Tim Bontemps and Brian Windhorst canvass the league on Game 4 aftermath, Giannis saga updates and more NBA intel.
But while the basketball world waits to see whether the Knicks can end their 53-year championship drought Saturday in Game 5 (After speaking with league insiders over the past few days, here's a quick look at where things stand in the league's championship round, as well as other topics floating around the league at the moment: With four heart-stopping finishes in this series -- all featuring San Antonio's lead evaporating in the final two minutes -- these Finals have delivered in every way.
"Every single night, there's been something you've seen that's made you go, 'Did you just see that? '" an Eastern Conference executive told ESPN. But after the absolute gut punch the Spurs took by blowing a Finals-record 29-point lead, the obvious question is how will this young team respond in a closeout Game 5 at home.
"This is going to be a real test of the Spurs' resolve," a Western Conference scout said. "They've shown they've got resilience, and they have a lot of emotional maturity ... they've shown they can get off the mat. But was that game the final straw?
", and the potential for him to have greater involvement in the series moving forward, particularly after some late-game issues for Like throughout the regular season, Harper has come off the bench throughout the Finals, averaging 16.3 points and 6.8 rebounds in the series thus far, including 21 points on 8-for-12 shooting in 32 minutes in Game 4. But Harper was largely uninvolved down the stretch as Fox dominated the ball.
That led multiple observers from other teams to suggest Harper as a bigger part of San Antonio's game plan going forward -- with one West executive saying the Spurs should slide Harper into the starting lineup for just the seventh time as a pro.
"He's their second-best player," the executive said. "It's incredible how good he's become so quickly. " And while several sources said they think the Spurs will win Game 5 and send the series back to the spectacle of Madison Square Garden for Game 6, the other thing to monitor is's energy levels.
After playing 44 minutes in Game 4 and looking more exhausted as the game wore on, the two days between games moving forward could provide him with enough time to recover to propel San Antonio back into the series. With less than two weeks until the NBA draft, the biggest non-Finals story in the league is the ongoing suspense of thesaga.
This isn't the league's first time down this road in recent years, as the Bucks have ultimately decided to keep their superstar forward each time any trade negotiations materialized.that either Antetokounmpo will be moved by the draft or the franchise will keep building around him, which would require a different set of moves. But throughout conversations with sources during the Finals, it appears Milwaukee has a new level of motivation to find a deal.
And the rest of the league is waiting to see what will happen.
"It seems like everyone else's business is on hold until we see what happens with Giannis," an East scout said. But there's no guarantee a trade will happen.
Trading a superstar on a high-priced contract like Antetokounmpo is a challenging endeavor in the NBA's apron era under normal circumstances, and the Bucks -- with dead money on their books through the end of the decade and with little to speak of in terms of draft assets -- are not in normal circumstances. All of that could mean a player-centric package could be of more interest to Milwaukee.
And that's before factoring in the reality of the draft lottery rules having been dramatically changed and potentially on tap to change again in three years. Still, two things remain unclear: what, exactly, Milwaukee is looking for in a deal, and whether Antetokounmpo himself will put a thumb on the scale and declare where he wants to go, and say he'll only extend in that place in a deal.
TheBut over the past few years, Antetokounmpo has refused to publicly declare he wants to be traded, let alone to any preferred destinations.
It seems unlikely that will change in this latest and perhaps final chapter.were to fully get involved in the bidding, it's likely they could exceed a potential Miami offer if players like the Cavs'executive Bryson Graham as its new head of basketball operations, appears to be the closest to landing on a hire, having interviewed Minnesota Timberwolves assistant coach Micah Nori, Trail Blazers interim head coach Tiago Splitter, Hawks assistant coach Ryan Schmidt and current Bulls assistant coach Wes Unseld Jr. With the Bulls sitting with the No. 4 and No. 15 picks in this year's draft, the expectation is whoever gets the coaching job will prioritize developing those rookies, sophomore forwardPortland's search, meanwhile, is expected to remain on hold for at least the next few days.
New owner Tom Dundon, who has already made waves since officially purchasing the team at the end of the regular season, is focused on the Carolina Hurricanes' pursuit of the 2026 Stanley Cup. Which direction the Blazers go in in their coaching search -- and how much money the franchise is willing to pay for one -- remains to be seen.
In the wake of Dallas moving on from Jason Kidd, there have been rumblings of both Duke's Jon Scheyer and Michigan's Dusty May being linked to the vacancy. But ever since Masai Ujiri was hired to run basketball operations last month, the belief around the league is that the most likely outcome for Dallas is elevating one of the NBA's rising assistants.
There's been plenty of discussion about the officiating during these playoffs, particularly during each of the past two rounds involving the San Antonio Spurs: their conference finals triumph against theAnd, during an appearance on ABC before Game 3 on Monday night, NBA commissioner Adam Silver added to the chatter, saying the league's competition committee has placed flopping on the agenda for when it meets during next month's summer league in Las Vegas. Officials handed out four flopping technicals across the entire regular season and zero during the playoffs.
"When we put the flopping rule in place, there was egregious flopping," Silver said. "Players are taught to sell the calls where there is a foul, but they're trying to draw the call. ... We will watch over 1,000 plays over two days and see if we should set that line in a different place.
" Players on the competition committee -- the group also includes coaches and executives from across the league -- have previously argued that falling down after taking contact, which can be construed at times as flopping, is important in terms of avoiding injury. (Former MVP However, attempts to persuade referees to make calls or to sell the need to upgrade to a flagrant foul have skyrocketed.
None of this is helped by social media, where fans on all sides compete for the title of most aggrieved team. All of that factors into Silver and the NBA's decision to address flopping. And, judging by the league's pace when implementing new anti-tanking measures, a solution might be closer than fans think.
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