- Thunder wing Kenrich Williams underwent a follow-up procedure on Tuesday to remove hardware that was inserted during his March wrist surgery, the team announced. According to Thunder, Williams’ rehab process is still on the same timeline, and he remains on track to be ready for the start of the 2023/24 season.
The Spurs have won the Victor Wembanyama sweepstakes.
San Antonio claimed the No. 1 overall pick in Tuesday night’s draft lottery, putting the club in position to select Wembanyama, a 7’5″ French phenom who is widely considered the top NBA prospect since LeBron James.
The top 14 slots for the 2023 draft have officially been set. The lottery order is as follows:
- San Antonio Spurs
- Charlotte Hornets
- Portland Trail Blazers
- Houston Rockets
- Detroit Pistons
- Orlando Magic
- Indiana Pacers
- Washington Wizards
- Utah Jazz
- Dallas Mavericks
- Orlando Magic (from Bulls)
- Oklahoma City Thunder
- Toronto Raptors
- New Orleans Pelicans
It’s the third time in franchise history that the Spurs have won a draft lottery and earned the right to add a generational big man to their roster. San Antonio drafted David Robinson with the No. 1 overall pick in 1987 and Tim Duncan with the top pick in 1997.
The Spurs entered the night third in the lottery standings, but had a 14.0% chance at the No. 1 pick, the same odds as Detroit and Houston, the top two teams in the lottery standings.
The Pistons are the biggest loser of the night, slipping all the way out of the top four after finishing the season with the NBA’s worst record at 17-65. It also wasn’t an ideal outcome for the Rockets, who slipped from second to fourth in a draft widely considered to have a consensus top three prospects.
The Hornets, who had a 12.5% chance at the No. 1 pick and a 48.1% chance to end up in the top four, move up two spots to No. 2 and will likely decide between G League Ignite guard Scoot Henderson and Alabama wing Brandon Miller, who are viewed as the next-best prospects behind Wembanyama.
Henderson was once considered a lock for the No. 2 spot, but had an up-and-down year in the G League while Miller had a big freshman season for the Crimson Tide.
At No. 3, the Trail Blazers also moved up two spots and are the night’s other big winner — they’ll be in position to draft either Henderson or Miller, whichever one the Hornets pass on. Of course, Portland badly wants to build a roster around Damian Lillard that’s capable of contending sooner rather than later, so it’s possible the team will listen to offers for its lottery pick, but the price would presumably be extremely high.
Outside of the top five, the remaining lottery picks remain unchanged from the pre-lottery order. That means the Mavericks will keep their first-round pick, which would have been sent to the Knicks if it had slipped out of the top 10. Dallas will instead owe New York its 2024 first-rounder with top-10 protection.
The Bulls, meanwhile, would have hung onto their lottery pick if it had moved into the top four, but it will be sent to the Magic since it fell outside of its protected range. That pick was the last asset that Chicago owed to Orlando as part of the 2021 Nikola Vucevic trade.
Tuesday’s lottery results also shook up the order of the second round. Because San Antonio will be picking ahead of Houston in the first round, the Rockets’ second-round pick has moved up from No. 33 to No. 32, which means it will be sent to the Pacers instead of the Celtics.
That’s great news for the Pacers, who move up 18 spots from No. 50 as a result of that lottery outcome and a convoluted set of trade criteria involving multiple second-rounders. Rather than getting Houston’s pick, Boston will receive Portland’s second-rounder at No. 35, while the Thunder – who had been in position to get No. 35, will instead pick at No. 50.
Nothing about the Thunder‘s offseason moves in 2022 signaled that they were preparing to make a playoff push. Oklahoma City’s lottery selection, No. 2 overall pick Chet Holmgren, suffered a season-ending injury before training camps opened, and the team’s most notable offseason addition via free agency or trade was Isaiah Joe, who signed a low-cost contract days before the regular season began after being waived by Philadelphia.
But the young core the Thunder have been putting together since they began the process of rebuilding in 2019 finally began to look like something resembling a future contender this past season, even with Holmgren not yet a part of it.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander made the leap to superstardom, earning a spot on the All-NBA First Team; 2021 lottery pick Josh Giddey built on a promising rookie season by improving his numbers across the board, including bumping his shooting percentage from 41.9% to 48.2%; Luguentz Dort continued to establish himself as one of the NBA’s elite wing defenders; and 2022 lottery pick Jalen Williams made a legitimate case for Rookie of the Year honors, averaging 18.6 PPG, 5.4 RPG, and 4.3 APG on an incredible .546/.429/.880 shooting line after the All-Star break.
The Thunder didn’t make the playoffs, but they got pretty close. They finished the regular season as the No. 10 team in the West, then beat the Pelicans in their first play-in game before falling to the Timberwolves in the battle for the conference’s final playoff spot.
While the Thunder aren’t a contender yet, their days at the bottom of the NBA’s standings appear to be over for now. With Holmgren and another lottery pick set to join an already strong core and a plethora of extra future first-round picks and swaps still on hand, Oklahoma City is trending in the right direction and could be a force to be reckoned with in the West in just a couple of years.
The Thunder’s Offseason Plan:
The hope of every tanking team is to luck into a top pick that can be used to draft a player capable of single-handedly transforming the franchise. There’s a player like that available in this year’s draft class – Victor Wembanyama is considered the best prospect to enter the NBA since LeBron James – but the Thunder’s unexpectedly strong season all but eliminated them from the Wembanyama sweepstakes — the club has just a 1.7% chance at the No. 1 overall pick.
That’s OK though. While Sam Presti and the Thunder’s front office would certainly love to add Wembanyama to the roster, this isn’t a team that desperately needs the French phenom like certain other clubs in the lottery. There’s already a very strong foundation here, and Oklahoma City’s stash of future picks puts the team in position to acquire another impact player without even touching the present core.
Still, I’d be surprised if a trade for a star is on the docket this summer. Presti and his group have shown a willingness to be patient throughout their rebuild, using their extra trade assets to target specific players they like in the draft rather than veterans.
That approach was on display last June when the Thunder traded three protected future first-rounders for the rights to the No. 11 pick, ensuring no team would be able to leapfrog them at No. 12 to snag Williams. The Thunder ultimately drafted Ousmane Dieng with the No. 11 pick, but subsequent reporting indicated Williams was the guy they wanted most in the back end of the lottery — they took him with their own pick at No. 12 in case their tentative agreement for No. 11 fell through before it became official.
Oklahoma City will most likely have the No. 12 pick again in this year’s draft. But if there’s a player a few spots higher that the front office wants badly enough, the team has the ammo necessary to go get him without compromising its future at all.
Eventually, the time may come to cash in some of those future draft picks for a win-now player, but the way the Thunder are building makes sense and has worked for Presti before; Kevin Durant, Westbrook, James Harden, and Serge Ibaka were all drafted by the team between 2007-09. With no postseason-or-bust mandate facing him, Presti can continue to add promising young pieces to this core and assess which ones fit and which ones don’t before making any major moves to fill the necessary holes.
That doesn’t mean the Thunder won’t do anything interesting this summer. Taking into account the team’s 10 players on guaranteed contracts, plus Joe’s $2MM non-guaranteed salary and the cap hold for the No. 12 overall pick, OKC could create upwards of $36MM in cap room.
In recent years, the Thunder have taken advantage of that sort of cap flexibility by accommodating salary dumps of unwanted contracts (think Kemba Walker and Derrick Favors) in order to acquire draft assets.
They’re more likely to go in that direction again than they are to go big-game hunting in free agency, but perhaps in those trade talks with cost-cutting teams the Thunder will prioritize acquiring useful rotation players rather than continuing to stockpile future draft picks. Even if they won’t be contending for a title in 2024, the Thunder might like to get their young players some playoff experience — adding a couple reliable role-playing veterans to their rotation would aid in that effort.
It’s also worth keeping an eye on Aleksej Pokusevski, the lone Thunder player who is eligible for a rookie scale extension this offseason. Pokusevski, a seven-footer who can handle the ball, is still just 21 years old and has shown tantalizing potential in his first three NBA seasons, increasing his three-point percentage to 36.5% in 2022/23.
However, a leg injury essentially ended Pokusevski’s season on December 27 (he appeared in just three games after that), and OKC had a dismal minus-13.2 net rating and 118.7 defensive rating when he was on the court this season, easily the worst marks of any player on the roster. The Thunder will soon have to decide whether he has a place in their future.
Salary Cap Situation
Guaranteed Salary
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander ($33,386,850)- Luguentz Dort ($15,277,778)
- Chet Holmgren ($10,386,000)
- Josh Giddey ($6,587,040)
- Kenrich Williams ($6,175,000)
- Aleksej Pokusevski ($5,009,633)
- Ousmane Dieng ($4,798,440)
- Jalen Williams ($4,558,680)
- Tre Mann ($3,191,400)
- Jaylin Williams ($2,000,000)
- Total: $91,370,821
Dead/Retained Salary
- None
Player Options
- None
Team Options
- Lindy Waters ($1,927,896): Early Bird rights
- Total: $1,927,896
Non-Guaranteed Salary
- Isaiah Joe ($1,997,238)
- Jeremiah Robinson-Earl ($1,900,000)
- Note: Robinson-Earl’s salary would become fully guaranteed if he’s not waived on or before June 30.
- Aaron Wiggins ($1,836,096)
- Total: $5,733,334
Restricted Free Agents
- None
Two-Way Free Agents
Draft Picks
- No. 12 overall ($4,704,720)
- Note: This is only a placeholder until the draft order is determined via the lottery.
- No. 35 overall (no cap hold)
- Note: The Thunder would instead receive the No. 50 overall pick if the Spurs end up with a higher first-round pick than the Rockets via the lottery.
- No. 37 overall (no cap hold)
- Note: The Thunder would instead receive the No. 38 overall pick if the Wizards end up with a higher first-round pick than the Pacers via the lottery.
- Total: $4,704,720
Extension-Eligible Players
- Jeremiah Robinson-Earl (veteran)
- Dario Saric (veteran)
- Aleksej Pokusevski (rookie scale)
Note: These are players who are either already eligible for an extension or will become eligible before the 2023/24 season begins. Saric is only eligible until June 30.
Unrestricted Free Agents / Other Cap Holds
- Dario Saric ($17,556,000 cap hold): Bird rights
- Deonte Burton ($1,989,698 cap hold): Early Bird rights
- Nick Collison ($1,989,698 cap hold): Bird rights
- Raymond Felton ($1,989,698 cap hold): Early Bird rights
- Melvin Frazier ($1,774,999 cap hold): Non-Bird rights
- Kevin Hervey ($1,774,999 cap hold): Non-Bird rights
- Total: $27,075,092
Note: The cap holds for the players in italics remain on the Thunder’s books from prior seasons because they haven’t been renounced. They can’t be used in a sign-and-trade deal.
Cap Exceptions Available
- Mid-level exception: $12,220,600
- Bi-annual exception: $4,448,000
- Trade exception: $4,264,629
- Trade exception: $4,220,057
- Note: Expires on October 2.
- Trade exception: $3,500,000
- Trade exception: $943,000
- Note: Expires on October 2.
- Note: Expires on October 2.
- Trade exception: $781,759
- Note: Expires on September 27.
- Note: Expires on September 27.
Note: If the Thunder go under the cap to use room, they’ll lose access to all of these exceptions and will gain access to the room exception.
The NBA has officially announced its All-NBA teams for the 2022/23 season.
A total of 100 media members vote on the All-NBA awards. Players received five points for a First Team vote, three points for Second Team, and one point for Third Team, for a maximum total of 500 points. This year’s three All-NBA teams are as follows:
First Team
- Forward: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Bucks (500 total points)
- Forward: Jayson Tatum, Celtics (484)
- Center: Joel Embiid, Sixers (474)
- Guard: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Thunder (407)
- Guard: Luka Doncic, Mavericks (403)
Second Team
- Center: Nikola Jokic, Nuggets (364)
- Guard: Donovan Mitchell, Cavaliers (349)
- Guard: Stephen Curry, Warriors (188)
- Forward: Jimmy Butler, Heat (182)
- Forward: Jaylen Brown, Celtics (169)
Third Team
- Center: Domantas Sabonis, Kings (147)
- Guard: De’Aaron Fox, Kings (144)
- Guard: Damian Lillard, Trail Blazers (137)
- Forward: Julius Randle, Knicks (125)
- Forward: LeBron James, Lakers (81)
A total of 37 players received at least one vote, per the NBA. The top vote-getters who wound up missing out on All-NBA spots were Lakers center Anthony Davis (65), Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen (49) and Grizzlies guard Ja Morant (44).
Morant had Rose Rule language in his rookie scale extension, meaning his five-year deal would have started at 30% of next season’s cap had he been voted in; instead, he’ll receive 25% of the cap, which is projected to be a difference of about $39MM across five seasons.
Other players receiving 20-plus points include Bucks guard Jrue Holiday (39), Suns forward Kevin Durant (35) and Knicks guard Jalen Brunson (23). The next three highest were Raptors forward Pascal Siakam (15), Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard (15) and Anthony Edwards of the Timberwolves (14), who is listed under forward but spent most of the season at shooting guard.
As we noted earlier today, both of the Celtics’ top two players will now be eligible for Designated Veteran Extensions, also known as the super-max: Brown will be eligible to sign a five-year extension this offseason that starts at up to 35% of the 2024/25 salary cap, while Tatum will be eligible to sign a super-max extension in 2024 after earning All-NBA nods each of the past two seasons.
Like Brown, Siakam would have been eligible for a super-max extension this summer had he made an All-NBA team. He finished a distant ninth, so his maximum extension will now be worth a projected $192.2MM over four years, tweets Eric Koreen of The Athletic. As Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca observes (via Twitter), Siakam could still qualify for a super-max deal if he makes an All-NBA spot next season as an impending free agent.
This will be the last season under the current Collective Bargaining Agreement. In the new CBA, All-NBA voting will be positionless and players will be required to play a minimum of 65 games to earn major regular season awards. Five of the players honored today — Antetokounmpo, Curry, Butler, Lillard and James — played fewer than 65 this season and would have been ineligible if the new requirements had been in effect, according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link).
LeBron extended his own NBA record with his selection, earning a spot on an All-NBA team for the 19th straight season, per ESPN’s Dave McMenamin (Twitter link). No other player has more than 15 total All-NBA awards (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Kobe Bryant and Tim Duncan are tied for second at 15 apiece).
Giannis was a unanimous First Team selection for the fifth straight season, per Eric Nehm of The Athletic (Twitter link), and the only unanimous choice in 2022/23. Antetokounmpo now has more First Team berths than any European-born player, tweets HoopsHype, and only trails Hakeem Olajuwon among international players (six). The Bucks superstar finished third in MVP voting behind Embiid and Jokic, but Jokic received some First Team votes over the Sixers’ MVP winner, which is why Embiid wasn’t a unanimous pick.
According to HoopsHype (Twitter link), this is the first season in league history that only one American player (Tatum) was voted to the First Team. Doncic (Slovenia) and Antetokounmpo (Greece) are European, Embiid was born in Cameroon, and Gilgeous-Alexander is Canadian.
Despite earning an All-NBA nod for the first time, Mitchell wasn’t happy that he didn’t make the First Team, sending out a tweet on the matter.
After being named the CUSA Defensive Player of the Year in back-to-back seasons at Western Kentucky, Jamarion Sharp tested the NBA draft waters this spring, but the 7’5″ center has decided to withdraw from the draft process, according to Jeff Goodman of Stadium (Twitter link).
Sharp, who averaged an eye-popping 4.4 blocks per game in 64 appearances with Western Kentucky as a junior and senior, will be taking advantage of the extra year of NCAA eligibility afforded to him by the COVID-19 pandemic. He’s transferring to Ole Miss for his final college season, as Goodman notes.
Here are a few more draft-related updates:
- Senior wing Keylan Boone will withdraw from the draft and use his final year of NCAA eligibility, he tells Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports (Twitter link). Boone is transferring from Pacific to UNLV.
- Junior guard Jordan Ivy-Curry, Boone’s teammate at Pacific last season, will also remove his name from this year’s NBA draft pool, he confirms to Rothstein (Twitter link).
- Detroit senior forward Damezi Anderson Jr. has opted not to use his final year of college eligibility and will go pro, he tells Rothstein (Twitter link). Anderson is unlikely to be drafted after averaging 9.4 PPG and 4.5 RPG on .426/.346/.792 shooting in 33 games (27.4 MPG) last season.
- Alabama sophomore center Charles Bediako, who is testing the draft waters, isn’t ranked among ESPN’s top 100 prospects of 2023, but he’s generating plenty of pre-draft interest from NBA teams interested in checking him out. According to Matt Babcock of SI.com, Bediako has already worked out for the Grizzlies, Trail Blazers, Jazz, and Spurs, with auditions for the Mavericks and Thunder happening this week before he heads to the G League Elite Camp. The Hornets, Celtics, Kings, Rockets, and Cavaliers have also expressed interest in working out Bediako, his agent Daniel Green tells Babcock.
Superstar center Nikola Jokic had another huge game on Tuesday as the Nuggets took a 3-2 lead in their series with Phoenix, racking up 29 points, 13 rebounds, and 12 assists for his fourth triple-double of the playoffs. Jokic’s 10th career postseason triple-double moved him ahead of Wilt Chamberlain for the most triple-doubles by a center in NBA playoff history, writes Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN.
Discussing Jokic’s historic performance after the game, Nuggets head coach Michael Malone made light of the in-season discourse surrounding his center’s triple-doubles, joking that he “must be stat-padding.” Malone also made sure to stress how much the franchise appreciates Jokic and his “incredible” performance.
“He makes everyone around him better,” Malone said. “Never gets rattled. ‘Cool Hand Luke.’ And we’re just so thankful that he’s a Denver Nugget.”
Between Games 4 and 5, Jokic was hit with a $25K fine for a brief sideline incident involving Suns owner Mat Ishbia, but Jokic and Ishbia had a friendly exchange prior to Game 5 and clearly don’t have any bad blood, notes Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic. During a TNT interview after Tuesday’s win, Jokic was asked about that pregame interaction with Ishbia and joked that he was trying to see if the Suns owner would pay his fine (Twitter link via Youngmisuk).
Here’s more from around the Northwest:
- As great as Jokic has been against Phoenix, the contributions of the Nuggets‘ role players – starting with a pair of veterans acquired last summer – shouldn’t be overlooked, writes Bennett Durando of The Denver Post (subscription required). Bruce Brown‘s 25 points and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope‘s strong defense on Devin Booker helped Denver secure a Game 5 victory.
- While fans in Minnesota were upset about Jaden McDaniels‘ absence from this year’s All-Defensive teams, the bigger concern for the Timberwolves is that Rudy Gobert‘s play this past season didn’t earn the three-time Defensive Player of the Year a single vote, says Michael Rand of The Star Tribune. It remains to be seen whether Gobert was more affected by health issues than he let on his year or whether his decline has begun, Rand writes.
- Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman believes it’s unlikely that the Thunder dip into their stash of future draft picks to make a trade for a core player this offseason. In Mussatto’s view, head of basketball operations Sam Presti is more likely to use his draft assets to make sure he gets the player(s) he wants in this year’s draft, like he did when he traded three protected first-rounders for the No. 11 pick in the 2022 draft.
French big man Alex Sarr is joining the Perth Wildcats of Australia’s National Basketball League for the 2023/24 season as part of the NBL’s Next Stars program, he tells Jonathan Givony of ESPN.
A promising young prospect who began his playing career with Real Madrid’s youth team in 2019, Sarr has spent the last two years with Overtime Elite. The 18-year-old – who currently projects as a top-20 pick in 2024, per Givony – told ESPN that he was seeking a “new challenge” before becoming draft-eligible next year.
“The OTE experience was great,” Sarr said. “I had all the resources in the world and improved a lot the past two years. I need to take the next step with my game now; the NBL is what I need.”
As Givony observes, the NBL’s Next Stars program has been a popular choice for top French prospects in recent years. Ousmane Dieng played for the New Zealand Breakers before being drafted 11th overall by Oklahoma City in 2022, while Rayan Rupert – a projected first-rounder in 2023 – spent this past season with the Breakers.
Here are more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- Dayton forward Mike Sharavjamts, who declared for the draft following his freshman year, is leaning toward turning pro but has entered the NCAA’s transfer portal so that he has an opportunity to explore his options if he decides to continue his college career, reports Givony (via Twitter). Sharavjamts is among the prospects attending this weekend’s G League Elite Camp, which should give him a better idea of where he stands in the 2023 draft class.
- Thunder forward Jalen Williams and Jazz center Walker Kessler are among the biggest risers in a re-draft of the 2022 draft conducted by Sam Vecenie of The Athletic. Williams jumps from No. 12 to No. 2 in Vecenie’s exercise, while Kessler moves from No. 22 to No. 9. Vecenie remains high enough on Chet Holmgren to keep the Thunder big man at No. 3 despite his lost rookie season.
- Veteran agent Kevin Bradbury, who represents players like Patrick Beverley and Robert Williams, has agreed to join LIFT Sports Management, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link). Bradbury will become the head of basketball for the agency, which was founded by Donnie McGrath and former NBA sharpshooter Mike Miller.
Rookie of the Year winner Paolo Banchero was a unanimous choice for the 2022/23 All-Rookie First Team, the NBA announced today (via Twitter).
Players receive two points for a First Team vote and one point for a Second Team vote, and Banchero received the maximum possible 200 points.
Here’s the full five-man squad, listed in order of their total points received via voters:
Magic forward Banchero (200)- Thunder guard/forward Jalen Williams (199)
- Jazz center Walker Kessler (195)
- Kings forward Keegan Murray (185)
- Pacers guard Bennedict Mathurin (170)
The All-Rookie Second Team was announced as well, with a couple of teammates headlining the group (Twitter link).
- Pistons guard Jaden Ivey (142)
- Pistons center Jalen Duren (85)
- Rockets forward Jabari Smith (72)
- Spurs forward Jeremy Sochan (66)
- Rockets forward Tari Eason (47)
In my opinion, the most surprising omission from the All-Rookie Second Team was Pacers guard Andrew Nembhard, who received 46 points. Nembhard was actually listed on one more ballot than Eason, but Eason received two First Team votes versus Nembhard’s zero, giving him a narrow edge.
That’s not to say Eason (or anyone else) was undeserving — he had a strong season as a tenacious offensive rebounder and defender. I just thought Nembhard should have been honored because he started the majority of the season for a competitive Indiana team and was frequently tasked with guarding the opposing teams’ best player, as Scott Agness of Fieldhouse Files notes (via Twitter).
According to the NBA (Twitter link), others receiving votes included Trail Blazers guard Shaedon Sharpe (36), Hawks wing AJ Griffin (26), Nuggets forward Christian Braun, Thunder center Jaylin Williams (seven), Mavericks guard Jaden Hardy (four), Spurs guard Malaki Branham (three), Pelicans guard Dyson Daniels (two), Hornets center Mark Williams (two) and Bucks wing MarJon Beauchamp (one).
In case you missed it, more NBA awards will be coming later this week. The All-Defensive teams will be announced on Tuesday, followed by All-NBA on Wednesday and the Teammate of the Year award on Thursday.
Thunder big man Chet Holmgren continues to rehabilitate from two surgeries related to the Lisfranc right foot injury he suffered last year, writes Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman.
As Mussatto notes, Oklahoma City has indicated Holmgren may play for the Thunder’s 2023 Summer League team, and anticipates he will be able to suit up in time for the 2023/24 season. Mussatto collected a variety of quotes from Holmgren’s Thunder colleagues about their teammate, who missed his entire rookie season after being drafted second overall.
“Chet is a great competitor,” rookie Jaylin Williams raved. “We played against each other in college and then we played against each other when we first got here, and we always talk about the college game, smack talking to each other.”
“Off the court, he’s a really good kid,” All-Star point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said. “Then on the court, competitor. The kid wants to be good. I think that’s the biggest thing. Like he wants to be really good and he wants to prove himself to the world. That fire in him is impressive. It’s impressive. I think because of that he’s going to be a heck of a basketball player.”
There’s more out of the Northwest Division:
- Following a very active 2022 offseason, Jim Souhan of The Star Tribune believes that the Timberwolves should operate more patiently this summer. Souhan notes that Minnesota has been plagued by wild swings from management in recent years and says the team needs to avoid repeating that behavior in the 2023 offseason.
- Nuggets head coach Michael Malone wants to make sure that Suns All-Star shooting guard Devin Booker has a harder time scoring, writes Parker Gabriel of The Denver Post. Booker poured in 47 points on 20-of-25 shooting from the floor in Phoenix’s 121-114 Game 3 victory over Denver. “He’s going to score,” Malone acknowledged. “The sheer volume of shots he’s going to take, he’s going to score… But we can’t allow him to go 80% from the field when he goes 20 of 25. Being into him, being more physical, more aggressive, showing him more of a crowd, hopefully that doesn’t allow him to start off with 18 points and shooting into a big basket the rest of the night.”
- After winning the first two games of their second round series vs. Phoenix at home, the Nuggets regressed to cough up a Game 3 loss on the road, writes Harrison Wind of DNVR Sports. “I think we were just a little bit slow,” All-NBA center Nikola Jokic said. “I don’t want to say, sleepy, but they were making the first move and we were reacting.”
Joel Embiid has been named the league’s Most Valuable Player, according to the NBA (Twitter link).
The Sixers center surged during the second half of the season and topped Nuggets center Nikola Jokic, who won the award the past two seasons, and Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, who captured the league’s most prestigious individual award in 2019 and 2020.
Embiid, the third overall pick of the 2014 draft, led Philadelphia to the Eastern Conference’s third-best record while topping the league in scoring at 33.1 points per game. He also averaged 10.2 rebounds and 4.2 assists in 66 regular-season games.
Jokic, who was considered the frontrunner a majority of the season, averaged 24.5 points, 11.8 rebounds and a career-best 9.8 assists in 69 games while leading Denver to the Western Conference’s top seed. Jokic’s assist average ranked fourth in the league, an unusual feat for a center.
Antetokounmpo led the Bucks to the league’s best record by averaging 31.1 points (fifth in the league), 11.8 rebounds and 5.7 assists in 63 games. Milwaukee’s superstar tied for third in the league in rebounding with Jokic.
The votes were based only on the regular season, so Milwaukee’s first-round playoff exit had no bearing on the voting.
Considering the MVP debate raged throughout the season, it was a little surprising that Embiid won by such a wide margin. He picked up 73 of the 100 first-place votes, while Jokic received 15 and Antetokounmpo got the other 12.
Overall, Embiid had 915 points with Jokic in second place (674 points) and the Bucks star in third (606). The Celtics‘ Jayson Tatum received most of the fourth-place votes and the Thunder‘s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander finished fifth.
Donovan Mitchell, Domantas Sabonis, Luka Doncic, Stephen Curry, Jimmy Butler, De’Aaron Fox, Jalen Brunson, and Ja Morant also received at least one vote apiece.
Embiid is the first Sixers player to win the award since Allen Iverson (2000-01).