Before talking about his plans for the ‘ future, executive VP of basketball operations addressed a couple rumors about himself at Thursday’s press conference, writes Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times.

First, Karnisovas said he has no interest in returning to the to replace recently fired general manager. He also emphasized that he considers his job with the Bulls to be safe because he still has a strong relationship with owners and

“We take pride, especially in this building, in everybody being on the same page,” Karnisovas said. “It’s very hard to accomplish, but that’s how it is in this building between the ownership, front office, coaching staff, performance staff, so they have always been very supportive of my decisions, my thoughts, about this direction.”

He added that the team achieved many of its goals coming into the season, such as changing its style of play, developing its young talent and keeping its first-round pick for 2025. He admitted that major changes are unlikely to happen this summer, but noted that the Bulls will have more financial flexibility in 2026.

“I’m asking fans for patience because we’re in the first year of that transition,” Karnisovas said. “I thought the way we finished the year showed some promise. It’s hard to win games in this league and to finish 15-5, yeah, it’s not a victory lap, but I think there are some positives.”

There’s more from Chicago:

Luke Adams contributed to this story.

The NBA has officially announced (via Twitter) the G League’s All-Defensive Team for the 2024/25 season. Here’s the full five-player list:

The top rookies of the NBAGL season were also unveiled on Thursday (Twitter link). They are as follows:

Key, who was recently promoted to a standard contract with Golden State, was named the NBAGL’s Defensive Player of the Year, while Alexander won Rookie of the Year. Badji, who recently signed with a Spanish club, and Nogues, who has declared for the 2025 NBA draft, finished second and third in DPOY voting, respectively. Jones Garcia was the runner-up for ROY, with Young finishing third.

As our tracker shows, Alexander, Jenkins, Young and Dennis are on two-way contracts with their respective NBA clubs.

Journeyman center Brown also earned a spot on the All-NBA G League Second Team, while Alexander made the Third Team.

The ‘ season ended in familiar fashion on Wednesday night with another loss to Miami in the play-in tournament, writes Julia Poe of The Chicago Tribune. This is the third straight year that it’s happened, and Wednesday’s game wasn’t close, with the pulling away early while sinking a barrage of outside shots.

Poe notes that Miami scored 39 points in the first quarter and 32 more in the second quarter, neutralizing the Bulls’ game plan of pushing the pace in transition because they constantly had to inbound the ball after made shots. The Heat connected on 10 three-pointers in the first half and held a 24-point lead at intermission.

The home crowd found a little bit to cheer about as the Bulls briefly cut the lead to 13 points in the fourth quarter, but Miami quickly responded to put the game away. With a 39-43 record and an early postseason exit, Poe points out that it’s Chicago’s worst season in four years. The loss ensures the Bulls’ first-round pick will be in the lottery, but they’ll have minuscule odds of moving up to one of the top four selections.

There’s more from Chicago:

guard will be available for tonight’s play-in game against Miami, but both teams are missing key players for the elimination contest. In a pregame meeting with reporters, Chicago coach said Giddey, who has been dealing with pain in his right hand, won’t be on a minutes restriction, relays Jared Weiss of The Athletic (Twitter link).

Giddey sat out the final two games of the regular season, and sources tell Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter video link) that he’s been playing for roughly the last month with a muscle tear in the palm of his hand. Charania called it “a pain-tolerance injury” and said Giddey will need several weeks of rest after the season ends to fully recover.

Charania also states that Giddey’s value is “going up” as he prepares for restricted free agency this summer. He’s averaging 21.2 points, 10.7 rebounds and 9.3 assists over his last 19 games while shooting 46% from beyond the arc.

Donovan added that remains out, but he could be available by Sunday if the Bulls advance to a first-round series against Cleveland. Ball has been sidelined since February 28 with a sprained right wrist. Donovan also provided an update on point guard , who has been out since March 20 with a left foot sprain, saying he’s out of a walking boot but likely won’t be ready for the first round.

The are shorthanded too, per Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald (Twitter link). remains sidelined while recovering from a broken right hand that has kept him out of action since late February and is still reconditioning after being away from the team for personal reasons. Coach said Jovic was able to participate in practice on Tuesday, according to Weiss (Twitter link).

Miami will welcome back rookie guard , who sprained his ankle last week while lifting weights, Chiang adds (Twitter link).

“He was right back at the scene of the crime doing the same routine,” Spoelstra said. “That’s been a big part of his process and a lot of the guys’ process. He finished the routine and he’s fine.”

Wednesday evening will see four teams in very different places fight for the opportunity to earn the No. 8 seeds in their respective conferences.

For the third straight season, the 39-43 will be squaring off against the 37-45 in a play-in tournament game. This year, however, Chicago seems to have the edge. Per BetOnline stateside and BetVictor Canada, the Bulls are a marginal favorite as the home team.

Having moved on from former All-Star wings and Chicago has been emphasizing more pace and ball movement. Star guards and are propelling a fast-breaking offense that won 15 of its last 20 games to close out the 2024/25 regular season.

Rookie forward has benefited mightily from extended run to close out the year, while center has adapted well to this speedier iteration of the team, operating as a trailing big who can be a release valve in these frenetic offensive sets.

Recently extended guard (wrist) and new trade acquisition (foot) will miss Wednesday’s game.

The No. 10 Heat, meanwhile, have been up and down since their blockbuster midseason trade. Armed with new additions , and , the club stumbled into a 10-game losing skid that was immediately followed by a six-game winning streak. Miami, which controls its own 2025 first-round pick as long as it lands in the top 14, might be happy to lose this matchup and reset with a quick rebuild through this year’s loaded draft lottery.

Chicago team president has been a frequent source of fan ire. He and ownership would probably like to see the young Bulls appear in their first playoff series since 2022. If Chicago does clinch a playoff appearance by beating Miami and then the Hawks in Friday’s final play-in game, would it prompt Karnisovas to shy away from the kinds of personnel changes he might otherwise pursue this summer, including a Vucevic trade for draft equity?

The , on paper, are fielding the most talented squad out of the four Wednesday teams. Had nine-time All-Star guard not torn his ACL, Dallas could have been in the thick of the playoff hunt. Instead, the 39-43 Mavs are clinging to the Western Conference’s No. 10 seed. With most of the rest of the roster healthy, the club will be riding a super-sized frontcourt lineup centered around 10-time All-Star big man as its two-way fulcrum.

Dallas was constructed to win around . After sending him to Los Angeles in exchange for Davis, three-and-D swing , and a 2029 first-round draft pick, the front office was roundly criticized. Still, with Irving, Davis, and talented two-way wings and frontcourt pieces, a healthy version of this team looks like it could be a legitimate tough playoff out. Due to the timing of Irving’s recovery and Davis’ extensive injury history, it’s unclear when exactly that healthy iteration might next be available.

Meanwhile, Doncic has raised the Lakers’ ceiling. If Dallas misses the playoffs, will the club’s new ownership cohort look to penalize for the most unpopular transaction in its franchise’s history? The Mavericks do have the highest upside of any of the teams in action on Wednesday, but that comes with a massive health caveat.

Dallas will be facing off against a mostly-healthy club for the right to play the Grizzlies on Friday.

After Sacramento team owner fired former Coach of the Year midway through the season, guard pushed for – and received – a deal to the Spurs. The 40-42 Kings have since struggled with their newest impact player, LaVine, under interim head coach . Sacramento is loaded with ball stoppers – including LaVine, DeRozan, and – but has perhaps the more talented offense than Dallas sans Irving, thanks in large part to do-everything All-Star center .

Should Sacramento get booted in this initial play-in tournament matchup, would Sabonis at least explore a trade out of town? A report in March suggested that the big man is expected to “seek clarity” this offseason on the Kings’ direction.

Just two years ago, during Brown’s inaugural season, the Kings finally seemed to have discovered a direction and identity. Now, the club is floundering in mediocrity. Massive changes — perhaps starting with Christie and Sabonis — could be underway for the team this summer, barring a strong playoff run.

How will the offseason play out for the the teams that get bounced in Wednesday’s games? What changes would – or should – be made if all four clubs eventually fail to qualify for the playoffs?

Tempo will be a key in the play-in game against the Heat tonight, Julia Poe of the Chicago Tribune writes. Chicago will want to speed up the game, while the Heat would prefer a half-court battle.

“Our identity is up and down — and it’s not a secret,” guard said. “Everyone knows the way we play.”

says the Bulls need to match the Heat’s physicality. Chicago lost to Miami in the play-in round in each of the last two seasons.

“I feel like Miami — the last two years we played them in the play-in — they physically dominated us,” White said.

We have more from the Central Division:

April 16th, 2025 at 8:02am CST by Luke Adams

When the 2024/25 season began, the were coming off a 50-win year and an appearance in the NBA Finals. The were coming off a 46-win campaign and had added in free agency. Dallas had championship aspirations, while Sacramento felt good about its chances of making it back to the playoffs after being eliminated in the play-in tournament last spring.

But neither team’s season played out as hoped. The Mavericks’ shocking decision to trade caused a fan revolt, but it was really the team’s health issues that sunk its hopes of contending for a title. Big men , , and newly acquired all missed significant time in the second half of the season due to injuries, while a torn ACL ended ‘s season in early March.

Even without Doncic, a fully healthy version of this Mavericks team could’ve been a force to be reckoned with in the postseason. But losing Irving cost Dallas its top ball-handler and play-maker, forcing the team to lean heavily on guards like and and significantly lowering its ceiling.

While the Irving-less Mavs are unlikely to win a title this year, that doesn’t mean they can’t win a play-in game. They’ll visit Sacramento on Wednesday as the No. 10 seed in the West and will face a No. 9 Kings team whose season didn’t go much better than Dallas’ did.

Acclimating DeRozan didn’t go as smoothly as hoped and the Kings fell well below .500 two months into the season, leading to the ouster of head coach . Interim head coach helped turn things around in the short term, but just a few weeks later, word broke that the team was looking to trade — he was ultimately sent to San Antonio.

While the Kings’ trade of its star point guard wasn’t nearly as controversial as the Mavericks’, it didn’t exactly kick-start a memorable second half. , the centerpiece of Sacramento’s return in that three-team blockbuster, wasn’t an ideal fit — the team had a -3.8 net rating during his 1,170 minutes on the court, and his 119.9 defensive rating was easily the worst mark among the team’s rotation players.

Given the way the seasons have played out in Dallas and Sacramento, both teams have the profile of a one-and-done play-in team, but someone has to win on Wednesday and earn the right to face Memphis on Friday for the No. 8 seed in the West. For what it’s worth, oddsmakers favor the home team — the Kings are 4.5-point favorites, per BetOnline.ag.

Over in the East, a familiar matchup is on tap for Wednesday evening. If there’s such a thing as a play-in rivalry, vs. qualifies. Miami defeated Chicago in the win-or-go-home play-in game for the No. 8 seed in 2023 and again in 2024. The two teams will square off in a single-elimination matchup for a third straight year, though this time it’s just for the right to stay alive and face Atlanta for the No. 8 seed on Friday.

Like Dallas and Sacramento, both the Bulls and Heat traded away star players this season, though those situations played out in very different ways.

LaVine, who had been on the trade block for multiple seasons, was a model citizen in Chicago and was enjoying a nice individual bounce-back season, though it wasn’t translating to team success — at the time he was dealt to Sacramento, the Bulls were just 21-29. And in the immediate wake of the trade, things didn’t improve — Chicago lost six of its next seven games to fall to 22-35 and appeared ticketed for the lottery.

Unexpectedly, though, the team suddenly began showing signs of life, led by breakout star and buoyed by trade-deadline additions like , , and . From March 6 onward, the Bulls improbably won 15 of their last 20 games and ranked in the top 10 in the NBA in both offense and defense.

The Heat’s season followed almost the opposite trajectory. Their star, , was disruptive and did all he could to publicize the fact that he had no interest in continuing his career in Miami, earning multiple team-imposed suspensions leading up to the trade deadline. But the team held its own amid the drama and was actually above .500 (25-24) on the day Butler was sent to Golden State.

Even though Butler hadn’t actually been playing much for the Heat for weeks, his departure kicked off an ugly downturn for the club, which wrapped up its season by going just 12-21 after the trade deadline. That stretch was salvaged to some extent by a six-game winning streak in late March and early April, but was otherwise pretty brutal — no playoff or play-in team had a worst post-deadline record than Miami, and a handful of lottery teams (Phoenix, Portland, and Toronto) were better.

Despite those late-season results, the Bulls are favored by just one point over Miami on Wednesday, according to BetOnline, with oddsmakers perhaps respecting the Heat’s wins over Chicago in each of the past two play-in tournaments.

. Are you taking the favorites and picking the Kings and Bulls on Wednesday, or do you expect to see at least one upset in the No. 9 vs. 10 games? Which teams will keep their seasons alive and which ones are headed home?

Vote in our poll and head to the comment section below to share your thoughts and predictions.

guard is dealing with a muscle issue on the side of his hand but he’s expected to suit up for the play-in game against Miami on Wednesday, K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Sports Network reports.

“It’s just about managing the pain,” Giddey said, adding that the injury will be addressed in the offseason (Twitter links).

Giddey can’t imagine watching Wednesday’s game in street clothes.

“I’m good to go,” he said, per Julia Poe of the Chicago Tribune. “Play-in game, must-win game, there’s not way I’m going to sit out.”

Lonzo Ball (wrist) and Tre Jones (foot) won’t play.

We have more from the Central Division:

Pistons All-Star Cade Cunningham expects a heated battle in the first playoff series of his career, Stefan Bondy of the New York Post relays via an ESPN interview. Detroit will match up against the Knicks in the opening round.

“It’s going to be a war,” he said. “It’s going to be highly physical games — defense, battling it out on the glass, all of those different things. I think it’s going to be a super exciting series for people at home to watch, and it’s going to be a great test for us as far as first round, first series in a long time for the organization. So it’s exciting, and I think it’s going to be a great one for us.”

The Knicks’ game plan will undoubtedly center around making Cunningham uncomfortable.

“He’s had a terrific season. It’s not just [against] us, he’s done it against everybody. We understand that. … With great players you don’t guard them individually, you guard them collectively,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said. “So we have to understand what goes into that.”

We have more from the Central Division:

Donovan Mitchell is missing his fourth consecutive game on Sunday due to a sprained left ankle, but the Cavaliers remain confident their star guard will be ready to go when the team begins its first-round playoff series next weekend, writes Joe Reedy of The Associated Press.

Mitchell conducted a full workout at the Cavs’ training facility on Saturday and worked out on the court ahead of Sunday’s game vs. Indiana, Reedy notes.

“I think he’ll be full on with practice. We’re going to have to scrimmage at some point, probably inter-squad with refs, so he’ll participate in that,” head coach Kenny Atkinson said. “The most important thing is how we build him up with the ankle rehab and then conditioning.”

Here’s more from around the Central:

• After appearing in just three of 11 playoff games in 2023 and 2024, star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo will enter this year’s postseason healthy and having played some of his best basketball as of late — he has averaged 31.8 points, 12.0 rebounds, and 11.8 assists per game in six April outings, all Bucks wins. “He’s doing everything,” head coach Doc Rivers said of Antetokounmpo on Friday, according to Eric Nehm of The Athletic. “And that’s what’s so special about him.”
• With the Pacers‘ playoff seed already clinched, rookie wing Johnny Furphy set new career highs on Friday in points (17) and minutes played (32) while also throwing down an impressive dunk in the second quarter of a loss to Orlando (Twitter video link). Furphy figures to only play garbage-time minutes in the playoffs, but head coach Rick Carlisle likes what he has seen from the first-year swingman, per Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star. “He’s just a pure competitor,” Carlisle said. “Everything about him is pure. He doesn’t have a selfish bone in his body. Does everything hard. Does everything with the right spirit.”