Asked during an appearance on The Dan Patrick Show (YouTube link) about ‘s future in Atlanta, NBA insider Chris Haynes said the guard has expressed to him that he’s “down with the process” and wants to see a young Atlanta team “turn the corner.” However, while Haynes hasn’t heard anything from Young’s camp to indicate that he’s seeking a change of scenery, he acknowledged that there are “definitely teams out there who are monitoring his situation.”

Within his preview of the Hawks’ offseason, John Hollinger of The Athletic also explores what’s in store for Young and the Hawks, noting that it’s hard to get a read on the team’s direction because there are already so many individuals who have some say in the front office, even before Atlanta hires a new head of basketball operations.

In addition to team owner and his son , executives who have a voice in personnel decisions include general manager , assistant GM , and advisers and . Tony Ressler also sometimes asks for input from people outside of the basketball operations department, including minority owner . According to Hollinger, Hill is viewed by some sources as Ressler’s top choice to run the front office, but seems satisfied with his USA Basketball job.

While there has been “chatter” about the possibility of the Hawks entertaining a Young trade this offseason, it remains to be seen how strong his market would be, according to Hollinger, who suggests one possible reason the team traded instead of Young a year ago was because it would’ve been more difficult to extract value for Young.

We have more from around the Southeast:

The ‘s role players need to be way better to challenge Boston in their first-round series, Josh Robbins of The Athletic writes.

and carried the offense in Orlando’s Game 1 loss, while their teammates had a combined 27 points on 10-of-30 shooting.

“They’ve got a lot on their shoulders as the offensive scorers on the team,” big man said. “We’ve got to do a better job as role players.”

believes a quicker pace would help the cause.

“We did a great job in the first half pushing the pace and crashing that glass,” he said. “The second half, we kind of got away from it as a team. So, I think if we can maintain that pace for 48 (minutes), we’ll have a chance.”

We have more from the Southeast Division:

April 21st, 2025 at 4:28pm CST by Luke Adams

Tiebreakers among teams with identical regular-season records were broken on Monday through random drawings to determine the order for this year’s draft prior to the lottery.

The results are as follows, according to a press release from the league (Twitter link):

While the tiebreaker winner will pick ahead of the loser(s) in the first round, that order will be flipped in the second round.

For instance, the Warriors’ second-round pick (traded to the Grizzlies) will be at No. 48, followed by the Bucks’ pick (traded to Detroit) at No. 49, and the Grizzlies (traded to New York) at No. 50 — that’s the opposite of their order in the first round.

For lottery teams that finished with identical records, the second-round order is still to be determined depending on the lottery results.

For example, if Phoenix’s first-round pick (traded to Houston) stays at No. 9 and the Blazers’ first-rounder stays at No. 10, Portland’s second-round pick (traded to Toronto) would be at No. 39 and Phoenix’s (traded to Washington) would be No. 40. But if the Trail Blazers win the No. 1 overall pick on lottery night, moving ahead of Phoenix in the first round, then the Suns’ second-round pick would be No. 39, while Portland’s would be No. 40.

We’ll publish the full lottery odds and pre-lottery draft order for 2025 later tonight.

guard admits it’s been a rough season but he doesn’t want to be a distraction, Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald writes. Rozier didn’t get off the bench in the play-in tournament, except to cheer for his teammates, including his de facto replacement, midseason trade acquisition .

“I don’t carry bad energy with me,” said Rozier, who has one year and $26.6MM remaining on his contract. “I’m not a hater. How he’s playing, Davion, I think we’re all excited to see that. So I don’t carry bad energy with me and I love to see it.

“Even if I’m not playing, we still got to get in the playoffs and give ourselves another chance to be able to enjoy that dance at the end,” Rozier added. “I’m just happy to be a part of the process, even if I’m not playing. You never know, I could play in Game 2, 3 or 4. I know how that stuff works. Just making sure I’m staying ready. And definitely me being positive, me being a good teammate, I’m never going to change.”

We have more from the Southeast Division:

April 20th, 2025 at 1:45pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Veteran guard has enjoyed a major uptick in production with Orlando and has been a salve during the club’s playoff push, writes Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel. As Beede notes, the 33-year-old had been a key young contributor for the title-bound Spurs over a decade ago in 2014. Now, he’s a locker room leader on a young Magic club.

“It’s amazing,” Joseph said. “I’m blessed. The organization has been amazing to me… I’m just trying to get out there and play as hard as I can to repay them for what they did for me.”

Joseph wasn’t even on a team heading into last year’s playoffs. He was sent to Indiana from Golden State at the 2024 trade deadline, but was promptly waived. This year, he seems to have found a happy home in Orlando.

With All-Defensive guard out for the season, Joseph was pressed into service as a starter for 15 of the team’s last 16 games. In those bouts, Orlando posted an 11-4 record. Joseph logged averages of 6.9 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 2.7 assists across 22.2 minutes per night.

There’s more out of Orlando:

April 17th, 2025 at 8:34pm CST by Tristan Tucker

played a starring role in Orlando’s play-in victory over Atlanta on Tuesday, Josh Robbins of The Athletic writes. He scored 26 points and six assists to clinch the seventh seed for the .

As Robbins writes, Anthony had a roller-coaster season in 2024/25, seeing his role fluctuate frequently as he averaged a career-low 18.4 minutes per game, so it was rewarding for him to help secure their spot in the playoffs.

“It’s been up-and-down for him,” head coach said. “But just his energy, his spark, his juice, what he provides for this team coming off that bench, he plays fearlessly and that’s how we need him to continue to play.”

Now, the Magic are preparing for a first-round series against the 61-win Celtics.

“It was awesome, and we need that from him, to be ready and plug in and give us instant offense like that and just make the right play,” teammate said.

We have more from the Southeast Division:

April 17th, 2025 at 1:14pm CST by Rory Maher

In a series of tweets, the NBA has announced the three All-NBA G League teams for the 2024/25 season. Here’s the full list of honorees:

• , Rip City Remix (‘ affiliate) *
• , Westchester
• , Long Island ^

• , Westchester Knicks ~
• , Westchester Knicks
• , Grand Rapids Gold (‘ affiliate) *
• , Sioux Falls Skyforce (‘s affiliate) *
• , Stockton Kings ^

* Denotes two-way contract

^ Denotes standard contract

~ On a standard contract with the

While each player selected has some level of NBA experience, four of them — Flynn, Nowell, Brown and Warren — are currently free agents. Of that group, only Warren didn’t appear in an NBA regular season game during the ’24/25 campaign.

Davison, Tshiebwe and Nowell finished first, second and third in voting (in that order) for this season’s G League Most Valuable Player award, so it’s no surprise that they made the First Team. McClung, who was the league’s 2023/24 MVP, helped Osceola make the NBAGL Finals this spring, with the final spot going to former Pistons guard Flynn, who signed a 10-day contract with Charlotte last month.

Mason Jones recently helped Stockton win its first G League title, earning Finals MVP in the process. He’s joined on the Second Team by NBAGL Most Improved Player Harkless, McGowens, Brown, and Timme.

Former first-round pick Okeke signed a pair of 10-day contracts with Philadelphia before signing with Cleveland ahead of the playoffs. NBA veteran Warren, G League Rookie of the Year Alexander, Heat two-way guard Christopher, and Kings big man Jones round out the Third Team.

Davison and Isaac Jones were promoted from two-way deals to standard contracts at the end of the season. Timme was an NBA free agent before Brooklyn gave him a two-year standard contract in March due to his strong play in the NBAGL.

Poll: Who Will Win Tuesday’s Play-In Games?

April 15th, 2025 at 8:24am CST by Luke Adams

The were tied for second place in the West as recently as March 14, while the held a top-five spot in the conference for the entire first week of April. However, neither Memphis nor Golden State was able to lock up a guaranteed playoff spot in the final days of the regular season.

The two teams will face one another on Tuesday in the No. 7 vs. No. 8 play-in game for the Western Conference, with the winner earning the right to enter the playoffs as the seventh seed and match up with Houston in round one.

Although the Warriors and Grizzlies finished the season with matching 48-34 records, the two clubs were headed in opposite directions down the stretch.

Hours after finalizing a trade for on February 6, Golden State fell to 25-26 on the season and held the No. 10 seed in the West only by a tiebreaker. But the Warriors won Butler’s debut two days later and never fell below .500 again, finishing the season on a 23-8 run. During that stretch, Golden State had the NBA’s third-best winning percentage (.742), eight-best offensive rating (118.2) and top defensive rating (109.0).

The Warriors aren’t entering the postseason as one of the title favorites, having stumbled a little as of late — they would have clinched a playoff berth already if they hadn’t lost three of their last five games, including a disappointing defeat to the lottery-bound Spurs last Wednesday. But they’ve certainly looked better than the Grizzlies, whose season has been trending downward in recent months.

On the day of the trade deadline, the Grizzlies had a 35-16 record. But two days later, on the same day the Warriors won Butler’s debut, Memphis lost to Oklahoma City to kick off an uninspiring stretch that saw the team finish the season by going just 13-18. Lottery teams like Portland and Toronto had better records during that stretch than the Grizzlies, who ranked in the bottom half of the league in both offensive rating (115.6) and defensive rating (116.0) from Feb. 8 onward.

Oh, and Memphis also made a head coaching change during that time, replacing with assistant on March 28. The Grizzlies have a 4-5 record since that change.

The Grizzlies have plenty of talent on their roster and Warriors stars (thumb) and Butler (thigh) are dealing with nagging ailments, so the result of Tuesday’s Western Conference play-in game is hardly a foregone conclusion. Still, after accounting for the Warriors’ 3-1 record vs. Memphis this season and the fact that they’ll be hosting Tuesday’s play-in game in San Francisco, it’s not hard to understand why Golden State is considered a good bet to advance — BetOnline.ag has the Warriors listed as seven-point favorites.

Over in the East, it’s a battle of the year’s top Southeast teams on Tuesday, as the No. 7 (41-41) host the No. 8 (40-42). The winner will claim the seventh seed and face Boston in the first round of the playoffs.

It has been an odd season in Orlando, where the Magic looked like one of the conference’s top teams in early going despite losing and then to oblique tears that sidelined them for extended periods. But the Magic’s injury issues – which also ended ‘ and ‘s seasons early – eventually caught up with them, resulting in a 12-26 midseason swoon from December to March that cost the team a chance at a top-six seed.

Orlando finished the year strong, winning nine of its last 12 games, and performed very well defensively on the season as a whole, registering the league’s second-best defensive rating (109.1). But even with Banchero and Wagner on the court, the Magic struggled to score — their 108.9 offensive rating ranked 27th in the NBA, ahead of only Brooklyn, Charlotte, and Washington.

The Hawks, meanwhile, appeared to be in trouble when rising star forward went down in January with a season-ending shoulder injury. They were 22-22 as of Johnson’s last game and promptly fell several games below .500 without him before trading away second-leading scorer at the trade deadline shortly thereafter.

But instead of continuing to slide down the standings and ending up in the lottery, Atlanta got a second wind, led by , , , and , along with deadline additions like , , and .

As good as Daniels has been defensively this season, the Hawks’ overall team defense has lagged behind — it was their offense that propelled them to a spot in the No. 7 vs. 8 play-in game. From March 6 onward, Atlanta went 12-8 and posted the second-best offensive rating in the Eastern Conference (120.4).

Tuesday’s matchup, in which the Magic are listed as five-point favorites, per BetOnline, could come down to how much headway the Hawks’ offensive weapons can make against one of the NBA’s best defensive units in Orlando.

. Which two teams will claim playoff spots on Tuesday and which ones will have to try again on Friday to punch their tickets into round one?

Vote in our poll, then head to the comment section to weigh in with your thoughts and predictions.

The Stockton Kings, Sacramento’s affiliate, claimed the 2024/25 G League title by winning the deciding game of a best-of-three series with the Osceola Magic on Monday.

After losing Game 1 to Orlando’s G League affiliate last Tuesday, Stockton evened the series with a 144-126 victory on Friday and then knocked off Osceola 118-110 on Monday, with Dexter Dennis, Terry Taylor, and Isaac Jones all scoring at least 21 points in the championship game.

Veteran guard Mason Jones, who is on a two-way contract with Sacramento, was named the G League Finals MVP (Twitter link). For the series, he averaged 22.3 points, 9.7 assists, 3.0 rebounds, and 2.7 steals per game and made 11-of-25 three-point shots (44.0%).

Jones, 26, made his NBA debut in 2021 and has since appeared in 51 regular season games for the Rockets, Sixers, Lakers, and Kings, including 10 for Sacramento this season. However, he has played very limited minutes at the NBA level, whereas he averaged 23.6 PPG, 7.9 APG, 5.1 RPG, and 1.1 SPG in 35.9 MPG with a shooting line of .492/.447/.790 across 27 Tip-Off Tournament and regular season outings for Stockton this season.

Mason Jones was one of three players under contract with Sacramento who contributed to Stockton’s NBAGL championship. Fellow two-way player Isaiah Crawford also started all three games in the Finals, while Isaac Jones, who was promoted to the Kings’ 15-man roster last month, was assigned to Stockton for Game 3 and posted a double-double (21 points, 13 rebounds) on 8-of-11 shooting on Monday.

The Kings hold a minimum-salary team option on Isaac Jones for next season. Mason Jones and Crawford will be eligible for restricted free agency this summer.

There are a lot of moves the Heat, who face the Bulls in the play-in tournament on Wednesday, need to make to become true contenders again, says Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald.

Not only do the Heat need to add an elite scorer, Jackson writes, they also need an elite shot creator and a better floor leader to prevent the late-game slides that plagued the team this season. However, the pairing of Bam Adebayo and Kel’el Ware worked well and should be the team’s power duo going forward, according to Jackson, who adds that they also have a solid second unit to bring back next season.

We have more from the Southeast Division:

• Wizards general manager Will Dawkins was pleased with the growth of his young players this season but knows they have many more steps to take to become a playoff contender, he told Josh Robbins of The Athletic.  “I would say that we discovered through a lot of different assessments and lineups that there’s a style of play that, if we’re rowing in the right direction, can be successful. And we have the type of players here who were bought into that,” he said. “We’re far from where we need to be — still at the ground level. But we feel good about the camaraderie of the group, the work ethic of the group, and the direction we’re headed. But (there’s) a lot of work ahead of us.”
• After an injury-marred season, the Magic still wound up as the highest seed in the Eastern Conference play-in tournament. A victory over Atlanta on Tuesday would clinch the No. 7 seed and a matchup with Boston in the first round. “With everything we’ve gone through, with the bodies being down, with guys being in and out of lineups and the adversity that we’ve hit this year, for this group to get to .500, [it] says a lot about their character, their care factor, and the coaching staff,” coach Jamahl Mosley said, per Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel. “We’re going to have to put that behind us in this moment and move onto Tuesday and make sure we’re ready to take care of business.”
• Forward Larry Nance Jr. won’t be available for the Hawks against the Magic, Lauren Williams of the Atlanta Journal Constitution tweets. He’s still recovering from a right medial femoral condyle fracture.