Knicks Notes: Towns, Brunson, Anunoby, Alvarado
Following the Knicks‘ Game 3 loss to the Spurs, a worrying trend has been widely discussed: Karl-Anthony Towns‘s lack of fourth-quarter offense.
Towns has yet to score in a fourth quarter this series, despite playing some of the best basketball of his career and being the best player on the floor for large stretches of the series so far.
It’s a trend that head coach Mike Brown is aware of and unhappy with, according to ESPN’s Vincent Goodwill.
“It’s extremely important that he’s getting touches, that he’s involved, not just in the fourth quarter, but obviously throughout the ballgame,” Brown said. “I got to continue trying to do a better job of getting him involved throughout the course of the game, as well as late.”
The Knicks went to Towns less in Game 3, and the offense seemed to struggle as a result, a trend that three-time champion Danny Green broke down for ESPN (Twitter video link). Green noted that, unlike in previous games, Towns didn’t punish mismatches by taking smaller players into the post, and instead seemed to float at times.
While Victor Wembanyama‘s presence makes it more challenging, Green believes Towns needs to be more proactive and aggressive than he showed on Monday.
We have more Knicks notes:
- Jalen Brunson has been the Knicks’ best player for multiple years, but he has struggled this series against the Spurs’ defense, shooting just 37.0% from the field and accumulating the same amount of turnovers as assists (13). While the Knicks have weathered his cold shooting spell and still hold a 2-1 series lead, the most concerning stat is that the team is being outscored by 13 points in the 110 minutes Brunson has been on the floor, Dylan Svoboda writes for the New York Post. New York’s offense has at times seemed to flow better when Brunson is not on the floor, as they rely more on quick ball movement and shot-making and less on isolation play against the Spurs’ length and aggression. Despite his struggles, Brunson has scored at least 30 points in two of the three games, but most of his best play has come in brief fourth-quarter stretches, such as the end of Game 1.
- Aside from Brunson, OG Anunoby was the only other consistent source of offense in Game 3, scoring 28 points on 13 shots. He has been effective at scoring with Wembanyama in his face, whether on face-up three-pointers or drives to the rim. “I’m aggressive no matter who’s guarding me,” Anunoby said to NBA Insider Chris Haynes (Twitter video link). “I’m always looking to make the right play, whether it’s the pass, drive to the rim, the shot, just being aggressive at all times no matter who’s guarding me.”
- If there’s any player on the roster that puts the ‘New York’ in the ‘New York Knicks,’ it’s Brooklyn native Jose Alvarado, writes Jeanette Settembre for the Post. “Everything about him screams New York. He’s a lovable kid,” said high school coach Joe Arbitello. “He comes back [to Christ the King High School] a lot. I don’t think he understands he’s a celebrity celebrity.” Settembre interviews his youth league coach, Dan Klores, whom Alvarado turned to when he thought his dream was out of reach. “He comes to me and says, ‘Dan, can you connect me to a trainer? Because I’m not going to make the NBA,'” Klores said, adding that once the Pelicans offered him a spot, the point guard “broke down in tears. He couldn’t stop crying.”
Latest On Trae Young, Wizards
Since being acquired in a mid-season trade, Trae Young has been widely expected to forgo his $49MM player option for next season in order to sign a multiyear deal with the Wizards.
Reporting in the wake of that trade suggested that a three-year contract in the range of $120MM might makes sense for Young and the Wizards. According to Marc Stein of The Stein Line (subscriber link), those are still the ballpark figures being projected for the four-time All-Star.
Young will have to make a decision on his player option by June 23, the first night of the 2026 draft. If he declines the option, he could sign a three-year extension worth up to as much as $156MM before June 30 or could wait until July to sign for up to four years and $222.8MM. Picking up the option would lock in his $49MM salary for next season, but he and the Wizards could still tack on more years with a new extension beginning in July.
Young struggled to stay healthy this season, playing just 15 games total as he dealt with a knee strain early in the year and quad and back injuries later in the season. He played five games for Washington following the January trade, averaging 15.2 points and 6.2 assists on .595/.429/.708 shooting splits in 20.8 minutes per game.
The Wizards were the worst team in the league this season, but will add the No. 1 overall pick, plus Young and Anthony Davis, who didn’t play a game for them this season after being traded from Dallas in February, as they look to rebuild on the fly.
Young, Davis, former No. 2 pick Alex Sarr, and whoever the team selects first overall are the only players on the roster set to earn more than $10MM per year over the next two seasons, which gives the Wizards considerable flexibility as they look to turn the team around and become competitive again.
International Notes: Lyles, Nunn, Canada, EuroCup, NBA Europe
Relaying a report from the Spanish outlet Marca, Dimitris Minaretzis of Eurohoops says forward Trey Lyles appears increasingly likely to leave Real Madrid this offseason on the heels of a big year with the Spanish club.
While Madrid remains interested in re-signing Lyles, they’re facing significant competition from other clubs in Europe who may be in position to make more lucrative offers. Panathinaikos, Fenerbahce, Dubai BC, and Hapoel Tel Aviv are said to be among the teams with an eye on Lyles, who spent 10 years in the NBA with Utah, Denver, San Antonio, Detroit, and Sacramento from 2015-25.
As we noted when we checked in last month on Lyles’ market, a return to the NBA remains possible for the Canadian, who is still just 30 years old. However, if no favorable opportunities arise stateside for the veteran forward, it looks like he’ll have no shortage of potential destinations to choose from in Europe.
Here are a few more items of interest from around the international basketball world:
- Former NBA guard Kendrick Nunn is expected to become a naturalized player for Qatar ahead of the 2027 World Cup, per a Sport24 report (hat tip to Alessandro Maggi of Sportando). Since last playing in the NBA in 2023, Nunn has emerged as a star in Europe, winning a EuroLeague title with Panathinaikos in 2024 and earning EuroLeague MVP honors in 2025.
- The Canadian national team won a gold medal at the FIBA U18 AmeriCup for the first time, defeating Team USA in Sunday’s final by a score of 67-65. Point guard Javion Tyndale, who had 18 points and eight assists in the gold medal game, was named the Most Valuable Player of the tournament, per FIBA.
- The EuroCup – which is Europe’s second-tier continental league behind the EuroLeague – will expand from 20 teams to 32 teams for the 2026/27 season, per a press release. According to the announcement, the participating teams and those awarded long-term licenses will be confirmed soon.
- Former star big man Pau Gasol explained on Tuesday, per Mundo Deportivo, why he believes NBA Europe will become a reality and why he views the NBA’s model as a necessary to grow the sport of basketball in Europe. Johnny Askounis of Eurohoops shares a few of the key quotes from Gasol.
Knicks Notes: Bridges, Towns, Shamet, Clarkson
Jalen Brunson and OG Anunoby, who combined for 60 of the Knicks‘ 111 points in Monday’s Game 3, were the team’s only reliable scorers in the fourth quarter, tallying 18 points between them on 6-of-11 shooting in the final frame. The rest of the team made just 1-of-16 shots and scored two points en route to a 115-111 loss, as Stefan Bondy of The New York Post writes.
It was an especially frustrating night for Mikal Bridges, who has had an excellent postseason but scored just two points on 1-of-5 shooting in 29 minutes of action on Monday and went 0-for-3 from the floor in the fourth quarter. Bridges wasn’t happy with his play at either end of the court, telling reporters after the game that he’s “gotta be better” on Wednesday, according to Howie Kussoy of The New York Post.
“It starts with me defensively. I think I did a bad job defensively,” Bridges said. “They scored a good amount of times when I was in throughout the game. For me, it starts with defense and feeding off of that.”
We have more on the Knicks, who will take a 2-1 series lead into Game 4:
- Karl-Anthony Towns earned rave reviews for his play at both ends of the court in the first two games of the NBA Finals, but he was “mostly a non-factor” on Monday, scoring just 11 points in 38 minutes, according to Zach Braziller of The New York Post. Head coach Mike Brown said there were issues with the Knicks’ offense as a whole rather than anything specifically related to Towns. Still, as Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic tweets, the star big man has now gone three games without scoring a single fourth-quarter point vs. the Spurs.
- Landry Shamet‘s excellent postseason hit a speed bump in Game 3 as he shot 1-of-8 from the floor and had a team-worst -20 plus/minus mark in his 23 minutes. The veteran wing is confident in his – and the team’s – ability to bounce back and “clean up” some of Monday’s mistakes, as Kussoy relays for The New York Post. “Great process, got some great looks, had a few that were down and out,” Shamet said. “Process over outcome. I’m more upset about some of the things defensively that I’ve been priding myself on. I had a few possessions where I didn’t do my job like I needed to. That’s fixable. Sometimes the gods give you in and outs and the ball doesn’t go in.”
- Veteran guard Jordan Clarkson provided the Knicks with a shot in the arm off the bench in Game 3 after receiving a DNP-CD in Game 2, per Braziller of The New York Post. Clarkson scored 10 points and was a +8 in 13 minutes.
- As dominant as the Knicks were during their 13-game winning streak that stretched from Game 4 of the first round to Game 2 of the Finals, their identity over the past two years has been defined by their resiliency, according to James L. Edwards III of The Athletic, who suggests the club will have an opportunity to show off that trait after suffering a setback on Monday. “They’re a great team,” Anunoby said of the Spurs. “They weren’t just going to lay down. All we can do is move and learn from this. We have to take it as adversity and just respond to it.”
Atlantic Rumors: Vucevic, Shamet, Nets, Murray-Boyles
Veteran center Nikola Vucevic is considered highly likely to switch teams this summer after finishing the season with the Celtics, reports Marc Stein of The Stein Line (Substack link).
Vucevic, who was traded from Chicago to Boston in February in the final year of his contract, took on a significant role in Boston’s rotation, averaging 23.4 minutes per night in his first 11 outings with his new team. However, he sustained a fractured finger in his 12th game as a Celtic and wasn’t able to return until the final week of the regular season, resulting in less consistent minutes during the postseason.
Vucevic, 35, averaged just 9.7 points and 6.6 rebounds in 21.1 minutes per game in 16 regular season appearances with the Celtics, shooting 43.9% from the floor and 34.0% on three-pointers. Those shooting numbers were well below his career rates, while his PPG and MPG represented his lowest averages since his rookie year in 2011/12. Vucevic will be an unrestricted free agent this offseason.
Here’s more from around the Atlantic:
- Rival suitors are “already starting to circle” in anticipation of pursuing Knicks wing Landry Shamet in free agency, according to Stein. Shamet has received minimum-salary contracts in each of the past two seasons, but he should be in line for a raise this summer after making 39.2% of his three-pointers during the regular season and playing a key reserve role for New York during its run to the NBA Finals. Shamet was out of the rotation in the first round, but he has scored double-digit points in six of the team’s past nine games, dating back to the second round. The Knicks will hold Shamet’s Early Bird rights, giving them the ability to make a strong offer, though re-signing him would push them deeper into tax/apron territory.
- Mexican forward Karim Lopez, who spent the last two seasons with the New Zealand Breakers, told Kevin O’Connor of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link) that he and Tennessee forward Nate Ament are working out for the Nets on Tuesday. Although both Lopez and Ament are viewed as potential lottery picks, it would be a surprise if either player goes as high as No. 6, which is the pick Brooklyn controls.
- While the Raptors could be active on the trade market this offseason, don’t expect standout rookie Collin Murray-Boyles to go anywhere, according to Doug Smith of The Toronto Star, who suggests last year’s No. 9 overall pick is virtually untouchable. Smith’s advice for how to react to any trade rumors involving Murray-Boyles? “Stop reading, delete that source from every aspect of your reading/social media network, and take a cleansing shower.”
NBA Invites 14 Prospects To Draft Green Room
A total of 14 draft-eligible players have been invited to the NBA’s green room for the 2026 draft so far, according to Jeremy Woo of ESPN, who reports (via Twitter) that the first round of invitations was sent out on Tuesday.
The 14 prospects who have been invited to the green room are as follows, sorted by their rank on ESPN’s big board:
AJ Dybantsa (BYU)- Darryn Peterson (Kansas)
- Cameron Boozer (Duke)
- Caleb Wilson (UNC)
- Keaton Wagler (Illinois)
- Darius Acuff (Arkansas)
- Mikel Brown (Louisville)
- Kingston Flemings (Houston)
- Nate Ament (Tennessee)
- Aday Mara (Michigan)
- Brayden Burries (Arizona)
- Karim Lopez (Mexico)
- Labaron Philon (Alabama)
- Christian Anderson (Texas Tech)
A pair of Mara’s former Wolverines teammates, Yaxel Lendeborg (No. 12) and Morez Johnson (No. 14), are the only players ranked in the lottery on ESPN’s board who have yet to be invited to the green room. However, it seems safe to assume their invitations are still coming — the league typically sends out those invites in two or three waves.
The players invited to the green room can typically feel pretty confident about their chances to be first-round picks, since the league only decides who to invite after asking teams to vote on the 25 prospects whom they expect to come off the board first. Still, it’s not always a lock. In 2024, for instance, green room invitees Kyle Filipowski and Johnny Furphy had to wait until the second day of the draft to hear their names called.
In 2025, all 24 prospects who were invited to the green room by the NBA for the first day of the draft were among the 30 first-round picks. The league subsequently invited 12 more players to be in the green room for the second round a day later.
Spurs Notes: Castle, Fox, Wemby, Rotation
After making just 5-of-14 field goal attempts and committing four turnovers in the Spurs‘ Game 2 loss last Friday, guard Stephon Castle bounced back on Monday, scoring 23 points on 8-of-14 shooting while turning the ball over just twice. He also helped the seal the victory in the game’s final moments by knocking down a key three-pointer with just under two minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, then hitting a pair of free throws with seven seconds left to extend San Antonio’s lead to four.
As Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio Express-News writes, Castle is hardly an elder statesman at 21 years old, but star big man Victor Wembanyama said the guard “might be the most mature player on our team,” pointing out that the former NCAA champion is no stranger to high-pressure situations.
“He’s been in big games before the NBA,” Wembanyama said. “He’s shown over and over again that he’s capable and that we are right to put our trust in him.”
Spurs guard De’Aaron Fox actually received the inbounds pass from Castle with the Spurs up by two points and 9.4 seconds left on the clock, but the veteran quickly tossed the ball back to his second-year teammate before the Knicks could intentionally foul him (video link). The play reflected Fox’s complete trust in Castle’s ability to rise to the moment and make the free throws necessary to secure the win.
“His personality, his demeanor, that’s the way he is,” Fox said. “He’s kind of always cool. That’s just being young. But his game is definitely mature beyond his years. He was big for us. He hit a big three toward the end of the shot clock. Knocks down two big free throws for us. He’s guarding his tail off the entire game.”
We have more on the Spurs, who will be looking to even the NBA Finals at two games apiece on Wednesday:
- Fox had his second rough game of the series — late in the fourth quarter, his 3-of-13 shooting line was identical to the mark he posted in Game 1. However, Fox made his 14th shot of the night, converting a mid-range jumper to put the Spurs up by five points with 12 seconds left. “De’Aaron’s been one of the best closer in this league for the last, I don’t know what it is, five to seven years,” head coach Mitch Johnson said, per Orsborn. “He’s been a great closer for us. We trust him with the basketball in his hands.”
- Between Wembanyama’s big Game 3 performance – including 32 points, eight rebounds, and six assists – and a perception that he’s been getting away with missed fouls, the 22-year-old has become the newest villain at Madison Square Garden, writes Marcus Thompson II of The Athletic. “I guess,” Wembanyama said with a smile when asked if being New York’s newest villain is “the ultimate compliment” (Twitter video link). After a brief pause, he added, “I’m nowhere near Trae Young level though.”
- Zach Kram of ESPN takes a look at the key players from Game 3 and the lessons learned from the Spurs’ first win of the series, noting that the club closed with a three-guard lineup, as Dylan Harper took Julian Champagnie‘s place with the rest of the starters. Veteran forward Harrison Barnes was also out of the rotation on Monday, earning his first DNP-CD of the postseason, Kram observes.
Sixers Notes: Gansey, Embiid, Nelson, More
After taking over as the club’s new president of basketball operations, Mike Gansey acknowledged at his introductory press conference on Monday that the Sixers aren’t a “championship caliber team” at the moment, writes Dan Gelston of The Associated Press.
Gansey didn’t offer many hints at the roster moves he envisions this offseason, telling reporters that he “just got here,” and he was evasive when asked about his plans for oft-injured star Joel Embiid, who still has three years and $188MM left on his maximum-salary contract.
“With him and the roster we have, that’s who we have,” Gansey said. “We’ve got to get those guys on the floor. We’ve got to create an identity. Just get them to play basketball.”
While Philadelphia has been hampered in recent years by the inconsistent availability of Embiid and his fellow maximum-salary star Paul George, Sixers executive Bob Myers pointed out that there’s no reason at this point to believe either player will get a late start to the 2026/27 season.
“The good news is this,” said Myers, who holds the title “president of sports” for the Sixers’ ownership group. “There’s no scheduled surgeries this summer. There’s no injury going into the offseason. In the past, there has been that. This is an opportunity to get better, not to play catch-up for Joel, but to actually get better and build on last year. And with that, the hope’s that he can be on the floor a lot more.”
We have more on the Sixers:
- Gansey referred to having Myers in the organization as a “cheat code” as he prepares to run a front office for the first time, per Gelston. The former Cavaliers executive also said that he was in favor of keeping head coach Nick Nurse on the job and added that keeping Jameer Nelson in the front office as his executive VP of basketball operations was a “bit of a sticking point.”
- Nelson also spoke at Monday’s presser about his new role, as Gina Mizell of The Philadelphia Inquirer relays. The former NBA point guard said he has received interest in recent years from other teams looking to hire him away from Philadelphia, but he wants to be “part of the solution here” and feels “responsibility to help this organization move forward.” Nelson, a native of nearby Chester, Pennsylvania, expressed gratitude for having gotten this opportunity with his hometown team. “Six years ago, when I started (with the Sixers), I had no idea where this journey would take me,” he said. “Credit to the organization for believing in me … To do it for the home team gives me goosebumps, to be honest with you. I think it’s one of the things that people take for granted: when you can actually help out an organization but, more importantly, do it at home.”
- In a pair of stories for PhillyVoice.com, Adam Aaronson puts together a couple hypothetical trade scenarios that he thinks might work for the Sixers this offseason and considers whether the sacrifices necessary to free up the full non-taxpayer mid-level exception this summer would be worth it.
- In case you missed, the 76ers are the most recent team we looked at in our Offseason Preview series.
Knicks’ Mike Brown Calls Out Officiating After Game 3 Loss
After his team suffered a 115-111 loss at Madison Square Garden on Monday to cut its lead in the NBA Finals to 2-1, Knicks head coach Mike Brown expressed displeasure during his post-game press conference about the free throw disparity between the two teams.
The Spurs attempted 32 total free throws to the Knicks’ 22. In the second half, the gap was even more pronounced, with San Antonio going to the line 24 times while New York was awarded just eight free throws.
“I never thought I’d be in the NBA Finals and see a team get 24 free throw attempts in the second half to another team’s eight,” Brown said (Twitter video link via Michael Scotto of HoopsHype). “I don’t think I complain much about officials or the fairness when it comes to the free throw attempts. San Antonio is a great team. It’s going to lower our odds big time if we play Game 4 and in the second half they get 24 free throw attempts to our eight. Maybe we were fouling, but they fouled too.”
As Vincent Goodwill of ESPN observes, Brown brought up the officiating multiple times while speaking to reporters after the game. Presumably, the Knicks’ coach believes that making it part of the conversation about the game could result in a more favorable whistle on Wednesday in Game 4.
“I talked to [the officials]. They outshot us 14-3 in the third quarter from the free throw line. I talked to them, and they said, ‘Well, this is a foul, this is a foul,'” Brown said. “That’s the question I had with them is, ‘You’re right. Maybe we did foul. But they fouled, too.'”
Although Brown griped about the officiating, his players weren’t inclined to blame the referees for the loss. Knicks guard Landry Shamet suggested that the Spurs were the more physical and assertive team, while forward Josh Hart said San Antonio came out of the gates with “a sense of urgency and a sense of desperation.”
Stars Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns, meanwhile, said the Knicks’ turnovers were a bigger problem than how the game was called. New York committed 13 turnovers that led to 21 points while San Antonio turned the ball over just eight times, leading to seven points.
“I think we turned the ball over a lot, first and foremost, and also we were fouling a lot and put them at the line about 30 times,” Brunson said, per Goodwill. “With our live ball turnovers, got them out in transition.”
“(The officiating) didn’t cost us the game,” Towns added, according to Brian Mahoney of The Associated Press. “Turned the ball over. Didn’t execute. Didn’t do what got us 13 straight wins in a row. That’s how you lose a game.”
Eastern Notes: Rajakovic, Webster, Wizards, Toppin, Sixers
After the Raptors promoted and extended general manager Bobby Webster, an extension for Darko Rajakovic is “in the works,” multiple sources told Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca, though a timeline for the head coach’s new deal has not yet been established. Rajakovic is entering the final season of his current contract.
Grange reported about a month ago that Webster and Rajakovic were expected to receive extensions after Toronto made the playoffs for the first time in four years. Webster said the team was prioritizing continuity and off-court chemistry after he and a few other front office members signed new deals.
“We don’t make it through the past few years if there’s not a ton of stability, and I think the best part, and everyone can appreciate this, is if you like the people you work with from a professional standpoint, great,” Webster said. “But if you also like them from a personal standpoint, and you want to come in every day, and travel around the world, and take red eye (flights), and be up late, and get up early in the morning, it matters who you work with on a professional level, but on a personal level it’s just great to have to same crew here.”
Webster’s new contract covers five seasons, beginning with 2026/27, league sources told Grange.
Here’s more from around the Eastern Conference:
- Yossi Gozlan of The Third Apron (Substack link) previews the Wizards‘ offseason, noting that rather than operating with cap room this summer, the team instead decided to use its financial flexibility to make two major in-season additions by trading for Trae Young and Anthony Davis in separate deals. After landing the No. 1 overall pick in the draft lottery, Washington currently projects to be about $11MM below the luxury tax line, though that figure is tentative, since it accounts for Young’s $49MM player option, which he could decline in favor of a longer-term deal, Gozlan writes.
- Obi Toppin‘s season was marred by a serious foot injury, but the Pacers forward was healthy and productive over the final few months of 2025/26, writes Tony East of Circle City Spin. Toppin’s play late in the season should be encouraging for Indiana, which is looking to be in the contention mix again next season after an injury-plagued ’25/26.
- Which prospect will the Sixers select with the 22nd overall pick? Adam Aaronson of PhillyVoice rounds up mock drafts from Yahoo Sports, Bleacher Report and CBS Sports. All three outlets have Philadelphia adding a frontcourt player. For what it’s worth, both CBS Sports and the latest mock from The Athletic have the 76ers taking Arizona forward Koa Peat.