Celtics Rumors

Celtics Notes: Porzingis, Brown, Mazzulla, Kyrie, Takeaways

June 7th, 2024 at 3:01pm CST by Rory Maher

Making his first appearance in five-plus weeks due to a strained right calf he sustained in the first round, big man Kristaps Porzingis gave the Celtics a major spark off the bench in Game 1 of the NBA Finals, writes Tim Bontemps of ESPN.

The 28-year-old finished with 20 points (on 8-of-13 shooting), six rebounds and three blocks in 21 minutes. Boston was plus-13 when he was on the court in the 18-point victory.

“Kristaps had a monster game for us,” Jaylen Brown said. “Just his presence shooting the ball and then him being able to attack those switches and mismatches, he made ’em pay every time, and that’s what we need going forward in the series.”

According to Bontemps, Porzingis praised Boston’s crowd for getting his adrenaline flowing in just the second game of his career as a reserve.

“Tonight was an affirmation to myself that I’m pretty good (physically), you know?” Porzingis said. “Maybe I’m not perfect, but I’m pretty good and I can play like this and I can definitely add to this team.”

Here’s more on the Celtics, who now hold a 1-0 lead on the Mavericks:

Porzingis’ coach and other teammates raved about his performance as well, per Jay King of The Athletic. “He’s a matchup nightmare,” Derrick White said. “Even when you play good defense, he doesn’t see you. It’s been unreal just watching him all year. Then defensively, he uses his size well, just impacts the games in so many different ways. He changes us and he makes us a better team.”
Brown provided a steadying influence for the Celtics when the Mavs went on a third-quarter run, as Jared Weiss of The Athletic writes. At one point, Boston’s lead was cut from 29 points to eight. “We just said, just breathe. The game is starting now. Just breathe,” Brown said. “This is a moment where our experience shines through. Just breathe, just keep playing basketball.” The three-time All-Star made a major impact on both ends of the court, finishing with 22 points (on 7-of-12 shooting), six rebounds, three steals and three blocks in 37 minutes.
Steve Buckley of The Athletic lays out why he believes head coach Joe Mazzulla deserves credit for how the Celtics responded following a timeout when the third-quarter lead was down to eight points. Boston immediately went on a 14-0 run after the break in action. Mazzulla was often criticized last season for the ways in which he used his timeouts, Buckley notes.
Former Celtics guard Kyrie Irving, who is now a Maverick, said he thought Boston’s crowd “would be a little louder” following the Game 1 loss, according to Joe Vardon of The Athletic. Irving knows the jeers will continue anytime he’s in Boston, but he’s focused on what he can control on the court. “But again, the energy has to be focused towards the game,” Irving said. “I felt like I had a lot of great looks. They hit (the) back rim or were just a little left or right. Just got to stay confident and stay poised throughout this, man. This is the best time of the year to be playing. There’s only two teams left. Let’s put it in perspective. The environment is going to be what it is but my focus is on our game plan and making sure my guys feel confident and I feel confident and continue to shoot great shots.” Irving finished with just 12 points on 6-of-19 shooting in 37 minutes.
ESPN insiders Tim Bontemps, Marc Spears and Kevin Pelton provide their takeaways from Game 1.

Porzingis Will Come Off Bench In Game 1, Won’t Face Minutes Restriction

June 6th, 2024 at 7:16pm CST by Luke Adams

Playing on Thursday for the first time since suffering a calf strain on April 29, Celtics center Kristaps Porzingis will come off the bench in Game 1 of the NBA Finals vs. Dallas, with Al Horford continuing to start at the five for the Eastern Conference champions, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic.

However, according to head coach Joe Mazzulla, Porzingis won’t be a minutes restriction on Thursday, as Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe tweets.

During his three healthy games at the start of the postseason, Porzingis averaged 30.5 minutes per game after logging 29.6 MPG across 57 regular season contests. Given those numbers, it would be surprising if he played more than 25-30 minutes in Game 1, but it sounds like he could do so if needed.

In his first season as a Celtic, Porzingis averaged 20.1 points, 7.2 rebounds, 2.0 assists, and 1.9 blocks per game with a .516/.375/.858 shooting line. He has diversified Boston’s offense with his ability to score in the post and make outside shots while serving as the team’s top rim protector on defense, so keeping him healthy will be a top priority during the NBA Finals. The big man missed Game 5 of the first round vs. Miami and the entire Eastern Conference semifinals and finals due to his calf injury.

Porzingis has started 458 of 459 career regular season games over the course of his nine-year career, as well as all 14 of his playoff contests. His lone appearance off the bench came in January 2017 for the Knicks when he returned to action following a four-game injury absence.

Atlantic Notes: Tatum, Porzingis, Celtics, Nets, Sixers

June 6th, 2024 at 5:01pm CST by Luke Adams

Star forward Jayson Tatum admitted to reporters this week that the Celtics‘ storied history creates some additional pressure in the quest for a championship, which would be the franchise’s record-setting 18th title, writes Tim Bontemps of ESPN.

“We only hang NBA championship banners, right? 17 of them,” Tatum said. “Some of the greatest players to ever play this game wore this uniform. All of us are honored to follow in their footsteps, the way they paved for us to live out our dream. … If you want to be one of the greats to put on this uniform, every great before you won a championship. That’s what we try to play for every single season. The expectations are obviously different here. It takes special players to be here and to be a part of an environment like that.”

Tatum, who is in his seventh season with the Celtics and is competing in his 20th career playoff series, said he’s gotten accustomed to that pressure over the years and that his goal in this year’s Finals is to “enjoy the moment.” Boston has made four Eastern Conference finals and two NBA Finals during Tatum’s tenure. As Joe Vardon of The Athletic writes, Tatum and the Celtics believe they’re ready for the Finals this time around after experiencing some growing pains in the postseason earlier in his career.

“We come into the league at such a young age, and they want us to be perfect right away. It’s just part of growing up,” Tatum said. “You’re still growing up. I’m still growing up. It’s a process, right? Nothing was accomplished overnight. I think you’ll find a value in tough times, the ups and downs of just what life brings you.”

Here’s more from around the Atlantic:

Jared Weiss of The Athletic and Brian Robb of MassLive.com each published in-depth features on Kristaps Porzingis this week ahead of his Game 1 return, with Weiss covering the big man’s transition to the Celtics following last summer’s blockbuster trade, while Robb details how that trade was a culmination of the team’s longtime interest in Porzingis, which dated back to 2014 when he initially declared for the draft before withdrawing and reentering in 2015.
Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla was noncommittal when asked about a recent report that suggested senior consultant Jeff Van Gundy could transition into a role on Boston’s bench next season, per Robb of MassLive.com. “We don’t really know yet,” Mazzulla said during a radio appearance on Zolak and Bertrand on 98.5 FM in Boston. “We always said we are going to hire from within and kind of talk more about that after the season.”
Nets head coach Jordi Fernandez, who described his new coaching staff as “player development-oriented,” went into more detail earlier this week about what his idea of player development looks like, as Brian Lewis of The New York Post relays. “There’s no better player development in the world than playing real minutes. And we value real minutes, not just in the NBA but also the G League,” Fernandez said. “And we have all the resources we need to help our guys get better. But at the end of the day, we’re going to value team success over everything else. So it’s gonna be a clear message from the beginning; we’re gonna expect these guys to work really hard every day.”
While LeBron James is widely considered likely to remain with the Lakers, the Sixers – armed with $60MM+ in cap room and a pair of stars in Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey – could make a compelling pitch to the four-time MVP. Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report explores what it would look like if James decided he wanted to leave Los Angeles for Philadelphia.

And-Ones: West, Finals Predictions, Spain, Hezonja

June 6th, 2024 at 4:01pm CST by Rory Maher

Former NBA guard Delonte West was arrested in Virginia on Thursday morning on misdemeanor charges of violating the conditions of his release and resisting arrest, ESPN’s Baxter Holmes reports. West is being held on a $2,000 bond at the Fairfax County Detention Center. An arraignment is scheduled for Friday morning.

Local police say they spotted West around 1 a.m. ET and attempted to serve a warrant. West allegedly fled and was found unresponsive after police lost track of him during the pursuit, per Holmes.

According to the Faifax County police, West was administered Narcan — which is used to treat overdoses — but it didn’t have the desired effect. Narcan was administered a second time after West was transported to a hospital, and the second dose was effective.

The former St. Joseph’s guard discussed his struggles with bipolar disorder while he was playing and he has battled substance abuse in recent years, Holmes notes.

West, 40, played eight NBA seasons from 2004-12. In 432 career regular season games, he averaged 9.7 points, 2.9 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.1 steals in 27.4 minutes per contest.

Here’s more from around the basketball world:

While the Celtics are the betting favorites to win the NBA Finals in 2023/24, ESPN’s panel of experts believes the Mavericks will emerge victorious and claim their second championship. Nine voters selected Dallas, with eight going for Boston, so it was a very slim margin.
The Spanish basketball federation announced its preliminary 22-player roster ahead of the country’s Olympic qualifying tournament this summer, per Eurohoops. While the team features several former NBA players, Santi Aldama (Grizzlies) and Usman Garuba (Warriors) are the only two who finished the 2023/24 season on 15-man rosters. Former NBA guards Ricky Rubio and Sergio Rodriguez are among the noteworthy players who are not on Spain’s 22-man roster.
Former NBA wing Mario Hezonja, who is on Croatia’s preliminary roster for its qualifying tournament in Greece, is nearing a contract extension with Real Madrid, per Ramón Álvarez de Mon of La Galerna (Twitter link). The fifth pick of the 2015 draft, Hezojna last played in the NBA in 2019/20. A report in March said the 29-year-old was “aggressively exploring” the viability of a return to the league.

Celtics Notes: Porzingis, Tatum, Horford, Holiday

June 5th, 2024 at 5:15pm CST by Arthur Hill

After days of speculation, Kristaps Porzingis confirmed that he’ll be ready when the NBA Finals begin Thursday night, writes Souichi Terada of MassLive. The Celtics big man, who has been out of action since April 29 with a right calf strain, updated his status during a session with reporters at Wednesday’s media day, and the team made it official by not listing anyone on its injury report.

“I will play tomorrow,” Porzingis said. “… Tomorrow will be my first real minutes in a while. I did as much as I could to prepare for this moment. But there’s nothing like game minutes and game experience that I will get tomorrow. It will be tough to jump into the Finals like this. But I did everything I could to prepare for it. And we’ll see tomorrow night.”

Because of the long layoff, the Celtics will have to monitor Porzingis’ calf and may limit his minutes throughout the series to lessen the risk of a repeat injury, Terada adds. Porzingis is confident about his ability to stay healthy after going through a long list of tests to receive medical clearance.

“I did everything,” he said. “You have to check all the boxes to even get to this point. Of course, as I said, you cannot imitate the same intensity in practice as it’s going to be tomorrow in the game. I have to feel confident to go out there and leave it all out on the floor and expect that I’m going to be healthy and be completely fine.”

There’s more from Boston:

The memories of watching the Warriors celebrate their 2022 championship at TD Garden are still fresh for the Celtics players who were on that team, per Joe Vardon of The Athletic. It’s part of the motivation to earn a banner of their own this time around. “I’m a firm believer in everything happens for a reason,” Jayson Tatum said. “There’s a lesson to be learned in every situation. I do feel a lot different this time, this go-around, two years later. I’m excited for the opportunity for us to get the job done.”
Al Horford inspires his teammates by continuing to be productive late in his career, notes Jay King of The Athletic. King points out that Horford, who turned 38 on Monday, is one of just five active players remaining from the 2007 draft. He’s the oldest big man to still be in a team’s rotation, and only six players older than him were still in the league this season. “It’s funny,” Horford said, “because I feel like everybody has been talking about me being old since I was, like, 23 years old. Because I was already thinking ahead, thinking team, thinking all these other things (about the future), and that’s just who I am.”
Jrue Holiday talked to ESPN’s Malika Andrews and Kendrick Perkins (video link) about winning over Boston fans after being acquired in a trade last fall. “When I first came, I thought that they would hate me,” Holiday said, referring to the rivalry from his time in Milwaukee. “… Once [Boston] loves you, there’s nothing like it.”

Poll: Who Will Win 2024 NBA Finals?

June 5th, 2024 at 10:15am CST by Luke Adams

Based on what we’ve seen to this point in the 2023/24 NBA season, we have little reason to view the Celtics as anything but strong favorites entering the NBA Finals. Betting website BetOnline.ag agrees, listing them at -220 to win the series.

Boston finished the regular season with a 64-18 record, seven games ahead of any other team in the NBA, 14 games ahead of any other Eastern Conference team, and 14 games ahead of the Mavericks.

Only 21 teams in NBA history have won more games in a single regular season than the Celtics did this year, and 15 of those clubs won championships.

Only two teams in league history have had a higher regular season net rating (+11.7) than the Celtics did in 2023/24, and both of those teams (the 1996 and 1997 Bulls) won titles.

None of this year’s playoff teams has a better postseason record (12-2) or net rating (+10.8) than the Celtics. By comparison, the Mavericks are at 12-5 and +4.1.

So what’s the case against the Celtics? Well, there are a few factors to consider with Game 1 set to tip off on Thursday.

For one, will the Celtics have a healthy Kristaps Porzingis? The big man intends to suit up on Thursday, barring a setback, but he admitted to reporters on Tuesday that he’s not sure whether he’s 100% after being sidelined for approximately five weeks due to a calf strain that forced him to miss two full rounds of the playoffs.

If Porzingis is unavailable or unable to perform at his usual level, it would reduce the Celtics’ offensive options and limit their ability to protect the rim on defense. The Mavericks have thrived this postseason in part by letting centers Daniel Gafford and Dereck Lively hang out near the basket to defend the paint, allowing rival big men to let it fly from beyond the arc. That would be a more difficult strategy to deploy vs. Boston if Porzingis (who made 37.5% of 5.1 threes per game this season) is back in form.

The more difficult path the Mavericks traveled to reach the NBA Finals may be another point in their favor. None of the teams the Celtics defeated en route to the Finals had a top-10 record or a top-nine net rating during the regular season, and all three were missing their best players for part or all of the series vs. Boston (Jimmy Butler for Miami, Donovan Mitchell for Cleveland, and Tyrese Haliburton for Indiana).

Dallas, on the other hand, ran through three of the Western Conference’s top four seeds, knocking off a Clippers team that ranked seventh in net rating during the regular season before going on to upset the Thunder (No. 2 in net rating) and Timberwolves (No. 3). The Mavs weren’t supposed to make it this far, which means they’re essentially playing with house money at this point, whereas the Celtics – following a series of playoff letdowns in recent years – are in championship-or-bust mode and may be feeling more pressure.

Finally, while the Celtics had the strongest, most well-rounded starting lineup of any NBA team this season, the Mavericks showed in the Western Conference finals vs. Minnesota that if their stars – Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving – are the best players on the court, they can get enough from their role players to beat a team with a more talented supporting cast. Boston will have plenty of talented defenders to throw at Doncic and Irving, including Jrue Holiday and Derrick White, but if the Mavs’ star guards can outplay Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, they’ll have a chance.

We want to know what you think. Are there enough compelling reasons to believe the Mavericks can pull off the upset and become the NBA’s 2024 champions, or will Boston cap off a dominant season by winning its record-setting 18th title?

Vote in our poll, then head to the comment section below to share your predictions!

Mavs Notes: Doncic, Porzingis, Lively, Dumont, Washington

June 4th, 2024 at 6:20pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Former NBA player Chandler Parsons stated on FanDuel’s Run It Back program that Luka Doncic did not like playing with Kristaps Porzingis when the two were Mavericks teammates from 2019-22.

That’s news to Doncic, who denied there was any friction between him and the current Celtics big man.

“They’re wrong. I’ve talked to Chandler Parsons maybe twice in my life, so I don’t know how he would know this,” he said, per Kevin Sherrington of the Dallas Morning News. “Me and KP have a good relationship. I don’t know why people say these things.”

We have more from the Mavericks:

Remember when the league fined the Mavericks $750K for resting players during the second-to-last game last season, when they were still in the play-in hunt? It was worth the fine, ESPN’s Tim MacMahon notes, as they wound up drafting Dereck Lively II in the lottery at No. 12 after trading down. Dallas needed to make swift moves to build around Doncic and Kyrie Irving and the Mavs struck gold in the draft. The tank job was a transparent attempt by the Mavs to hang on to the top-10-protected pick they owed the Knicks as the final payment on the Porzingis blockbuster deal.
Patrick Dumont, the franchise’s majority shareholder, knew the team could be a contender this season. But he had no idea the Mavs would be in the Finals when the purchase from Mark Cuban was approved by the league’s Board of Governors in late December. “No, we were just very happy and honored to be able to be here,” Dumont told Brad Townsend of the Dallas Morning News. “Like, we had no idea. But we knew this team would compete. And we’re very excited about the work they’ve put it in and the results. It’s phenomenal.”
P.J. Washington and Daniel Gafford went from lottery teams prior to the trade deadline to now playing prominent roles on a Western Conference champion. Washington feels blessed to be in this position, he told Eddie Sefko of Mavs.com. “I’m pretty sure he (Gafford) didn’t expect to be here, just like I didn’t,” Washington said. “It’s a lot of emotions coming from Charlotte and not really winning a lot of games to being in the Finals in a matter of months. It’s a quick turnaround and we’re just extremely grateful. We’re not taking anything for granted. As a kid, I never thought I’d be in the position that I’m in now.”
Lively developed quicker than coach Jason Kidd expected, Sefko writes in a separate story. “When we got Lively, we felt it was going to fill one of the holes that Luka was looking for, a vertical guy,” Kidd said. “You could see the future of him being the anchor of the defense. The future just happened to come a lot faster. He wanted that responsibility. Sometimes, young players will shy away from that. But he ran to it.”

Kristaps Porzingis On Track To Return For Game 1 Of Finals

June 4th, 2024 at 12:01pm CST by Luke Adams

12:01pm: While Porzingis admitted he’s not sure if he’s 100%, he confirmed today to reporters that “the plan” is for him to play in Game 1, tweets Brian Robb of MassLive.com.

“We have a couple more days,” Porzingis said. “I’ve done a lot of work up until this point. I’ve done everything needed to get back into playing shape.”

9:44am: Celtics big man Kristaps Porzingis, who has been on the shelf for over a month due to a calf strain, is on track to return to action in Game 1 of the NBA Finals, assuming he doesn’t experience a setback before Thursday’s tip-off, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).

Porzingis was injured during Game 4 of the Celtics’ first-round series vs. Miami on April 29. He was a diagnosed with a strained right soleus, which is a muscle in the calf, and missed the entire Eastern Conference semifinals vs. Cleveland, as well as the conference finals vs. Indiana.

However, Porzingis has been ramping up his activity in recent weeks in the hopes of returning for the NBA Finals. According to Charania, the 28-year-old has participated in multiple scrimmages within the last few days.

“Monday was a very, very critical day for Kristaps Porzingis and the Celtics,” Charania said during an appearance on FanDuel’s Run it Back show (Twitter video link). “He completed a second 5-on-5 scrimmage in three days. It was a success, he came out well.”

It’s unclear whether Porzingis will immediately reclaim his spot in the starting lineup once he’s cleared to return — or what sort of minutes limit he might face. During his absence, reserve center Al Horford has started Boston’s past 10 games, with Luke Kornet, Oshae Brissett, and Xavier Tillman all seeing some minutes off the bench at the five.

A healthy Porzingis would provide rim protection on defense and would add one more dimension to the Celtics’ offensive attack. In his three full playoff games before he was injured, he averaged 14.0 points, 5.7 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 2.0 blocks, and 1.7 steals per game on .419/.412/.900 shooting.

Kyrie Irving: “Wasn’t My Best Self” With Celtics

June 3rd, 2024 at 5:45pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Perhaps the biggest subplot of these Finals is Kyrie Irving‘s return to Boston after his rocky two-year stay with the Celtics. Irving expressed contrition for some of his actions during those 2017/18 and ’18/19 seasons, as well as two subsequent playoff series against the Celtics when he played for the Nets, Tim MacMahon of ESPN writes.

The Mavericks guard views his time in a Celtics uniform as a learning experience.

“It was just a chapter in my life that I got to enjoy for the most part,” Irving said. “We had a great opportunity to do some special things, but it was cut short, just based off personal reasons on my end. One thing I look back on my time in Boston — I’ve said this over the past few years, but somehow it gets tossed under the rug — but the greatest thing I learned from Boston was just being able to manage not only my emotions or just what’s going on on a day-to-day basis of being a leader of a team or being one of the leaders, and having young guys around you that have their own goals, but you have to learn how to put the big picture first.”

Irving also admits he deserved some of the criticism that came his way during his two seasons in Boston. Irving was often moody and aloof during that time.

“I don’t mind, after a few years, taking the brunt of the blame (for my time in Boston not working out),” Irving said, per Tim Cato of The Athletic. “(I’m) one of the best players in the world so I know what comes with that fair criticism. You know, it’s just that a little bit more grace could have been extended my way, especially with what I was dealing with during that time as a human being. I know sometimes in sports, it’s literally about the end goal and result in what you accomplish, and that’s one thing. But we’re still human. At the end of the day, I wasn’t my best self during that time. When I look back on it, I just see it as a time where I learned how to let go of things and learned how to talk through my emotions.”

Irving had difficulty handling his emotions during the 2021 and 2022 playoffs. In the latter, he was fined $50K for flashing his middle finger at fans during the Nets’ Game 1 loss.

Irving says he’s better prepared and more mature now, as he and Luka Doncic try to lead Dallas to a second championship in 14 years. Irving knows the road games during the Finals, which begin Thursday in Boston, will test his patience. But he feels he’s better equipped to block out the noise.

“I think I’m better at consolidating kind of the emotions now or being aware of what it’s going to be like,” Irving said. “We call it animosity, we call it hate, we call it, ‘It’s going to be hell in Boston.’ I mean, there are real, live circumstances going on in the world that are bigger than the basketball, kind of the competitive side of things and answering those questions. But I will say last time in Boston, I don’t think that was the best — not this regular season, but when we played in the playoffs and everyone saw me flip off the birds and kind of lose my (bleep) a little bit — that wasn’t a great reflection of who I am and how I like to compete on a high level. It wasn’t a great reflection on my end towards the next generation on what it means to control your emotions in that type of environment, no matter what people are yelling at you.

“I’m built for these moments, to be able to handle circumstances like that, and I’ve been able to grow since then,” he added. “So of course it’s going to be a hectic environment, but I’m looking forward to it and I see it as a healthy relationship that I have with the fans. I almost think about ‘Gladiator,’ just winning the crowd over. It is good to hear the TD Garden silent when you’re playing well. They still respect great basketball.”

Irving has been stellar in this postseason, averaging 22.8 points and 5.2 assists per game. He has made 48.5% of his field goal attempts, a career best in the postseason.

Mavericks Notes: Jones, Kidd, Irving, Gafford

June 3rd, 2024 at 10:40am CST by Arthur Hill

The decision to sign with the Mavericks last summer has given Derrick Jones Jr. a chance to play in the NBA Finals, but he could been there with either team, writes Brian Robb of MassLive. Jones confirmed to reporters on Sunday that he considered an offer from the Celtics before opting to go to Dallas.

Boston was looking for another wing to back up Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, but the Mavs gave Jones a chance to start and he has turned out to be a bargain on a one-year minimum deal. He will be back on the free agent market this summer and figures to earn a substantial raise after averaging a career-high 8.6 PPG in 76 games. He’ll more than make up for the money he lost when he decided to turn down a $3.3MM player option with the Bulls.

“I could have accepted my player option in Chicago and still be on the team that’s not in the playoffs right now,” Jones said. “I just decided to bet on myself. I took less money to come here, but the money wasn’t the problem. The money wasn’t the issue. I just wanted to have the opportunity to be on the floor and to showcase what I’m able to do, and it happened for me.”

There’s more from Dallas:

There was speculation that Jason Kidd might have been on the hot seat with an early playoff exit, but instead he’s in the NBA Finals and has a multiyear contract extension, notes Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports. The Mavericks‘ head coach is grateful to general manager Nico Harrison and new team governor Patrick Dumont for having faith in what he’s trying to build. “And for Nico and Patrick to see that with the extension before we even got past the first round,” Kidd said. “Understanding that they believed in what I could do, and they saw the impact I had on the guys. … It’s definitely a vote of confidence. I actually believed I was doing the right thing. If you looked at our roster, it got better. We all got better.”
Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports examines the career paths of Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving and Celtics big man Kristaps Porzingis, noting there was a time where they were nearly traded for each other. It happened before the 2019 deadline, when Irving was near the end of his tenure in Boston and New York was starting to explore deals involving Porzingis. The Mavericks killed the potential trade by offering the Knicks two first-round picks in exchange for Porzingis. Fischer also notes that the Celtics weren’t on Irving’s original list when he asked to be traded out of Cleveland. The Spurs, Knicks, Timberwolves and Heat were his preferred destinations.
Daniel Gafford had exploratory talks about joining the Slovenian national team as a naturalized player, but that won’t happen this summer, sources tell Marc Stein (Substack link). Mavericks assistant Sean Sweeney will be part of Slovenia’s coaching staff for an Olympic qualifying tournament next month, and while Luka Doncic is expected to play, he won’t discuss his plans until the playoffs are done.
TNT analyst and former head coach Stan Van Gundy isn’t backing down from his claim that Irving and Doncic are “arguably the best offensive backcourt in the history of the NBA,” according to Howard Beck of The Ringer. Beck compares them to some historically great guard tandems to see how they stack up.

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