a step back in his third season, signing the Kings forward to a rookie scale extension would probably be a wise move this offseason, Spotrac contributor Keith Smith writes. Murray can play either forward spot and he could handle a bigger offensive role. A five-year contract in the $130-140MM range feels like the sweet spot for both parties, in Smith’s estimation.
  • Nets assistant Steve Hetzel is one of many candidates for the Suns’ head coaching job, a search that has moved into the next phase. Hetzel has also been an assistant with Detroit, Charlotte, Orlando and Portland and is known for his calm, unflappable demeanor, Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic writes.
  • Nikola Jokic needs to hold the Nuggets’ management more accountable if they want to keep him there, Mark Kiszla of the Denver Gazette writes. Jokic is eligible for a two-year extension this offseason but he ought to decline it and force ownership and the front office to improve the roster, in Kiszla’s view.

Nuggets Notes: Offseason, Jokic, Malone

The Nuggets are facing a crucial offseason as they look to keep building a championship team around star Nikola Jokic. Choosing the right general manager will be a critical first step, as they will have important roster decisions to make, but the decisions don’t end there.

Avoiding the second tax apron will likely be a priority for the Nuggets as they weigh roster moves, writes Bennett Durando of The Denver Post. The team let Kentavious Caldwell-Pope leave in free agency last summer to avoid the second apron, and Durando warns not to expect a change in that mentality this summer, especially with Aaron Gordon‘s and Jamal Murray‘s extensions set to kick in and Jokic becoming extension-eligible in July.

The Nuggets can aggregate salaries in a trade and have one future first-round pick available for deals, but their depth proved problematic throughout the year, making a two-for-one deal a dicey proposition.

Christian Braun and Peyton Watson are also extension-eligible. While Watson will likely be a wait-and-see candidate, Braun established himself as a solid starter in the league this year and was a top-five finisher in Most Improved Player voting this season. His extension candidacy will be an interesting case to monitor, according to Durando.

Russell Westbrook also has a player option this summer, and while his time on the floor proved an up-and-down experience, he helped provide stability at times, especially when Gordon missed games.

Durando identifies center depth, on-ball perimeter defense, and three-point shooting as the crucial areas to address this summer, and at least one of those issues could be solved by Denver’s reported interest in Ty Jerome, though Jerome’s rising price tag and the club’s lack of financial flexibility could make that a tricky match. Durando also poses the question of whether the Nuggets involving Murray or Michael Porter Jr. that would upgrade the roster.

We have more from the Nuggets:

  • Denver running it back would be a waste of Jokic’s prime, writes Troy Renck of the Denver Post. Renck argues that, while vice chairman Josh Kroenke said the right things during his press conference, relying on internal improvements won’t be enough to bring Denver back to contention. This is especially true given the injury issues that have popped up as the Nuggets’ core has aged.
  • Jokic’s season was ranked as the 10th-best year ever by a non-MVP winner by Frank Urbina of HoopsHype. He was the first non-guard to ever average a triple-double and willed an injured team lacking depth to the fourth seed in the Western Conference. He’s the only player in NBA history to put up a 29/12/10 stat line, Urbina adds. Coincidentally, Jokic’s 2022/23 season, in which he lost out on MVP to Joel Embiid, is ranked one spot behind this one, at 11th.
  • Former Nuggets head coach Michael Malone made a stir this week when he referred to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander the MVP before the award was announced. However, he took the time out to correct the record for ESPN. “I did vote for (Jokic) again this year, if I had a vote,” he said before Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals. “Want to make sure the people in Denver know that because, right now, I’m getting a lot of heat back home.” 

2024/25 All-NBA Teams Announced

The 2024/25 All-NBA teams have been officially announced by the league (Twitter link).

A total of 100 media members voted on the All-NBA teams, with First Team votes counting for five points, Second Team votes counting for three points, and Third Team votes counting for one point.

This year’s All-NBA teams are as follows:

First Team

Second Team

Third Team

The top four vote-getters, Antetounmpo, Gilgeous-Alexander, Jokic, and Tatum, were all unanimous selections to the First Team. James led the Second Team with 17 First Team votes, compared to Mitchell’s 61. Cunningham was the only member of the Third Team to receive First Team votes (six) — he also earned 10 more Second Team votes than the next closest vote-getter, as Towns had 40.

This announcement marks the first All-NBA selections for Cunningham, Mobley, and Williams, and – on the other side of the coin – the 21st consecutive selection for James. No other player in NBA history has been named to more than 15 All-NBA teams.

Curry set a franchise record with his 11th All-NBA selection. Edwards became just the fourth Timberwolves player to be named to multiple All-NBA teams, joining Kevin Garnett, Kevin Love, and Towns.

Other players who received votes, along with their respective point totals, were the RocketsAlperen Sengun (58), the GrizzliesJaren Jackson Jr. (55), the ClippersIvica Zubac (15), the CavaliersDarius Garland (6), the KingsDomantas Sabonis (4), the PacersPascal Siakam (4), the Heat‘s Bam Adebayo (3), the HawksTrae Young (3), and the SunsDevin Booker (2).

The Cavs, Knicks, and Thunder were the only teams to feature multiple All-NBA players. Both the Thunder and Knicks are currently playing in the conference finals for a shot at advancing to the NBA finals.

This is the second year that All-NBA teams have been positionless and have required players to meet a 65-game minimum to qualify for consideration.

Several players, starting with Cunningham, gained or lost eligibility for salary increases due to the All-NBA results. We have more details here.

International Notes: Bogdanovic, EuroLeague, Asia, Sarr

The No. 27 pick in the 2014 NBA draft, Bogdan Bogdanovic spent three more seasons playing in Europe before making the move stateside in 2017. The veteran swingman has been in the NBA since then, but told reporters at the EuroLeague Final Four this week that he could see himself playing overseas again before his career is over.

“I had that goal when I was leaving (for the NBA), but I’ll see how my health is later in my career,” Bogdanovic said, per Edvinas Jablonskis of BasketNews. “I want to come back, of course, but I have to stay healthy. … I miss it because I’m closer to my friends and family (in Europe). That’s what I miss most. Competition as well, but friends and family first, honestly.”

Bogdanovic, who finished the 2024/25 season with the Clippers following a midseason trade from Atlanta to Los Angeles, added that he’s looking forward to representing Serbia in EuroBasket 2025 and is “optimistic” that Nuggets star Nikola Jokic will participate in the tournament.

“I feel like we have a good opportunity (to win the gold). We can’t hide,” Bogdanovic said, according to Antonis Stroggylakis of Eurohoops. “That’s it. We’re going for gold. All those years we’re building something. It’s progress. A process. Hopefully, we’ll stay healthy and we show up healthy and ready to go.”

Here are a few more items of interest from around the international basketball world:

  • The EuroLeague is expected to expand from 18 to 20 teams beginning next season, according to reports from Donatas Urbonas of BasketNews and Alessandro Maggi of Sportando (Twitter link). Hapoel Tel Aviv, Dubai BC, and Valencia are the favorites to join the league next season, with ALBA Berlin exiting, according to Urbonas. In addition to working on expansion, EuroLeague officials are expected to meet with the NBA and FIBA next week about the NBA’s own European league.
  • What exactly is the Asian University Basketball League? Myron Medcalf of ESPN.com takes a closer look at the college basketball organization launching this summer in Asia and speaks to AUBL CEO Jay Li about his goal of finding and developing the next NBA star from the continent. “We are not just an Asian basketball league,” Li said. “We could be the centerpiece of youth talent development for the entire world when it comes to developing Asia’s next Yao Ming, Asia’s next Jeremy Lin.”
  • Dame Sarr, a 6’8″ wing from Italy, has committed to Duke for the 2025/26 season, he tells Jonathan Givony of ESPN. Sarr, who has spent the past two seasons playing for Barcelona in Spain, had a big game at last month’s Nike Hoop Summit, establishing himself as a potential 2026 first-round pick to watch. “My ultimate goal is to play in the NBA,” Sarr told ESPN. “There’s no better place to prepare you for that than Duke. For me to be as NBA-ready as possible, and become the best version of myself, I needed to have both experiences — playing for a pro team like Barcelona, and playing in a different type of professional environment like Duke against other players my age. Opportunity, minutes, repetition — this route is the best next step for me at this time.”

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Named 2024/25 MVP

Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has been named the NBA’s Most Valuable Player for the 2024/25 season, the league announced on Wednesday (Twitter link). Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link) first reported the news.

Gilgeous-Alexander and Nuggets center Nikola Jokic were the frontrunners for the award virtually all season, with Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo as the other finalist. While Jokic has three MVP awards and Antetokounmpo has won twice, this is a first for SGA, who was the runner-up to Jokic last year.

Gilgeous-Alexander led the NBA in scoring at 32.7 points per game as part of an overall excellent year. In 76 contests, he also averaged 6.4 assists, 5.0 rebounds, 1.7 steals and 1.0 block while shooting 51.9% from the field. Tim MacMahon of ESPN notes that the only other player to post similar numbers in a season was Michael Jordan, who did it while capturing MVP honors in 1987/88 and 1990/91.

On top of his individual brilliance, Gilgeous-Alexander likely won over some voters by leading Oklahoma City to the best record in the league at 68-14. MacMahon states that it’s the 10th time that a player has led the league in scoring for a team with at least 60 wins.

Gilgeous-Alexander won the award by a comfortable margin by earning 71 of 100 possible first-place votes and placing second on the other 29 ballots. However, Jokic made it a competitive race by claiming the remaining 29 first-place votes and earning the No. 2 spot from the other 71 voters. The Nuggets star turned in one of the most prolific seasons of his career, averaging a triple-double with 29.6 points, 12.7 rebounds and 10.2 assists in 70 games.

Jokic helped the Nuggets secure the fourth seed in the West, but they won 18 fewer games than the Thunder and were eliminated by OKC in a seven-game second-round series.

Antetokounmpo was outstanding again for a 48-win Bucks team, posting 30.4 points, 11.9 rebounds and 6.5 assists in 67 games, but he was considered a long shot to win the award. He claimed 88 third-place votes and showed up on all 100 ballots.

Celtics forward Jayson Tatum and Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell rounded out the top five, with Tatum earning 84 fourth-place votes and Mitchell coming in fifth on 60 ballots. Seven other players earned at least one fourth- or fifth-place vote: LeBron James, Cade Cunningham, Anthony Edwards, Stephen Curry, Jalen Brunson, James Harden, and Evan Mobley. The full voting results can be found here.

Gilgeous-Alexander is the third player in Thunder history to capture MVP honors, joining Kevin Durant in 2014 and Russell Westbrook in 2017.

As MacMahon notes, Gilgeous-Alexander has been an All-NBA selection the past two seasons, so he already met the qualifications for a historic four-year, $294MM extension this summer. The $73.3MM annual value would be the largest in NBA history.

The MVP award will make him eligible for a five-year, $380MM extension if he waits until 2026, according to Bobby Marks of ESPN (Twitter link).

NBA To Reveal MVP Winner This Evening

The NBA has kept the Most Valuable Player award announcement a secret for weeks. The speculation is over — this season’s MVP will be revealed tonight at 7 p.m. ET during the TNT broadcast, the league’s PR department tweets. The announcement will come prior to Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals.

Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, 26, is considered the strong favorite to win the award for the first time. He averaged a career-best 32.7 points, 5.0 rebounds, 6.4 assists, 1.7 steals and 1.0 blocks in 34.2 minutes per game while appearing in 76 games. This is SGA’s seventh NBA season.

Nikola Jokic and Giannis Antetokounmpo are the other finalists.

Jokic averaged a triple-double — 29.6 points, 12.7 rebounds and 10.2 assists per night — in his 10th season while appearing in 70 games. The Nuggets center has won the award in three of the last four seasons.

Antetokounmpo was named MVP in 2019 and 2020. In his 12th season, the Bucks forward posted averages of 30.4 points, 11.9 rebounds and 6.5 assists in 67 games.

No guard has won the award since 2018, when James Harden claimed the honor while playing for Houston.

Northwest Notes: Nuggets, Finch, Thunder, Wolves

There’s a chance that Game 7’s loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder will be the last game together for the Nuggets‘ core four of Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, Aaron Gordon, and Michael Porter Jr., writes Bennett Durando of the Denver Post. The quartet, which has played together since the Gordon was acquired via trade in 2022, is looking at a financial reality that might prove too onerous for ownership to bear, especially with the team unable to get past the second round since winning the title in 2023.

Asked after Game 7 whether the Nuggets could win a championship as currently constructed, Jokic said, “If we could, we will win it. So I don’t believe in the ‘if, if’ stuff. We had opportunity. We didn’t win it. So I think we can’t.”

The loss comes after the abrupt termination of general manager Calvin Booth and longtime head coach Michael Malone, both of whom were crucial architects of the championship identity, just weeks before the playoffs began. Interim head coach David Adelman ended up coaching nearly as many Game 7s as he did regular season games.

Murray and Gordon both have extensions about to kick in. Murray’s four-year deal is worth nearly $208MM, while Gordon’s is a three-year $109MM extension after he exercised his $22.84MM player option in the 2025/26 season.

While both are trade-eligible, they have been crucial pieces of the Nuggets’ success, with Murray providing scoring and play-making while Gordon has consistently been a big-shot maker and elite defender who has displayed a seamless connection with Jokic as a cutter and screener. That may leave Porter as the best chance the team has to address some of its roster holes while it still can, especially with Christian Braun‘s extension eligibility looming.

We have more from around the Northwest:

  • Whatever decisions the Nuggets are forced to make due to finances and a lack of repeated Finals runs will be made more difficult by the bonds that have developed over the years. One such relationship is between Porter and Gordon, who have become close friends and support pillars for each other, Marc J. Spears writes for Andscape. Gordon played this season after losing his older brother, Drew, and Porter was someone he could lean on in times of hardship. Gordon and Porter both fought through injuries that limited them in their series against the Thunder, to the point that Porter wondered if he made things worse by being out there. “I probably should’ve just let it heal for a few games and then try to come back,” he said. “That is just not the person I am.”
  • Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch‘s journey to back-to-back conference finals appearances began with a rejection from a Pennsylvania high school coaching gig, writes Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic. At the time, he was coaching basketball in England and desperate for a way home. That journey led him to the Rockets’ G League team, the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, which eventually led him to Minnesota, where, for the second time in three seasons, Finch had to figure out how to construct an identity around a team with a new All-Star. The results were tumultuous to start the season, with the team booed for a lackluster start amid discourse about whether newly-acquired star Julius Randle should be benched for Sixth Man of the Year Naz Reid, but Finch eventually found the right buttons to push for to his new-look team. “The validation I feel is for what we’re doing overall as a program,” he said.
  • Randle and Gobert struggled to find their footing early on together, but in the second round of the 2025 playoffs, the Timberwolves veterans showcased why they are such dangerous players and silenced criticism about their playoff histories, writes Mark Medina of Athlon Sports. “You’ve gotten a lot of disrespect your whole career,” Gobert said to Randle. “And so have I.” Finch, who was an assistant coach in New Orleans for Randle’s breakout year, says that finding the balance of Randle’s responsibilities was key to unlocking the team: “We, at different times of the season, gave him the message, ‘Hey we need you to score more. Hey, we need you to pass more.’ And sometimes it was the wrong message… So that was a lot of our early season growth with him.
  • The Thunder have some fascinating lineup choices to consider as they enter Tuesday’s Game 1 against the Wolves, says SI’s Rylan Stiles. After having gotten past Jokic, the team is likely to be less reliant on the two-big lineups featuring Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein against the athletic Randle and a more traditional center in Rudy Gobert. That, in turn, would allow the Thunder to bring more of their defensive-minded guards or wings into the lineup to try their hand at slowing down Anthony Edwards.

Thunder Notes: SGA, Williams, Caruso, Conference Finals

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the favorite to win this season’s MVP award, admitted that his stomach was churning prior to the Game 7 showdown with the Nuggets on Sunday afternoon. He sure didn’t play scared, pouring in 35 points as the Thunder rolled into the Western Conference Finals.

“I was nervous, to be honest,” Gilgeous-Alexander told Ramona Shelburne of ESPN. “Just knowing what was on the line. …To know if you don’t bring your A-game, it could all be over. But I think that nervousness motivated me.”

The Thunder in general showed some nerves in the early going but took control late in the first half.

“I think the nerves were natural,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “We actually shot horribly to start the game. But I knew we were getting really good looks, and if we just stuck with it, we would loosen up and the ball would find the basket. I never was worried about this, the way we started. Once I felt the flow of the game and we had the right intentions and the right energy, I knew it would turn around.”

Here’s more on the Thunder:

  • First-time All-Star Jalen Williams scored 17 of his 24 points in the pivotal second quarter and added seven assists, Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman notes. Williams bounced back from a Game 6 dud in which he shot 3-for-16 from the field. “Great force, especially early,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “It was definitely a conscious effort by him to use his speed and his power. He was on the gas from the jump (Sunday).”
  • Williams was fined $25K by the league for wearing clothing with profane language in his post-game media session on Sunday, NBA Communications tweets.
  • Daigneault used Alex Caruso as the primary defender on Nuggets star Nikola Jokic on Sunday, though Caruso got plenty of help from his teammates. Caruso gave up six inches in height and 100 pounds. The unconventional strategy worked as Jokic only took nine shots and committed five turnovers. “It’s a lot of hard work, obviously,” Caruso told Kelly Iko of The Athletic. “But he’s a difficult matchup because he does so many different things to get others involved and influence the game. Being relentless with my energy, the effort to make it tough on him. The guys around me did a good job of helping and swarming, because I’m not doing that on my own. Understanding the flow of the game, where you could be physical and where you can’t.”
  • Next up for the Thunder — the Timberwolves, who are making their second straight appearances in the conference finals. The subplot between the teams is the matchup of star guards SGA and Anthony Edwards. “My gut says OKC wins the series,” one scout told Sam Amick of The Athletic. “Their defensive coverages and schemes are so good. (They’re) closing up the paint and rotating out of scheme, then they have the best scorer in the game who has proven to come through when they need it.”
  • Daigneault believes the team has earned everything it has achieved. “We’re not perfect, but they’re just so easy to bet on. They’re great competitors, “ he said, per Joel Lorenzi of The Oklahoman. “They do things the right way, they’re professional, they’re inside the team. Everybody sacrifices for the team. Not everybody always gets what they deserve, but this team deserves these types of opportunities.”

And-Ones: Jokic, Malone, Spending Power, Jordan, Uniforms

After Sunday’s lopsided Game 7 loss to Oklahoma City, Nuggets superstar Nikola Jokic was asked whether or not he intends to suit up for Serbia at the EuroBasket tournament this summer, as Johnny Askounis of Eurohoops relays. Jokic helped the Serbian national team win a bronze medal at the 2024 Olympics in Paris.

I think the Olympics made me even better. Playing for your country, with other rules, with different players,” he said. “I need to decide. … I need to talk with the coaches and some of the main players. And we will see. But for now, for the next couple of days, there will be a lot of beer probably.”

Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

  • Michael Malone, the former head coach of the Nuggets who was fired with three games left in the regular season, is joining ESPN for its coverage of the Western Conference Finals, according to The Associated Press. The series tips off on Tuesday, with top-seeded Oklahoma City hosting Minnesota. Malone will be featured on both the pregame and halftime shows.
  • Which NBA teams will have the most spending power this offseason? Which will have the least? Danny Leroux of The Athletic breaks each team into categories, with the Nets having by far the most projected cap space at $58MM. The Spurs are among the group who project to have access to the full (aka non-taxpayer) mid-level exception, the Pacers could have the taxpayer MLE, and the Cavaliers are expected to be over the second tax apron. Leroux also gives a brief rundown of the types of moves each club could consider with respect to their financial situation.
  • A uniform worn by Bulls legend Michael Jordan during the 1992/93 season was recently sold at auction for $2.6MM, per Dan Hajducky of ESPN.com. Jordan, who wore the red uniform during road games, led the league in scoring for the seventh straight time and led Chicago to its third consecutive title in ’92/93. The former Hornets owner is joining NBC Sports as a special contributor when the NBA returns to the network this fall.
  • The NBA has informed teams that city edition uniforms will not be worn during the conference finals or finals, a league source tell Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star (Twitter link). The city edition uniforms were evidently only permitted for the first two rounds of the playoffs. Indiana faces New York in the Eastern final.