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Wendell Carter Jr. To Undergo Another Surgical Procedure On Left Hand

May 11th, 2024 at 5:04pm CST by Arthur Hill

Magic center Wendell Carter Jr. will have an operation to stabilize the third metacarpal on his left hand, the team announced in a press release (via Twitter).

The preventive procedure involves inserting a plate at the site of a fracture on Carter’s hand. He suffered the fracture in early November and had it surgically repaired at the time.

Carter will be reevaluated in approximately four weeks, the team added. That should give him plenty of time for offseason workouts before training camps open in late September.

Although he missed more than a month with the original injury, Carter still appeared in 55 games, making 48 starts and averaging 11.0 points, 6.9 rebounds and 1.7 assists in 25.6 minutes per night.

During exit interviews after the Magic were eliminated from the playoffs, Carter talked about the difficulty of trying to return after surgery, per Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel.

“It affected me in a lot of ways,” Carter said. “Mentally, being out of the rotation for a while, just watching from the sidelines while they’re doing such a fantastic job and then the pressure of coming back and picking up where Goga (Bitadze) and (Moritz Wagner) left off. It was tough. Then it got to a point where I was doubting myself a little bit — just being honest.”

Carter, 25, has two years remaining on his contract. He will earn $11.95MM next season and $10.85MM in 2025/26 before becoming an unrestricted free agent that summer.

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Lakers Eyeing Nori, Adelman, Sweeney, Quinn In Coaching Search

May 11th, 2024 at 3:52pm CST by Luke Adams

The Lakers, who are in the process of searching for a new head coach, have interest in a handful of veteran assistant coaches around the NBA, Jovan Buha of The Athletic stated within a mailbag video (YouTube link; hat tip to Lakers Nation).

According to Buha, Timberwolves assistant Micah Nori, Nuggets assistant David Adelman, Mavericks assistant Sean Sweeney, and Heat assistant Chris Quinn are among the head coaching candidates that intrigue the Lakers.

Nori has been with the Timberwolves since 2021, having previously served as an assistant in Detroit, Denver, Sacramento, and Toronto. Adelman, who has been an assistant under Michael Malone in Denver since 2017, was on the Wolves’ staff from 2011-15 and was with the Magic in 2016/17. Sweeney’s stint with the Mavericks, which began in 2021, was preceded by assistant jobs in Detroit, Milwaukee, and Brooklyn. Quinn has been on Erik Spoelstra‘s staff in Miami since 2014.

“To my knowledge, the Lakers are not at the stage of interviewing coaches yet, but that will be happening soon,” Buha said. “It’s a little tricky timing-wise because you have Adelman, Nori, and Sweeney all in playoff series right now. You have J.J. Redick who is on the top broadcast team at ESPN and is supposed to be calling the Finals, which would be about a week or so before the draft.

“So it’s going to be interesting to see how the Lakers end up doing their interviews and just the timing of it and if they request certain guys while they’re still in the playoffs, how that process works with the teams.”

[RELATED: 2024 NBA Head Coaching Search Tracker]

As Buha observes, the logistics may be especially challenging with Nori, who is essentially functioning as a co-head coach for the Timberwolves in their series vs. Denver due to the knee injury that has affected Chris Finch‘s ability to occupy his usual spot on the sidelines. For what it’s worth, it doesn’t sound like the Lakers are in a rush to make a hire within the next week or two, so if Nori is one of their top choices, they could be willing to wait for him.

“From what I’ve been told, the Lakers’ plan is to have a coach in place by the NBA draft, which is June 26,” Buha said.

According to Buha, Tyronn Lue is probably the Lakers’ top choice, but there has still been no indication that the Clippers‘ head coach will become available this offseason. Redick, Kenny Atkinson, and James Borrego have also been mentioned as possibilities for the Lakers; Charles Lee and Mike Budenholzer were too, but they’ve since taken head coaching jobs with other teams.

Appearing on ESPN’s NBA Countdown on Saturday (Twitter video link), Adrian Wojnarowski described Redick as a candidate that the Lakers have been “drilling down on” in their initial research. Woj adds that L.A.’s search is expected to be “wide-ranging” and “lengthy.”

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2024 NBA Draft Lottery Primer

May 11th, 2024 at 2:16pm CST by Luke Adams

The 2024 NBA draft lottery will take place on Sunday afternoon prior to Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinals between the Knicks and Pacers. The half-hour event will be broadcast on ESPN beginning at 2:00 pm Central time.

While the 2023 draft class featured surefire No. 1 pick Victor Wembanyama – widely considered to be the best prospect to enter the NBA since LeBron James – 2024’s class has no clear-cut frontrunner to be the first player off the board, with Alexandre Sarr, Zaccharie Risacher, and a handful of other prospects expected to be in that mix.

That lack of clarity at the top of the draft will make the results of the 2024 lottery a little less meaningful than in past years, but it’s safe to assume that the teams with a shot at the No. 1 overall pick will still be hoping their logo is the one on the final card revealed by the NBA on Sunday afternoon.

Here’s what you need to know heading into Sunday’s lottery:

Pre-Lottery Draft Order:

The top 14 picks in the 2024 NBA draft would look like this if tonight’s lottery results don’t change the order:

  1. Detroit Pistons
  2. Washington Wizards
  3. Charlotte Hornets
  4. Portland Trail Blazers
  5. San Antonio Spurs
  6. Toronto Raptors
    • Note: The Spurs will receive this pick if it falls out of the top six (54.2%).
  7. Memphis Grizzlies
  8. Utah Jazz
    • Note: The Thunder will receive this pick if it falls out of the top 10 (0.5%).
  9. Houston Rockets
  10. Atlanta Hawks
  11. Chicago Bulls
  12. Oklahoma City Thunder
    • Note: The Rockets will receive this pick if it moves into the top four (7.2%).
  13. Sacramento Kings
  14. Portland Trail Blazers
    • Note: The Warriors will receive this pick if it moves into the top four (3.4%).

For the full pre-lottery draft order, click here.

Draft Lottery Odds:

The Pistons and Wizards have the best odds to land the No. 1 pick. Each of those two teams has a 14.0% chance to pick first overall.

From there, the Hornets (13.3%), Trail Blazers (13.2%), Spurs (10.5%), Raptors (9.0%), Grizzlies (7.5%), Jazz (6%), and Rockets (6% across two picks) have the next-best odds to receive the first overall selection.

When the NBA introduced its new lottery format in 2019, the selling point was that the new system flattened the odds, making it less likely that the league’s very worst teams would claim a top pick.

Before the NBA tweaked the lottery rules, there was a 60.5% chance that one of the league’s bottom three teams would secure the No. 1 pick and only a 27.6% chance that a team in the 5-14 range of the lottery standings would do so. Now, those odds are 42.0% and 45.5%, respectively.

Still, there haven’t been many major surprises in the years since the new format was implemented.

The Pelicans moved up from No. 7 in the lottery standings in 2019 to claim the first overall pick, which they used on Zion Williamson. Since then though, every team to win the draft lottery has been in the top three in the lottery standings.

Perhaps we’re due for a more significant shake-up in 2024. There’s a 18.5% chance that a team in the back half of the lottery (Nos. 8-14) wins the No. 1 pick. That works out to better than 1-in-6 odds, and this will be the sixth time the NBA has employed its revamped lottery format.

For this year’s full draft lottery odds for all 14 spots, click here.

For full details on the current lottery format, click here.

Trades Affecting The Draft Lottery:

The Raptors traded their 2023 first-round pick to the Spurs, but would keep that selection if it lands within the top six. There’s a 45.8% chance that will happen and a 54.2% chance it will slip to No. 7 or below and be sent to San Antonio. If Toronto retains its first-rounder this year, the club would instead owe its 2025 first-round pick (top-six protected) to the Spurs.

The Jazz would owe the Thunder their first-round pick if it lands outside of the top 10, but since Utah will enter Sunday at No. 8 in the lottery standings, there’s only a 0.5% chance of that happening. In all likelihood, the Jazz will instead owe their top-10 protected 2025 first-rounder to Oklahoma City.

The Rockets acquired the Nets‘ unprotected first-round pick, which will likely land at either No. 9 (50.7%) or No. 10 (25.9%). However, Houston’s own first-rounder has a 92.8% chance of being sent to the Thunder. It will probably be the No. 12 pick, but if it moves into the top four (7.2%), the Rockets would keep it.

Finally, the Warriors‘ first-round pick, which projects to be No. 14, will almost certainly be sent to the Trail Blazers. There’s a 96.6% chance it will be the 14th overall pick and be sent to Portland and just a 3.4% chance it will move into the top four and be retained by Golden State.

Draft Lottery Representatives:

The representatives for each of this year’s lottery teams are as follows, according to a pair of announcements from the NBA:

  1. Detroit Pistons

    • On stage: Ausar Thompson
    • Lottery room: Jon Phelps (senior director of basketball strategy)
  2. Washington Wizards

  3. Charlotte Hornets

  4. Portland Trail Blazers

  5. San Antonio Spurs

    • On stage: Brian Wright (general manager)
    • Lottery room: Brandon Leibsohn (senior manager of basketball strategy and legal affairs)
  6. Toronto Raptors

    • On stage: Scottie Barnes
    • Lottery room: Dan Tolzman (assistant GM / VP of player personnel)
  7. Memphis Grizzlies

    • On stage: Tayshaun Prince (VP of basketball affairs)
    • Lottery room: Zach Kleiman (president of basketball operations)
  8. Utah Jazz

    • On stage: Thurl Bailey (former Jazz player / current Jazz broadcaster)
    • Lottery room: Danny Ainge (CEO)
  9. Houston Rockets

    • On stage: Ime Udoka (head coach)
    • Lottery room: Sam Strantz (associate legal counsel)
  10. Atlanta Hawks

    • On stage: Landry Fields (general manager)
    • Lottery room: Daniel Starkman (VP of player personnel)
  11. Chicago Bulls

  12. Oklahoma City Thunder
    • On stage: None
    • Lottery room: None
    • Note: The Thunder won’t have any representatives on hand because they don’t have a path to a top-four pick.
  13. Sacramento Kings

    • On stage: Keegan Murray
    • Lottery room: John Kehriotis (minority owner / executive board member)
  14. Golden State Warriors

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Mavericks Notes: Doncic, Irving, Hardaway, Green

May 11th, 2024 at 1:14pm CST by Luke Adams

Mavericks star Luka Doncic, who has been bothered by a right knee sprain since midway through the team’s first-round series against the Clippers, was listed as questionable for Game 3 on Saturday not only due to that ailment but as a result of left ankle soreness as well, writes Tim MacMahon of ESPN. Doncic hurt his ankle on Thursday when he got tangled up with Thunder guard Cason Wallace early in the fourth quarter.

“He just stepped on my foot, but nothing serious,” Doncic told reporters after Dallas’ win. “I know he didn’t do it on purpose, so nothing serious. We just thought it was a foul. Other people would get a foul call on that one.”

As banged up as he is, Doncic will be available on Saturday as the series shifts to Dallas tied at 1-1, tweets Rylan Stiles of Locked on Thunder. The question, MacMahon tweets, is how much the knee and ankle issues will affect the Mavericks’ star. Doncic looked to be struggling with knee soreness in a subpar Game 1 showing (6-of-19 shooting), but bounced back in Game 2 with 29 points and 10 rebounds.

Here’s more on the Mavs:

  • After finishing third in the NBA’s 2023/24 Most Valuable Player vote, Doncic admitted that he knew this probably wasn’t his year, but said he hopes to win the award someday, according to Mike Curtis of The Dallas Morning News (subscription required). Teammate Kyrie Irving believes it’ll happen. “If it’s not this year, then Luka’s on his way to winning MVP sometime in the future, very soon,” Irving said. “If you look at his numbers across the board and you look at how he was carrying our team, that’s nothing short of an MVP. He was coming off the World Cup, playing a lot of basketball for the last year and a half. I just look at all of those contributing factors, showcasing that he was the MVP of this league.”
  • The Mavericks’ greatest strength is their resilience, according to Tim Cato of The Athletic, who suggests that quality may give Dallas an edge on Oklahoma City over the course of their seven-game series.
  • As both Cato and Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News (subscription required) detail, the Mavericks’ role players were crucial factors in the club’s Game 2 win, upping their aggressiveness as the Thunder focused their defensive attention on Doncic and Irving. Tim Hardaway Jr. (17 points in 19 minutes) and Josh Green (11 points in 16 minutes), in particular, came up big with their best games of the postseason so far. “I want to bring as much energy as I can,” Green said, per Townsend. “Do the little things. Make the hustle plays. Shoot when I’m open. I’m confident in my shot. Just doing the little things can help out a lot.” Green signed a three-year rookie scale extension with the Mavs last fall.
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Pacers Notes: Haliburton, Nembhard, Nesmith

May 11th, 2024 at 11:57am CST by Tristan Tucker

Pacers star guard Tyrese Haliburton suffered multiple injuries in Indiana’s Game 3 win over the Knicks, but battled through them to finish with 35 points and seven assists. After already dealing with lower back spasms, Haliburton hurt his tailbone and twisted his ankle in the span of a few minutes of game time, Dustin Dopirak of IndyStar writes.

“My just overall body right now,” Haliburton said. “I’m hurtin’. But they got guys hurting too. We gotta understand that everybody’s hurting right now. Thank God we got a day in between. I’m young and I’ll heal up and be ready on Sunday.”

He’ll likely be on the injury report ahead of Sunday’s Game 4, but coach Rick Carlisle said he’s hopeful Haliburton will be available.

We have more on the Pacers:

  • Haliburton has turned up the aggression for the Pacers after taking just six shots in the opening loss of the series, Dopirak writes. In his past two games, Haliburton is averaging 34.5 points and 8.0 assists while taking 22.5 shots – including 13.5 threes – per game. In his first seven playoff contests, Haliburton only averaged 13.0 shots per game, 8.4 of which were from downtown. He averaged 14.6 points and 9.1 assists in those games.
  • Despite a cold shooting night, Andrew Nembhard came up with one of the biggest plays in franchise history when he launched a three-pointer after a broken play to ultimately give Indiana the victory. Eric Nehm of The Athletic and Dopirak each explore in separate stories how Nembhard’s big shot came to be. “The clock was down, and sometimes, in those situations, it frees you up even more,” Carlisle said of Nembhard’s three-pointer. “And he just laced it.“
  • Carlisle moved Aaron Nesmith onto the assignment of guarding Jalen Brunson, Kyle Neddenriep of IndyStar observes. “You can’t give New York a recipe of the same thing over and over again,” Carlisle said. “They are going to adjust. Brunson is too great a player. So, the idea was to change the matchup and get a little more size and Aaron did as good a job as you can possibly do. Brunson is so good. He’s the best scorer in the playoffs, I believe.” Nesmith helped hold Brunson to 26 points (down from his average of 35.6 through his first eight playoff games) on 38.5% shooting (down from 45.7%).
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Suns Hire Mike Budenholzer As Head Coach

May 11th, 2024 at 11:29am CST by Dana Gauruder

May 11: The Suns have officially announced the hiring of Budenholzer, making it official in a press release.

“Mike’s exceptional basketball acumen, championship pedigree and his standing as one of the NBA’s premier coaches will be invaluable as we compete for a championship,” Suns general manager James Jones said in a statement. “We’re confident that under his leadership our team will reach new levels of success.”

May 10, 5:32pm: Budenholzer and the Suns have agreed to a five-year deal worth in excess of $50MM, sources tell Charania (Twitter link).

May 10, 11:05am: The Suns are hiring Budenholzer, the Arizona Republic’s Duane Rankin tweets.

The hiring will “most likely” be officially completed this weekend, according to John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 (Twitter links), who adds that Phoenix liked Budenholzer’s “ability to hold players accountable.”

May 10, 9:24am: The Suns are planning to hire Mike Budenholzer as their head coach, Shams Charania of The Athletic reports (Twitter link). Budenholzer’s multi-year contract is expected to approach eight figures per year, Charania adds.

It’s a swift move by Suns owner Mat Ishbia and the front office, as they announced the firing of Frank Vogel on Thursday. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported later in the day on Thursday that Budenholzer was the frontrunner for the job.

Like Vogel, who lasted just one season with Phoenix, Budenholzer brings a championship résumé to a roster with three stars — Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal — and a collection of role players, mostly on veteran’s minimum contracts.

“They view Mike Budenholzer as a clear choice that can really come in there and optimize those three guys,” Charania said on FanDuel TV’s Run It Back program (video link). “That’s really where this all hinges at, that the big three (is) being fully maximized and utilized the right way offensively.”

A two-time Coach of the Year and an Arizona native, Budenholzer won a championship with Milwaukee in 2021. He coached the Hawks for five seasons and the Bucks for five seasons, compiling a 484-317 regular season record and a 56-48 mark in the postseason.

Phoenix had the league’s third-highest payroll in ’23/24, and that figure is projected to continue to grow in ’24/25. The Suns have very little flexibility to make roster changes, due to their salary being above the second tax apron, so changing coaches is one of the few ways of shaking things up unless they look to move one of their stars.

In a full story for The Athletic, Charania, Doug Haller and Eric Nehm report that David Fizdale, Vogel’s top assistant, is expected to be offered a front office role with Phoenix. However, the belief is that Fizdale will turn down that offer.

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Atlantic Notes: Valanciunas, Harris, Sixers, Knicks, Raptors Pick

May 11th, 2024 at 10:59am CST by Tristan Tucker

There’s a sense that Pelicans center Jonas Valanciunas won’t return to the team this offseason, and the Sixers could be an option for him in free agency. According to PHLY Sports’ Kyle Neubeck (Twitter link), Philadelphia “kicked the tires” on a trade for the big man earlier this season. Equipped with spending power this offseason, circling back to Valanciunas might make sense for the 76ers.

The 32-year-old big man would be arguably the best backup center that Joel Embiid has had in Philly. In his last three seasons with New Orleans, Valanciunas averaged 14.6 points and 10.1 rebounds per game while making 54.9% of his shots from the field.

We have more from the Atlantic Division:

  • In a mailbag previewing Philadelphia’s offseason, Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer writes that it would be shocking if Tobias Harris returned to the team, adding that he “strongly” believes Harris’ tenure in Philly is over. Pompey also sees the Sixers undergoing a complete roster overhaul this summer.
  • Bringing on Leon Rose and Tom Thibodeau — as well as acquiring players like Jalen Brunson and OG Anunoby — are obvious reasons for the Knicks‘ success this season. However, as detailed in a piece by ESPN’s Chris Herring, some of the moves they didn’t make also helped the Knicks achieve their best record in over a decade. While the Knicks were panned for missing out on the likes of Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and Donovan Mitchell over the past few years, it allowed them to maintain their assets and develop from within.
  • The Raptors are in a no-win situation at this week’s draft lottery, TSN’s Josh Lewenberg writes. The Raptors have the sixth-best odds at the top overall pick but in the likely event it falls out of the top six (54.2% chance), Toronto owes its pick to San Antonio as per the Jakob Poeltl trade in 2023. Keeping the pick and landing in the top six sounds good in theory, but in that event, the Raptors then owe a top-six protected pick in 2025, which would limit their flexibility going forward.
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Northwest Notes: Alexander-Walker, Nuggets/Wolves Series, Brogdon

May 11th, 2024 at 9:54am CST by Tristan Tucker

Timberwolves wing Nickeil Alexander-Walker injured his shoulder in Game 3 against the Nuggets, according to The Star Tribune’s Chris Hine (Twitter link). He appeared to have trouble taking off his jersey after the game.

“Right now, it hurts,” Alexander-Walker told reporters on Friday night. “We’ll see what happens tomorrow when I wake up and everything’s settled.”

Initially seen as something of a throw-in in the trade that sent Mike Conley to Minnesota, Alexander-Walker has emerged as one of the most important rotation pieces for the Wolves. In his fifth NBA season, Alexander-Walker is continuing to establish himself as a reliable defender and averaged 8.0 points and 2.5 assists per game off the bench this season. We’ll have to wait for more updates to get a sense of whether or not he’ll have to miss time.

We have more from the Northwest Division:

  • After looking out of sorts in the first two games of the series, the Nuggets stormed back to blow out the Timberwolves on Minnesota’s home court in Game 3. According to The Athletic’s John Hollinger, poor screening and offensive pace negatively affected their defense, allowing Denver to fall into a 2-0 hole. Behind Nikola Jokic‘s 24 points, 14 rebounds, nine assists, three blocks and three steals, the Nuggets have made the matchup a series once again.
  • Head coach Michael Malone tested the Nuggets‘ belief in themselves following their Game 2 blowout loss, The Athletic’s Tony Jones writes. After Monday’s blowout loss, Malone challenged his players to not run from what happened, but to confront why they lost — he also showed his team a series of video clips of NBA analysts declaring Denver’s season over. Additionally, Malone changed up the sets and the rotations, with Jokic and Jamal Murray playing nearly the entire game. Reserve wing Justin Holiday has become a key part of this series, hitting six three-pointers in his last two games. All of this culminated in the Nuggets‘ best performance this postseason.
  • The Timberwolves desperately need to find their identity again if they’re going to win the series against Denver, The Star Tribune’s Chip Scoggins writes. “We didn’t want to work very hard for our offense and got a little bit lazy and we missed those shots,” coach Chris Finch said. “We did miss a lot of layups early. Generally, when you’re doing that, you’re not playing in the right mindset.” Anthony Edwards said he would take the blame for the loss, but as The Athletic’s Jon Krawczynski writes, there’s plenty Minnesota needs to address in the rest of the series. The Wolves allowed Jamal Murray to get hot in Game 3 and let Aaron Gordon get involved with Rudy Gobert sagging off him.
  • Trail Blazers guard Malcolm Brogdon has applied for Polish citizenship, according to BasketNews (Twitter link). The Rose Garden Report’s Sean Highkin explains that Brogdon’s wife’s father is Polish and that there’s been talk that Brogdon could play for Poland’s national team in the Olympic qualifying tournament in July (Twitter link). However, nothing is finalized at this moment.
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Celtics Notes: Cavaliers Series, Defense, Kornet, White

May 11th, 2024 at 8:18am CST by Tristan Tucker

The Celtics fell to the Cavaliers, 118-94, in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference semifinals on Thursday, allowing Cleveland to shoot 46.4% from beyond the arc on 28 three-point attempts. Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe opines that this was more than a case of the Celtics simply missing shots and allowing the Cavs to get hot — they were neutralized by the presence of Evan Mobley.

After getting blown out in Game 1, the Cavaliers ran through Mobley, who finished with 21 points, 10 rebounds and five assists. Donovan Mitchell scored 29 points while Caris LeVert contributed 21 off the bench. It was Cleveland’s first road playoff win in six years. Nothing was working for the Celtics, Washburn writes, beyond getting Jayson Tatum to the free-throw line (11 attempts), while Derrick White and Jrue Holiday ran cold (14 combined points).

“I think when you lose a game like that, it could be a combination of tactics, a combination of effort, a combination of all those things,” head coach Joe Mazzulla said. “You treat it the same way you would a win, you come in, watch the film and you get better for Game 3.”

In a similar piece, Danny Chau of The Ringer analyzes Boston’s postseason, writing that Tatum hasn’t been the best version of himself through the first seven Celtics playoff games.

“Nobody in [the locker room was] defeated or deflated,” Tatum said. “You never want to lose, especially in the playoffs. A lot of things we can learn from. We get it, right? The world thinks we’re never supposed to lose. We’re supposed to win every game by 25. And it’s just not going to be like that all the time.”

We have more from the Celtics:
  • This is the second straight Game 2 in which the Celtics’ opponents got hot from beyond the arc and defeated Boston on its home floor, Jared Weiss of The Athletic writes. After Mitchell made five of his seven threes and 10 of his 19 shots on the night, guard Jaylen Brown said Boston had no excuse for allowing him to heat up. “It’s the playoffs, that can’t happen. I don’t care if you’re missing shots, you’ve got to guard the guy on the other end,” Brown said. “That allows you to miss more shots if you’re playing defense. But you can’t miss shots and then allow them to make shots at the other end. That was unacceptable.”
  • Boston’s starters were taken out of the game with about five minutes left in regulation in Game 2, Jay King of The Athletic observes, with the team looking ahead to Game 3. “I just felt like that was the best thing to do at that particular time,” Mazzulla said. “We have another game coming up soon.” King writes how the Celtics respond will be most indicative of their ability to — or lack thereof — to win a championship.
  • Though he didn’t make a big impact in Game 2, backup center Luke Kornet was a huge reason why Boston blew out Cleveland in Game 1 of the series, MassLive’s Brian Robb writes. Kornet, who took on a larger role due to Kristaps Porzingis‘ absence, recorded four points, 10 rebounds and a pair of blocks in the victory, sparking the Celtics bench.
  • Like Kornet, White had a quieter Game 2 but was integral to Boston’s Game 1 success. White recorded 25 points and five assists in Game 1 while knocking down seven threes. In a separate piece, Weiss explores how White’s shooting is crucial to unlocking the Celtics’ offense. “It’s important because it means usually the shots he takes are because we’re either out in transition, we’ve set really good screens and he has that [look], or there are two-on-ones and we’re making extra passes,” Mazzulla said. “So I think when those guys get more and more shots, it means we’re getting to the different layers of our offense which is important against a team like [Cleveland].”
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Heat Notes: D. Robinson, Butler, Draft, CBA

May 10th, 2024 at 10:59pm CST by Luke Adams

After a down year in 2022/23, Duncan Robinson enjoyed perhaps his best season as a pro in ’23/24. The Heat forward boosted his scoring average from 6.4 to 12.9 points per game, made 39.5% of his three-pointers, and handed out a career-high 2.8 assists per contest.

As Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel (subscription required) writes, Robinson’s five-year, $90MM contract once looked like an albatross that the Heat would have trouble moving. But with just two years left on the deal (at $19.4MM and a partially guaranteed $19.9MM), Winderman suggests that Robinson looks like a reasonable investment — especially since he believes, after turning 30 last month, that he still has room to improve.

“I just turned 30, which is crazy,” Robinson said. “But what might even be crazier is I still think I’m far from a finished product. And maybe people say 28 to whatever is your prime, but I feel like prime is still ahead of me, so we’ll see.”

Here’s more on the Heat:

  • Jimmy Butler remains committed to the idea of finishing his NBA career with the Heat, he recently told Rohan Nadkarni of GQ. “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. They’ve wanted me to bring them something they haven’t done since LeBron, D-Wade and C-Bosh. And I want to do that. So as soon as I get this knee back right, I’m right back on they ass and everybody know it.” For what it’s worth, Butler made those comments to Nadkarni a couple days before Pat Riley‘s end-of-season press conference, though there has been no indication that any of Riley’s comments about his star forward will change Butler’s thinking.
  • While Riley has spoken in the past about not being “a draft-pick guy,” this will be the third straight year that the Heat own a first-rounder, according to Winderman, who notes that the team has used those picks well in recent drafts, selecting Nikola Jovic at No. 27 in 2022 and Jaime Jaquez at No. 18 in 2023. Following the team’s first-round playoff exit, Miami’s front office will have the better part of two months to focus on how to use this year’s 15th and 43rd overall selections, which head coach Erik Spoelstra joked might be too much time. “I figure I had three days to get up to the draft last year,” Spoelstra said. “The eight weeks leading up to (this year), I think I’ll be just probably over-confused from over-analysis. I’ll stay out of the way. Like now that I have more time, I’m probably dangerous. I’ll stay out of the way of our scouting department. They do an exceptional job, (general manager) Adam Simon and his staff, preparing for that draft.”
  • In a pair of stories for The Miami Herald, Anthony Chiang presents a player-by-player breakdown of what’s next for everyone on the Heat’s roster, while Chiang and Barry Jackson take a closer look at how the NBA’s new Collective Bargaining Agreement will affect Miami’s roster flexibility this summer.
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