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Pacers Notes: McConnell, Haliburton, Tax, Turner, Bradley, Sheppard

May 25th, 2025 at 5:32pm CST by Dana Gauruder

T.J. McConnell continues to be an annoying pest against the Knicks during the postseason. McConnell has scored 10 points in each of the first two games of the Eastern Conference Finals despite limited playing time.

“It’s kind of defined T.J.’s 10-year career in the NBA,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said, per Peter Botte of the New York Post. “He’s done a great job throughout the playoffs of playing his game and not allowing some difficult situations to deter him from keeping his focus on what he needs to do to help the team. So I thought he was a real key [to the first two games], and we’re gonna need the same effort from everybody when we go home.”

McConnell averaged 11.9 points and 6.0 assists in 20.6 minutes per game in last season’s conference semifinals series against New York. Game 3 is tonight.

We have more on the Pacers:

  • Tyrese Haliburton enjoys not only being a team leader and clutch performer but also an agitator, Grant Afseth writes in a column for Ballislife.com. Afseth notes that Haliburton, who was voted in an anonymous players’ poll early this season as the league’s most overrated player, is averaging 25.0 points, 8.3 assists, and 5.3 rebounds while shooting 52.9 percent from the floor in closeout games during his career.
  • Indiana’s success has led the team’s ownership group to embrace the possibility of paying luxury taxes, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst reports. Ownership has indicated a willingness to increase spending next season and potentially pay a luxury tax fee to keep this core together. That’s a signal that the Pacers will do all they can to re-sign big man Myles Turner, who is headed to unrestricted free agency. Internally, they’re hoping to bring back Turner while retaining their impressive depth.
  • Tony Bradley, who logged just 113 total minutes during the regular season, grabbed a couple of crucial rebounds in an eight-minute stint in Game 2. “Tony Bradley hasn’t played in the series, but he’s one of our better rebounders,” Carlisle said “We elected to go with him to spell Myles a little bit. We’re a team that needs everybody. That’s how we’ve got to play.” Indiana holds a $2.94MM club option on Bradley’s contract for next season.
  • Ben Sheppard has played 20 turnover-free minutes in the series. “Another guy who can bring a different dimension,” Carlisle said during Sunday’s pregame press conference, per Dustin Dopirak of the Indianapolis Star (Twitter link). “He always goes hard … From a game plan standpoint, he always stays with what we’re trying to do.”
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2024/25 All-NBA Teams Announced

May 23rd, 2025 at 6:09pm CST by Eli Cohen

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 Rockets‘ Alperen Sengun (58), the Grizzlies‘ Jaren Jackson Jr. (55), the Clippers‘ Ivica Zubac (15), the Cavaliers‘ Darius Garland (6), the Kings‘ Domantas Sabonis (4), the Pacers‘ Pascal Siakam (4), the Heat‘s Bam Adebayo (3), the Hawks‘ Trae Young (3), and the Suns‘ Devin 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.

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Central Notes: Haliburton, Nesmith, Giannis, Sasser

May 23rd, 2025 at 11:44am CST by Luke Adams

On the night that he was traded from Sacramento to Indiana in February 2022, Tyrese Haliburton went out for dinner with his new head coach Rick Carlisle, who outlined the Pacers‘ plan to have him run their offense, writes Jamal Collier of ESPN. Since then, Indiana has made an increased effort to complement Haliburton with players who will fit into his up-tempo playing style, notes Joe Vardon of The Athletic.

“As we’ve put this group together around Tyrese, we’ve had to make adjustments to develop a style that was effective for us,” Carlisle said. “It’s a difficult style, you know, it’s demanding, physically demanding, takes a tremendous amount of wherewithal as an athlete and then you got to be super unselfish.”

Nearly two years after acquiring Haliburton, the Pacers traded for Pascal Siakam, a three-time All-Star and two-time All-NBA forward who has a championship on his résumé. But Haliburton is still Indiana’s leader and the player the team trusts to take big shots with the game on the line, as he has done multiple times throughout this postseason.

“My group wants me to take those shots,” Haliburton said, per Collier. “My coaching staff wants me to take those shots. Our organization wants me to take those shots. I think now we’re at the point where our fans want me to take that shot. Everybody’s living and dying with it at that point. That gives me a lot of confidence.”

Here’s more from around the Central:

  • Shakeia Taylor and Jay King of The Athletic spoke to Aaron Nesmith‘s high school coach, John “JP” Pearson, about one of the heroes of Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals, whose 8-of-9 performance from beyond the arc helped the Pacers steal a win in New York. “I’m over there telling him, ‘I’m not quite sure what I just saw, Aaron,'” Pearson said of a phone call he had with Nesmith late on Wednesday night. “And Aaron was like, ‘Yeah, we won the game.’ And I told him, ‘No, Aaron, I was living when Reggie Miller did all that and it’s being compared right now.’ And he goes, ‘I don’t think I was born.'”
  • While there has been no indication at this point that Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo plans to request a trade, multiple agents who spoke to Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report at the draft combine think it will happen. With that in mind, Pincus explores the top five most logical landing spots for Antetokounmpo in the event of a deal, identifying San Antonio, Houston, Brooklyn, Atlanta, and Oklahoma City as the best fits.
  • Marcus Sasser saw his minutes cut back in his second NBA season, but that was more about the Pistons‘ increased depth than any sort of decline in the second-year guard’s production, writes Keith Langlois of Pistons.com. Detroit will have to make a decision by October 31 on whether to exercise Sasser’s $5.2MM team option for 2026/27. Assuming that option is picked up, he’d become extension-eligible during the 2026 offseason.
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Pacers Notes: Haliburton, Nesmith, Comebacks

May 22nd, 2025 at 8:23pm CST by Rory Maher

Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton reenacted Reggie Miller‘s infamous “choke” gesture when his high-bouncing jump shot tied Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals at the end of regulation, writes Ramona Shelburne of ESPN. Haliburton thought he had won the game, but his foot was on the three-point line with Indiana down two points. The Pacers ultimately completed their historic comeback in overtime.

Haliburton said he has watched the “Winning Time” documentary featuring Miller and film director and Knicks fan Spike Lee “probably 50 times” growing up. Miller was courtside for Game 1 as an analyst for TNT.

“That’s just a historic moment,” Haliburton said after the game. “Obviously him versus Spike, kind of the one-on-one. I felt like [my gesture] was kind of to everybody. But to [Miller], too. I wanted him to see it more than anything.”

Here’s more on the Pacers:

  • Head coach Rick Carlisle had no issue with Haliburton’s celebration, per Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter video link). “Players can do what they want. It’s an emotional thing. It’s not a big deal,” Carlisle said. “… Tyrese has earned the right to do whatever he wants.”
  • Although Haliburton was the one who made the gesture, forward Aaron Nesmith was the Pacer who best embodied Miller’s past heroics during the furious late-game rally, as Jared Schwartz of The New York Post relays. Nesmith scored 20 of his 30 points in the last five minutes of regulation, going 6-of-6 from long distance and making both of his free throws. “It’s unreal, it’s probably the best feeling in the world,” Nesmith said. “I love it, when that basket feels like an ocean, anything you toss up, it feels like it’s gonna go in. It’s just so much fun. Didn’t really realize what I was doing in the moment. Just trying to win a basketball game.”
  • Comebacks have been a hallmark of the Pacers’ 2025 playoff run, according to Shakeia Taylor of The Athletic, who takes a closer look at how Indiana has clawed its way back into multiple games that seemed out of reach. The Pacers have now won three games this postseason when trailing by seven or more points in the final minute of regulation or overtime, something only one other team has accomplished since 1998 in a huge sample size (4-1,640). “We’ve had a lot of these games this year,” Carlisle said. “We’ve probably had a dozen of them throughout the season. A lot of the games early, where we were struggling, were games we had to pull out … it’s a muscle. The more you exercise it, the stronger it gets. It’s not easy. It’s not easy.“
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Pacers Notes: Nesmith, Haliburton, Carlisle, EC Finals

May 21st, 2025 at 7:00pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Pacers wing Aaron Nesmith could be a decisive X-factor in a second consecutive Eastern Conference Finals appearance for Indiana, writes John Hollinger of The Athletic.

Nesmith has thrived as a three-and-D role player across his past two seasons. In 2024/25, the 25-year-old’s shooting efficiency reached new heights as he he qualified for the league’s “50-40-90” club. The Vanderbilt alum converted 50.7% of his field goals, 41.3% of his three-pointers, and 91.7% of his free throws.

Across his first 10 playoff contests this spring, Nesmith has logged a 67.2% true shooting percentage and a 17.3 PER. What makes his offensive contributions all the more valuable is that he’s also bringing it on the other end of the hardwood, often defending the opposition’s best player. During Indiana’s five-game second round series victory over Cleveland, he frequently covered six-time All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell. Hollinger expects Nesmith to defend All-Stars Jalen Brunson, a guard, or Karl-Anthony Towns, a center.

“It really was just finding my role here,” Nesmith said. “Energy, effort, defense, making open shots, that’s what we needed from me in order to win games. Every year, I’ve just gotten a little better at the little things.”

Hollinger believes Nesmith is in line for a massive new contract when his current deal expires in 2027. At present, the 6’5″ pro is making $11MM annually.

There’s more out of Indiana:

  • Pacers All-Star guard Tyrese Haliburton is embracing his role as a foil for New York in the team’s impending Conference Finals series, a rematch of last year’s second round clash, writes Peter Botte of The New York Post. Indiana won that series in seven games, as the Knicks were affected by injuries to critical rotation players. “For sure, it’s a lot of fun, man,” Haliburton said. “I think last year the series was a lot of fun, back and forth, it felt like nobody could win two in a row until we were able to do it [in Games 6 and 7].” In last year’s series, the 2024 All-NBA honoree notched averages 21.3 PPG and 7.0 APG.
  • Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle has quietly made the club one of the league’s top offenses across the past two seasons. Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star (subscriber link) unpacks how Carlisle went about defining Indiana’s unique offensive identity. Although Carlisle does have a playbook with set plays, the team generally leans on a somewhat improvisational flow, predicated on a motion system. Indiana’s 123.3 points per game in 2023/24 was the sixth-best scoring rate in NBA history, while their 117.4 points per game this year was a bit more pedestrian, ranking seventh in the league this season. “He trusts the offense and us,” Aaron Nesmith said of Carlisle’ approach. “We have such great offensive players on our team I think we just are able to read the game. We’re pretty friendly off the court and it translates on the court as well.”
  • The Pacers are hardly satisfied with their second Eastern Conference Finals appearance in as many seasons, writes Dopirak in another piece. “It feels good but I think we’re greedy at the end of the day,” forward Pascal Siakam said. “We feel like we’ve been here before. Last year, we could’ve been like, ‘Man, this is the first time in a while.’ (Now) we’ve just been here last year. For us, that focus has to shift. We have to be wanting more.”
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Pacers Notes: Haliburton, Carlisle, Technicals, Turner

May 10th, 2025 at 6:15pm CST by Arthur Hill

Tyrese Haliburton, who didn’t speak with reporters after the Pacers‘ Game 3 loss to Cleveland on Friday, explained that it was a team decision to not make him available, writes Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star. Haliburton suffered through a subpar night, finishing with four points and five assists while shooting 2-of-8 from the field. Meeting with the media after Saturday’s film session, Haliburton stated that he’s always willing to be accountable no matter how he plays.

“I don’t run away from any questions. I went through harder times than last night,” he said. “Whatever you have to ask, I’ll be there. If there’s commentary around me not talking last night, people are more than allowed to approach me and have a conversation with me about it. I can’t control everything, but I don’t run from anything. If you have questions to ask, I’m right here.”

Dopirak notes that the Cavaliers made a concerted effort to control Haliburton after dropping the first two games of the series. Max Strus drew the main defensive assignment, but everyone who defended Haliburton face-guarded him and didn’t give him much room to operate. Cleveland also unveiled a 3-2 zone with Defensive Player of the Year Evan Mobley at the top to contest shooters. Haliburton had four of his shots blocked on Friday, with Mobley getting two of them.

“It’s an interesting dynamic, right?” Haliburton said. “A lot of teams don’t play a 3-2 and they don’t play with a seven-footer at the top. We just have to figure out how to go at it. We walked over some stuff and we saw some stuff through the course of the game that we feel comfortable with.”

There’s more from Indiana:

  • The Cavs made an early statement on Friday by scoring the first 11 points of the game and then finishing the first half on a 25-4 run, per Shakeia Taylor of The Athletic. Coach Rick Carlisle said his team has to do a better job of being ready to compete from the opening tip. “This is a very poor effort at the beginning of the game, through too many parts of the game. We all own it pretty clearly,” Carlisle said. “I didn’t have these guys ready for this, so I take responsibility for that. Ty had a rough game. I got to do more to get him involved, get him shots, get him in better positions to defend better, all those kinds of things.”
  • The Pacers were whistled for five technical fouls in the loss, but Carlisle refused to blame the referees for anything that happened, Taylor adds. “This wasn’t on the officials,” he said. “This is us not playing with enough presence, posture, disposition, whatever you want to call it. We’ve got to fix it. We’ve got 48 hours to do it. Playoff series are long, lots of ups and downs, lots of new storylines every game. From the standpoint of this game, the storyline is, we got to fight harder. We didn’t fight hard enough. They did. They outfought us.”
  • Myles Turner made a brief trip to the locker room after tweaking his ankle in the third quarter, but he was able to resume playing and expects to be ready for Sunday’s Game 4, Dopirak states in a separate story. “I’m fine,” Turner said. “Stuff happens. It’s the playoffs. It was a little tweak. You tape it up and you’re good to go.”
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And-Ones: Wright, Rookie Extensions, All-Interview Team, More

May 10th, 2025 at 3:55pm CST by Luke Adams

Former Colorado guard McKinley Wright IV, who appeared in 32 NBA regular season games for Minnesota and Dallas from 2021-23, has been named the Most Valuable Player for the ABA League (formerly known as the Adriatic League) in Europe.

Wright has spent the last two seasons playing for KK Buducnost and led the Montenegrin team to a 26-4 record and a No. 1 seed in ABA competition this season. The 26-year-old, known as a solid perimeter defender, averaged team bests of 12.8 points and 4.9 assists in 22.5 minutes per game, with an excellent shooting line of .545/.370/.848.

Wright now has the honor of sharing a career accomplishment with future Hall of Famer Nikola Jokic, who was named the MVP of the ABA League in 2014/15, his age-20 season, when he played for Mega Basket in Serbia.

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

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Pacers Notes: Haliburton, Celebration, Turner, Depth

May 9th, 2025 at 11:06am CST by Rory Maher

Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton expected to be fined for his celebration after making a game-winning three-pointer on Tuesday in Cleveland (YouTube link), but instead he received a warning from the NBA, reports Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press.

“I’ve been waiting for that. I’ve been waiting for that, man,” Haliburton said after Game 2, when asked about the celebration and if he expected to hear from the league. “It was just right in the moment. It was right in the moment. Yeah, man, I’ve been waiting for that. I’ll take that fine, gladly.”

As Reynold notes, Haliburton anticipated a fine because the celebration he used has resulted in several financial penalties in the past for what the league has referred to as an “obscene gesture.”

Here’s more on the Pacers, who hold a 2-0 lead on the top-seeded Cavaliers heading into Friday’s Game 3:

  • Haliburton has been bothered by a sore left wrist recently, which is why he wore wore a wrap during Game 2 and at Thursday’s practice. However, he said he’ll be ready for tonight’s home game, per Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star. “I’m fine,” Haliburton said. “I’ll be fine for the game. I’m all good.”
  • In an interview with Mark Medina of RG.org, Haliburton’s trainer, Drew Hanlen, pushed back on the idea that his client is overrated — the 25-year-old point guard was voted the NBA’s most overrated player by an anonymous poll of 90 players last month. “We clearly know that Tyrese is not overrated,” Hanlen said. “He’s the best passer and play-maker in the NBA. He’s one of the best guards in the NBA. And he impacts winning at a high level. There is proof of that. He led his team to the Eastern Conference Finals last year. This year, they already have won a series and they’re up 2-0. One of the big things that we talk about with all my athletes is, ‘It doesn’t really matter what is said. It matters what is done.’ The proof is in the results. We always talk about results being the only thing that matters. He’s got a ton of great results. We don’t really care about an anonymous poll where no one has laid their opinions out on the line.”
  • Center Myles Turner is in his 10th season with Indiana and will be an unrestricted free agent this summer. In an interesting article for the Players’ Tribune, Turner wrote about his NBA journey, including being involved in trade rumors for several years, and his relationships with head coach Rick Carlisle and Haliburton, among other topics.
  • While most NBA teams shorten their rotations in the playoffs, the opposite has been true of the Pacers, who have extended their rotation to 11 players instead of their typical 10, Dopirak writes for The Indianapolis Star. Indiana’s depth and up-tempo playing style has worn down its opponents late in games, leading to a couple of dramatic comebacks. “It’s playing to exhaustion,” backup guard T.J. McConnell said. “That tires other guys out. Our depth, if all of us are able to do that, it’s hard to play against us for 48 minutes. We press all year to get ready for a series like this in the playoffs. We just gotta continue to play extremely hard on both ends of the floor.”
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Central Notes: Haliburton, Nembhard, Cavs, Pistons, Bulls

May 7th, 2025 at 1:40pm CST by Luke Adams

One week after ending the Bucks’ season with a series-winning shot in the final seconds of Game 5, Pacers point guard Tyrese Haliburton played the hero again on Tuesday vs. Cleveland. Haliburton’s three-pointer with 1.1 seconds left on the clock completed an improbable comeback for the Pacers, who were down by seven points with 50 seconds to play and now have a 2-0 series lead as they head back home.

“He enjoys the moments,” teammate Myles Turner said, per Jamal Collier of ESPN. “He wants the ball in his hands. There’s a lot of guys I’ve seen, even guys I’ve played with, that doesn’t necessarily want to take that shot or doesn’t necessarily want to be in the mix right there, but he relishes in those moments. It’s just a testament as to his work ethic, his mental toughness, his mentality. Quite frankly — that boy cold, man.”

As Jared Weiss of The Athletic writes, Haliburton has always taken pride in his mental toughness and has made a habit of reading his mentions on social media when he’s not playing well, using criticism from online trolls as fuel to start playing better. However, the Pacers star recently admitted that he hit a low point last fall when he was dwelling on a slow start to the 2024/25 season that included a scoreless outing vs. New York.

“I (was) struggling to look at myself in the mirror. I’m struggling to show up to work and get to the gym. I’m trying to avoid coming to work,” said Haliburton, adding that he stopped seeking out the online criticism that typically motivated him. “… I didn’t want to tackle things head-on. I didn’t want to look at myself in the mirror. I was just trying to almost run from the spotlight. I’ve always been a guy who pushed into that, and I love being in that, so it was a weird feeling. I’ve never felt that insecurity before, and that was a reality check for me.”

According to Haliburton, who told Weiss he has gone to therapy for the last couple years, a candid conversation with trainer Drew Hanlen helped get him back on the right track and he started feeling more like himself after putting up 35 points and 14 assists in a revenge game vs. the Knicks a few weeks into the season.

Haliburton added that good conversations and strong relationships with fellow NBA stars like Joel Embiid and Jayson Tatum have helped keep him in the right headspace and ensured he was unfazed when he was voted the NBA’s most overrated player last month in a player poll conducted by The Athletic.

“At some point, worrying about what my peers think only holds so much weight. I think my peers (whom) I really respect, that changes things,” Haliburton said. “For that poll, there’s no names to faces, it’s all anonymous. Having relationships with guys like Jayson and Joel, who are guys that I know at the top of the game, them being honest with me, that’s important. I respect their opinions more than anybody.”

Here’s more from around the Central:

  • While Haliburton has been the engine driving the Pacers‘ playoff success so far, his backcourt partner Andrew Nembhard has been showing why he shouldn’t be overlooked, according to Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star (subscription required) and Joe Vardon of The Athletic. A strong perimeter defender, Nembhard has been giving Indiana a major offensive boost as well, scoring 23 points in Game 1 vs. Cleveland and handing out 13 assists in Game 2. The team is a +31 in his 73 minutes for the series so far.
  • Already missing three key players (Darius Garland, Evan Mobley, and De’Andre Hunter) due to injuries on Tuesday, the Cavaliers were also getting a “banged-up” version of star guard Donovan Mitchell, who is playing through a calf strain, as Vardon writes for The Athletic. Mitchell nearly led Cleveland to a victory anyway, with 48 points and nine assists in 36 minutes, but he and the Cavs’ other regulars ran out of gas and blew a late lead in the game’s final moments. “I loved how we competed,” head coach Kenny Atkinson said after the loss, per Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com (subscription required). “We played our basketball, our identity. I thought we outplayed them. That’s the shame of this game. With fatigue comes decision-making. We had some poor decision-making plays at the rim, turnovers, a couple bad decisions. That was part of the collapse.”
  • Discussing the draft, Pistons general manager Trajan Langdon suggested the pool of available talent isn’t as deep as it might otherwise be due to the NIL benefits that have made college prospects more inclined to stay in school. Armed with only the No. 37 overall pick this year, Langdon suggested the team will consider trading up if there’s “a player we really like” and the cost isn’t prohibitive (Twitter links via Omari Sankofa II of The Detroit Free Press).
  • Arguing that it’s time for the Bulls to begin “hunting for big trades,” Julia Poe of The Chicago Tribune (subscription required) evaluates whether or not the team could realistically make a play for Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo if he becomes available. Poe concludes that Chicago is a long shot for Antetokounmpo, but says the team could and should be ready to explore pursuing other stars who reach the trade block.
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Central Notes: Bulls, Garland, Haliburton, Pistons

May 4th, 2025 at 4:18pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

After a third straight play-in appearance that fell short of a playoff berth, the Bulls face an interesting offseason, as NBA insider Yossi Gozlan of The Third Apron (Substack link) previews.

Chicago guard Josh Giddey submitted an encouraging performance during his inaugural season with Chicago, just in time for him to hit restricted free agency this summer. Gozlan notes that a club with cap space, like Brooklyn, could potentially give Giddey an offer sheet, but the Bulls will have the rights to match it. Gozlan projects that Giddey’s play could fetch him a yearly salary in the range of $20-$30MM.

Standout guard Coby White, who will be eligible for a contract extension next season, could earn a significant annual raise if he forgos an extension and instead waits until he reaches unrestricted free agency in 2026.

As Gozlan writes, veterans Nikola Vucevic, Kevin Huerter, Ayo Dosunmu, and Zach Collins are all on expiring deals, and many of those players could be moved in offseason trades rather than extended.

There’s more out of the Central Division:

  • Cavaliers All-Star guard Darius Garland is expected to be a game-time decision for the first contest of Cleveland’s second round playoff series against Indiana, reports Joe Reedy of The Associated Press. Garland sat out the final two contests of the Cavaliers’ four-game sweep of Miami with a sprained left big toe. “We’re just in this kind of area where you just got to kind of see day-by-day and see how it feels tomorrow morning,” head coach Kenny Atkinson said on Saturday.
  • Cavaliers players are doing what they can to prepare for two-time Pacers All-Star guard Tyrese Haliburton, per Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. “He always makes the right play and doesn’t really stat hunt,” sixth man Ty Jerome said. “He’s a winner. He takes and makes big shots. He leads that team. He’s a real definition of a point guard.”  Six-time All-Star Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell, meanwhile, respects Haliburton’s influence on his team’s offense. “He’s the head of the snake,” Mitchell said. “There’s a lot of respect for him and what he brings over there. At the end of the day, if people want to say that, they want to say that, but, you know, we don’t look at it that way. We understand how important he is to that group. He’s a threat, and we’ve got to make sure we try to find ways to neutralize him.”
  • The Pistons submitted an impressive bounce-back season in 2024/25 that included their first playoff berth since 2019, writes Omari Sankofa II Detroit Free Press (subscriber link). Now, the club will see four veterans head to unrestricted free agency and also faces extension decisions on young former lottery picks Jaden Ivey and Jalen Duren, who will be extension-eligible. Sankofa unpacks the potential fates of these contributors and addresses other burning offseason questions facing Detroit.
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