Celtics Rumors

Adam Silver Talks Expansion, Wolves Sale, Tanking, RSNs

March 28th, 2025 at 3:10pm CST by Luke Adams

Asked at his Thursday press conference whether the NBA has looked any more at adding an expansion team or two, commissioner Adam Silver said the league is “still in the process of digesting the Celtics (sale)” and expects to explore expansion in a “more serious way” once that transaction is finalized, per Tim Bontemps of ESPN.

As Bontemps notes, ESPN has previously reported that the Celtics sale was viewed as a possible precursor to expansion, since it would provide a point of reference for how much the expansion fees for new teams could potentially be worth.

“I wish I could be more conclusive today and say, ‘Here it is, here’s the timeline,'” Silver said, according to Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press. “There are events that are clearly outside of my control. Part of it, as I said, is trying to assess value in a way that’s both fair, even to a potential owner, and fair to the existing owners in terms of what it means to add additional partners, different cities, divide up our current media pie with the 31st or 32nd share.

“And also, we want to make sure we put teams in a position, particularly as we’re setting the price, to be in a position to be competitive, economically successful and just as important for the other teams, successful on the floor.”

According to Bontemps, the widespread belief is that if the NBA expands, it would do so by two teams instead of one, with Seattle and Las Vegas considered the strong frontrunners for new teams.

We previously relayed Silver’s comments on Thursday about a new European league and the NBA’s All-Star format, but he also addressed several other topics during his New York presser. Here are some highlights:

Addressing the Timberwolves‘ ownership situation, Silver said longtime owner Glen Taylor is still considering whether to appeal an arbitration ruling in favor of prospective owners Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez and that Taylor continues to communicate directly with Lore and Rodriguez, Bontemps writes. Silver referred to the situation as “on hold” while Taylor weighs his options.
Silver believes that the variety of tweaks made by the NBA in recent years – including new draft lottery odds, the introduction of the play-in tournament, and the implementation of the 65-game rule and player participation policy – have helped limit the impact of tanking, but admits that the league is still mulling ways to further address the issue. “It comes down to incentives,” Silver said, per Bontemps. “There’s no doubt that incentives change at the end of a season, especially when you have a draft that’s perceived not just with the top pick, but the top maybe few picks is an incredibly strong draft. That’s a way, a legitimate way of rebuilding in this league. So I’m not sitting here saying, ‘All right, here’s the new calibration to the draft lottery and that will solve it.’ We don’t have a new plan at the moment. I don’t have an answer sitting here today as to what we’re going to do other than to say that we recognize it’s an issue and it’s an issue for our fans. And so we’re paying attention to it.”
While Silver acknowledges the regional sports network landscape has become murky in recent years, he’s optimistic that the NBA will be able to “derive value from the situation,” Bontemps writes. “We think there’s tremendous opportunity there,” the commissioner said. “You have bankruptcies of RSNs, other RSNs that have shut down, and I think that’s created, for lack of a better term, a lot of transactional friction of people who would otherwise be interested. At the same time, well-known streaming services that only a year ago were saying they have no interest in live sports are now aggressively bidding on live sports. So we see no reason why the extent there’s that interest on a national basis or even a global basis there wouldn’t also be on a local basis.”

Atlantic Notes: Celtics, Brown, Sixers, Maxey, Payne, Robinson

March 27th, 2025 at 12:05pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Celtics didn’t have Jayson Tatum on Wednesday due to an ankle injury. It didn’t matter, as they blew out the Suns, 132-102, for their seventh straight victory.

Boston is rounding into playoff form at just the right time. The Celtics have won 14 of their last 15 road games with their only loss coming against the Pistons on Feb. 27.

Another encouraging sign, according to Brian Robb of MassLive.com, is that Jaylen Brown looks healthy, In his second game back after missing three with a knee injury, Brown had 24 points in 29 minutes.

We have more from the Atlantic Division:

The Sixers are desperately trying to retain a top-six selection so that they don’t have to forward their first-round pick to the Thunder. That made Wednesday’s 119-114 loss to the woeful Wizards a key one, Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer writes. The Sixers have lost six straight and 23 of their last 27 games. They remain tied with the Nets for the league’s fifth-worst record with nine games remaining. Philadelphia has a home back-to-back against Miami and Toronto this weekend.
While Sixers coach Nick Nurse believes Tyrese Maxey will play again this season, Pompey argues that there’s no reason to bring him back under the current circumstances. Maxey hasn’t played since March 3 due to back and finger injuries.
The Knicks‘ point guard depth took another hit on Wednesday. Cameron Payne, who started with Jalen Brunson (ankle) and Miles McBride (groin) sidelined, rolled his ankle in the first half against the Clippers and did not return. Rookie Tyler Kolek played 19 scoreless minutes with seven assists but was exploited defensively, ESPN’s Chris Herring notes. “They kept coming at us with that high two-man game, and I’ve got to be better about defending that,” Kolek said.
Mitchell Robinson is hopeful he can play in both ends of a back-to-back before the end of the regular season. He has not yet been cleared by the Knicks medical staff to play in back-to-back games. Robinson didn’t play in Tuesday’s win over Dallas, then logged 13 minutes against the Clippers. Robinson told SNY’s Ian Begley that he’ll “probably” be cleared soon.

Atlantic Notes: Raptors, Embiid, Dowtin, Chisholm

March 26th, 2025 at 9:10pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

After facing a lot of high-level competition and working through a tough schedule early into the 2024/25 season, the Raptors have seen their slate during the year’s home stretch get significantly easier — just as they’ve been looking to stack up losses.

Toronto is hoping to cement its bid for the best possible lottery odds in this summer’s draft, but playing fellow rebuilding squads could complicate that plan, writes Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca.

To wit, Grange notes that the Raptors are still scheduled to play Charlotte and Brooklyn twice each, and have one more game against seemingly lottery-bound clubs in Philadelphia, San Antonio, Portland, Chicago and Dallas as the season winds down.

As of this writing, the 25-47 Raptors have the seventh-worst record in the league. They could conceivably overtake the 23-49 Nets and Sixers – and maybe even the 20-53 Pelicans – in the lottery order if they play their cards “right.”

There’s more out of the Atlantic Division:

Sixers coach Nick Nurse said today that injured former MVP center Joel Embiid has finished consulting various specialists about his lingering knee inflammation, and Philadelphia intends to make a decision on next steps “soon-ish,” per Kyle Neubeck of PHLY Sports (Twitter link).
Sixers guard Jeff Dowtin is rapidly approaching the 50-contest active game limit for two-way players. According to Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer (subscriber link), the Rhode Island alum has just two games left before Philadelphia faces a decision on his fate. If the Sixers want to give the 27-year-old any more run in 2024/25 beyond those two games, the front office will need to promote Dowtin to its standard roster. Through 38 games this year (he has been a DNP-CD in 10), the 6’3″ guard boasts averages of 6.4 PPG, 1.8 APG, 1.6 RPG and 0.5 SPG in 14.1 minutes per night.
Incoming Celtics owner Bill Chisholm spoke with All-Star forwards Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown and team president Brad Stevens ahead of the club’s recent tilt in Sacramento, writes Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe (subscriber link). “It’s the most incredible feeling to think that maybe I can just play a tiny little part in the future,” Chisholm said, “and now I’ll just let these guys do what they’re doing, let Brad do his thing. If I can help in any way, that’s amazing to think about.”
Stevens himself spoke about the Celtics‘ impending new ownership situation too, per Souichi Terada of MassLive. “My only thing is just asking to be kept in the loop on everything I need to know from the standpoint of making decisions here and now and moving forward,” Stevens said. “As we get to spend more time with Bill, with [current team governor Wyc Grousbeck] and Bill, then we’ll have more clarity on how we are going to do things.

Injury/Health Notes: Lillard, Tatum, Jokic, Sheppard

March 26th, 2025 at 7:55am CST by Luke Adams

After initially being listed as out last week due to calf soreness, Damian Lillard was experiencing discomfort and pain inconsistent with a typical calf strain, according to Eric Nehm and Sam Amick of The Athletic, who hear from a source that the Bucks guard sought clarity on the cause.

That prompted a “rigorous discovery process” that ultimately involved Lillard meeting with five of the country’s top hematologists, either in person or via Zoom, with each of those specialists receiving his MRIs and sonograms. Lillard, who was diagnosed with deep vein thrombosis in his calf, began taking blood thinners last Friday, per The Athletic’s source, and the early indications are that the treatment is working well.

In a separate story for The Athletic, Nehm explores how the Bucks will get by without Lillard, noting that leaning on defense is probably their best path forward. That effort begins with having a strong perimeter defender like Ryan Rollins starting in place of Lillard.

“Obviously, nobody is going to be Dame but Dame,” Bucks center Brook Lopez said earlier this week. “But (Rollins) has done a great job coming in, being himself and finding a niche, that like Dame, only he can do. It’s specifically Ryan. He comes out there and he makes a difference in his way. He gets into guys, defends them full-court, picks up 94 feet.”

Here are a few more injury-related notes from around the NBA:

The Celtics‘ injury report for Wednesday’s game in Phoenix is another sign that Jayson Tatum‘s ankle injury isn’t significant. Tatum isn’t expected to play vs. the Suns, but he hasn’t officially been ruled out yet — he’s listed as doubtful (Twitter link).
Nuggets center Nikola Jokic, who has missed the team’s past five games, has been upgraded to doubtful for Wednesday’s matchup with Milwaukee (Twitter link via DNVR Sports). Jokic’s initial injury report designation last week indicated he was dealing with both a right elbow contusion and a left ankle impingement, but only the ankle issue is still listed, which suggests the elbow is no longer a problem.
Rockets rookie Reed Sheppard, out since March 6 with a fracture in his right thumb, had a scan on Sunday that showed good calcification around the fractured bone, according to head coach Ime Udoka, who said on Tuesday that Sheppard would be reevaluated in four or five days. Sheppard is still wearing a splint on the thumb part-time, but he takes it off when he works out, per Danielle Lerner of The Houston Chronicle (Twitter link).

Celtics Sale Notes: Chisholm, Financing, Valuation, More

March 25th, 2025 at 10:22am CST by Luke Adams

Although William Chisholm has reached a tentative agreement to buy a controlling stake in the Celtics, the NBA’s Board of Governors vote to approve the sale isn’t expected to happen until June, according to Dan Primack of Axios (hat tip to Brian Robb of MassLive.com).

That will give Chisholm some time to recruit additional investors, since his bid for the franchise isn’t fully financed, Primack writes. A report from Kerry A. Dolan of Forbes seems to corroborate this point, noting that Chisholm offered another billionaire an opportunity to buy a stake in the Celtics last Thursday.

Primack suggests that Chisholm’s best route to secure additional financing may be to reach out to the other three groups who were involved in the bidding process. Those groups are headed by Dan Friedkin, Stan Middleman, and current Celtics minority owner Steve Pagliuca.

However, according to Primack, Friedkin may already be moving on to pursuing an NHL expansion team in Houston. As for Pagliuca, his group’s bid was fully financed, so he may prefer to hold firm as a potential Plan B if Chisholm’s bid falls through rather than joining Chisholm’s group himself.

Primack also notes that Middleman’s offer came in below Chisholm’s but above Pagliuca’s. There has been no indication that offer was fully financed.

Here’s more on the Celtics’ impending sale:

While the initial valuation of the franchise is said to be $6.1 billion for the controlling stake, the agreement calls for the valuation to rise to about $7.3 billion by the time Chisholm’s group buys out the remaining shares in 2028, according to Primack, who adds that the weighted price would work out to approximately $6.7 billion.
Wyc Grousbeck‘s desire to remain in place as the Celtics’ CEO and governor until 2028 was dropped as a mandatory requirement at some point during the sale process, but Chisholm “smartly recognized” the value of agreeing to that condition when he made his offer, writes Primack. According to Axios, the terms of Pagliuca’s fully financed bid didn’t include Grousbeck retaining his CEO position.
Primack suggests that the high price tag for the Celtics may reduce the likelihood of the NBA expanding to cities like Seattle or Las Vegas in the near future. As he explains, with the Celtics sale resetting the market for franchise valuations, other team owners may be able to get an influx of cash by selling small stakes in their teams rather than relying on expansion fees. Adding one or more expansion franchises to the league would result in a substantial one-time payment for existing teams, but would dilute each club’s share of media rights revenue going forward.

Jayson Tatum Appears To Have Avoided Significant Ankle Injury

March 25th, 2025 at 7:36am CST by Luke Adams

The Celtics experienced a major injury scare in the third quarter of Monday’s win over Sacramento when star forward Jayson Tatum came down on Domantas Sabonis‘ foot after attempting a three-point shot, turning his left ankle as he landed (Twitter video link).

Tatum, who appeared to be in a great deal of pain as he grimaced and grabbed his ankle on the floor, exited the game after shooting a pair of free throws and didn’t return. However, as Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe and ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne report, there were indications in the locker room later in the night that the injury wasn’t a serious one.

According to Himmelsbach, Tatum wasn’t in a walking boot or using crutches, and he barely exhibited a limp when he eventually left the arena to board the team bus. The six-time All-Star was laughing and joking with teammates and didn’t receive any additional medical treatment while sitting at his locker for nearly an hour after the game, Himmelsbach adds.

Tatum declined to conduct a post-game media session, but told Shelburne that his ankle was “just sore,” acknowledging that the team is “going to be cautious.” Head coach Joe Mazzulla said the veteran forward “seems to be doing OK,” while teammate Kristaps Porzingis echoed that view, per Himmelsbach.

“I’m glad it’s nothing too bad, hopefully,” Porzingis said. “It’s a tough situation, tough to see him like that. You could tell he was in a lot of pain, but I’m glad he’s OK.”

The Celtics’ bench initially directed some ire toward Sabonis, who was assessed with a flagrant 1 foul for sliding under Tatum on his jump shot. The Kings star, who has dealt with a series of injuries in recent weeks and was playing in his first game back from a sprained ankle of his own, expressed remorse after the game.

“I feel horrible,” he said. “I’ve had a crazy month myself, personally, and you never want that to happen, so I apologize.”

Boston can afford to play it safe with Tatum, since there are just 10 games left in the season and the team is likely locked into its playoff position. The 53-19 Celtics remain 4.5 games behind the No. 1 Cavaliers and have an eight-game cushion on the No. 3 Knicks in the Eastern Conference standings.

Tatum’s injury occurred on the same night that the Celtics’ other star forward, Jaylen Brown, returned after missing three contests due to a bone bruise in his right knee. Brown, who also missed a pair of games earlier this month as a result of his knee issue, said he met with specialists, but his injury is believed to just be a result of wear and tear, according to Himmelsbach.

“It felt fine,” Brown said after scoring nine points on 4-of-8 shooting in 26 minutes. “I was being a little conservative. When you’ve been out for a while it’s a mental aspect, too, where you just try to keep your feet underneath you. As I gained more confidence I started extending out, being more athletic, and things I’m used to normally doing. Tonight was a good step though.”

Celtics Notes: New Owner, Horford, Kornet, Hauser, Pritchard, Mazzulla

March 22nd, 2025 at 7:27pm CST by Arthur Hill

The record-setting $6.1 billion purchase price for the Celtics is just the beginning of William Chisholm‘s investment in the franchise. As Jay King of The Athletic notes, Chisholm is taking over a team with a massive salary and huge expectations that will become even more expensive if the core of the roster is kept together.

Boston’s payroll is projected to be in the neighborhood of $445MM next season in salaries and luxury tax, per John Hollinger of The Athletic. That’s without free agents Al Horford and Luke Kornet, who would push that total higher if they’re both re-signed.

As players waited out the sale process, Jayson Tatum talked about the importance of finding a new owner who understands “the culture” and Jaylen Brown expressed the need to “keep the emphasis on winning.” Both statements reflect the necessity for continued spending for the Celtics to remain at a championship level, as King adds that the fanbase will quickly turn on the new owner if talent is sacrificed to save money.

“That’s something that they’ll have to figure out,” Horford said. “Ultimately, they’ll be the new owners of the team, they’ll have to make those decisions. But this is my 18th season in the league and there are very few times when you get a special group or a certain window of guys that you can do some special things. So I’m sure that they will be aware of that but that’s something that you have to understand what you’re stepping into.”

There’s more from Boston:

Bobby Marks of ESPN believes the roster is “sustainable” for the near future, even with the giant tax bills (Twitter video link). Marks points out that the Celtics have 11 players under contract for next season — including Tatum and Brown, who are both signed to long-term deals — and they’ll have two picks in the top 32 of this year’s draft. However, he adds that it could be hard to keep complementary players like Sam Hauser and Payton Pritchard long-term because of the effect they’ll have on the luxury tax.
Coach Joe Mazzulla came away encouraged from his first meeting with the new owner, according to Adam Himmeslbach of The Boston Globe. Chisholm, a Massachusetts native and life-long Celtics fan, pledged to build on the team’s recent success. “Just continue to win championships, continue to be a high-level organization on and off the court, and he obviously has a lot of experience doing that in other endeavors,” Mazzulla said. “So just continuing to work to make the Celtics better, and then kind of give us a shot every year to go after a championship. So I’m excited about that.”
Chisholm expressed similar sentiments to Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter links). “The team is in a great place right now, and I’m very sensitive to that,” he said. (Current owner) Wyc (Grousbeck), (president of basketball operations) Brad (Stevens) and Joe have done amazing jobs. … My approach is to win and raise banners. That’s in the near term and the long term. I bleed green. I love the Celtics. When opportunity came up, I couldn’t pass it up. Wyc has done an incredible job. So why would you mess that up? I’ve had a couple of sitdowns with Brad and it’s been about aligning our goals and extending the window of this team.”
Eric Fisher of Front Office Sports examines the record price tag, attributing it to the scarcity of pro sports franchises for sale and the NBA’s new media rights deal.

Celtics’ Grousbeck Talks Tax Aprons, Sale, Chisholm, Arena

March 21st, 2025 at 11:01pm CST by Luke Adams

Celtics governor Wyc Grousbeck has agreed to sell his controlling stake in the franchise, but the plan is for Grousbeck to remain in his current position with the team through the 2027/28 season, collaborating with William Chisholm and his investors as the defending champions transition to a new ownership group.

A major part of that transition will involve determining how long to maintain one of the NBA’s highest payrolls. The Celtics are operating over the second tax apron, restricting their ability to make certain roster moves and ensuring that their 2032 draft pick will become “frozen” this offseason, making it ineligible to be traded.

According to Grousbeck, those roster-related restrictions imposed on teams operating above the second apron are of greater concern than the prospect of repeatedly pay substantial luxury tax bills.

“It’s not the luxury tax bill, it’s the basketball penalties,” Grousbeck said during a WEEI appearance when asked about the Celtics’ ability to remain well above the tax line (story via Brian Robb of MassLive.com). “The new CBA was designed by the league to stop teams from going crazy. They decided that it’s not good enough to go after the wallets because the fans can be like, ‘Hey find someone who can afford to spend $500 million dollars a year or whatever it is, like the English Premier League. I know seven guys who own Premier League teams in England with no spending caps and most of them don’t know what the hell is going on.”

“The basketball penalties mean that it’s even more of a premium now to have your basketball general manager be brilliant and lucky,” Grousbeck continued. “Because you have to navigate because you can’t stay in the second apron, nobody will, I predict, for the next 40 years of the CBA, no one is going to stay in the second apron more than two years.”

This is the second consecutive season the Celtics have been in second-apron territory, so Grousbeck’s comments about the sustainability of that approach are eyebrow-raising.

Of course, it’s worth noting that not all of the apron-related penalties had been implemented during the 2023/24 season, so a third season above the second apron might be more viable for the Celtics or another team in ’25/26 than it would be going forward. Still, based on Grousbeck’s remarks, it sounds like some cost-cutting could be in Boston’s future.

Here are a few more noteworthy comments from Grousbeck’s media appearances this week:

On how the Celtics, specifically, plan to navigate the second apron in the short term:
(via Robb)

“We have Brad Stevens, the reigning Executive of The Year, and thank God we do. He’s the one who really brought us this championship with his brilliant moves –along with many other people — but Brad is at the forefront. He’s looking at this and is going to extend our window and make it work. We’ll find out in June or July what we’re going to do.”

On what he told Stevens, head coach Joe Mazzulla, and stars Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown about the sale:
(via Sanjesh Singh of NBC Sports Boston)

“I’ve actually talked to Jayson, Jaylen, Joe and Brad and said, ‘Just so you know…these small group of finalists are all great and they can all do the job, and we won’t let it go to anybody who would fall short of that.’ I told them basically just a few days ago when I saw them all at practice, ‘It’s OK. Don’t put it on your mind. Take it off your mind if you can. Because we’ve got you, this is going to go fine.’

“They said, ‘We trust you.’ Jayson Tatum literally looked at me and said, “I trust you, Wyc. Got it.’ And with good reason, hopefully, that he trusts me. Everything’s good on that front.”

On what advice he has given to Chisholm:
(via Singh)

“Be yourself. You are a fan. The fans are going to love you. We’re not going to win every game together. They want to see that you care, that you’re a fan who bought the team. That’s our group here, we’re fans who bought this team. You’re a fan who’s buying in…we’re going to be fans who’s running this team for Celtic pride on and off the court…When you do that, everything else follows.”

On why there are no plans to build a new arena that the Celtics would own:
(via Robb of MassLive.com)

“It’s not broken over there, and we have a great partnership with (the Jacobs family, which owns the Boston Bruins and the TD Garden). Honestly, there’s room for one arena in Boston, not two. Because you need to have concerts and events to fill out the bill. And if we ever talked to the Jacobs, we all decided to renovate the Garden very seriously – there have been huge, hundreds of millions of dollars of renovations. But if we ever decide to do anything, I’m sure we’d do it together and have both teams playing there.

“It shouldn’t be on everybody’s mind. We’ve got a lease in the Garden until, like, the 2030s, and we’ve got a good partnership with them, and we’ll both upgrade whatever we need to do to keep the fans happy, because we’re fans ourselves.”

Jaylen Brown Out At Least Two Games With Bone Bruise

March 21st, 2025 at 7:19pm CST by Luke Adams

Celtics forward Jaylen Brown has been ruled out for at least two games after being diagnosed with a bone bruise with posterior impingement in his right knee, according to the team (Twitter link).

Brown will miss Friday’s contest in Utah and Sunday’s in Portland before being reevaluated on Monday. It’s unclear whether he’ll be available for the rest of the Celtics’ road trip, which includes games in Sacramento (March 24), Phoenix (March 26), San Antonio (March 29), and Memphis (March 31).

Brown also sat out on March 6 and March 14 due to his right knee issue, which was referred to at that time as simply “posterior impingement” — both of those games were part of back-to-back sets.

While Brown’s reevaluation timeline suggests the injury isn’t considered a significant one, it makes sense for the Celtics to keep him sidelined for at least a couple games if they believe that extra rest will help him get closer to 100%. Boston’s 50-19 record puts the team six games behind the top-seeded Cavaliers and six games up on the No. 3 Knicks, so the priority at this point is getting healthy for the postseason rather than fighting for a playoff seed.

Brown has averaged 22.8 points, 6.1 rebounds, 4.7 assists, and 1.3 steals in 35.3 minutes per game across 56 outings (all starts) this season. He’s a candidate for a spot on an All-NBA team, but his eligibility will hinge on whether his knee ailment keeps him on the shelf beyond Sunday. After missing the Celtics’ next two games, the 28-year-old will have to play in at least nine of the final 11 to meet the 65-game criteria.

Atlantic Notes: Scheierman, Brunson, Knicks, Walker

March 20th, 2025 at 10:55pm CST by Tristan Tucker

Celtics rookie Baylor Scheierman scored a career-high 20 points against the Nets on Tuesday, giving the Celtics their 50th win. As Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe notes, 17 of Scheierman’s 20 came in the second half and he only missed one garbage-time shot.

“Obviously it’s a lot of fun when [the game] slows down and it feels like you’re just out there playing free, playing loose,” Scheierman said. “Coach [Joe Mazzulla] has got a lot of confidence in you, players have got a lot of confidence in you. That’s what the game is all about, and that’s how I enjoy playing.”

Scheierman hasn’t played much at the NBA level this year, but he’s contributed to a pair of wins in the past couple weeks. The 2024 No. 30 overall pick is getting more comfortable by the day.

“Confidence is kind of an overused term,” Mazzulla said. “I think in reality, it’s like, this kid just got here. He’s been here for three months. Like, what do you expect him to look like 10 games in playing sporadically? He’s always had that confidence. I think a lot of it is a matter of timing. A lot of it’s a matter of opportunity. And a lot of it is the moments that you get, you’ve got to deliver and you’ve got to impact winning.”

We have more from the Atlantic Division:

Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau said Jalen Brunson was out of his walking boot and has progressed to doing “light shooting,” according to Newsday’s Steve Popper (Twitter link). New York is hoping to get him into some game action before the playoffs begin. He hasn’t played since March 6 due to an ankle injury.
New York wing Josh Hart ripped the Knicks after they lost to the 18-win Hornets on Thursday, according to the New York Post’s Stefan Bondy. “The way we’re losing games is embarrassing,” Hart said, “… It’s extra effort, and we’re not doing that, and that’s what’s embarrassing, especially for this team, especially for a Thibs-coached team, a New York-based team. That’s not what we should be doing. That’s not what we’re supposed to be built on.” New York is 3-4 without Brunson during this stretch.
Sixers guard Lonnie Walker IV hasn’t played since March 12 after suffering a concussion. He’s probable for Friday’s game against the Spurs, Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer tweets. Walker is averaging 8.2 points and 3.3 rebounds this season.

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