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Game 1 of the 2022 NBA Finals will be played on Thursday, June 2. Remarkably, that date is the exact one-year anniversary of the Boston Celtics' announcing Brad Stevens had stepped away from head coaching duties to assume the role of president of basketball operations in place of the departing Danny Ainge.
Let's have a look back at what has been an extraordinary and almost unimaginable 12 months&hellip;
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During his eight seasons on the sidelines in Boston, Stevens was viewed as one of the league's better head coaches. He was regarded as an elite tactician and considered an important part of the Celtics' sustained success. Under his stewardship, Boston advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals three times in four years.
So when the club announced that its long-time top executive in Ainge was retiring and that Stevens would be promoted to team president last June, it came as a shock to most. Would Stevens be able to replicate the regular-season success he enjoyed as head coach? Could Boston get over the hump and advance all the way to the NBA Finals?
Although Ainge left a roster stocked with a budding superstar in Jayson Tatum, his All-Star caliber sidekick in Jaylen Brown, veteran stalwart Marcus Smart and a few promising youngsters, Stevens took control at a precarious juncture. Boston entered last summer capped out (with a directive from ownership not to incur a costly luxury tax bill) and lacking excess draft capital.&nbsp;
Stevens' first order of business was parting ways with Kemba Walker and his cumbersome contract. With two years and $73 million remaining on his deal, Walker was the team's highest-paid player. When healthy, the four-time All-Star Walker was highly productive on the offensive end for the C's, but his balky left knee had robbed him of his quickness. Some suggested the Celtics sit tight, hoping that an entire offseason of rest would allow Kemba to re-establish himself as a quality starter. If Boston wanted to trade Walker, Stevens would have to get creative.
The week before the 2021 NBA Draft, Stevens dealt Boston's first-round pick (16th overall) and a 2025 second-round draft pick to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Al Horford and a 2023 second-rounder.&nbsp;
At the time, Stevens' first significant move as team president was considered highly questionable.&nbsp;
Following the 2019-20 season, when Horford posted career-worst numbers for the Philadelphia 76ers after signing a monstrous four-year, $109 million pact, the veteran big man's contract was viewed as one of the worst in the league. In December 2020, the Sixers were forced to attach a future first-round pick and the draft rights to Vasilije Micic (who just won his second EuroLeague Final Four MVP) in a trade with OKC just to get out from under Horford's contract.
During his lone season in Oklahoma City, Horford appeared in just 28 games for the Thunder. After the trade deadline passed in February 2021, the Thunder shut him down for the rest of the season. At the time, it felt like Stevens was trading for a potentially washed-up 35-year-old center with two years and $53.5 million left on his contract ($41 million of it guaranteed).
But after struggling at times to find his groove in the regular season, Horford has been a crucial cog in the Celtics' run to the Finals. During these playoffs, he is averaging 11.9 points, 9.6 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 1.9 three-pointers,1.6 blocks and 0.9 steals per game, all while shooting 50.0% from the floor, a scorching 43.2% from downtown, and 83.3% from the free-throw line.
Per Basketball-Reference, Horford is just the third player in NBA history (joining Draymond Green and Rasheed Wallace) to average more than 1.5 blocks and more than 1.5 made treys in a postseason (minimum 15 games played). Horford is also the first player ever over the age of 35 to tally more than 25 blocks and more than 25 three-pointers in a single postseason.
To say the Walker/Horford trade has worked out well for Boston would be a dramatic understatement.&nbsp;
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After acquiring Horford, Stevens' next critical decision would be choosing a new head coach. After interviewing several candidates, Stevens zeroed in on Ime Udoka and officially hired him in late June. Udoka was a bit of a gamble, as he had never been a head coach, having spent the previous nine seasons as an assistant with San Antonio (2012-13 to 2018-19), Philadelphia (2019-20) and Brooklyn (2020-21).&nbsp;
Udoka's job was made that much more difficult when the C's stumbled out of the gates this season. By the turn of the new year, there was some finger-pointing in the locker room with the Celtics losing too many winnable games. Three weeks into January, Boston was still below .500 with a 23-24 record.
However, Udoka remained stoically stern, providing a calm and reassuring presence in the locker room and on the sideline. His ability to outcoach opponents and his command of the X's and O's gained him the trust of his team. Over the second half of the season, Boston ranked in the top three in Defensive Efficiency, and led the league in Offensive Efficiency (122.6) and Net Rating (plus-12.7) by a wide margin.
Udoka earned Coach of the Month honors on multiple occasions, and would go on to finish fourth in the NBA Coach of the Year voting. The league-wide respect he's garnered has only increased as he's helped guide his team to the championship series.&nbsp;
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When the free agency frenzy commenced in July 2021, Stevens had to decide what to do with shooting guard Evan Fournier. Ultimately, Boston opted to let Fournier leave for New York.
The Celtics' only free-agent addition of note last summer was inking Dennis Schroder to a team-friendly, one-year deal for $5.9 million. However, Stevens signed Marcus Smart (four years, $76.5 million) and Robert Williams III (four years, $48 million) to lengthy extensions.
The Smart signing, in particular, looks genius in retrospect.&nbsp;
It had been rumored that Ainge was seriously considering trading away Smart in different deals in years past. However, Stevens made it clear that he was committing to Smart for the long term. Just as importantly, Stevens let it be known he would entrust Smart with the team's primary point guard duties. This may seem like an easy decision with the benefit of hindsight, but it's important to point out that entering this season, Smart had started in just 228 of the 449 games he had appeared in. And a large percentage of those starts were alongside point guards such as Kemba Walker, Kyrie Irving and Isaiah Thomas.&nbsp;
The C's flourished with Smart installed as the floor general, especially on the defensive end. Smart, as we know, would be named NBA Defensive Player of the Year, becoming the first guard to win the award since Gary Payton in 1996.
Starting in each of the 71 regular-season games he played, Smart finished the season ranked seventh in the NBA in steals per game (1.68), ranked fifth among all guards with a Defensive Rating of 105.2, and led the NBA with 1.1 loose balls recovered per contest. He was also near the top of the league in deflections, charges drawn and defensive rebounds. On the offensive end, he averaged a career-high 5.9 assists per game and posted an Effective Field Goal percentage above 50% for the first time.
Had Stevens not locked up Smart last summer, he would undoubtedly have been one of the most highly sought-after players on the free-agent market next month.&nbsp;
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Before being sidelined by a knee injury late in the season, Williams had also been enjoying a breakout 2021-22 campaign, averaging career-highs in points (10.0), rebounds (9.6), blocks (2.2), steals (0.9), field-goal percentage (73.6%) and free-throw percentage (72.2%). Like Smart, Williams' value now exceeds his salary.&nbsp;
In February, Stevens recognized Boston's backcourt needed an upgrade. Hence, he sent Josh Richardson and Romeo Langford and a top-four-protected 2022 first-round pick to the San Antonio Spurs in exchange for Derrick White at the trade deadline. Udoka, who was familiar with White having spent time as an assistant in San Antonio, asked him to sacrifice some of his offense. White would serve as a reserve, which meant fewer field goal attempts and fewer minutes. White embraced the role, supplied solid defense on the perimeter and knocked down a handful of big buckets during Boston's run to the Finals.
Ironically, of all the trades and signing Stevens has made over the past 12 months, arguably the most important and impactful are the ones he did NOT agree to. It sounds outlandish now because the C's are four wins away from the franchise's 18th championship, but plenty of pundits and fans in New England had been calling for the Celtics to break up the duo of Brown and Tatum.
While there was no denying their collective talent, many argued the roster was unbalanced, and that the skill sets Tatum and Brown brought to the table were a bit duplicitous. Thus, some folks contended that the best path forward was trading Brown (possibly in a package with Smart) for a pure point guard (such as Damian Lillard).
Pressure and the corresponding rumors reached a fever pitch in the dark days of December and January.&nbsp;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Damnit I&rsquo;m holding everybody in Boston accountable, from the front office, to the coaching staff and down to Jaylen and Tatum. It&rsquo;s time to break them up! Carry on&hellip; <a href="https://twitter.com/FirstTake?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@FirstTake</a> <a href="https://t.co/2fNHMFavfd">pic.twitter.com/2fNHMFavfd</a>
&mdash; Kendrick Perkins (@KendrickPerkins) <a href="https://twitter.com/KendrickPerkins/status/1479494503765524483?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 7, 2022</a></blockquote>

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As noted above, Boston was below .500 for much of the season. On Jan. 15, the Celtics had a worse record than both the Knicks and Washington Wizards. Boston was 11th in the East, on the outside of the Play-in Tournament looking in.&nbsp;&nbsp;
But Stevens never budged, trusting in the roster he helped construct. And the results speak for themselves. Twelve months after he was hired, Stevens's squad is preparing for the NBA Finals.&nbsp;
Earlier this month, the NBA announced Memphis Grizzlies General Manager Zach Kleiman as the winner of the 2021-22 Basketball Executive of the Year Award. Stevens came in sixth, receiving only one first-place vote. However, that award is based on regular-season accomplishments.
Given how well Boston has performed in the playoffs, there is little doubt about which executive's moves have looked best in the postseason.&nbsp;
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Tommy Beer reviews Brad Stevens' first season as Celtics president with his one-year anniversary coinciding with NBA Finals Game 1.

Brad Stevens deserves massive credit for the Celtics' success

Nekias Duncan breaks down the 2022 NBA Finals between the Celtics and Warriors from a multitude of angles.

2022 NBA Finals Scouting Report: How the Celtics and Warriors match up

The Eastern Conference field is set, as the Boston Celtics are set to take on the top-seeded Miami Heat for the second time in three years.&nbsp;
This series will have everything you want. Superstar power (Jayson Tatum, Jimmy Butler) and star power (Bam Adebayo, Jaylen Brown).&nbsp;Former All-Stars that can still give you moments &mdash; hello Al Horford, Victor Oladipo and, if healthy, Kyle Lowry.
It also includes fearless role players who can win you a game. For Boston, that's primarily Marcus Smart, Grant Williams and Robert Williams III. Miami has the Sixth Man of the Year in Tyler Herro, an unrelenting PJ Tucker, as well as a stable of undrafted guards in Max Strus and Gabe Vincent.
On the sidelines, Celtics head coach Ime Udoka has been pressing buttons as well as anyone since the turn of the calendar year. Erik Spoelstra has had a strong argument as the NBA's best coach for nearly half a decade. That battle should be a pleasure, especially on the defensive end.&nbsp;
I&rsquo;m not a coach &mdash; I'm just a pun-loving basketball fan with a hankering for film breakdowns. But instead of a traditional series preview, I decided to go into the basketball trenches and devise game plans for both teams. The tone of this two-part series will be a little more informal, but it will still be informative (at least I hope).
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Without further ado, here is what to look for in the East Finals between the Miami Heat and Boston Celtics.
Miami's Defensive Matchups
Gabe Vincent &mdash;&gt; Marcus Smart
Jimmy Butler &mdash;&gt; Jaylen Brown
PJ Tucker &mdash;&gt; Jayson Tatum
Max Strus &mdash;&gt; Grant Williams
Bam Adebayo &mdash;&gt; Al Horford
Boston's Defensive Matchups
Jayson Tatum &mdash;&gt; Gabe Vincent
Marcus Smart &mdash;&gt; Max Strus
Jaylen Brown &mdash;&gt; Jimmy Butler&nbsp;
Al Horford &mdash;&gt; PJ Tucker
Grant Williams &mdash;&gt; Bam Adebayo
We saw these matchups in the most recent outing (March 30). I'd say it's a pretty safe bet this holds to start the series.
Boston's cross-matching intrigues me more than the inverse. Tatum taking Vincent allows him to roam a bit &mdash; unless/until Vincent bombs away from three. Putting Smart on Strus is a great way to take advantage of his screen navigation while eliminating Miami's opening script on offense. The Heat tend to open things up with movement sets to get Strus going early.&nbsp;
Keep an eye on the Williams-Adebayo matchup. Grant has taken on Kevin Durant and Giannis Antetokounmpo in consecutive rounds, and has done so with success. His blend of mobility and strength could bother Adebayo, and those same traits can turn any pick-and-roll involving Adebayo into a switch.
The Battleground: Paint Touches
At their cores, the Heat and Celtics are switchy groups. In fact, they were&nbsp;the&nbsp;switchiest groups in the NBA &mdash; the Celtics ranked first in on-ball switches per 100 possessions (28.8), while the Heat ranked second (28.7), per Second Spectrum. It will be their primary method of flattening out each other's offenses, hoping to bring the game down into the mud.
With neither team playing drop coverage that often &mdash; the Heat and Celtics ranked 26th and 25th in drop rate, respectively &mdash; it'll be interesting to see who can create openings downhill.&nbsp;
If there's a difference between the two, it's Miami's willingness to dial up the pressure. They'll bust out a full-court press. They're not afraid to trap, particularly if there's only one star on the court. The help is&nbsp;aggressive. That leads to a ton of three-point attempts &mdash; the Heat ranked dead last in three-point rate allowed &mdash; but eighth in opponent rim rate.&nbsp;
The Celtics&nbsp;can&nbsp;do that stuff, but generally don't have to thanks to their collective size and screen navigation up top. They effectively cut off the rim (No. 2 in opponent rim rate) and&nbsp;they're able to force opponents into more mid-range shots. Only the Phoenix Suns and Washington Wizards allowed a larger share of mid-range shots than the Celtics this season.
Can the Heat find enough cracks to get into the paint and generate good looks from there? Can the Celtics hit enough threes &mdash; because they will be there &mdash; to loosen things up inside? We shall see.
Celtics' Team Stats (and Boston's stats vs. Miami)&nbsp;
<ul>
<li>Offensive Rating: 113.6 (108.6)</li>
<li>True Shooting Percentage: 57.8% (56.7%)</li>
<li>Assist Percentage: 60.9% (60.9%)</li>
<li>Turnover Rate: 13.9% (12.2%)</li>
<li>Pace: 97.26 (96.33)</li>
<li>Free-Throw Attempts: 20.9 (23.3)</li>
<li>Free-Throw Percentage: 81.6% (74.3%)</li>
<li>Three-Point Attempts: 37.1 (40.0)</li>
<li>Three-Point Percentage: 35.6% (35.8%)</li>
<li>Offensive Rebounds: 9.8 (9.0)</li>
</ul>
Celtics' Play Type Breakdown
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Heat's Team Stats (and Miami's stats vs. Boston)
<ul>
<li>Offensive Rating: 113.0 (95.8)</li>
<li>True Shooting Percentage: 58.4% (51.0)</li>
<li>Assist Percentage: 64.4% (70.0%)</li>
<li>Turnover Rate: 14.9% (19.1%)</li>
<li>Pace: 96.53 (96.33)</li>
<li>Free-Throw Attempts: 21.4 (18.0)</li>
<li>Free-Throw Percentage: 80.8% (68.5%)</li>
<li>Three-Point Attempts: 35.8 (39.7)</li>
<li>Three-Point Percentage: 37.9% (32.8%)</li>
<li>Offensive Rebounds: 10.5 (9.3)</li>
</ul>
Heat's Play Type Breakdown&nbsp;
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WHAT TO WATCH FOR: EARLY OFFENSE
Lowry's absence looms large for the Heat.&nbsp;
He was the catalyst for their elite transition attack. His touchdown outlet passes put pressure on opponents to get back immediately after possessions end. Early clock pull-up threes became a staple during his time in Toronto; much of that carried over in Miami. Lowry converted 48.0% of his transition threes, including a ridiculous 57.1% clip on pull-ups per Second Spectrum.
With him out for at least Game 1, I'd expect Miami to be even more selective with its pushing. Expect a heavy dose of early-clock dribble handoffs.
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The Celtics weren't a team that ran often either; they ranked 21st in transition frequency (14% of possessions), not too far behind the Heat's middling mark (14.5%) per Cleaning The Glass. The issue is they didn't come close to the Heat's efficiency when they did push. The Heat led the NBA in transition scoring (1.33 points per possession), while the Celtics were 26th (1.21 PPP).
Boston is more likely to feed one of its bigs early as part of the team's Delay series. In those, Horford (or Williams III) will receive the ball in the middle of the floor while the other Celtics screen for each other. This is a very pindown-heavy group.&nbsp;
The tell is when their center (Horford or Williams III) gets an early pass above the break and acts as a handoff hub. It can be as simple as a pair of pindowns &mdash; Tatum receiving one on a side, Brown getting one on the other &mdash; to stretch the defense thin.
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The Celtics can flow into Chicago action &mdash; a pindown into a handoff. It may be a single pindown from the wing to get one of the Jays an early shot or, if the three isn't there, to set up an empty-corner ball-screen.
It'll be important for the Heat to be locked in.
KEY QUESTIONS
1) Who will win the zone battle?
Not to rehash the top, but we know how both teams want to operate defensively. Switch just about any screen; keep the ball in front. Shade off of (perceived) non-shooters to help cut off driving lanes. Bring the game into the gutter.
Both teams have creation-plus-shooting combos that can bend things if they're clicking. The Celtics may be okay giving up mid-rangers, but that's typically where Butler wants to operate. The Heat may be okay trading rim attempts for threes, but how safe of a bet is that with Horford and Williams shooting a combined 21 of 47 (44.7%) on corner triples?
If either team catches a rhythm, the zone will be broken out.
(Quietly, the Heat weren't a good zone offense during the regular season [0.96 PPP, 19th] either.)
As beautiful as the Heat offense looks when they're screening and cutting all over the place, they have possessions where ill-timed cuts can make life easier for an opposing defense. That's exacerbated when teams go zone &mdash; you want to force a zone defender to choose between two players, so improper spacing allows the defense to muck things up without much work.
It's odd to watch the Heat go haywire in the middle of the floor. When a zone is run against their second unit, you feel the lack of playmaking with Dewayne Dedmon at the 5 in place of Adebayo. But with the starters, you sometimes get weird bouts of passiveness.&nbsp;
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That's a darn good counter to a 2-3 zone. Butler gets right into his comfort zone with minimal pressure and... kicks out of it? Huh?
On the flip side, this could be a real problem area for Boston though, a team that ranked 27th in zone offense (0.9 PPP) during the regular season per Synergy. And the Heat don't just&nbsp;go zone; they go to all kinds of zones.&nbsp;
A traditional 2-3, a 3-2, a 1-2-2. They'll go full-court press, then drop into a zone. There are exotic looks, and then there's the Miami Heat defense.
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Much like the Celtics had to quickly adapt to Milwaukee's physicality after their matchup with the Brooklyn Nets, there may be an adjustment period when the Heat throw out their zone. Per Second Spectrum, the Celtics have seen just five (5) zone possessions in the postseason. You might get that in the first six minutes of Game 1.
2) Who&nbsp;can&nbsp;beat drop coverage when they get it?
This can be somewhat of a Tatum question considering his struggles against the Bucks in Round 2. The numbers weren't great &mdash; the Celtics generated a shade under 0.9 PPP on trips where Tatum saw a drop &mdash; but the film was more key.
He'd often pass up more fruitful mid-range attempts, instead opting to string out ball-screens and isolate against a late switch. He's a good enough shot-maker to make that work, but it's a tough diet to live on. And against a team like Miami, I'm not sure how many pockets he can afford to pass up. I've written about his <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-rumors-miami-heat-boston-celtics-eastern-conference-finals-playoffs-breakdown-preview-how-stop-defend" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lack of a floater before</a>; per Synergy, he's converted just 2 of his 10 runners this postseason, and I'm not sure which number is more concerning.
But this is really a Heat question. Tyler Herro struggled against the Celtics when faced with drop coverage. Between Smart and Derrick White at the point of attack, Herro couldn't consistently shake free. And even when he did, Boston did a good job of providing help at the nail to at least make Herro uncomfortable.
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This is an obvious thing to say, but the Heat are going to need him to get going. Aside from (this version of) Butler, Herro's their best shot-creator in the half-court. He'll need to take pressure off Butler, and carry some of the load when he's heading the second unit.
Whenever Lowry is back, he'll need to channel the same aggression from the last meeting (23 points, 16 shot attempts, 12 threes) if the Celtics drop against him. Ditto for Vincent, whose jumper has quietly fallen off a cliff during the postseason.
3) Derrick White or Victor Oladipo?
At the risk of sounding reductive, these may be the true X-factors of the series.
Both players offer fiesty on-ball defense across multiple positions. Both can juice their offenses in the pick-and-roll, particularly with their downhill chops. And both will likely be ignored when they're stationed off the ball, adding a layer of difficulty for their teammates to generate efficient offense.&nbsp;
White hounded Herro when matched up against them, and found enough utility as a ball-mover for the Celtics to win his minutes +11 in 32 minutes during his lone outing vs. Miami).&nbsp;
Oladipo missed all of the regular-season meetings, but he'll likely see Boston's third-best defender when sharing the court with Miami's other creators. His rim pressure is valuable, but his three-point shooting (27.3% this postseason) can swing things.
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STRAY THOUGHTS
<ul>
<li>Butler vs. Tatum is gonna be a freakin'&nbsp;battle&nbsp;in this series. Before either of these guys have an off night against an elite defense, let's commend them for the production they've shown in the playoffs so far. Studs. Superstars.&nbsp;</li>
<li>I touched on it some during the matchup section, but man do the Heat need an aggressive Bam Adebayo in this one. Horford and both Williams pose different issues than Daniel Theis did during the 2020 series. But, in theory, Adebayo should have a size, strength or quickness advantage against anybody he faces. He can't afford to short-circuit with the ball in his hands. His regular-season averages (14.0 points, 9.7 shot attempts) will not cut it.</li>
<li>This could be yet another Jaylen Brown series. He ripped the Heat during their three-game series (25/6/3, 47.8% from three on 7.7 attempts). And aside from a putrid Game 1 against the Bucks, he's been a metronome for Boston this postseason. If the Heat tilt too much attention to Tatum, Brown should have some cracks to attack.</li>
<li>With Williams III expected to proceed without a minutes restriction, I don't think Boston needs to trot Theis out there. Between Horford and the two Williams, they should have more than enough at the 5.</li>
<li>Speaking of 5s, I wonder how much of a leash Dedmon gets in this series. He hasn't given Miami much offensively &mdash; he's not nearly the same roll threat, and there's even been an uptick in illegal screens for him &mdash; but there's value in his rebounding. If this truly turns into a muck fest, extra possessions will be more valuable than usual.</li>
<li>On the bench guard front, let's see how much burn Payton Pritchard gets. He's arguably Boston's best (pull-up) shooter and zone-breaker. He's also going to have the largest target on his back defensively &mdash; especially if he's on the floor at the same time as Butler.</li>
<li>After an 18-perimeter-shot-attempt game from Williams &mdash; in a Game 7! &mdash; I wonder if the volume has gotten to the point where the scouting report officially changes with him. He's shot well from three all season long, but the volume was low enough for teams to feel comfortable helping off of him and daring him to beat them. Let's see if the Heat become the first team to really blink.</li>
<li>Sign me up for all of the defense in this series, man. This is what it's all about.</li>
</ul>
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Nekias Duncan breaks down what to look for in this year's Eastern Conference Finals matchup between the Heat and Celtics.

NBA Scouting Report: What to look for in Heat-Celtics series

The Utah Jazz&rsquo;s 2021-22 season is officially over. The Jazz believed they were a championship contender, but this marks another season ending in disappointment and heartbreak. Now, looking ahead at what&rsquo;s to come in Salt Lake City, massive changes seem to be on the horizon. Whether it be Donovan Mitchell or Rudy Gobert on the move, something&rsquo;s gotta give. Other veterans such as Mike Conley and Bojan Bogdanovic could be on the move too.
While our Bryan Fonseca recently broke down <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/examining-potential-trade-desinations-for-donovan-mitchell-2022" target="_blank" rel="noopener">possible trade destinations for Mitchell</a>, it's seems likely that the Jazz will try to appease their young star shooting guard. Gordon Hayward already broke Utah&rsquo;s heart a few years ago when he left in free agency. If Mitchell requested a trade, it would send shockwaves throughout Utah. Unlike Hayward, Mitchell has star power that transcends Utah and he could potentially lead the team to heights they haven&rsquo;t reached since the 1990s with John Stockton and Karl Malone.
If the Jazz have to move their homegrown three-time Defensive Player of the Year in order to keep Mitchell, I'm almost certain it would happen. It&rsquo;s an unfortunate twist of fate for Gobert, but leaving the Jazz&rsquo;s system might be the best thing for him so he can truly blossom into a true two-way presence.
As seen throughout Utah's first-round series against the Dallas Mavericks, Gobert was ignored or simply used as a decoy more often than not. If Gobert is used on a more consistent basis in a different environment, who knows what he could accomplish as one of the NBA&rsquo;s premier lob threats?
Gobert hitting the trade market would result in a feeding frenzy around the Association. Whether it be title contenders or rebuilding teams who feel close to a massive leap, Gobert could be viewed as the missing piece to the puzzle.
Without further ado, let&rsquo;s dive into five realistic destinations for a Gobert blockbuster deal this offseason.
Chicago Bulls
Chicago knows they&rsquo;re in desperate need of a defensive jolt. Adding Lonzo Ball and Alex Caruso in the backcourt already brought a new identity to the Bulls, who were seemingly allergic to defense before their arrival. Myles Turner has been mentioned as a possible target for Chicago, but the Indiana Pacers are <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/despite-trade-talks-the-pacers-want-to-keep-myles-turner-longterm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reportedly</a> expected to keep him long-term. Why not swing for the fences with Gobert? Acquiring the 29-year-old would be a crown-jewel moment for the organization.&nbsp;
Imagine the possibilities for Chicago with Gobert patrolling the paint with Ball and Caruso hawking the perimeter. It&rsquo;s the perfect complement to offensive dynamos Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan. Chicago&rsquo;s new starting lineup of Ball, Caruso, LaVine, DeRozan and Gobert would seemingly have no holes in it from a two-way perspective.
I absolutely love this idea for Chicago, and they should be blowing up the Jazz&rsquo;s phone this summer if it seems plausible.
Jazz receive: Nikola Vucevic, Patrick Williams, Coby White, draft compensation
Bulls receive: Rudy Gobert
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New York Knicks
The Knicks are bound to blow it up one way or another soon enough. Julius Randle feels like <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/five-nba-players-who-feel-destined-to-be-traded-this-offseason" target="_blank" rel="noopener">one of the most obvious trade candidates</a> to potentially hit the market this offseason. If the Knicks are done with Randle, could they parlay him and other young pieces to acquire Gobert? While <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/examining-potential-trade-desinations-for-donovan-mitchell-2022" target="_blank" rel="noopener">New York would love to land Mitchell</a>, the Knicks should seriously explore a Gobert trade since the organization needs some sort of game-changing move.
The 2022-23 season feels like a make-or-break year for the current Knicks regime. Head coach Tom Thibodeau&rsquo;s seat is red-hot, plus the Knicks&rsquo; front office has to be itching to make some sort of move to change course from a stale build.
Gobert&rsquo;s arrival would signal New York is ready to finally ascend the Eastern Conference standings. Sure, Gobert isn&rsquo;t a true &ldquo;superstar,&rdquo; but he&rsquo;s far and away the most impactful player the Knicks could realistically reel in this offseason. Gobert being the adult in the room for an accelerated rebuild in the Big Apple is a fun scenario, especially as it provides a high-floor outcome immediately.
New York&rsquo;s current roster has ample flexibility to turn it all over again by 2023. If the Knicks clear out all of their contracts with team options and expiring deals, sans the young core, they will have a max slot open for the loaded 2023 free-agent class. Would Gobert and RJ Barrett be able to sell a star on New York? If Barrett takes the leap forward that many expect, that&rsquo;s a fun big/wing duo to build around long-term.
Utah will likely want at least another young asset or two in return as part of this projected blockbuster, but the framework is strong enough to build off it.
Jazz receive: Julius Randle, Alec Burks, Quentin Grimes, draft compensation
Knicks receive: Rudy Gobert
Atlanta Hawks
Want to find the perfect fit for Gobert outside of Utah? The Hawks are the ideal destination for Gobert, who would be able to shine outside of the Jazz&rsquo;s system. Trae Young pick-and-rolls with Gobert would simply be unfair to try to guard, and it would help insulate their star point guard in a better situation.
Atlanta also has the right amount of assets to make this compelling for Utah to pull the trigger. Whether it be John Collins or Bogdan Bogdanovic, either one could be the centerpiece to a Gobert deal. Also, Atlanta has an upcoming expiring salary in Danilo Gallinari with only $5 million guaranteed on his contract. If you throw together Collins, Gallinari and future draft compensation, it could be enough for the Jazz to take negotiations more seriously. Clint Capela could also be re-routed to another team to free up further cap flexibility as well.
For Atlanta, they are ready to win right now with Young leading the way. With Young, Kevin Huerter, De&rsquo;Andre Hunter, Onyeka Okongwu and Jalen Johnson, they have a young core that's ready to take the next step. Gobert brings a star piece to an organization that has the urgency to compete right now in the East, and they'll want to bounce back after how they crashed and burned to end their 2021-22 season. Also, the Hawks had the NBA's 26th-ranked defense this season (allowing 112.1 points per 100 possessions), so adding a three-time Defensive Player of the Year could be just what they need.
It wouldn&rsquo;t be a surprise to see a player of Young&rsquo;s caliber push for Gobert to join him in Atlanta too. With all the trade rumors swirling around Collins since he signed a five-year extension, this deal makes a lot of sense for both sides to explore further.
Jazz receive: John Collins, Danilo Gallinari, future draft compensation
Hawks receive: Rudy Gobert
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Golden State Warriors
Smoke is already forming around this possibility, if the Jazz indeed decide to blow it up in a few months. For the Warriors, it&rsquo;s an all-in move to create another dynasty in the final prime years of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green. With so much young talent climbing the ladder in the reloaded Western Conference, the time is now for the Warriors to make a splashy move to keep themselves atop the standings.
This will be the last time the Warriors can explore potential deals revolving around Andrew Wiggins&rsquo; bloated salary as well. Next season, Wiggins will be on an expiring contract making $33.6 million. With Wiggins, Golden State can immediately enter the conversation for Gobert while also having some intriguing young pieces that could appeal to Utah.
Jonathan Kuminga is likely off limits from the Warriors&rsquo; perspective, flashing real two-way potential throughout this season. However, what about a combination of Moses Moody and James Wiseman? Instantly, Utah can replenish their young core with two immediate contributors to place alongside Mitchell long-term. Throw in some future draft picks and the Jazz might be the ones who are ready to press &ldquo;accept&rdquo; on this hypothetical trade.
Golden State&rsquo;s new-age lineup of dominance would simply be unfair. Take a look at the Warriors&rsquo; projected lineup with Gobert: Curry, Jordan Poole, Thompson, Green and Gobert. With all of the versatility on display here, it could vault Golden State into a different stratosphere entirely.
Jazz receive: Andrew Wiggins, James Wiseman, Moses Moody, future draft compensation
Warriors receive: Rudy Gobert, Rudy Gay
Detroit Pistons
Here&rsquo;s a surprise team that could become very aggressive in the Gobert sweepstakes if the chips fall their way this offseason. No. 1 overall pick Cade Cunningham flashed superstar potential for the Pistons during his rookie campaign, especially after the All-Star break.
If the Pistons get lottery luck once more with a top pick in this year&rsquo;s draft, could they decide to push some chips into the middle of the table for Gobert? Imagine if the Pistons had a trio of Cunningham, Gobert and a top prospect (Jabari Smith or Paolo Banchero?) to build around for the next five-plus years.
For the Pistons, acquiring stars via the draft or trades is the only realistic route to obtaining a game-changing talent. We already saw it on display with their former regime when they traded for Blake Griffin, which led to little progress long-term. Unlike Griffin, Gobert actually fits into the organization's long-term calculus.
From the Jazz&rsquo;s perspective, they would be asking for a heavy return from a team like Detroit. We&rsquo;re talking two key pieces to their core as well as veteran wing Jerami Grant. Would the Pistons feel comfortable moving Saddiq Bey and Isaiah Stewart for Gobert? That may be Utah's asking price.
Jazz receive: Jerami Grant, Saddiq Bey, Isaiah Stewart, Kelly Olynyk, future draft compensation
Pistons receive: Rudy Gobert, Nickeil Alexander-Walker
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Entering a pivotal offseason, will the Utah Jazz blow it up? If so, which teams make sense as a landing spot for Rudy Gobert?

Examining potential trade destinations for Rudy Gobert

In spite of Luka Dončić only playing half of the series, the Utah Jazz have been eliminated by the Dallas Mavericks in the opening round of the NBA Playoffs, which can only mean it&rsquo;s time to blow them up!
Okay, not really... but maybe? Virtually everyone is expecting organizational changes given the team's recent underachievement in the playoffs stemming from successful regular seasons. This incarnation of the Jazz was established in 2017-18, behind then-rookie Donovan Mitchell&rsquo;s quick rise to stardom and Rudy Gobert&rsquo;s emergence as an annual Defensive Player of the Year candidate.
That season, Mitchell &mdash; filling the void left by Gordon Hayward &mdash; finished his first season as a 20-point-per-game scorer despite being picked No. 13 overall and averaging just over 14 points per game in his first 19 appearances. Gobert, even having played only 56 games, was awarded his first of now three DPOY awards.
In these five years, there have been as many playoff trips &mdash; three as the No. 5 seed (including this season), one as the No. 6 in the Orlando Bubble, and another as the top overall seed in the Western Conference last year.
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In 2017-18, the Jazz overachieved, taking down the Russell Westbrook-Paul George-Carmelo Anthony-led Oklahoma City Thunder in six games before losing to the No. 1 seed Houston Rockets in five contests.
In 2018-19, Utah lost to the Rockets again in five, this time in the first round, and Houston even led 3-0 with a +55 scoring margin before dropping Game 4.
In 2019-20, the Jazz squandered a 3-1 lead to the Denver Nuggets, losing Game 7 in the final seconds of the opening round.
Last season &mdash; despite the Los Angeles Clippers losing Kawhi Leonard to a torn ACL (that he&rsquo;s still not back from) &mdash; the Jazz <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CD2yBy-EqnU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lost in six games to the Clippers</a> in the West semifinals, and Gobert was dunked on by both Terance Mann and social media in the ending.
And finally, this postseason &mdash; in a series with Dončić missing the first three games with a calf injury, in which Utah still trailed 2-1 upon his return &mdash; Utah lost on yet another last-second heartbreaker.&nbsp;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
THE PLAYOFF DROUGHT IS OVER. THE DALLAS MAVERICKS ADVANCE TO THE SECOND ROUND SINCE 2011!<a href="https://twitter.com/dallasmavs?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@dallasmavs</a> | 📺 BSSW | <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/dALLasIN?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#dALLasIN</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBAPlayoffs?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBAPlayoffs</a> <a href="https://t.co/VcWGAdSOL4">pic.twitter.com/VcWGAdSOL4</a>
&mdash; Bally Sports Southwest (@BallySportsSW) <a href="https://twitter.com/BallySportsSW/status/1519896562079518727?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 29, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Given <a href="https://twitter.com/tribjazz/status/1482077811019902980">the sniping back-and-forth between Mitchell and Gobert</a>, the Jazz's inability to break through and how far behind they appear from the top teams in the West, this seems like the summer where sizeable moves will be coming.
Personally speaking, it feels like we&rsquo;re heading toward Mitchell requesting a trade and moving on, but either way, one of Mitchell or Gobert &mdash; perhaps both &mdash; may be on the move in the coming months. Our Evan Sidery <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/examining-potential-trade-destinations-for-rudy-gobert" target="_blank" rel="noopener">recently looked at five trade ideas involving Gobert</a>.
Today, let's look at where Mitchell could end up, <a href="https://fanspo.com/nba/trade-machine" target="_blank" rel="noopener">using this trade machine</a>.
Mitchell is due $30.3 million next year, $32.6 million in 2023-24, $34.9 million in 2024-25, and has a player option for $37 million in 2025-26. Keep that in mind as we embark on this journey together. (Why did I sound like Professor Oak there?)
New York Knicks
Mitchell&rsquo;s father, Donovan Sr., works with the New York Mets organization. The 25-year-old Mitchell himself is a native of Elmsford, New York. Naturally, with the New York Knicks, there will be Mitchell smoke until a deal (or something else) actually happens. Because Tommy Beer already <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/expect-the-knicks-to-make-a-real-run-at-donovan-mitchell-this-summer" target="_blank" rel="noopener">broke down the possibility of a Mitchell-to-New-York trade</a>, we won&rsquo;t stay here too long.
Regarding the Knicks&rsquo; actual proposal, the first look would be to RJ Barrett, who is extension eligible this summer, entering year four and making $10.9 million next year. The idea, for New York, should be to team Barrett and Mitchell together. If that&rsquo;s not possible, and the Mitchell deal were to have to get done, Barrett is your chief trade chip, along with first-round draft picks. The Knicks have all their own first-rounders as of this writing.
Usable salaries for the Knicks next year include Evan Fournier, who&rsquo;ll be at $18 million, Derrick Rose at $14.5 million, Alec Burks at $10 million, Nerlens Noel at $9.2 million and Kemba Walker at over $9.1 million. Rose, Burks and Noel all have team options for 2023-24, so they have ostensibly expiring deals. Walker&rsquo;s next season is his last under contract, and Fournier is signed through 2025, but that also includes a team option. Cam Reddish and Taj Gibson also enter the last year of their respective deals, at about $6 million and $5.1 million each, respectively.
The contract elephant in the room is Julius Randle&rsquo;s, which is a four-year, $117 million extension that begins next season at $26.1 million. It&rsquo;ll gradually increase until his player option for $32.4 million kicks in for 2025-26. The Knicks might try to move Randle instead, but what sense does that make for Utah? And if Utah isn&rsquo;t getting Barrett, would they want a package of the aforementioned veterans (say, Fournier and Burks), along with one or two of Immanuel Quickley, Quentin Grimes, or Miles McBride (who make between $1.6 and $2.3 million next year) and picks?
It&rsquo;ll be hard to do without Barrett, and maybe Randle gets involved in a three-team deal, but the Knicks have the picks, salaries and prospects to make it work, if that&rsquo;s the route the Jazz want to go.
Detroit Pistons
The Pistons seem like a team that could be a version of this past season&rsquo;s Cleveland Cavaliers &mdash; not in terms of play style or once being a top-four team in the Eastern Conference standings necessarily, but from the standpoint of being competitive a year sooner than we think and playing meaningful games down the stretch (like one or two in the Play-In Tournament).
Given that 20 of 30 NBA teams will have games beyond the regular season, the Pistons may (should) attempt to get one of those spots.
Last year&rsquo;s No. 1 overall pick Cade Cunningham is <a href="https://youtu.be/I9OLPXxgYWk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">someone you can build with</a>. Saddiq Bey should be a more efficient scorer with more experience and better teammates. Most of the rest is to be determined, but Detroit can start by using Jerami Grant&rsquo;s near $21 million expiring deal next summer.
What comes next depends on what stage the Jazz want to be closer to. If this is a rebuild, you can ask for a combination of Killian Hayes and Hamidou Diallo (both of whom make over $5 million next year), for example, and Hayes has a $7.4 million team option for 2023-24. If not, Kelly Olynyk has $12.8 million coming to him next year that&rsquo;s usable. Utah can in throw in, hypothetically, Royce O&rsquo;Neale&rsquo;s $9.3 million deal next year and get Olynyk anyway.
So the player framework can look something like:
<ul>
<li>Donovan Mitchell for Jerami Grant and Kelly Olynyk</li>
<li>Donovan Mitchell for Jerami Grant, Killian Hayes and Hamidou Diallo</li>
<li>Donovan Mitchell and Royce O&rsquo;Neale for Jerami Grant, Killian Hayes, Hamidou Diallo and Kelly Olynyk plus a sh*t ton of draft picks. The Pistons would be moving something like three first-rounders in the deal, and potentially multiple first-round pick swaps.</li>
</ul>
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Miami Heat
I brought this up during <a href="https://youtu.be/XBQwn0pOAa4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">BasketballNews.com's NBA Trade Deadline stream</a>.&nbsp;
The Heat didn&rsquo;t do it then, but it might still be on the table depending on how these playoffs go. The Heat might not offer the best return package because of their draft picks, but they did unlock additional firsts by moving KZ Okpala to Oklahoma City in February. And, for Miami, we&rsquo;re mainly talking about one package. But again, it depends on the results of this postseason.&nbsp;
Currently, the Heat are getting ready to face the Philadelphia 76ers in the Eastern Conference semifinals, a matchup they&rsquo;re favored to win (albeit narrowly). If they lose this particular series, or if they win and Tyler Herro continues to struggle in the playoffs, or even if Miami makes a deep run and Herro elevates from a slow start, he&rsquo;d be the primary chip in a Mitchell deal. Furthermore, the <a href="https://twitter.com/GregSylvander/status/1482101290964504580" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Heat are on Mitchell&rsquo;s shortlist</a>, according to Greg Sylvander of Five Reasons Sports.
The deal, as I mentioned on our stream, would include Herro &mdash; who is still on a rookie-scale contract ($5.7 million next year), but is extension-eligible this summer and wouldn&rsquo;t kick-in until 2023. Then comes Duncan Robinson, who&rsquo;ll enter the second year of a five-year, $90 million deal next season, which bookends with a near $20 million player option and rises to $16.9 million next season.
According to the trade machine, Omer Yurtseven&rsquo;s $1.7 million next season makes the math work, and would give Utah a Gobert backup who&rsquo;ll, if nothing else, get you 10 rebounds in 15 minutes on occasion. Would the Heat have to throw in at least one of Gabe Vincent, Max Strus or Haywood Highsmith (all of whom make between $1.7 and $1.8 million next year)? Perhaps. And from there, Miami has tradeable first-rounders in 2022, 2024 and 2026. So, in summation, it could look like this:
<ul>
<li>Donovan Mitchell for Tyler Herro, Duncan Robinson, Omer Yurtseven, one of Gabe Vincent/Max Strus/Haywood Highsmith, draft capital</li>
</ul>
But if Herro has a big playoff run moving forward, the Heat may instead opt to move Robinson in a separate, smaller deal for a worthy big man in their rotation, and mostly run it back otherwise.
Atlanta Hawks
Alright, now you saw what the Heat did to Trae Young in the first round. The Hawks clearly are not only poised to get Young some help, but make a 3-for-1-ish deal to consolidate some depth into a higher-end starter &mdash; or in the case of Mitchell, a fellow offensive starter. His teammate, Gobert, is probably the better fit, but one, I&rsquo;m not writing about Gobert (our Evan Sidery will handle that) and two, if Gobert is frustrated with Mitchell&rsquo;s defense...
But anyway, you gotta start somewhere. And for Atlanta, part of why the Heat neutralized Young is their malleability defensively, but also, the Hawks don&rsquo;t have another true star to account for on the perimeter. Mitchell would give Young a viable tag team partner offensively to spread the defensive focus. To do so, the Hawks could play this a few different ways.
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The obvious trade chip is John Collins, and there could be questions about his fit next to Gobert, but it&rsquo;s not a bad place to start if you&rsquo;re moving someone of Mitchell&rsquo;s caliber. Collins will make $23.5 million next year, and between $25.3 and $26.6 million through 2025-26. Collins has had rumored friction with Young, though they&rsquo;ve downplayed it over the years. From there, if you use Collins in a possible deal, it gets interesting.&nbsp;
De&rsquo;Andre Hunter &mdash; who makes $9.8 million next year in the last season of a rookie deal and is extension-eligible this summer &mdash; seems logical for both the Jazz to want and the Hawks to keep. Hunter was Atlanta's best player against the Heat, and has been a quality two-way wing when healthy. Is a framework of Collins and Hunter for Mitchell straight up enough of a deal for both sides? Sheeeeeiiiiit, ask them, but it sounds good to me!
<ul>
<li>Donovan Mitchell for John Collins and De'Andre Hunter</li>
</ul>
No Collins? Okay. You&rsquo;re not moving Clint Capela&rsquo;s long-term deal for Utah in a Mitchell move, so that&rsquo;s out of the picture. Kevin Huerter would absolutely have to be part of this, and no, that&rsquo;s not a white Utah joke. Hu-why would you think that?&nbsp;
Huerter begins his $65 million extension next year, the first of four, banking $14.5 million in 2022-23. Hunter probably stays in the deal because Utah has to get something really good, and the Hawks simply can&rsquo;t extend everyone. Again, Atlanta should want to keep Hunter, but this is the price of doing business. But if you&rsquo;re throwing in Huerter instead of Collins (which does work on the trade machine since different rules apply in the offseason than in-season), you&rsquo;ll need multiple first round picks &mdash; of which the Hawks have all their own &mdash; so that could get done.
Could Utah also want Onyeka Okongwu? Sure, but he seems like Atlanta's 5-man of the future, and a separate deal moving off Capela might be more likely. So the second proposal could look like this:
<ul>
<li>Donovan Mitchell for De'Andre Hunter, Kevin Huerter, draft capital</li>
</ul>
Now, the Hawks would still need to figure some things out defensively, seeing as how they&rsquo;d be led by two 6-foot-1 scorers in the backcourt. They could just became the new Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum to some extent, but <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/a-salute-to-the-defiance-of-damian-lillard-and-cj-mccollum" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the Portland Trail Blazers are as much to blame for that &ldquo;not working,&rdquo;</a> and the Hawks can learn from those team-building mistakes.&nbsp;
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Bryan Fonseca takes a look at four logical landing spots for Utah Jazz star guard Donovan Mitchell.

Examining potential trade desinations for Donovan Mitchell 

At around 6:00 pm on Sunday, June 30, 2019, word began to spread that free agents Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving had decided to team up and join forces in Brooklyn. It was hailed as one of the most important and impactful days in the history of the Nets as a franchise.
Despite the fact that KD was recovering from an Achilles tear, expectations in Brooklyn were sky-high. Euphoric Nets fans were incredibly optimistic, dreaming of the imminent success this dynamic duo would enjoy.&nbsp;
Yet, with both KD and Kyrie sidelined by injury during the 2020 postseason, Brooklyn was swept out of the playoffs by the Toronto Raptors that first year.
Nevertheless, expectations ratcheted up even further once Nets fans watched Durant return fully healthy in 2020-21. And that optimism reached a fever pitch when the team added a third future Hall-of-Famer, James Harden, in mid-January 2021.
However, Kyrie injured his ankle in Game 4 of the Nets' second-round series vs. the Milwaukee Bucks last postseason, and Harden was nursing a hamstring injury that prevented him from playing at full strength. KD put the team on his back and played brilliantly, but the Nets eventually lost Game 7 at home to Giannis Antetokounmpo and the eventual NBA champions.
Still, the team and its fan base were incredibly hopeful heading into the 2021-22 campaign. And for good reason, as KD, Kyrie and Harden were all healthy. Brooklynites were convinced this would be the year their team would advance to the Finals and capture the Larry O'Brien trophy, and sportsbooks in Las Vegas agreed with them, installing the Nets as the heavy preseason favorite to win the NBA title.
Things got off to a rocky start.
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Irving decided to reject the advice of medical experts and refused to get vaccinated against COVID-19. As a result, due to New York City vaccine mandates, Irving could not play in home games. Consequently, in early October, Nets general manager Sean Marks and team owner Joe Tsai informed Irving that he couldn't rejoin the team &mdash; for games or practices &mdash; until he was vaccinated.
"He has a choice to make, and he made his choice," Marks stated. "My job here is to make what we deem as the best choices for the organization moving ahead as a whole... We're looking at putting a group of people that are going to be able to participate fully. That's what this comes down to, and we're not looking for partners that are going to be half-time."&nbsp;
In November, Tsai told the New York Post: "Kyrie talks about it as a sort of personal choice issue, which I respect. But we all need to not forget our goal. A championship team needs to have everybody pulling the same direction."
Even without Irving, the Nets got off to a strong start, winning 21 of their first 29 games. Durant was playing at an MVP level over the first two months of the season, averaging 29.7 points (on 52% shooting), 7.9 rebounds and 5.9 rebounds. Brooklyn had the best record in the Eastern Conference through the first 30 games of the 2021-22 campaign.&nbsp;
However, in mid-December, a COVID outbreak decimated the Nets' depth. Durant, Harden De'Andre Bembry, Bruce Brown, Jevon Carter, LaMarcus Aldridge, James Johnson and Paul Millsap were all placed in health and safety protocols. Unnerved, the Nets front office relented and decided to welcome Irving back to the team.
With KD, Kyrie and Harden reunited, NBA pundits and oddsmakers once again predicted Brooklyn's immense collection of talent would carry them to a title.&nbsp;
However, the Nets' Big Three never seemed to get on the same page. In a Jan. 15 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans, Durant sprained the MCL in his left knee. The injury would sideline KD for six weeks. By late January, rumors began to surface that Harden was fed up with the circus-like atmosphere and wanted out of Brooklyn.&nbsp;
On Feb. 2, Brooklyn was beaten badly by the lowly Sacramento Kings, and Harden's effort (or lack thereof) was appalling. In what would be his final appearance in a Nets uniform, The Beard finished with 4 points on 2 of 12 shooting.&nbsp;
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On the day of the trade deadline, Brooklyn shipped Harden to the Sixers in exchange for Ben Simmons, Seth Curry, Andre Drummond and two first-round picks.
Following the blockbuster deal, the Nets remained the consensus favorites to win the 2022 NBA title. Caesars Sportsbook elected to keep the Nets' odds at 4-1 after the trade, ahead of the Golden State Warriors (9-2), Phoenix Suns (5-1) and Bucks (7-1).
In his introductory press conference with Brooklyn, Simmons said he was looking forward to returning to action.
"I feel physically pretty good," Simmons told reporters. "Mentally, I'm getting there, so it's an ongoing thing to stay on top of that. But I think I'm heading in the right direction."
As we now know, Simmons would not set foot on an NBA court all season. Drummond, who provided much-needed rebounding help for Brooklyn early on, was essentially unplayable by the time the playoffs arrived (he logged less than 4 minutes of action in the Nets' season-ending loss Monday night).
Once Durant returned from his knee injury, Brooklyn got back on track and went 6-1 over a seven-game span in mid-March. Kyrie hung 50 on the Hornets in Charlotte on March 8. KD poured in a season-high 53 points in Brooklyn's victory over the New York Knicks on March 13. Two nights later, Irving scored a franchise-record 60 points in a blowout win over the Orlando Magic.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Irving and Durant became the first pair of teammates in NBA history to score 50 points in consecutive games. KD and Kyrie are also just the second duo to record multiple 50-point games in a season, joining Jerry West and Elgin Baylor, who accomplished the feat for the 1961-62 Los Angeles Lakers.
Then, in late March, New York mayor Eric Adams altered the city's vaccine mandate, clearing the way for Irving to play in home games. Adams, who initially stated that "it would send the wrong message" to give Irving an exemption when the city's other employees were still subject to the same mandate, said the revised decision was "about putting New York city-based performers on a level playing field."
Thus, the Nets would enter the postseason with their two top guns available (and Irving fresh/well-rested after being a part-time player for most of the season).
Yet, as it turned out, the disjointed Nets were no match for a unified Celtics team that had spent the past three months building its chemistry on both ends of the court.
Boston swept Brooklyn out of the playoffs, effectively locking up both Kyrie and KD.
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Durant played well in Game 4, but disappeared in Game 3 on Saturday night. KD was shockingly passive the entire evening, finishing the must-win contest with just 16 points on 6 of 11 shooting; his lack of aggression and intensity was stunning. In that contest, the most important game of the Nets season, Durant &mdash; a four-time scoring champion and two-time Finals MVP &mdash; finished with 10 fewer points and 8 fewer field-goal attempts than Brown.&nbsp;
Incredibly, over Game 2 and Game 3 combined, Brown scored more points (49) and grabbed more rebounds (16) than both Durant (43 points/12 boards) and Irving (26 points/12 boards).
Irving closed out his season averaging 15.3 points while shooting just 37.2% from the floor and 18.2% from three-point territory over the final three games of the series.
Being swept out of the playoffs in the first round would have been considered almost unimaginable at the start of the season, or really at any point over the past 12 months, assuming KD and Kyrie were both healthy.&nbsp;
In fact, SportsBetting.ag confirmed to BasketballNews.com that the Nets are the first NBA team ever to enter a season as the favorite to win a title, yet fail to win a single playoff game.&nbsp;
It's not hyperbole to suggest that the 2021-22 Brooklyn Nets will go down as arguably the most disappointing team in the history of the National Basketball Association.
That's not the all-time legacy Brooklynites were anticipating this squad would be remembered for. Dating back to the 2021 postseason, the Nets are 1-8 in their last last nine playoff games...
The unforgettable Sunday afternoon in June 2019, when Durant and Irving revealed they were teaming up, was 1,030 days ago.
Imagine telling enthusiastic Nets fans back then that KD, Kyrie and company would win only one playoff series (and a grand total of seven playoff games) over the subsequent three seasons.&nbsp;
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Tommy Beer reviews the Nets' latest playoff shortcoming and how they haven't gotten it done since Kyrie Irving and KD joined forces.

The 2021-22 Nets: Arguably the most disappointing team in NBA history

It's not uncommon for high-profile athletes in New York to experience ups and downs throughout their careers. Yet, in just the three seasons Julius Randle has spent as a Knick, he's endured nearly unprecedented swings, from extreme lows to intense highs and everything in-between...
After making the difficult decision to trade away Kristaps Porzingis in February 2019, the Knicks inked Randle to a three-year, $63 million deal the following summer, hoping Randle could carry the team offensively and help them return to respectability.
However, Randle struggled to handle the bright lights of Broadway during his first year in NYC. After averaging over 21 points per game on 52.4% shooting during his sole season in New Orleans, Randle's scoring average dipped to 19.5 points per game on 46.0% shooting in 2019-20. And while his overall counting stats were solid (19/10/3), his inefficiency and defensive lapses contributed to the Knicks' putrid 21-45 record.
In an article he <a href="https://www.theplayerstribune.com/posts/reputation-julius-randle-new-york-knicks-basketball-nba" target="_blank" rel="noopener">penned for the Players Tribune</a>, Randle acknowledged that he wasn't quite prepared for the pressures that came along with being the top dog in the Big Apple.
"To be honest, I don't think I realized everything that goes into being a No. 1 option in the NBA," Randle <a href="https://www.theplayerstribune.com/posts/reputation-julius-randle-new-york-knicks-basketball-nba" target="_blank" rel="noopener">explained</a>. "Another problem, looking back, is that I think I was so focused on proving myself as a No. 1 option, that I lost sight of some of my other responsibilities to the team."
Randle added: "I know you only get one chance to make a first impression in a city &mdash; and I was so disappointed in myself for how that first season in New York had gone."
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Well, his second impression was incredible.&nbsp;
Randle wasn't just good during his second season in NYC; he authored one of the finest all-around seasons in Knicks franchise history.
The winner of the NBA's Most Improved Player, Randle finished the 2020-21 campaign averaging 24.1 points, 10.2 rebounds, and 6.0 assists per game, ranking in the top-20 in all three statistical categories. Prior that that, the only other players in NBA history to average at least 24 points, 10 rebounds and 6 assists over an entire season were Wilt Chamberlain, Nikola Jokić, Larry Bird, Russell Westbrook and Oscar Robertson.
Randle also averaged 2.3 made three-pointers and 0.9 steals while shooting 45.6% from the floor, 41.1% from downtown and 81.1% from the free-throw line. According to Basketball-Reference, Randle was just the second player ever to average more than 10 rebounds and 5 assists while shooting over 40% from three-point territory and over 80% from the charity stripe. (The only other player in this exclusive club is Bird, who posted those numbers in 1984-85 en route to winning the Most Valuable Player award.)
Knicks fans inside MSG would serenade Randle with boisterous "MVP" chants nearly every time he stepped to the free-throw line over the last two months of the season.&nbsp;
Randle would finish eighth in MVP voting and be named to the All-NBA Second Team alongside Chris Paul, Damian Lillard, Joel Embiid and LeBron James.&nbsp;
Last summer, fresh off his career year, the Knicks inked Randle to a four-year contract extension worth up to $117 million.
Consequently, expectations were sky-high for Randle and his Knicks entering the 2021-22 campaign...
As we know, New York instead finished the year with a disappointing 37-45 record, failing to qualify for the playoffs for the ninth time in the last 10 years.
While Randle's counting stats were once again solid, his offensive inefficiency and porous defense were crippling. After shooting 41.5% on mid-range jumpers in 2020-21, he converted just 33.3% of his mid-rangers this past season. Of the 66 players who attempted more than 500 jump shots this past season, Randle was the least efficient. Every other player in the league who attempted more than three such shots per game converted over 35% &mdash; except for Randle.
Randle also struggled from long distance. After shooting over 41% from behind the three-point arc in 2020-21, that percentage tumbled all the way down to below 31% in 2021-22.
To put Randle's inefficiency in context, consider this: In 2021-22, Randle became the first and only player in NBA history to attempt more than 300 three-pointers and 300 free throws, yet shot below 42% from the floor, below 31% from downtown and below 76% from the charity stripe.
Oh, and his assist average decreased (from 6.0 to 5.1) while committing a career-high 245 turnovers.
Yet, if only his subpar production were an issue, the Knicks front office &mdash; led by team president Leon Rose &mdash; might be far more comfortable bringing Randle back in 2022-23 and hoping he can rebound from a rough year.
However, there are a number of concerns that complicate the situation.&nbsp;
The relationship between the burly power forward and Knicks fans turned toxic at various points over the past six months. During a home game against the Boston Celtics in early January, some New York fans inside Madison Square Garden booed Randle and his teammates after the Knicks fell behind by 25 points. Randle aimed a thumbs-down gesture at the crowd at one point in the fourth quarter. He acknowledged the gesture was directed at the fans after the game (which included a miraculous Knicks comeback, capped by RJ Barrett sinking a miraculous buzzer-beater).
When asked by reporters what it was for, Randle <a href="https://nypost.com/2022/01/06/julius-randle-gives-knicks-fans-thumbs-down-shut-the-f-k-up/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">replied</a>: "To shut the f&ndash;k up."
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Unsurprisingly, the relationship remained rocky the rest of the way. As New York piled up losses and Randle continued to miss shots he had made a year earlier, the crowd continued to get on the team's highest-paid player. Making matters worse, <a href="https://tommybeer.substack.com/p/thibs-needs-to-send-a-strong-message?s=w" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Randle's lack of effort</a>, especially on the <a href="https://tommybeer.substack.com/p/thibs-needs-to-send-a-strong-message?s=w" target="_blank" rel="noopener">defensive end</a>, drew the intense ire of the fan base.
Poor shooting or effort errors (such as giving up an easy bucket because you close out too hard) are frustrating but forgivable. However, New Yorkers won't tolerate consistently failing to box out or hustle back on defense. And, for long stretches this winter, Randle was guilty of such offenses.&nbsp;
Last month, <a href="https://nypost.com/2022/03/29/julius-randle-could-be-forcing-way-off-knicks-in-james-harden-type-of-way/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Marc Berman of the New York Post reported</a> that people around the league felt Randle was "acting in a 'James Harden type of way' that suggests he wants a new place of work next season."
Berman <a href="https://nypost.com/2022/03/29/julius-randle-could-be-forcing-way-off-knicks-in-james-harden-type-of-way/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">added</a> that "some NBA sources believe the Knicks will shop Randle for a package revolving around a center if they lose Mitchell Robinson."
Randle has said publicly he wants to remain in New York, but has also stated that his wife and young son were forced to leave their courtside seats at some home games this season due to unwelcome comments from the crowd. Being traded to a new franchise could allow Randle to start fresh and hopefully re-establish himself as an All-Star.
The best resolution for both the player and the team may be parting ways this summer.&nbsp;
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From the Knicks' perspective, trading away an All-Star less than a year after you ink him to a max extension is never ideal. The front office hoped Randle would be a foundational cornerstone for the remainder of his prime. However, New York must acknowledge that this past season was a mess in more ways than one.&nbsp;
Interestingly, one bright spot over the second half of the season was the awe-inspiring play of Obi Toppin. When a sore quad sidelined Randle in late March, the No. 8 overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft stepped in and most definitely stepped up. Fans who had been begging for Toppin to see more minutes finally got their wish.
Toppin started each of the Knicks' final five games and averaged 27.2 points, 6.2 rebounds, 3.8 made three-pointers, 2.8 assists and 1.0 blocks. He shot over 55% from the floor, over 46% from downtown and over 86% from the charity stripe. He was one of just seven players to average more than 27 points and 6 boards per game in April. The other six were Jokic, Embiid, LeBron, Luka Doncic, Pascal Siakam and Kevin Durant. (And of this group, Toppin and Doncic were the only players to knock down more than three treys a night.)
While it's foolish to make too much out of relatively meaningless games late in any season, it's impossible to watch Toppin and not recognize he possesses tantalizing upside. And remember, this is the same dude who was named the NCAA National Player of the Year in 2020 due to his dominant play at Dayton, where he averaged 20.0 points to go along with 7.5 rebounds while shooting a scorching 63.3% percent from the field and 39.0% from behind the arc.&nbsp;
Toppin will be due for a contract extension of his own soon, and the Knicks need to determine if he is worth a hefty investment. Trading Randle would open a spot in the starting lineup for Toppin, who is closer in age to the Knicks' young core of Barrett, Immanuel Quickley, Quentin Grimes, etc.
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The issue for New York is that it would have to "sell low" on Randle relative to where his league-wide value was just six months ago. Would the Knicks be content to trade him away if they would only be able recoup around 70 cents on the dollar? On the other hand, would another team be willing to trade for the $100+ million remaining on Randle's contract?
My guess is that the all-around skill set Randle showcased in 2020-21 will be more than enough to entice a few general managers.
Keep in mind that even in a "down year" in 2021-22, Randle averaged 20.1 points, 9.9 boards and 5.1 dimes. The only players to exceed those numbers in each category this season were Jokic and Giannis Antetokounmpo. In addition, although Randle's contract is certainly not a bargain, it's not an albatross by any means &mdash; even with its 15% trade kicker.&nbsp;
More than 50 players in the league will earn more than Randle next season. A contract averaging around $26 million a year is reasonable for a player with Randle's immense talent and proven durability (he's appeared in 207 of a possible 222 games over the last four seasons).&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
Also, the fact that Randle is under team control for at least three more years (he has a player option for 2025-26) would appeal to several teams, especially small-market clubs.&nbsp;
Furthermore, there are always other GMs looking to move their own high-priced players due to positional log jams or salary constraints.
For instance, <a href="https://theathletic.com/3243084/2022/04/11/whats-next-for-lakers-notes-on-nick-nurse-russell-westbrook-and-more/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">multiple</a> league insiders have <a href="https://marcstein.substack.com/p/indiana-intrigue?s=r" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> that the Indiana Pacers are "open to trade conversations around Malcolm Brogdon and Buddy Hield this offseason." Brogdon, whose name has been bandied about in trade rumors since Indiana acquired Tyrese Haliburton in February, has three years left on his deal. He and Randle have nearly identical salaries for next season, meaning they could be swapped straight up for each other.&nbsp;
With the Knicks still in desperate need of a point guard, which side would say no to a potential Brogdon-Randle deal?
It's also worth noting that <a href="https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10032521-who-will-lead-lamelo-ball-and-promising-hornets-into-their-prime" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report</a> recently reported Charlotte Hornets forward Gordon Hayward is "interested in a change of scenery this offseason." A swap sending Kemba Walker, who is still beloved in Charlotte, and Randle to the Hornets in exchange for Hayward works under the cap. Would Charlotte be willing to include draft capital to get a deal done?
We know the Los Angeles Lakers would love to rid themselves of Russell Westbrook, who has just one year left on his current contract. And if we're thinking outside the box, would the Knicks be willing to consider a reunion with Kristaps Porzings?
The point is, if New York is genuinely willing to make Randle available, the franchise will have plenty of interested parties, which could make for a very interesting offseason.&nbsp;
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Tommy Beer analyzes what went awry for Julius Randle in his third season with the Knicks and ponders options for both parties.

Julius Randle and the Knicks should part ways this summer

The NBA sent four teams home from its Play-In Tournament after Friday night, but all four are poised to contend next season.
Though the Charlotte Hornets, Cleveland Cavaliers and San Antonio Spurs exited early, their trio of All-Star guards and exciting young cores mean all three should be back in the hunt &mdash; provided they beef up their rosters in the offseason. Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Clippers weren't supposed to make it this far without their franchise cornerstones; that only creates more buzz surrounding a 2022-23 championship contender.
What can these franchises do this offseason to set themselves up for success? I've written up some summer plans for all four squads, including draft assets (via Tankathon), potential free agents (via Spotrac) and a central team-building question (via my deranged mind). If you missed last week, I did the same for the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/summer-plans-for-the-nbas-nonplayoff-teams" target="_blank" rel="noopener">10 teams who did not crack the NBA postseason</a>.
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Let's dive in.
CHARLOTTE HORNETS
Draft assets:&nbsp;First-round pick, First-round pick via Pelicans, Second-round pick, Second-round pick via Toronto (if 55-60)
Potential free agents:&nbsp;Montrezl Harrell, Isaiah Thomas, Miles Bridges (restricted), Cody Martin (restricted), Arnoldas Kulboka (restricted), Scottie Lewis (restricted)
Central question:&nbsp;How can the Hornets construct an interior defense?
Charlotte's bottom-10 defense doomed the franchise several times in the regular season and, ultimately, in the Play-In loss to Atlanta. The Hornets gave up boatloads of at-rim attempts and three-pointers, and simply looked like turnstiles at times. Improvement is necessary across the board, but an on-paper view highlights a clear need for upgrades inside.
Mason Plumlee is a fine basketball player, but he's not anchoring a high-level NBA defense. Neither is Montrezl Harrell, and 2021 first-round pick Kai Jones barely touched the floor in Charlotte. The Hornets don't have a whole lot of salary flexibility with big-money deals in place for Gordon Hayward and Terry Rozier. Miles Bridges' restricted free agency is also a key offseason focal point.&nbsp;
Though the Hornets likely can't throw outright money at a Deandre Ayton-level restricted free agent, perhaps they could work a sign-and-trade for a lesser-known young talent. Maybe Mo Bamba fits the bill from Orlando? Charlotte was tied to trade rumors surrounding Myles Turner before the trade deadline, and the front office could also elect to sign a veteran at a mid-level exception.
Regardless of the pathway, the Hornets have needed to address the center position for years now. With a playoff leap now the expectation in 2022-23, they can't afford to let another summer slip away.
CLEVELAND CAVALIERS
Draft assets:&nbsp;First-round pick, Second-round pick via Spurs, Second-round pick via Heat
Potential free agents:&nbsp;Ed Davis, Rajon Rondo, Brandon Goodwin, Collin Sexton (restricted), Moses Brown (restricted), RJ Nembhard (restricted), Dean Wade (team option)
Central question:&nbsp;What is Collin Sexton's future in Cleveland?
The Cavaliers may have slid out of the playoffs, but this was a banner year for the franchise's long-term trajectory. Darius Garland emerged as a cornerstone point guard, Evan Mobley might win Rookie of the Year, and the frontcourt pairing with Jarrett Allen looks to be a mainstay in the Eastern Conference. Injuries ultimately derailed what was a top-four seed. Most of the rotation is under contract and under 30, hinting at continued growth.
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Darius Garland -&gt; Jarrett Allen -&gt; Evan Mobley (Lob) <a href="https://t.co/nDQz7tkxbs">pic.twitter.com/nDQz7tkxbs</a>
&mdash; Jackson Lloyd (@JacksonLloydNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/JacksonLloydNBA/status/1515354588353728522?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 16, 2022</a></blockquote>

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This seaon's leap makes the situation with Sexton... difficult. Let's not forget that the combo guard is a season removed from a 24-point-per-game season as an efficient primary scorer, and that the Cavs were 19th in Offensive Rating this year. Sexton can meaningfully boost Cleveland simply as a bucket-getter, nevermind if he keeps improving as a playmaker.
What kind of contract do the Cavs offer to a 23-year-old who missed nearly a full season with a knee injury though? If a desperate team decides to throw money at Sexton to force the franchise to match, is there a limit to the front office's willingness? What would an extension mean for Isaac Okoro and Caris LeVert?&nbsp;
Sexton is one of the biggest dominoes in the upcoming offseason, and arguably the most unpredictable.
LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS
Draft assets:&nbsp;Second-round pick
Potential free agents: Robert Covington, Rodney Hood, Isaiah Hartenstein, Amir Coffey (restricted), Xavier Moon (restricted), Ivica Zubac (team option), Nic Batum (player option)
Central question:&nbsp;What does a fully-healthy 10-man rotation look like?
Nobody expected the Clippers to be a playoff contender without Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, and they still almost cracked the postseason with the supporting cast chipping in. L.A. made a splash at the trade deadline by adding Norman Powell and Robert Covington, two players who conceivably make sense next to the franchise's two stars.
This roster is deep. It's a great problem to have, but it's still a problem with several rotation options potentially hitting free agency. Covington will likely command a solid new deal as one of the league's more reliable two-way complements, and Batum could easily decline his $3.3 million team option in search of a raise. Ivica Zubac and Isaiah Hartenstein may both hit free agency; what would happen to the center rotation in that case?
The Clippers have Leonard, George, Powell, Reggie Jackson, Luke Kennard, Terance Mann and Marcus Morris locked down for next season. That's already seven rotation-caliber players, and it doesn't account for leaps from young talents like Brandon Boston Jr., Jason Preston or Amir Coffey. A roster crunch is inbound, and the organization can't let a quality addition slip away as it positions itself for title contention next season.
SAN ANTONIO SPURS
Draft assets:&nbsp;First-round pick, first-round pick via Raptors, first-round pick via Celtics, second-round pick via Lakers
Potential free agents:&nbsp;Lonnie Walker IV (restricted), Devontae Cacok (restricted), Joe Wieskamp (restricted), DJ Stewart Jr. (restricted), Robert Woodard II (restricted)
Central question:&nbsp;How do the Spurs toe the line between developmental patience and consolidation?
San Antonio valiantly fought to get to the Play-In Tournament before losing to New Orleans, but also had one of the more underrated developmental seasons across the roster. Dejounte Murray made his All-Star leap and Jakob Poeltl established himself as <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/jakob-poeltl-san-antonios-newest-watchful-protector" target="_blank" rel="noopener">one of the league's better rim-protectors</a>; the Spurs collectively were just a tick under league-average on both ends of the floor, per Cleaning the Glass.
One of the NBA's youngest rosters is well on track and about to receive another influx of potential. San Antonio could use its three first-rounders (including its own lottery pick) to add to the frontcourt or find another lead guard. However, the Spurs already have 12 players locked down for next season under at least partial guarantees, and 11 of them are under 30. They have a pathway to over $24 million in salary cap space this summer should they move on from restricted free agents like Walker.&nbsp;
There's an avenue, with draft picks, young players and cap space, for San Antonio to make a serious splash. Is that in the programming for this franchise, though? San Antonio hasn't acquired a star via trade in several years, unless you want to count adding DeMar DeRozan in the Kawhi Leonard blockbuster. At the same time, there are only so many minutes to go around for the young guns, especially if the Spurs think they can compete for the playoffs.
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Ethan Fuller sets the stage for the NBA's four Play-In exits approaching the offseason.

Summer plans for the Spurs, Hornets, Cavaliers and Clippers

For a third of the NBA, summer break comes early.&nbsp;
Though 10 teams didn't make the playoffs, it's not all doom and gloom. Several NBA bottom-feeders took tangible steps forward in their rebuilding efforts, while others &mdash; well, they're not supposed to be here.
Every franchise enters the offseason with summer plans. As teams get eliminated from the postseason, I'll be rounding up every team's offseason outlook and posing one question they must answer over the summer. You'll see each squad's 2022 NBA Draft chest, plus their potential free agents, along with the central question.&nbsp;
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Let's get started!
DETROIT PISTONS 
Draft assets: First-round pick (14.0% chance at No. 1), Second-round pick (via Brooklyn)
Potential free agents:&nbsp;Marvin Bagley III (restricted), Cory Joseph (player option), Hamidou Diallo (team option), Frank Jackson (team option), Luka Garza (team option), Carsen Edwards (team option), Rodney McGruder 
Central question: How do the Pistons build an offense around Cade Cunningham?
This was a pretty solid season for Detroit as far as rebuilding efforts go. Cade Cunningham emerged as a Rookie of the Year front-runner and two-way centerpiece who has fans ecstatic about his ceiling. The Pistons finished a solid 10-14 after the All-Star break, and have shown flashes of an improving defense. They did still finish with the 28th-ranked offense, per Cleaning the Glass, and one of the worst shooting rates in the NBA.
Cunningham had to carry a ridiculous offensive load in the latter stages of the season. Detroit has the power to change that in 2022-23, starting with its high draft pick. Maybe Jabari Smith's lights-out scoring means he's an ideal secondary option? Perhaps Paolo Banchero thrives as an additional creator, or maybe Chet Holmgren makes sense as a finisher and spot-up threat? The fun part about Cunningham is that his versatility creates so many pathways for the Pistons in the draft &mdash; whether or not the ping pong balls fall their way.
Detroit wields a cap hold of approximately $28 million on Bagley, and once that lifts (either via a new contract or letting him walk), the Pistons should have a solid chunk of cap space to add to the supporting cast.
HOUSTON ROCKETS
Draft assets: First-round pick (14.0% chance at No. 1), better of Brooklyn/Miami first-round picks
Potential free agents: John Wall (player option), Dennis Schroder, Bruno Fernando (restricted), Jae'Sean Tate (team option), Anthony Lamb (qualifying offer), Trevelin Queen (qualifying offer)
Central question: How patient is the front office willing to be?
Houston's 2021 draft strategy of "draft talent, figure out the fit later" appears to be working out. Jalen Green demonstrated an Anthony Edwards-esque leap post-All-Star break, Alperen Sengun is already one of the NBA's best passing bigs, and guys like Josh Christopher and KJ Martin routinely hinted at upside. Houston gets another prime shot at a franchise cornerstone this draft cycle. We're approaching Stage 2 of the strategy, though: figuring out how the pieces fit.&nbsp;
The Rockets were one of two NBA teams with bottom-five ratings on offense and defense. They led the league in rim frequency and were fourth in three-point frequency, but posted mediocre shooting clips. Houston evokes memories of the rebuilding Nets, who played a similarly extreme brand of ball for a few years as the team slowly reshaped into a fun playoff squad. Does the front office have the foresight to let head coach Stephen Silas work things out with his roster of young guns?&nbsp;
INDIANA PACERS
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How is there a &ldquo;rebuild&rdquo; to afraid of if it isn&rsquo;t a rebuild? <a href="https://t.co/0pDD7E6Mss">pic.twitter.com/0pDD7E6Mss</a>
&mdash; Caitlin Cooper (@C2_Cooper) <a href="https://twitter.com/C2_Cooper/status/1512127632758001664?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 7, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Draft assets: First-round pick (10.5% chance at No. 1), First-round pick (if 15-30, via Cleveland), Second-round pick (via Houston), Second-round pick (via Phoenix)
Potential free agents: Ricky Rubio, T.J. Warren, Jalen Smith, Lance Stephenson, Nate Hinton (restricted), Oshae Brissett (team option)
Central question: How extreme is the incoming rebuild, and what veterans mesh with the future vision?
Notably unlisted among the potential free agents are Malcolm Brogdon, Myles Turner, Buddy Hield and T.J. McConnell. All range from solid starters to rotational complements, and 3 of the 4 (not Turner) will be 30 next season. The Pacers are clearly retooling, as evidenced by their trade-deadline fireworks and Tyrese Haliburton's subsequent high usage. They also have publicly flip-flopped regarding the direction of the team; see the above Tweet.
Indiana doesn't have the pure depth of talent to straddle the line. The Pacers can trade many of these talented players and build up a chest of draft picks and young pieces, or they can charge ahead, turn their picks into win-now players and hope Haliburton is ready for the playoff push. But a middle ground doesn't exist in an Eastern Conference where just about every team has solidified its direction.
LOS ANGELES LAKERS
Draft assets: None
Potential free agents: Russell Westbrook (player option), Kendrick Nunn (player option), Austin Reaves (team option), Stanley Johnson (team option), Carmelo Anthony, Avery Bradley, Wayne Ellington, Dwight Howard, Kent Bazemore, Malik Monk, D.J. Augustin, Wenyen Gabriel, Mason Jones (restricted)
Central question: What does team-building around two injury-prone superstars look like?
LeBron James <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/lebron-james-i-dont-have-a-cap-on-how-long-i-want-to-play" target="_blank" rel="noopener">turns 38 next season</a>, and has played 60-plus games just once in the past four seasons. Anthony Davis has now missed more than half the season in back-to-back years. Sure, the Lakers were a mess regardless of their stars' health, but going forward, is pursuing fits next to James and Davis even worthwhile if the two won't consistently be on the court?
With just three players under contract (the aforementioned stars, plus Talen Horton-Tucker), the Lakers enter another offseason of a roster overhaul. This time, I'd recommend almost entirely forgetting about James and Davis when building the squad and simply try to assemble units that make sense together.&nbsp;
NEW YORK KNICKS
Draft assets: First-round pick (2.5% chance at No. 1, could change based on Play-In results), Second-round pick via Boston and Charlotte (if 56-60)
Potential free agents: Mitchell Robinson, Ryan Arcidiacono 
Central question: What's going to happen with the veterans?
The top six moneymakers for the Knicks next season are all 27 or older, and I think many fans would say that out of the group, only Julius Randle should have started &mdash; and he seriously regressed this season. The young Knicks <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/explain-one-play-young-knicks-playing-chess" target="_blank" rel="noopener">clearly showed they're ready to take the mantle</a>.
So what happens with Randle, Evan Fournier, Derrick Rose, Alec Burks, Nerlens Noel and Kemba Walker? Is Tom Thibodeau prepared to reduce their (their meaning Burks specifically in this case) minutes and usage, will trades be coming, or will Madison Square Garden burn when Immanuel Quickley opens the season by playing 16 minutes off the bench? New York has drafted extremely well in recent seasons, but the ceiling of the young core is capped if these youngsters don't get a chance to prove themselves in meaningful situations.
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OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER 
Draft assets: First-round pick (12.5% chance at No. 1), First-round pick via Clippers, First-round pick via Phoenix, Second-round pick
Potential free agents: Derrick Favors (player option), Mike Muscala (team option), Lu Dort (team option), Isaiah Roby (team option), Melvin Frazier (restricted)
Central question: What is the pathway in the frontcourt?
I've stanned Sam Presti's team-building strategy for years now, and I still think it's on track for a serious payoff. Josh Giddey slots in somewhere on your All-Rookie ballot, and draft classmates Tre Mann, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl and Aaron Wiggins flashed rotation-caliber play as well. It is simply a joy to watch a random young player have a breakout game on any given night, and OKC has already shown the <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/the-oklahoma-city-thunders-emerging-defensive-identity" target="_blank" rel="noopener">early stages of a prominent defense</a>.
Next up: Capitalize on a draft loaded with intruiging frontcourt players. Banchero, Holmgren and Smith are obviously the best of the best. But even if the Thunder slide in the lottery, they could pounce on an athletic shot-blocker like Jalen Duren, or use one of their later picks on a center like Mark Williams. I'm just spit-balling, but the point is that OKC has plenty of chances to find its big-man anchor and further flesh out its core.
ORLANDO MAGIC
Draft assets: First-round pick (14.0% chance at No. 1), Second-round pick, Second-round pick via Indiana
Potential free agents: Gary Harris, Robin Lopez, Bol Bol (restricted), Ignas Brazdeikis (restricted), Admiral Schofield (restricted)
Central question: How do the offensive pieces fit together?
Orlando quietly logged a 17th-ranked defense this season, and an 11th-ranked unit since Feb. 1. A dismal offense ultimately doomed the Magic, who were riddled with inconsistent shotmaking and poor team efficiency marks throughout the half-court. We don't need to sound any player alarms; it takes time for young guards in particular to grasp the responsibilities of running NBA offenses.&nbsp;
But what if I told you Orlando has wielded bottom-10 offensive ratings every season for the last decade?&nbsp;
Change can start in the draft, again with some of the top offensive forward options like Banchero or Smith. Adding another ball-dominant guard in Jaden Ivey might be overkill, but AJ Griffin and Bennedict Mathurin feel like good wing fits at first glance. Spotrac estimates the Magic could have up to $30 million in practical cap space, leaving plenty of room for veteran players to accentuate the young talent.
PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
THE D IN DREW STANDS FOR DUNK DO NOT GOOGLE THIS <a href="https://t.co/2AojdAskYV">pic.twitter.com/2AojdAskYV</a>
&mdash; Portland Trail Blazers (@trailblazers) <a href="https://twitter.com/trailblazers/status/1508636734900166659?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 29, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Draft assets: First-round pick (9.0% chance at No. 1), First-round pick via New Orleans (if 5-14), Second-round pick, Second-round pick via Memphis
Potential free agents: Joe Ingles, Jusuf Nurkic, Ben McLemore, Anfernee Simons (restricted), CJ Elleby (restricted), Elijah Hughes (restricted), Keljin Blevins (restricted)
Central question: Is Portland actually trying to win "now" or win soon?
Some really great development happened for the Blazers during the "wash" portion of the season in the form of players like Trendon Watford, Keon Johnson and Drew Eubanks. Add them to Anfernee Simons, Nassir Little and the incomng draft picks, and Portland suddenly has... kind of a sneaky-deep prospect pool? There's real potential to mold this group into a rotation cast that gives Portland one of its deepest rosters in years.
That's why these <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/jerami-grant-trade-rumors-portland-is-still-the-frontrunner" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jerami Grant trade rumors concern me</a>. Giving up a possible lottery pick to try and piece together a short-term playoff team risks too much and keeps the Trail Blazers in the limbo they have lounged in for several years. Understandably, the franchise wants to build a contender while Damian Lillard is invested and in his prime. With some patience, Portland can without sacrificing sustainibility.
SACRAMENTO KINGS
Draft assets: First-round pick (7.5% chance at No. 1), Second-round pick, Second-round pick (via Chicago)
Potential free agents: Jeremy Lamb, Josh Jackson, Damian Jones, Donte DiVincenzo (restricted), Neemias Queta (restricted), Trey Lyles (team option)
Central question: How does Sacramento turn into a competitive NBA defense?
The Kings have trotted out lackluster defenses for as long as I can remember. In fact, they haven't ranked above 20th in Defensive Rating since 2005-06 &mdash; notably, the last time they made the playoffs.
And that didn't change under interim head coach Alvin Gentry. (Gentry will not return as head coach next season, but is <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/shams-alvin-gentry-no-longer-interim-coach-of-the-kings" target="_blank" rel="noopener">in talks for a front-office role</a>, per ESPN.) However, the on-paper roster actually shines some hope. Davion Mitchell made highlight reels out of his "Off-Night" defense. Justin Holiday is a solid individual defender, as is Harrison Barnes, and even De'Aaron Fox has his sporadic moments.&nbsp;
Can Sacramento find a head coach who turns a group of intriguing players with defensive potential into even an average squad? What draft and free agency options exist? Of course, the Kings would like to end their NBA-leading playoff drought. That'll come with changing the culture on defense.
WASHINGTON WIZARDS
Draft assets: First-round pick (2.5% chance at No. 1, depends on Play-In results), Second-round pick (via Dallas)
Potential free agents: Bradley Beal (player option), Thomas Bryant, Raul Neto, Tomas Satoransky, Anthony Gill (restricted), Cassius Winston (restricted)
Central question: What style of guard play is a feasible best fit?
Okay, so obviously the biggest question mark surrounds Bradley Beal's free agency. But from a conceptual standpoint, Washington has tried and failed over the past few seasons to find Beal's best-fitting partner in crime. John Wall, Russell Westbrook and Spencer Dinwiddie were each supposed to provide the downhill juice Beal lacks. The Wizards either did this at serious expense of another skill area (Wall, Westbrook), or it just didn't translate their at-rim ability (Dinwiddie). All battled injuries as well.
"I think we need bigger guards," <a href="https://www.nbcsports.com/washington/wizards/bradley-beal-outlines-what-wizards-need-build-contender" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Beal said in March</a>. "We need more guys that can get in the paint for us, more ball-handlers, more guys that can really create and get two feet in the paint, but also who can knock down threes."
I mean, Beal's needs make total sense. The problem is that every other basketball team on Earth also wants this type of guard.
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Ethan Fuller sets the offseason stage for each team that missed the NBA playoffs.

Summer plans for the NBA's 10 non-playoff teams

The 2021-22 NBA season has been the hardest of CJ McCollum&rsquo;s career.
Entering this campaign, he had spent the entirety of his NBA career with the Portland Trail Blazers, making the playoffs every year. Since getting drafted in 2013, he had only ever played for one head coach (Terry Stotts) and one general manager (Neil Olshey).
However, this season would be full of challenging firsts for McCollum.
Over the summer, he experienced his first coaching change, as the Blazers fired Stotts and his staff. Just as McCollum and his teammates were adjusting to new head coach Chauncey Billups, Portland announced that Olshey was under investigation after complaints of bullying, hostility and creating a toxic work environment. Shortly after, Olshey was fired, with Joe Cronin being promoted to interim GM midseason. McCollum was shocked and admitted that the turnover affected him.
&ldquo;This is different than anything I&rsquo;ve ever experienced because of the circumstances,&rdquo; McCollum told <a href="https://theathletic.com/3002581/2021/12/07/inside-the-mind-of-cj-mccollum-a-conversation-and-a-text-message-show-the-blazers-guards-current-struggle/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Athletic</a> in December. &ldquo;This is the first year of my career where we lost our whole coaching staff, brought in a new coach, a new staff, the GM gets fired in the middle of the season... all of that affects you on the court. But there is no excuses. I didn&rsquo;t come here to tell you, &lsquo;There&rsquo;s a lot of sh** going on...&rsquo; but yeah, there is. There&rsquo;s sh** going on every day. And I&rsquo;m a fu**ing human being. But look, at the end of the day, my job is to play basketball. So, I go play basketball.&rdquo;
The day after Olshey was relieved of his duties, McCollum suffered what he thought was a rib injury during the Blazers&rsquo; game against the Boston Celtics. However, a CT scan revealed that he had a collapsed lung, which would ultimately sideline him for six weeks.
Several weeks later, McCollum became a father when his wife, Elise, gave birth to their first child. Jacobi James McCollum was born at 11:59 p.m. on Jan. 10, 2022. Becoming a first-time parent is scary enough, but there are additional concerns and stressors when your baby is born during a pandemic.
&ldquo;Try having a kid in the middle of COVID. That sh** ain&rsquo;t normal,&rdquo; McCollum told <a href="https://theathletic.com/3002581/2021/12/07/inside-the-mind-of-cj-mccollum-a-conversation-and-a-text-message-show-the-blazers-guards-current-struggle/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Athletic</a> in December. &ldquo;Now, try having a kid during COVID amid trade rumors in the middle of the season.&rdquo;
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Congratulations to <a href="https://twitter.com/CJMcCollum?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CJMcCollum</a> &amp; his wife Elise on the birth of their son, Jacobi James McCollum! 😍 (via 3jmccollum / IG) <a href="https://t.co/GSvzwkY1P6">pic.twitter.com/GSvzwkY1P6</a>
&mdash; Portland Trail Blazers (@trailblazers) <a href="https://twitter.com/trailblazers/status/1482855754243706887?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 16, 2022</a></blockquote>

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As McCollum mentioned, his name had been surfacing in trade rumors for much of the season. He wasn&rsquo;t a stranger to the rumor mill, but the rumblings had never been quite this intense. And with Portland struggling, a number of Blazers were looking over their shoulders and wondering what moves might be coming as the trade deadline approached.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;d be lying if I told you that we don&rsquo;t hear it or that it doesn&rsquo;t affect us at all,&rdquo; Blazers forward Nassir Little <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/qa-nassir-little-on-blazers-struggles-his-development-gm-change" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told me</a> in December. &ldquo;At the end of the day, we&rsquo;re people. I get the excitement of trades and the eagerness to talk about them, but you&rsquo;re talking about people having to move their families and basically break off relationships that they&rsquo;ve built over the course of time and they have to start a whole moving process and adapt to a whole new situation. It&rsquo;s just a lot of things that go into getting traded as a player and those things don&rsquo;t really get taken into account [by fans]... There are a lot of different dynamics that are very taxing on somebody&rsquo;s mental when you get traded.&rdquo;
On Feb. 8, less than one month after his son was born, McCollum was traded for the first time in his NBA career. The Blazers dealt McCollum, Larry Nance Jr. and Tony Snell to the New Orleans Pelicans for Josh Hart, Tom&aacute;&scaron; Satoransk&yacute;, Nickeil Walker-Alexander, Didi Louzada, a protected first-round pick and two second-round picks.
In other words, McCollum and his family suddenly had to move across the country. After an athlete gets traded, it&rsquo;s emotional and stressful since you&rsquo;re relocating to a new city on very short notice. Sometimes, players will live in a nearby hotel until they find a place to rent or buy. Going through that adjustment with a newborn is less than ideal.
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After nearly nine years in Portland, McCollum was starting over with a new organization. Fortunately for McCollum, the Blazers&rsquo; front office gave him some say in where he ended up, so he was starting the next chapter of his NBA career in his preferred destination. Why was he drawn to New Orleans?
"It was a combination of things: the culture, the city, the people, the love &mdash; you can feel it, you know what I&rsquo;m saying? I felt it from afar,&rdquo; McCollum said on the <a href="https://youtu.be/AB-4HFR_jrE" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Knuckleheads Podcast</a>. &ldquo;I love the atmosphere. And if you do what you are supposed to do in a city like this, you will be loved forever. If you embrace them the way they embrace you, you can become legendary. I wanted to be where I was wanted, where I was needed. There's a lot of culture here, a lot of diversity and the food is fire. And they've got a lot of young talent. They&rsquo;ve got a lot of really good basketball players.&rdquo;
McCollum mentioned Zion Williamson, Brandon Ingram, Jonas Valanciunas, Devonte&rsquo; Graham and Herb Jones specifically, while also shouting out head coach Willie Green, general manager Trajan Langdon and executive VP of basketball operations David Griffin.
&ldquo;There's a lot of talent on this roster, and I think I can get the most not only out of my career, out of my situation, out of my development, but also out of the guys,&rdquo; McCollum added. &ldquo;I know what it takes to be successful consistently. And I can not only tell you about it, but I can show you because I've done it. I think that I'm just what they've needed and they're just what I've needed, especially at this stage in my life. And I think there's no better time for me to [make this move]. I&rsquo;m 30 years old, I've been in the playoffs for eight straight years and I'm trying to make it nine.&rdquo;
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New Orleans is now 32-43, which is the ninth-best record in the Western Conference. Since adding McCollum to their lineup, the Pelicans have the NBA's 10th-best offense (117.4 points per 100 possessions) and 14th-best defense (114.3 Defensive Rating). That is a plus-3.1 efficiency differential, which is eighth-best in the NBA over that span &mdash; ahead of the Philadelphia 76ers, Miami Heat, Brooklyn Nets, Milwaukee Bucks, Golden State Warriors and Dallas Mavericks.
Through 19 games with the Pelicans, McCollum is averaging 25.9 points, 6.5 assists, 4.9 rebounds and 1.2 steals while shooting 50.1% from the field &mdash; all of which would be career-highs. He's also knocking down 2.8 threes per game on 38.4% shooting from beyond the arc.
Also, he&rsquo;s posting a career-best Box Plus/Minus (+5.9), Player Efficiency Rating (23.3), True Shooting percentage (59.0%), assist percentage (33.9%) and total rebound percentage (7.7%). His turnover percentage is just 8.9%, which is one of the lowest marks of his career despite the fact that he has a career-high usage rate of 29.5%.
McCollum&rsquo;s teammates are thrilled to have him in New Orleans and they rave about his impact.
&ldquo;I told CJ that I love him; he makes our job easy,&rdquo; Willy Hernangomez said. &ldquo;He makes everybody&rsquo;s job easy. Everybody pays so much attention to him. We just need to set the screens and play the right way... We&rsquo;re trying to build something different and something special here. Every day, we just try to be 1% better than the day before. It has been amazing having CJ, Tony and Larry. Their experience has been helping us a lot. I think we&rsquo;re going to keep going and getting better. We&rsquo;re having fun, and that&rsquo;s the most important thing.&rdquo;
&ldquo;[We&rsquo;re] definitely locked in. That starts with [CJ] and BI just coming out, being aggressive, being under control,&rdquo; Graham said. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re making life easier for everybody.&rdquo;
"CJ is such an impressive human being," Nance <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/larry-nance-jr-qa-i-did-not-come-out-here-to-halfass-this-thing" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told me</a> earlier this season. "He has his hands in a lot of different things, and he&rsquo;s just such an impressive human that, like, how could you not get along with a guy like that?!"
Ingram and McCollum have only played 11 games together (since Ingram was recently sidelined for three weeks due to a hamstring injury), but they have shown flashes of the dynamic one-two punch that they could become. Across those 11 games, McCollum and Ingram have averaged a combined 48.1 points, 11.9 assists and 11.0 rebounds while shooting 51.6% from the field and 35.6% from three-point range.&nbsp;
&ldquo;He&rsquo;s very similar in his approach, in the way he watches film, in the way he communicates. He&rsquo;s receptive of information,&rdquo; Ingram said of McCollum. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s fun to play here right now.&rdquo;
The Pelicans are getting healthier just in time for the Play-In Tournament. Ingram is back in the lineup and McCollum is healthy after missing a few games due to COVID-19 (which had to be scary with a newborn at home). Also, Nance just made his Pelicans debut last week.&nbsp;
Unfortunately, the Pelicans won&rsquo;t be at full strength until next year, as Williamson has been ruled out for the rest of the season due to his foot injury. In addition, Kira Lewis Jr. is sidelined after tearing his ACL in December.
Still, it's fun to think about how good this squad could be next year if everything comes together.
"I'm excited, man. I'm thankful to be here,&rdquo; McCollum said. &ldquo;I've said it a thousand times, but I like what we're building here, I like the way we're playing, I like the way we're executing, and the sky&rsquo;s the limit for us.&rdquo;&nbsp;
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This has been the craziest season of CJ McCollum's NBA career, but now the 30-year-old is thriving with the New Orleans Pelicans.

CJ McCollum excited for next chapter with Pelicans after chaotic year

Admit it, you still want the series.
Hell, you probably want it even more now.
You still want a No. 2 vs. No. 7 matchup of the Philadelphia 76ers and Brooklyn Nets in Round 1, even though the potential prelude to it was as underwhelming as "Battlefield 2042."
We all come to basketball for different reasons.
Some of you just want straight hoops &mdash; buckets, athleticism, dunks, tough shot-making, etc. Some of you want in-depth, coach-like film breakdowns of the game. Then, there are those of you who want a balance with a little of both, but not too much of either. Others enjoy narratives, stories that transcend numbers and what may really fuel certain things leaving us in awe.
And then, there are the particulars who just want the drama &mdash; transactions, rumors, business, who hates who &mdash; and that&rsquo;s really what Thursday night was about for a ton of viewers who experienced primetime Sixers vs. Nets on TNT.
The first video some of us saw featured Ben Simmons getting heckled after leaving his hotel and boarding what presumably was the Nets&rsquo; team bus. It sounded like... he was back in Philadelphia.
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Ben Simmons sneaking out of hotel trying to avoid heckling fans. <a href="https://twitter.com/FOX29philly?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@FOX29philly</a> <a href="https://t.co/VjnQipa6n2">pic.twitter.com/VjnQipa6n2</a>
&mdash; Chris O'Connell (@CoconnellFox29) <a href="https://twitter.com/CoconnellFox29/status/1502043428728844290?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 10, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Simmons remains out with a reported back issue and needs to ramp up his conditioning. He still might not be mentally ready to return ⁠&mdash; perhaps it&rsquo;s all the above ⁠&mdash; but the All-Star did join the Nets in warmups, and was serenaded by the Philadelphia boo-birds both before and after the game.
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Ben Simmons was welcomed with boos in his return to Philly. <a href="https://t.co/5ZSktchthL">pic.twitter.com/5ZSktchthL</a>
&mdash; Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) <a href="https://twitter.com/BleacherReport/status/1502071069611479040?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 10, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Ben Simmons went over and hugged the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/76ers?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#76ers</a> team security, then departed the court, showered with more boos. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/nets?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#nets</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/nba?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#nba</a> <a href="https://t.co/4YBLuHWFZn">pic.twitter.com/4YBLuHWFZn</a>
&mdash; Brian Lewis (@NYPost_Lewis) <a href="https://twitter.com/NYPost_Lewis/status/1502074075673505794?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 11, 2022</a></blockquote>

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This is the city that booed and hurled snowballs at Santa Claus in the 1960s, back when it was cool to think a jumbo-sized, red-pajama wearing, high-flying, sleigh-riding, chimney-climbing, cookie-eating, milk-drinking, white-bearded Caucasian dude existed.
So Simmons, justified or not, wasn&rsquo;t going to be off-limits at all.
In the actual game, Kyrie Irving hit the first memorable jumper &mdash; a&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/NBAdoPovo/status/1502088416023957523" target="_blank" rel="noopener">stepback in Harden&rsquo;s face</a>. Harden retaliated with&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/brasilcoast2/status/1502087391007363104" target="_blank" rel="noopener">one of his own just minutes later</a>, his most memorable moment of the night, if we&rsquo;re keeping it a buck.&nbsp;
The keystone moment of the contest, while it was still competitive, featured Kevin Durant and Joel Embiid jawing at one another after Embiid shouldered into Durant and knocked him on his ass.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
KD and Embiid going at it 🍿 <a href="https://t.co/kicLbz1Ubw">pic.twitter.com/kicLbz1Ubw</a>
&mdash; NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBAonTNT/status/1502092540756910081?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 11, 2022</a></blockquote>

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And then, from there, it didn&rsquo;t matter. The Nets outscored the Sixers 96-79 en route to a 129-100 victory, their biggest blowout win since Nov. 10 &mdash; a 123-90 Brooklyn road triumph over the Orlando Magic.&nbsp;
Quietly, Seth Curry&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/TheHoopCentral/status/1502107719154606087" target="_blank" rel="noopener">might&rsquo;ve talked more sh*t than anyone</a>, and <a href="https://twitter.com/NBA/status/1502140164738633729" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lit up his former team</a> (his father-in-law's!) with 24 points and 5 steals while shooting 10 of 14 from the field and 4 of 8 from three. Embiid ended the night with an unimpressive 27 points and 12 rebounds on 5 of 17 shooting, though he made 15 of 19 free throw attempts. With 4 points in 29 minutes, Tyrese Maxey had his lowest scoring output of the season.&nbsp;
Now, let&rsquo;s get to the others...
Sixers fans may have chastised Simmons early on and ridiculed the Nets throughout, but the night ended with them booing their own team, who is now 40-25 and third in the Eastern Conference (which will be a brawl until the finish). The Nets are back above .500 at 34-33, but are still just in eighth place and sit five games behind the Cleveland Cavaliers for the No. 6 seed, so Brooklyn is running out of time to avoid a Play-In Tournament scenario.
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If you missed the quotes, there were some interesting ones.&nbsp;
Durant did initially downplay the significance of the win, indicating that the Nets&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/SNYNets/status/1502126038184349697" target="_blank" rel="noopener">didn&rsquo;t win a championship or clinch a playoff spot</a>, but admitted that the team did have some extra motivation given the hostile reaction to Simmons.&nbsp;
&ldquo;We look at Ben [Simmons] as our brother,&rdquo; <a href="https://twitter.com/SNYNets/status/1502127223658233860">said Durant</a>, who the team with 25 points, 14 rebounds and 7 assists. &ldquo;We knew that this was a hostile environment, and we knew that he didn&rsquo;t have an opportunity to play, so we wanted to come out there and have them (the fans) focus on the court more so than just always focusing on him. They focused on the court tonight, and it&rsquo;s hard for you to chant at Ben Simmons when you&rsquo;re losing by that much.&rdquo;
Harden, who finished with 11 points on 3 of 17 shooting &mdash; and missed all 8 of his two-pointers &mdash; admitted to getting his ass whooped while wearing an overly-puffy (and likely, absurdly expensive) jacket in his postgame presser.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Tonight was good for us,&rdquo; said a straight-faced Harden, who was <a href="https://www.tmz.com/2022/03/11/james-harden-hangs-with-travis-scott-lil-baby-after-blowout-loss-nets/?adid=social-twa" target="_blank" rel="noopener">spotted out on the town with Lil Baby and Travis Scott following the blowout</a>. &ldquo;We got our ass kicked. Since I&rsquo;ve been here, everything&rsquo;s been sweet, we&rsquo;ve been winning games. And so, tonight was good for us, and we get an opportunity to come down to reality, watch film and just continue to get better.&rdquo;
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"Tonight was good for us. We got our ass kicked." <a href="https://t.co/WWnq7fEqgY">pic.twitter.com/WWnq7fEqgY</a>
&mdash; NBC Sports Philadelphia (@NBCSPhilly) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBCSPhilly/status/1502127744221655050?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 11, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Irving, who added 22 points, 5 threes, and 5 assists, also spoke after the contest.
&ldquo;I think playing for Ben and this night meaning something to Ben &mdash; not only Ben, but Dre (Andre Drummond), Seth [Curry] &mdash; when you get traded in this league, it&rsquo;s not easy to deal with,&rdquo; Irving pointed out.&nbsp;
&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve tried to welcome them in with open arms. So, when we played tonight, we definitely felt like Ben was on our heart; you could see it, he was wearing it, and we just wanted to go out there and play for him and play well. Again, it&rsquo;s not an individual thing for us. We all felt it; we&rsquo;re all there. If you come at Ben, you come at us.&rdquo;
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"It's not an individual thing for us. We all felt it. We're all there. If you come at Ben, you come at us" - Kyrie Irving <a href="https://t.co/xWvpdIah3U">pic.twitter.com/xWvpdIah3U</a>
&mdash; Nets Videos (@SNYNets) <a href="https://twitter.com/SNYNets/status/1502131158166867969?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 11, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Well, if we see these two clash in the postseason ⁠&mdash; and the first-round possibility is there &mdash; it&rsquo;d be nice if the Sixers came for somebody.&nbsp;
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Bryan Fonseca recaps Thursday's highly-anticipated superstar clash between the Philadelphia 76ers and Brooklyn Nets.

Nets-76ers kinda sucked, but we still want more, don’t we?

From a mid-season blockbuster swap involving two disgruntled stars, to rumors that a former No. 1 overall pick wants a change of scenery in only his third season, the topic of player empowerment is front and center in the NBA. &nbsp;
Superstars wanting off their team isn't a new concept. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar forced a trade from the Milwaukee Bucks to the Los Angeles Lakers in 1975. In recent years, superstars demanding to be dealt is so common that the term &ldquo;player empowerment&rdquo; established itself in our NBA lexicon.&nbsp;
But this season feels different, in that it is rife with unique trade demands. Like Ben Simmons' refusal to play a single minute for the Philadelphia 76ers while requesting a trade, with a whopping four years left on his contract. Or James Harden asking off of his second team in as many years. Even the Zion Williamson situation &mdash; rumored to be disgruntled in New Orleans after playing a total of 85 games &mdash; is unprecedented. With every new trade demand, it feels like stars are pushing the limits and boundaries of player empowerment.
Either the NBA's Mercury is in retrograde or we&rsquo;re witnessing the dawn of a new era.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Player empowerment&rdquo; was popularized in 2010 after LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh conspired to play with each other in Miami. Suddenly, players realized they could control their own destiny and team up to form super-teams.
Since then, player empowerment has largely come to mean trade demands from superstars. &nbsp;&nbsp;
Many executives have decried it as ruining the league's parity and even the sanctity of the game. &nbsp;
"Player empowerment is a catchall for the fact that the league has done a terrible job of empowering teams, the players have all of the leverage in every situation. I think it's the worst thing that ever happened to professional sports on all levels," an anonymous NBA general manager <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/06/07/lebron-james-agent-is-transforming-the-business-of-basketball" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told Isaac Chotiner of The New Yorker</a>.&nbsp;
Many fans view it as a win for laborers.&nbsp;
The NBA is, after all, the most progressive sports league. However, without even touching the racial undertones that weave throughout the narrative about the league, it is easy to see why the masses support the players. Fans have watched players lose the battle over the means of production &mdash; from owning 57% of league revenue in 2005 down to only 50% today &mdash; so witnessing players gain autonomy over their playing career by stripping control from owners is celebrated as a nice consolation prize.&nbsp;
As we become inundated with debate over the merits of player empowerment, we&rsquo;ve seemed to skip over what the term actually means and how it actualizes itself in the league.&nbsp;
There is no denying that some players have power and some of those players have controlled the make-up of the league for over a decade. The issue is that player empowerment is a term that poses as the league's players uniting, but instead, it is merely a select few exercising their power over everyone else.&nbsp;
Let&rsquo;s break this down.&nbsp;
Were the Los Angeles Lakers' young core of Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram and Josh Hart empowered when Anthony Davis forced his way to Los Angeles? Not likely.&nbsp;
It&rsquo;s also impossible to imagine all six of Jarrett Allen (Brooklyn to Cleveland), Taurean Prince (Brooklyn to Cleveland), Caris LeVert (Brooklyn to Indiana), Rodions Kurucs (Brooklyn to Houston), Dante Exum (Cleveland to Houston) and Victor Oladipo (Indiana to Houston) felt empowered after being forced to uproot themselves midseason during a pandemic because Harden wanted to join the Nets.&nbsp;
Framing the whims of a small few that can disrupt the lives of many as player empowerment feels disingenuous. A better term would be &ldquo;superstar entitlement.&rdquo;&nbsp;
With the knowledge that player empowerment really means superstar entitlement, it&rsquo;s easy to understand how empowerment stories are often framed as prima donnas throwing tantrums until they get their way.
But maybe it should be framed as superstars earning power through loss of salary.&nbsp;
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With the advent of max salaries, stars are never fairly compensated. The bigger and brighter the star shines, the more they lose out &mdash; with their play forever eclipsing the money they make. Ergo, player empowerment is less about empowering all or even most players and more about compensating superstars in a salary-cap league.&nbsp;
Heliocentric is another popular term in our NBA vernacular; we&rsquo;ve heard the term &ldquo;heliocentric offense,&rdquo; and we&rsquo;ve heard stars described as heliocentric. But it&rsquo;s also a term that can refer to the league itself.&nbsp;
To briefly go back to the 1500s and Copernicus &mdash; heliocentrism is a cosmological theory that the Earth and planets revolve around the sun. And in the NBA, everything revolves around certain stars. The bigger and brighter the star, the stronger their gravitational pull &mdash; the LeBronicus Theory, if you will.&nbsp;
Superstars wield more power than ever. They influence nearly every aspect of an organization &mdash; from coaching hirings and firings, to player personnel and roster construction.
The Harden-for-Simmons swap is an interesting case to dissect, because it centers around two stars whom everything doesn&rsquo;t revolve around.&nbsp;
On one side, there&rsquo;s Harden, whose status as a heliocentric star diminished as soon as he left Houston for Brooklyn. And on the other side is Simmons, a player who could never cement himself into anything more than a secondary star in Philadelphia.
Though both players had leverage, Harden had more because of the status of his contract. Neither were in a place to force their teams to bend to their will &mdash; at least not in the same way Harden was able to back when he told Houston they had a problem.&nbsp;
In Brooklyn, Harden <a href="https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/33259122/james-harden-wants-trade-philadelphia-76ers-formally-request-deal-due-concern-public-backlash-sources-say" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reportedly never voiced his desire to leave</a>, and 76ers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey threatened to hold out on trading Simmons for the duration of his contract.
&nbsp;"You're going to think I'm kidding, I'm not. This could [go on for] four years... We're in the prime of Joel's career... Either Ben Simmons is playing for us, or we have to get back a difference-maker," Morey said.
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Morey on his timeline: "You're going to think I'm kidding, I'm not. This could (go on for) 4 years. ... We're in the prime of Joel's career...Either Ben Simmons is playing for us, or we have to get back a difference maker."
&mdash; Derek Bodner (@DerekBodnerNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/DerekBodnerNBA/status/1451288448875343872?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 21, 2021</a></blockquote>

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It wasn't Simmons' refusal to play games or Harden&rsquo;s pouting that forced their teams&rsquo; hands.&nbsp; It was that Embiid&rsquo;s play pressured Morey to make a deal, and Kevin Durant <a href="https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2953512-inside-kevin-durants-role-in-brooklyn-nets-james-harden-trade" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reportedly wanted one too</a>.&nbsp;
Ultimately, the deal came down to what was best for the biggest stars. While James and Ben were the players who used their leverage to request out, Durant and Embiid &mdash; being the heliocentric star of their respective teams &mdash; made the final call.&nbsp;
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What Harden lost in star power in moving to Brooklyn, KD gained by doing the same. Though Durant&rsquo;s play has always been stellar, it&rsquo;s clear he has more power within the Nets' organization than he did with the Warriors. It was Durant, after all, who <a href="https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2953512-inside-kevin-durants-role-in-brooklyn-nets-james-harden-trade" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reportedly requested Kyrie Irving be allowed to play road games</a> despite <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nets-say-kyrie-irving-cant-play-or-practice-with-team-while-unvaccinated" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the stance Sean Marks and the Nets took</a> earlier in the season.&nbsp;
Who has power and how much they have is determined by a number of variables, like their standing in the league, their standing on their team, their health, the length of their contract and market size, etc. And this list of powerful players is still arguably fewer than 10 names long in any given season (with some variance).
The variables at play that make Durant&rsquo;s star shine brighter with the Nets than with the Warriors are as simple as the fact that there's another superstar in Golden State &mdash; and he was there first and couldn&rsquo;t be eclipsed.
Of course there are titans like LeBron James, who can completely shift the paradigm of the league with a flippant comment &mdash; like over All-Star Weekend when he hinted at a possible return to Cleveland.&nbsp;
&ldquo;The door&rsquo;s not closed on that&hellip; &nbsp;I&rsquo;m not saying I&rsquo;m coming back and playing, I don&rsquo;t know. I don&rsquo;t know what my future holds. I don&rsquo;t even know when I&rsquo;m free.&rdquo; James <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/lebron-james-on-cleveland-return-the-doors-not-closed-on-that" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told The Athletic</a>.
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LeBron is back in Cleveland this weekend. His picture is on the building again. At first he said he hasn&rsquo;t thought about returning to play for the Cavs, but then we kept talking. &ldquo;The door&rsquo;s not closed on that,&rdquo; he said. LeBron had a lot to say today. <a href="https://t.co/cdg8RIoxZb">https://t.co/cdg8RIoxZb</a>
&mdash; Jason Lloyd (@ByJasonLloyd) <a href="https://twitter.com/ByJasonLloyd/status/1495148179410591745?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 19, 2022</a></blockquote>

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LeBron&rsquo;s comments dominated the news cycle over the league&rsquo;s busiest weekend, and that's in large part because he will be a free agent in 2023. James signs short-term deals to maximize his leverage even though it means leaving long-term NBA money on the table.
Player empowerment isn&rsquo;t limited to team decisions &mdash; the NBPA also caters to the stars. With recent negotiations featuring superstars at the helm, contract negotiations often prioritize their needs.&nbsp;
Take for example the 2017 CBA. Superstar and NBPA president Chris Paul managed to help push forward the NBA supermax deal, given to players who have either won an MVP award, a Defensive Player of the Year award or earned an All-NBA selection in the previous season &mdash; or two of the previous three. The NBA supermax allows these stars to earn massive five-year deals with a starting salary of up to 35% of the cap.
Paul also helped change the "over-36" rule that prevented players from signing multi-year deals if they are to turn 36 or older over the course of the contract to "over-38." Not lost on anyone, Paul was set to be a free agent the summer of 2017, and pushing the rule back two years would have positively affected how much and how long he could have signed for.&nbsp;
In any collective bargaining, there&rsquo;s a give and a take &mdash; so both parties can walk away feeling like winners. So as collective bargaining agreements continue to reward those at the top, that leaves little for the rest.&nbsp;
Now, let's take a look at punishments. More often than not, disciplinary action comes in the form of fines. Technical fouls, for example, come with a fine of $2,000 for a player&rsquo;s first five offenses.&nbsp;
On Jan. 25 this season, the Sixers faced the New Orleans Pelicans. Embiid and rookie Jose Alvarado got into it and were each assessed technical fouls. That means Alvarado, who earns $462,629 this season, and Embiid, who's making $31.58 million, are meant to pay the same amount. Though Embiid generously offered to cover the fine for Alvarado, the benevolence of stars shouldn&rsquo;t make up for this obvious imbalance.&nbsp;
Fines are meant to disincentivize players from committing offenses, but when by setting these as a specific dollar amount as opposed to a percentage of their salary, they disproportionately&nbsp;hurt the lowest earners. And consequently, they allow the elite to do as they please.&nbsp;
Calling out NBA officials comes with a hefty $25,000 fine &mdash; this would be astronomical to rookies like Alvarado, but not to a superstar like Embiid who has been fined for doing just that. In Feb. 2019, Embiid told reporters the "referees f**king sucked" after a missed call in a close loss to the Boston Celtics. Though the fine undoubtedly hurt his pocketbook, it was a calculated risk he and other high earners like him have the freedom of taking.&nbsp;
From afar, superstar entitlement looks like stars picking their teams; a closer look unveils real inequities like financial penalties and disproportionate representation at the top of the players' union. A more granular look reveals that every scenario and every superstar is unique.&nbsp;
There is, however, one constant amidst the chaos in understanding power dynamics in the league, and that&rsquo;s team control. The NBA draft, rookie contracts, restricted free agency and good old-fashioned trades are just some of the ways in which teams have maintained ultimate control. The difference is when teams wield their power, it&rsquo;s not much of a news story.
We clutch our pearls at Kawhi Leonard demanding a trade but not at the Raptors for sending out DeMar DeRozan. We expect teams to make moves to better their situation, yet players who have become brands in their own right aren&rsquo;t given the freedom to do the same.&nbsp;
Any team would be over the moon to have a superstar play for them &mdash; we recognize this and they recognize this. So, they aren&rsquo;t going to sit back and wish upon a star for a trade. They ask, and if they're good enough, teams will acquiesce. It is a star-driven league, after all. So, we can&rsquo;t be surprised at who's steering the ship. And I&rsquo;d argue it&rsquo;s high time for the rest of the league to just grab on to their seats and hold on, because the era of player empowerment has only started taking off.&nbsp;
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Imman Adan details what "player empowerment" in the NBA truly entails and how it's been framed incorrectly.

The truth about 'player empowerment' in the NBA

Prior to last month&rsquo;s NBA trade deadline, the Dallas Mavericks and Washington Wizards pulled off arguably the most surprising deal of the week, swapping Kristaps Porzingis for Spencer Dinwiddie and Davis Bertans.
Porzingis hadn&rsquo;t been mentioned in any trade rumors leading up to the deadline, so it was shocking to see the 26-year-old former All-Star on the move.
Dinwiddie, on the other hand, was very clearly on the block. Multiple reports suggested that he was available, and Kevin O&rsquo;Connor of The Ringer <a href="https://www.theringer.com/nba/2022/1/31/22910354/los-angeles-clippers-nba-trade-deadline" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a> that Dinwiddie&rsquo;s &ldquo;teammates don&rsquo;t want him there.&rdquo; The 28-year-old guard even <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/dinwiddie-says-his-leadership-wasnt-necessarily-welcomed-by-wizards" target="_blank" rel="noopener">spoke out</a> about how his vocal leadership &ldquo;wasn&rsquo;t necessarily welcomed" in the Wizards' locker room.
It was a surprising turn of events. Just a few months earlier, Bradley Beal made it clear to the Wizards&rsquo; front office that he wanted Dinwiddie and even helped recruit him, as general manager Tommy Sheppard <a href="https://twitter.com/SiriusXMNBA/status/1429130174617079818" target="_blank" rel="noopener">has discussed</a>. This played a significant role in Dinwiddie signing a three-year, $62 million contract with Washington.&nbsp;
The Wizards ultimately traded Dinwiddie, Bertans and Montrezl Harrell. Shortly after, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope <a href="https://twitter.com/ChaseHughesNBCS/status/1491998119713779730" target="_blank" rel="noopener">attributed</a> the team&rsquo;s pre-deadline struggles to &ldquo;agendas and egos,&rdquo; adding that players &ldquo;were complaining about minutes [and] not getting the ball.&rdquo;
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Dinwiddie was understandably bothered by these reports and comments, which insinuated that he was disliked and causing problems in the Wizards&rsquo; locker room.
&ldquo;I think that&rsquo;s what hurt the most. I&rsquo;ve never bashed Washington. I&rsquo;ve never said an ill thing about the team," Dinwiddie told reporters. "I thanked the owner, Ted [Leonsis]. I thanked Tommy Sheppard, the GM, for collectively deciding to give me my contract. They didn&rsquo;t have to pay somebody coming off an ACL [injury]. I appreciate that. Wes [Unseld Jr.], being a first-time head coach, has a wealth of basketball knowledge. So to be bashed on the way out the door hurt my feelings, for sure. I&rsquo;m human, of course.&nbsp;
&ldquo;And you got to remember: When we were [10-3] and everybody was going crazy and we had all those clutch games, I was the one hitting the game-winners. Look at the Indiana game, the two Boston games, I was the one doing that. And that was back when I wasn&rsquo;t playing back-to-backs. When the role changed and they wanted me to pass more, they thought I was scoring a lot, I did that. I took my foot off the gas for a while because that&rsquo;s what they felt the team needed. So to get kind of kicked out the door was a wild feeling. I hadn&rsquo;t really experienced that before. But I still have nothing ill to say other than, yes, it hurt my feelings. But like anything else, you become cautious. And so far it&rsquo;s a great fit [in Dallas]. I love what they ask me to do here, which is get in the paint, and I&rsquo;m going to continue to do that and try to be of service.&rdquo;
Dinwiddie has been thriving with the Mavericks through seven games, averaging 17.6 points, 5.1 assists, 2.3 rebounds, 1.7 threes and just 1.4 turnovers, while shooting 56.3% from the field and 41.4% from three-point range. And in his first start with Dallas, Dinwiddie contributed a season-high 36 points to go along with 7 assists and 2 rebounds in a 114-113 win over the Sacramento Kings.
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Spencer Dinwiddie was balling for <a href="https://twitter.com/dallasmavs?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@dallasmavs</a> dropping 36 PTS while shooting 50% from the field in the comeback victory! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MFFL?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MFFL</a><a href="https://twitter.com/SDinwiddie_25?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SDinwiddie_25</a>: 36 PTS (11/22 FGM), 7 AST <a href="https://t.co/lvgltC2xTS">pic.twitter.com/lvgltC2xTS</a>
&mdash; NBA (@NBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBA/status/1500471290490195969?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 6, 2022</a></blockquote>

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During his 44 games with the Wizards, Dinwiddie averaged 12.6 points, 5.8 assists, 4.7 rebounds and 1.6 threes per game on inefficient .376/.310/.811 shooting splits.
The Mavericks have won six of seven games with Dinwiddie in the lineup.
&ldquo;I knew I had a couple of friends here in [Reggie] Bullock, Theo [Pinson] and JD (Jared Dudley) on the coaching staff. You still approach the situation with kiddie gloves to see what&rsquo;s going on,&rdquo; Dinwiddie said of his fit with the Mavericks. &ldquo;Everything they said to me so far has been authentic, and everybody has bought into doing what they need to do to win. They encouraged me to be aggressive.
&ldquo;I missed my first three layups [against the Kings] and I felt like those were good shots. They aren&rsquo;t mad. It&rsquo;s not like Bullock and Doe-Doe (Dorian Finney-Smith) are like, &lsquo;Man, why am I not shooting? Like, what are you doing?&rsquo; They&rsquo;re like, &lsquo;No, bro, if you get another layup, shoot it! Until they stop you, if you can keep getting layups I don&rsquo;t care if you missed 20 of them, we believe in you to be aggressive.&rsquo; That&rsquo;s the culture of the group, and I&rsquo;m going to stay in attack mode.&rdquo;
Pinson has helped his former Brooklyn Nets teammate get acclimated in Dallas.
&ldquo;Theo is the best hype man, culture guy, whatever you want to call it, in the NBA,&rdquo; Dinwiddie said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been in the NBA eight years &mdash; I&rsquo;ve been on like five teams or something like that &mdash; Theo is the best. I&rsquo;ll take him on a team any day. The mood is instantly lighter. It&rsquo;s instantly better. You going through some tough times? He&rsquo;s going to make you laugh. You going through some good times? He&rsquo;s going to make you feel great&hellip; I&rsquo;ll take him on my team any day. I promise you that.&rdquo;
Dinwiddie seems excited about his future in Dallas. He's meshing with his teammates, and he appreciates that everyone knows their role.
&ldquo;I just think our commitment to the collective and to winning games is all that matters,&rdquo; Dinwiddie said. &ldquo;You&rsquo;re not going to catch me out here picking up De&rsquo;Aaron Fox 94 feet; that would be out of character. I&rsquo;m not a ball-pressure guard. I&rsquo;ll sit there and guard you 1-on-1, but it&rsquo;s not my role and I&rsquo;m not going to do that. My job on offense is to get in the paint and make plays. I&rsquo;ll shoot the three when I have the switch and when I&rsquo;m open, but I&rsquo;m not just casting 30-footers like I&rsquo;m Steph Curry. I do what I do, and I don&rsquo;t do what I&rsquo;m not supposed to do. That goes 1 through 15. Everybody here follows that type of mentality because we understand that to not just win basketball games in the regular season, but in the playoffs, you need that.&rdquo;
It certainly seems like this change of scenery has been beneficial for Dinwiddie. Not only is he succeeding individually, but he&rsquo;ll also get to return to the playoffs (barring a collapse) since the Mavs are 39-25 and currently stand as the Western Conference's fifth seed. 
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Spencer Dinwiddie felt like he was "bashed on the way out the door" by the Wizards. Now, after a change of scenery, he's thriving.

Spencer Dinwiddie thriving with Mavs after messy exit from Wizards

NBA players have become some of the most marketable celebrities in the world. These days, it&rsquo;s not uncommon for players to earn significantly more from their off-court opportunities than they do from their NBA contract.&nbsp;
While many companies are lining up to work with NBA players, not all of these stars have the same reach, engagement or consumer appeal. Some are far more influential than others, and <a href="https://www.actionnetwork.com/nba/most-marketable-popular-nba-players" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a new study from The Action Network</a> wanted to find out which NBA stars give companies the best bang for their buck.
To determine each player's "influence score," they analyzed 20 different metrics (each weighted as one point) that fell into three categories: Social performance (which measured their followers, engagement rate, yearly social growth, audience quality score, etc.), audience ratings (which factored in certain demographic and economic factors) and overall likeability (which measured monthly Google searches, online buzz and positive vs. negative sentiment). When everything was added up, 20 was the highest possible score that a player could receive.
LeBron James led all players with an overall score of 14.18, in large part because he ranked first in both social performance and likability. While James <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-most-trolls-trolled-negative-tweets-study-rumors-twitter-positive-mentions-stephen-curry-lebron-james-carmelo-anthony-joel-embiid-russell-westbrook-kevin-durant-kyrie-irving-klay-thompson-kevin-love" target="_blank" rel="noopener">has some haters</a>, he also has a ton of supporters. LeBron has plenty of endorsements and <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-lebron-james-the-businessman-fenway-sports-group-springhill-entertainment-uninterrupted-blaze-pizza-ladder-athletes-companies" target="_blank" rel="noopener">off-court endeavors</a>, which is why his 2021 off-court earnings ($65 million) more than doubled his NBA salary ($31.5 million).
At No. 2 was Stephen Curry with a score of 10.67. He has lucrative endorsement deals with Under Armour, Callaway and CarMax, and his $40 million in off-court earnings ranked eighth-highest among all athletes in 2021.&nbsp;
This is where things get interesting, as Derrick Rose rounds out the top-three with a score of 9.29. The 33-year-old beat out Devin Booker (8.96), Luka Doncic (8.83), Giannis Antetokounmpo (8.59) and Kevin Durant (8.55) among others. Even though Rose isn't the MVP-caliber player he once was and mostly comes off the bench these days, he has one of the most passionate fan bases in all of professional sports.
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After Durant, Kyrie Irving (8.17), LaMelo Ball (8.04) and Russell Westbrook (7.78) round out the top-10.
The Los Angeles Lakers (3), Brooklyn Nets (3), Golden State Warriors (2) and Phoenix Suns (2) were the only teams to have multiple players crack the top-20. Notable omissions from the top-20 include Joel Embiid, Nikola Jokic and Donovan Mitchell.
Here&rsquo;s a look at the complete top-20 list from <a href="https://www.actionnetwork.com/nba/most-marketable-popular-nba-players" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Action Network</a>:
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
Rank
</td>
<td>
Full Name
</td>
<td>
Team
</td>
<td>
Influence Score
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
1
</td>
<td>
LeBron James
</td>
<td>
Lakers
</td>
<td>
14.18
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
2
</td>
<td>
Steph Curry
</td>
<td>
Warriors
</td>
<td>
10.67
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
3
</td>
<td>
Derrick Rose
</td>
<td>
Knicks
</td>
<td>
9.29
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
4
</td>
<td>
Devin Booker
</td>
<td>
Suns
</td>
<td>
8.96
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
5
</td>
<td>
Luka Doncic
</td>
<td>
Mavericks
</td>
<td>
8.83
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
6
</td>
<td>
Giannis Antetokounmpo
</td>
<td>
Bucks
</td>
<td>
8.59
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
7
</td>
<td>
Kevin Durant
</td>
<td>
Nets
</td>
<td>
8.55
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
8
</td>
<td>
Kyrie Irving
</td>
<td>
Nets
</td>
<td>
8.17
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
9
</td>
<td>
LaMelo Ball
</td>
<td>
Hornets
</td>
<td>
8.04
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
10
</td>
<td>
Russell Westbrook
</td>
<td>
Lakers
</td>
<td>
7.78
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
11
</td>
<td>
Ja Morant
</td>
<td>
Grizzlies
</td>
<td>
7.67
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
12
</td>
<td>
James Harden
</td>
<td>
Sixers
</td>
<td>
7.56
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
13
</td>
<td>
Anthony Davis
</td>
<td>
Lakers
</td>
<td>
7.52
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
14
</td>
<td>
Damian Lillard
</td>
<td>
Blazers
</td>
<td>
7.52
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
15
</td>
<td>
Chris Paul
</td>
<td>
Suns
</td>
<td>
7.51
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
16
</td>
<td>
Klay Thompson
</td>
<td>
Warriors
</td>
<td>
7.47
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
17
</td>
<td>
Jayson Tatum
</td>
<td>
Celtics
</td>
<td>
7.40
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
18
</td>
<td>
Ben Simmons
</td>
<td>
Nets
</td>
<td>
7.32
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
19
</td>
<td>
Zach LaVine
</td>
<td>
Bulls
</td>
<td>
7.31
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
20
</td>
<td>
Zion Williamson
</td>
<td>
Pelicans
</td>
<td>
7.18
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Which players get trolled the most on Twitter? <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-most-trolls-trolled-negative-tweets-study-rumors-twitter-positive-mentions-stephen-curry-lebron-james-carmelo-anthony-joel-embiid-russell-westbrook-kevin-durant-kyrie-irving-klay-thompson-kevin-love" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Check out this other study</a> that determined which players receive the most negative tweets each day (and who has the most positive mentions).
&nbsp;
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A new study from The Action Network analyzed 20 different metrics to find out which NBA stars are the most marketable.

New study ranks the top-20 most marketable NBA players

The Milwaukee Bucks are closing in on signing free agent G/F DeAndre' Bembry for the rest of the season, sources tell ESPN.
Source: <a href="https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1493649893059092492" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Adrian Wojnarowski/ESPN</a>
ANALYSIS:&nbsp;Bembry had been waived by the Nets to make roster room following the blockbuster James Harden trade. The 27-year-old has averaged 5.8 points and 3.2 rebounds per game this season, starting 20 of 48 games played with Brooklyn. He also has spent time with the Hawks and Raptors in his NBA career.

Bembry had been waived by the Nets to make roster room following the blockbuster James Harden trade.

Bucks close to signing DeAndre' Bembry

We had a whopping <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/grading-every-move-from-the-2022-nba-trade-deadline" target="_blank" rel="noopener">15 NBA trades</a> go down in an eight-day span.
The league buckled down for one of the biggest fireworks shows in recent deadline memory. Front offices dealt All-NBA superstars and hammered out four-team mazes. By the time the clock struck 3 p.m. on Thursday, we saw some teams go all-in on a playoff push, others cash out and move towards rebuilding, and many surprisingly pass on the spectacle entirely. It's a perfect time to set the table ahead of the stretch run with a fresh Sour Rankings.
If you're new to the Sour Rankings, here's a refresher: Unlike the typical "power rankings" that repeat themselves throughout sports media, Sour Rankings are a bizarro-world counter. These rankings highlight the top-10 most frustrating NBA franchises throughout the season, and they will be updated every week to match the twists and turns of the league.
This is not merely a bottom-10 of your typical best-to-worst outlooks. You will see championship contenders and playoff hopefuls mixed in with struggling squads. Teams well under .500 may never touch the Sour Rankings because they are on track with their respective processes. Injuries, drama, transactions and generally underwhelming play will earn you a spot on this list.
The central question is ultimately this: How good should you feel about the direction of each franchise? Let's get going.
Escaping the Sour Rankings:&nbsp;By most accounts, the Indiana Pacers crushed it with their trade deadline moves. Tyrese Haliburton instantly becomes the bedrock of the franchise's next era, and he's looked pretty good in limited time so far. Indiana also snuck in a solid flier by acquiring Jalen Smith and didn't trade away any of its veteran players just for the sake of making a move. The Detroit Pistons were also briefly in the Sour Rankings, but escape after acquiring former No. 2 overall pick Marvin Bagley III without giving up long-term pieces.
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10. Oklahoma City Thunder (17-39)
Of all the teams to hold their chips at this year's deadline, OKC might be the most surprising. The Thunder had several players worth trading for &mdash; including Kenrich Williams and Mike Muscala &mdash; and had oodles of salary cap room to take on guys with undesirable contracts. Instead, they only clocked-in one deal, trading a second-round pick to the Miami Heat for KZ Okpala, who was subsequently waived. Though it's not a colossal general-managing blunder, the Thunder may have missed some good opportunities to add to the stockpile.
(Last week: Unranked)
9. Charlotte Hornets (29-29)
The Hornets added Montrezl Harrell to fill the backup center spot on paper, and he should help as a play-finisher. However, Harrell does little to address the returning defensive woes for a Charlotte team that is 3-7 in its last 10 games. The squad has also hit an offensive shooting slump while also ranking 22nd in turnover rate since the start of February. A seven-point loss to the Memphis Grizzlies on Saturday overshadowed a horrendous two-way performance in the first half that had me concerned.
(Last week: 10)
8. Utah Jazz (35-21)
The Jazz got involved in one minor three-team deal at the trade deadline, and it didn't do much to squelch the raised voices about their title pretender status. Mark Schindler <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/roundtable-who-are-your-biggest-2022-nba-trade-deadline-losers" target="_blank" rel="noopener">labeled them a loser of the week</a> despite acquiring a <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/can-nickeil-alexanderwalker-fill-the-gaps-for-the-utah-jazz" target="_blank" rel="noopener">prospect he liked in Nickeil Alexander-Walker</a>:
"There's an intriguing foundation with him that Utah could unearth more of and help him build upon, but the issue is where the Jazz are right now. They needed immediate help defensively at the point of attack and the wing, yet NAW is not really that guy right now."
Utah is on a five-game winning streak, however, which deserves some credit. The team stays where it is in these rankings for now.
(Last week: 8)
7. Houston Rockets (15-40)
Here's another rebuilding franchise that balked at the chance to capitalize on the rush of apparent buyers. Houston didn't need to trade Eric Gordon in my opinion, but he certainly could have returned value. I was more surprised that Christian Wood not only remains on the team, but also was barely brought up in public trade rumors. He has not been nearly the player he can or should be with the Rockets, and I don't know if anything he does in the next two months changes that outlook. Of course, John Wall is still on the roster too.
(Last week: Unranked)
6. Portland Trail Blazers (23-34)
The Blazers are a confusing team to nail down for me. They traded CJ McCollum to New Orleans in a move many expected, but didn't get a whole lot back (aside from a very solid rotation player in Josh Hart and a protected first-rounder). A couple days go by, and then, the aforementioned Alexander-Walker &mdash; the best young player in the first trade &mdash; heads to Utah for a second-round pick, an expiring and injured Joe Ingles and a more obscure flier in Elijah Hughes.
Nekias Duncan gave those two moves a <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/grading-every-move-from-the-2022-nba-trade-deadline" target="_blank" rel="noopener">C-minus and D in his trade deadline grades</a>. I think I'd agree, because at the end of it all, I still don't know what Portland is doing other than clearing some cap room.
(Last week: 6)
5. Sacramento Kings (22-36)
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Sabonis and Fox will be a natural fit 👉🏽 That P&amp;R with a guard who can slash, pass and play in between with pace paired with a highly skilled big man who is great around the rim and can shoot comfortably from 15 feet. This is the co-star both guys needed. 🎥 <a href="https://twitter.com/kings?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@kings</a> <a href="https://t.co/ngj5TdjPp0">pic.twitter.com/ngj5TdjPp0</a>
&mdash; Ball Don't Stop (@balldontstop) <a href="https://twitter.com/balldontstop/status/1491657233897119746?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 10, 2022</a></blockquote>

<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

I'll give the Kings a little credit for the auspicious stretch they've had with Domantas Sabonis and De'Aaron Fox together since that big blockbuster move. A lot of people, myself included, probably overreacted to the deal and didn't give enough thought to what Sabonis can unlock for the players around him in Sacramento. They also did a sneaky-great job turning Marvin Bagley III into three players who can help the team win now at various levels.
I still have a hard time getting over the Kings trading Tyrese Haliburton, their most promising young player and a public advocate for turning a losing culture around.&nbsp;
(Last week: 4)
4. Washington Wizards (25-30)
Kristaps Porzingis was perhaps the most shocking name to be dealt this season; his name hadn't really popped up at all until Thursday morning. While it's fair that the Wizards needed to end the Spencer Dinwiddie-Bradley Beal experiment and Porzingis makes them better purely on paper, I don't love the fit. Will he <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/so-how-does-this-kristaps-porzingis-spencer-dinwiddie-davis-bertans-thing-work" target="_blank" rel="noopener">make a meaningful difference for a Washington team</a> that is one of two NBA squads with bottom-five Offensive and Defensive Ratings over the past two weeks? I'm doubtful.
The Montrezl Harrell trade was also super weird because it brought back two players who probably should not be in the rotation. Washington's big mix is still backed up now with Porzingis, Daniel Gafford, Thomas Bryant and Vernon Carey Jr., plus larger forwards in Kyle Kuzma and Rui Hachimura.&nbsp;
(Last week: 2)
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3. New York Knicks (26-31)
Whew, Saturday's blown lead to the Trail Blazers was a stinger. The Knicks led by 23 at one point before coughing up the game to a Portland team that just went through a widespread, trade-deadline fire sale. New York, meanwhile, didn't make any moves despite the glaring underperformance in recent weeks. The Knicks have two extremely winnable games against the Thunder and Brooklyn Nets before the All-Star break. If they can't find something, I'll have serious doubts about them even being close to a Play-In team.
(Last week: 5)
2. Brooklyn Nets (29-27)
In a vacuum, the Nets moved on from a disgruntled star in James Harden and returned three players who can instantly (once healthy) slot into a thin rotation. Ben Simmons makes a ton of sense as a defensive boost, Seth Curry can replace the shooting lost by Joe Harris' injury, and Andre Drummond at least gives Brooklyn a presence on the glass and center depth.
But they still gave up James Harden. Brooklyn's Big Three played 16 games together in total, and the Nets are still neck-deep in an 11-game losing streak. Things are most definitely bad.
(Last week: 1)
1. Los Angeles Lakers (26-31)
If a franchise arrives at a point in the season where <a href="https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/33250361/los-angeles-lakers-feel-urgency-make-changes-trade-deadline-nears" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the locker room itself wants trades to happen</a>, then the front office should listen. But Rob Pelinka had to go all Bumi from "Avatar: The Last Airbender" and embrace neutral jing &mdash; a.k.a. doing nothing. The Lakers made zero trades this season. They are the most underwhelming team in the NBA and they made zero trades.&nbsp;
(Last week: 3)
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Ethan Fuller lines up the league's biggest underperformers, including teams who failed to maximize the NBA trade deadline.

NBA Sour Rankings: Reshuffling the deck post-trade deadline

After the Los Angeles Lakers were embarrassed by the Milwaukee Bucks at home on Tuesday night (before Los Angeles lost to a bad Portland Trail Blazers team missing half their roster), a reporter asked LeBron James how his squad stacks up against Milwaukee and the league's other elite teams.
LeBron gave a surprisingly candid response: "<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/lakers-players-believe-changes-must-be-made-before-trade-deadline" target="_blank" rel="noopener">We ain't on their level</a>."
When asked if he believed the Lakers could eventually reach the Bucks' level this season, <a href="https://www.foxsports.com/stories/nba/lebron-james-admits-lakers-are-not-on-championship-level#:~:text=After%20the%20game%2C%20LeBron%20James,a%20flat%2C%20%22No.%22" target="_blank" rel="noopener">James replied</a>, "Where they are right now? I don't know. Do I think we can reach the level where Milwaukee is right now? No. Is that what you want to hear from me? No. We can't get to where they are right now. They're the defending champions for a reason and I guarantee you if you would've asked teams coming out of the bubble if they could get to the level that we were playing at when we won a championship, they would've said the same thing."
Let's flashback to the championship group for a second, shall we?
It may seem like it's been 16 years or so since LeBron led LA to a title in the bubble, but, incredibly, it's been less than 16 months. The Lakers beat the Miami Heat in Game 6 of the Finals on Oct. 11, 2020. The team's two cornerstones, Anthony Davis and LeBron, remain, but the rest of the rotation has been turned over completely.&nbsp;
So, how did this team go from raising the Larry O'Brien trophy, to being four games under .500 and fighting for a spot in the play-in tournament just a year-and-a-half later?&nbsp;
Let's break it down.&nbsp;
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In the offseason following their championship, LA's major move was trading Danny Green (a significant two-way contributor on their title team) and LA's 2021 first-round pick (Jaden McDaniels) to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Dennis Schroder. That summer, LA re-signed Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (three years, $39 million) and used its cap space to ink free agent Montrezl Harrell to a two-year, $18.9 million contract. They also brought in Wesley Matthews and Markieff Morris for the veteran minimum and inked Marc Gasol to a two-year, $5.3 million deal.&nbsp;
In mid-March, in the days leading up to last season's trade deadline, the Lakers were cruising. More than halfway through the 2020-21 campaign, the Lakers' were 15 games above .500 and owned the league's second-best record at 28-13.&nbsp;
At that point, the Lakers made a decision that would come back to haunt them. Hindsight is 20/20, of course, but the Lakers arrived at a fork in the road and chose the wrong path. They've been headed downhill ever since. (Over the past 11 months, the Lakers are 43-51 in the 94 games they've played).&nbsp;
On the eve of the 2021 trade deadline, the Lakers and Toronto Raptors were engaged in serious discussions on a potential deal that would have sent Kyle Lowry to LaLa Land, giving LeBron and Co. the established veteran point guard (and proven winner) the team desperately needed. The Lakers and Raps <a href="https://theathletic.com/2477311/2021/03/25/what-the-lakers-were-willing-to-trade-for-kyle-lowry-and-what-it-says-about-the-future/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reportedly</a> were close to finalizing a swap sending Schroder, Caldwell-Pope and some draft capital to Toronto in exchange for Lowry. Yet, in the hours right before the deadline arrived, "the sticking point was the inclusion of Talen Horton-Tucker," <a href="https://theathletic.com/2477311/2021/03/25/what-the-lakers-were-willing-to-trade-for-kyle-lowry-and-what-it-says-about-the-future/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to Jovan Buha and Bill Oram of The Athletic</a>.&nbsp;
"Rob Pelinka, the Lakers' vice president of basketball operations, insisted that price was too high for the 35-year-old Lowry, and that he was not willing to trade Horton-Tucker, the 20-year-old combo guard who has emerged as a valuable rotation player for the Lakers in his second season," Buha and Oram <a href="https://theathletic.com/2477311/2021/03/25/what-the-lakers-were-willing-to-trade-for-kyle-lowry-and-what-it-says-about-the-future/">reported</a>.
Looking back, it's impossible not to wonder how the future of several franchises might have changed if the Lakers had been willing to pony up for Lowry, who is now averaging 13.0 points and 8.1 assists per game for the Heat. This is the same Heat team that is poised to enter the All-Star break with the best record in the Eastern Conference.&nbsp;
As we know, the Lakers stood pat at last year's deadline and would struggle mightily in the six subsequent weeks. Over a 25-game stretch from mid-March through the first week in May, LA posted an 8-17 record.
The Lakers would eventually be eliminated in six games by the Suns in the first round of the 2021 playoffs. Anthony Davis returned to the Lakers' starting lineup in Game 6 after missing the second half of Game 4 and all of Game 5 due to a groin injury, but logged just five minutes before limping off the court. It was the first and only time in LeBron's career that he lost a first-round series (he had been 14-0).
"What matters to me is getting this team back healthy," James told reporters after the loss to Phoenix.
Well, as it turns out, Pelinka and James were unwilling to run it back with the same squad and hope the group would avoid injuries.&nbsp;
Instead, the Lakers rolled the dice, agreeing to one of the most dramatic and controversial trades in recent NBA history.&nbsp;
On the evening of July 29, both Woj and Shams <a href="https://twitter.com/shamscharania/status/1420855153410854925" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> that the Lakers had consented to take on Russell Westbrook (and his onerous contract).&nbsp;
A week later, the trade was officially announced. LA had traded away Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Montrezl Harrell, Kyle Kuzma and the draft rights to Isaiah Jackson (whom the Lakers had selected with the 22nd overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft) in exchange for Russ and several future second-rounders.&nbsp;
The justification from the Lakers was that they viewed Westbrook as an offensive powerhouse that could lighten the load LeBron had been forced to carry.&nbsp;
The Lakers rounded out their roster this past offseason by adding Trevor Ariza, Dwight Howard, Wayne Ellington, Kent Bazemore, Carmelo Anthony, Malik Monk and Rajon Rondo. They gave Kendrick Nunn the taxpayer mid-level exception ($5.9 million for two years). They also re-signed Horton-Tucker to a three-year deal worth $32 million.
Shockingly, despite advanced analytics that confirmed he was a near-perfect fit playing alongside LeBron, the Lakers decided not to bring back Alex Caruso, who had excelled as a role player in LA. Caruso's aggressiveness and versatility on the defensive end, as well as unselfishness on offense, made him an ideal wingman to AD and King James.&nbsp;
However, having Westbrook on the books for $44.2 million in 2021-22 and another $47.1 million in 2022-23 undoubtedly played a part in Pelinka's decision to let Carouso leave.&nbsp;
Still, as he explained on <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/how-the-lakers-botched-alex-carusos-free-agency-and-lost-a-key-piece" target="_blank" rel="noopener">JJ Redick's "Old Man and the Three" podcast</a> back in November, Carouso had hoped to re-sign with the Lakers and was even willing to give them a hometown discount. Before ultimately accepting the offer he received from Chicago (a four-year, $37 million contract, though the final season only carries a $3 million guarantee), <a href="https://twitter.com/oldmanandthree/status/1458257821405954052?s=21" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Caruso said</a> he and his agent "went back to L.A., asked if they could do the same, they said no. We asked for something else that was a little bit less; they said no."
As it turns out, the concerns many critics envisioned over the summer related to potential issues arising from the addition of Westbrook have reared their ugly head. Unfortunately for Los Angeles, Westbrook's declining athleticism has hamstrung the former All-Star.
At various points this season, Westbrook's alarming regression has been uncomfortable to watch. In the closing minutes of LA's victory over the New York Knicks last weekend, Russ found himself alone in the corner and as he was about to launch a three-pointer, the home crowd <a href="https://twitter.com/FanMahome/status/1490172360892329985">screamed at him not to shoot</a>. Coach Frank Vogel yanked him out of the lineup in overtime vs. New York. In the Lakers' embarrassing loss to the Bucks on Tuesday, Westbrook was benched for the final 14 minutes of the game, including the entire fourth quarter. Russ sat out Wednesday's loss to Portland with a "lower back" injury.&nbsp;
His counting stats on the season are solid (18/7/7), but the peripheral numbers are putrid, and his plus/minus is the worst on the team. This season, the Lakers have been outscored by 123 points with Westbrook on the floor, whereas they have outscored their opponents by 35 points with Russ on the bench.
The situation has careened toward rock-bottom this month. Over the Lakers' last four games, Westbrook is shooting just 27% from the floor, 15% from downtown and 55.0% from the free-throw line. He's also leading the league in turnovers.
Yet, now that the 2022 trade deadline has passed, we know that Lakers fans have no choice but to hope Russ can somehow locate his confidence and contribute to winning.&nbsp;
It has been rumored this week that the Houston Rockets were willing to trade John Wall to the Lakers for Westbrook, but Pelinka was reportedly unwilling to include LA's 2027 first-round pick, which Houston was demanding. Will the decision come back to bite LA, as refusing to include THT at last year's deadline did? Even if Wall failed to live up to expectations, would it have amounted to addition by subtraction?&nbsp;
Although Monk has been fantastic, and Melo has given LA as much as they could have hoped for, Howard, Ellington and Bazemore have failed to deliver. Ariza is averaging 4.2 points while shooting 36% from the floor. Rondo is no longer on the roster. Nunn, hampered by a bone bruise in his right knee, has yet to log a single second in an NBA game this season. Horton-Tucker is converting career-lows from the floor (41%) and behind the arc (27%). Despite playing nearly six more minutes per game, THT is averaging fewer assists this season (2.7) than he did in 2020-21, while still committing 1.5 turnovers a night.
Sum it all up, and you see why the Lakers have lost more than half of their games and find themselves in ninth place in the West, despite LeBron authoring the greatest season in NBA history by a 37-year-old.&nbsp;
This is a particularly bitter pill for Lakers fans to swallow considering the team purportedly had several different options to choose from this summer when shopping around their Kuz/&rsquo;Trez/draft picks package, including a deal for Sacramento sharpshooter Buddy Hield. In that scenario, the Lakers could have held onto KCP and added Hield, and the combined salary of both players still would have been $8 million less than Westbrook's cap hit of $44.2 million.&nbsp;
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To be fair, it's worth noting that in 2020-21, Westbrook played his best basketball of the season after the All-Star break. Over the Wizards' final 35 games of the season, he averaged 23.3 points, 13.3 rebounds, 13.4 assists and 1.5 steals, while shooting a respectable 44% from the floor, 32% from behind the arc and 72% from the FT line. Washington closed the regular season by going 17-6 over their final 23 contests and advanced to the playoffs.&nbsp;
Will Russ and his teammates feel less pressure now that the deadline has passed? LeBron and the Lakers don't need Westbrook to dominate the ball and chase triple-doubles, but they do need him to focus on playing the best defense of his career and help facilitate the offense, especially when James needs a breather.&nbsp;
If Russ cannot shake out of his slump, LA will have a very tough time getting back on track and achieving the goals they set for themselves back in October.&nbsp;
And if Los Angeles fails to right the ship (wasting a year of "Prime LeBron" in the process), the team's fans will look back with rage on the terrible trades and free-agency failures over the past 12 months that led to the Lakers' demise.&nbsp;
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Tommy Beer delves into the errors of the Lakers' ways following their championship success one-and-a-half years ago.

How the Lakers managed to turn a contending team into a sub-.500 mess

Nekias Duncan thoroughly grades every NBA trade from 2022 Deadline Week.

Grading every move from 2022 NBA trade deadline week

Despite rumors that <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/report-james-harden-wants-trade-to-76ers-has-not-formally-requested-one" target="_blank" rel="noopener">James Harden wants out</a> and a nine-game losing streak (the longest active losing streak in the NBA), the Brooklyn Nets are still the favorite to win this year's NBA championship &mdash; a testament to how talented this team is on paper.
Kevin Durant has been sidelined due to a sprained MCL in his left knee, and Harden has missed several games in a row due to left hamstring tightness. Meanwhile, Kyrie Irving is only playing in road games due to New York's COVID-19 mandate requiring pro athletes to be vaccinated. As a result, the Nets are 29-25 and sitting in the Eastern Conference's eighth seed. 
However, this team is so dangerous at full strength that they remain the favorite to win it all. <a href="https://www.oddschecker.com/us/basketball/nba/nba-championship/winner" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Oddsmakers</a> have given the Nets +400 odds (or an implied 20% chance to win this year&rsquo;s title).
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With that said, each time the Nets lose, the West&rsquo;s contenders close the gap a bit. The Golden State Warriors have moved to +460 (or an implied 17.9% chance), while the Phoenix Suns are at +500 (or an implied 16.7% chance). In the East, oddsmakers believe the Nets&rsquo; biggest competition is the Milwaukee Bucks (+650, or an implied 13.3% chance).
<table style="font-weight: 400;">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td width="208">
Team&nbsp;
</td>
<td width="208">
Title Odds&nbsp;
</td>
<td width="208">
Implied Chance&nbsp;
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="208">
Brooklyn Nets&nbsp;
</td>
<td width="208">
+400&nbsp;
</td>
<td width="208">
20%&nbsp;
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="208">
Golden State Warriors&nbsp;
</td>
<td width="208">
+460&nbsp;
</td>
<td width="208">
17.9%&nbsp;
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="208">
Phoenix Suns&nbsp;
</td>
<td width="208">
+500&nbsp;
</td>
<td width="208">
16.7%&nbsp;
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="208">
Milwaukee Bucks&nbsp;
</td>
<td width="208">
+650&nbsp;
</td>
<td width="208">
13.3%&nbsp;
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="208">
Miami Heat&nbsp;
</td>
<td width="208">
+1400&nbsp;
</td>
<td width="208">
6.7%&nbsp;
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
The Nets&rsquo; Big Three has only played 16 games together since forming a year ago, and they&rsquo;ve suited up together just twice this season (in wins over the Chicago Bulls and Indiana Pacers).&nbsp;
Last season, we saw something similar when oddsmakers continued to list the Los Angeles Lakers as a title favorite even as injuries caused them to slide down the Western Conference standings and into the play-in tournament.

Despite rumors that James Harden wants out and a 9-game losing streak, the Nets are still the favorite to win this year's NBA title.

Despite injuries and Harden rumors, Nets are still title favorites

As yet another trade deadline approaches, the New York Knicks have found themselves in the familiar position of looking for a shot in the arm.
And yet again, it doesn&rsquo;t seem likely they&rsquo;ll get one.
At 24-31, New York enters play on Feb. 9 in 12th place in the Eastern Conference, good enough to be 2.5 games behind the Atlanta Hawks for the 10th seed. At this point, they can only aspire to get an opportunity to play themselves into the 2022 postseason.
There&rsquo;s still a lot of season left, but Leon Rose and his front office hasn&rsquo;t found an opportunity to dramatically reshape the roster, and those chances may have dried up with Tuesday trades that saw CJ McCollum and Tyrese Haliburton change addresses.
On Tuesday, McCollum saw his nine-year tenure as a member of the Portland Trail Blazers end when Portland dealt him to the New Orleans Pelicans in exchange for a package that ultimately yielded Josh Hart and draft compensation. And shortly thereafter, the Sacramento Kings surprisingly shipped Haliburton to the Indiana Pacers in exchange for a package headlined by Domantas Sabonis.
Obviously at different points in their careers, what McCollum and Haliburton each have in common is that they would&rsquo;ve upgraded Tom Thibodeau&rsquo;s backcourt and at least been a step in the direction toward helping the Knicks replicate last season&rsquo;s success. The Knicks were linked to both players, but now, New York must look elsewhere.
For the most part, the deals that happen are the ones that nobody hears about.&nbsp;
Sure, James Harden could end up in Philadelphia and all indications are that the Los Angeles Lakers would love to find a taker for Russell Westbrook, but other teams don&rsquo;t exactly seem to being ringing the phones off the hook at Penn Plaza. If they were, either McCollum or Sabonis &mdash; or perhaps both &mdash; could have landed in Manhattan.
Where the Knicks go from here remains to be seen.
Could Julius Randle be headed elsewhere?
Things changed quickly.
Last season, Julius Randle capably led the Knicks to the fourth seed, was named an All-Star for the first time in his career and won the NBA&rsquo;s Most Improved Player Award. Less than a year later, his story has been completely rewritten.
Perhaps mostly due to his poor play, Randle is the player on the team whose name has been called the most as it relates to trade rumors, and that&rsquo;s because &mdash; despite his struggles &mdash; his talent is undeniable. He would provide the Knicks the best opportunity to dramatically reshape their roster while dealing him would also offer RJ Barrett more opportunity to play with the ball in his hands.
According to SNY&rsquo;s Ian Begley, Randle <a href="https://www.sny.tv/articles/knicks-evan-fournier-trade-discussions" target="_blank" rel="noopener">has drawn interest</a> from several teams around the league, and the Sacramento Kings were believed to be among them. It stands to reason that the front office there coveted Sabonis more than Randle. Based on their play this season, it&rsquo;d be hard to argue.
Just one season removed from the first All-Star berth of his career, Randle&rsquo;s poor play and attitude have hurt his value, but he&rsquo;s still one of the team&rsquo;s two most talented players, at best. Trading him for a young point guard could make sense for the Knicks, but that ship may have sailed with Haliburton having been sent to Indiana.
The biggest impediment to a Randle deal for the Knicks would be the return. If a trade wasn&rsquo;t yielding a top flight prospect or an established player that would help New York remain in the playoff hunt, it would be difficult for the front office to divest Randle while his value is as low as it seems to be at the moment.
Making room for Cam Reddish
Thus far, the Cam Reddish era in New York has been more of a snooze fest than must see TV, and it&rsquo;s because Reddish has been used sparingly, to say the least.
One of the things that players who have played for Thibodeau has respected about him are the standards that he holds his players to and his equitable administration of his values.&nbsp;
In other words, it&rsquo;s very on brand of the coach to demand that Reddish play his way into the Knicks&rsquo; rotation rather than simply handing minutes to the youngster because other people have identified him as someone with promise.&nbsp;
Quentin Grimes and Immanuel Quickley have earned their minutes, while Alec Burks and Evan Fournier have been the best player on the floor in more than one appearance this season.
There are only so many minutes to go around, which is why there have been pretty persistent reports concerning the Knicks and their willingness to part with one or two of their veteran pieces; Fournier and Burks have both joined Kemba Walker as players who are <a href="https://sny.tv/articles/knicks-evan-fournier-trade-discussions">reportedly available</a>.
Trading away one of the veteran pieces for draft compensation could make sense for a New York team that wants to get Reddish more opportunity, but that might not make the team more competitive in the short-term.
Mitchell Robinson is opening some eyes
There&rsquo;s no denying what Mitchell Robinson has produced on the court as of late.&nbsp;
Over the past month, Robinson has recorded six double-doubles and is averaging 13.8 points, 10.8 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game. He&rsquo;s heading for free agency this summer, and retaining his services is likely to be expensive.
Although the league has mostly gone away from &ldquo;traditional&rdquo; big men, Robinson is a capable defensive presence on the perimeter, and he has proven that, when healthy, he&rsquo;s able to impact games. That he can do so on the offensive end without having plays called for him is a plus. Any team in the league could use that skill set.
According to Marc Berman of <a href="https://nypost.com/2022/02/08/nba-trade-deadline-knicks-eyeing-kings-harrison-barnes/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the New York Post,</a> the Detroit Pistons may have interest in Robinson, though Berman doesn&rsquo;t specify what the Pistons have that the Knicks would covet.
As it stands, the Knicks don&rsquo;t have the same kind of cap flexibility they had a year ago &mdash; they pretty much blew that last summer. Adding an expensive multi-year pact for Robinson would only make things worse, and if the team isn&rsquo;t sure that it&rsquo;s current core is who it wants to be married to for the next three or four years, Robinson could wind up with another address.
So&hellip; Where exactly are the Knicks going?
To say that the 2021-22 season has been a disappointment would be an understatement. The Eastern Conference has certainly gotten stronger around the Knicks, but after acquiring Kemba Walker and Evan Fournier last season, expectations were rather high for the team that captured the conference&rsquo;s fourth seed last year.
Acquiring Reddish and deploying Grimes and Quickley are things that a rebuilding team would do, but re-signing most of its core free agents isn&rsquo;t. The Knicks re-signed Randle to four-year, $104 million extension before they needed to, gave Fournier a four-year deal worth nearly $80 million and committed years and dollars to Alec Burks, Derrick Rose and Nerlens Noel. A team wouldn&rsquo;t do that unless they legitimately thought they had a chance to contend.
Teams that know they don&rsquo;t, from a management standpoint, look more like the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Houston Rockets. They divest every possible asset for draft compensation and use their salary cap space as currency to help teams rid themselves of onerous contracts.
That the Knicks have seemingly done an about face, and so quickly, is a blemish on the record of the front office. As the team reportedly dangles its veteran players in an attempt to find playing time for younger ones, on some level, represents failure.
At this point, it&rsquo;s difficult to know exactly what the Knicks are doing. And that&rsquo;s not a good thing.
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Moke Hamilton visits the Knicks' situation heading into the NBA trade deadline and whether or not it's fixable.

This may end up being another inconsequential trade deadline for Knicks

With the 2022 NBA Draft less than a month away, BasketballNews.com will have you covered from top to bottom. The NBA Draft Combine in Chicago began the pre-draft process for a number of hopeful prospects as they try to break into the league.
I had the opportunity to catch up with Ohio State swingman Malaki Branham, who averaged 13.7 points, 3.6 rebounds, and 2.0 assists per game in his lone season with the Buckeyes. We discussed his start in basketball, playing in his home state, his second-half surge and how he'll translate to the next level.
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Let's start with your background. What's your hometown?
Malaki Branham: "My hometown is Columbus, Ohio, where I was born and raised."
Could you tell me a little bit about your family background?
Branham: "I have a small circle. It's my mom, my little brother, my uncle, my auntie and my grandma. That's about it. My trainer is also like family. I've been working with him for seven-plus years, so he became family."
Did you play any other sports growing up?
Branham: "No, not really. When I was younger, I played soccer and baseball, but basketball has always been everything to me."
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When did you first start getting into organized basketball?
Branham: "Probably when I was 8 or 9. I started playing AAU early on, and things just took off from there."
At what point in your development did it start to click that you might have a bright future in basketball?
Branham: "It was my eighth-grade year. I dunked on somebody; that was my first in-game dunk but my first "poster" too. I thought, 'If I keep working, I can do something with this.'"
How tall were you when that happened?
Branham: I was around 6-2, 6-3. And I'm 6-5 now, so I've grown a few inches.
Being from Ohio, what was it like to be able to stay home and play at Ohio State?
Branham: "It meant everything to me, getting to play for my hometown school. I loved every second I was there on campus with the coaching staff and everyone. It was a good feeling to play for my hometown and have my family watch me too."
In our <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/nba-draft" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2022 NBA Mock Draft</a> on BasketballNews.com, we have you projected to the Cleveland Cavaliers at No. 14. How would you feel if that ended up being the case?
Branham: "It would be cool! Many people back home want me to stay and play for the Cleveland Cavaliers. It's just a blessing to be in this position."
I saw you early on in the season at the Fort Myers Classic. At that point, you were starting, but not getting a lot of shots. Then, midway through the season, you started to explode. From your perspective, what began to click for you to elevate your game so dramatically?
Branham: "I didn't have the biggest role on the team to start. In the beginning, I was trying to fit in. Then, when we played Wisconsin at home, I had 0 points and 4 turnovers. I texted Coach [Chris] Holtmann after the game and thanked him for letting me play through the mistakes that I was making. I was just frustrated with myself, I looked in the mirror and said, 'We need to get to work.'
"From that point, the Nebraska game came, and I kept that in the back of my head and wanted to make sure that the game wasn't just a fluke. I just wanted to be consistent the rest of the year, and I feel like I did that."
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The Big Ten was stacked this year. I stayed in Indianapolis to watch the entirety of the conference tournament. Who do you think was your toughest matchup this year?
Branham: "The toughest 1-on-1 matchups that I had to guard, I'd probably say Fatts Russell from Maryland; he's a smaller guard, but he's so quick and shifty. I'd also have to say Johnny Davis and Jaden Ivey as well.
"That quick first step that lets [Jaden] get to the rim with ease (makes him a tough matchup). Also, he gets up in the air and gets his shot off from anywhere he wants. With him, I feel like it's him being more explosive than everybody. Johnny is just smooth. He's a bigger guard as well. He gets to the mid-range just like me, so making it tough on him is hard to do. I feel like he plays through a lot of contact.
"Those guys were both a year ahead of me, so they had a feel for Big Ten basketball. I just had to get a feel for how they moved, but I felt like I matched up with them pretty well."
What was your driving force for going all-in on the draft?
Branham: "Really, it was just getting good feedback. I kept working and put my head down, and after, I kept getting good news. I felt like it was too good of an option for me to pass up. I feel like entering the draft with two feet is what I wanted, so I'm just excited to be in this process."
Can you describe yourself as a player?
Branham: "I would say that I'm aggressive. I'm always in attack mode. When I'm between those four lines, I'm in attack mode and aggressive. In the second half of the season, I was aggressive, looking for my shot. I'm also always trying to facilitate for my team too."
Are there any specific aspects of your game that you're looking to improve?
Branham: "Probably tightening my handle. I will be on the wing against bigger and older guys, so I need a tight handle. I'd also like to work on my defensive abilities as well. I'm not going to be a guy who is handling the ball all the time right away, so I need to get some stops on the defensive end to earn that trust on the offensive end."
Are there any current or former players that you model your game after?
Branham: "I watch a lot of Khris Middleton, Devin Booker and those types of guys that can get to the mid-range and are three-level scorers. Those are the guys I model my game after."
If you had to use one word to describe yourself, what would it be?
Branham: 'I'd go with resilient. There will always be tough times in life, but I'm always pushing through. This year was a good example of me being resilient. At the beginning of the year, I wasn't playing as well as I could have, and in the second half, I found a way to push through and get through it."
Let's pretend I'm an NBA general manager. What is your elevator pitch to me as to why I should select you?
Branham: "I live and breathe basketball. I'm a hard worker. So many people say that, but I am genuinely a hard worker. I wake up at 5 a.m. every day and put the work in to perfect my craft. You should select me because I do that and want to get better every day to become the best I possibly can become."
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Matt Babcock speaks with Ohio State wing Malaki Branham about his second-half surge, how he'll translate to the NBA and more.

2022 NBA Draft Q&A: Ohio State's Malaki Branham leans on resilience

The NBA is undergoing an epiphany on positional value, much like the NFL has begun to re-evaluate modern-day running backs. Since positions are becoming less and less important and versatility is the name of the game, what&rsquo;s next for NBA centers?
Centers are slowly but surely being phased out, aside from some rare exceptions. Long gone are the Roy Hibbert-archetype bigs who patrolled the paint with slow-footed speed. The upgraded version looks more like Rudy Gobert in Utah, producing at an even higher level. But even with Gobert, long-term questions have arisen due to his bloated super-max salary.
If Gobert&rsquo;s on-court value is diminishing as well, which bigs will be deemed worthy of a lucrative second contract? It&rsquo;s an elite club where the positional value more than outweighs the price tag: Nikola Jokic, Joel Embiid, Karl-Anthony Towns, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bam Adebayo top the list. For all other centers, will they be worth their price in the long run?
For the Phoenix Suns, a $100-plus million decision awaits on Deandre Ayton, their only No. 1 overall pick in franchise history. Does Ayton deserve to be mentioned among those names, or does he fall a tier or two below? Ayton is an anchor of the Suns&rsquo; historic defensive turnaround under head coach Monty Williams, plus his soft touch on the offensive end already brings super efficient scoring value too.
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The Suns and Ayton&rsquo;s representation are about to enter an awkward period, and it seems like the odds of Ayton playing elsewhere next season are increasing. Do the Suns believe Ayton is worth a max-level contract? Does Suns general manager James Jones believe Ayton can be on the same tier as an Adebayo or Gobert?
Based on Ayton's usage within Williams&rsquo; system (19.8% usage rate since 2020-21), Phoenix&rsquo;s need to reconstruct the roster for more wing-based scoring as well as the big man's own desire to be a more featured piece on offense (plus his desire for a max deal), I wouldn't be surprised if Ayton&rsquo;s days with the Suns are numbered.
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One could argue that Ayton would be even more valuable if he were to leave Phoenix and sign elsewhere. In another situation &mdash; in Detroit with Cade Cunningham, for example &mdash; giving Ayton the max would be an acceptable allocation of resources that benefits both parties. However, in the Suns&rsquo; system, I don&rsquo;t believe Ayton is worthy of max-level money.
A fatal flaw that prevents Ayton from being mentioned in the top tier of big men is his lack of self-creation ability, which he's failed to develop throughout his first four seasons with the Suns. According to Cleaning The Glass, 74.8% of Ayton's shots have been assisted on in his career. Compared to his max-salary counterparts, Ayton is nowhere close on self-creation capabilities. And at this point, I have serious doubts that this will ever become a consistent part of his game during his upcoming prime years.
Percentage of FGs Assisted in 2021-22
Deandre Ayton: 81%
Rudy Gobert: 72%
Nikola Jokic: 62%
Karl-Anthony Towns: 62%
Bam Adebayo: 61%
Joel Embiid: 54%
Giannis Antetokounmpo: 43%
The NBA&rsquo;s elite big men buck the trend of super small-ball and three-point-shooting barrages because they bring unique traits to the table.&nbsp;Antetokounmpo and Embiid can simply punish any defenses that are thrown at them. Jokic&rsquo;s demigod-like ability to run an offense and be its primary scoring engine speaks for itself. Towns is one of the greatest perimeter-shooting bigs of all-time. Adebayo&rsquo;s defense and playmaking versatility, coupled with his recent development as an on-ball creator, raise his value. Gobert&rsquo;s price tag is a tough pill to swallow, especially later on, but he&rsquo;s one of the most impactful rim-protectors we&rsquo;ve ever seen (while also providing efficient scoring around the rim).
Ayton is a very good basketball player, but he fails to emphatically check any of the boxes that the other max bigs do. He brings immediate value as a scoring threat and rim-protector, with a rare ability to easily rack up 20-and-10 outings like it&rsquo;s nothing. His stat line shows that there&rsquo;s real promise if he is fed like a primary offensive hub, but that&rsquo;s not going to happen in Phoenix.
The Suns are moving away from the inside-out approach in favor of outside-in, a modern flip of the script that likely provides some insight into how they view centers. JaVale McGee was an excellent free-agent addition for Phoenix last summer, and he ended up putting up nearly identical numbers to Ayton on a per-36-minute basis:
Ayton: 21.0 points, 12.5 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 0.8 blocks, 65.6 TS%
McGee: 20.9 points, 15.2 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 2.5 blocks, 65.1 TS%
McGee is another example where working within the Suns&rsquo; system, especially playing alongside Chris Paul and Devin Booker, brings immense improvement on the margins. From the Suns&rsquo; perspective, would they rather just pay McGee $5 million again and add a difference maker elsewhere for the same price as Ayton? For example, would it make more sense to <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/examining-potential-destinations-for-deandre-ayton" target="_blank" rel="noopener">bring aboard a unique modern fit in Jerami Grant via a sign-and-trade deal</a>? There&rsquo;s no doubt that these discussions are ongoing for the Suns, because this decision will decide what direction the team is heading in the post-CP3 era.
As a restricted free agent, Ayton is heading toward a negotiation standoff with Phoenix. If the organization doesn&rsquo;t view him as a max-level player, expect to see the Suns&rsquo; offer come in around a similar annual value as Al Horford ($27.8 million) or Nikola Vucevic ($25.0 million). John Collins provides a recent example of restricted free agency leading to a cheaper payday, as he signed a five-year, $125 million deal with the Atlanta Hawks in the 2021 offseason.
For Ayton, it seems like a lock that he'll get a max contract from some front office. The Detroit Pistons, Portland Trail Blazers, San Antonio Spurs, Atlanta Hawks, Charlotte Hornets and Indiana Pacers are all expected to show interest once free agency's moratorium period opens on July 1. Will Phoenix try to pull off a <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/examining-potential-destinations-for-deandre-ayton" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sign-and-trade to bring back some win-now pieces</a>? If another team extends a max-level offer sheet, would the Suns match it or let him walk? These are the big questions entering this offseason.
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Another angle that is falling under the radar is how the Suns view Ayton&rsquo;s motor. Will Ayton continue to improve his game or eventually become an albatross contract a few years from now?&nbsp;
&ldquo;Definitely getting to my second contract; that&rsquo;s my success,&rdquo; Ayton said before being drafted by the Suns.
Throughout Ayton&rsquo;s career in Phoenix, teammates like Paul, Booker and Mikal Bridges have had to keep him locked in throughout games to ensure he's playing at a certain intensity level. They have even mentioned it during press conferences. When Ayton is locked in, he&rsquo;s one of the most dominant two-way bigs in the NBA. The issue is his inconsistency and those moments where he loses focus. It's unclear why this occurs, but there are some games where it's apparent in the first few minutes whether it will be a positive or negative outing for the big man. If there are concerns about Ayton&rsquo;s motor, that will also enter this discussion.
Jones and Williams know more about Ayton's work ethic and motor than just about anyone given all the time they've spent with him behind the scenes, so we'll see if this factors in to their decision.&nbsp;
The drive to be great and the sheer will to refuse failure are what separate great players from good ones. Does Ayton possess this trait to become one of those exceptions to the rule for non-floor spacing bigs within the modern NBA?
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This year&rsquo;s Finals matchup between the Golden State Warriors and Boston Celtics further paints a picture of spacing and wings/on-ball creators buttering the bread of success nowadays. For their bigs, the postseason usage rate is a tell-tale sign of letting the perimeter-oriented stars cook (Al Horford: 13.0 USG%, Robert Williams: 13.0%, Kevon Looney: 11.2%). Can the Suns rely upon Ayton to be a player who takes over 20% of their offensive possessions? If it&rsquo;s a hit-or-miss proposition in their eyes, Ayton will be looking for greener pastures within the next six weeks.
As an elite finisher around the rim who also excels in pick-and-roll and pick-and-pop situations, Ayton already brings a rock solid baseline for a floor. When you add in his supreme athleticism for his position, it brings even more intrigue as a two-way force. Entering into his age-24 season in 2022-23, what&rsquo;s the next step for Ayton? If there&rsquo;s not much room left for Ayton on the developmental curve, a max contract shouldn&rsquo;t be coming his way from Phoenix.
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think he&rsquo;s so divisive here,&rdquo; Suns owner Robert Sarver told BasketballNews.com in April about Ayton&rsquo;s future in Phoenix. &ldquo;I think he&rsquo;s shown that he&rsquo;s improved each year, helps us both on the defense and the offense. I think offensively, you see this year he&rsquo;s taken another good step in terms of his touch and his ability to score around the basket. So, he&rsquo;s been a key part of what we&rsquo;re doing.&rdquo;
Ayton averaged 17.3 points, 10.0 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 0.7 blocks for the Suns this past season. In an environment where he's more heavily featured, those numbers likely rise closer to 22-23 points and 12-13 rebounds per game. Is that the way to go though?
Welcome to the new evaluation process of great, non-transcendent bigs. Ayton is the first case study, and this expensive decision that's on the horizon is going to change the Suns&rsquo; future one way or another.
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With centers becoming the NBA's version of running backs, is Deandre Ayton worthy of a max deal? Evan Sidery explores.

Should Suns give Deandre Ayton a max deal? Positional value says no

The Oklahoma City Thunder came out of last Tuesday&rsquo;s NBA Draft Lottery as the night&rsquo;s runner-up, taking home the No. 2 overall pick.&nbsp;
The Thunder have never received the first-overall pick in their franchise history, which technically goes back to 1967 when they were still the Seattle Supersonics. They have selected second on two occasions though, and both worked out really well (Kevin Durant in 2007 and Gary Payton in 1990).
The Thunder have a war-chest of draft picks in the coming years, but those picks are meaningless if they don&rsquo;t select a franchise-altering talent. Fortunately, the No. 2 pick should provide an opportunity to do so. The 2022 draft class features a few &ldquo;can&rsquo;t-miss&rdquo; prospects, including Auburn&rsquo;s Jabari Smith, Gonzaga&rsquo;s Chet Holmgren and Duke&rsquo;s Paolo Banchero. All three have their pros and cons, but adding any of them to the existing core of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Josh Giddey should work out beautifully.
In the 2021 NBA Draft, the Thunder made six selections, but they traded three of those players. They added Giddey (who was named to the 2021-22 All-Rookie Second Team), Tre Mann and Aaron Wiggins &ndash; none of whom are bigs. The Thunder did trade for a seven-footer in the 2020 draft (Aleksej Pokusevski), but he&rsquo;s still extremely raw and is not the same caliber of player as the top-three prospects.
Of course, there is still a lot of work to be done through the scouting process to effectively evaluate all three of this draft's most-coveted prospects, but a look back at the last 10 NBA drafts reveals a murkier history than one might assume. After <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/examining-the-success-of-teams-selecting-first-in-the-nba-draft" target="_blank" rel="noopener">examining the success of teams selecting No. 1 in the NBA Draft</a> last week, let's look at how recent No. 2 overall picks have fared.&nbsp;
2012 NBA Draft: Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Charlotte Bobcats/Hornets
The Hornets bombed with the second pick in 2012. Kidd-Gilchrist had a fine career, averaging 12.3 points and 7.9 rebounds per game across eight seasons in the NBA. The thing is, Bradley Beal was selected third and Damian Lillard was selected fifth, and both of those guys are All-NBA-caliber players annually. Comparatively, that&rsquo;s a huge miss for Charlotte.
Verdict: Failure.
2013 NBA Draft: Victor Oladipo, Orlando Magic
The Cavaliers certainly surprised many of us by picking Anthony Bennett with the first overall pick, but the Magic stuck to the script. Oladipo was universally seen as a top-three player in this draft, and he became the second-best player in the class before knee and quad injuries derailed his career.
As much as injuries have robbed much of what Oladipo was, he is still an intriguing player, and he&rsquo;ll probably command some decent free-agent offers this offseason. Obiously, CJ McCollumn (selected 10th) and Giannis Antetokounmpo (selected 15th) are better players, but neither was being considered by the Magic. Considering that Oladipo is a two-time All-Star, an All-Defensive selection and a one-time All-NBA selection, I&rsquo;d say the Magic did a fine job in picking Oladipo.
Verdict: Success
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2014 NBA Draft: Jabari Parker, Milwaukee Bucks
The 2014 draft was a weird one. Neither the first nor the second pick ended up being the best player from this draft class. Andrew Wiggins found a good role, even if he is far less successful than most thought he&rsquo;d be, but Jabari Parker really underwhelmed. Granted, Parker stuck around in the league for eight seasons, including some of the current one, but his career simply never materialized even if it&rsquo;s not his (nor Milwaukee&rsquo;s) fault.
Parker tore his ACL twice. He looked like he was becoming a pretty darn good player (even if he was a defensive liability) before the second ACL injury, averaging 20.1 points and 6.2 rebounds per game in 2016-17. However good Parker could have been, the fact of the matter is that Joel Embiid was intriguing enough as of draft night to be taken one pick later, and that stings.
Verdict: Failure
2015 NBA Draft: D&rsquo;Angelo Russell, Los Angeles Lakers
Here&rsquo;s an instance where a player actually was worth a top-three pick. The problem is that the Lakers had the second pick, and there&rsquo;s a big difference between Karl-Anthony Towns or Devin Booker and Russell. Making matters worse, the Lakers sent Russell to Brooklyn before he matured. His immaturity was part of the reason he was traded, but that doesn&rsquo;t change the fact that the Lakers picked him and moved on very quickly. Russell may or may not end up being a franchise-altering talent, but he hasn&rsquo;t realized his full potential yet, and he clearly won&rsquo;t do so for the Lakers.
Verdict: Failure
2016 NBA Draft: Brandon Ingram, Los Angeles Lakers
Ingram is one of the best No. 2 picks in the last 10 drafts. He&rsquo;s a true number one option on a playoff team, a career 18.5 points-per-game scorer and a one-time All-Star. It&rsquo;s debatable that Jaylen Brown (selected third) and/or Jamal Murray (selected seventh) are as good or better players, but both have played alongside more talented teammates throughout their careers.
Ingram has been the best player on the New Orleans Pelicans for a few years now, and we shouldn&rsquo;t take for granted the fact that Ingram led a playoff team this season. Sure, the Lakers didn&rsquo;t cash in on him specifically, but he was part of the package that led to Anthony Davis landing in Los Angeles. So, it worked out for them too.
Verdict: Success
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2017 NBA Draft: Lonzo Ball, Los Angeles Lakers
The Lakers picked second overall again in 2017. They weren&rsquo;t as successful this time around. First, there&rsquo;s Jayson Tatum to consider. Tatum was selected third and is the best player in the 2017 draft class. Being selected by the Lakers wouldn&rsquo;t have changed that, and that should be enough. But there&rsquo;s also Ball&rsquo;s rough shooting mechanics to consider. Sure, he&rsquo;s grown into a good shooter, but the Lakers didn&rsquo;t benefit from that. It&rsquo;s hard to categorize Ball&rsquo;s selection as an outright failure because like Ingram, he helped facilitate Davis to the Lakers. Still, it's tough to classify his selection a success.
Verdict: Push
2018 NBA Draft: Marvin Bagley III, Sacramento Kings
Bagley might be the worst second pick in the last 10 years. The 2018 NBA Draft will forever be remembered as the Luka Doncic class. The Kings could have drafted Doncic, as he was still on the board, but they chose to go with Bagley instead. Bagley isn&rsquo;t even on the Kings any longer, and his time in Sacramento was not memorable.
Bagley is a sub-par defender and three-point shooter. He&rsquo;s scored the ball at a decent pace, averaging 19.5 points per-36 minutes, but he&rsquo;s never earned a big enough role to demonstrate what he can really do, and he&rsquo;s exclusively been on losing teams. Comparatively, Doncic and Trae Young (selected No. 5 in 2018) have turned their franchises around.
Verdict: Failure
2019 NBA Draft: Ja Morant, Memphis Grizzlies
Ingram was the best second pick in the last 10 years, until 2019. Morant stole that made-up accolade almost immediately in his rookie season. The thing is, the 2019 NBA Draft was supposed to be all about Zion Williamson. However, unlike Williamson, Morant has backed up all the hype and then some. So, while Williamson has dealt with injuries for much of his young career, Morant has brazenly become the face of his draft class.
Morant is drawing comparisons to numerous superstars, and he was named to the 2021-22 All-NBA Second Team. No one selected after him comes close to making the Grizzlies think twice about their decision.
Verdict: HUGE success
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2020 NBA Draft: James Wiseman, Golden State Warriors
Unlike his brother Lonzo, LaMelo Ball was deserving of the second pick in 2020. Instead, the Golden State Warriors went with James Wiseman, though the logic behind the pick is clear, even in retrospect. The Warriors already had two All-NBA guards. The thing is, Jordan Poole looks pretty good alongside Steph Curry and Klay Thompson, doesn&rsquo;t he? So, it&rsquo;s feasible to assume that Ball would have fit too.
After two seasons, Ball is a significantly better player, but he&rsquo;s also had plenty of opportunity to demonstrate that fact. Wiseman has had terrible health-related luck. He played in 39 of the Warriors' first 53 games in 2020-21, but he tore his meniscus in Golden State&rsquo;s 53rd&nbsp;game of the season and hasn&rsquo;t been seen since. Wiseman could still be a serious contributor, as his per-36 numbers were impressive for a rookie (19.3 points, 9.7 rebounds, 1.6 blocks and 1.1 assists on .542/.316/.628 shooting). This is one we&rsquo;ll have to continue monitoring.
Verdict: Unclear
2021 NBA Draft: Jalen Green, Houston Rockets
Basing the success of a pick on only a rookie season is tough. Green posted an impressive rookie campaign, but his defensive deficiencies were clear. That&rsquo;s an understandable flaw for a rookie. Green was the assumed second-best player in the class. Having the luxury of hindsight, we now know that Scottie Barnes (selected fourth) and Evan Mobley (selected third) translated to the NBA incredibly well. But wing scorers have a tougher time making the jump, as they must shoot deeper three-pointers and compete against far more athletic competition. Green&rsquo;s floor may be lower than that of Barnes and Mobley, but I'd argue that his ceiling is still higher. Let&rsquo;s give him a little more time.
Verdict: Unclear&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;
In the last 10 drafts, the second overall pick has clearly been one of the best players in the draft class just three times (2013, 2016 and 2019).&nbsp;
A deeper examination of No. 2 overall picks reveals a limited number of franchise-altering talents. For every Kevin Durant, Jason Kidd, Gary Payton, Earl Monroe and Bill Russell, there are a number of players who didn't live up to expectations. Sometimes, there isn't a generational player on the board; other times, the team picking No. 2 overall just overthinks it or goes in the wrong direction. Either way, No. 2 hasn&rsquo;t produced as many all-time greats as you might expect, but there have been quite a few significant contributors.
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Oklahoma City will pick No. 2 in the 2022 draft. A look back at the last 10 drafts reveals that there are no guarantees for No. 2 picks.

Examining the success of teams selecting No. 2 in the NBA Draft

MIAMI (AP) &mdash; Erik Spoelstra didn&rsquo;t even have to finish the sentence. The Miami Heat coach was speaking in the locker room after a season-extending win in Boston, players and staff standing around him in a semicircle.
&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no two better words,&rdquo; Spoelstra said.
&ldquo;Game 7,&rdquo; about a half-dozen people responded, in unison.
Game 7, for a berth in the NBA Finals. Either the Heat or the Boston Celtics will become Eastern Conference champions on Sunday night, when they&rsquo;ll finally finish their series and see which club will face the Golden State Warriors in the title round.
It&rsquo;ll be the second Game 7 between the teams; the other was in 2012, when the Heat topped the Celtics 101-88 to win that year&rsquo;s East title.
&ldquo;Look, we&rsquo;re here,&rdquo; Spoelstra said after Miami fended off elimination with a <a href="https://apnews.com/article/miami-heat-boston-celtics-nba-mlb-sports-e63d7424bb2a61e590b6e1a544c32f88">111-103 win in Boston</a> on Friday night, behind a 47-point, nine-rebound, eight-assist, four-steal effort from Jimmy Butler. &ldquo;This is the way it should be with these two teams. It should have gone seven games.&rdquo;
Miami has the home-court advantage for the finale, though home court has meant nothing in this series. The Heat went 2-1 in Boston, the Celtics have gone 2-1 in Miami so far with the two wins coming by a combined 38 points and Boston&rsquo;s 6-2 road record is the best of any teams in this season&rsquo;s playoffs.
And that has the Celtics brimming with confidence, even though road teams are 34-110 all-time &mdash; a winning percentage of .236 &mdash; in Game 7s.
&ldquo;Scale of 1 to 10? Ten. I mean, it shouldn&rsquo;t be any less than that, right?&rdquo; Celtics forward Jayson Tatum said when asked how certain he is that Boston can win the series on Miami&rsquo;s floor. &ldquo;You know, it&rsquo;s the last game. That&rsquo;s what it&rsquo;s all about.&rdquo;
Injuries have been one of the major storylines of the series, and that remains the case Sunday.
Butler has been dealing with knee issues and twisted an ankle late in Game 6 though still came through with arguably the best game of his career. Kyle Lowry and Max Strus &mdash; who had big bounce-backs Friday after posting a combined zero points in Game 5 &mdash; still have hamstring concerns. For Boston, Marcus Smart&rsquo;s ankle has been balky, Robert Williams III&rsquo;s knee is an ongoing question and Jaylen Brown banged a knee on a drive in Game 5 though finished the game with no obvious ill effects.
&ldquo;This time of year, there&rsquo;s nobody 100% healthy, both sides,&rdquo; Miami&rsquo;s P.J. Tucker said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure they got a bunch of guys, too, just trying to figure it out and give what they can. Try to win. That&rsquo;s it. You can&rsquo;t get these days back. It&rsquo;s living in the moment, trying to just do what you can.&rdquo;
The Heat might get one key piece back: Tyler Herro, who has been sidelined for the last three games with a strained groin, is going to try some on-court work Sunday in hopes of playing in Game 7.
&ldquo;For us, it&rsquo;s just another opportunity,&rdquo; Celtics coach Ime Udoka said Saturday. &ldquo;You put yourself in this position, going up 3-2, to have two games to win one. And so, as much as you&rsquo;d love to finish it on your home court, we&rsquo;ve been up and down in the series and due to that it&rsquo;s where it is right now. ... It&rsquo;s just another opportunity and we obviously see the big picture ahead.&rdquo;
The Celtics last went to the NBA Finals in 2010. This is their fifth trip to the East finals since, and Friday&rsquo;s loss made them 0-5 in potential East clinchers over that span.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve just got to come out and play, come out and respond,&rdquo; Brown said. &ldquo;Backs are on the wall, Game 7, loser go home. We&rsquo;ve got to come out and find a way to win.&rdquo;
From Miami's perspective, the seeds began being planted for this just moments after Game 5. The <a href="https://apnews.com/article/boston-celtics-miami-heat-nba-sports-gabe-vincent-301bb4ce3cbdc51c2105c1e6f8d8c7df">Celtics had just won in Miami to take a 3-2 series lead,</a> and Spoelstra stepped into a defeated locker room to lay out the objective. He repeated it, over and over.
&ldquo;Bring this thing back on the 29th,&rdquo; Spoelstra kept saying.
The 29th is Sunday.
They brought it back. Game 7 awaits.
&ldquo;There&rsquo;s nothing like a Game 7,&rdquo; Spoelstra said. &ldquo;And I&rsquo;m just really excited that we all get to experience that together.&rdquo;
HEAT FINED
The NBA fined Miami $25,000 on Saturday for violating league rules regarding team bench decorum. The league said &ldquo;on multiple occasions, several players stood for an extended period in Miami&rsquo;s team bench area, stood away from the team bench, and were on, encroaching upon or entering the playing court during live game action&rdquo; during Game 6 in Boston.
It has been a point of emphasis for the league of late. Dallas was <a href="https://apnews.com/article/golden-state-warriors-dallas-mavericks-nba-sports-stephen-curry-171b1c7a09da7d977562ad6162c49102">fined a total of $175,000</a> for three similar infractions.
POWER OF 3
No opposing team has ever won three games at Miami in the same playoff series, a trend that Boston will aim to break on Sunday.
This deep into the playoffs &mdash; conference finals or NBA Finals &mdash; such a feat has occurred only 10 times in the last 40 seasons, most recently when Toronto won three times at Golden State in the 2019 NBA Finals.
GAME 7 HISTORY
Miami has two players who have scored at least 30 points in a Game 7. Lowry had 35 for Toronto in a 2016 romp over the Heat, and Victor Oladipo had 30 for Indiana in a 2018 loss to Cleveland. Tatum has averaged 24.0 points in four previous Game 7s, the best of anyone on this Boston roster.
The Celtics are 25-9 in Game 7s, Miami 6-4.
TRENDS
There have been two Game 7s so far in these playoffs, both in the second round: Boston beat Milwaukee by 28 and Dallas won at Phoenix by 33.
Road teams have won three of the last four Game 7s.
CENTURY MARK
Both teams will be playing their 100th games of the season. Miami enters 64-35, Boston 62-37.

The Celtics and Heat square off in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals with the winner advancing to the NBA Finals.

Game 7: Heat, Celtics set to finally decide East champion

In the modern NBA, multi-positional versatility is something all teams covet. Evidenced by the current playoff finalists, pace-and-space offenses finding mismatches on every possession is the name of the game. For 19-year-old Australian combo guard Dyson Daniels, his strengths mesh well within what will be valued most at the next level.
Forgoing the college route as an International import, Daniels instead went the more challenging route by immersing himself into preparing for the 2022 NBA Draft. Daniels spent this past season with the G League Ignite, which is now forming a consistent pipeline of top prospects like Jalen Green and Jonathan Kuminga. Daniels averaged 11.3 points, 6.2 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 1.9 steals on a 54.0 True Shooting percentage in the G League last season.
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The ability to adapt and play the role of a playmaking wing or secondary ball handler makes the upside with Daniels even more intriguing, especially if he lands in the right player development system that focuses on his long-term outlook.
&ldquo;I always want to be in the gym. I always want to be the best I can,&rdquo; Daniels told <a href="http://BasketballNews.com">BasketballNews.com</a>'s Spencer Davies last September. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want anyone to outwork me. I want to be the hardest worker there is.&rdquo;
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Daniels bet on himself playing with the Ignite over national NCAA exposure, which is paying huge dividends leading up to the draft. ESPN&rsquo;s Jonathan Givony recently reported that Daniels had one of the most impressive pre-draft workouts he&rsquo;d ever witnessed, and thanks to those workouts, Dyson is seeing his stock soar in the month before the draft.
The jumbo-sized do-it-all playmaker and defender is slotted in at No. 8 overall to the New Orleans Pelicans in <a href="http://BasketballNews.com">BasketballNews.com</a>'s latest mock draft according to our Senior NBA Draft Analyst, Matt Babcock:
&ldquo;At nearly 6-foot-7, Dyson Daniels is incredibly versatile, as he can play several positions effectively on both ends of the floor. After a stellar season with the G League Ignite, Daniels is seemingly on the rise, as there have been rumblings recently that his draft value is increasing. It&rsquo;s looking like he&rsquo;ll have a good chance of being selected in the mid-lottery on draft night.&rdquo;
Daniels is generating buzz to the point where it would be a surprise if he fell past the top 10 picks without being selected. As a likely lottery pick, Daniels&rsquo; versatility could help a needy team immediately. With such a high basketball IQ, the ceiling for Daniels all depends on if he can develop a reliable jump shot (25.5 3PT%). If Daniels rounds into form and becomes a reliable engine to an elite offense, the possibilities truly are endless for the Aussie.
&ldquo;I have a good floater game, but I&rsquo;m also a defender,&rdquo; Daniels described at the NBA Draft Combine in Chicago earlier this month. &ldquo;I like to break it down on the offensive end. I&rsquo;m a little bit like a Tyrese Haliburton kind of guy that&rsquo;s in control. On the defensive end, I like to look at guys like Lonzo Ball and Alex Caruso and people like that. I feel like I have the frame, and once the game slows down for me a bit, I hope I could develop into a Luka Doncic-type role.&rdquo;
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While those comparisons are lofty for Daniels, we can&rsquo;t rule it out. Who&rsquo;s to say Daniels doesn&rsquo;t become a valuable rotation piece with the potential to become even more a few years down the line? It&rsquo;s why Daniels is generating immense buzz from teams leading up to the draft. At the combine, he met with the following teams: Sacramento Kings, Portland Trail Blazers, New York Knicks, Cleveland Cavaliers, Atlanta Hawks, Milwaukee Bucks and Toronto Raptors.
&ldquo;I try not to take it as pressure, but I&rsquo;m trying to do everything to get Bendigo and Australia on the map. Just be the best version of me I can and do my best,&rdquo; Daniels said.
When trying to find the best attributes to fit with where the NBA is heading, a player in the mold of Daniels becomes extremely valuable the more layers you discover in his game. That&rsquo;s exactly why Daniels is regarded as one of this year&rsquo;s biggest pre-draft risers across the board.
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One of the biggest pre-draft risers is versatile Australian guard Dyson Daniels. How he fits the modern NBA explains his huge rise.

2022 NBA Draft: Dyson Daniels fits the modern trends

Heading into <a href="https://stats.wnba.com/players/traditional/?sort=PTS&amp;dir=-1&amp;Season=2022&amp;SeasonType=Regular%20Season&amp;DateTo=05%2F22%2F2022" target="_blank" rel="noopener">this week's action</a>, Atlanta Dream rookie Rhyne Howard was leading the WNBA in scoring (20.5 points). It was an incredible feat for an incredible talent, one that we've talked about <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/the-atlanta-dream-struck-gold-with-rhyne-howard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">in this space</a>.
Her jumper is pure, and she's able to get to it in a multitude of ways. To the Dream's credit, they've done a great job moving her around the chess board to stress defensess. Playing drop coverage against the Dream is practically begging for them to run a movement set for Howard.
They've run this doozy for Howard a few times this season. The decoy action may vary, but the goal for the Dream is to clear one side of the court before setting a flare screen for Howard to fill that empty space. The Los Angeles Sparks were ill-prepared for it earlier in the season.
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The options are endless. If the screen hits, Howard can flow into a jumper like she did in the clip above. If the screen navigation is a little better, she has plenty of space to attack off the bounce. She can reset and go iso. It can flow into an empty corner pick-and-roll with whoever set the initial flare screen. Heck, they can just flip the angle of the screen and have her come the other way.
On May 20, Howard came out of the gates firing. She was facing the red-hot Washington Mystics, but it didn't feel like they could keep track of her. Howard would score 15 of her 21 points in the opening frame, including a bucket off an all-too-familiar action.
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Backup big Tianna Hawkins (#21) sees it coming. Twice in the action--once while Aari McDonald (#2) is executing a handoff in the left corner, and again as Naz Hillmon (#0) is setting up the flare screen for Howard--Hawkins points toward the empty side. She knows Kennedy Burke has her work cut out for her, but she gets hung up on the screen anyway.
Howard wasn't able to shake loose like that for the rest of the game. Again, she scored 15 in the opening frame but just six points the rest of the way. After the Dream dropped 25 points in the first, they scored 19, 14 and 15 points the rest of the way.
That brings us to the Tuesday matchup, where the Dream wanted to exact revenge for their five-point loss. Where Howard wanted to make up for a quiet three-quarter stretch. The Mystics simply weren't having it, and it was evident from the opening tip.
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On the left side of the floor, you have Natasha Cloud (#9) blowing up the pindown and getting reattached to Kristy Wallace. Howard and Cheyenne Parker (#32) attempt to set screens in the middle of the floor to get the Mystics moving, but Ariel Atkins (#7) is able to navigate the muck and stay attached to Erica Wheeler (#17) as she clears the right side.
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From there, it's go time.&nbsp;
The flare for Howard is coming, but look at the prep work Alysha Clark (#22) does. She gets inside of Howard's jersey before the screen is even set:
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/screenshot_2022_05_28_17_56_53_lg.png" alt="" width="577" height="325" />
As Parker sets the pick, Clark is able to slow Howard up with a grab before she attempts to fly over it.
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Doing the homework early essentially blew up the first portion of the set. Howard and Parker attempt to go into a pick-and-roll with an empty side from there, but the Mystics had other plans. They sprang a trap on Howard, essentially pinning her in the right corner.
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That's good work on Howard from Clark and rookster Shakira Austin. Cloud has the Parker assignment. Atkins has Wallace. Elena Delle Donne is on the backside of the action, keeping tabs on two Dream players on the right side of the floor. In other words, there are no easy outlets here.
Howard is able to jump-pass her way out of it, but the Mystics are able to rotate behind that pass. Wallace gets the release pass and is immediately pressured. The Dream do a good job of countering with a pin-in screen on Delle Donne, but she fights over it and gets a late-clock contest on the three from Wheeler.
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Whew.
Things didn't get easier for Howard or the Dream. On the individual front, Howard would miss all nine of her field goal attemtps and end the game with [checks notes] zero points. It was easily her worst outing as a pro. Her scoring averaged dropped from a league-leading 20.5 to 17.6, a clip that ranks 10th in the league.
And without Howard getting buckets, the rest of the team faltered. The Dream scored 50 points on the evening as the Mystics racked up a 70-50 victory.
Because of that game, the Mystics now hold the WNBA's <a href="https://stats.wnba.com/teams/advanced/?sort=DEF_RATING&amp;dir=-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">best defensive rating</a> at 92.3. Even before that game, the Mystics have impressed with their blend of ball pressure and activity on the backline.&nbsp;
If you want a not-so-hidden joy when watching this team, peep their activity whenever an offense tries to run a pick-and-roll from the wing. They attempt to "ICE" most of them, meaning the on-ball defender shades the ball handler toward the sideline. The fun really perks up from there, though.
Because they don't have a pure anchor in drop coverage, the pick-up points for their bigs are a little higher. And because&nbsp;all&nbsp;of their bigs--Austin, Delle Donne, Hawkins, Myisha Hines-Allen and freshly-in-the-fold Elizabeth Williams--are active with their hands, ball-handlers find themselves in trouble quickly.&nbsp;
Watching the Delle Donne-Austin frontcourt has especially been fun. There were questions about how Delle Donne would hold up defensively after her injury-riddled layoff. And it's always fair to wonder how quickly a rookie big like Austin can get acclimated to the big leagues. Both have embraced the challenge; in fact, the Mystics are allowing a defensive rating of 85 (!) when those two <a href="https://stats.wnba.com/lineups/advanced/?Season=2022&amp;SeasonType=Regular%20Season&amp;GroupQuantity=2&amp;TeamID=1611661322&amp;sort=NET_RATING&amp;dir=1&amp;CF=MIN*GE*50" target="_blank" rel="noopener">share the court</a>.&nbsp;
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Getting ball pressure from Cloud and Clark--a pair of wings with All-Defensive team selections under their belts--or Rui Machida off the bench (she's fun) is one thing. Having active bigs can add another layer of mayhem. Combining that with opportunistic help defenders can make an offense feel like it's suffocating.
Shatori Walker-Kimbrough is currently leading the team in steals (1.6), mostly off the strength of her off-ball prowess. Atkins (1.5 steals) isn't too far behind her, showcasing why she's also made multiple All-Defensive teams in her career.
I mentioned Burke getting burned by the flare action for Howard earlier in the piece, but she's already been a problem for offenses as a help defender.&nbsp;
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That activity has been important. The Mystics currently rank third in opponent turnover rate, with offenses coughing up 21.2 turnovers per 100 possessions. That's way up from last season (17.9), and not too far off the franchise record (21.6) set back in 2005.
(And on that note, team offenses were way worse back then; the league average opponent turnover rate in 2005 was 18.1, much higher than the 15.9 mark this season. And we're early in the year, so that number will likely fall as the season goes on.)
We know what a healthy Mystics team can do offensively. Delle Donne is one of the most versatile offensive talents in basketball history. Cloud is a dynamic slasher and <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/natasha-cloud-shines-through-shooter-wnba-on-notice" target="_blank" rel="noopener">confident shooter</a>. There's plenty of shot-making, shooting and driving equity on the roster.
The defense has been a pleasant surprise, though we may see regression at some point. Opponents are only shooting 31.4% from 3, and the multiple efforts needed to make their scheme work can create some openings on that front.
They may not be the&nbsp;best defense in basketball. But if they hover around 3rd or 4th, that's still much better than they were last season (104.4 defensive rating, 11th out of 12 teams). And if the defense can hang, we need to start talking about this team as a serious title contender.
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Nekias Duncan breaks down why the Washington Mystics' defense has been so successful to start the season.

How the Washington Mystics are winning with activity

Sr. NBA Draft Analyst Matt Babcock shares his experience of moving to Bologna, Italy, where he became an assistant coach for a professional basketball team before becoming a sports agent. Check out <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/my-past-life-as-a-sports-agent-going-to-california" target="_blank" rel="noopener">part 1</a> about how he got his start and <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/my-past-life-as-a-sports-agent-the-2006-nba-draft" target="_blank" rel="noopener">part 2</a> about helping players prepare for the 2006 NBA Draft.
It was 2006, I was 22-years old and I was set to begin my first full-time job out of college as an assistant coach for Virtus Bologna, a professional basketball team in Bologna, Italy. Before leaving for Europe, I stayed at my parents' house in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I had received my travel itinerary via email, so I packed up all of my stuff, purchased a couple of Italian phrasebooks and hugged my mom. Then, my dad drove me to Chicago for my flight, and before I knew it, I was off to Italy.
After a long travel day, I made it to Bologna. I had not been given many details about my arrangements before landing. I knew that I would be an assistant coach and that the team would cover all of my expenses, but I didn't know where I would be living. I didn't even know if anyone would pick me up at the airport. I didn't have anyone's contact info from the team. To say an unknown world awaited me would be a significant understatement. I was a bit anxious.
I exited the plane and made my way to the baggage claim. I had hoped to see a driver holding a big sign with my name, but I did not see anyone like that. I collected my two massive bags that contained pretty much everything I owned at that point, took a seat and waited, hoping someone from the team was coming to pick me up. I was exhausted and grew increasingly anxious the longer I waited. I began to think, "Did I make a mistake coming here?"
Finally, a man approached me and said with a thick Italian accent, "Matt?"
I felt like I had been rescued from a deserted island.
The man pointed to a logo on his shirt that read, "Virtus Bologna." It was evident that he did not speak English. I didn't speak any Italian, so I'm sure you can imagine how everything carried on. We shook hands, and he directed me to follow him to his car, which was seemingly a team-issued van. After about a twenty-minute drive and no words exchanged, we arrived at a small hotel. A receptionist translated for us when we walked into the hotel, which was a huge relief. She explained that the team was on the road, but someone would reach out to me on the hotel phone the next day. (I didn't use my cell phone, as international roaming charges were costly at the time.)
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I was exhausted but also starving, so I asked the receptionist if any restaurants would be serving food at that hour. She directed me to a place nearby. I walked into the restaurant, and no one spoke English very well. I sat down at a table with my Italian phrasebook in hand. I ordered a pizza and a glass of red wine&mdash;I was in Italy, after all. After a long day and night, I was tired and stressed. Having been a young guy on my own in a foreign country was difficult. The language barrier was challenging, and all of the unknowns were nerve-wracking. I again questioned if I had made the right decision accepting that job. However, the waitress brought out my pizza and glass of red wine, and let me tell you, they were perhaps the best things I had ever tasted in my entire life! Subsequently, my stress subsided a bit, and although I still didn't know what to expect next, I could relax and appreciate the opportunity.
The following day, I woke up at about 3:00 AM because of jet lag. After hours of killing time, a man named Daniele Cavicchi called me on the hotel phone. He introduced himself in a thick Italian accent, saying he was the team's assistant coach (there was only one before I came). He told me they were happy to have me and that he would pick me up in a few hours. He explained that the team had the day off, but I would meet with the head coach and general manager.
When Daniele picked me up, I instantly liked him and thought he was a nice guy. Although he was older than I was, maybe in his late 20s, he was a relatively young coach. So he naturally became my "go-to guy" while I was there. Anyway, we got into his car, and we were off to the practice facility. He told me that he was from Bologna and would show me around the town. He gave me the lay of the land as we drove around, similar to a tour guide. Daniele explained that it was essentially a college town, with the university being the oldest in the world, established in 1088. He continued to explain that within Italy, a country known for its food and wine, that specific region was the best and even the home of bolognese sauce. It had been dark the night before when I arrived, so that car ride with Daniele was when I realized that Bologna was an extraordinary place, rich in culture and history. The more he described the city, and the more I saw it, the more excited I became to be there. I couldn't believe that was where I would be living. It felt like a dream come true.
When we arrived at the team's offices, my first meeting was with the team's head coach, Zare Markowski. A classy gentleman from Macedonia, he was a veteran coach that seemed to have coached nearly everywhere at some point in his career. Our initial meeting was brief as he pretty much just welcomed me. However, despite only meeting with him briefly, I found him to be a charming guy.
My second meeting was with the general manager, Piergiorgio Bottai, a businessman from "Roma." After meeting him, it was apparent from his enthusiasm that he was the main reason I was there. He outlined his vision for me and laid out the details of my arrangements during my stay. He told me I would be an assistant coach, and my primary responsibility was to develop their players individually. They also wanted me to occasionally direct the youth team's practices with a translator. He continued to tell me that they had an apartment for me in the "city centre," which also happened to be in the same building as the team's owner. I would have access to a nice restaurant, and I could eat there whenever I'd like, order whatever I'd like and always put it on the team's tab. He then explained that Mercedes-Benz sponsored the team, so players and staff members were given courtesy cars, myself included. It was apparent that the team had intended to take great care of me while I was there.
Following my meetings, Daniele brought me downstairs to give me all of the team-issued gear: a team jacket, polos, t-shirts, etc. I felt part of the team, and everyone was very welcoming.
After leaving the practice facility, Daniele and I had a great dinner at the team restaurant, and then I settled into my apartment afterward. It was "perfetto." The following day was my first day of practice, where I was set to be introduced to the team as their new assistant coach. Although it had been a hectic couple of days, and I was nearly 5,000 miles from home, I went to sleep that night with my mind at ease. Everything was "molto bene!"
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Matt Babcock discusses his stint as an assistant coach in Italy, which helped lay the groundwork for his later job as an NBA agent.

My past life as a sports agent: Bologna, Italy

TNT&rsquo;s coverage of the 2022 Western Conference Finals &ndash; which featured the Golden State Warriors eliminating the Dallas Mavericks in five games &ndash; delivered the network its most-watched Conference Finals broadcasts since 2018, averaging 6.7 million viewers.
Viewership for this year&rsquo;s five-game series was up 35% over TNT&rsquo;s 2021 Eastern Conference Finals coverage (which featured the Milwaukee Bucks beating the Atlanta Hawks in six games, averaging 5.0 million viewers) and up 23% when compared with last year&rsquo;s Western Conference Finals (which saw the Phoenix Suns defeat the Phoenix Suns in six games, drawing 5.5 million viewers).
Thursday&rsquo;s Western Conference Finals coverage garnered the top program of the night across all of television (broadcast and cable) for the third-straight time during the series, and together with the "Inside the NBA" postgame show, delivered cable&rsquo;s top two programs on Thursday.
The Warriors&rsquo; series-clinching win averaged 6.8 million viewers &ndash; peaking with an average of 7.7 million viewers from 11-11:15 p.m. ET &ndash; to rank as the most-viewed WCF Game 5 since 2018.
Overall, the network has delivered its most-watched NBA Playoffs coverage since 2018, averaging 4.1 million viewers (over 42 telecasts), up 11% vs. last year, while winning the night on cable in primetime 22 times. Additionally, "Inside the NBA" has averaged 1.9 million viewers, up 6% vs. last year (23 telecasts).
Turner Sports&rsquo; NBA on TNT and NBA TV social-media accounts have seen a 40% increase in engagement for this year&rsquo;s series vs. last year.

The Warriors-Mavericks series delivered TNT its most-watched Conference Finals since 2018, averaging 6.7 million viewers.

Warriors-Mavs were TNT's most-watched Conference Finals since 2018

Here&rsquo;s a bit of trivia for you: Which rookie from this <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/why-they-are-all-special-a-guide-to-the-best-rookies-of-the-2021-class" target="_blank" rel="noopener">stacked</a> 2021 NBA Draft class has played the most minutes in the Conference Finals?
Considering most of the top rookies didn't advance very far, surely the answer has to be the Golden State Warriors' heralded No. 7 overall pick, Jonathan Kuminga &mdash; the same player who earlier this postseason was <a href="https://www.nbcsports.com/bayarea/warriors/warriors-jonathan-kuminga-vows-learn-despite-historic-nba-playoff-game" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the youngest rookie to start a playoff game since 1971</a>, right?&nbsp;
Wrong!
The answer, with an impactful 64 minutes played over the course of five games, is none other than Golden State&rsquo;s other rookie: the No. 14 overall pick Moses Moody.
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Our story begins in the fourth quarter of Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals, where a 104-76 score prompted both the Golden State and Dallas coaches to empty their benches for the home stretch of the blowout series opener.
In response, Reggie Miller on the call proclaimed: &ldquo;I have a sneaky feeling. I think these minutes are going to be important for [Nemanja] Bjelica and Kuminga because, at some point, those two guys are going to have to play significant minutes in this series.&rdquo;
Unbeknownst to him, he made a glaring omission in his statement; the player who really needed these repetitions was Moody. And during that seemingly meaningless stretch, Moody flashed two features that would prove useful to Golden State later in the series &mdash; his play-finishing and defensive versatility.
Play-Finishing&nbsp;
Nowadays, NBA offenses are so prolific that even the most venerable defenses can&rsquo;t eliminate every piece on the board. This leads to teams having to strategically <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/the-nba-playoffs-and-the-art-of-concessions-" target="_blank" rel="noopener">concede</a> certain shots in order to hone-in on the player(s) they deem the most dangerous (see the Milwaukee Bucks' defense vs. the Boston Celtics in Round 2).
When you&rsquo;re going up against the Warriors, the Splash Trio receives the highest priority, and these standards lead to open looks for the group&rsquo;s least esoteric marksman.
As of this moment, Moody falls under this designation. And to his credit, he did an excellent job of burning the Mavericks for their negligence in defending him, draining 50% of his triples (albeit in a miniature sample size).
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Cutting and movement rule the day in Golden State's perpetual motion offensive system. Moody got the memo, and he did a great job of knowing when it was appropriate to shag back and maintain his spacing on the perimeter, and when it was time to fill the lane and shake the Golden Gate bridge with a <a href="https://streamable.com/k3xuy0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">seismic eruption</a> at the rim.
Defensive Versatility&nbsp;
As Seth Partnow noted in his <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/seth-partnow-qa-a-sitdown-with-the-author-of-the-midrange-theory" target="_blank" rel="noopener">recent book</a>, "The Midrange Theory," versatility is the key to playoff success &mdash; the ol' Carlos Boozer and Robert Horry paradigm.
This maxim reigns especially true in defense, where we&rsquo;ve already seen multiple playoff runs abbreviated due to a lack of scheme versatility. (I hope the folks in Utah are doing well on this fine Friday afternoon.)
Moody was far from the anchor out there, but the Warriors&rsquo; defense stayed afloat during his minutes, partially because of his ability to wear multiple hats on that end of the floor.
We&rsquo;ll start with his off-ball work and this snag-tastic reception:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Moses Moody legit Odell Beckham-ed this ball. <a href="https://t.co/tC54YzUzhG">pic.twitter.com/tC54YzUzhG</a>
&mdash; Mat Issa (@matissa15) <a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1530189122886897664?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 27, 2022</a></blockquote>

<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

Along with that reception, Moody deflected two additional passes in that very same quarter, prompting Warriors writer Marcus Thompson to cite Moody&rsquo;s contributions as an <a href="https://theathletic.com/3332392/2022/05/25/warriors-mavericks-young-game-4/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">integral part of the team&rsquo;s Game 4 comeback</a>.
Despite only authoring 2 steals the entire series, spurts like the one he demonstrated in Game 4 leave room for potential growth into a future defensive playmaker.
Moody also did surprisingly well navigating the <a href="https://medium.com/the-basketball-dictionary/2-9-6fb93080023c" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2.9 spot</a> as a low-man. He was well attuned to his positioning, consistently swaying in and out of the paint to avoid garnering a three-second call, while also timing his re-entries in a manner that enabled him to wall off forays at the rim when the moment presented itself.&nbsp;
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Lastly, Moody even showed some chops as a man defender. On <a href="https://streamable.com/b6cjoa" target="_blank" rel="noopener">this play</a>, he manages to stay attached to Jalen Brunson amid Jordan Poole&rsquo;s hedge endeavor, and then mirrors his movements before hindering his attempt at the rim.
Moody&rsquo;s point-of-attack prowess is more apparent when you understand the amount of leeway he was granted within the Warriors&rsquo; scheme. In my <a href="https://theanalyst.com/na/2022/05/western-conference-finals-can-the-golden-state-warriors-continue-to-slow-luka-doncic-and-the-dallas-mavericks/">recent article</a> on this series, I looked into how Golden State has specific principles for Luka Doncic ball screens. Well, Moody was one of the few players given the green light to switch onto him immediately.
He was also empowered by Steve Kerr to captain the ship of the Warriors' revered Box-and-1 alignment a few times during the third quarter of Game 3. And Moody even got the chance to moonlight as the team&rsquo;s defensive coordinator, <a href="https://streamable.com/a8geaq" target="_blank" rel="noopener">calling for a zone formation on defense</a> at one point in Game 4. (For the Warriors, you can tell it's a zone when the signal-caller executes a <a href="https://www.goldenstateofmind.com/2022/5/21/23133463/warriors-mavericks-game-2-steph-curry-kevon-looney-luka-doncic-film-breakdown" target="_blank" rel="noopener">raised double fist</a>).
To conclude our tale, let&rsquo;s take a gander at Moody&rsquo;s best two-way sequence of the series, where he blocks Doncic and then proceeds to commandeer free-throw attempts at the other end of the floor. A perfect encapsulation of his imprint on this series.
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Nice.
In a class as talent-laden and promising as the 2021 draft pool, who would have guessed that the player picked last in the lottery would be the last rookie standing.
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Mat Issa gives props to Moses Moody for his finishing and defensive contributions to the Warriors when his number was called upon.

Moses Moody: The last rookie standing in the 2022 NBA Playoffs

One of the breakout stars of this year&rsquo;s NBA playoffs has been Dallas Mavericks guard Jalen Brunson. He&rsquo;s old-school, unconventional, talented, savy and up for a big pay day this summer. The 6-foot-1, 190-pound guard and Villanova alum was selected No. 33 overall in the 2018 NBA Draft and is one of the better second-round draft picks over the past few classes.
Last year, he was a Sixth Man of the Year candidate, averaging 12.6 points and 5.5 assists on 52/41/80 shooting splits in this third season with the Mavericks. This season, as a full-time starter, while watching his minutes jump from 25.0 to 31.9 per game, his productivity increased to 16.3 points and 4.8 assists per game on 50/37/84 shooting. In the playoffs (35.2 minutes per contest), Brunson jumped to 21.6 points and 3.7 assists per contest on 47/35/80 shooting.
His 2022 postseason included signature performances like a 41-point game in a win over the Utah Jazz in Game 2 without Luka Dončić and a 31-point effort against the Golden State Warriors in Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals. He also had a meaningful 24 points on 11-of-19 shooting in Dallas&rsquo; shocking Game 7 romping of the Phoenix Suns.
But now, he&rsquo;s an unrestricted free agent. Dallas has a lot of questions to answer. How can they best build around Dončić? What do they do with Tim Hardaway Jr.? If they want to upgrade at center, what's the best answer at that position?
Among the most important questions is: do they extend Brunson? Here are some teams to watch in the Brunson sweepstakes this offseason.
NEW YORK KNICKS
The New York Knicks haven&rsquo;t had a reliable point guard since Raymond Felton in their famed 54-win season back in 2012-13. Since then, it&rsquo;s largely been a revolving door of meh at the point of attack at Madison Square Garden. Jose Calderon was past his peak when he got to New York. Iman Shumpert, though very talented, wasn&rsquo;t a natural point guard. Frank Ntilikina is closer to a three-and-D wing than a true floor general. Jerian Grant never panned out. Neither has Kemba Walker. Derrick Rose has arguably been the best of the bunch.
Walker, Rose, Alec Burks, Immanuel Quickley and Miles McBride make up the Knicks' point guard depth chart for 2022-23, in no particular order. Walker&rsquo;s health can&rsquo;t be trusted for an entire season. Burks isn&rsquo;t a true point guard and might be a trade chip. Quickley, if he starts, is probably better suited next to a natural point, and the same could be said for R.J. Barrett. And McBride is young, raw and inexperienced. Brunson is better than all of them, hard stop.
Because Brunson will be unrestricted, the highest-bidder has a chance. The bad news for the Knicks is that <a href="https://www.spotrac.com/nba/new-york-knicks/cap/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">they&rsquo;re pretty much capped out</a>.
That means getting Brunson to New York would require a sign-and-trade. The good thing is that the Mavericks need a Mitchell Robinson type of center, and for about two years, I've been pushing for Brunson-Robinson swap. The Knicks should throw in something else, be it draft capital and or an additional young piece to make the deal work (for cap purposes too), but that&rsquo;s the framework that can come from this. Robinson gives Luka a lob threat, gives the team a higher upside defensively, and gives the coaching staff a player who can share the floor with just about anyone on the roster.&nbsp;
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LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS
If Brunson can play with Dončić and Spencer Dinwiddie, he can share a backcourt with Reggie Jackson. Kawhi Leonard has <a href="https://nba.nbcsports.com/2020/10/19/report-kawhi-leonard-wants-clippers-to-add-point-guard/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wanted a point guard</a>, but the Clippers still don&rsquo;t have one. It&rsquo;s Jackson, and that&rsquo;s it. Norman Powell, Luke Kennard and Terance Mann are guards, but they're all wings. 2021 second-round pick Jason Preston still hasn&rsquo;t played due to injury, and Xavier Moon was a two-way guy last year who played just 10 games. <a href="https://nba.nbcsports.com/2020/10/19/report-kawhi-leonard-wants-clippers-to-add-point-guard/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Leonard&rsquo;s been wanting a point guard for two seasons</a>, and it&rsquo;s time for the Clippers to address that spot since both Leonard and Paul George are due back next season.
Given the Clippers' cap situation, this would most certainly be a sign-and-trade. Powell, Marcus Morris, Kennard and Robert Covington all make between $12 and $16 million next season, and any of them could make sense going to Dallas. Only one or two of them would probably need to go at most, among other compensation (i.e. young players and picks).
Brunson in L.A. would join the starting line-up alongside Jackson, Leonard, George and a center. Ivica Zubac is an expiring $7.5 million contract next season, and he could actually be a piece Dallas wants in return. Assuming he stays in Los Angeles, Zubac rounds out their starting five and gives Los Angeles a true point guard, which they&rsquo;re clearly missing.
DALLAS MAVERICKS&nbsp;
The Mavericks reportedly had multiple opportunities to sign Brunson to a four-year, $55.5 million deal before and during the season, <a href="https://nba.nbcsports.com/2022/04/25/report-mavericks-didnt-offer-jalen-brunson-contract-extension-until-after-trade-deadline/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">per reports</a>, but did not. As a result, he could be looking at <a href="https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2952513-latest-nba-trade-intel-lakers-realistic-targets-myles-turner-landing-spots?share=sms" target="_blank" rel="noopener">something in the $80 million range</a>, and possibly more after these playoffs.
Clearly, the offense works with him and Luka in the backcourt, blending in Dinwiddie in a natural role as a combo guard off the bench who can finish games. Dallas can keep their core together (those three and Dorian Finney-Smith) and work around the margins.
After losing to the Warriors in Game 5, Mavericks majority owner Mark Cuban said that keeping Brunson is a priority, and damn near guaranteed that it&rsquo;ll happen.
"We can pay him more than anybody,&rdquo; Cuban said. "I think he wants to stay, and that's most important. I think [Jason Kidd] has a big part to play in that... JB blossomed as a player as much as anybody on this squad. From where he was last year to how far he came this year is a tribute to how hard he worked. And the support he got from his dad and his family and his girlfriend, but also, what he was able to learn from [Kidd]. I think he recognizes that, and I think he wants to stay."

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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/mcuban?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@mcuban</a> reflecting on the 2021-22 Dallas Mavericks season with Marc Stein. <a href="https://twitter.com/dallasmavs?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@dallasmavs</a> | 📺 BSSW | <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/dALLasIN?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#dALLasIN</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBAPlayoffs?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBAPlayoffs</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/TheSteinLine?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TheSteinLine</a> <a href="https://t.co/YZROfVsnq0">pic.twitter.com/YZROfVsnq0</a>
&mdash; Bally Sports Southwest (@BallySportsSW) <a href="https://twitter.com/BallySportsSW/status/1530038560673435658?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 27, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Brunson didn&rsquo;t have the exact same tone, but he&rsquo;ll cross that bridge when he gets there, it seems.
"When it&rsquo;s time, it&rsquo;s time. I&rsquo;m not worried about it right now," Brunson said, <a href="https://twitter.com/sixfivelando/status/1530037759955636242" target="_blank" rel="noopener">via Landon Thomas of Mavs Fans For Life</a>. "I&rsquo;m just really happy I got to play with these guys and what we did this year. I&rsquo;ll think about that later.&rdquo;
For Dallas, this is probably the move. Keep Brunson and build around the margins, particularly on the interior. Four years in, we can now say, as long as you have Luka, you have a chance. You just have to nail what&rsquo;s around him, and Brunson is someone you should want back in Dallas.
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Jalen Brunson was a breakout star for the Mavericks this postseason and is now an unrestricted free agent. Where will he end up?

Examining potential free-agent destinations for Jalen Brunson

Jayson Tatum wants experience to be the Celtics&rsquo; guide as they return home with a chance to wrap up their first trip to the NBA Finals since 2010.
Tatum was a rookie during Boston&rsquo;s run to Eastern Conference finals in 2018, when it grabbed a 3-2 series lead over LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.
He also remembers what it felt like as the Celtics watched James unravel their dreams with a 46-point performance in the Cavaliers&rsquo; Game 6 win, followed by a 35-point effort in Cleveland&rsquo;s decisive Game 7 victory at TD Garden.
Boston again has a <a href="https://apnews.com/article/boston-celtics-miami-heat-nba-sports-gabe-vincent-301bb4ce3cbdc51c2105c1e6f8d8c7df?utm_source=Twitter&amp;utm_medium=AP_Sports&amp;utm_campaign=SocialFlow">3-2 conference finals lead,</a> this time over the top-seeded Miami Heat with Game 6 set for Friday.
Tatum said this feels different.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m a lot better. (Jaylen Brown) is. We&rsquo;re just older. And we&rsquo;ve been through those tough times," Tatum said. "But the mindset and the talk that we had after the game was we were down 3-2 last time (in semifinals vs. Bucks) and had to go on the road to win Game 6 and we did. So we can&rsquo;t think that it&rsquo;s over with.&rdquo;
Tatum wants to see Boston maintain the mentality of the underdog.
&ldquo;We need to go back home like we&rsquo;re down 3-2. With that sense of urgency that it&rsquo;s a must-win game,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Not relaxing because we&rsquo;re up. ... The job&rsquo;s just not finished yet.&rdquo;
The Celtics do seem to be facing a Heat team that over the past two games hasn&rsquo;t come close to resembling the one that won Games 1 and 3.
All-Star Jimmy Butler insists he&rsquo;s fine but appears to be at least slowed by the right knee inflammation that sidelined him during the second half of Miami&rsquo;s Game 3 win. Over the past two games, he&rsquo;s scored just 19 points while shooting 7 of 32 from the field.
Kyle Lowry has all but disappeared offensively since returning from a hamstring injury and reigning Sixth Man of the Year Tyler Herro has missed the past two games with a groin injury.
It&rsquo;s all contributed to the Heat going from shooting an NBA-best 38% from the 3-point line during the regular season to just 29% in the conference finals.
&ldquo;Honestly, it doesn&rsquo;t matter,&rdquo; Butler said. &ldquo;If I&rsquo;m out there, I gotta do better. I gotta find a way to help us win and I haven&rsquo;t been doing that. I&rsquo;m fine, my knee is OK. I just gotta do better. It&rsquo;s no excuse.&rdquo;
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said his faith in his team remains strong.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;re still alive,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s all we&rsquo;re thinking about right now. We have the kind of warriors that are gonna tape up, brace up, do whatever we gotta do to get ready for the next one and just embrace and enjoy that competition.&rdquo;
HISTORY LESSON
There have been 333 times a best-of-seven NBA playoff series has been 3-2.
Of those, the team taking the 3-2 lead has gone on to win 83.8% of the time. But a team trailing has come back to win a series on at least two occasions in each of the past three years, including the Celtics and Mavericks in this year's conference semifinals.
CLOSING IT OUT
The Celtics are 86-68 in closeout games. That includes a 48-19 record at home.
Jaylen Brown said they want to feed off the energy they know awaits them at the Garden. He said the message after Game 5 was simple.
&ldquo;This is a great opportunity. Leave everything on the floor. You don&rsquo;t want any feelings of regret,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Let&rsquo;s come out Friday on our home floor and play the best version of basketball that we&rsquo;ve played all season.
___
AP Basketball Writer Tim Reynolds contributed to this report.

Boston has a 3-2 conference finals lead, this time over the top-seeded Heat with Game 6 set for Friday.

Celtics head home looking to close out top-seeded Heat

As a viewer who actually enjoys watching basketball &mdash; and especially playoff basketball &mdash; I get miffed when social media brands with influence post like this:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Biggest lead each game this series: Game 1: Heat by 20 Game 2: Celtics by 34 Game 3: Heat by 26 Game 4: Celtics by 32 Game 5: Celtics by 23 This series sucks. <a href="https://t.co/Ul80OhALE3">pic.twitter.com/Ul80OhALE3</a>
&mdash; StatMuse (@statmuse) <a href="https://twitter.com/statmuse/status/1529659726438404096?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 26, 2022</a></blockquote>

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I recognize that StatMuse isn't a traditional news outlet and that its primary purpose is to, well, let's call it "generate discussion." However, to say "this series sucks" is beyond simplistic and standoffish &mdash; I would even argue it's untrue.
The Eastern Conference Finals' games have not been particularly close on the scoreboard. It might be an acquired taste for NBA fans who want to see a spectacle at the end of a game instead of during the middle quarters. But the Boston Celtics and Miami Heat have absolutely slugged it out in a 3-2 battle in the trenches. It's created one of the more bizarre series we've seen, fully loaded with lockdown defense and herky-jerky offense.
The numbers this series is spitting out are also, quite frankly, unreal. I'd like to round some up for you to give you an impression of the bizarre, trippy, straight-up mystifying nature of these past five games.
Let's start with last night, courtesy of the Miami Herald's David Wilson:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
The Heat missed 38 three-pointers tonight, the second most in a single playoff game in NBA history.
&mdash; David Wilson (@DBWilson2) <a href="https://twitter.com/DBWilson2/status/1529659717026566144?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 26, 2022</a></blockquote>

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The Heat, almost literally, could not buy a perimeter bucket on Wednesday. They shot 7-of-45 from beyond the arc. That 15.6% clip is the fourth-worst of this postseason, but none of the three ahead surpassed 40 attempts in the game. In fact, only twice in the regular season (Dallas on March 9 and Boston on Dec. 29) did a team shoot worse on over 40 attempts.
Doubly-in fact, only two other postseason games have ever seen a team shoot under 20% on at least 40 three-point attempts:&nbsp;
<ul>
<li>May 28, 2018: The Houston Rockets went 7-for-44 (15.9%) in one of the most infamous Game 7 meltdowns in playoff history, losing 101-92 to the Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference Finals.</li>
<li>Aug, 29, 2020: The Oklahoma City Thunder shot 7-for-46 (15.2%) and lost Game 5 to the Rockets in the first round.</li>
</ul>
It was a rough night, led by the backcourt of Kyle Lowry and Max Strus.
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Kyle Lowry and Max Strus went a combined 0-15 in Game 5. According to <a href="https://twitter.com/EliasSports?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@EliasSports</a>, that's the worst 0-fer for a starting backcourt in playoff game since starters were officially tracked in 1970-71. <a href="https://t.co/PiGKhQQAA3">pic.twitter.com/PiGKhQQAA3</a>
&mdash; ESPN Stats &amp; Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPNStatsInfo/status/1529661050441834497?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 26, 2022</a></blockquote>

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So, this is just an ugly series where the Heat are missing shots, right?
Wrong!
Both the Celtics and Heat have fortified the perimeter. Miami is attempting 12.8 "wide open" perimeter shots per game, categorized as an attempt when the closest defender is at least 6 feet from the shooter. It's even lower for Boston at just 10.4 attempts per game. Both teams are actually shooting fairly well when they find these looks, with the Celtics hitting at a 40.4% clip and the Heat at 37.5%. They just have scarcely found these chances.
The table below compares how made wide-open shots both teams found at different segments of the season, plus the percentage of their total three-point attempts that were wide open (scroll right for full table):
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%;" border="1">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 31.490698433420366%;">Season Segment</td>
<td>BOS wide-open 3PA/game</td>
<td>BOS wide-open 3PA/total 3PA</td>
<td>MIA wide-open 3PA/game</td>
<td style="width: 15.745349216710183%;">MIA wide-open 3PA/total 3PA</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 31.490698433420366%;">Regular Season</td>
<td>16.5</td>
<td>43.8%</td>
<td>13.5</td>
<td style="width: 15.745349216710183%;">37.7%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 31.490698433420366%;">First Round</td>
<td>16.5</td>
<td>47.8%</td>
<td>14.2</td>
<td style="width: 15.745349216710183%;">36.9%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 31.490698433420366%;">Second Round</td>
<td>20.0</td>
<td>47.9%</td>
<td>13.2</td>
<td style="width: 15.745349216710183%;">41.4%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 31.490698433420366%;">Conference Finals</td>
<td>10.4</td>
<td>30.1%</td>
<td>12.8</td>
<td style="width: 15.745349216710183%;">35.9%</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Look at that drop-off for Boston! After the Brooklyn Nets and Milwaukee Bucks effectively dared the Celtics' complementary players to knock down threes, the Heat haven't given them breathing room. Meanwhile, Boston has only made life more difficult for a Miami offense that already struggled to create open looks. It's like watching two snakes try to squeeze the life out of each other.
Circling back to Wednesday night, only 14 of Miami's 45 three-ball attempts were categorized as wide open. The Heat actually went 5-for-14 for a half-decent 35.7% clip on those shots... which means they were 2-for-31 (6.5%) on shots with some level of contest. I just shivered.
Let's stay with Game 5:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Half-court offense at the 6:22 mark, per <a href="https://twitter.com/cleantheglass?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@cleantheglass</a> Miami: 58.8 ORTG Boston: 50.0
&mdash; Nekias (Nuh-KY-us) Duncan (@NekiasNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/NekiasNBA/status/1529635748621713410?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 26, 2022</a></blockquote>

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When Nekias tweeted this, Jayson Tatum had just fouled Jimmy Butler and the Heat led 27-22. That already is brutal, and these half-court Offensive Ratings are just over half of the 95.8 league average of the playoffs.&nbsp;
Boston figured something out as the game went on and finished Game 5 averaging 92.5 points per 100 half-court possessions. Miami's half-court ORTG: 58.8!?! You don't need me to tell you that's easily the worst rating of the postseason, with the Heat's Game 4 (65.7) not far behind. Miami's half-court offense is in a... state.
But let's not turn on the Heat too much (is that a pun and a double meaning in one sentence?). Miami racked up 19 steals in Game 3, the most by any team in a playoff game since the Bucks swiped 20 in 2015 and the second-most since 2004-05. According to Cleaning the Glass, Boston's 25.5% turnover rate in that contest is the most from the franchise in any game &mdash; regular season or playoffs &mdash; since 2014.
The Heat have three players with a steal rate above 2.0% this postseason, per Cleaning the Glass: Victor Oladipo (2.7%), Butler (2.4%) and Caleb Martin (2.1%). Oladipo and Butler are both averaging 1.8 steals per game in the conference finals, while Lowry (1.3) and PJ Tucker (1.2) aren't far behind. And while Gabe Vincent hasn't gotten the steals to match, his 3.2 deflections per game tie the second-best average in the series behind only Butler.&nbsp;
Miami relies on swarms of event creation to generate turnovers and support its sporadic offense. Boston wants to wear the Heat down in the half-court and take their confidence away.
Embrace the defensive warfare!
It may not look like your typical playoff thriller, but as the series record shows, an NBA Finals berth is still very much in play for both franchises.
THE OUTLIERS (a.k.a. other random interesting numbers I found in the void):
<ul>
<li>While I was reseraching the wide-open threes, I checked the other two conference finalists as well. The Warriors are in line with the Celtics and Heat, limited to just 11.0 attempts per game against the Mavericks. But Dallas... man. They're free to fire away, to the tune of a whopping 25.3 wide-open triples per game. You have to wonder what happens as they keep falling.</li>
<li>Staying on the subject of playoff shooting, here's a noteworthy graphic from SIS Hoops:</li>
</ul>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
These conference finals have been defined by variance. Large swings in either direction have led to massive leads from each team in both series. How much of this can be attributed to the rise in three point attempts, as illustrated here? <a href="https://t.co/WCfQcar0HR">pic.twitter.com/WCfQcar0HR</a>
&mdash; SIS Hoops (@SIS_Hoops) <a href="https://twitter.com/SIS_Hoops/status/1529494752206303233?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 25, 2022</a></blockquote>

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<ul>
<li>That's exactly right, Slam Studios! Margin of victory doesn't define the playoffs.</li>
</ul>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Reminder that everyone&rsquo;s most beloved playoff series was a snooze fest until Game 7: Game 1 &ndash; GSW by 15 Game 2 &ndash; GSW by 33 Game 3 &ndash; CLE by 30 Game 4 &ndash; GSW by 11 Game 5 &ndash; CLE by 15 Game 6 &ndash; CLE by 14 Game 7 &ndash; CLE by 4 Are NBA fans doing some revisionist history? 🤔 <a href="https://t.co/MByPIqUuyL">pic.twitter.com/MByPIqUuyL</a>
&mdash; Slam Studios (@slamstudios) <a href="https://twitter.com/slamstudios/status/1529516755219095553?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 25, 2022</a></blockquote>

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The Eastern Conference Finals has been a roller coaster, and Ethan Fuller has the numbers to back things up.

NBA Stats Notebook: This wacky Celtics-Heat series — by the numbers

BasketballNews.com's Senior NBA Draft Analyst Matt Babcock presents a series that will peel back the curtain from his time as a sports agent, giving a glimpse at some of his personal experiences working in the sports agency business for over a decade.
In the third entry of the series, Babcock discusses his search for coaching jobs prior to entering the sports agency business, ultimately leading him to go abroad.
Within several months, I left the University of Arizona and completed a summer internship at Wasserman Media Group in Los Angeles, California, which was an exciting summer and excellent learning experience. However, the real world was knocking on my door, and I needed to find a full-time job &mdash; a typical situation for a 22-year-old right out of college.
I had ambitions of being a basketball coach, not a sports agent, which was something I had planned on my entire life. Once my internship ended at Wasserman, I tapped into my family's network (with the help of my dad) in hopes of landing an entry-level coaching job &mdash; ideally with an NBA or D-League team. Although I had some interest from teams, I couldn't secure any legitimate offers. I realized then how tough it is to break into professional sports, even if you are well connected.
For better or worse, I'm not one to sit back and wait for anything to unfold organically. I felt that I needed to think outside of the box and be assertive &mdash; so that's what I did. I came up with the idea to pursue jobs with professional teams overseas. I ran it by my dad, and he thought it was a good idea.
We started making calls to people within our network that could help facilitate that sort of deal. We talked with Max Ergul, an agent from Turkey who worked with Milwaukee Bucks forward Ersan Ilyasova. We had gotten to know Max because he had moved to Milwaukee when Ersan joined the Bucks, the team my dad had worked for (and still does). Max liked the idea and began to pursue opportunities for me. Before I knew it, he found a team in Istanbul, Turkey that wanted me to be an assistant coach with an emphasis on player development.
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The terms of the deal were unique: I would not get paid a salary, but they would cover all of my expenses (flights, food, housing, transportation, etc.). The team wanted me to fly to Istanbul in August and be there for the entire season. I had only a few months of work experience under my belt, but in my mind, I was ready to conquer the world; all I needed was an opportunity just like that. I had made up my mind that I would take the deal. I was set to start my coaching career in Istanbul.
However, before I formally agreed to the deal in Turkey, I called Sam Goldfeder, an agent with Excel Sports Management. Sam had been kind enough to let me stay in his mother-in-law's guest house in Beverly Hills for the summer while I did my internship with Wasserman. My intent in calling Sam was to thank and update him on my job status, but the conversation did not go as I had expected.
Me: Sam, I wanted to thank you again for everything you did for me this summer. I also wanted to let you know that I plan to accept a coaching position with a professional team in Istanbul, Turkey.
Sam Goldfeder: "What?! Have you signed anything yet?"
Me: No, I have not.
Sam: "Okay, don't! I'll call you back."
He abruptly hung up the phone, and I thought: "What was that?" However, I trusted Sam, so I waited anxiously for his call.
Within a day or so, my phone rang. It was Sam.&nbsp;
Sam: "I have good news. I talked with our collaborating partner in Italy, Matteo Comellini. I told him about your offer in Turkey, and he spoke to the team in his hometown of Bologna, Italy. They would like to match the offer."
Me:&nbsp;No way, that's amazing!
Sam: "Yes, it's a great situation. The team's name is Virtus Bologna. They are one of the best teams in Italy. It's a terrific place &mdash; I think you will love it!"
Me: Thank you so much, Sam! But first, let me talk to my dad, and I'll get back to you.
After some consideration, I decided to accept the deal in Italy, and just like that, my plans were overhauled. I packed up all of my stuff, purchased a couple of Italian phrasebooks and gave my mom a hug and kiss, and I was off. I boarded the plane to Italy without speaking to anyone from the team, as all of the communication had been through Sam and Matteo.
I wasn't quite sure what I had signed up for, but one thing was for sure: I was a soon-to-be Italian resident and assistant coach of a professional basketball team.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/my-past-life-as-a-sports-agent-the-2006-nba-draft" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Read the last entry of this series</a>: "My past life as a sports agent: "The 2006 NBA Draft."
Editor's Note: This article was originally published on <a href="https://www.babcockhoops.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">BabcockHoops.com</a>.
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Matt Babcock discusses his search for coaching jobs before entering the sports agency business, ultimately leading him to go abroad.

My past life as a sports agent: An aspiring coach goes abroad

In the only two seasons he played after winning Big Ten Rookie of the Year at the University of Illinois, Kofi Cockburn was a two-time consensus All-American.
His scoring jumped from 13.3 to 17.4 to 20.9 points per game, and his rebounding leapt from 8.8 to 9.5 to 10.6 boards per contest. Over his three-season career, he shot 59.6% from the field, and although he isn&rsquo;t a perimeter threat, he made 62.3% of his free throws on 6.5 attempts per contest.
Basically, the former Oak Hill Academy and Christ The King center has been one of the most productive collegiate bigs in the past couple of seasons.
Unfortunately, like other traditional 5s who get theirs in the post and probably would&rsquo;ve been a first-round pick a decade or two ago, the 7-foot, 293-pound big man starting at a lottery green room in his future.
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At the NBA Draft Combine last week, Cockburn let it be known to reporters that he could be staring at being undrafted right in the face.
&ldquo;I think it&rsquo;s very unique,&rdquo; Cockburn said of his situation. &ldquo;A lot of people tell me, back then, if it was the 1990s, I&rsquo;d be drafted probably top-10. When I look at it now, the game has changed, but it hasn&rsquo;t changed that much. There are still big men that need to rebound that need to play defense, be vocal, give their guards, put their guards in better position to score.&rdquo;
<a href="https://theathletic.com/3325417/2022/05/20/illinois-kofi-cockburn-nil-nba/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">One executive told The Athletic</a> that Cockburn should&rsquo;ve stayed in school. Cockburn insists, however, that he&rsquo;s ready and people are underestimating his ability to produce in the modern NBA.
&ldquo;A lot of people doubt my ability to adapt to make the NBA,&rdquo; Cockburn said. &ldquo;(I just want) to show that you could put me in whatever situation (and) I&rsquo;ll definitely contribute &mdash; whether that&rsquo;s rebounding, setting good screens, rolling &mdash; just to show them I can do that at the next level... My motor, I&rsquo;m relentless, I&rsquo;ll give you extra possessions, definitely set good screens, I roll, I play good defense, I bring the energy, I talk.&rdquo;
BasketballNews.com's draft coverage team doesn&rsquo;t have Cockburn listed on <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft" target="_blank" rel="noopener">its latest 2022 NBA Mock Draft</a> as of this writing.
Our Sr. NBA Draft Analyst Matt Babcock explains that, while Cockburn&rsquo;s ability is unquestionable, the reason he&rsquo;s not registering on mock drafts is rooted in the questions he is attempting to answer to.
Though, Babcock adds that he&rsquo;s not a name to be ignored with the draft looming less than a month away:
<blockquote>
There is no denying that Kofi Cockburn had a significant impact at the college level. However, there are legitimate concerns about how he&rsquo;ll translate to the next level. He is a big-bodied 5 who is incredibly physical, but he doesn&rsquo;t have much perimeter skills on the offensive end, and it&rsquo;s questionable whether he can keep up on the defensive side in the NBA, which is more spread out and fast.
I do not currently have Cockburn projected to be selected in the draft, but he is a relevant prospect. I wouldn&rsquo;t be surprised to hear his name called on draft night.
</blockquote>
Although we might not hear his name called on draft night, it&rsquo;s likely we&rsquo;ll hear about Cockburn at some point this summer &mdash; regardless of if he&rsquo;s one of 60 picks made on June 23. (Note: It&rsquo;s actually 58 picks since the Miami Heat and Milwaukee Bucks forfeited their second-rounders this year.)
Cockburn, who also entered the draft in 2021 and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yg45tIlOdV4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">produced in the G League Elite Camp</a> before returning to school, believes that he&rsquo;ll be impactful however it shakes out for him. Sure, he probably won&rsquo;t get 20 and 10 a night in the NBA, but could he follow a model being laid out by current bigs of similar size and skill sets.
&ldquo;The NBA is changing obviously,&rdquo; Cockburn acknowledges. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s all about big guys being in shape and being able to have an impact &mdash; whatever that impact is. Not necessarily coming in and shooting threes, but always having an impact on the game.&rdquo;
For him &mdash; as is the case with at least 95% of prospects and players in the league overall &mdash; fit will be significant, as will be his own player development and work ethic.
He recognizes that, and hopes to change some minds going forward.
<a href="https://therookiewire.usatoday.com/2022/05/23/hawks-kofi-cockburn-nba-pre-draft-workout/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Getting a workout with the Atlanta Hawks</a> isn&rsquo;t a bad start.
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Bryan Fonseca takes a look at Kofi Cockburn's potential at the NBA level and why being a traditional big man shouldn't hold him back.

2022 NBA Draft: Kofi Cockburn insists he'll have impact at next level

Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Dončić, Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokić, Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker and Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum have been selected to the 2021-22 All-NBA First Team, the NBA announced today.&nbsp;
Antetokounmpo was the only player to receive All-NBA First Team votes on all 100 ballots (500 total points), earning his fourth consecutive selection to the First Team and sixth All-NBA Team honor overall (First Team, Second Team and Third Team). This is the third All-NBA First Team selection each for Dončić (476 points) and Jokić (476 points), the 2021-22 NBA Most Valuable Player.&nbsp; Booker (460 points) is making his debut on the All-NBA Team.&nbsp; Tatum (390 points) joins Booker as a first-time selection to the All-NBA First Team.&nbsp;
With the selection of Antetokounmpo (27 years old), Dončić (23), Jokić (27), Booker (25) and Tatum (24), the All-NBA First Team is made up entirely of players age 27 or younger for the first time in 67 years (1954-55 season).&nbsp; Dončić is the fourth player in NBA history to be named to the All-NBA First Team three or more times before turning 24, joining Tim Duncan, Kevin Durant and Max Zaslofsky.
The 2021-22 All-NBA Second Team consists of Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid (414 points), Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant (301 points), Brooklyn Nets forward Kevin Durant (276 points), Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (274 points) and Chicago Bulls forward DeMar DeRozan (184 points).
Embiid, the 2021-22 NBA scoring champion, has been named to the All-NBA Second Team for the fourth time in the last five seasons.&nbsp; Morant, the 2021-22 NBA Most Improved Player, is an All-NBA Team honoree for the first time.&nbsp; This is the 10th&nbsp;All-NBA Team selection for Durant, the eighth for Curry and the third for DeRozan.
The 2021-22 All-NBA Third Team is composed of Minnesota Timberwolves center Karl-Anthony Towns (174 points), Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (169 points), Suns guard Chris Paul (114 points), Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young (110 points) and Toronto Raptors forward Pascal Siakam (63 points).
This is the second All-NBA Team honor for both Towns and Siakam and the first for Young.&nbsp; James has extended his NBA record for most All-NBA Team selections to 18.&nbsp; Paul has been voted to the All-NBA Team for the 11th&nbsp;time, the second-most selections among active players behind James.&nbsp;
The 2021-22 All-NBA Team was selected by a global panel of 100 sportswriters and broadcasters.&nbsp;&nbsp;Players were awarded five points for each vote to the All-NBA First Team, three points for each vote to the Second Team and one point for each vote to the Third Team.&nbsp; Voters selected two guards, two forwards and one center for each team, choosing players at the position they play regularly.&nbsp; Players who received votes at multiple positions were slotted at the position at which they received the most voting points.
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The 2021-22 Kia All-NBA First Team: 🏀 Giannis Antetokounmpo (Milwaukee) 🏀 Devin Booker (Phoenix) 🏀 Luka Dončić (Dallas) 🏀 Nikola Jokić (Denver) 🏀 Jayson Tatum (Boston) <a href="https://t.co/D0H6GEDrea">pic.twitter.com/D0H6GEDrea</a>
&mdash; NBA Communications (@NBAPR) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBAPR/status/1529257510481416192?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 25, 2022</a></blockquote>

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The 2021-22 Kia All-NBA Second Team: 🏀 Stephen Curry (Golden State) 🏀 DeMar DeRozan (Chicago) 🏀 Kevin Durant (Brooklyn) 🏀 Joel Embiid (Philadelphia) 🏀 Ja Morant (Memphis) <a href="https://t.co/qHqDWB42tz">pic.twitter.com/qHqDWB42tz</a>
&mdash; NBA Communications (@NBAPR) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBAPR/status/1529257815654776832?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 25, 2022</a></blockquote>

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The 2021-22 Kia All-NBA Third Team: 🏀 LeBron James (L.A. Lakers) 🏀 Chris Paul (Phoenix) 🏀 Pascal Siakam (Toronto) 🏀 Karl-Anthony Towns (Minnesota) 🏀 Trae Young (Atlanta) <a href="https://t.co/uYiQpdkFeh">pic.twitter.com/uYiQpdkFeh</a>
&mdash; NBA Communications (@NBAPR) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBAPR/status/1529258023121825793?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 25, 2022</a></blockquote>

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The NBA announced the three All-NBA teams for the 2021-22 season.

NBA announces 2021-22 All-NBA teams

Changes are coming in Minnesota.
Fresh off a 46-36 campaign and competitive first-round exit, the Timberwolves have already gone swinging. There's a new sheriff in town, with former <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nuggets-tim-connelly-to-become-wolves-president-of-basketball-ops" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Denver Nuggets president Tim Connelly joining the team</a> in a similar role. The price was huge: a five-year deal worth north of $40 million and&nbsp; &mdash; and! &mdash; equity in the organization, per The Athletic. It's a monstrous deal with the potential for more &mdash; a deal, as my Dunker Spot co-host <a href="https://twitter.com/stevejones20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Steve Jones Jr.</a> described on <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/podcasts/the-dunker-spot" target="_blank" rel="noopener">our latest episode</a>, that the Nuggets weren't likely to match.
There's obvious intrigue in Connelly's move to Minnesota, namely him leaving a successful division rival that currently rosters a back-to-back MVP in Nikola Jokic to do so. But the interest for me has come with the reporting around the move. Take this passage from The Athletic's <a href="https://theathletic.com/3320881/2022/05/18/timberwolves-tim-connelly-president-basketball-ops/?source=emp_shared_article" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jon Krawczynski and Shams Charania</a> as negotiations were heating up between the two sides.
<blockquote>
Leaving the two-time MVP for upstart Minnesota would be a bold move. But the Timberwolves do have a pair of building blocks in Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards, promising young talent in Jaden McDaniels and Jarred Vanderbilt, a coach who is revered throughout the organization and an ownership group that appears to be motivated to invest in the organization.
</blockquote>
Hmm... notice anyone missing? Also, the "ownership group that appears to be motivated to invest" portion could be seen as subtle shade toward the organization that was on track to lose Masai Ujiri (killing it in Toronto since 2014) and Connelly due to being outbid.&nbsp;
And how about this one, from Krawczynski and Charania again, after the <a href="https://theathletic.com/3326241/2022/05/23/tim-connelly-wolves/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">deal was done</a>?&nbsp;
<blockquote>
There are reasons beyond financial for him to be optimistic about the situation in Minnesota. Connelly will be taking over a team with two stars in Towns and Edwards, promising young players in Jaden McDaniels and Vanderbilt and a top-notch coach in Chris Finch, who spent one season working with Connelly in Denver as an assistant on Malone&rsquo;s staff. D&rsquo;Angelo Russell had a strong season before struggling in the playoffs and Patrick Beverley asserted himself as a tough, veteran leader for a young group.
</blockquote>
Ah,&nbsp;there's&nbsp;the name. But you see why my brow is raised, right? Towns and Edwards represent the core. McDaniels and Vanderbilt are the young pieces dubbed to grow alongside them. The 26 year-old Russell &mdash; one of Towns' best friends making north of $30 million this season &mdash; went from not being mentioned at all in the lead-up piece, to essentially getting a throw-in line with Beverley in the update five days later.
Oh, it doesn't help that Jordan McLaughlin was closing out playoff games while a healthy Russell watched in Round 1. Add in the fact that Russell's future has <a href="https://nba.nbcsports.com/2022/05/03/report-timberwolves-will-attempt-to-trade-dangelo-russell-this-offseason/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">already been questioned</a>, and I think it's fair to assume what the big&nbsp;roster&nbsp;swing for the Wolves will be.&nbsp;
Any team acquiring him will be on the hook for over $31 million next season, though that's the only&nbsp;year left on Russell's deal.&nbsp;
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WHAT RUSSELL BRINGS
Russell remains a smooth operator. He's a proactive passer, one who's able to see and&nbsp;fire into a gap before most players know what's happening. You'll see it with his transition hit-aheads, as well as some of the reads he'll make in pick-and-roll.
And about pick-and-roll: Not many players blend pull-up shooting and high-level passing like Russell does. You can't afford to duck under against him, or drop your big back too far. He will absolutely waltz into jumpers. Once he gets hot, you're forced to press up &mdash; and that opens up even more passing windows for him.
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Russell was one of 31 players to receive at least 1,500 on-ball picks this season, per Second Spectrum. Russell-led ball screens were good for nearly 1.03 points per possession (PPP), a top-10ish mark in NBA among high volume ball-handlers.
You can thank the jumper for that &mdash; Russell converted 37% of the pull-up threes he attempted out of pick-and-roll, per InStat tracking. For comparison, that put him in line with high volume pull-up artists like Stephen Curry (38.9%) and Trae Young (37.0%).
(Also: Shout out to Darius Garland for bombing away at a 42.5% clip. That guy's getting paid.)&nbsp;
LIMITATIONS
Russell is what I'd describe as a two-level scorer. He's comfortable firing from deep, and he's able to snake and hunt shots around the elbow area with the best of them. Rim pressure is... simply not his thing. Only 16% of Russell's shots came at the rim last season, a mark that ranks in the 16th percentile per Cleaning The Glass. (Not great!)
And as someone who rarely got to the rim, Russell didn't draw many shooting fouls either. The lack of "easy points" lends to a boom-or-bust nature in Russell's game. His pull-up jumper is a legit weapon, but things kinda crater for him if it isn't falling in a way that isn't helpful for your&nbsp;lead&nbsp;ball-handler.&nbsp;
I think a truth has become (more) clear &mdash; Russell needs to be paired with a ball-dominant rim threat to get the best out of him.
That was the intrigue around Edwards taking more of a lead role in the second half of the season. In theory, Edwards ability to touch the paint on any given possession would lead to easier catch-and-shoot &mdash; or catch-and-drive &mdash; opportunities for Russell. A team trading for Russell should have a similar infrastructure in place.
Defensively, Russell found his home as a middle linebacker. Most teams rely on their primary rim-protector to call out coverages and actions. For Minnesota, that responsibility was Russell's. It was an odd dynamic, but one that worked. He was often seen and&nbsp;heard barking out instructions while he zoned up behind the action.
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I remained worried about him in more conservative defensive schemes. Russell isn't the quickest laterally. And while he's improved a bit from his rookie season (I'd hope so!), screen navigation remains an issue for him overall.
With the Wolves, Russell was blessed with the opportunity to roam off-ball (his ideal role) while having the screen navigation issues limited due to his big hedging ball-screens with him. If Russell's dumped into a drop scheme, the onus flips back on him to stay attached to ball-handlers. That could be a tricky bet.
LANDING SPOTS
Due to Russell's contract and the context needed to unlock him on both ends, it's hard to imagine 20+ teams blowing up the phones in Minnesota. There are a few teams that:
1) Make theoretical sense for Russell's game
2) Have the contracts to at least get conversations started
The New York Knicks have been searching for a calming presence at point guard for ages; at the very least, a guy that can grease the wheels of an offense with pick-and-roll play. While an in-house option is staring them in the face &mdash; <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/explain-one-play-young-knicks-playing-chess" target="_blank" rel="noopener">I'm with you, Knick fans</a> &mdash; it wouldn't shock me to see the Knicks take a flier on a talent like Russell, especially if it doesn't cost a core piece.&nbsp;
The contracts of Alec Burks, Derrick Rose, and Nerlens Noel get you in the ballpark of Russell's number. The Knicks have the Mavericks' first rounder in 2023 &mdash; a likely low 20s pick &mdash; to toss in if the Wolves don't think that's enough.
In theory, you'd have Russell playing off the rim-battering of RJ Barrett and Julius Randle. Maybe you get a more unlocked Randle with someone that can thread the needle on tight-window passes more consistently.&nbsp;
The Wolves would be able to bolster their depth, adding some rim pressure (Rose), movement shooting (Burks) and a big that can do work in an aggressive scheme (Noel). The Knicks losing the latter would be buffered by the retention of Mitchell Robinson and the likely growth from Jericho Sims.
Quick question: Who's the best passer for the Los Angeles Clippers? Follow-up question: How many names did you list before naming an actual guard? The combined deals of Reggie Jackson and Luke Kennard get you in the door. I can hear arguments about that already being too much for L.A. I'd argue that Russell gives you more on the playmaking front, gives you more size in the backcourt and helps your defense without tapping into your wing depth. Again, there's at least a conversation to be had.
If you're looking to pair Russell with a ball-dominant rim threat, how about Luka Doncic and Dallas? At worst, Russell could serve as a buffer to Jalen Brunson signing elsewhere. Tim Hardaway Jr. and Dwight Powell would give the Wolves the movement shooting, plus big-man depth combination to bolster their supporting cast. I'd argue the Mavericks may have to throw in a pick, though they're a little light on that front.
Lastly, would you rather have Russell or Cole Anthony? Actually, don't answer that.
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Nekias Duncan looks at potential landing spots for Wolves guard D'Angelo Russell this offseason.

Examining potential trade destinations for D'Angelo Russell

DALLAS (AP) &mdash; Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors have won nine consecutive games in the Western Conference finals.
They can make it an even 10, eliminate Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks and return to the NBA Finals after three years away with a victory in Game 4 in Dallas on Tuesday night.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not going to fast forward,&rdquo; Curry said after a <a href="https://apnews.com/article/dallas-mavericks-golden-state-warriors-nba-sports-klay-thompson-2f6a0c58ab25f6512ffe1f090224f272">109-100 victory in Game 3</a> for a 3-0 series lead. &ldquo;We can play better, but we&rsquo;re finding ways to win games. There&rsquo;s no expectation other than what&rsquo;s the challenge ahead of us, and the challenge now is to close out a series against a really good team to get back to an opportunity to win the Finals.&rdquo;
The Warriors haven't lost in the West finals since erasing a 3-2 deficit to Houston in 2018, when they won the last of their three titles in four years by beating Cleveland in the NBA Finals. Golden State swept Portland for a fifth consecutive trip to the Finals in 2019 before losing in six games to Toronto.
The Mavericks are playing beyond the first round for the first time since <a href="https://apnews.com/article/dallas-mavericks-golden-state-warriors-milwaukee-bucks-brooklyn-nets-nba-7e323815c5abcc72eefbad4c6a6b2f36">first-year coach Jason Kidd</a> was the point guard on the Dirk Nowitzki-led team that won the 2011 title.
Dallas was down 2-0 to top-seeded Phoenix in the West semifinals before winning twice as the home team took the first six games. <a href="https://apnews.com/article/phoenix-suns-dallas-mavericks-milwaukee-bucks-nba-sports-1e6827985892edd105afa343820edddb">The Mavs stunned the Suns</a> with a 33-point victory in Game 7 in Phoenix, putting Doncic a year ahead Nowitzki's schedule in reaching his first conference finals.
Golden State rallied from 19 points down to win Game 2 at home before erasing a nine-point deficit in the final four minutes of the first half in Game 3 &mdash; and ending any hope of Dallas repeating its Phoenix feat.
Instead of winning four out of five, the Mavericks have to win the last four games of the series. No NBA team has done that.
Doncic scored 21 of his 40 points in the fourth quarter, but a desperate Dallas rally never gained traction. The young superstar masked a mediocre first half by hitting a 32-footer at the first-quarter buzzer.
&ldquo;I think the first two quarters I played very bad. That&rsquo;s on me,&rdquo; Doncic said after the Mavs fell to 2-6 in three playoff years when their All-Star scored at least 40. &ldquo;But I&rsquo;m still learning. I think after this season is done, whatever we are, I think we&rsquo;re going to look back and learn a lot of things. I&rsquo;m 23, man. I&rsquo;m still learning a lot.&rdquo;
Doncic also learned what it's like to be on the wrong end of a moment that will live forever on highlight reels.
The three-time All-Star who is used to sending defenders stumbling with crossover and step-back moves was posterized on a dunk by Andrew Wiggins.
Yes, the same Wiggins was who criticized by some after being chosen as an All-Star starter in his first appearance this year. He got the nod over Doncic, who started the season poorly by his standards because of issues with weight and conditioning.
That wasn't Wiggins' only dunk on his way to a playoff career-high 27 points, and he had another off one of his six offensive rebounds, just one fewer than Dallas had as a team.
The 2014 No. 1 overall pick also has been one of the primary defenders on Doncic in a multifaceted scheme that has limited Dallas' career triple-double leader to five assists per game &mdash; three below his career playoff average.
&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a fantastic two-way player,&rdquo; coach Steve Kerr said. &ldquo;You don&rsquo;t win in the playoffs without guys like Wiggs. We&rsquo;re basically mirroring Doncic&rsquo;s minutes so that Wiggs can stay on him and he&rsquo;s another guy like Steph who just never seems to get tired. He&rsquo;s in amazing shape.&rdquo;
The Mavericks are in bad shape in this series because they've been outscored on average 62-47 in the second half. Part of the reason is the inconsistency of Doncic's supporting cast.
In Game 3, Spencer Dinwiddie scored 26 of Dallas' 28 bench points after the Mavs' reserves were outscored 36-13 in Game 2. But key 3-point specialists Dorian Finney-Smith, Maxi Kleber and Reggie Bullock combined for just nine points &mdash; all of them from Finney-Smith after Kleber and Bullock missed all 12 of their 3s and all 15 of their shots overall.
Pardon the Mavs if they sounded a bit defeated, knowing the history of 3-0 deficits.
&ldquo;When you&rsquo;re in a battle, you&rsquo;re not thinking about the big picture,&rdquo; Kidd said. &ldquo;But as we reflect this summer, whenever that starts, we&rsquo;ll understand what we did and how we can get better. And that&rsquo;s the blessing of this whole thing is, we truly believe we belong here.&rdquo;
For now, the Mavs have to believe they can prolong things.
&nbsp;

The Warriors look to eliminate the Mavericks and return to the NBA Finals after three years away with a win in Game 4.

Curry, Warriors go for sweep of Doncic, Mavs in West finals

BOSTON (AP) &mdash; The Heat were embarrassed in Game 2, surrendering home-court advantage in their blowout loss to the Celtics in their Eastern Conference finals matchup.
Miami returned the favor in Game 3, building a 26-point first-half lead en route to hanging on for a 109-103 victory despite star Jimmy Butler sitting out the second half with swelling in his right knee. Tyler Herro also didn&rsquo;t play the final eight minutes of the fourth quarter because of a groin injury.
With Boston&rsquo;s Jayson Tatum (stinger) and Marcus Smart (sprained ankle) also suffering injuries late, the Celtics went from a chance to take control of the series to now trying to avoid losing back-to-back games for the first time in two months.
In addition to Tatum and Smart, center Robert Williams III sat out Game 3 with swelling in his surgically repaired left knee.
As expected, Celtics coach Ime Udoka said the trainer&rsquo;s table was busy on Saturday.
&ldquo;Marcus has some swelling in his ankle. Took a pretty bad sprain. Finished the game, but he&rsquo;s gonna feel it a little more today,&rdquo; Udoka said.
&ldquo;Getting worked on and getting treatment. See how he feels tomorrow. Jayson is fine. It&rsquo;s a stinger that went away pretty quickly. And the Rob has improved. Feels better than he did yesterday. &hellip; It&rsquo;s day to day. We&rsquo;ll test it out tomorrow and see how he feels.&rdquo;
Tatum (nerve impingement) is probable for Game 4, with Smart and Williams both listed as questionable. (Editor's Note: Smart has been ruled out for Game 4.)
Miami beating back a late-game charge by Boston to preserve a victory and take a 2-1 series lead is an encouraging sign for a Heat team that was 15-10 without Butler during the regular season. The Heat also wrapped up their first-round series against Atlanta without both Butler and Kyle Lowry.
Lowry played for the first time in this series Saturday, finishing with 11 points, six assists and four steals in 29 minutes. He had missed eight of the previous 10 games with a right hamstring injury.
He said it felt good to be back, but acknowledged it was tough to see both Butler and Herro added to their injury list &mdash; potentially again leaving Miami at less than full strength.
&ldquo;Just having an opportunity to be out there with my guys is always fun,&rdquo; Lowry said. &ldquo;Injuries are a part of the game. That&rsquo;s the part that sucks about the game, the injuries, and this is tough. Jimmy is a warrior. Tyler is a warrior. But we have to continue to stay focused on what we did as a group ... and hopefully those guys will be back and ready to go next game.&rdquo;
The Heat listed Buter (knee), Lowry (hamstring), Herro (groin) Max Strus (hamstring), Gabe Vincent (hamstring) and P.J. Tucker (knee) as questionable for Game 4. (Editor's Note: Herro was ruled out late Monday morning by the Heat for Game 4.)
Whoever Miami ultimately has available on Monday, Udoka said the onus will be on the Celtics to limit their unforced errors.
Boston turned the ball over a 2022 playoff-high 24 times in Game 3, leading to 33 Miami points. The Heat also had 22 more shots that the Celtics.
&ldquo;Obviously those things stand out and a lot were us playing to the crowd, trying to do too much and not making the simple pass,&rdquo; Udoka said. &ldquo;When you look at those areas, we&rsquo;ve had some good carryover at times, but at times taken a step back.
Tatum said avoiding what seems to be Miami&rsquo;s magic number of 39 will also be paramount. Miami had a 39-point third quarter to take control in Game 1 and outscored the Celtics 39-18 in the first quarter of Game 3.
&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no excuse. We can&rsquo;t spot them 39 points in the first quarter. Obviously we were just trying to overcome that the rest of the game,&rdquo; Tatum said. &ldquo;So we&rsquo;ve obviously got to be better starting the game for sure.&rdquo;
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Both the Celtics and Heat will try to overcome injuries in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals with Miami holding a 2-1 lead.