Jalen Williams Says He’s ‘Healthy’ Ahead Of Western Finals
Thunder star Jalen Williams provided an update on his return from a left hamstring strain on Friday via his YouTube channel, as Justin Martinez of The Oklahoman relays.
Williams, who suffered the injury a few weeks ago in first-round series against Phoenix, said the second-round sweep of the Lakers gave him extra time to recover. The 25-year-old was spotted at Friday’s practice then released the vlog update later in the day, Martinez notes.
“I haven’t had to rush back from my hamstring stuff at all,” Williams said. “I’m actually taking extra days now then what was even originally planned because we were up 3-0 (on the Lakers), so there was no point in going into this series and possibly hurting myself before we have to play the Timberwolves or the Spurs. I’m about to go into another series healthy.”
The fourth-year wing was limited to a career-low 33 regular season appearances in 2025/26 due to offseason wrist surgery and a pair of right hamstring strains. He last played on April 22, when he injured his opposite hamstring in Game 2 vs. the Suns.
Williams, whose rookie scale max extension begins in 2026/27, averaged 17.1 points, 5.5 assists, 4.6 rebounds and 1.2 steals in 28.4 minutes per game during the regular season. He was excellent in the first two games against the Suns, averaging 20.5 PPG, 5.0 APG, 4.0 RPG and 1.0 SPG while shooting 61.5% from the field in 26.0 MPG.
Ajay Mitchell was Oklahoma City’s secondary ball-handler and attacker with Williams out, but he should still receive plenty of playing time in the conference finals even if Williams is back, according to Martinez. The Thunder are still waiting to learn their opponent; San Antonio currently holds a 3-2 lead over Minnesota ahead of Friday’s Game 6.
Wolves Upgrade Terrence Shannon Jr. To Available For Game 6
7:10 pm: Shannon will be active tonight, the team announced (via Twitter).
12:54 pm: Timberwolves guard Terrence Shannon Jr. has been added to the injury report for Game 6 on Friday. According to the team (Twitter link), Shannon is considered questionable to suit up in Minnesota tonight due to a head contusion.
It’s unclear when Shannon sustained the injury, but it rarely bodes well for a player’s availability when he’s a late addition to the injury report just hours before tip-off, as Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic tweets.
Shannon played a modest role for Minnesota during the regular season, averaging 12.5 minutes per game across 43 appearances, and received multiple DNP-CDs to open the playoffs. But he has emerged as a key part of Chris Finch‘s rotation since scoring 24 points in nearly 35 minutes of action in the team’s close-out game vs. Denver in the first round.
In five games (two starts) against San Antonio in the conference semifinals, Shannon has averaged 8.6 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 2.0 assists in 25.0 minutes per contest. He has struggled with his shot against the league’s third-best defense, making just 14-of-48 shots from the floor (29.2%), including 3-of-17 from three-point range (17.6%).
If Shannon doesn’t play on Friday, it would likely result in increased minutes for guards Ayo Dosunmu and Mike Conley, with Bones Hyland perhaps getting a chance to return to the rotation.
The Timberwolves trail the Spurs 3-2 in the series and will have to win at home on Friday in order to force a Game 7 on Sunday.
Combine Notes: Top Four, Flemings, Carr, Winners
Although BYU’s AJ Dybantsa appears to be the frontrunner to be selected first overall in next month’s draft, John Hollinger of The Athletic says the consensus among NBA executives he spoke to at the combine was that there’s a clear top four this year — Dybantsa, Darryn Peterson, Cameron Boozer and Caleb Wilson — but not a clear No. 1 amongst that group.
Wilson in particular seems to have been overlooked in that conversation, according to Hollinger, who writes that the front office members he spoke to this week had Dybantsa as the favorite to go No. 1, but none of them viewed that outcome as a lock.
Some of the executives compared the eye-of-the-beholder situation to the 2017 draft, when the Celtics moved down from No. 1 to No. 3 and selected Jayson Tatum, Hollinger writes. The Sixers picked Markelle Fultz first overall that year, with the Lakers taking Lonzo Ball at No. 2.
Another topic of speculation was Jazz owner Ryan Smith spending millions to help bring Dybantsa to his alma mater (BYU) last year. Utah controls the No. 2 pick and a recent report said the Jazz touched base with the Wizards about potentially moving up to No. 1.
Here’s more from this week’s combine:
- His measurements were somewhat lackluster, but Houston guard Kingston Flemings was one of the standouts in athletic testing drills and received plenty of praise from his college teammates at the combine, Hollinger writes. “He is really unselfish,” Emanuel Sharp said of Flemings. “He’s very humble, that’s probably my favorite part about him. He’s not an airhead; he’s a great kid. He’s a better person than he is player. You know a lot of teams value that, so you know, whatever team can get him is getting a star.”
- Baylor shooting guard Cameron Carr was one of the biggest winners of the combine, according to Hollinger and Kevin O’Connor of Yahoo Sports. In addition to possessing a massive 7’0.75″ wingspan, the 6’4.5″ wing had a 43-inch maximum vertical leap and the fastest time in the pro lane agility drill. Carr, who was already a projected first-round pick, followed that up by being the best player on the court in the first scrimmage. “I’m a competitor — basketball’s basketball,” Carr said of his decision to scrimmage, per Hollinger. “It’s supposed to be fun, and I don’t know, in my head I feel like I’ve been overlooked, especially for some of these spots. Of course, I’m not paying attention to the draft stock and all that stuff, but when I hear someone’s better than me, I feel I’ve got to go in and show them who’s really the best. So that’s all I can do. I can just step on the court and give y’all my best, and that’s what I did today.”
- Trevon Brazile (Arkansas), Morez Johnson (Michigan), Ja’Kobi Gillespie (Tennessee), Baba Miller (Cincinnati), Luigi Suigo (Italy), and Aaron Nkrumah (Tennessee State) are among the other combine winners highlighted by Hollinger and/or O’Connor.
Pistons’ Robinson, LeVert, Huerter Available For Game 6
May 15: All three wings have been upgraded available, according to Patterson (Twitter link). The team announced that Daniss Jenkins, who started Game 5 with Robinson out, will continue to start tonight (Twitter link).
ESPN’s Jamal Collier reports (via Twitter) that Huerter re-injured his adductor muscle in Game 5, when he only played three minutes. The impending free agent received an unspecified injection to play on Friday, league sources tell Collier.
May 14: The Pistons have listed guard/forwards Duncan Robinson (low back soreness), Caris LeVert (right heel contustion) and Kevin Huerter (left adductor strain) as questionable for Friday’s Game 6 in Cleveland, tweets Hunter Patterson of The Athletic.
Detroit is facing playoff elimination on Friday. After winning the first two games of the second-round series against the Cavs, the Pistons have dropped three straight contests and will have to win on the road to save their season.
Robinson was outstanding in the first three games of the Eastern Conference semifinals, making at least four three-pointers in each contest while averaging 17.0 points, 3.3 steals, 3.0 assists and 2.0 rebounds in 33.7 minutes. He converted 58.3% of his three-point looks in those games.
The 32-year-old tried to play through his lower back issue in Game 4, but he was clearly hampered, recording as many fouls (four) as points and only attempting two shots in 29 minutes. The Pistons were outscored by 19 when he was on the court, compared to a positive plus-minus mark in each of the first three games.
The Pistons certainly could’ve used a healthy Robinson in Game 5, which they lost in overtime after blowing a late lead in regulation.
Despite dealing with an injury of his own, LeVert’s minutes have increased the past two games with Robinson either less than 100% or out of the lineup.
As for Huerter, he returned to action in Wednesday’s Game 5 after missing a little over two weeks with the adductor strain. He suffered that injury in Game 4 of Detroit’s first-round matchup vs. Orlando.
Bucks Notes: Giannis, Accountability, Prospects, Offseason
Giannis Antetokounmpo played a career-low 36 games due to a variety of injuries in 2025/26. However, the Bucks superstar says he’s feeling healthy and spry in his first extended offseason in several years, per Jim Owczarski of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (subscriber link).
Antetokounmpo, 31, says he’s particularly excited about being able to work on developing his skills over the next few months until training camps begin in the fall.
“I’ve seen the difference, which I’m very excited for,” he said. “Because this is going to be the first year in my career that I’m going to go from January, pretty much, until October, fully healthy. I can work on whatever I want. All the skills that I want. I can make mistakes. It’s May. Nobody’s in the gym with me. There’s no crowds. There’s no media. I can fail many times and I can just get up and pat myself on the back and come back the next day and try to be better.”
While Antetokounmpo is hoping to recapture his MVP-level form next season, he admitted he wasn’t sure which team he’d be on, simply saying, “We’ll see.” But the nine-time All-NBA forward did say he’s using external doubts about his health and/or game as motivational fuel, Owczarski writes.
“I feel good. I feel really good,” Antetokounmpo said, his voice rising a pitch. “And I love when people doubt me. I love it. I want more doubt. Everybody on your social media; follow me on that stuff and talk [expletive] to me all year long. All summer, all offseason. That’s all I want to see. I want to see doubt. No compliments.
“Tell me how much I suck and I didn’t make the playoffs and I’m not good at that or I’m not good at this. Just keep on putting gasoline in the fire and just keep on adding to that. That’s what I love. I love when people don’t believe in me. And when I come [back] I’ll do what I’m supposed to do.”
Here’s more from Milwaukee:
- Center Myles Turner raised some eyebrows recently when he claimed ex-head coach Doc Rivers didn’t fine any Bucks players for being late to team activities. Turner also singled out Antetokounmpo as his teammate most likely to be tardy for those activities. According to Eric Nehm of The Athletic, “accountability” was a talking point during the press conference to introduce new head coach Taylor Jenkins, and that theme continued this week during combine interviews with prospects. Milwaukee controls the 10th pick in June’s draft. “I had a really good conversation with them and Coach Jenkins,” projected lottery pick Mikel Brown said. “He’s just talking about the stuff that I can work on, right? They know what I’m capable of, and they know the strengths that I have. It’s really just about trying to key in on the stuff that I could be better on. And I can appreciate that, because I love to be coached hard. I appreciate being held accountable, right? I love that type of coaching, and that’s how I’ve been raised all my life, and every single coach that I’ve played for has done that and got me to this point. So I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
- Darius Acuff, Nate Ament, Brayden Burries, Cameron Carr, Chris Cenac, Aday Mara, Labaron Philon and Keaton Wagler are among the other prospects who confirmed to The Athletic that they’d spoken to the Bucks, Nehm adds.
- Keith Smith of Spotrac previews the Bucks’ offseason, writing that determining whether to trade or keep Antetokounmpo is the clear top priority in Milwaukee, but there are other roster moves to consider as well. Smith expects Kevin Porter Jr. to opt out of his $5.4MM player option in search of a more lucrative contract in free agency, predicting that the 26-year-old will return to the Bucks on a new multiyear deal in the range of $12-16MM annually. Smith also thinks restricted free agent Ousmane Dieng is a good bet to return, and suggests signing the French forward to a multiyear deal worth around $10MM per year would be a reasonable contract for both sides.
2026 NBA Offseason Preview: Toronto Raptors
On the heels of 25- and 30-win seasons, the Raptors entered 2025/26 operating over the luxury tax line despite the fact that they weren't considered a good bet to even make the playoffs. There were far more skeptics than believers in the group that general manager Bobby Webster and former president Masai Ujiri, whose tenure with the team ended last June, had put together.
Point guard Immanuel Quickley, coming off an injury-plagued season, was on a long-term deal worth $32.5MM annually. Center Jakob Poeltl, another good but not great starter, had just signed a lucrative long-term extension of his own. And none of Toronto's highly paid forwards - Scottie Barnes, Brandon Ingram, and RJ Barrett - were consistent, high-volume three-point shooters who thrived off the ball, leading to questions about how exactly they'd fit together.
While there wasn't a ton of enthusiasm for the way the Raptors looked on paper, things started to make a little more sense on the court once the season got underway.
Ingram gave the team the sort of half-court shot creator it had been missing, leading Toronto in scoring and making the All-Star game. Barnes, who excelled as a play-maker and defender, was also named an All-Star. Quickley had a much healthier season and fit well alongside the Raptors' ball-dominant forwards, leading the club in three-pointers by a significant margin. And while back issues limited Poeltl's availability and effectiveness, two unexpected frontcourt standouts - minimum-salary veteran Sandro Mamukelashvili and rookie Collin Murray-Boyles - helped make up for his down year.
Throw in the fact that the Raptors got breakout seasons from young role players Ja'Kobe Walter and Jamal Shead and it's easy to see why the team exceeded outside expectations. Toronto racked up 46 regular season victories, earned the No. 5 seed in the East, and pushed the heavily favored Cavaliers to seven games in the first round despite missing Ingram for Games 6 and 7 and Quickley for the entire series.
Toronto's cap situation still isn't great, and the roster construction is far from perfect. It was also concerning that Ingram struggled mightily in the playoffs and that the team was better when he was off the court than when he was on it during the first round, a trend that carried over from the regular season. But it was still an encouraging year for the organization, with Barnes taking another step toward stardom, Murray-Boyles flashing tantalizing upside, and guys like Walter and Shead showing they can be trusted to play roles on a playoff team.
The Raptors' Offseason Plans
The salary cap for the 2026/27 season is projected to come in at $165MM, and Toronto's top five highest-paid players - Barnes, Ingram, Quickley, Barrett, and Poeltl - are earning a combined $163.4MM, essentially eating up all that space on their own.
Bringing all five of those players back isn't out of the question and might even be the front office's best path. After all, that group had a net rating of +7.6 in 354 minutes on the court together this past season. But outside of Barnes, who is clearly a long-term keeper, the Raptors shouldn't just automatically pencil any of them into the lineup for '26/27 without seriously evaluating their place in the team's long-term plans.
Sixers Notes: Tax, Nurse, Front Office, No. 22 Pick
The Sixers have repeatedly made trade deadline deals to duck below the luxury tax line in recent years, an approach that has rubbed star center Joel Embiid the wrong way. However, Sixers managing partner Josh Harris insisted to reporters on Thursday that the ownership group has no aversion to paying the tax to fortify a contending roster, as Adam Aaronson of PhillyVoice.com relays.
“The front office absolutely has the green light to go into luxury tax,” Harris said. “In fact, we’ve been in and out of luxury tax. And so it’s not an issue. I mean, it’s just not an issue. We’re building an arena here. I can tell you that the amount of dollars you spend on that versus the luxury tax, it’s magnitudes more. We built this facility. We’ve signed a number of max deals. So there’s no issue with the luxury tax. And so I’m glad that you asked.”
Bob Myers, the president of sports for Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, followed up to say that he has received those same assurances from Harris and fully trusts the Sixers’ owners to back them up.
“I just can’t imagine a day where if I said to Josh or leadership said to Josh, ‘This deal makes us a contender, but you have to go into the tax,’ if he says no, which he won’t, I wouldn’t work for somebody like that,” Myers said. “Because look, to be honest, if you look at the history of teams that have won a championship – I was one of them – we were in the tax. It’d be great if you can win a championship by not being in the tax. Very hard to do. But it has to make sense. Again, I’m not worried about that part of the job, because if that comes up, I know what the answer will be.”
We have more on the 76ers:
- Myers and Harris told reporters on Thursday that Nick Nurse isn’t expected to be involved in the search for a new head of basketball operations, since he’s “got enough on his plate” already, per Aaronson. Still, Myers said he wants to hire an executive who will be a “great partner” for Nurse, while Harris praised the veteran head coach for the job he has done through three seasons in Philadelphia while dealing with the inconsistent availability of his star players. “Nick’s a championship coach,” Harris said. “He’s won an NBA title. So I think he’s earned the right to be here. He’s our coach moving forward into next season.”
- Gina Mizell of The Philadelphia Inquirer (subscription required) identifies the five biggest challenges that Daryl Morey‘s successor in the Sixers’ front office will face, starting with how to handle Joel Embiid‘s and Paul George‘s maximum-salary contracts and what to do with unrestricted free agents like Quentin Grimes, Kelly Oubre Jr., and Andre Drummond.
- In a story examining the Sixers’ decision to part ways with Morey, Kyle Neubeck of PHLY Sports considers how significantly limitations from ownership factored into some of the team’s missteps in recent years and wonders whether the next head of basketball operations will be working under those same restrictions.
- Who will the 76ers land with the No. 22 overall pick in next month’s draft? In a story for PhillyVoice, Aaronson rounds up several recent mock drafts, noting that a wide variety of prospects are projected to land in Philadelphia in that slot, including wings like Alabama’s Amari Allen and Santa Clara’s Allen Graves and bigs such as Houston’s Chris Cenac and UNC’s Henri Veesaar.
Sixers’ Bob Myers Talks Front Office Search, Roster, More
Speaking to reporters on Thursday less than 48 hours after dismissing president of basketball operations Daryl Morey, Sixers managing partner Josh Harris made it clear he shares fans’ frustrations about the fact that the team hasn’t advanced beyond the second round of the playoffs during his time owning the franchise.
“To our fans, I want you to know: no one’s more frustrated than me that we haven’t achieved our goals,” Harris said during his opening remarks, per Adam Aaronson of PhillyVoice.com. “I care deeply for the city and the team. I acknowledge how disappointing it is that we’ve not made it past the second round of the playoffs. We owe it to you and the city to be better.”
Harris and Bob Myers, the president of sports for Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, focused primarily during Thursday’s media session about the 76ers’ impending search for a new head of basketball operations. Asked what sort of characteristics he’s looking for as he seeks Morey’s replacement, Myers said the team wants to hire a high-character individual who is willing to collaborate with the rest of the front office.
“I’m a big believer in character and leadership, and I’m looking for a person that embodies those things,” Myers said. “But there’s many characteristics under that, that I believe kind of qualify in making a modern GM a success. There’s front-facing responsibilities. There’s responsibilities of managing star players. There’s responsibilities of managing up to ownership. There’s contract negotiations. There’s draft process. There’s evaluating analytics. There’s medical staff.
“You go down the line, and these jobs have an enormity to them, so I’m looking to find someone that can check as many of those boxes as possible but also raise their hand and say, ‘You know what? I’m actually not good in this space. I’m going to need some support.'”
Myers, who previously led Golden State’s front office, intends hire someone to run the Sixers’ basketball operations department on a day-to-day basis and wants that executive to have “a lot of authority.” However, the former Warriors general manager indicated that he expects to be involved in major personnel and roster decisions going forward.
“What (the new head of basketball operations is) going to get, and our fans are going to get, is them plus me,” Myers said. “I won’t be on a day-to-day level, but on the high-level decision making, which is being here at the draft, being here leading up to the trade deadline, being available for free agency discussions, free agency meetings, things like that, I’m going to be involved at that level.
“And I can tell you that I imagine – and this isn’t, I’m not saying this lightly – I’ll be communicating with that person daily, if not five out of seven days a week. … I want to hire somebody that I can work with. I want to hire somebody that Josh can work with. And most importantly, I want to win. And I think that I have had some experience in this space, and if I have something to say, it’s harder for me not to say it than say it. But that’ll be my role, and obviously continuing to work with Josh on all this very high-level stuff.”
Here are a few more of Myers’ most notable comments from the Sixers’ Thursday press conference, via Aaronson:
On whether the Sixers will hire a new head of basketball operations before next month’s draft:
“I’d like to have someone. I hope to have someone. But if it hasn’t happened, that’s OK too. But the goal would be to have someone in place for the draft to get acclimated with the new group. By the way, the group is working now. And whoever we hire, not sure who that will be, will likely, possibly already be evaluating the draft from where they’re coming from. So that’s a benefit in some ways. But yeah, I’d like to, and I hope to, but it’ll be as much time as required to get the best person. Because again, sure, have someone by the draft, but the goal would be to have someone that’s the right person for a long amount of time after that.”
On whether a team can win a title under the current CBA with three players on maximum-salary contracts:
“Well, we didn’t get it done this year with three guys, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be done. I think it’s a smart question in that, what’s the modern roster supposed to look like with the second apron, really, which oftentimes operates as kind of a hard cap? The truth is, depth may be more important than it’s ever been. Maybe that’s the pace of play. Maybe that’s what we require of our players more. Not to say that this model doesn’t work, but we have to look at what happened this year and be honest about it and see if – we’ve got to be honest about, can this model work? And that’s really the question, and also understanding that depth is key, and you only have a certain amount of resources to spend.”
On whether the Sixers will prioritize Tyrese Maxey‘s and VJ Edgecombe‘s timelines or continue trying to win with Joel Embiid and Paul George:
“If I had the answer to that question, I’d actually just do it. I don’t know if I need to tell you. I’d just do it. I look forward to partnering with leadership to get that answer, but you’re asking the right question. That’s a question I think everybody’s asking. And it’s not to criticize an older player or praise a younger player. It’s about: how do we get past the second round? How do we get further? But that’s what makes the job hard. That’s what makes it gratifying, is figuring — if it was easy, it wouldn’t be worth it. It’s very hard to build these things and build them in the right way.”
On whether Morey handled February’s Jared McCain trade properly:
“I like Daryl. I’m not going to disparage Daryl here today. I think he did a fine job, and I think he’s a good person. … Right now we have the 22nd pick. Our job is to get that right. We have three second-round picks from it. We should be graded on the ultimate result of transactions like that.
“But I understand. I made draft picks where we got an F right away, 10 minutes after the draft. F! And I was like, ‘How do they know it’s an F? I mean, the guy hasn’t even played.’ But your job and everybody’s job is to react. I totally understand that. Our job is to make a trade. There will be a reaction. It’ll be positive or negative, but that trade isn’t done, and our job is to make sure that on our end of the trade, we do a good job of drafting the best player at 22.”
Bontemps/Windhorst’s Latest: Pistons, Giannis, Kawhi, More
After averaging 22.6 points and 10.7 rebounds per game on 67.8% shooting following the All-Star break, Pistons center Jalen Duren has struggled to make an impact during the postseason. Duren is putting up just 10.1 PPG and 8.3 RPG through 12 playoff games and was benched in the fourth quarter and overtime of Detroit’s Game 5 loss on Wednesday in favor of Paul Reed.
Duren’s poor postseason play has the potential to complicate his contract negotiations with the Pistons when he reaches restricted free agency this summer, notes ESPN’s Brian Windhorst.
“He’s not a max player, but they’re probably going to have to give him the max,” one Eastern Conference executive told ESPN. “Because now teams (with cap room) like Chicago or Brooklyn might see him as someone they could get with a max offer sheet and Detroit will have to match. With the new apron rules, it might come back to bite (the Pistons), and it’s just another example of how the CBA crushes team building.”
The Pistons will also face a tricky negotiation this offseason with wing Ausar Thompson, who will be eligible for a rookie scale extension ahead of his fourth NBA season. Thompson is a defensive dynamo but remains a very limited offensive player who made six three-pointers all season and converted just 57.1% of his free throws. Like Duren, he has been benched in some clutch-time situations during the postseason.
Still, according to ESPN’s Tim Bontemps, some league insiders he spoke to about Thompson predicted the Defensive Player of the Year finalist could command an extension in the range of $25MM per year, the same average annual salary that Dyson Daniels (four years, $100MM) and Christian Braun (five years, $125MM) got on their rookie scale extensions last fall.
Here’s more league-wide chatter from Windhorst and Bontemps:
- While there have been a few false alarms on the Giannis Antetokounmpo trade front, there’s a growing belief around the NBA that the Bucks will actually trade their two-time MVP this offseason, Bontemps reports. “It just feels like they’re done with the circus, more than anything,” an Eastern Conference executive told ESPN. “They seem to want a clean break and to move on.”
- Most sources who spoke to Bontemps at this week’s draft combine in Chicago about the Clippers and Kawhi Leonard believe the team should retain its star forward as he enters the final year of his current contract. However, not everyone agreed on whether or not to extend him — one scout pointed out that Leonard “clearly” wants to be in L.A. and argued the club should be no rush to lock him up, while another expressed that an extension is the right move as long as the terms “make sense for the team.” One Eastern Conference executive also suggested to Windhorst that Leonard could have significant trade value if the Clippers are willing to make him available: “Every day you hear about what’s going to happen with Giannis, but everyone ignores that Kawhi has been better and healthier over the last two seasons. If you had a chance to acquire one or the other, I might go Kawhi.”
- Despite the fact that the Sixers have a pair of pricey multiyear contracts on their books for injury-prone veterans Joel Embiid and Paul George, their head of basketball operations job is viewed as “enticing” due to the Tyrese Maxey/VJ Edgecombe backcourt duo, several executives told Windhorst at the combine.
- The general consensus at the combine was that returning to the Lakers is the most likely outcome for LeBron James this summer, since it’s “hard to fit him anywhere” else, as one Western Conference scout told Bontemps. An East executive who spoke to Windhorst indicated he’d be willing to pay James whatever he wanted on a one-year deal if he were running the Lakers. “Give him the no-trade clause,” the exec said. “Everything (Lakers owner Mark) Walter has done so far has been about good business. LeBron sells tickets. He keeps the (local) TV partner happy. Re-signing LeBron is good business.”
Western Notes: George, Kerr, Clippers, J. Williams
The Jazz are coming off 17- and 22-win seasons, but guard Keyonte George tells Marc J. Spears of Andscape that he’s confident about the team’s ability to make the playoffs in 2026/27. In addition to star forward Lauri Markkanen and an improving young core, George points to newcomer Jaren Jackson Jr. – who appeared in just three games after being traded from Memphis to Utah in February – and the No. 2 overall pick as reasons to be optimistic about Utah going forward.
“We get a top-two talent in the draft and get to build on the changes we made with getting Jaren,” George said. “It’s just a lot of things going right for the group right now. On paper, we are definitely a playoff team. Honestly, there is just a different versatility that we have. You got guys who can play (point guard) to (shooting guard). You got guys who play (power forward) that can move to the (center position).
“And then we got (head coach) Will Hardy. I know people know about Will. But his X’s and O’s and the way he breaks down the game for us, that’s really what gives me the confidence, honestly. Having Will and our coaches, the talent is going to take care of itself.”
George himself represents another reason to believe in the Jazz. After two up-and-down seasons to begin his professional career, the former No. 16 overall pick had a breakout year in 2025/26, averaging a career-high 23.6 points and 6.1 assists per game on a solid shooting line of .456/.371/.892. The 22-year-old believes his ceiling is higher than what he showed last season.
“I got kind of hurt towards the end, but I think I got another gear,” George told Spears. “I tell myself all the time to get better towards the end. This summer is an even bigger summer for me because of the changes we made. I have to take my game to a whole other level.”
Here’s more from around the Western Conference:
- Within a lengthy, in-depth feature on Steve Kerr, ESPN’s Wright Thompson notes that the Warriors head coach had essentially decided he was going to retire at the end of the 2025/26 season before rethinking that decision last month. Thompson takes a closer look at why Kerr ultimately opted to sign a new two-year contract with Golden State and how the team’s play-in win over the Clippers factored into that decision.
- The Clippers‘ good fortune on lottery night changes their outlook going forward, according to Law Murray of The Athletic. Rather than heading into the offseason without a first-round pick, L.A. will have a top-five selection for the first time since drafting Blake Griffin first overall in 2009. According to Murray, while the Clippers have been in win-now mode for Steve Ballmer‘s entire tenure as team owner, the club likes this draft class and is “eager” to use that No. 5 overall pick rather than trading it for a veteran.
- Jaylin Williams isn’t typically one of the first few players credited for the Thunder‘s success in recent years, but he’s a valued on-court contributor and is even more highly regarded as a “glue guy,” writes Justin Martinez of The Oklahoman. “He’s a tremendous team guy,” head coach Mark Daigneault said of Williams, who will earn $7.77MM next season and has a team option worth the same amount for 2027/28. “The thing that’s always amazed me about him as a teammate is his relatability with everybody on the team. There’s literally no one that he doesn’t have a connection with, and that’s been true of every minute that he’s been here. He’s really got a gift for that, and I think it just comes down to how good of a person he is on that part.”