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Luka Doncic Earns Western Finals MVP

May 30th, 2024 at 10:08pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Mavericks All-Star guard Luka Doncic has been named the Most Valuable Player of the Western Conference Finals, winning this year’s Earvin “Magic” Johnson Trophy, the NBA has announced (via Twitter).

Doncic was the unanimous choice, earning all nine media votes for the honor, the league revealed (Twitter link).

The 6’7″ guard just put the finishing touches on a five-game series win over the higher-seeded Timberwolves, scoring 36 points — including 20 in the first quarter — on 14-of-27 shooting from the floor in Thursday’s 124-103 Game 5 blowout victory. For good measure, Doncic logged 10 rebounds, five assists, a steal, and a +22 plus-minus. All-Star backcourt mate Kyrie Irving also finished with 36 points.

With the victory, Dallas advances to its first NBA Finals since 2011, when Doncic was 12 years old and current head coach Jason Kidd was the team’s starting point guard.

Through 17 playoff games so far, Doncic is averaging 28.8 points on a .438/.343/.806 slash line. He’s also chipping in 9.6 rebounds, 8.8 dimes, 1.6 steals and 0.5 blocks a night.

According to The Athletic (via Twitter), Doncic is the first player in the history of the league to rack up 150+ rebounds and assists and 50+ three-point field goals during one playoff run.

Though all but the last of the games vs. Minnesota were fairly close, Doncic and Irving’s clutch play, both as isolation scorers and as tactical distributors, helped Dallas pull away late in every instance except the Game 4 loss.

At 50-32, Dallas entered the West playoffs as the No. 5 seed, meaning it was an underdog, without home court advantage, in each of its three postseason matchups. That made little difference, as the club took care of the No. 4 Clippers and the No. 1 Thunder in six games apiece, across successive rounds, before moving on to handle Minnesota in the Western Finals.

Kings Offered Mike Brown Three-Year Extension

May 30th, 2024 at 7:36pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

The Kings have offered incumbent head coach Mike Brown a three-year, $21MM contract extension that would keep him under team control through the 2026/27 season, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (via Twitter). The deal offered by Sacramento could be worth up to $27MM with bonuses, per Charania.

Brown, who is seeking something in the neighborhood of $10MM annually, has not agreed to the offer thus far, Charania adds.

As Kurt Helin of NBC Sports notes (Twitter link), the offer represents half the per-season value of Clippers coach Tyronn Lue‘s just-signed five-year extension (which is said to be worth nearly $70MM) and is for two fewer years.

Sacramento has gone 94-70 during its two regular seasons under Brown, and has made the postseason both times, though the team didn’t get a full playoff series this spring.

Brown was named the league’s Coach of the Year (for the second time in his career) for returning the Kings to the playoffs for the first time in 16 seasons during a charmed 2022/23 run that saw the team finish with a 48-34 record and the Western Conference’s third seed. The Kings fell in seven games to the sixth-seeded Warriors last spring.

In 2023/24, the 46-36 Kings were merely the No. 9 seed in a more crowded West and did not advance beyond the play-in tournament, although they did beat the No. 10 Warriors in their first play-in game.

Prior to his Kings tenure, Brown was the associate head coach for Golden State from 2016-22, wining three titles under head coach Steve Kerr. Before that, he served two stints as the head coach of the Cavaliers, making one Finals appearance, and coached the Lakers. He boasts a 441-286 overall regular season record as a head coach, plus a 50-40 playoff record.

NBA Announces 93 Withdrawals From 2024 Draft Pool

May 30th, 2024 at 7:00pm CST by Luke Adams

A total of 93 players have notified the NBA that they wish to be removed from the list of early entrants eligible for the 2024 NBA draft, the league announced today (via Twitter).

The NCAA’s early entry withdrawal deadline passed on Wednesday night at 10:59 pm CT, meaning that players wishing to retain their college eligibility had to remove their names from the draft pool by that point. The NBA’s own withdrawal deadline is 4:00 pm CT on June 16, so more players will be taking their names out of consideration in the coming weeks.

The players who pull out of the draft between now and that June 16 deadline will primarily be international prospects and domestic players who didn’t compete in college. Players from NCAA programs can still withdraw between now and June 16, but they wouldn’t be eligible to return to college, so they’d likely only take that route if they planned to play professionally in a non-NBA league in 2024/25.

Currently, 108 early entrants remain in the draft pool after 201 initially declared. You can check out our updated early entrant list right here.

While most of the 93 withdrawal decisions confirmed today by the NBA were reported or announced leading up to Wednesday’s deadline, we’ve moved a few new names to the withdrawals section of our early entrants tracker. The following players have removed their names from the draft:

Roberts Blums, G, VEF Riga (born 2005)
Malik Bowman, F, Lusitania (born 2004)
Jaden Bradley, G, Arizona (sophomore)
Tyon Grant-Foster, G, Grand Canyon (senior)

Dereck Lively Cleared For Game 5

May 30th, 2024 at 6:32pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Mavericks reserve rookie center Dereck Lively II has seen his status upgraded from questionable to available just in time for Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals on Thursday night, per Chris Haynes of Bleacher Report (Twitter link).

The 2023 lottery pick left Game 3 of the series, an eventual Dallas victory over the Timberwolves, with what was ruled as a neck sprain. He sat out Game 4, the Mavericks’ lone loss thus far. The club currently leads Minnesota 3-1.

Lively has been a key contributor for the club thus far in these playoffs. Across 15 healthy contests, he’s averaging 8.5 points, 7.1 rebounds, 1.5 dimes and 1.1 blocks per night.

As Keerthika Uthayakumar of TSN tweets, the Mavericks have outscored the Timberwolves by 22 points during Lively’s 63 minutes on the hardwood during the Western Conference finals.

His abilities as a hyper-athletic, rim-rolling big man, and lob threat have been key to maximizing the talents of Dallas All-Star guards Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic.

The victor of this Mavericks-Timberwolves series will go on to face the Celtics in the Finals, which tip off on June 6.

Usman Garuba: I Haven’t Made Decision On Future

May 30th, 2024 at 10:54am CST by Dana Gauruder

Usman Garuba, who played for the Warriors this season, refuted a report that he’s already decided to return to Europe. Garuba posted on social media (hat tip to Sportando) that he’s still mulling his future plans.

“I don’t usually write here but this time I have to do it,” Garuba stated on Twitter. “I understand every journalist/insider and their work they do but they got to have respect for the players and teams instead of providing false news without knowing anything that’s going on. My future is not decide yet so stop spreading fake news. We keep working. Thanks.”

A Eurohoops report indicated that Garuba was poised to rejoin Real Madrid on a multiyear contract.

Garuba played for the Real Madrid organization from 2017-21. He was drafted in the first round by the Rockets in 2021 but has only seen modest playing time in his NBA career.

The 22-year-old power forward was traded twice during the 2023 offseason, then was waived by the Thunder. He signed a two-way deal with the Warriors in September and spent most of the season in the G League. He was promoted to the 15-man roster just before the start of the postseason but Golden State was eliminated during the play-in tournament.

Garuba, touted as a strong defender, barely played for the Warriors. In six games and just 18 minutes, he totaled three points, seven rebounds and three blocks this year. Across his three seasons in the NBA, Garuba holds averages of 2.6 points and 3.8 rebounds in 104 games (three starts).

This season with Santa Cruz in the G League, he averaged 12.5 points, 10.1 rebounds, 1.1 steals and 1.4 blocks in 35 regular season and Showcase Cup games.

Wizards Name Brian Keefe Head Coach

May 29th, 2024 at 4:35pm CST by Tristan Tucker

The Wizards have hired former interim coach Brian Keefe as the franchise’s permanent head coach, according to a team release. Keefe was formerly named interim head coach in January after the Wizards moved Wes Unseld Jr. from his coaching position to a front office role.

“We are excited for Brian to become our next head coach. Brian is a proven motivator and connector of people,” Wizards general manager Will Dawkins said in the team’s press release. “As a leader in the organization, he will continue to positively grow and invest into the development of our players. His wealth of experience will help move our team forward as we build for long-term sustained success.“

Keefe joined the Wizards ahead of the 2023/24 season as an assistant coach. He also served the same role with Oklahoma City/Seattle (2007-15 and 2019/20), New York (2015/16), Los Angeles (2016-19) and Brooklyn (2021-23). He has earned a reputation as a good player development coach through his time in the league and inherits a roster with promising young players like Deni Avdija and Bilal Coulibaly.

“I am grateful to [team president] Michael [Winger] and Will for the opportunity to lead the Washington Wizards,” Keefe said in a statement. “I look forward to continuing to work with our players and helping them grow and develop. As a team, we are committed to a collaborative approach to build an environment of accountability and hard work that allows us to improve every day.“

When Keefe took over as interim coach, Washington improved immediately on the defensive side of the ball and got marginally better results in the win-loss column, posting an 8-31 (.205) mark under Keefe after going 7-36 (.163) under Unseld. Holders of the No. 2 overall pick in the class, the Wizards look poised to build on their young core while continuing their defensive strength from the second half of the season.

Now that Washington has named a head coach, that leaves the Lakers and Cavaliers as the only teams yet to fill their head coaching positions for the ’24/25 season, barring any unforeseen changes.

Clippers Sign Tyronn Lue To Long-Term Extension

May 29th, 2024 at 12:21pm CST by Luke Adams

12:21pm: The Clippers have officially signed Lue to an extension, the team announced in a press release. In a statement, president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank referred to Lue as a “brilliant tactician and a natural leader,” adding that he’s a “pillar of the organization” who will be with the team for a long time.

“This is where I want to be,” Lue said in a statement of his own. “I’ve loved coaching this team for the past four years and I’m excited to head into a new era at Intuit Dome. I’m grateful to (team owner) Steve (Ballmer), Lawrence, and the entire organization for the opportunity. With our ownership, front office, roster, staff, and arena, we have all the advantages we need to win in the present and the future, and I’m confident we will.”

According to Shams Charania and Law Murray of The Athletic (Twitter link), Lue’s new deal is worth nearly $70MM over five years.

11:02am: The Clippers have reached an agreement with head coach Tyronn Lue on a contract extension, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. Lue had been entering the final year of his current contract with the team.

While Wojnarowski doesn’t have specific details on exactly how many years the new contract will cover, he refers to it as a “long-term” extension, which suggests the Clippers have locked up their head coach for at least the next few years. Woj also states that it will make Lue one of the NBA’s highest-paid coaches. A number of coaches have signed deals worth more than $10MM per season in recent years, so it seems safe to assume Lue will earn an eight-figure annual salary on his new contract.

Signing Lue to an extension had been one of the Clippers’ top priorities entering a critical offseason. The head coach, who previously led the Cavaliers to a title and two additional NBA Finals appearances, was hired in 2020 and has posted a 184-134 (.579) regular season record across four seasons in Los Angeles, despite dealing with a plethora of injuries to his star players during that time. Lue has a 97-47 record in games that both Kawhi Leonard and Paul George have played, notes Wojnarowski.

The Clippers haven’t won a playoff series since reaching the Western Conference finals in 2021, but Lue hasn’t received the blame for those early postseason exits and remains highly regarded by team ownership and management.

Lue’s extension with the Clippers officially takes him off the table as an option for the cross-town Lakers, who are conducting a head coaching search this spring and reportedly coveted Lue, who began his playing career with the Lakers and won two championships with the franchise.

With a new deal for Lue in place, the Clippers will be able to shift their focus to free agency, where George (player option), Russell Westbrook (player option), and James Harden (unrestricted free agent) could all reach the open market in a matter of weeks.

Mavs’ Maxi Kleber Available To Play Tuesday

May 28th, 2024 at 6:30pm CST by Luke Adams

6:30pm: Kleber is available to play, the Mavs’ PR deparment tweets.

8:52am: Mavericks big man Maxi Kleber is on track to return to action on Tuesday for Game 4 of the Western Conference finals vs. Minnesota, reports Marc Stein (Twitter link).

The team has yet to offer any clarity on Kleber’s status beyond upgrading him to questionable for Tuesday’s contest, but Stein says he should be able to play unless he suffers a setback at some point before the game tips off.

Kleber was injured in Game 6 of Dallas’ first-round series vs. the Clippers, sustaining a right shoulder AC joint separation on May 3. The team announced at the time that he’d be out for at least three weeks before being reevaluated. Stein stated on Sunday night that the Mavs were optimistic about the possibility of Kleber potentially returning for the NBA Finals — now it sounds like he’ll be able to beat that timeline.

Whether Kleber will be able to perform at his pre-injury level is a separate question, but the Mavs will welcome any quality minutes he can give them in the frontcourt, since they’re expected to be without center Dereck Lively on Tuesday. Lively sprained his neck in the team’s Game 3 win and is listed as doubtful for Game 4.

Considered a solid defender, Kleber was limited to 43 regular season appearances due to health issues this season and averaged 4.4 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 1.6 assists in 20.3 minutes per night. He logged 19.3 MPG during the first round of the playoffs, bumping his scoring average to 5.7 PPG and knocking down 10-of-18 (55.6%) three-pointers.

Sixers Willing To Extend Butler If Heat Star Becomes Available In Trade

May 28th, 2024 at 5:01pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Jimmy Butler may not be the Sixers’ top target this offseason but they’re apparently willing to give him more financial security than the Heat.

Paul George is widely considered the Sixers’ primary focus if the Clippers forward declines his $48.8MM option in order to enter free agency. A reunion with Butler could be a viable alternative and Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer reports the Sixers are prepared to give Butler a maximum-salary extension if he forces a trade out of Miami.

There has been speculation about Butler’s future since the Heat were eliminated from postseason contention. Butler, who will be 35 next season, has a $48.8MM salary for next season and a player option for $52.2MM for the 2025/26 season.

Butler is seeking a two-year maximum extension for $113MM in which he’d decline the $52.2MM option in order to get an extra year of guaranteed salary. Miami president Pat Riley indicated during his annual postseason press conference he’d be reluctant to make that commitment, noting that Butler has missed chunks of time in recent seasons.

“It’s a big decision on our part to commit those kinds of resources, unless you have someone who is going to be available every night,” Riley said.

Butler hasn’t appeared in more than 64 regular season games in any of his five years in Miami and was unavailable for the playoffs this spring due to an MCL sprain.

Butler stated in a GQ interview his preference is to finish his career with Miami.

“I feel at home, man. I really care about the city, I really care about the people in this city,” Butler said. “Miami has embraced me.”

There’s no indication that the Heat have any plans to trade Butler unless he forces the issue. Beyond that, the Sixers — seeking another star to join forces with Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey — would seemingly have to strike out on the George front before turning to other options.

The Sixers do feel they erred by shipping Butler to Miami in a sign-and-trade five years ago and could make amends by slotting him into one of their forward spots.

Philadelphia is in the rare position of being a playoff contender with the ability to absorb a huge salary. The Sixers could have close to $65MM in cap space this summer and they’ll also have five first-round picks and multiple pick swaps available to trade, beginning at the start of the draft, Pompey notes.

The Sixers have also been linked to the Lakers’ LeBron James and Knicks’ OG Anunoby in free agency. Bulls wing Zach LaVine and the Pelicans’ Brandon Ingram could emerge as potential trade targets if they must go further down the wish list.

Pistons Confirm Fontecchio Underwent Surgery On Toe

May 28th, 2024 at 3:22pm CST by Luke Adams

Pistons forward Simone Fontecchio, who will be a restricted free agent this summer, recently underwent surgery to address the left big toe injury that ended his season early, the club announced today in a press release (Twitter link). According to the team, Fontecchio is expected to make a full recovery this offseason and will be ready for training camp in the fall.

Fontecchio himself revealed on Instagram a few days ago that he’d undergone surgery that will sideline him for Italy’s Olympic qualifying tournament this summer, but he didn’t offer any specific details about the procedure or his recovery timeline.

The 28-year-old played professionally in Europe from 2012-22 before signing with the Jazz two summers ago. He spent a season-and-a-half in Utah, then was traded to Detroit at this year’s trade deadline. In 66 total games (43 starts) for the Jazz and Pistons in 2023/24, the Italian wing averaged 10.5 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 1.5 assists in 24.9 minutes per game, with a strong shooting line of .460/.401/.818.

Fontecchio signed a relatively modest two-year, $6.25MM contract when he first made the move to the NBA in 2022, but he increased the value of his qualifying offer to $5.2MM by meeting the starter criteria this past season and appears to have positioned himself for a salary worth well above that on his next contract.

James L. Edwards of The Athletic predicted last month that Fontecchio’s next deal could be worth between $14-17MM annually due to his three-and-D skill set, citing contracts signed by Luke Kennard (four years, $56MM) and Bogdan Bogdanovic (four years, $68MM) as points of comparison.

While a rival suitor could put pressure on the Pistons by signing Fontecchio to a lucrative offer sheet, Detroit has a ton of cap flexibility and would be able to match any offer. Fontecchio said in an Instagram post last week that he’s looking forward to a future with the Pistons.