The thumb is also sprained but surgery isn’t necessary or anticipated, either during or after the season, the Post duo adds. Towns is averaging 25.4 points and 13.5 rebounds per game in his first season in New York.

We have more on the New York City teams:

• Josh Hart called out unnamed Knicks teammates after recent losses for letting “egos” and “individual agendas” get in the way of team goals. Coach Tom Thibodeau said on Wednesday that Hart needs to choose his words more carefully, Bondy writes. “I think oftentimes the next day after you look at the film, you’re putting a mic in front of someone right after a game. And sometimes they may say things, we all may say things that we wish we had not said until you watch the film the next day,” the coach said. “And then there’s usually a pretty good reason why something occurred. So before you say something, you probably should think.”
• The Knicks are fortunate they didn’t go all in and trade for Joel Embiid when rumors circulated last season about the team’s interest in the Sixers center, Bondy opines. They would have squandered their draft capital and other assets for an oft-injured center still owed $300MM due to his extension without injury protections. Of course, Philadelphia never actually made Embiid available.
• The games just keep getting uglier for the rebuilding and tanking Nets, as they suffered the worst loss in franchise history on Wednesday. The 126-67 pummeling by the Clippers was also one of the 10 biggest routs in NBA history, Brian Lewis of the New York Post notes. “This is not the time to point or deflect anything,” coach Jordi Fernandez said. “It’s time for everybody to own, and I will own first. The guys kept fighting; I don’t think that they quit. And it’s one of those days that you don’t do anything right, you don’t have that right energy and togetherness. But you try and you just need a little bit more focus and all these things.” Cameron Johnson, who could be moved before the trade deadline, missed the second game of a back-to-back due to a sprained right ankle, Lewis adds.
• With the front office clearing more cap space than any other team for next offseason and hoarding draft picks in trades, the Nets have the flexibility to make a franchise-altering move, Lewis writes for the New York Post (subscription required). The big prize would be Giannis Antetokounmpo if he ever asks out of Milwaukee, as the Nets covet the superstar forward.

“It’s the most common injury I see in basketball athletes. It’s not even classified as an injury half the time because it just kind of exists and people live with it,” said Dr. Abi Campbell, the director of the NYU Langone Center for Women’s Sports Medicine. “The fact that it’s flared up so severely that he’s had to take time out either points to the fact that it’s cautionary in order to maintain him for the next set of games. Or, it’s having such a severe flare-up that he’s not going to be able to play at full capacity and he has no other option but to come out.

“If that’s the case, I think that in the offseason the only option is to have it fully addressed because it seems like it’s been lingering and not getting better.”

Campell, who has not treated Towns or viewed his medical records, told Bondy that patellar tendinopathy is a “microtearing of the tendon” and a “chronic issue.” She guessed that Towns has likely been dealing with the injury for “years.” While it can be painful and result in limited function, it’s typically manageable — until it flares up again.

“In order to heal, there are a lot of options but unfortunately most of them [like a PRP injection] need to be done in the offseason because they require some down time,” Campbell said. “So the natural way — which I’m sure he’s been doing for a long time — is doing blood-flow restriction training to try to strengthen your quad muscle to take the load off the patellar tendon, all those straps and braces you see them wear. And resting.”

Here’s more on the Knicks, who are currently the No. 3 seed in the East with a 25-13 record:

• Head coach Tom Thibodeau has been criticized by the media over the years for playing rotation regulars a lot of minutes. Mikal Bridges (39.1), Josh Hart (37.7) and OG Anunoby (36.5) rank first, second and seventh in the league in minutes per game, with Jalen Brunson (35.0) at No. 23 and Towns (34.6) at No. 30. Towns believes the criticism is misguided, as Bondy relays (via Twitter). “I feel like y’all give him flack all the time,” Towns said. “No matter where he is. But y’all keep talking about him and that means he keeps getting a job and that means everyone keeps respecting him and knowing what he can do for a team. He’s done it in Chicago, he did it in Boston, he did it with us in Minny. And he’s doing it here. Even before I got here. So say what you want about Thibs — he gets the job done.”
• Hart has accumulated six technical fouls this season, but he’s working to avoid them going forward, according to Bondy. “Some of the techs I got, I haven’t even cursed so I kind of been surprised by them,” Hart told The Post. “So I’m not going to say what ref but I asked him, ‘Do I have a bad reputation? Or what? Man-to-man, let me know. Because I’m trying to work on it.’ And he was just like, ‘No, you’re an amazing competitor. But sometimes in the heat of competition, it’s like you’re against us, too. Like you look at it 8 on 5.’ Which I do sometimes. So I think my complaining and getting techs hurts us. We’re giving them free points or the ball or whatever it is and those kind of things. So it’s just something I’m trying to be more cognizant of and work on.”
• Veteran guard Landry Shamet recently had his contract guaranteed after New York decided to retain him past the cut-down deadline. He tells James Edwards III of The Athletic that he appreciates the opportunity to have a second chance with the Knicks after being cut during preseason due to a shoulder injury. “Playing for a lot of different teams, a lot of different teammates, seeing a lot of different situations, great players, different coaching styles, I think you just build up your memory bank and things you can draw from,” Shamet said. “I’m grateful for the journey I’ve had so far and thankful to be here and try to build and grow with this group.”

Barrett was eventually ruled out against Orlando, per Murphy (via Twitter). Ochai Agbaji started in his stead, scoring 15 points in the 106-97 loss. The team fell to 8-27 on the season and dropped its ninth game among its last 10.

The next opportunity for the Raptors to field all of their first five will be in a Monday matchup with the 17-15 Bucks.

There’s more out of the Atlantic Division:

• On New Year’s Day against the Nets, Raptors guard Immanuel Quickley made his first return to action after a 22-game absence. His comeback from a partially torn UCL in his left elbow could open up the offense of All-Star forward Scottie Barnes, according to Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca, who opines that Quickley’s abilities as a play-maker and distributor should help Barnes as a scorer. “It was amazing,” Barnes said of Quickley’s return. “ Something that we really missed, and we needed. His play-making ability, his ability to get to the paint, his shooting, all that, we needed it.”
• Knicks All-Star center Karl-Anthony Towns is thriving during his second stint with head coach Tom Thibodeau. Towns believes the two-time Coach of the Year has greatly altered his approach in New York, writes Peter Botte of The New York Post. Towns notes that Thibodeau is now “a different man” and far more mellow. “I like this version going into 2025,” Towns said. Thibodeau previously coached Towns from 2016-19 on the Timberwolves. Towns and fellow All-Star Jalen Brunson have clicked incredibly well together on offense, a new point of emphasis for Thibodeau. All told, New York is 24-11 on the year, good for the East’s No. 3 seed. “I’ve grown since the time when we were together in Minnesota,” Towns said of Thibodeau. “He’s grown. I think that we’re just, in this game of life, we’re just finding ourselves and getting better all the time.”
• The Sixers explored a potential trade to reacquire embattled Heat All-Star forward Jimmy Butler during this past offseason, notes Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports. Seven-time All-Star Philadelphia center Joel Embiid had been pushing for a reunion with Butler, alongside whom he played for part of the 2018/19 season. The five-time All-NBA swingman departed for Miami in free agency. Prior to the team’s signing of Paul George, Butler had been known to be on the Sixers’ list of potential summer targets, but the Heat weren’t really considering moving him during the offseason. Now, Butler’s relationship with Miami has soured to the point that the Heat have suspended him for seven games and have indicated they are amenable to a trade.

“I would say we’re definitely gonna be managing it going forward,” McBride said, per Peter Botte of The New York Post. “We just wanna be more precautionary I think than anything, just to make sure everything is right. I felt great and I think it’s gonna be behind me, but I just want to be smart with it.”

Here are a few more notes on the Knicks:

• Fourth-year wing Quentin Grimes had a tumultuous end to his Knicks tenure last season, ultimately being traded to Detroit at the February deadline before being rerouted to Dallas in another trade over the offseason. Following the Mavericks‘ victory over New York on Wednesday, Grimes praised Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau, as Stefan Bondy of The New York Post relays. “Credit to Thibs,” Grimes said. “He gave me a lot of those hard assignments early in my career and I feel like I was able to get a good understanding of how to guard All-Stars, superstars, and it gets me going.” Grimes, who finished with a season-high 21 points on 7-of-13 shooting starting in place of the injured Luka Doncic, will be a restricted free agent in 2025.
• The Knicks currently have the second-best offensive rating in the NBA but are just 24th in defense. One game after scoring a league-high 145 points in Denver, New York’s high-powered offense struggled with Dallas’ switching defensive scheme, Bondy writes for The New York Post. The Knicks shot just 26% from the field in the first half. “We couldn’t buy a basket to save our lives to start the game,” Jalen Brunson said. “Defensively, we just weren’t there. It’s a long season. Honestly, got to limit the highs and lows and be as steady as we can be.”
• Winning the NBA Cup will be a financial windfall for players whose salaries are relatively low. Each member of the first-place team will earn about $515K; a two-way player’s full-season salary is about $579K. Reserve forward Matt Ryan, who is on a non-guaranteed minimum-salary deal, plans to put his potential NBA Cup earnings into his startup investment company, according to Bondy (Sports+ link). The Knicks are 2-0 during in-season tournament play so far with a point differential of plus-14.

“That’s the normal minutes he’s played. Again, we need him to rebound, we need him to push the pace and to find his teammates. We need him to be aggressive,” first-year head coach Jordi Fernandez told Brian Lewis of the New York Post. “Again, it was probably not a great game by him and by us as a team.”

We have more on the New York teams:

• After losing six of their last eight games, the Nets began a difficult three-game journey to the West Coast, starting with Sunday night’s contest at Sacramento. “It’s the NBA. We know who we’re playing against,” Cameron Johnson said, per Lewis. “We know what Sacramento brings. We know what Golden State brings. We know what Phoenix brings — and it’s really good, high-level players. So, yeah, we do. It is a bit of a wake-up call. But we understand what we’re getting ourselves into.” Dennis Schröder missed the game with right ankle soreness, Marc Spears of ESPN tweets.
• It may come as a shock to some people but Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau has never been ejected by the officials as a head coach, a span of over 900 games. How is that possible? The Athletic’s James Edwards discusses that subject with a trio of prominent retired referees — Steve Javie, Danny Crawford and Bill Spooner. “He wasn’t complaining on every play and didn’t cross the line, so when he did start complaining a little bit, you’d show him respect because he treated us with some respect,” Javie said.
• Knicks big man Karl-Anthony Towns is questionable to play against Denver on Monday due to a left calf contusion, Michael Scotto of Hoops Hype tweets. Towns is averaging 26.1 points, 12.5 rebounds and 3.1 assists in his first season with New York. He shot just 6-for-19 from the field, scoring 16 points in 39 minutes, against Utah on Saturday.

“Obviously I was struggling, but our biggest thing is to win,” Bridges said. “(Cameron Payne) came in and he was playing well. He was part of that team that was making that run. I was more just frustrated that I couldn’t be out there to help the team and frustrated that the first three quarters I was out there I couldn’t really do much. But yeah, I understand it. We’re trying to win a game, and that’s all I care about, so I think that was the right decision.”

Coach Tom Thibodeau told reporters that he opted to keep Payne in the game because he brought energy to the team, particularly during a 17-0 run in the third quarter that nearly erased a big deficit. Payne wound up playing 31 minutes off the bench and finished with 11 points, six rebounds and five assists.

“I was just looking for anything that could get us going,” Thibodeau said. “And it wasn’t just Mikal. Cam I thought came in and he gave us a big spark. I almost went back to Jericho (Sims) at the end because I thought his minutes were good for us, as well. When you get down like we did, you’re just searching for anything to get you going. That’s really what we were doing.”

There’s more on the Knicks:

• Miles McBride was updated to questionable on Saturday, but still missed his fifth straight game, Botte adds in a separate story. The team is now calling his injury “patella femoral syndrome,” which is more commonly known as “runner’s knee.” “He’s out,” Thibodeau said before the game. “He’s close. He’s doing more, but he’s not quite there. We’ll see where he is tomorrow.”
• The Knicks were disappointed that their defense couldn’t save them on an overall poor shooting night, per Steve Popper of The New York Post. They built a strong defensive reputation last season, but haven’t been able to reach that same level so far. “We’ve been struggling on the defensive side for the whole season,” Josh Hart said. “When you’re not making shots and you’re not playing well defensively, that’s a recipe for disaster. We’ve got to figure it out on the defensive end. Offensively, we’ve got enough talent on the offensive side where, even if certain guys aren’t going that day, to play well and to win games. But we’ve got to figure it out defensively.”
• Thibodeau has been a fiery coach throughout his career, but he’s never been ejected, according to James L. Edwards of the Athletic, who talks to several referees about what it’s like to deal with Thibodeau during a game.

“I’ve been in the league 12 years, and people have talked about my name in trade talks for 12 years. [And] I’ve been traded twice,” Schröder said. “… So [gossip] is going to happen. They use it as an event where they can promote who is on the block. I don’t really care.

“But I’ve bought into this system right now because they pay my checks, and I’m doing my job every single day, and I’m always professional about it, always going to make the most out of it. Get one percent better every single day. And whatever happens, happens. I understand it’s a business, but no worries here.”

Schröder, who is averaging 19.5 points and 6.2 assists per game, has an expiring $13MM contract.

We have more from the Eastern Conference:

• The Knicks depleted their depth with some blockbuster moves this offseason and coach Tom Thibodeau has shown a reluctance to trust his reserves, according to Stefan Bondy of the New York Post. In their last three losses, Thibodeau basically ran a six-man rotation in the second half with Miles McBride as the lone reserve receiving meaningful playing time.
• The Cavaliers will look to stay unbeaten on Wednesday at Philadelphia but they could go without their starting center. Jarrett Allen is listed as questionable due to a lower left leg strain, Chris Fedor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer tweets. Allen appeared a little hobbled on Monday, according to Fedor, when he was limited to nine points, five rebounds and one block in 26 minutes against Chicago.
• It’s unlikely that Doc Rivers is on the hot seat after the Bucks’ 2-8 start, considering Rivers received a four-year, $40MM contract after Adrian Griffin was fired in midseason, according to The Athletic’s Sam Amick. General manager Jon Horst is under pressure after a few disappointing seasons, and league sources told Amick that there’s skepticism he’d be given the leeway to make another coaching change this soon.

Brunson’s father, former nine-year NBA point guard Rick Brunson, is currently an assistant coach guiding his son in New York.

“I think when you’re the son of a coach, regardless of what level, I think you’re consistently talking about what you can do to be better,” Brunson said. “For the most part, at least from my experience, I don’t think there’s any trick to it. It’s just that you’re in this constant mode of learning. Since you have that since you’re a kid, you learn more, you understand more. I don’t know. It’s just more of a natural feel.”

Towns’ father, Karl Towns Sr., was a standout player at Monmouth University before becoming a coach at Piscataway Technical High School.

“I think it’s just a credit to my father,” Towns said. “He was a high school coach, a damn good one, too, in Jersey, Piscataway. Just being with him every single day, just watching him coach and just garnering IQ every single day, learning the right way to play the game of basketball, ways you could help your team win, and the way he taught me. So that’s a shoutout to my father for being the man who taught me the game of basketball at this level.”

There’s more out of the Big Apple:

• Knicks forward OG Anunoby has been an absolutely critical defensive contributor for New York this season, writes Stefan Bondy of The New York Post. According to Bondy, Anunoby seems to be channeling the defensive versatility of an All-Star former Tom Thibodeau charge, Luol Deng. “Each player is unique, and there are things about him that are so unique and different: His size, his strength, his speed, his anticipation, his ability to read and to see things ahead,” Thibodeau said. “And he knows how to read plays. If someone is loose with the ball, he’s very active with his hands. Disruptive off the ball but also very good on the ball, and he’s super long. So he can fly by you and he can come back into the play and still impact the shot.”
• Nets center Nic Claxton has been grappling with a minutes restriction all year as he deals with a lingering hamstring issue. That appears likely to change sooner rather than later, writes Brian Lewis of The New York Post. “Right now, we just want to see him play consistently every game but also play more minutes,” head coach Jordi Fernandez said. “It’s going to happen. Obviously, I’m not going to tell when at the end of the day, but [everyone] will see it.”
• Surprisingly, the Nets have gotten off to a solid 3-3 start this season. Lewis writes in another piece that a lot of this early success is a credit to Brooklyn’s clutch fourth-quarter defense. “We’re not there yet,” Fernandez said modestly of the club’s defensive growth. “It’s in process. We know that all these high-level defensive teams, playoff teams — Orlando, Celtics, Minnesota — they’re very good in pressuring the ball and very physical. It’s a process. It’s not like in one day, you’ll become those type of teams. You have to go through it. But yeah, we have to do better at the rim.”

“I think it gives us a little bit of a head start,” Towns said of his relationship with Thibodeau. “I know the offense he likes to run. I know the way he likes to play defense and what he expects from his players.”

Towns, who is from New Jersey, has several other ties to the Knicks — president of basketball operations Leon Rose is his former agent, another executive, William Wesley, has known Towns for over a decade and remains a family friend, and senior VP of basketball operations Gersson Rosas was Minnesota’s top basketball executive after Thibodeau’s exit. Towns’ first stint with Thibodeau was rocky, but the 28-year-old said they settled their differences “years ago,” and a source tells Stefan Bondy of The New York Post that Thibodeau was fully on board with the trade.

“He’s a lot more experienced,” Thibodeau said of Towns. “I think all those experiences teaches you a lot. He’s been through a lot of different things now, so he’s bringing all those experiences here.

“I think as with most players, now he’s had experience being deep in the playoffs. He knows what that’s like. As much as you try to prepare for it, until you go through it, you don’t fully understand what it is and I think his understanding is much further along now than it was his second year in the league, and his skill set is so unique. I think he fits well with everybody.”

Here’s more on the Knicks:

• James L. Edwards III and Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic take an in-depth look at how Towns and Thibodeau repaired their relationship and now have a second chance to find success together. “There is some benefit to having coached him before and to know who he is as a person, but, also, that was more than five years ago,” Thibodeau said. “He’s in a different place, he’s a different player. There is going to be a learning curve and we have to adjust quickly.”
• Rookie Kevin McCullar, who sustained a knee injury at Kansas prior to the draft, traveled with the Knicks to Charleston, South Carolina, for training camp. However, he hasn’t been an active participant as he continues to rehab from the injury, league sources tell Edwards of The Athletic (Twitter link). A 6’5″ wing who was selected 56th overall in June, McCullar is on a two-way contract with New York.
• Donte DiVincenzo, who was sent to Minnesota in the Towns trade, recently sent out a thank you message to Knicks fans, as Ian Begley of SNY.tv relays (via Twitter).
• In case you missed it, the Knicks have reunited with Hall of Famer Patrick Ewing. You can find the full story right here.

“Me, Dennis Schröder, we were talking and we just want everybody to know that we ain’t deferring to just tank or whatever,” Finney-Smith said. “They’re saying we’re going to win 17 games. I feel like this team should take that as disrespect, and use it as motivation. People don’t know how healthy Ben (Simmons) is going to be. But we’ve been seeing him for the last four weeks and he looks great. So, if bro gets back on the court I feel like it’s gonna help our team a lot, and we’re going to shake the NBA.”

We have more on the New York teams:

• Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau isn’t a fan of load management. Despite some injuries late in the regular season and playoffs last season, Thibodeau isn’t planning to give players nights off if they’re healthy enough to take the court, according to Stefan Bondy of the New York Post. “Every team has injuries. You just deal with them,” he said. “That’s part of pro sports. So some years you don’t have any injuries, some you do. So whatever your reality is, you deal with it.”
• Second-round pick Tyler Kolek made a strong impression during Summer League competition and continued to endear himself to the Knicks‘ coaching staff prior to camp. “Obviously, we drafted him (with the 34th pick), there’s a lot of things we liked about him so we’re anxious to see him in training camp and we’ll see where it goes from there,” Thibodeau said, per Adam Zagoria of NJ.com. “I’ve always said the first step for a rookie coming in is to learn how to be a pro and he’s already exhibited great qualities. He’s in the gym all the time, hard worker, coming in multiple times a day, so he’ll give himself the best shot possible and he’s already adding value to the team.”
• With the Karl-Anthony Towns blockbuster deal official, the Knicks regulars can soon start building chemistry with the high-scoring big man. Josh Hart has already got a picture in his mind of how Towns can make them more dangerous, Bondy writes in a separate story. ““For me, I haven’t played with that many shooting bigs in my career so I’m looking forward to someone we can isolate on the post, make good decisions, put the ball in the basket,” Hart said. “I’m going to tell him whenever I get a rebound and run, just trail to the 3-point line. I’m sure he’ll get some open 3s that way. It’s going to take some time just to get the feeling down. Obviously (Jalen Brunson), Mikal (Bridges), myself, we played together for a while. OG (Anunoby) played with [Brunson] and myself for a handful of games. It’s going to take a little bit and that’s what training camp and preseason are for — so we can hit the ground running on opening day.”
• Nets owner Joe Tsai is close to acquiring a 3% stake in the NFL’s Miami Dolphins, Net Income relays via a Bloomberg News report. Tsai’s investment company is making the purchase from New York real estate developer Steve Ross. The Miami Grand Prix, Ross’ Formula 1 racing event, is also part of the deal.

“Obviously the OG signing was huge for us. And then adding Mikal was phenomenal,” Thibodeau said of re-signing OG Anunoby and trading for Mikal Bridges. “Getting Julius (Randle) back will be huge as well. We lost Hartenstein, which is what we’ll have to replace. But I think we have versatility, where we can play smaller at times because of OG’s ability to guard big. Julius and (Josh) Hart can guard big as well.”

As Thibodeau pointed out, the fact that players like Anunoby and Bridges are capable of defending a wide range of positions will give the Knicks the ability to switch frequently on defense and force opponents to settle for lower-percentage shots.

The Knicks’ head coach discussed several more topics with Aschburner, including what makes Jalen Brunson special, Randle’s return to action following his shoulder surgery, and how he envisions replacing Hartenstein’s production in the frontcourt.

The conversation is worth checking out in full for Knicks fans, but here are a few highlights:

On how adding Bridges to Anunoby on the wing will help the defense:

“What it adds to us is the versatility of both allows us to give different looks to a primary ball handler. We’ve been playing Donte (DiVincenzo) on those guys to start. Now we can come after that with Bridges, then OG, then Hart. We can constantly change up our look for who’s guarding that ball-handler. Also, OG and Hart are very disruptive off the ball, so I like to use them that way. The versatility of the defense will be a big thing for us.”

On why he’s optimistic about Randle’s outlook for 2024/25:

“I think Julius has always adapted to whatever challenge he’s faced each year. People forget the level that he’s played at. Four years ago, he had a monster season and we didn’t have the shooting we have now, so the floor is going to be more open. We got a glimpse of that in January, which was his last month of basketball.

“People forget the guy was 25 (points), 10 (rebounds), and five (assists per game). He’s had a lot of success and he’s been a big part of winning the last four years in New York. The more good players you have, the more sacrifices you have to make. Not only by Julius, by everybody.”

On what he expects the frontcourt rotation to look like without Hartenstein to back up starter Mitchell Robinson:

“We’ll probably have to do it by committee. We’ll look at some different things, because we have versatility — we could see Julius more at the five. I don’t want to do that for long stretches, it would take its toll, but to have him do it for 10 or 15 minutes, I think he can do it well. He also would create a lot of (offensive) advantages.”

Neither of the 2024 draft’s top two picks crack ESPN’s top five Rookie of the Year predictions. Houston’s Reed Sheppard is the overwhelming favorite among the finalists, earning 62% of first place votes. Zach Edey and Donovan Clingan round out the top three. As explained in the article, Sheppard potentially playing big minutes right away for a team with playoff aspirations may have factored into the voting.

Another race ESPN’s writers don’t think will be close is that of the Defensive Player of the Year award. Victor Wembanyama is the overwhelming favorite with 67% of first-place votes, with Bam Adebayo (14%) and Rudy Gobert (5%) rounding out the top three. Wembanyama made an immediate impact on the defensive end last season, putting up multiple outings with video game-level box scores en route to averaging 1.2 steals and 3.6 blocks as a rookie.

As usual, Sixth Man of the Year, Most Improved Player and Coach of the Year had less of a consensus in terms of preseason favorites. Malik Monk and Alex Caruso lead the way for the Sixth Man award, but Naz Reid, Jaime Jaquez, T.J. McConnell and Bobby Portis all earned at least 10% of the first-place votes. Wembanyama and other young players were atop the list of Most Improved candidates, while Coby White, who finished second in MIP voting last season, also ranked highly. After his team made several moves this offseason, New York’s Tom Thibodeau led the way in votes for the top coach spot.

We have more from around the basketball world:

• Former CEO of Family First agency, Chris Gaston, is making the move to Octagon Basketball, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link). Gaston is the agent of former NBAers Damyean Dotson, Chris Smith and Josh Gray. Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bam Adebayo are among current NBA players repped by Octagon.
• The Mavericks trading Tim Hardaway Jr. and second-round picks for Quentin Grimes is one of the more underrated moves of the offseason, John Hollinger of The Athletic opines. Moving Hardaway not only brought in a young wing in Grimes but it also set the stage for Dallas to have enough cap flexibility to sign Naji Marshall and acquire Klay Thompson. Another underrated move in Hollinger’s eyes was Phoenix adding Tyus Jones, which gave the Suns a starting-caliber point guard without sacrificing any further draft capital. Other moves Hollinger liked were the Warriors‘ additions, The Rockets‘ draft capital maneuvering and the Timberwolves‘ trade to move into the top 10 of this year’s draft.
• Brodric Thomas is the latest player to join the G League United roster for the September exhibition tournament, as announced by the league (Twitter link). Thomas has appeared in 44 games across two NBA seasons with Houston, Cleveland and Boston. The tournament is set to take place on Sept. 4 and 6 against KK Mega Basket.

“I’ve always told him that maybe I could have done a better job of voicing my feelings in the public eye,” Tatum said. “He always knew that I wanted him here. I would always tell him like, ‘Man, I don’t get involved with any of those talks.’

“I never went to (Celtics president of basketball operations) Brad (Stevens) or went to any player like, ‘Yo, I want this guy in, I want this guy out of here.’ I show up and I want to do my job and play basketball. And looking back on in those moments, I didn’t know how that could affect somebody, because I was never in that situation. I feel like maybe I could have done a better job of publicly saying, ‘No, we don’t want anybody, we want JB.’ I just was always like, ‘I want to stay out of it.'”

The Celtics made it to the Eastern Conference Finals or NBA Finals in five of Brown’s first seven seasons, but were unable to break through and win a championship until 2024. Now that they have that title under their belt, Tatum is relieved that he and Brown should no longer have to face questions about whether it can thrive together and win at the highest level.

“We’ve figured out that we need each other,” Tatum told Mannix. “We have learned how to coexist. And we know we need to be the best version of ourselves in order for all of this to work. We weren’t necessarily the best play-makers early in our careers but we developed into guys that really bleed the game. We want to be a great example of guys that play on both ends as a floor and guys who are the best teammates that we can be.”

Here’s more from around the Atlantic:

• After locking up most of their rotation players to multiyear deals, the Celtics project to have the NBA’s first ever $500MM roster in 2025/26, as Tim Bontemps of ESPN writes. That $500MM+ figure, which includes both player salaries and luxury tax penalties, will loom large over the organization as the team looks to defend its title and the ownership group looks to sell a controlling stake in the franchise.
• Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca takes a closer look at the unconventional path that Raptors rookie Jonathan Mogbo – the No. 31 pick in this year’s draft – took to the NBA and details how the 6’7″ forward boosted his stock significantly during the pre-draft process. According to Lewenberg, entering the second day of the draft, the Raptors did some extra homework on the projected first-round picks who were still available after day one – such as Kyle Filipowski and Johnny Furphy – but ultimately decided they preferred Mogbo, whom they’d ranked in the early 20s. Eventual No. 41 pick Adem Bona was also high on Toronto’s board and received some consideration at the start of the second round, Lewenberg adds.
• Tom Thibodeau‘s new three-year extension with the Knicks doesn’t include any option years, according to Ian Begley of SNY.tv. While Begley doesn’t have the full salary details on Thibodeau’s new deal, he says it’s is “in line with the current market for head coaches” (Twitter link).

Thibodeau had one year left on his current contract, so the new deal will begin 2025 and will run through the 2027/28 season.

An extension for Thibodeau had been expected for much of the offseason after he led a banged-up roster to its second consecutive Eastern Conference semifinal this spring.

The Knicks have finished at least 10 games above .500 in three of Thibodeau’s four years at the helm, compiling a 175-143 (.550) regular season record during that time, including a 50-32 mark in 2023/24, which was the team’s best single-season record in over a decade.

As Wojnarowski observes (via Twitter), New York was one of just four teams to finish in the NBA’s top 10 in both offensive and defensive efficiency in ’23/24. The NBA’s Coach of the Year in 2011 (with the Bulls) and 2021 (with the Knicks), Thibodeau finished fifth in voting for the award this season.

Thibodeau’s extension is the latest major move in what has been an eventful offseason for the Knicks’ front office. The team kicked off the summer by making a deal with the cross-town Nets to land Mikal Bridges, then locked up top free agent OG Anunoby to a five-year contract and signed All-NBA guard Jalen Brunson to a below-market, long-term extension.

The financial terms of Thibodeau’s extension aren’t yet known. There has been speculation that his new contract will exceed $10MM per year, given the eight-figure annual salaries that coaches like Monty Williams, Erik Spoelstra, Gregg Popovich, Steve Kerr, Mike Budenholzer, and Tyronn Lue have received since last spring.

Rumors of Golden State’s interest in Markkanen have been floated for weeks. According to Stein’s sources, the Jazz have enough interest in a package of Podziemski and future draft compensation that they could move Markkanen before Aug. 6, when Markkanen becomes eligible to renegotiate and extend his contract. He has an expiring $18MM deal.

The Warriors are reluctant to part with Podziemski not only because of how highly they value his on-court contributions but also for financial reasons. He has three years left on his rookie contract while Kuminga is eligible for a rookie scale extension this offseason. Any raise for Podziemski wouldn’t come onto the books until the contracts of Draymond Green and Andrew Wiggins expire in the summer of 2027.

Cade Cunningham, Evan Mobley, Scottie Barnes and Franz Wagner — members of the same rookie class as Kuminga — have all signed max extensions. It’s unlikely Golden State will make that type of offer to him, but he’s due for a large raise.

It remains to be seen if adding Kuminga to a trade package would move the needle for Utah’s front office. Thus far, Golden State’s offers for Markkanen have centered around a combination of Moses Moody and other contracts, plus draft compensation, without including Podziemski or Kuminga, Stein adds.

The Warriors wouldn’t be able to immediately extend Markkanen since renegotiation-and-extension scenarios are only available to teams with cap space. But their continued interest in him suggests they’re confident they can lock him up long-term next offseason if they acquire him.

Here’s more from Stein:

• Carlik Jones‘ triple-double for South Sudan against Team USA could lead to renewed interest from NBA teams. Jones recently signed a two-year deal with Serbia’s Partizan Belgrade but the contract includes an NBA escape clause, valid through Thursday. Jones was the NBA G League MVP for the 2022/23 season, when he had a two-way deal with the Bulls. Last season, Jones played in China for the Zhejiang Golden Bulls.
• Expect a contract extension for Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau in the near future. Thibodeau would be entering the final season of his original five-year contract without an extension but he’s expected to sign a new deal with a value of at least $10MM annually.
• The Mavericks have a roster opening and they’re interested in re-signing Spencer Dinwiddie. Two other guards, Dennis Smith Jr. and Talen Horton-Tucker, are also under consideration but Dinwiddie is believed to be the team’s top choice. They’re also interested in retaining forward Markieff Morris, who is considered a lock to return, says Stein.