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2024/25 All-NBA Teams Announced

May 23rd, 2025 at 6:09pm CST by Eli Cohen

The 2024/25 All-NBA teams have been officially announced by the league (Twitter link).

A total of 100 media members voted on the All-NBA teams, with First Team votes counting for five points, Second Team votes counting for three points, and Third Team votes counting for one point.

This year’s All-NBA teams are as follows:

First Team

Second Team

Third Team

The top four vote-getters, Antetounmpo, Gilgeous-Alexander, Jokic, and Tatum, were all unanimous selections to the First Team. James led the Second Team with 17 First Team votes, compared to Mitchell’s 61. Cunningham was the only member of the Third Team to receive First Team votes (six) — he also earned 10 more Second Team votes than the next closest vote-getter, as Towns had 40.

This announcement marks the first All-NBA selections for Cunningham, Mobley, and Williams, and – on the other side of the coin – the 21st consecutive selection for James. No other player in NBA history has been named to more than 15 All-NBA teams.

Curry set a franchise record with his 11th All-NBA selection. Edwards became just the fourth Timberwolves player to be named to multiple All-NBA teams, joining Kevin Garnett, Kevin Love, and Towns.

Other players who received votes, along with their respective point totals, were the Rockets‘ Alperen Sengun (58), the Grizzlies‘ Jaren Jackson Jr. (55), the Clippers‘ Ivica Zubac (15), the Cavaliers‘ Darius Garland (6), the Kings‘ Domantas Sabonis (4), the Pacers‘ Pascal Siakam (4), the Heat‘s Bam Adebayo (3), the Hawks‘ Trae Young (3), and the Suns‘ Devin Booker (2).

The Cavs, Knicks, and Thunder were the only teams to feature multiple All-NBA players. Both the Thunder and Knicks are currently playing in the conference finals for a shot at advancing to the NBA finals.

This is the second year that All-NBA teams have been positionless and have required players to meet a 65-game minimum to qualify for consideration.

Several players, starting with Cunningham, gained or lost eligibility for salary increases due to the All-NBA results. We have more details here.

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Details On NBA’s Playoff Bonus Money For 2024/25

May 23rd, 2025 at 9:14am CST by Luke Adams

The pool of bonus money for NBA playoff teams this season is worth approximately $34.7MM, according to Kurt Badenhausen and Lev Akabas of Sportico.

The top six teams in each conference earn bonuses based on their regular season records, while the 16 playoff teams also receive a chunk of money from the playoff pool, increasing the value of their payout with each series win. That bonus money is divvied up among the players on each club’s 15-man roster.

Teams eliminated in the play-in tournament aren’t entitled to any of the playoff bonus money, even if they had the seventh- or eighth-best regular season record in their conference.

The breakdown for 2025’s playoff pool money is as follows (rounded to the nearest thousand), per Sportico:

Regular season achievements:

  • Best record in NBA (Thunder): $869K
  • No. 1 seeds in each conference (Cavaliers, Thunder): $761K per team
  • No. 2 seeds (Celtics, Rockets): $609K per team
  • No. 3 seeds (Knicks, Lakers): $456K per team
  • No. 4 seeds (Pacers, Nuggets): $372K per team
  • No. 5 seeds (Bucks, Clippers): $288K per team
  • No. 6 seeds (Pistons, Timberwolves): $204K per team

Postseason achievements:

  • Teams participating in first round (all 16 playoff teams — the 12 listed above, plus the Magic, Heat, Warriors, and Grizzlies): $466K per team
  • Teams participating in conference semifinals (eight teams): $568K per team
  • Teams participating in conference finals (four teams): $951K per team
  • Losing team in NBA Finals: $3,803,000
  • Winning team in NBA Finals: $8,805,000

A team that makes a deep playoff run will cash in on more than one of the bonuses listed above.

For example, if the Thunder win the championship, their payout from the playoff pool would be worth more than $12.4MM in total — that amount would include their bonuses for posting the NBA’s best record, claiming the West’s No. 1 seed, making the first round, making the conference semifinals, making the conference finals, and winning the NBA Finals.

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Northwest Notes: SGA, Randle, Wolves, Blazers

May 22nd, 2025 at 4:00pm CST by Luke Adams

While Shai Gilgeous-Alexander always thought he was capable of becoming “a really good player,” the Thunder guard admitted on Wednesday that he didn’t view himself as a potential MVP until several years into his NBA career, writes Anthony Slater of The Athletic. He first earned MVP votes in 2023, when he finished fifth, then was the runner-up to Nikola Jokic a year ago before flipping spots with the Nuggets star this spring and winning the award for the first time.

“I dreamt about (winning MVP) as a kid, but as a kid, it’s a fake dream,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “As the days go on and you realize that you get closer to your dream, it’s hard to not freak out. It’s hard to not be a six-year-old kid again. I think that’s what’s allowed me to achieve it.”

Because he earned All-NBA honors in 2023 and 2024, Gilgeous-Alexander was already eligible to sign a four-year, super-max extension this offseason. That deal, which would begin in 2027/28, would be worth a projected $293.4MM based on annual 10% salary cap increases.

As a result of being named Most Valuable Player this season, Gilgeous-Alexander now has the option of waiting until the 2026 offseason and signing a five-year super-max deal at that time, as Bobby Marks of ESPN tweeted on Wednesday. That contract would look the same through the first four seasons but would include a fifth year worth a whopping $86.45MM, bringing the total value of the projected extension to nearly $380MM.

Here’s more from around the Northwest:

  • After averaging 27.0 points and 7.8 assists per game on 55.7% shooting in the Timberwolves‘ four wins vs. Golden State, Julius Randle had another big scoring night in Game 1 vs. Oklahoma City with a team-high 28 points. But his 13 field goal attempts were well below his postseason average and he was held to one assist while committing five turnovers. He also had just eight of his points in the second half as the Thunder pulled away with the game. “That’s on me, I got to get him the ball,” head coach Chris Finch said, per Dave McMenamin of ESPN. “I got to get him more involved to start the second half.”
  • While Randle and Anthony Edwards combined for 46 points on 14-of-27 shooting on Tuesday, the rest of the Timberwolves scored just 42 points and made 15-of-57 field goals (26.3%). Zach Kram of ESPN.com examines the challenges a strong Minnesota offense faces against the league’s best defense in this series, while Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic writes that the Wolves need more out of a second unit led by Naz Reid and Donte DiVincenzo. That duo combined to make just 4-of-25 shots in Game 1, including 3-of-19 three-pointers.
  • In a Substack article, Sean Highkin of the Rose Garden Report attempts to answer five questions related to the Trail Blazers‘ sale, including how long it will take, how much they’re worth, and how the process might affect the on-court product. Most importantly, Highkin writes, while it’s technically possible that a new owner could look to relocate the franchise, that’s a highly unlikely outcome — and one that the sellers don’t want.
  • The Trail Blazers‘ sale won’t affect Moda Center renovations that are already underway, including an upgraded videoboard, but additional major arena projects will likely be on hold until the sale is complete, says Aaron Fentress of The Oregonian.
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NBA Announces 2024/25 All-Defensive Teams

May 22nd, 2025 at 1:07pm CST by Luke Adams

The NBA has officially announced its All-Defensive teams for the 2024/25 season (Twitter links).

The teams are determined by a panel of 100 media members, with players receiving two points for a First Team vote and one point for a Second Team vote.

There were no unanimous First Team selections this year, but Defensive Player of the Year Evan Mobley came close, having been named to the First Team on 99 ballots (Twitter link). He was selected to the Second Team on the 100th ballot, for a total of 199 points.

The honorees are as follows, along with their point totals:

First Team

Second Team

The NBA adjusted the voting rules in 2023 to allow All-Defensive ballots to be positionless. Up until that point, each team consisted of two guards, two forwards, and a center.

Despite the lack of positional requirements, this year’s teams are reasonably well balanced — while Mobley, Green, Zubac, Jackson, and Gobert all serve as defensive anchors for their respective clubs, Mobley, Green, and Jackson spend much of their time on the court playing forward rather than center.

It’s the ninth time that Green has made an All-Defensive team and the eighth time that Gobert has earned the honor. Jackson and Mobley have each been recognized multiple times too — it’s the third time Jackson has made the cut and the second time for Mobley. However, Daniels, Dort, Thompson, Zubac, Williams, and Camara have never been named All-Defensive players before this season.

Among the other players who received votes, Knicks forward OG Anunoby came closest to cracking the top 10, having been named to the First Team on two ballots and the Second Team on 45 ballots for a total of 49 points. An additional 13 players received at least one vote, but none of them had more than 18 total points.

That group of players who missed the cut includes Heat big man Bam Adebayo, whose streak of five straight All-Defensive seasons has come to an end.

Players were required to meet the criteria of the 65-game rule in order to qualify for All-Defensive consideration. The full voting results can be viewed here (Twitter link).

As Bobby Marks of ESPN tweets, Dort has earned a $500K bonus for making the First Team this season. In addition to increasing his earnings for this season, that will bump Dort’s cap hit for 2025/26 from $17,722,222 to $18,222,222, since the bonus will now be considered likely to be earned next season.

Conversely, after missing out on All-Defensive spots this season, Derrick White and Jaden McDaniels will see their cap hits for next season reduced by $250K and $431K, respectively, Marks adds (Twitter link). Those bonuses, which had been considered likely after the duo earned All-Defensive nods in 2024, won’t be earned this season, which means the Celtics and Timberwolves will each receive a tax variance credit and both bonuses will be considered unlikely for 2025/26.

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CBA Observations: Kuminga, D. Robinson, Cavs, Frozen Picks

May 22nd, 2025 at 7:26am CST by Luke Adams

While the NBA's current Collective Bargaining Agreement technically went into effect in 2023, many of the rules affecting tax apron teams weren't fully implemented until 2024. As a result, last summer was a crash course for teams, fans, and reporters alike on those new rules, giving us our first look at the impact they'll have on team-building going forward.

With the 2024/25 season under our belts, we're better equipped entering the 2025 offseason to assess how those new rules - and some old ones - will affect teams' ability to make trades and sign free agents this summer. Still, I've seen some confusion and misrepresentation regarding a few specific rules as speculation about offseason roster moves begins to heat up this spring, so we'll use the space below today to provide clarity on some of those issues.

Let's dive in...

A potential Jonathan Kuminga sign-and-trade

With Warriors forward Jonathan Kuminga headed for restricted free agency this offseason after playing an inconsistent role in his fourth NBA season, there has been a good deal of speculation already about whether Golden State will attempt to recoup value for Kuminga via a sign-and-trade rather than simply re-signing him or matching a rival offer sheet.

I'm not here today to weigh the merits of one path vs. the other. I just want to examine what it would look like from a practical perspective if the Warriors do sign-and-trade Kuminga, since the base year compensation rule would come into play.

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NBA Fines Anthony Edwards $50K

May 21st, 2025 at 11:09pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

The NBA has fined Timberwolves All-Star guard Anthony Edwards $50K for his use of “profane language” during a postgame interview, the league announced in a press statement (via Twitter).

Edwards uttered the offending language (Twitter video link) after Minnesota fell in a 114-88 Game 1 blowout road loss against the Thunder on Tuesday. He and three-time All-Star Timberwolves power forward Julius Randle were fielding reporters’ questions in a tandem appearance and Edwards bemoaned the fact that he “only took 13 f—ing shots” in Game 1.

After a competitive first quarter-and-a-half, Oklahoma City clamped down defensively and started heating up on the other end in the second half. Edwards, 23, had a fairly modest-for-him scoring night in Game 1, while being deftly covered by a flurry of Thunder wings. He scored just 18 points on 5-of-13 shooting from the field, plus 5-of-7 shooting from the foul line.

Edwards was fined several times by the league over the course of the season for various transgressions, including repeatedly using profane language during media interviews.

He was docked $320K for six separate incidents prior to the playoffs, and that total doesn’t include the $242K he lost as a result of a one-game suspension or the smaller fines automatically assessed for each of his league-leading 17 technical fouls. He was also fined $50K for an exchange with a Lakers fan in round one.

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Anthony Edwards Unwavered By Game 1 Loss

May 21st, 2025 at 10:52am CST by Dana Gauruder

The Thunder looked dominant as they pulled away from the Timberwolves in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals on Tuesday. Minnesota’s star was unfazed by the 26-point loss, according to Dave McMenamin of ESPN.

Anthony Edwards just thinks he needs to be more assertive in order for the Timberwolves to turn things around.

“I definitely got to shoot more,” Edwards said. “I only took 13 (bleeping) shots. … Probably just get off the ball a little more, play without the ball. I think that will be the answer. Because playing on the ball, they’re just going to double and sit in the gaps all day. So, got to go watch some film and pick it apart. We’ll figure it out.”

Edwards averaged 26.8 points and 6.2 assists while taking 22.4 shots per game against the Lakers in the opening round. In the conference semifinals against Golden State, he averaged 26.2 points and 5.6 assists on 21.8 shots per game.

In the conference finals opener, Edwards had 18 points, three assists and four turnovers and took only 13 shots in 37 minutes. All but one of his attempts came from outside the lane.

“I mean, they clogged the paint,” Edwards said. “That’s what they do. They don’t got much size down there, so they bank on us not making shots, I guess. Because every time I go to the rim it’s like four people in the paint.”

Edwards and his teammates fired away from beyond the arc and shot mostly blanks, going 15-for-51 from long range.

“We had good looks, we just have to make shots,” guard Donte DiVincenzo said. “Myself, I have to make a couple shots and it loosens up the defense for Ant. It’s a domino effect.”

Edwards briefly left the game when he tweaked his right ankle in the first quarter but said that had nothing to do with his performance. “I feel great,” he said.

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Mike Conley Seeks To Play At Least Two More Seasons

May 20th, 2025 at 9:45pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Timberwolves guard Mike Conley hopes to play at least two more seasons, according to Andscape’s Marc J. Spears.

Conley, 37, is aiming to play 20 NBA seasons in total. He’ll make $10.8MM next season in the final year of his contract in 2025/26 and says he’s having too much fun to hang it up yet.

“I’m having a ball, bro, honestly,” Conley said. “I tell the guys all the time, ‘If you see a day where I’m not smiling and not having a good time and loving being here, tell me to retire. Tell me to go home.’ That is one reason why I’m here. Being around these guys, the atmosphere, the game. The competitive atmosphere every day. You don’t get this anywhere else in life, especially at my age getting older. You really can’t take it for granted.”

Conley appeared in 71 games this season but he was playing through some pain. He  has been nagged by a left wrist injury since last offseason.

The veteran point guard averaged 8.2 points and 4.5 assists while playing a career-low 24.7 minutes per game. He put up 8.0 points and 5.0 assists in 24.6 minutes per contest in the conference semifinals against Golden State.

“One of the toughest injuries for me has been the wrist,” Conley said. “I had to be in a cast for like two months last summer. And during that time, I couldn’t shoot a ball, touch a ball. Nothing. That is not like me. Normally in the summertime I’m working and doing everything I can. So going into training camp, I had no strength [in my wrist]. It was weak, [there was] still pain and I was trying to work through some things. I was hesitant to do stuff and be myself. It’s been a battle all [season]. It’s something I’ve slowly gotten over with. Hopefully, it will be even better next season.”

This is the third time in his career that Conley’s team has made it to the conference finals. He also played in the Western Finals in 2013 with Memphis and last year with Minnesota, but he’s still seeking his first NBA Finals appearance.

“I was shocked, really, because I thought it was a special year,” Conley said about losing in the Western Conference Finals last spring. “I thought it was going to all make sense and we all were going to make it finally. My first thought was, ‘How long will it take for us to get back here again? Will it be next year. Will it be another year? I don’t know. Will it be the last chance I get?’ All those thoughts popped in. But it got me going in the summertime hoping that we could do it again this season and have a chance.”

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Northwest Notes: Nuggets, Finch, Thunder, Wolves

May 20th, 2025 at 10:02am CST by Eli Cohen

There’s a chance that Game 7’s loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder will be the last game together for the Nuggets‘ core four of Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, Aaron Gordon, and Michael Porter Jr., writes Bennett Durando of the Denver Post. The quartet, which has played together since the Gordon was acquired via trade in 2022, is looking at a financial reality that might prove too onerous for ownership to bear, especially with the team unable to get past the second round since winning the title in 2023.

Asked after Game 7 whether the Nuggets could win a championship as currently constructed, Jokic said, “If we could, we will win it. So I don’t believe in the ‘if, if’ stuff. We had opportunity. We didn’t win it. So I think we can’t.”

The loss comes after the abrupt termination of general manager Calvin Booth and longtime head coach Michael Malone, both of whom were crucial architects of the championship identity, just weeks before the playoffs began. Interim head coach David Adelman ended up coaching nearly as many Game 7s as he did regular season games.

Murray and Gordon both have extensions about to kick in. Murray’s four-year deal is worth nearly $208MM, while Gordon’s is a three-year $109MM extension after he exercised his $22.84MM player option in the 2025/26 season.

While both are trade-eligible, they have been crucial pieces of the Nuggets’ success, with Murray providing scoring and play-making while Gordon has consistently been a big-shot maker and elite defender who has displayed a seamless connection with Jokic as a cutter and screener. That may leave Porter as the best chance the team has to address some of its roster holes while it still can, especially with Christian Braun‘s extension eligibility looming.

We have more from around the Northwest:

  • Whatever decisions the Nuggets are forced to make due to finances and a lack of repeated Finals runs will be made more difficult by the bonds that have developed over the years. One such relationship is between Porter and Gordon, who have become close friends and support pillars for each other, Marc J. Spears writes for Andscape. Gordon played this season after losing his older brother, Drew, and Porter was someone he could lean on in times of hardship. Gordon and Porter both fought through injuries that limited them in their series against the Thunder, to the point that Porter wondered if he made things worse by being out there. “I probably should’ve just let it heal for a few games and then try to come back,” he said. “That is just not the person I am.”
  • Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch‘s journey to back-to-back conference finals appearances began with a rejection from a Pennsylvania high school coaching gig, writes Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic. At the time, he was coaching basketball in England and desperate for a way home. That journey led him to the Rockets’ G League team, the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, which eventually led him to Minnesota, where, for the second time in three seasons, Finch had to figure out how to construct an identity around a team with a new All-Star. The results were tumultuous to start the season, with the team booed for a lackluster start amid discourse about whether newly-acquired star Julius Randle should be benched for Sixth Man of the Year Naz Reid, but Finch eventually found the right buttons to push for to his new-look team. “The validation I feel is for what we’re doing overall as a program,” he said.
  • Randle and Gobert struggled to find their footing early on together, but in the second round of the 2025 playoffs, the Timberwolves veterans showcased why they are such dangerous players and silenced criticism about their playoff histories, writes Mark Medina of Athlon Sports. “You’ve gotten a lot of disrespect your whole career,” Gobert said to Randle. “And so have I.” Finch, who was an assistant coach in New Orleans for Randle’s breakout year, says that finding the balance of Randle’s responsibilities was key to unlocking the team: “We, at different times of the season, gave him the message, ‘Hey we need you to score more. Hey, we need you to pass more.’ And sometimes it was the wrong message… So that was a lot of our early season growth with him.“
  • The Thunder have some fascinating lineup choices to consider as they enter Tuesday’s Game 1 against the Wolves, says SI’s Rylan Stiles. After having gotten past Jokic, the team is likely to be less reliant on the two-big lineups featuring Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein against the athletic Randle and a more traditional center in Rudy Gobert. That, in turn, would allow the Thunder to bring more of their defensive-minded guards or wings into the lineup to try their hand at slowing down Anthony Edwards.
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Thunder Notes: SGA, Williams, Caruso, Conference Finals

May 19th, 2025 at 9:47pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the favorite to win this season’s MVP award, admitted that his stomach was churning prior to the Game 7 showdown with the Nuggets on Sunday afternoon. He sure didn’t play scared, pouring in 35 points as the Thunder rolled into the Western Conference Finals.

“I was nervous, to be honest,” Gilgeous-Alexander told Ramona Shelburne of ESPN. “Just knowing what was on the line. …To know if you don’t bring your A-game, it could all be over. But I think that nervousness motivated me.”

The Thunder in general showed some nerves in the early going but took control late in the first half.

“I think the nerves were natural,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “We actually shot horribly to start the game. But I knew we were getting really good looks, and if we just stuck with it, we would loosen up and the ball would find the basket. I never was worried about this, the way we started. Once I felt the flow of the game and we had the right intentions and the right energy, I knew it would turn around.”

Here’s more on the Thunder:

  • First-time All-Star Jalen Williams scored 17 of his 24 points in the pivotal second quarter and added seven assists, Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman notes. Williams bounced back from a Game 6 dud in which he shot 3-for-16 from the field. “Great force, especially early,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “It was definitely a conscious effort by him to use his speed and his power. He was on the gas from the jump (Sunday).”
  • Williams was fined $25K by the league for wearing clothing with profane language in his post-game media session on Sunday, NBA Communications tweets.
  • Daigneault used Alex Caruso as the primary defender on Nuggets star Nikola Jokic on Sunday, though Caruso got plenty of help from his teammates. Caruso gave up six inches in height and 100 pounds. The unconventional strategy worked as Jokic only took nine shots and committed five turnovers. “It’s a lot of hard work, obviously,” Caruso told Kelly Iko of The Athletic. “But he’s a difficult matchup because he does so many different things to get others involved and influence the game. Being relentless with my energy, the effort to make it tough on him. The guys around me did a good job of helping and swarming, because I’m not doing that on my own. Understanding the flow of the game, where you could be physical and where you can’t.”
  • Next up for the Thunder — the Timberwolves, who are making their second straight appearances in the conference finals. The subplot between the teams is the matchup of star guards SGA and Anthony Edwards. “My gut says OKC wins the series,” one scout told Sam Amick of The Athletic. “Their defensive coverages and schemes are so good. (They’re) closing up the paint and rotating out of scheme, then they have the best scorer in the game who has proven to come through when they need it.”
  • Daigneault believes the team has earned everything it has achieved. “We’re not perfect, but they’re just so easy to bet on. They’re great competitors, “ he said, per Joel Lorenzi of The Oklahoman. “They do things the right way, they’re professional, they’re inside the team. Everybody sacrifices for the team. Not everybody always gets what they deserve, but this team deserves these types of opportunities.”
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