Marc Stein and Jake Fischer of The Stein Line reported on Friday that the owner was highly intrigued by the possibility of adding an “established” player agent to run Atlanta’s front office.

With that in mind, CAA’s has emerged as a candidate for a “top executive role” with the Hawks, sources tell Grant Afseth of RG.org.

Brown, the co-head of CAA’s basketball division, is one of the most powerful agents in the NBA. The Evanston, Illinois native played college basketball at DePauw in Indiana before becoming an investment banker with J.P Morgan and then attending law school, he said in an interview in 2022 (YouTube link).

As Afseth writes, Brown’s client list includes Hawks guards and . He also represents , , , and in addition to several other noteworthy current and former players, per RealGM.

Brown’s name has popped up in the past when teams have made front office changes — he was previously linked to the Knicks and Bulls back in 2020. Fischer also reported a couple years ago that Brown remained an agent to keep an eye on for future front office openings.

The Hawks are looking for a new president of basketball operations after firing former general manager . Assistant GM was promoted to interim GM and is currently running Atlanta’s day-to-day basketball operations, but is expected to work under the new hire.

After the ‘ swarming defense, led by wings and , limited Boston to 90 points on 36.2% shooting in a Game 2 victory, veteran forward told reporters, including Stefan Bondy of The New York Post, that Anunoby was overlooked in a major way by Defensive Player of the Year voters this spring.

“OG’s been off the charts. I don’t know how he didn’t win Defensive Player of the Year,” Tucker said of his Knicks teammate. “I don’t think it’s even close. I think he’s the best two-way player in the league. He’s always played defense, but this year offensively he’s taken it up another notch. I don’t think we ran one play for him (in Game 1) and he had 30 points. I’m telling you, it’s incredible. He’s amazed me this year and he’s the Defensive Player of the Year, no doubt.”

This year’s voters weren’t aligned with Tucker — while 13 players showed up on at least one Defensive Player of the Year ballot, Anunoby wasn’t among those 13. Neither he nor any other Knick received a single DPOY vote.

The Knicks only finished 13th overall in defensive rating during the regular season, but they’ve taken their play up a notch in recent weeks and rank fourth in that category in the postseason.

Here’s more from around the Eastern Conference:

As the navigate the loss of to a “tricky” hamstring strain, head coach is going to have to reshape the game plan on the fly. That includes opening up minutes to players who might not have gotten as many opportunities otherwise.

“There’s no Steph. It’s a completely different team,” Kerr said, per The Athletic’s Anthony Slater (via Twitter). He pointed at two players in particular who will play a part in the team’s Game 3 approach: and .

“Everything has to be about finding a new formula and [Kuminga] is absolutely a part of that formula,” he said.

Kuminga only played 50 total minutes in the Warriors’ seven-game series against the Rockets, but with Curry down, he logged 26 minutes in Game 2 against the Timberwolves, scoring 18 points on 11 shots. With few offensive options outside of and , Kuminga’s ability to score and pressure the rim will be important to keeping the offense running.

When it comes to Jackson-Davis, Kerr said, “[He] showed he can be effective against this team,” referencing the second-year center’s 15-point, six-rebound performance in just 19 minutes in Game 2. Jackson-Davis has only played more than six minutes twice in this postseason, but Curry’s injury means the team is leaning more into its defensive personnel.

Here are more Warriors notes:

After being upset by the at home in Game 1, and the won Game 2 by a margin of 117-93. For the Wolves, who led the game from start to finish, the biggest scare of the night came when Edwards had to leave the game in the second quarter after re-injuring the left ankle that he had previously hurt in Game 4 of the first round.

The injury occurred when Warriors big man stepped on Edwards’ ankle after meeting him at the rim for a block. Head coach immediately feared the worst.

“This one, I was really planning on not seeing him the rest of the game, to be honest with you,” Finch said, according to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin.

The Wolves managed to hold off the Warriors, who were missing their own star in after he left Game 1 with a Grade 1 hamstring strain, for the rest of the half while Edwards got worked on in the locker room.

“Once we got to like the third movement in my ankle, I’m like, ‘All right, it’s starting to feel good. If we tape it, I’ll see how it feels,'” Edwards said. “[Wolves VP of medical operations and performance ] does a great job of making sure I’m good before I get out there, so big shoutout to David.”

Edwards was able to return to the game in the second half and lead the Wolves to their commanding victory in a game he called “the biggest game of our career.” Afterward, he told reporters he planned on being good to go for the crucial Game 3 in Golden State — he’s not listed on the injury report for Saturday’s contest.

Here’s more on the Wolves:

At his end-of-season press conference on Friday, longtime president admitted the falling out with affected the ‘s season in a major way, per Anthony Chiang and Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald.

“There’s no doubt what happened with Jimmy had a tremendous impact on our team,” Riley said. “The buck stops with me. I’ll take that hit if you want it. What happened in the regular season, I don’t want to discuss.”

That doesn’t mean Riley regrets his comments about Butler last offseason — he made a number of pointed remarks during that spring media session, including telling reporters that the star forward wouldn’t get the extension he was looking for due to concerns about his availability.

“I’m not going to apologize for saying no on the contract extension,” Riley said on Friday. “We didn’t have to I don’t think I should… It’s over. It’s done. I wish him well. Good luck to him. And I hope in his heart somewhere he wishes us well too.”

As for the underwhelming return package the Heat received in return for trading Butler to Golden State, Riley said the team was somewhat hamstrung by the situation.

“We were pretty much locked in with one team (Phoenix), the team of his choice. It didn’t happen there. We took the deal we felt was best for us now and also in the future. We have young players. We have medium age players in their prime. Our draft picks are in better order than what they were. We have a lot of flexibility. That’s where the blueprint is going to come from this summer.”

Here’s more from Riley’s presser, with quotes courtesy of The Herald, Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press, and Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel:

Luke Adams contributed to this story.

: All three injured Cavaliers will be active for Friday’s Game 3, reports Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).

Head coach said during his pregame media session that there wouldn’t be a set minutes limit for Garland, Mobley, or Hunter, but that the team would make that decision over the course of the night based on “feel” and “communication” (Twitter link via Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star).

: The played without three of their best players in Tuesday’s Game 2, in which Cleveland blew a seven-point lead with under a minute remaining to fall in a 0-2 hole in its second-round series vs. Indiana. has missed the past four games with a left great toe sprain, while both (left ankle sprain) and (dislocated/sprained right thumb) were injured in the fourth quarter of Game 1.

All three of the injured Cavaliers are officially listed as questionable for Friday’s Game 3 in Indianapolis, just like they were for Game 2 prior to being ruled out. However, two league sources tell Joe Vardon of The Athletic that the Cavs are optimistic the trio will attempt to suit up tonight.

“They participated in the walk-through and we’re hoping for the best,” head coach said Thursday. “I think it’s frustrating for all of us, right? It’s no indictment on anybody, it’s just, injuries are a tough thing and you don’t really know unless you experience it yourself.”

As Vardon observes, even if the three players are able to play, it remains to be seen how effective they’ll be. A source tells Vardon that the swelling on Hunter’s thumb has decreased, but Mobley and Garland appeared to be hobbled during Thursday’s walk-through.

Sources tell Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com that Garland continues to deal with pain and swelling in his toe, which he aggravated in the team’s first-round series against Miami. The injury has made it “incredibly difficult” for the All-Star point guard to make any “sharp movements,” Fedor writes.

“He desperately wants to get on the court,” Atkinson said of Garland. “It’s just kind of in these situations I just kind of, I step back. I support him 100%, whichever way it goes. I think he’s probably like, ‘I’ve got to get to a certain point where I can compete at a high-intensity playoff level.’ That type of intensity is tough to simulate. I guess at some point hopefully he will get out there and try it. But obviously couldn’t run or anything.”

May 9th, 2025 at 5:57pm CST by Eli Cohen

After going down in the middle of the fourth quarter of Game 5 against the Timberwolves with a knee injury, was able to return to the court and finish the game. But in the wake of the ‘ loss, which ended their season, it was revealed that he had suffered a Grade 2 MCL sprain.

In an episode of James’ “Mind The Game” podcast with Steve Nash, the Lakers star shed more light on that injury and his path forward.

“I knew as soon as when the impact happened with me and , I felt it right away,” James said. “My knee locked up, and that’s why I kind of stayed on the ground for quite a minute to see if the knee will kind of release a little bit. But I knew right then and there was a pain that I hadn’t felt before.”

James reflected on the latter point, discussing how this was a unique experience in his 22-year career: “I’ve had the regular tendonitis and the patella, all that stuff, but this is the first time I’ve ever had a sustained knee injury where I had to, like, okay, you got to get off your feet.”

James told Nash that he had initially planned on waiting and assessing his pain level before getting his MRI, but when he woke up the next day, he knew it was dire enough to get the situation checked out immediately.

“Well, when I woke up Thursday morning and tried to get out of bed, I was like, holy s–t,” he said. “And I called Doc right away. I said, ‘I can’t wait till Friday. I need to go today.'”

James confirmed that if the Lakers had won Game 5, he likely would’ve been unavailable for the rest of the series “and even further.”

If there’s a silver lining to the injury – other than the fact that thanks to the Wolves taking care of business in five games, James’ record of playing in 292 straight playoff games without missing time to injury remains intact – it’s that his recovery process won’t involve surgery. With the season behind James and the Lakers, he has plenty of time to complete the four-to-six week rehab period and still get the rest of his conditioning in before next season starts.

While James has been noncommittal about his future, both in the NBA and with the Lakers in light of his looming player option for the 2025/26 season, his comments seemed to indicate his plans on playing next season.

“I have some time to get it right and get back to full strength as far as I need,” he told Nash.

After blowing a late lead in Game 1 of their second-round series vs. Denver, the became the first team to win at home in any of the conference semifinals on Wednesday. As Tim MacMahon of ESPN writes, Oklahoma City dominated Game 2 from start to finish, setting a franchise record for points in a playoff game en route to a 149-106 win. Their 48-point lead after three quarters was the fourth-largest margin entering the fourth quarter in NBA playoff history, MacMahon adds.

As detailed by both MacMahon and Darnell Mayberry of The Athletic, set the tone for the Thunder and has found his groove after getting off to a slow start in the postseason. The MVP frontrunner made just 35.3% of his field goal attempts in his first three games against Memphis, but has knocked down 57.1% since then, averaging 35.0 points per game over his last three outings.

On Wednesday, Gilgeous-Alexander scored 34 points in just 30 minutes, converting 11-of-13 field goals and registering a staggering +51 plus/minus mark. He told reporters after the victory that his team knew what was at stake and “came out desperate” to open Game 2, but he added that he otherwise hasn’t changed his approach in recent games.

“I feel the exact same,” the Thunder star said. “I feel like I’m getting to where I want to go. I don’t worry about makes and misses. It’s all about the process for me. I try to put myself and my teammates in the best position I can every possession down offensively and defensively. And wherever that takes me, wherever that takes our team, I’m happy with as long as I make the right decisions night in and night out, play in and play out. That’s what I’m focused on more than the makes and misses. So I feel just as confident as I did those two games where I couldn’t make anything.”

Gilgeous-Alexander also downplayed the notion that winning by 43 points on Wednesday gives the Thunder the momentum or the upper hand as the series shifts to Denver.

“Winning by a hundred or winning by two, it’s still 1-1, and I think that’s very important,” he said. “Like I said, especially in the series, every game’s going to look different. People are going to make adjustments. It’s going to be a different crowd, a different feel. You’re going to start hot; you’re going to start cold, everything’s going to look different. It’s important to turn the page.”

Here’s more on the Thunder:

Jonathan Givony and Jeremy Woo of ESPN break down each lottery team’s outlook ahead of the 2025 NBA draft lottery, which will take place on Monday. They also list which player each team is most likely to select assuming the pre-lottery draft order remains unchanged.

While Duke forward and Rutgers guard are widely expected to come off the board first and second overall, respectively, there could be some surprises starting at No. 3. Rutgers wing Ace Bailey and Baylor guard V.J. Edgecomb are ranked third and fourth, respectively, on ESPN’s big board and Givony and Woo believe they should be selected (in some order) with the following two picks.

However, Oklahoma guard Jeremiah Fears and Texas guard Tre Johnson could also be in consideration starting at No. 3, according to Givony, who reports that NBA teams are bullish on both players’ long-term potential, though they’re also somewhat polarizing. Fears is ranked fifth on ESPN’s board, while Johnson is sixth.

Here are a couple more notes related to the 2025 NBA draft:

Vice president of basketball operations Ben Tenzer has been involved with the Nuggets in some capacity since 2005. He has steadily worked his way up the basketball operations hierarchy since he was formally hired by the organization in 2013, having been named interim general manager in mid-April after the firing of Calvin Booth.

The Nuggets will reportedly conduct a full-fledged search for Booth’s replacement once their season ends. Timberwolves GM Matt Lloyd has been linked to the Nuggets, as has Tim Connelly, who ran Denver’s front office before being hired away by Minnesota.

In addition to external candidates, the Nuggets are also expected to consider lifting Tenzer’s interim tag and promoting him to be the new full-time GM, league sources tell Marc Stein and Jake Fischer of The Stein Line (Substack link).

Tenzer isn’t the only key member of the Nuggets operating on an interim basis — the same is true of head coach David Adelman, a longtime assistant. The 43-year-old guided Denver to a 3-0 record to wrap up the regular season and clinch a top-four seed in the West, followed by first-round victory over the Clippers, which went the full seven games.

The Nuggets are currently 1-1 in their semifinal series against the top-seeded Thunder ahead of Friday’s Game 3 in Denver.