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Through two weeks of the WNBA season, where does each team stack up and what are some prime takeaways?

WNBA Power Rankings 5/22

Following the Phoenix Suns&rsquo; shocking postseason exit, all eyes are now on Deandre Ayton's free agency.
After the Suns declined to sign Ayton to a five-year, rookie-scale max extension before the 2021-22 season, restricted free agency is now on the horizon for the athletic big man. During the NBA Draft Combine in Chicago, Ayton&rsquo;s agent Bill Duffy discussed Ayton's future on SiriusXM&rsquo;s NBA show.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;re disappointed. We wanted a max contract,&rdquo; Duffy <a href="https://twitter.com/esidery/status/1527772160923619328" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>. &ldquo;He went out and was a solider the whole year, played well, improved his statistics. So, we&rsquo;re proud of him. A lot of guys handle things differently, but he was very mature about it. Things will work out for Deandre. He&rsquo;s a valuable player. There&rsquo;s other teams in the league as well. He&rsquo;s a restricted free agent, so we&rsquo;ll see how this process unfolds.&rdquo;
Ayton averaged 17.3 points, 10.0 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 0.7 blocks on a career-high 65.6% True Shooting percentage during the 2021-22 campaign. Ayton was a key asset for the Suns on both ends of the court, especially around the basket as an easy lob threat and defensive anchor. Ayton has been a key piece for the Suns, but is he worth a max contract? Based on Duffy&rsquo;s comments earlier this week, it sounds like Ayton&rsquo;s camp won&rsquo;t settle for anything less than the max entering free agency.
From the Suns&rsquo; perspective, they saw improvement from the 2018 No. 1 overall pick this season before the team's disappointing postseason showing.
&ldquo;I think he&rsquo;s shown that he&rsquo;s improved each year, helps us on both the defense and the offense,&rdquo; Suns owner Robert Sarver told <a href="http://BasketballNews.com">BasketballNews.com</a> recently about Ayton. &ldquo;I think offensively, you see this year he&rsquo;s taken another good step in terms of his touch and his ability to score around the basket. So, he&rsquo;s been a key part of what we&rsquo;re doing.&rdquo;
Taking all of this into consideration, what if Ayton's days in Phoenix are numbered? Here's a look at the most realistic sign-and-trade destinations for Ayton this summer.
Note: It's important to remember that sign-and-trade deals rarely return the same value as a traditional trade. The Suns have let it be known that they won't simply let an asset like Ayton walk for nothing. If Ayton&rsquo;s time in Phoenix is indeed over, the Suns won&rsquo;t be leaving the relationship empty-handed.
San Antonio Spurs
Spurs receive: Deandre Ayton
Suns receive: Jakob Poeltl, Devin Vassell, Tre Jones
San Antonio is one of the few teams this offseason with secured max-level cap space. All that needs to be done in order to chase Ayton is renounce the restricted rights to Lonnie Walker.
Being at the bottom of the NBA standings is new for the Spurs. After being one of the league's model organizations for over two decades, they have officially hit a playoff drought. San Antonio was hoping for some lottery luck, but now they have to try another plan to bring in a star.
San Antonio&rsquo;s dynamic young duo of Dejounte Murray and Keldon Johnson is so fun to watch, but the they need a third game-changer to take this rebuild back into playoff mode. Ayton would be an ideal solution, mainly because of his excellent two-way fit in the Spurs&rsquo; system. Dropping Ayton into the Spurs&rsquo; player-development program could make some in Phoenix worry about the long-term consequences of this deal.
For Phoenix, cooperating with a long-time rival would hurt. However, if the relationship between team and player becomes fractured, the Suns won&rsquo;t have much of a choice if he finds a max offer on the open market.
The Suns won&rsquo;t let Ayton leave Phoenix unless they receive strong assets in return. The Spurs can actually provide a solid package that helps in the short and long-term.
In this deal, Phoenix could land one of the most underrated big men in the Association as well as two young players who have shown flashes. The Jalen Smith experiment was a disaster for the Suns after taking him No. 10 overall in the 2020 NBA Draft, and Vassell went one pick later. Phoenix can right that wrong while also obtaining an intriguing point guard to develop in Jones.
This feels like a win-win for both sides. San Antonio would have a new Big 3 in Ayton, Murray and Johnson, while the Suns could acquire their new starting center and two pieces to bolster the bench unit.
Charlotte Hornets
Hornets receive: Deandre Ayton
Suns receive: Terry Rozier, PJ Washington and draft compensation
There might not be a team with a more dire offseason need than the Hornets and their hole at center. Charlotte was one of my NBA League Pass teams this season due to their fun offensive pace, but the defense often bordered on disastrous. Montrezl Harrell and Mason Plumlee aren&rsquo;t going to cut it, so it&rsquo;s time for Charlotte to get aggressive.
Given Charlotte&rsquo;s roster, they would have to move some salaries around to make an Ayton chase realistic. Offloading Gordon Hayward&rsquo;s contract is going to be a tough task and they may even have to relinquish one of their top-15 picks to do so, but it would have to happen in order for them to pursue Ayton. Hayward is due $61.6 million over the next two seasons, and Charlotte simply can&rsquo;t afford to keep biting that bullet with restricted free agent Miles Bridges due for a payday and LaMelo Ball&rsquo;s own rookie-scale extension on the horizon. Trading away Hayward and Mason Plumlee would give the Hornets max space.
Landing Ayton is Charlotte's dream scenario. Not only would Ayton continue to get spoon-fed easy looks from an elite point guard, he would help stabilize the Hornets' defense to respectable levels. Thanks to his freakish athleticism, Ayton would be able to cover up a lot of holes around him defensively.
Phoenix would love to pull off a double sign-and-trade to nab Bridges, but that seems unlikely. Instead, this deal allows them to find their long-term answer at point guard post-Chris Paul. While Terry Rozier is a shot-chucker, he has improved as a playmaker in Charlotte. In the short-term, Rozier could step in as the Suns&rsquo; sixth man and provide the exact boost that they need in offensive guard creation. PJ Washington is an interesting add because he could slide right into the small-ball 5 role played previously by Dario Saric.
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Indiana Pacers
Pacers receive: Deandre Ayton
Suns receive: Myles Turner, Chris Duarte, TJ McConnell
What&rsquo;s the next step for Indiana? Long gone are Victor Oladipo, Domantas Sabonis and Caris LeVert. Malcolm Brogdon, Myles Turner and Buddy Hield could be the next Pacers veterans to be shipped out via trade as Indiana fully embraces a rebuild attempt. It&rsquo;s been long overdue for the Pacers to pull the plug on the core that continued to stagnate once the postseason arrived.
A year later, Indiana&rsquo;s future looks much brighter with a talented, new-look core of Tyrese Haliburton, Chris Duarte, Isaiah Jackson and whoever is selected at No. 6 overall.
Ayton couldn't ask for a better pick-and-roll partner than Haliburton. Already making magic happen with CP3, Ayton&rsquo;s rolling ability would help accentuate Haliburton&rsquo;s biggest strengths. Also, Ayton&rsquo;s defensive versatility would be a welcome arrival for a team that nosedived in that category last season.
For Indiana, the price would be hefty. Not only would this trade require a four-year max contract for Ayton, but the Pacers would likely need to ship out a key piece of their young core via sign-and-trade (such as Duarte).
This trade would be a huge win for Phoenix, but it also looks great for the Pacers. The Suns would have a starting center who adds floor-spacing equity and elite rim protection, a capable veteran backup point guard who can spell Paul at times, plus one of the most impactful rookie wings in the Association. Having to include Duarte could leave the Pacers apprehensive, but they are reportedly enamored with adding another explosive piece via the draft, as Jaden Ivey (Purdue), Shaedon Sharpe (Kentucky) and Bennedict Mathurin (Arizona) have all been linked to Indiana early in the pre-draft process.&nbsp;
Detroit Pistons
Pistons receive: Deandre Ayton
Suns receive: Jerami Grant, Isaiah Stewart, Cory Joseph and draft compensation
Another team that has considered making a run at Ayton this offseason is the Pistons, and they can create max space very easily: trading away Kelly Olynyk&rsquo;s contract.
The Pistons struck gold with Cade Cunningham and Saddiq Bey and they are helping usher in a new era in Detroit. Ayton&rsquo;s arrival would be the final piece to the puzzle for a team seemingly pushing their chips in on postseason play as early as 2023.
It would be best for Ayton to land with a capable lead guard who can feed him regularly. Already capable of tallying 20 and 10 most nights, Ayton would be set up for long-term success alongside Cunningham and Bey.
The question is, what would the Pistons need to send Phoenix&rsquo;s way in order for this sign-and-trade to go through? It&rsquo;s going to be a lot, and it would be a blockbuster-type transaction.
Blockbuster indeed, because Grant is now heading back to the Valley in this scenario. If the Suns and Pistons want to cooperate on a Ayton deal, I have to imagine one of Grant or Bey would have to be involved. Stewart is another enticing trade chip because he&rsquo;s shown the versatility to space the floor from three-point range. While he doesn't have the same touch as Ayton, Stewart brings nastiness and a tenacity on both ends of the court that Phoenix would absolutely love.
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Atlanta Hawks
Hawks receive: Deandre Ayton
Suns receive: Clint Capela, Bogdan Bogdanovic
No ifs, ands or buts about it, Trae Young would make Ayton an All-Star next season. What a fun inside-out duo this is to envision. While Atlanta is nowhere close to reaching the necessary cap space to absorb a massive Ayton deal on their own, a sign-and-trade becomes feasible with all of the talent that could fit into the Phoenix roster.
For the Hawks, Ayton represents another foundational building block to place alongside Young for the long-term. John Collins could be the guy, but he&rsquo;s been in trade rumors for the past year with no signs of those slowing down. Onyeka Okongwu could also grow into that role, but the Hawks signing Clint Capela to a long-term extension perhaps signals that they see him more as a piece to the puzzle rather than a true building block.
Ayton would arrive in Atlanta and instantly average around 23 points and 12 rebounds per game. On box-score fit alone, this would be the best landing spot for Ayton thanks to the greatness of Young.
If Phoenix had drafted Luka Doncic rather than Ayton at No. 1 overall in 2018, Phoenix may have considered adding Clint Capela to their frontcourt. Four years later, Capela being re-routed to Phoenix in an Ayton sign-and-trade is a plausible scenario to imagine. Capela would provide similar numbers to Ayton while requiring less of an offensive workload. Meanwhile, Bogdan Bogdanovic might vault to the top the NBA's Sixth Man of the Year leaderboards in the near future. Bogdanovic and Cameron Johnson leading the Suns&rsquo; second unit? That&rsquo;s a filthy thought.
***
None of these trades are perfect, but they do illustrate how challenging it will be for Phoenix to find a home for Ayton while also returning the value they'd love to get back for him. Ultimately, it may be in the Suns' best interest to re-sign Ayton this offseason and trade him at some point down the road when his value isn't so depressed.
Whatever happens, Ayton&rsquo;s name will continue to pop up in rumors throughout the spring and summer until the Suns and Ayton's camp find common ground at the negotiation table. This situation could become awkward and dragged out, which would surely kick the trade rumors into high gear. This isn't the last we'll hear about Ayton and the possibility of him changing teams.
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With Deandre Ayton's future in Phoenix becoming murky, it's time to examine potential destinations for the former No. 1 overall pick.

Examining potential sign-and-trade destinations for Deandre Ayton

It was the summer of 2001, and I had just finished my junior year of high school.
I received a phone call on my family's home phone in Milwaukee, Wisconsin &mdash; it was a representative from Adidas calling to invite me to be a participant at the famed ABCD Camp.
A prestigious camp held at Fairleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck, New Jersey, the ABCD Camp was established in 1984 and would continue until 2006. The camp was sponsored by Adidas and run by legendary shoe company executive Sonny Vaccaro. His main claim to fame was his role in developing and executing Michael Jordan's Air Jordan brand with Nike. After leaving Nike, Sonny joined Adidas, where he was able to get the ABCD Camp rolling.
Each year, the camp was comprised of the top high school players in the country. In 2001, the NBA had not yet set the age limit restricting high school players from declaring for the NBA draft following their senior year. Because of this, not only was every prominent college coach at this event, but so were all of the NBA scouts and front-office personnel. At that point, the ABCD Camp was the mecca of high school basketball.
I was beyond excited to get invited, but I must admit, it was somewhat intimidating. Luckily I wouldn't be going alone, as several of my good friends received invitations to the camp too.
My roommate at the camp was Dan Grunfeld, who was, and still is, one of my best friends. Dan is the son of Ernie Grunfeld, who, at the time, was my dad's boss and the general manager of the Milwaukee Bucks. Dan became a star player at Stanford and led the (then) Pac-10 conference in scoring his junior year, and had a successful career playing in Europe. In addition, our good friend and my high school teammate, Coby Karl, was also with us. Coby is the son of George Karl, who was the head coach of the Bucks at the time. Coby played a few years in the NBA after starring at Boise State.
The three of us were teammates as a part of the AAU program, Friends of Hoop.
Also with us from Milwaukee was Steve Novak, who has been a friend of mine since we were AAU teammates on the Wisconsin All-Stars all the way back when we were in middle school. Once Steve and I got to high school, we had some great battles during our freshman and sophomore years. (I was at Shorewood High School and he was at Brown Deer High School, one of our conference rivals. Steve went on to team up with Dwyane Wade at Marquette, and had a long successful career in the NBA.)
So there's no denying that Milwaukee was represented well at the ABCD Camp that year.
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For whatever reason, I didn't fly with my friends from Milwaukee. Instead, I flew by myself to La Guardia Airport in New York. When I landed, an Adidas representative was waiting and drove another player, DeAngelo Collins, and I to the hotel in New Jersey. It's probably not a name that will ring a bell for many people, but at the time, he was a well-known player. As soon as I saw him, I knew who he was &mdash; although we had never met before. DeAngelo was one of the top-ranked players in the country, became a McDonald's All-American and entered his name in the NBA Draft after his senior year of high school. (Unfortunately, he went undrafted and only had a short professional career overseas).
Anyway, as I was sitting next to DeAngelo in a van heading to the camp hotel, my nerves kicked up another notch. I knew that, at the end of that ride, the rest of the top high school players in the country awaited.
When I arrived at the hotel, my friends from Milwaukee were there. We had to sign in, collect a bag full of Adidas gear and take some photos. When Dan and I finally got to our room, we had a moment where we talked about how excited we were to be there. The whole experience was exciting and fun, but intense at the same time. Whether it was the top-ranked player in the country or the last guy invited, we all wanted the same thing &mdash; to improve our stock. The ABCD Camp was the biggest stage any of us had played on at that point in our careers. It was an opportunity to move up in the player rankings, which would subsequently lead to more scholarship offers or even interest from NBA teams, for some.
Coby, Dan and I had somewhat similar backgrounds, as we all grew up around the game, as our dads and families all had careers working in the NBA. As I was <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/growing-up-a-buck-from-ray-allen-to-giannis-antetokounmpo-dave-babcock-remains-milwaukee-bucks" target="_blank" rel="noopener">growing up</a>, my dad would often suggest that I "get some shots up" or do my "Pistol Pete" ball-handling routine instead of playing video games, but generally, my family never put a lot of pressure on me to be a great player. I never got the impression that Coby or Dan felt much direct pressure from their families either. However, I think I can speak for the three of us in saying that we all put a significant amount of pressure on ourselves due to our backgrounds. And at the ABCD Camp, I certainly felt the pressure. But I was motivated and determined to move the needle!
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The first night, all of the players went to the gym for Sonny's welcome speech. He spoke to our group to set expectations for the camp, and gave some general advice. We then split up to join our assigned teams and had a light practice. That allowed us to meet our teammates for the camp and our teams' coaches. The coaches tried to implement some basic offensive and defensive principles during that practice. However, the reality was the camp was "pick-up ball" with some freelance referees.
My team's head coach was Chris Grant, who worked for my uncle, Pete Babcock, the general manager of the Atlanta Hawks at the time. (I don't think that was a coincidence). Chris started his career as an intern for my uncle after playing in college at the University of San Diego. Years later, he worked his way up and became the Cleveland Cavaliers' general manager. The top player on our team was Josh Smith from Atlanta, Georgia. He was a year younger than me, but he was a high-profile prospect. A couple of years later, Josh was selected in the first round by the Hawks directly out of high school. He had a successful NBA career, and was one of the top players for the Hawks for years.
Following practice, we returned to our rooms for the night. Dan and I talked about our teams. He told me he had a player on his team that was good. I had never heard of him before &mdash; his name was Carmelo Anthony.
We had a few things to do the following day before live games began. First, there was a guest speaker, but not just any guest speaker; it was Kobe Bryant. He talked to us about some of his personal experiences going through a lot of the same things we were all going through as high school players. It was incredible to listen to a player who had been living the life that every one of us dreamed about for ourselves. To say Kobe's talk was inspiring would be an extreme understatement. Although just a young guy at the time, Kobe had such distinct confidence and determination. It was a privilege to meet Kobe and listen to him speak.
Following the session with Kobe, the players had to take prep ACT and SAT classes. We were seated at tables with about a handful of players per table. I remember sitting with Travis Outlaw, who was a hilarious, nice guy. Travis declared for the 2002 NBA Draft after high school, and was selected by the Portland Trail Blazers in the first round. He went on to play in the NBA and had a good career.
At the table directly next to me was a younger player that I did not know. Like most of us, he didn't seem interested in that class. Halfway through picking out his braids and leaving half of his hair in an afro, he decided he would lay his head down and take a nap. The teacher wasn't happy about that and kept lecturing him, saying things like, "This is important, your future depends on this" &mdash; something along those lines. Finally, the player sat up and said, "I'm going pro!" and put his head back down.
Soon after, I found out the player's name was LeBron James.
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Finally, when classes finished up, the real reason we came to town was about to begin. It was time to hoop.
The games started, and they were great! There was so much talent in each game. I had the opportunity to share the court with future NBA All-Stars like Carmelo, LeBron, Chris Bosh, Deron Williams and many other soon-to-be standout pros. The gym was buzzing, and it was quite the scene. "Oohs and ahhs" could be heard left and right. The stands were filled with famous coaches, including Coach K, Lute Olson and Rick Pitino. NBA scouts and media members were busy taking notes and trying to find the next NBA star.
The actual gameplay was pretty sloppy, as expected. In most showcase types of events, players will play "to get their's." Also, there is not much of a game plan without much practice time, which usually results in poor ball movement and limited opportunities for lower-ranked players (like myself) to have the ball in their hands.
Despite the challenges, I played pretty well. I shot a high percentage, and even had one game where I scored 15 points and hit a handful of three-pointers. Because I had limited opportunities to have the ball in my hands, I made an extra effort to be as effective as possible without the ball. I noticed that the referees were quick to call offensive fouls during this camp, so I decided to get in the lane when players would drive to the hoop to draw charges. My strategy worked well, and I drew several charges.
However, I tried this tactic in one particular game and my plan backfired, as the player on the other end was LeBron. He laid one of his now-signature tomahawk dunks right on me. I flew back probably 10 feet, and the gym went crazy. That was my formal introduction to "King James."
It's been said that the 2001 ABCD Camp is when LeBron broke onto the scene and the whole media frenzy began for him. His legendary battle with the No. 1 player in my class, Lenny Cooke, happened at this camp. Dan and I were sitting together in the bleachers watching that game. I am happy to say that I was a "witness" to the making of one of the greatest stars our game has ever seen.
All in all, I did well at the camp, and I was able to generate more interest from schools, which was my goal. However, more than 20 years have passed since that ABCD camp, and the most valuable experience turned out to be the memories that I will cherish forever.
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Editor's Note: This article was originally published on <a href="https://www.babcockhoops.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">BabcockHoops.com</a>.
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Matt Babcock relives his experience at the 2001 ABCD Camp, where a number of high schoolers stood out before becoming NBA stars.

ABCD Camp: The mecca of high school basketball circa 2001

Early in the third quarter, Jimmy Butler casually trots down the right side of the floor.&nbsp;
He pitches the ball to Bam Adebayo above the break, then jogs to the right corner. It looks like Butler is setting up a pindown for Max Strus, which would likely flow into a handoff with Adebayo. Instead, Strus cuts through to the left side of the court, clearing the right side for Butler and Adebayo to go to work.&nbsp;
Adebayo passes the ball to Butler, then sets a screen for him. Tobias Harris gets cleared out by Adebayo's screen. Butler takes a couple of dribbles to his left, while DeAndre Jordan (Adebayo's defender) retreats as part of his drop-coverage duties. With Harris tangled up with Adebayo and Jordan dropping back, Butler is able to rise into an uncontested elbow jumper.
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It is hard to overstate how easy this is. Butler doesn't move out of first gear for this entire possession. Harris has no path to getting back in the play after the screen, and Jordan doesn't affect anything.
If that possession looks familiar, it's because it's a near carbon copy of this first-quarter stretch.
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The Butler-Adebayo pairing shook loose all night. Per Second Spectrum, a Miami Heat trip featuring a pick-and-roll with Miami's stars generated 1.73 points per possession (PPP) &mdash; nearly a guaranteed bucket. It's a far cry from their regular-season mark against the Sixers (0.43 PPP).&nbsp;
We can point out the obvious, that the Philadelphia 76ers desperately miss Joel Embiid.
His ability to play the gap &mdash; walking the tightrope between taking away easy shots for the ball-handler and not letting the roll man get behind him &mdash; is incredibly valuable. There's a level of space restriction with Embiid that can't be replicated anywhere else on the roster; heck, only a handful of bigs come close to replicating it in the NBA.
The Heat knew that, which led to them upping the ante in Game 2. They ran six more picks (77) than they did in Game 1 (71). More interesting to me was their setup; much like the clips above, the Heat emptied the strong-side corner more than they did in Game 1.
Emptying a corner (or a whole side, again, like the clip above) is designed to put extra stress on everyone, with more emphasis on the screen navigation &mdash; because falling behind the play means your big has to account for two players.
More emphasis on the help one pass away. If the big can't get a tag, you at least have to bother the ball-handler. What kind of nail help is this?
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Or this?
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Orrrr this?&nbsp;
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After setting 21 picks with an empty corner in Game 1, that number went up to 29 in Game 2. Not only did the volume increase, the efficiency did as well. Trips featuring an empty corner ball-screen produced well over 1.4 PPP.
The Sixers were already dealing with a personnel deficit with no Embiid. Their drop coverage was never going to hit the same with Jordan or Paul Reed (whew, boy, was he bad) anchoring things. It was&nbsp;awful&nbsp;when Miami emptied the corner against it in Game 2: seven possessions, seven shot attempts, six made shots, 14 points.
That's right &mdash; they quite literally averaged a bucket (2.00 PPP) when they saw drop coverage against an empty corner. This was the lone miss:
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Yes, that is James Harden playing drop coverage. No, I will not be taking anymore questions.
In light of their struggles against drop, I am utterly confused by them compounding those issues by rarely attempting to keep things on the sideline.&nbsp;
Of the 29 picks they faced with an empty corner, they only went to ICE coverage on four of them. Four! The purpose of ICE coverage is to force the ball-handler down the side, using that boundary as an extra defender.
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This is a much better process from Philadelphia. Harris attempts to force Butler down the right sideline. Adebayo does yeoman's work by flipping his angle &mdash; the natural counter to ICE coverage &mdash; but that simply turns into a late switch by Reed. The play ends with Victor Oladipo committing an unforced error, but that doesn't happen if the Sixers don't take away the easy gap at the beginning of the possession.
The Sixers switched more often than not when faced with these empty-corner actions. This may shock you, but all of their switches took place with Reed or someone smaller at the 5. The Heat scored efficiently (1.3 PPP on direct plays), but look at how hard the Heat had to work for these makes. From a process standpoint, switching is their best way to bring things into the mud.
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The simple (and hopeful) solution for the Sixers is to get Embiid back. Even 80% of him would bring a level of deterrence to their defense they've been lacking, and simplify roles for everyone else on the floor.&nbsp;
But with his status up in the air for Game 3, most tweaks are going to come from within. The easiest one: Downsizing more often and leaning into more switching. If there's a path to beating the Heat while undermanned, it's by forcing them to work in the half-court. It's a lot harder to that if you're feeding them pockets of space to attack.
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Nekias Duncan breaks down the Sixers' defensive woes against empty corner pick-and-rolls.

Emptying the clip: How the Heat torched the 76ers in pick-and-roll

Ever since Artūras Karni&scaron;ovas and Marc Eversley took over the Bulls&rsquo; front office two years ago, Chicago has been one of the most aggressive teams in the NBA. Their fingerprints are all over this roster, with notable acquisitions such as DeMar DeRozan, Nikola Vucevic, Lonzo Ball and Alex Caruso.
These moves have translated to on-court success, as the Bulls posted their best winning percentage since the 2014-15 season and ended their four-year playoff drought. This year, Chicago was 46-36 &mdash; more wins than they had in the 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons combined. (Zach LaVine and Coby White are the only remaining players from that 2019-20 squad).
The Bulls entered the playoffs as the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference while boasting the NBA's 11th-ranked offense (scoring 111.0 points per 100 possessions) and 23rd-ranked defense (allowing 111.1 points per 100 possessions).&nbsp;
While this season marked a step in the right direction, the Bulls&rsquo; first-round series against the Milwaukee Bucks showed that there&rsquo;s still plenty of work to be done. Despite Milwaukee losing their second-best player, Khris Middleton, to a sprained MCL in Game 2, the Bucks completed a gentleman's sweep against the Bulls. Chicago wasn&rsquo;t at full strength either, with Ball sidelined due to a knee injury and LaVine (COVID-19) and Caruso (concussion) each missing Game 5. Still, the reigning champions were a good litmus test.
Entering the offseason, where does Chicago go from here? Are big changes coming?
RE-SIGNING ZACH LAVINE
Entering this offseason, Chicago&rsquo;s top priority should be re-signing LaVine, who is set to hit unrestricted free agency. The 27-year-old has emerged as a perennial All-Star, earning a spot on the Eastern Conference squad in each of the last two seasons.&nbsp;
This year, LaVine averaged 24.4 points, 4.6 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 2.8 threes, while reducing his turnovers to 2.6 per game and shooting 47.6% from the field, 38.9% from three and 85.3% from the free-throw line.&nbsp;
LaVine will certainly expect a maximum contract from the Bulls, which would <a href="https://hoopshype.com/lists/bulls-offseason-preview-zach-lavines-free-agency-nikola-vucevic-extension-more/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pay him</a> $212.3 million over five years. The most he could receive from another team is $157.4 million over four years. This is a relatively weak free-agent class, so it seems very likely that LaVine will get a max deal from some team.&nbsp;
The Bulls would be wise to re-sign their star shooting guard, as replacing his production would be difficult, and the team would certainly take a step back if LaVine signed elsewhere.
"I plan to enjoy free agency," LaVine said recently. &ldquo;We're going to have to experience A through Z without making any fast decisions. I think that's something me and [Rich Paul] are going to go through and experience."
LaVine was asked if the Bulls are the front-runners to sign him, but he wouldn&rsquo;t say.
"You guys have been a really, really soft spot in my heart," LaVine said to the Chicago media. "I have to do this as a business decision, as a man, to not just be viewed one way and be like, 'I'm automatically coming back,' or, 'I'm automatically leaving.'"
In multiple interviews, LaVine has reiterated that he wants to be paid what he feels he deserves.
"I just want my respect. I think that's the main thing," LaVine <a href="https://www.nbcsports.com/chicago/bulls/zach-lavine-prepares-olympic-quarterfinal-bulls-free-agency" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> last August. "I outplayed my contract; I've been very loyal to Chicago, I like Chicago. I just want my respect."
FREE AGENCY
Aside from LaVine, the bulk of Chicago's core is under contract for the foreseeable future.&nbsp;
The Bulls have $103,181,950 in guaranteed salaries on the books for next season, spread across nine players: DeRozan, Vucevic, Lopez, Caruso, White, Patrick Williams, Javonte Green, Ayo Dosunmu and Marko Simonovic. Projections set next year&rsquo;s salary cap at $122 million and the luxury tax at $149 million.
Derrick Jones Jr.,Tristan Thompson and Matt Thomas will be unrestricted free agents. Tony Bradley has a player option worth $2,036,318, so he could opt out and test the market as well.
The team will have three restricted free agents (assuming Chicago extends a qualifying offer to each): Troy Brown Jr. ($7,228,448 QO), Tyler Cook ($1,576,305) and Malcolm Hill ($1,576,305).
Last year, the Bulls were very aggressive in free agency, making splashy moves left and right. Given their cap situation, it seems unlikely that Chicago will be able to go star hunting, but they&rsquo;ll likely try to improve their depth and add certain specialists. For example, Chicago could use a rim protector, as they averaged just 4.0 blocks per game (which ranked 27th in the NBA). Can they afford Mitchell Robinson? Could they throw an offer sheet at or sign-and-trade for a restricted free agent like Nic Claxton or Mo Bamba? Can they add a veteran like JaVale McGee or Hassan Whiteside?&nbsp;
In addition to a rim protector, it would make sense to add other defensive reinforcements as well (especially if Jones signs elsewhere). Caruso and Ball give Chicago a strong defensive backcourt, but they need some help if the Bulls want to improve their 23rd-ranked defensive rating (113.2). Some of the top defensive role players who are hitting the market include Bruce Brown, Gary Payton II and PJ Tucker. Lu Dort and Jae'Sean Tate each have a team option, but it seems unlikely that either will be available given their bargain contracts.
The Bulls will look to add a contributor or two using the non-taxpayer mid-level exception, which is worth $10,349,000. Last offseason, that is how Chicago was able to sign Caruso to a four-year, $37 million deal, which ended up being a terrific addition. Other players who signed for the non-taxpayer MLE last offseason include McGee (Phoenix Suns), Tucker (Miami Heat), Reggie Bullock (Dallas Mavericks) and Khem Birch (Toronto Raptors).
It will be interesting to see what the Bulls do in free agency. However, keep in mind that some of Chicago&rsquo;s biggest additions in recent years were acquired through trades.
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TRADES
After watching the Bulls&rsquo; front office trade for Vucevic, DeRozan and Ball, fans are understandably thinking big when it comes to Chicago&rsquo;s trade targets entering the offseason.
Myles Turner has been mentioned as a possible target for the Bulls since he could solve their rim-protection issues, but the window on acquiring Turner may have slammed shut as a <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/despite-trade-talks-the-pacers-want-to-keep-myles-turner-longterm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">recent report</a> suggested that the Indiana Pacers are now expected to keep the 26-year-old long-term.
Another dominant shot-blocker who may become available is Rudy Gobert. The Utah Jazz just had another season end in disappointing fashion, and there has already been a <a href="https://twitter.com/realOCsports/status/1521141215411941376" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> that the Jazz will be forced to choose between Gobert and Donovan Mitchell. If Utah opts to keep their young shooting guard, a three-time Defensive Player of the Year and five-time All-Defensive First-Team selection could suddenly be obtainable.
If that happens, the Bulls should at least reach out and start a conversation. Our Evan Sidery recently <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/examining-potential-trade-destinations-for-rudy-gobert" target="_blank" rel="noopener">broke down potential destinations for Gobert</a> and listed Chicago as the top landing spot. Here&rsquo;s what he wrote:
Imagine the possibilities for Chicago with Gobert patrolling the paint with Lonzo Ball and Alex Caruso hawking the perimeter. It&rsquo;s the perfect complement to offensive dynamos Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan. Chicago&rsquo;s new starting lineup of Ball, Caruso, LaVine, DeRozan and Gobert would seemingly have no holes in it from a two-way perspective. I absolutely love this idea for Chicago, and they should be blowing up the Jazz&rsquo;s phone this summer if it seems plausible.
Jazz receive: Nikola Vucevic, Patrick Williams, Coby White, draft compensation Bulls receive: Rudy Gobert
It remains to be seen if either side would do this, but it&rsquo;s an intriguing idea.
With that said, if the Bulls are committed to Vucevic and don&rsquo;t want to trade for a new big man, HoopsHype&rsquo;s Yossi Gozlan <a href="https://hoopshype.com/lists/bulls-offseason-preview-zach-lavines-free-agency-nikola-vucevic-extension-more/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">points out</a> that an extension for Vooch could make sense this offseason.
If that happens, perhaps Chicago just looks for a complementary shot-blocker who can play behind Vucevic like one of the free agents we mentioned above or more of a minor trade target such as New York&rsquo;s Nerlens Noel or Minnesota&rsquo;s Jarred Vanderbilt.
It&rsquo;s also worth noting that the Bulls have a $5,000,000 trade exception that expires on July 7, 2022, from their Daniel Theis deal.
DRAFT
The Bulls have the No. 18 pick in the 2022 NBA Draft. In BasketballNews.com's <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2022 NBA Mock Draft</a>, our senior NBA Draft analyst Matt Babcock has Chicago selecting Ohio State forward <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft/2022-nba-mock-draft/players/ej-liddell" target="_blank" rel="noopener">EJ Liddell</a>.&nbsp;
The 6-foot-7, 21-year-old junior is a well-rounded, NBA-ready player who makes sense for a Bulls team that wants to win now. Last season, Liddell averaged 19.4 points, 7.9 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 2.6 blocks, 1.4 threes and 0.6 steals, while shooting 49.0% from the field, 37.4% from three and 76.5% from the free-throw line.
&ldquo;Although he is a bit undersized for the position, the Buckeyes often used Liddell as a 4 or 5 in their lineups,&rdquo; Babcock noted in his scouting breakdown. &ldquo;He is physical and versatile on both ends of the floor, scoring both inside and out. He appears more comfortable in the mid-range and paint, which works well for his college system but raises questions in regards to his translatability to the NBA. Liddell filled up the box score and played with great effort and toughness. He has certainly carved out a spot for himself in the 2022 NBA Draft.&rdquo;
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Other players who are projected to be available in that range are G League Ignite wing <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft/2022-nba-mock-draft/players/marjon-beauchamp" target="_blank" rel="noopener">MarJon Beauchamp</a>, Baylor forward <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft/2022-nba-mock-draft/players/kendall-brown" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kendall Brown</a>, LSU forward <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft/2022-nba-mock-draft/players/tari-eason" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tari Eason</a>, Notre Dame guard <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft/2022-nba-mock-draft/players/blake-wesley" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Blake Wesley</a>, G League Ignite guard <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft/2022-nba-mock-draft/players/jaden-hardy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jaden Hardy</a>, Serbian forward <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft/2022-nba-mock-draft/players/nikola-jovic" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nikola Jovic</a> and Tennessee guard <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft/2022-nba-mock-draft/players/kennedy-chandler" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kennedy Chandler</a>.&nbsp;
If the Bulls aren&rsquo;t interested in any of these prospects, or if Karni&scaron;ovas and Eversley continue to be aggressive on the trade market, Chicago could look to deal the No. 18 pick as part of a win-now move.
It&rsquo;s worth noting that Chicago must forfeit their next-available second-round pick after an NBA investigation revealed that they contacted Ball prior to the start of the NBA&rsquo;s free-agency period. As it stands, the Bulls&rsquo; next-available pick is the team&rsquo;s 2026 second-rounder, but Chicago can&rsquo;t acquire a second-round pick before then because they&rsquo;d have to forfeit it.
***
After a few rough years, the Bulls seem to be back on the right trajectory, and there&rsquo;s no question that this team has the talent to be a perennial playoff squad in the East. Winning 46 games despite trying to get so many new players acclimated is impressive, especially when you factor in the injuries to Ball, Caruso, Williams, etc.
Even if the Bulls bring back largely the same roster, they will benefit from that continuity and improved chemistry. However, given what we&rsquo;ve seen from this front office in recent years, don&rsquo;t be surprised if they look to wheel-and-deal in order to take the roster to the next level.

After winning 46 games and losing in the first round, where will the Bulls go from here? Alex Kennedy previews Chicago's summer.

2022 NBA offseason preview: What's next for the Chicago Bulls?

The Utah Jazz&rsquo;s 2021-22 season is officially over. The Jazz believed they were a championship contender, but this marks another season ending in disappointment and heartbreak. Now, looking ahead at what&rsquo;s to come in Salt Lake City, massive changes seem to be on the horizon. Whether it be Donovan Mitchell or Rudy Gobert on the move, something&rsquo;s gotta give. Other veterans such as Mike Conley and Bojan Bogdanovic could be on the move too.
While our Bryan Fonseca recently broke down <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/examining-potential-trade-desinations-for-donovan-mitchell-2022" target="_blank" rel="noopener">possible trade destinations for Mitchell</a>, it's seems likely that the Jazz will try to appease their young star shooting guard. Gordon Hayward already broke Utah&rsquo;s heart a few years ago when he left in free agency. If Mitchell requested a trade, it would send shockwaves throughout Utah. Unlike Hayward, Mitchell has star power that transcends Utah and he could potentially lead the team to heights they haven&rsquo;t reached since the 1990s with John Stockton and Karl Malone.
If the Jazz have to move their homegrown three-time Defensive Player of the Year in order to keep Mitchell, I'm almost certain it would happen. It&rsquo;s an unfortunate twist of fate for Gobert, but leaving the Jazz&rsquo;s system might be the best thing for him so he can truly blossom into a true two-way presence.
As seen throughout Utah's first-round series against the Dallas Mavericks, Gobert was ignored or simply used as a decoy more often than not. If Gobert is used on a more consistent basis in a different environment, who knows what he could accomplish as one of the NBA&rsquo;s premier lob threats?
Gobert hitting the trade market would result in a feeding frenzy around the Association. Whether it be title contenders or rebuilding teams who feel close to a massive leap, Gobert could be viewed as the missing piece to the puzzle.
Without further ado, let&rsquo;s dive into five realistic destinations for a Gobert blockbuster deal this offseason.
Chicago Bulls
Chicago knows they&rsquo;re in desperate need of a defensive jolt. Adding Lonzo Ball and Alex Caruso in the backcourt already brought a new identity to the Bulls, who were seemingly allergic to defense before their arrival. Myles Turner has been mentioned as a possible target for Chicago, but the Indiana Pacers are <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/despite-trade-talks-the-pacers-want-to-keep-myles-turner-longterm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reportedly</a> expected to keep him long-term. Why not swing for the fences with Gobert? Acquiring the 29-year-old would be a crown-jewel moment for the organization.&nbsp;
Imagine the possibilities for Chicago with Gobert patrolling the paint with Ball and Caruso hawking the perimeter. It&rsquo;s the perfect complement to offensive dynamos Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan. Chicago&rsquo;s new starting lineup of Ball, Caruso, LaVine, DeRozan and Gobert would seemingly have no holes in it from a two-way perspective.
I absolutely love this idea for Chicago, and they should be blowing up the Jazz&rsquo;s phone this summer if it seems plausible.
Jazz receive: Nikola Vucevic, Patrick Williams, Coby White, draft compensation
Bulls receive: Rudy Gobert
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New York Knicks
The Knicks are bound to blow it up one way or another soon enough. Julius Randle feels like <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/five-nba-players-who-feel-destined-to-be-traded-this-offseason" target="_blank" rel="noopener">one of the most obvious trade candidates</a> to potentially hit the market this offseason. If the Knicks are done with Randle, could they parlay him and other young pieces to acquire Gobert? While <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/examining-potential-trade-desinations-for-donovan-mitchell-2022" target="_blank" rel="noopener">New York would love to land Mitchell</a>, the Knicks should seriously explore a Gobert trade since the organization needs some sort of game-changing move.
The 2022-23 season feels like a make-or-break year for the current Knicks regime. Head coach Tom Thibodeau&rsquo;s seat is red-hot, plus the Knicks&rsquo; front office has to be itching to make some sort of move to change course from a stale build.
Gobert&rsquo;s arrival would signal New York is ready to finally ascend the Eastern Conference standings. Sure, Gobert isn&rsquo;t a true &ldquo;superstar,&rdquo; but he&rsquo;s far and away the most impactful player the Knicks could realistically reel in this offseason. Gobert being the adult in the room for an accelerated rebuild in the Big Apple is a fun scenario, especially as it provides a high-floor outcome immediately.
New York&rsquo;s current roster has ample flexibility to turn it all over again by 2023. If the Knicks clear out all of their contracts with team options and expiring deals, sans the young core, they will have a max slot open for the loaded 2023 free-agent class. Would Gobert and RJ Barrett be able to sell a star on New York? If Barrett takes the leap forward that many expect, that&rsquo;s a fun big/wing duo to build around long-term.
Utah will likely want at least another young asset or two in return as part of this projected blockbuster, but the framework is strong enough to build off it.
Jazz receive: Julius Randle, Alec Burks, Quentin Grimes, draft compensation
Knicks receive: Rudy Gobert
Atlanta Hawks
Want to find the perfect fit for Gobert outside of Utah? The Hawks are the ideal destination for Gobert, who would be able to shine outside of the Jazz&rsquo;s system. Trae Young pick-and-rolls with Gobert would simply be unfair to try to guard, and it would help insulate their star point guard in a better situation.
Atlanta also has the right amount of assets to make this compelling for Utah to pull the trigger. Whether it be John Collins or Bogdan Bogdanovic, either one could be the centerpiece to a Gobert deal. Also, Atlanta has an upcoming expiring salary in Danilo Gallinari with only $5 million guaranteed on his contract. If you throw together Collins, Gallinari and future draft compensation, it could be enough for the Jazz to take negotiations more seriously. Clint Capela could also be re-routed to another team to free up further cap flexibility as well.
For Atlanta, they are ready to win right now with Young leading the way. With Young, Kevin Huerter, De&rsquo;Andre Hunter, Onyeka Okongwu and Jalen Johnson, they have a young core that's ready to take the next step. Gobert brings a star piece to an organization that has the urgency to compete right now in the East, and they'll want to bounce back after how they crashed and burned to end their 2021-22 season. Also, the Hawks had the NBA's 26th-ranked defense this season (allowing 112.1 points per 100 possessions), so adding a three-time Defensive Player of the Year could be just what they need.
It wouldn&rsquo;t be a surprise to see a player of Young&rsquo;s caliber push for Gobert to join him in Atlanta too. With all the trade rumors swirling around Collins since he signed a five-year extension, this deal makes a lot of sense for both sides to explore further.
Jazz receive: John Collins, Danilo Gallinari, future draft compensation
Hawks receive: Rudy Gobert
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Golden State Warriors
Smoke is already forming around this possibility, if the Jazz indeed decide to blow it up in a few months. For the Warriors, it&rsquo;s an all-in move to create another dynasty in the final prime years of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green. With so much young talent climbing the ladder in the reloaded Western Conference, the time is now for the Warriors to make a splashy move to keep themselves atop the standings.
This will be the last time the Warriors can explore potential deals revolving around Andrew Wiggins&rsquo; bloated salary as well. Next season, Wiggins will be on an expiring contract making $33.6 million. With Wiggins, Golden State can immediately enter the conversation for Gobert while also having some intriguing young pieces that could appeal to Utah.
Jonathan Kuminga is likely off limits from the Warriors&rsquo; perspective, flashing real two-way potential throughout this season. However, what about a combination of Moses Moody and James Wiseman? Instantly, Utah can replenish their young core with two immediate contributors to place alongside Mitchell long-term. Throw in some future draft picks and the Jazz might be the ones who are ready to press &ldquo;accept&rdquo; on this hypothetical trade.
Golden State&rsquo;s new-age lineup of dominance would simply be unfair. Take a look at the Warriors&rsquo; projected lineup with Gobert: Curry, Jordan Poole, Thompson, Green and Gobert. With all of the versatility on display here, it could vault Golden State into a different stratosphere entirely.
Jazz receive: Andrew Wiggins, James Wiseman, Moses Moody, future draft compensation
Warriors receive: Rudy Gobert, Rudy Gay
Detroit Pistons
Here&rsquo;s a surprise team that could become very aggressive in the Gobert sweepstakes if the chips fall their way this offseason. No. 1 overall pick Cade Cunningham flashed superstar potential for the Pistons during his rookie campaign, especially after the All-Star break.
If the Pistons get lottery luck once more with a top pick in this year&rsquo;s draft, could they decide to push some chips into the middle of the table for Gobert? Imagine if the Pistons had a trio of Cunningham, Gobert and a top prospect (Jabari Smith or Paolo Banchero?) to build around for the next five-plus years.
For the Pistons, acquiring stars via the draft or trades is the only realistic route to obtaining a game-changing talent. We already saw it on display with their former regime when they traded for Blake Griffin, which led to little progress long-term. Unlike Griffin, Gobert actually fits into the organization's long-term calculus.
From the Jazz&rsquo;s perspective, they would be asking for a heavy return from a team like Detroit. We&rsquo;re talking two key pieces to their core as well as veteran wing Jerami Grant. Would the Pistons feel comfortable moving Saddiq Bey and Isaiah Stewart for Gobert? That may be Utah's asking price.
Jazz receive: Jerami Grant, Saddiq Bey, Isaiah Stewart, Kelly Olynyk, future draft compensation
Pistons receive: Rudy Gobert, Nickeil Alexander-Walker
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Entering a pivotal offseason, will the Utah Jazz blow it up? If so, which teams make sense as a landing spot for Rudy Gobert?

Examining potential trade destinations for Rudy Gobert

TORONTO (AP) &mdash; Joel Embiid had 33 points and 10 rebounds, James Harden added 22 points and 15 assists and the Philadelphia 76ers beat the Toronto Raptors 132-97 in Game 6 to end the first-round series Thursday night.
Philadelphia will face Miami in the second round. The top-seeded Heat beat Atlanta in five games.
Tyrese Maxey scored 25 points, going 5 for 12 from 3-point range, and Tobias Harris had 19 points and 11 rebounds, to help the 76ers finish off the Raptors with a blowout after losing the past two games.
Danny Green scored 12 points and shot 4 for 7 from 3-point range as the Sixers finished 16 for 40 from beyond the arc. The Raptors struggled from 3-point range, going 7 for 35.
Chris Boucher had 25 points and 10 rebounds for Toronto, Pascal Siakam fouled out with 24 points, Gary Trent Jr. had 19 and Scottie Barnes 18. Toronto lost in the first round for the first time since being swept by Washington in 2015.
Toronto played without all-star guard Fred VanVleet. He missed his second straight game because of a strained left hip flexor.
Toronto&rsquo;s Precious Achiuwa had 17 points in Game 5 but didn&rsquo;t score Thursday until making a free throw in the fourth quarter. Achiuwa drove for a dunk at the end of the third but the basket was waved off because it came after the buzzer. He shot 1 for 7 and scored three points.
Toronto trailed 70-67 after Siakam made a hook shot with 9:42 left in the third, but Maxey hit three 3-pointers as the 76ers broke the game open with a 17-0 run over the next four-plus minutes, opening an 87-67 lead with 5:20 left in the quarter.
Raptors coach Nick Nurse called timeout after Harden connected from distance with 3:52 left in the third, putting the Sixers up 92-70. Philadelphia took a 99-78 lead to the fourth.
PLAYING VILLAIN
After being called for a foul in the third quarter, Embiid responded to vulgar chants from the fans by cupping his hands around his ears. He did the same while heading to the bench for a fourth quarter timeout.
Boos rained down after Embiid dunked in the fourth, then ran down the court with his arms raised in the airplane celebration he used against Toronto in the 2019 playoffs.
SHOT CHART
Toronto made seven of its first eight field-goal attempts, then missed its next 10. The Raptors shot 12 for 17 in the first quarter, making 5 of 19 after their hot start.
TIP-INS
76ers: Coach Doc Rivers was called for a technical foul in the fourth for arguing that Harden had been fouled on a three-point basket. &hellip; Embiid went 9 for 10 at the free throw line, while Harden was 6 for 6.
Raptors: Siakam had seven of Toronto&rsquo;s 15 assists. &hellip; Former Raptors guard Cory Joseph attended the game.

Joel Embiid and the Philadelphia 76ers finished off the Toronto Raptors Thursday night, winning their first-round series.

Embiid scores 33 points, 76ers finish off Raptors in Game 6

Giannis Antetokounmpo had 33 points and nine rebounds and the defending NBA champion Milwaukee Bucks routed the Chicago Bulls 116-100 on Wednesday night to finish off the first-round series in five games.
The third-seeded Bucks advanced to face second-seeded Boston in the Eastern Conference semifinals, with Game 1 on Sunday in Boston. The Celtics swept Brooklyn.
After splitting the first two games, the Bucks won the last three by an average margin of 23.3 points. They won those three games without Khris Middleton, the All-Star who sprained the medial collateral ligament in his left knee during the fourth quarter of Game 2.
Chicago didn&rsquo;t handle the loss of key players quite as well. The Bulls played without the starting backcourt they used for the first four games because two-time All-Star Zach LaVine was in health and safety protocols and Alex Caruso was in concussion protocol.
The absences enabled Milwaukee&rsquo;s defense to focus much of its attention on containing DeMar DeRozan, who had scored 41 points in the Bulls&rsquo; Game 2 victory. DeRozan was held to 11 points Wednesday while shooting 5 of 10.
Antetokounmpo led the way for the Bucks by shooting 11 of 15 from the floor and 11 of 14 from the free-throw line. Pat Connaughton hit 6 of 9 3-pointes and scored 20 points, and Bobby Portis added 14 points and career-high 17 rebounds. The Bucks&rsquo; largest lead was 29.
Patrick Williams scored 23 points, Nikola Vucevic 19 and Coby White 17 for the Bulls. Vucevic also had 16 rebounds and six assists.
DeRozan was scoreless in the first 26 minutes of the game and attempted just one shot in the first quarter as he tried to get his teammates involved.
The problem was Chicago&rsquo;s other players weren&rsquo;t hitting open shots, allowing the Bucks to take command early.
Milwaukee pulled ahead for good 3 1/2 minutes into the game and built a double-digit lead by scoring 12 straight points in the first quarter. Late in the first period, the Bucks began a 23-2 run that helped them extend the advantage to 49-20 with 7:25 left in the second period. Antetokounmpo scored nine straight Bucks points during that second spurt.
Chicago outscored the Bucks 22-11 the rest of the second quarter and got the margin down to 11 on Ayo Dosunmu&rsquo;s 3-point play with 9:32 left in the third quarter, but Milwaukee&rsquo;s Bobby Portis hit a pair of corner 3-pointers 36 seconds apart to make it 72-55.
TIP-INS
Bulls: The Bulls attempted 52 shots from 3-point range and only 40 from inside the arc. Chicago made just 28.8% of its 3-point shots. ... The Bulls haven&rsquo;t advanced beyond the first round of the playoffs since 2015, when they beat the Bucks before losing to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the East semifinals. &hellip; With LaVine and Caruso unavailable, Javonte Green and Dosunmu made their first career playoff starts.
Bucks: Reserve guard George Hill still hasn&rsquo;t played in this postseason due to an abdominal strain. Hill had been listed as questionable the injury report Wednesday before getting ruled out, an indication he&rsquo;s getting closer to a return. Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer said before the game that Hill is &ldquo;making progress&rdquo; but added that &ldquo;he needs more time.&rdquo; ... The Bucks have won 20 of their last 22 meetings with the Bulls. ... Jrue Holiday had 10 points and nine assists but also committed six turnovers.

Giannis Antetokounmpo had 33 points and 9 rebounds and the defending NBA champion Bucks routed the Bulls to advance.

Bucks rout Bulls 116-100 in Game 5, advance to face Celtics

Back injuries are incredibly common in professional sports, particularly in the NBA. But just because they&rsquo;re common does not make them easy to overcome &mdash; and Ben Simmons can attest to that.
Simmons is a big, dynamic playmaker whose defensive versatility and speed set him apart from the vast majority of guards in the NBA. And, right or not, the Brooklyn Nets were relying on Simmons to contribute in their first-round playoff series against the Boston Celtics.
After a number of reports suggested a Simmons comeback was imminent, we now know that was not meant to be.
The media didn&rsquo;t help, as rumblings surfaced that Simmons was pain-free following a practice and could return to the team as early as Game 3. Simmons didn&rsquo;t help his case either, and at one point beckoned to ESPN's Nick Friedell to film him <a href="https://twitter.com/YahooSports/status/1515377280129806340?s=20&amp;t=dhtvXHosNXvt8FuOZ4T1kg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">dunking the basketball</a> after a recent practice.
We don&rsquo;t necessarily know why Simmons didn&rsquo;t play in the Nets&rsquo; first-round series. Maybe he suffered a setback, or maybe he wasn&rsquo;t as healthy as we were led to believe. Per The Athletic's Shams Charania, his mental health <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/shams-ben-simmons-did-not-return-because-of-mental-block" target="_blank" rel="noopener">was also a major factor</a>.
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But while reports about his potential availability misled many of us, <a href="https://rahulshahmd.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dr. Rahul Shah</a>, a world renowned, board-certified orthopedic spine surgeon, cautioned against getting too excited from the very start.
&ldquo;Simmons received a shot a few weeks ago,&rdquo; Dr. Shah told BasketballNews.com in a Zoom interview in late March. &ldquo;If you&rsquo;re not seeing him practice, warming up with the team, 3-on-3s &mdash; if he&rsquo;s not doing that, you can be pretty certain he&rsquo;s not getting the relief he needs.&rdquo;
We last saw Simmons on the floor in the 2021 Eastern Conference semifinals, but he sat out of this season's training camp in hopes of pressuring the Philadelphia 76ers to trade him. The Sixers didn&rsquo;t relent... at least not quickly.
Simmons' hold-out cost him 54 games (and approximately $20 million, over which he filed a grievance in early April), and on Feb. 10, he was finally traded to Brooklyn.
As mentioned earlier, Simmons dealt with mental-health issues for the entirety of the 2021-22 season and possibly longer. It was initially <a href="https://twitter.com/ramonashelburne/status/1491841027153412096?s=20&amp;t=johir1tYZUwQ_s5HLqg4-Q" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported by ESPN&rsquo;s Ramona Shelburne</a> that Simmons &ldquo;will continue to work with his therapist to get mentally ready to play in Brooklyn.&rdquo; But there was no mention of a back injury &mdash; at least not initially.
One of the main challenges in understanding where Simmons was in his recovery as of a week ago was that the injury wasn&rsquo;t proactively reported. Even Nets head coach Steve Nash seemed unclear on his status for much of the time following the trade.
Nash referred to Simmons&rsquo; back injury as &ldquo;a little soreness&rdquo; in late February. In mid-March, he had &ldquo;extremely high hopes&rdquo; that Simmons would return in the regular season. But in late March, Nash finally conceded that &ldquo;someone&rdquo; had reported that Simmons had a herniated disc.
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Was Nash being intentionally coy? Or was he truly unaware of the extent of Simmons&rsquo; back issues?
It&rsquo;s worth mentioning that Simmons has a mostly uneventful injury history as it relates to his back. The most recent occurrence was when he missed nine games with a nerve impingement in February 2020, but there have been no reported complications since.
Something clearly happened between June 2021 and February 2022.
<a href="https://rahulshahmd.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dr. Shah</a> told BasketballNews.com that herniated discs typically require three-to-six months for a full recovery. Could Simmons have really injured his back after being traded? Or just before?
It&rsquo;s possible, but not relevant.
Regardless of when it happened, we can probably blame Simmons' hold-out for much of it. Training camp and the preseason are important to warm up for a relatively long season. Getting back into shape after skipping training camp and preseason and missing months of a season is nearly impossible &mdash; even for someone as athletic as Simmons.
Even worse, Simmons&rsquo; injury could have long-term implications for the Nets.
With Simmons having received an epidural shot in mid-March, Dr. Shah walked BasketballNews.com through the process and timeline of a typical recovery from a herniated disc.
&ldquo;Shots are one step before surgery, and that&rsquo;s why Simmons was having shots,&rdquo; Dr. Shah explained. "If that doesn&rsquo;t work, why not? It can be because it&rsquo;s the wrong problem, but it can also be that more has to be done. Typically, with surgery &mdash; when you go to that area &mdash; you identify where the disc is pressing on that nerve. You go in and basically trim down the area; you just remove a small portion. But if you&rsquo;re torquing on that area, there&rsquo;s a chance that more disc can come out.
&ldquo;So, you want to limit risk as much as you can. You want to always take the least amount of risk, but sometimes it&rsquo;s not enough. This operation is very effective but there is a 5-to-15% chance of more disc coming out in the future.&rdquo;
Dr. Shah also explained that, while surgery is generally successful, the risk it presents leads many people to try rehab and shots first.
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&ldquo;People return to twice as many games and play for twice as long with the surgery than without it,&rdquo; Dr. Shah explained. &ldquo;But there is a risk with it. And that&rsquo;s why most people don&rsquo;t go with it immediately.
&ldquo;So, for Ben Simmons, the likelihood of him needing this kind of surgery is probably reasonable, maybe 60% or 70%. And the real question is, &lsquo;Can he return back and play at the highest level with the shot?&rsquo; If he can&rsquo;t, you have your answer.&rdquo;
While the Nets&rsquo; season is done, Simmons could have decisions to make that will directly impact his ability to play next season. Granted, Simmons&rsquo; mental health is at least equally important as his physical health, especially to him; but if Simmons&rsquo; is to be successful, his back must be healthy.
According to the Mayo Clinic, a diskectomy &mdash; a surgical procedure to remove the damaged portion of a herniated disk in your spine &mdash; requires at least 6-to-8 weeks of recovery time. For context, Dwight Howard was expected to miss <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-basketball-nba-was-howard/wizards-howard-says-hes-pain-free-after-surgery-idUSKCN1OI2K4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2-to-3 months</a> following a microdiscectomy in late 2018, and Mike Dunleavy was projected to miss <a href="https://www.si.com/nba/2015/09/25/chicago-bulls-mike-dunleavy-back-surgery-injury-update" target="_blank" rel="noopener">8-to-10 weeks</a> in 2015 following the same procedure.
Simmons and the Nets have about five months until the start of training camp. So, while he technically has some time, Simmons should make a decision regarding how he'll proceed sooner than later.
In a recent <a href="https://hoopshype.com/lists/nets-rumors-kyrie-irving-kevin-durant-ben-simmons-steve-nash-bruce-brown-nicolas-claxton/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">HoopsHype podcast with the Daily News' Kristian Winfield</a>, Mike Scotto said the Nets hope Simmons can guard an opposing team&rsquo;s best player on any given night, regardless of position. In other words, in a given (hypothetical) week, Simmons will be expected to guard the likes of LeBron James, Ja Morant, Luka Doncic, Giannis Antetokounmpo and more.
That is a very tall task for any player, but it&rsquo;s downright impossible if said player has a lingering injury &mdash; especially in his back. And given what was given up to get Simmons to Brooklyn (and the fact that most teams around the league want nothing to do with him at the moment), the Nets have to hope he'll bounce back to his old self.&nbsp;
It might seem crazy, but Ben Simmons is still only 25. He truly could have a decade or more left in the NBA. Hopefully he's able to overcome all of his challenges &mdash; physical and otherwise.
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Dr. Rahul Shah says there was a 60-70% chance that Ben Simmons needed back surgery in late March. Could the Nets have known?

Ben Simmons' Brooklyn no-show was more predictable than we thought

MILWAUKEE (AP) &mdash; Giannis Antetokounmpo had 27 points and 16 rebounds, and the defending champion Milwaukee Bucks recovered after blowing a 16-point lead to beat the Chicago Bulls 93-86 in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series Sunday.
Jrue Holiday sank a go-ahead 3-pointer with 5:03 left as part of an 8-0 run that gave the Bucks an 85-78 edge. The Bulls got the margin down to one but could never regain the lead, as Zach LaVine missed a potential tying 3-pointer from nearly 30 feet away with 29 seconds left.
The Bucks have won 17 of their last 18 meetings with the Bulls, including all five matchups this season. The Bulls&rsquo; lone victory during this stretch came in the 2020-21 regular-season finale when the Bucks rested all their starters.
Milwaukee kept that pattern going Sunday by holding Chicago to the lowest single-game point total of any Bucks opponent this season. But the Bucks also continued their habit of struggling in opening games of series.
The Bucks won last year&rsquo;s title despite dropping Game 1 in three of their four series. They had lost the opening game in five of their last six playoff series before Sunday, the exception coming when Khris Middleton hit a 3-pointer in the final second of overtime against the Miami Heat last season.
Brook Lopez scored 18 points, Holiday had 15, Khris Middleton had 11 and Bobby Portis added 10. Portis also had 12 rebounds.
Nikola Vucevic had 24 points and 17 rebounds for the Bulls, making their first playoff appearance in five years. LaVine had 18 points and 10 rebounds. DeMar DeRozan had 18 points, eight rebounds and six assists.
After the Bucks grabbed an early 32-16 lead and threatened to put this game out of reach early, the Bulls chipped away and finally pulled ahead by scoring 13 straight points late in the third quarter. Coby White scored the last five points of the run, including a 3-pointer that gave the Bulls their first lead at 67-64 with 3:11 left in the third.
White&rsquo;s layup made it 69-64, but the Bucks ended the third quarter with a 10-2 spurt to pull back ahead.
Vucevic&rsquo;s inside basket put Chicago back ahead 78-77 with 5:56 left. The Bucks regained the lead on Holiday&rsquo;s 3-pointer, which was just Milwaukee&rsquo;s second basket of the fourth quarter.
Lopez made it 83-78 with 4:34 left by converting a three-point play for his first points since the opening period. Holiday capped the 8-0 run by sinking a jumper with 3:58 remaining.
The Bulls cut the lead to 87-86 on Alex Caruso's layup with 1:36 left, but they wouldn&rsquo;t score again.
GOING BACK TO CHICAGO
With the two cities separated by only about 90 miles, the Bulls are heading back to Chicago after Game 1 before returning to Milwaukee for Wednesday&rsquo;s Game 2.
&ldquo;If we would have had to play Sunday-Tuesday, I think we would have definitely stayed here,&rdquo; Bulls coach Billy Donovan said before the game. &ldquo;But I think because we have two days, we have a chance to get home at a decent time, those guys can sleep in their own bed, practice tomorrow, practice Tuesday and then come back up.&rdquo;
TIP-INS
Bulls: Caruso was in the starting lineup. Caruso had started just 18 of the 41 regular-season games he played. ... The Bulls were missing assistant coaches Chris Fleming and Damian Cotter, who had tested positive for COVID-19. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re still in protocols right now with the league,&rdquo; Donovan said before the game. Donovan added that &ldquo;they have never really been in a situation where either one of them has felt bad at all, so that&rsquo;s been a positive.&rdquo;
Bucks: Reserve guard George Hill (abdominal strain) and reserve forward Jordan Nwora (back soreness) were unavailable for Sunday's game. Hill also was held out of the Bucks&rsquo; regular-season finale. ... This is the Bucks&rsquo; sixth straight playoff appearance, which matches their second-longest such streak. They reached the postseason 12 straight times from 1980-91.
UP NEXT
Game 2 is Wednesday in Milwaukee.

Giannis Antetokounmpo battled foul trouble to lead the Milwaukee Bucks to a Game 1 win over the Chicago Bulls.

Bucks bounce back after blowing big lead to beat Bulls 93-86

Jackson Frank breaks down the film and collaborates with Nekias Duncan and Mark Schindler to pick the 2021-22 All-NBA teams.

2021-22 All-NBA Teams: Praising this season's 15 best players

For a third of the NBA, summer break comes early.&nbsp;
Though 10 teams didn't make the playoffs, it's not all doom and gloom. Several NBA bottom-feeders took tangible steps forward in their rebuilding efforts, while others &mdash; well, they're not supposed to be here.
Every franchise enters the offseason with summer plans. As teams get eliminated from the postseason, I'll be rounding up every team's offseason outlook and posing one question they must answer over the summer. You'll see each squad's 2022 NBA Draft chest, plus their potential free agents, along with the central question.&nbsp;
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Let's get started!
DETROIT PISTONS 
Draft assets: First-round pick (14.0% chance at No. 1), Second-round pick (via Brooklyn)
Potential free agents:&nbsp;Marvin Bagley III (restricted), Cory Joseph (player option), Hamidou Diallo (team option), Frank Jackson (team option), Luka Garza (team option), Carsen Edwards (team option), Rodney McGruder 
Central question: How do the Pistons build an offense around Cade Cunningham?
This was a pretty solid season for Detroit as far as rebuilding efforts go. Cade Cunningham emerged as a Rookie of the Year front-runner and two-way centerpiece who has fans ecstatic about his ceiling. The Pistons finished a solid 10-14 after the All-Star break, and have shown flashes of an improving defense. They did still finish with the 28th-ranked offense, per Cleaning the Glass, and one of the worst shooting rates in the NBA.
Cunningham had to carry a ridiculous offensive load in the latter stages of the season. Detroit has the power to change that in 2022-23, starting with its high draft pick. Maybe Jabari Smith's lights-out scoring means he's an ideal secondary option? Perhaps Paolo Banchero thrives as an additional creator, or maybe Chet Holmgren makes sense as a finisher and spot-up threat? The fun part about Cunningham is that his versatility creates so many pathways for the Pistons in the draft &mdash; whether or not the ping pong balls fall their way.
Detroit wields a cap hold of approximately $28 million on Bagley, and once that lifts (either via a new contract or letting him walk), the Pistons should have a solid chunk of cap space to add to the supporting cast.
HOUSTON ROCKETS
Draft assets: First-round pick (14.0% chance at No. 1), better of Brooklyn/Miami first-round picks
Potential free agents: John Wall (player option), Dennis Schroder, Bruno Fernando (restricted), Jae'Sean Tate (team option), Anthony Lamb (qualifying offer), Trevelin Queen (qualifying offer)
Central question: How patient is the front office willing to be?
Houston's 2021 draft strategy of "draft talent, figure out the fit later" appears to be working out. Jalen Green demonstrated an Anthony Edwards-esque leap post-All-Star break, Alperen Sengun is already one of the NBA's best passing bigs, and guys like Josh Christopher and KJ Martin routinely hinted at upside. Houston gets another prime shot at a franchise cornerstone this draft cycle. We're approaching Stage 2 of the strategy, though: figuring out how the pieces fit.&nbsp;
The Rockets were one of two NBA teams with bottom-five ratings on offense and defense. They led the league in rim frequency and were fourth in three-point frequency, but posted mediocre shooting clips. Houston evokes memories of the rebuilding Nets, who played a similarly extreme brand of ball for a few years as the team slowly reshaped into a fun playoff squad. Does the front office have the foresight to let head coach Stephen Silas work things out with his roster of young guns?&nbsp;
INDIANA PACERS
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How is there a &ldquo;rebuild&rdquo; to afraid of if it isn&rsquo;t a rebuild? <a href="https://t.co/0pDD7E6Mss">pic.twitter.com/0pDD7E6Mss</a>
&mdash; Caitlin Cooper (@C2_Cooper) <a href="https://twitter.com/C2_Cooper/status/1512127632758001664?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 7, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Draft assets: First-round pick (10.5% chance at No. 1), First-round pick (if 15-30, via Cleveland), Second-round pick (via Houston), Second-round pick (via Phoenix)
Potential free agents: Ricky Rubio, T.J. Warren, Jalen Smith, Lance Stephenson, Nate Hinton (restricted), Oshae Brissett (team option)
Central question: How extreme is the incoming rebuild, and what veterans mesh with the future vision?
Notably unlisted among the potential free agents are Malcolm Brogdon, Myles Turner, Buddy Hield and T.J. McConnell. All range from solid starters to rotational complements, and 3 of the 4 (not Turner) will be 30 next season. The Pacers are clearly retooling, as evidenced by their trade-deadline fireworks and Tyrese Haliburton's subsequent high usage. They also have publicly flip-flopped regarding the direction of the team; see the above Tweet.
Indiana doesn't have the pure depth of talent to straddle the line. The Pacers can trade many of these talented players and build up a chest of draft picks and young pieces, or they can charge ahead, turn their picks into win-now players and hope Haliburton is ready for the playoff push. But a middle ground doesn't exist in an Eastern Conference where just about every team has solidified its direction.
LOS ANGELES LAKERS
Draft assets: None
Potential free agents: Russell Westbrook (player option), Kendrick Nunn (player option), Austin Reaves (team option), Stanley Johnson (team option), Carmelo Anthony, Avery Bradley, Wayne Ellington, Dwight Howard, Kent Bazemore, Malik Monk, D.J. Augustin, Wenyen Gabriel, Mason Jones (restricted)
Central question: What does team-building around two injury-prone superstars look like?
LeBron James <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/lebron-james-i-dont-have-a-cap-on-how-long-i-want-to-play" target="_blank" rel="noopener">turns 38 next season</a>, and has played 60-plus games just once in the past four seasons. Anthony Davis has now missed more than half the season in back-to-back years. Sure, the Lakers were a mess regardless of their stars' health, but going forward, is pursuing fits next to James and Davis even worthwhile if the two won't consistently be on the court?
With just three players under contract (the aforementioned stars, plus Talen Horton-Tucker), the Lakers enter another offseason of a roster overhaul. This time, I'd recommend almost entirely forgetting about James and Davis when building the squad and simply try to assemble units that make sense together.&nbsp;
NEW YORK KNICKS
Draft assets: First-round pick (2.5% chance at No. 1, could change based on Play-In results), Second-round pick via Boston and Charlotte (if 56-60)
Potential free agents: Mitchell Robinson, Ryan Arcidiacono 
Central question: What's going to happen with the veterans?
The top six moneymakers for the Knicks next season are all 27 or older, and I think many fans would say that out of the group, only Julius Randle should have started &mdash; and he seriously regressed this season. The young Knicks <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/explain-one-play-young-knicks-playing-chess" target="_blank" rel="noopener">clearly showed they're ready to take the mantle</a>.
So what happens with Randle, Evan Fournier, Derrick Rose, Alec Burks, Nerlens Noel and Kemba Walker? Is Tom Thibodeau prepared to reduce their (their meaning Burks specifically in this case) minutes and usage, will trades be coming, or will Madison Square Garden burn when Immanuel Quickley opens the season by playing 16 minutes off the bench? New York has drafted extremely well in recent seasons, but the ceiling of the young core is capped if these youngsters don't get a chance to prove themselves in meaningful situations.
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OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER 
Draft assets: First-round pick (12.5% chance at No. 1), First-round pick via Clippers, First-round pick via Phoenix, Second-round pick
Potential free agents: Derrick Favors (player option), Mike Muscala (team option), Lu Dort (team option), Isaiah Roby (team option), Melvin Frazier (restricted)
Central question: What is the pathway in the frontcourt?
I've stanned Sam Presti's team-building strategy for years now, and I still think it's on track for a serious payoff. Josh Giddey slots in somewhere on your All-Rookie ballot, and draft classmates Tre Mann, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl and Aaron Wiggins flashed rotation-caliber play as well. It is simply a joy to watch a random young player have a breakout game on any given night, and OKC has already shown the <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/the-oklahoma-city-thunders-emerging-defensive-identity" target="_blank" rel="noopener">early stages of a prominent defense</a>.
Next up: Capitalize on a draft loaded with intruiging frontcourt players. Banchero, Holmgren and Smith are obviously the best of the best. But even if the Thunder slide in the lottery, they could pounce on an athletic shot-blocker like Jalen Duren, or use one of their later picks on a center like Mark Williams. I'm just spit-balling, but the point is that OKC has plenty of chances to find its big-man anchor and further flesh out its core.
ORLANDO MAGIC
Draft assets: First-round pick (14.0% chance at No. 1), Second-round pick, Second-round pick via Indiana
Potential free agents: Gary Harris, Robin Lopez, Bol Bol (restricted), Ignas Brazdeikis (restricted), Admiral Schofield (restricted)
Central question: How do the offensive pieces fit together?
Orlando quietly logged a 17th-ranked defense this season, and an 11th-ranked unit since Feb. 1. A dismal offense ultimately doomed the Magic, who were riddled with inconsistent shotmaking and poor team efficiency marks throughout the half-court. We don't need to sound any player alarms; it takes time for young guards in particular to grasp the responsibilities of running NBA offenses.&nbsp;
But what if I told you Orlando has wielded bottom-10 offensive ratings every season for the last decade?&nbsp;
Change can start in the draft, again with some of the top offensive forward options like Banchero or Smith. Adding another ball-dominant guard in Jaden Ivey might be overkill, but AJ Griffin and Bennedict Mathurin feel like good wing fits at first glance. Spotrac estimates the Magic could have up to $30 million in practical cap space, leaving plenty of room for veteran players to accentuate the young talent.
PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
THE D IN DREW STANDS FOR DUNK DO NOT GOOGLE THIS <a href="https://t.co/2AojdAskYV">pic.twitter.com/2AojdAskYV</a>
&mdash; Portland Trail Blazers (@trailblazers) <a href="https://twitter.com/trailblazers/status/1508636734900166659?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 29, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Draft assets: First-round pick (9.0% chance at No. 1), First-round pick via New Orleans (if 5-14), Second-round pick, Second-round pick via Memphis
Potential free agents: Joe Ingles, Jusuf Nurkic, Ben McLemore, Anfernee Simons (restricted), CJ Elleby (restricted), Elijah Hughes (restricted), Keljin Blevins (restricted)
Central question: Is Portland actually trying to win "now" or win soon?
Some really great development happened for the Blazers during the "wash" portion of the season in the form of players like Trendon Watford, Keon Johnson and Drew Eubanks. Add them to Anfernee Simons, Nassir Little and the incomng draft picks, and Portland suddenly has... kind of a sneaky-deep prospect pool? There's real potential to mold this group into a rotation cast that gives Portland one of its deepest rosters in years.
That's why these <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/jerami-grant-trade-rumors-portland-is-still-the-frontrunner" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jerami Grant trade rumors concern me</a>. Giving up a possible lottery pick to try and piece together a short-term playoff team risks too much and keeps the Trail Blazers in the limbo they have lounged in for several years. Understandably, the franchise wants to build a contender while Damian Lillard is invested and in his prime. With some patience, Portland can without sacrificing sustainibility.
SACRAMENTO KINGS
Draft assets: First-round pick (7.5% chance at No. 1), Second-round pick, Second-round pick (via Chicago)
Potential free agents: Jeremy Lamb, Josh Jackson, Damian Jones, Donte DiVincenzo (restricted), Neemias Queta (restricted), Trey Lyles (team option)
Central question: How does Sacramento turn into a competitive NBA defense?
The Kings have trotted out lackluster defenses for as long as I can remember. In fact, they haven't ranked above 20th in Defensive Rating since 2005-06 &mdash; notably, the last time they made the playoffs.
And that didn't change under interim head coach Alvin Gentry. (Gentry will not return as head coach next season, but is <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/shams-alvin-gentry-no-longer-interim-coach-of-the-kings" target="_blank" rel="noopener">in talks for a front-office role</a>, per ESPN.) However, the on-paper roster actually shines some hope. Davion Mitchell made highlight reels out of his "Off-Night" defense. Justin Holiday is a solid individual defender, as is Harrison Barnes, and even De'Aaron Fox has his sporadic moments.&nbsp;
Can Sacramento find a head coach who turns a group of intriguing players with defensive potential into even an average squad? What draft and free agency options exist? Of course, the Kings would like to end their NBA-leading playoff drought. That'll come with changing the culture on defense.
WASHINGTON WIZARDS
Draft assets: First-round pick (2.5% chance at No. 1, depends on Play-In results), Second-round pick (via Dallas)
Potential free agents: Bradley Beal (player option), Thomas Bryant, Raul Neto, Tomas Satoransky, Anthony Gill (restricted), Cassius Winston (restricted)
Central question: What style of guard play is a feasible best fit?
Okay, so obviously the biggest question mark surrounds Bradley Beal's free agency. But from a conceptual standpoint, Washington has tried and failed over the past few seasons to find Beal's best-fitting partner in crime. John Wall, Russell Westbrook and Spencer Dinwiddie were each supposed to provide the downhill juice Beal lacks. The Wizards either did this at serious expense of another skill area (Wall, Westbrook), or it just didn't translate their at-rim ability (Dinwiddie). All battled injuries as well.
"I think we need bigger guards," <a href="https://www.nbcsports.com/washington/wizards/bradley-beal-outlines-what-wizards-need-build-contender" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Beal said in March</a>. "We need more guys that can get in the paint for us, more ball-handlers, more guys that can really create and get two feet in the paint, but also who can knock down threes."
I mean, Beal's needs make total sense. The problem is that every other basketball team on Earth also wants this type of guard.
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Ethan Fuller sets the offseason stage for each team that missed the NBA playoffs.

Summer plans for the NBA's 10 non-playoff teams

CHICAGO (AP) &mdash; The Charlotte Hornets looked like they had their sights set on something bigger while the Chicago Bulls delivered their worst effort in recent memory.
It added up to a game that got out of hand almost as soon as it started.
LaMelo Ball scored 24 points and Charlotte buried Chicago early in a 133-117 win on Friday night.
The Hornets tied Atlanta for ninth place in the Eastern Conference with one game left before the play-in tournament and secured their first winning season since 2015-16.
&ldquo;It's fantastic, for us to have a winning season this year,&rdquo; coach James Borrego said. &ldquo;There were a number of things that went against us. But we still have one to go and even more after that. ... I want us to stay hungry and stay aggressive.&rdquo;
Charlotte sure looked hungry and aggressive in this one, building a 79-51 halftime lead.
The Bulls had not allowed more than 78 points in a half this season. They trailed by 37 in the third quarter and came away with their fourth straight loss.
"I always try to be very uplifting and try to see the bright side," Zach LaVine said. &ldquo;But I&rsquo;m tired of talking. We say a lot of words and we say the right things. But we've got to figure it out. And we're not doing that, plain and simple. Everybody, top to bottom, coaching staff and everybody involved. We just have to do a better job. ... We can&rsquo;t let this happen. It&rsquo;s embarrassing."
Charlotte shot 60.5% and made 19 of 40 3-pointers, with Ball setting the tone. The All-Star point guard did all his scoring in the first half. He made 8 of 16 shots in the game, including 5 of 9 3-pointers, and finished with nine assists in 29 minutes.
Miles Bridges scored 20, and the Hornets snapped a five-game losing streak against Chicago.
BULLS STRUGGLE
The Bulls locked in the No. 6 seed in the East with what might be their most discouraging performance in coach Billy Donovan's two seasons. The crowd let the team hear it, too.
Donovan cited communication issues and put some of the blame on himself for the breakdowns on defense.
&ldquo;Some of the struggles that took place in the first quarter were things that we really tried to cover today at shootaround,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;To be quite honest with you, I didn't do a good enough job of creating maybe enough clarity for them on those situations. And I thought we had some blown coverages. We got hurt on some slip-outs. It was stuff that we knew that they were gonna do.&rdquo;
LaVine led the Bulls with 23 points. Coby White scored 19. DeMar DeRozan added 17 points. But coming off convincing losses to Miami, Milwaukee and Boston, the Bulls never put up a fight against Charlotte.
HOT HORNETS
They gave up uncontested shots at the rim and open 3-pointers, helping the Hornets get off to a blistering start.
Charlotte made its first 11 shots, including four 3-pointers, before Rozier missed badly from beyond the arc with 4:41 left in the first quarter.
Ball, meanwhile, hit his first five shots and buried three 3s before missing a driving finger roll in the final minute of the period. He made back-to-back 3s early in the second quarter to boost the lead to 50-32, and things didn&rsquo;t get better for the Bulls after that.
TIP-INS
Hornets: F Gordon Hayward (sore left foot) missed his third consecutive game, and coach James Borrego had no update on his status for the regular-season finale against Washington on Sunday or the play-in tournament. After missing 22 games with a sprained left ankle, Hayward returned to play 17 minutes against Philadelphia on Saturday. But he has since been sidelined. Hayward is averaging 15.9 points in 49 games.
Bulls: G Lonzo Ball (left knee surgery) will remain in Chicago for the remainder of the season as he rehabs his season-ending injury. Coach Billy Donovan said the plan, at least for now, does not call for more surgery. Ball&rsquo;s final game was Jan. 14, and he had surgery two weeks later. The Bulls hoped a recent 10-day shutdown in activities after he experienced discomfort would resolve the issue and allow him to return this season. But he felt pain again when he tried to ramp back up. The Bulls announced Wednesday he is out for the rest of the season. ... G Alex Caruso (bruised lower back) missed his second consecutive game, and Donovan wasn't sure if he will play in Sunday's regular-season finale at Minnesota.
UP NEXT
Hornets: Host Washington on Sunday.
Bulls: Visit Minnesota on Sunday.
&nbsp;

The Hornets beat the Bulls 133-117 and are tied for ninth place in the Eastern Conference with one game left before the play-in.

Ball scores 24, Hornets bury Bulls early in 133-117 win

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) &mdash; Backup center Olivier Sarr scored a career-high 24 points and Aleksej Pokuveski recorded his first career triple-double to lead the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 117-96 victory over the NBA-leading Phoenix Suns on Sunday night.
Sarr came off the bench to shoot 9 of 12 from the field, including 5 of 6 from 3-point range. The other 7-footer, Pokuveski, had 17 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds while playing point guard for the bulk of the game.
The Thunder put seven players in double figures and took advantage of the Suns' worst 3-point shooting effort of the season. Playing without scoring leader Devin Booker, Phoenix hit just 7 of 38 (18.4%) beyond the arc, well below its previous season low of 22% in a January win over Dallas.
Phoenix led by 12 in the first quarter, but the Thunder refused to go away, getting a halftime buzzer beater from Isaiah Roby to go into intermission down 53-52.
The Thunder got the opening points of the third quarter on a goaltending call on JaVale McGee to grab their first lead of the game and held it the rest of the way. Oklahoma City took an 11-point lead into the fourth quarter and doubled it to 22 before Phoenix emptied the bench in the final four minutes.
Mikal Bridges led Phoenix with 18 points. The Thunder outrebounded Phoenix 54-32 and hit 17 3-pointers.
TIP-INS
Thunder: Jeremiah Robinson-Earl is still on restricted minutes after coming back from a foot injury, but he is making the most of his time on the court. In 11 first-half minutes, he hit all four shots, including three 3-pointers, to lead the Thunder with 11 points and also grabbed three rebounds. He finished with 14 points and five rebounds in just 15 minutes.
Suns: Chris Paul got his usual rousing welcome from Thunder fans, who credit him for popularizing NBA basketball in the city when the-then New Orleans Hornets were relocated to Oklahoma City after Hurricane Katrina. Paul sent the fans a message with his game shoes which carried the message &ldquo;Thank You OKC!!&rdquo;
UP NEXT
Suns: Host the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday.
Thunder: Host Portland on Tuesday.

With Devin Booker sitting out, the Phoenix Suns drop a road game to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

With Booker resting, Sarr, Pokuveski lead Thunder past Suns

In today's NBA, we&rsquo;re seeing more and more second-generation players. Stephen Curry is probably the most notable example, but Jerami Grant, Jalen Brunson and Jaren Jackson, Jr. are also the sons of former NBA players. And there&rsquo;s a lot more of them out there.
Throughout the course of NBA history, there have been a lot of basketball dads, including some who were able to coach their sons. Doc Rivers coached his son, Austin, and George Karl coached against his son Coby.
However, there&rsquo;s something we&rsquo;ve never seen before, and that&rsquo;s a teammate dad.
During All-Star Weekend, LeBron James admitted that he wants to become the first dad to play alongside his son, Bronny, and I'm hoping that we can witness that.
LeBron teaming up with his son would be a completely different level of accomplishment. And yes, it would be an accomplishment.
As athletes (especially NBA players) trying to win championships, we know that there&rsquo;s only so much we can control. We can eat right, have the best habits and act as great teammates and good coaches. Winning is hard, succeeding is hard, and doing so for 20 years is damn-near impossible.
LeBron has done it, though.
A lot has to line up for that to potentially happen. LeBron is 37 years old and much closer to the end of his career than the beginning, but that&rsquo;s why this is an incredible accomplishment and why it&rsquo;s worth pursuing.
LeBron came into the league and fulfilled every expectation people ever had of him. He&rsquo;s been so good for so long that, even at this point in his career, any team in the league would want to have him. He&rsquo;s been so good for so long that he was able to have a son, help raise him into a young man and help put him in a pretty good situation, all while still being arguably the best player in the league.
For Bronny, the NBA is the goal, and it&rsquo;s not too far off.
If things continue to play out the way they have been, LeBron sharing an NBA floor with his son may actually be a reality one day. That&rsquo;s not something that anyone could have ever imagined being possible, probably not even LeBron himself.
I also am a very proud basketball dad. My son Jace is about Bronny&rsquo;s age, and as he&rsquo;s grown up, Jace and I have had plenty of competitions, teaching moments and conversations about the chase to be great. Some of my fond memories from coaching in Cleveland are flashbacks of Jace and Bronny as young kids playing pickup and doing their own shooting drills in our practice gym. They were more interested in playing and getting better than they were watching us, so much so that they would be in the practice gym even while we had games going on.
I know what it feels like to watch your son grow up and try to follow in your footsteps. I also know that, for our children, it&rsquo;s not easy.
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If you <a href="https://twitter.com/james_posey41" target="_blank" rel="noopener">follow me on social media</a>, you&rsquo;ve probably seen me retweeting things about Jace. Even though I want him to stay grounded, I also want him to know that I&rsquo;m his biggest supporter.
As a basketball dad, I have to walk a fine line between being my son&rsquo;s biggest motivator and his biggest critic. On one hand, as a former pro player, I feel like I can help to guide him and develop him, but on the other, I want him to understand that being a pro player's son is a bit of a burden that he&rsquo;ll carry whenever he laces up his sneakers.
When Bronny, Jace and other players' children walk on the court, they may as well be wearing a target on their back. There are young, hungry players out there who look at kids like Jace and Bronny as opportunities to get some shine. That&rsquo;s something they've got to be ready for.
At the same time, people are going to have high expectations for these young players, because if their dad played professionally, they'll be expected to have similar abilities. But not every kid can handle that, and a lot of them decide not to follow in their dad&rsquo;s footsteps for that exact reason.
So, yeah. Tough love.
To this day, Jace hasn&rsquo;t beaten me in a pickup game, and I&rsquo;m damn sure never going to take it easy on him because I know nobody else competing against him will. I want him to stay humble and realize that the work never stops, and that just because he&rsquo;s my son, it doesn&rsquo;t mean things will be handed to him. If anything, it means he&rsquo;s going to have to work that much harder.
Bronny's experience must be magnified by 1,000. To be honest, I can&rsquo;t even imagine what it must be like for him. Imagine being the son of the world&rsquo;s most famous basketball player. Imagine what it must be like for everyone out there to want to bust your ass so they can say they got the better of LeBron&rsquo;s son.
Jace faces that as my son, and there&rsquo;s really no comparison between LeBron and me.
Like I said, tough love.
When I watch Jace play, I try to make sure I never get too hyped up or too excited about the things he&rsquo;s able to do on the court because I want him to maintain his edge and never be satisfied. That&rsquo;s a challenge that we as basketball dads have &mdash; we&rsquo;re constantly coaching and criticizing but always trying to stay positive and encouraging.
Why am I even saying all of this? Because basketball dads, particularly those who played in the NBA, have a unique perspective. When Jace picked up a basketball at 4 years old and decided he wanted to shoot hoops like his daddy, I couldn&rsquo;t imagine being able to play with him as a pro. Part of that is because when Jace was born, I was about 10 years older than LeBron was when Bronny was born, but another part of it was that I just can&rsquo;t say I envisioned being able to have the will, desire and good fortune to last in the league for as long as it would have taken.
Truth be told, it was probably hard for LeBron to imagine that too, which is probably why this has only become a conversation in the very recent past. But, because &lsquo;Bron is still playing at such a high level, it feels like it&rsquo;s close. How can we not be intrigued?
As a dad, there&rsquo;s no better feeling than watching your child set a goal, commit to it and accomplish it. That&rsquo;s not just in the world of sports, but in all walks of life. But man, I remember seeing Greg Anthony shed tears when his son Cole Anthony was drafted by the Orlando Magic, and I know that every other NBA dad felt the same way when their sons made it. They all know what their kids had to go through to get to that moment.
I can&rsquo;t even begin to imagine what Bronny has had to overcome. I&rsquo;m pretty sure LeBron knows, just like LeBron knows what he&rsquo;s had to do to maintain his status as one of the top players in the league for so long. If the day comes where those two share an NBA court &mdash; and it&rsquo;s obviously no guarantee &mdash; they will share one of the most incredible accomplishments the league has ever seen.
I, for sure, am rooting for it to happen.
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LeBron James could someday play alongside his son, Bronny James. Fellow NBA dad James Posey is rooting for it to happen.

Why teaming up with Bronny could be LeBron’s greatest accomplishment

PHOENIX (AP) &mdash; As if the Phoenix Suns aren&rsquo;t strong enough already, Deandre Ayton is adding some dimensions to his game.
&ldquo;He is aggressive in the post. I didn&rsquo;t see a ton of finesse,&rdquo; Suns coach Monty Williams said after Ayton scored 20 points in the Suns&rsquo; 129-102 rout of the Chicago Bulls Friday night to move closer to clinching the NBA's best regular-season record this season.
&ldquo;I saw, &lsquo;I am getting to my spot and if you are not going to give me any resistance, I may go through you.&rsquo;"
Ayton was 8 of 11 from the field, continuing to make mid-range jumpers while also getting inside for easier shots. He also led the Suns with 12 rebounds.
At a franchise-best 57-14 through 71 games, the Suns moved nine games ahead of second-place Memphis with 11 games left. Memphis lost at Atlanta earlier Friday.
Devin Booker led Phoenix with 28 points. The Suns rolled despite being without two starters &mdash; point guard Chris Paul and forward Jae Crowder &mdash; and sixth man Cam Johnson, all out with injuries.
&ldquo;We don&rsquo;t want to be &lsquo;Chris and Book&rsquo; dimensional,&rdquo; Williams said. &ldquo;We want to be comfortable to go to other guys so that in those key moments it is not something new to them.&rdquo;
They certainly weren't Friday. Cameron Payne scored 15 points, Torrey Craig and Landry Shamet had 14 each, JaVale McGee 12 and Mikael Bridges 11.
DeMar DeRozan scored 19 points for Chicago, fifth in the Eastern Conference at 41-29. Nikola Vucevic added 16 points. Coby White had 14, Zach LaVine 12 and Tristan Thompson 11.
The Suns are 9-4 without Paul, out since the All-Star break with a fractured right thumb.
Craig started his second game in place of Crowder, and the forward came through with another strong performance. On Wednesday night at Houston, Craig scored 21 points on 8-of-8 shooting, including three 3-pointers, and had 14 rebounds.
&ldquo;To get the lead that we got and sustain it, then maintain it throughout the second half was pretty impressive,&rdquo; Craig said.
For the Bulls, it was more of the same. They lost their third in a row to fall to 2-6 in March. All the losses in the streak have been on the road, where Chicago is 16-19. After a home game on Monday, the Bulls play five straight on the road.
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to take anything away from Phoenix or teams we&rsquo;ve played against, but we&rsquo;ve got to be able to have a better response when shots aren&rsquo;t going in,&rdquo; Chicago coach Billy Donovan said. &ldquo;I thought some of the (Suns&rsquo;) offensive rebounds in the second quarter really hurt us, and then we started missing shots. We gotta develop a resilience when it&rsquo;s not going well.&rdquo;
DeRozan said the team is dealing with some new adversity after a solid season.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;re at that time of the year where nothing is a secret," he said. "We&rsquo;ve played great basketball and now teams are coming after us no matter who we play. Once we figure it out, we&rsquo;ll be fine.&rdquo;
The teams met on Feb. 7 in Chicago, with Booker scoring 38 points in a 127-124 Suns victory.
&ldquo;That is a really good team over there and we played really well,&rdquo; Booker said. &ldquo;We enjoy that matchup.&rdquo;
NUMBERS
The Suns (48.5%) and Bulls (48.2%) entered Friday as the top field-goal percentage teams in the NBA. The Suns bettered their season average, making 56% while the Bulls struggled and made just 41%.
IRISH PRIDE
Williams was busy preparing for his team&rsquo;s game, but he was able to keep track of Notre Dame&rsquo;s upset victory over Alabama in the NCAA tournament earlier Friday.
&ldquo;I saw a little before I left, and then I got a text telling me that they won,&rdquo; the former Irish forward said before the game. Williams played at Notre Dame from 1989-94. &ldquo;Coach (Mike) Brey has just changed our program. I hope he&rsquo;s there for another 20 years.&rdquo;
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a big win for us because it&rsquo;s hard to get those elite players to come to Notre Dame, because of other stuff. For him to do it in a year where this is not one of the years they&rsquo;ve been really really good is great."
INJURY UPDATE
Bulls: PF Patrick Williams could return to the Bulls next week, Donovan said. Williams has missed 65 games with a wrist injury that required surgery.
Williams is likely to play Sunday for the Bulls&rsquo; Windy City G-League team before he returns to the NBA.
Donovan also said the status of G Lonzo Ball (right knee) has not changed. Ball, out since Jan. 28, is in the middle of the original prognosis of six to eight weeks, but he has not been able to resume activities. Donovan said there is a chance he will not return before the regular season ends in three weeks.
Suns: Crowder (left groin soreness) is being brought along slowly. He also missed sat out Wednesday night at Houston. Johnson (right quad) has missed eight games.
NEXT
Bulls: Host Toronto on Monday night.
Suns: At Sacramento on Sunday.
___
More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Deandre Ayton scored 20 points as the Phoenix Suns rout the Chicago Bulls 129-102.

Suns rout Bulls, move closer to wrapping up top spot in NBA

Although some top-tier players who were expected to hit free agency this coming summer have already signed extensions, the 2022 NBA free-agent class will feature quite a few stars.
After <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/2022-nba-free-agency-preview-ranking-the-top-10-guards" target="_blank" rel="noopener">examining the best guards up for grabs in free agency</a>, let's rank the top free-agent forwards set to hit the open market this summer:
1. Miles Bridges &mdash; Charlotte Hornets &mdash; Restricted
Charlotte reportedly offered Miles Bridges a contract extension worth $60 million over four years this past summer, which was rejected. With Bridges exploding this season (averaging a career-high 20.0 points, 7.1 rebounds and 3.8 assists), the Hornets' front office likely regrets not upping that offer, as the stud power forward is now in line for a massive pay raise. He is one of only five players in the NBA this season to have knocked down at least 125 three-pointers while also averaging at least 20/7/3. The other five players are LeBron James, Luka Doncic, Jayson Tatum and Karl-Anthony Towns.
2. Luguentz Dort &mdash; Oklahoma City Thunder &mdash; Team Option
Lu Dort established himself as one of the league's elite young defenders early on in his career. This season, he has proven he is also capable of putting up points on the offensive end. Before undergoing season-ending shoulder surgery earlier this month, Dort was averaging 17.2 points, 4.2 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 2.5 made three-pointers. Over his final eight games, he averaged more than 23 points a night. The Thunder front office has an interesting decision to make. If OKC exercises its team option, Dort can become an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2023. However, he would be eligible for a four-year extension worth up to $58 million in that scenario. Dort would become a restricted free agent this July if the option is declined.&nbsp;
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3. Marvin Bagley III &mdash; Detroit Pistons &mdash; Restricted
A trade from Sacramento to Detroit has given Marvin Bagley a <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/can-marvin-bagley-iii-shed-the-bust-label-with-the-pistons" target="_blank" rel="noopener">much-needed opportunity to revive his career</a>. He has scored in double-digits in each of his last seven games for the Pistons, and is averaging 16.0 points (on 56.7% shooting), 7.3 rebounds and a steal during this current stretch. According to Evan Sidery of BasketballNews.com, "the most plausible scenario &mdash; unless Bagley is completely sold on his long-term fit in Detroit &mdash; is to sign a one-year qualifying offer to make him an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2023."
4. Robert Covington &mdash; Los Angeles Clippers &mdash; Unrestricted
Robert Covington, who is now on his fifth team in the past four years following the trade that sent him from Portland to Los Angeles, has seen his production decline in recent seasons. However, the 31-year-old RoCo is still capable of contributing on both ends of the floor due to his 3-and-D skill set.
5. Jae'Sean Tate &mdash; Houston Rockets &mdash; Team Option
<iframe title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tWSsNTmec5E" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Undrafted in 2020, Jae'Sean Tate earned his way onto the NBA's All-Rookie team last season by averaging 11.3 points, 5.3 boards, 2.5 dimes and 1.2 steals. Despite logging fewer minutes this season, Tate has increased his scoring (12.3 PPG), rebounding (5.5 RPG) and assist (3.0 APG) averages. The Rockets can retain Tate for the 2022-23 campaign by picking up a team option worth just $1.8 million.
6. Nicolas Batum &mdash; Los Angeles Clippers &mdash; Player Option
It seems as though Nic Batum has been around forever, but he's only 33 and has proven this season that he has plenty of treads left on his tires. Although his stats don't jump off the page, nearly everyone in the Clippers organization has raved about how much Batum brings to the table &mdash; both on the court and inside the locker room &mdash; as a respected leader. Los Angeles, playing without its two superstars in Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, has greatly exceeded expectations this season, and Batum, one of LA's most valuable all-around players, is a significant reason why. He'll have plenty of interested suitors this summer. Expect him to opt out and cash in.&nbsp;
7. Chris Boucher &mdash; Toronto Raptors &mdash; Unrestricted
Chris Boucher is in the second season of a two-year, $13.5 million pact he signed in 2020. After averaging 13.6 points and 6.7 rebounds per game in 2020-21, his production and efficiency have dipped in 2021-22. He shot 38.3% from downtown last season, but that number has fallen below 29% this year, as his scoring average has dropped to 9.1 points per contest. However, it's worth noting that Raps are allowing just 105.3 points per 100 possessions with Boucher on the floor, and that his Net Rating of plus-4.9 is tops on the team, just ahead of Pascal Siakam (plus-4.5).
8. Thaddeus Young &mdash; Toronto Raptors &mdash; Unrestricted
Thad Young played well for Chicago in 2020-21 (averaging 12.1 points, 6.2 rebounds and 1.1 steals in just 24 minutes a night), but had spent most of this current season in and out of the Spurs' rotation prior to being traded to Toronto in February. A consummate professional who's well respected around the league, Young should draw plenty of interest from contenders looking for a reliable vet to bring off the bench.&nbsp;
9. Joe Ingles &mdash; Portland Trail Blazers &mdash; Unrestricted
Unfortunately, in late January, Joe Ingles suffered a torn ACL in his left knee that ended his 2021-22 campaign. Over the past few seasons, he has been one of the league's more efficient long-range snipers (he averaged a career-high 12.1 points and 2.7 made three-pointers per game in 2020-21); however, the Aussie swingman will be 35 years old in October and working his way back from a major injury to boot. On the bright side, Ingles' game was never predicated on athleticism. He said last month he has "zero doubt" he'll be playing in the NBA again.
10. T.J. Warren &mdash; Indiana Pacers &mdash; Unrestricted
T.J. Warren was a beast in the Orlando Bubble at the end of the 2019-20 season, when he averaged 31.0 points, 6.3 boards and 3.7 made treys. That said, he played just four games last season, and hasn't set foot on an NBA court during the entire 2021-22 campaign. He'll have to provide medicals to any team interested, but he's still just 28 years old. Some team will likely roll the dice on a one-year, make-good contract in hopes of Warren resurrecting his career.&nbsp;
Best of the Rest:
Otto Porter, Kyle Anderson, P.J. Tucker, Derrick Jones Jr., Carmelo Anthony, Hamidou Diallo (team option), Al-Farouq Aminu, Andre Iguodala, Taurean Prince, Blake Griffin, Caleb Martin, Jeff Green, Juan Toscano-Anderson, Cody Martin
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Tommy Beer ranks the top forwards who could be available as a part of the 2022 NBA free-agent class.

2022 NBA Free Agency Preview: Ranking the top-10 forwards

We're in the midst of a ridiculous scoring explosion.
Since the All-Star break, there have been 26 instances of a player scoring at least 40 points. Twenty different players have achieved the feat, ranging from superstars like Giannis Antetokounmpo, stars like Darius Garland, quality starters like Gary Trent Jr., gap-fillers like Josh Hart and bench assassins like Jordan Clarkson.&nbsp;
If the single-game excursions don't do it for you, consider that 11 players are averaging north of 30 points since the break. Only three pulled it off during the 2019-20 season &mdash; the infamous Orlando Bubble year &mdash; and that's the high mark of the past decade. We'll see what happens as the post-break sample grows, but we're in rare air right now.
The list of 11 is filled with single-name guys: LeBron, Jokic, Embiid, Giannis and Trae to point out a few. But then you get towards the bottom, and you see a pair of Kentucky Wildcats.
There's De'Aaron Fox, who is 11th in scoring (30.4 points per game) while dishing out nearly 8 assists per contest. His turbo-charged attacks &mdash; both on the ball or flowing into handoffs and cuts alongside his shiny new All-Star Domantas Sabonis &mdash; <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/deaaron-fox-is-blossoming-alongside-domantas-sabonis-but-whats-next-for-the-kings" target="_blank" rel="noopener">have been fruitful</a>. It helps that the jumper (38.6% from three on 5.7 attempts) is falling right now.
And then, right above him on the list is Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who is quietly averaging 30.6 points over his last 10 games.
He isn't just getting buckets, but he's doing it efficiently. His 62.9% True Shooting percentage is one of the best marks in the league among high-usage players. The impressive part is that the bulk of his success has come in the interior.
Frankly, there's no driver in the league like SGA. There are numbers to quantify that; he's averaging the <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/players/drives/?Season=2021-22&amp;SeasonType=Regular%20Season&amp;SeasonSegment=Post%20All-Star&amp;sort=DRIVE_PTS&amp;dir=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fourth-most drives</a> since the break (22.9), ranks second in drive scoring (13.9) and is the only player converting more than half of his drive-based shots (51.5%) while attempting at least 10 of them per game.
While we're at it, here are how some notable names are faring on <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/players/shots-general/?Season=2021-22&amp;SeasonType=Regular%20Season&amp;SeasonSegment=Post%20All-Star&amp;sort=FG2A&amp;dir=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">two-point shots</a> since the All-Star break:
<ul>
<li>Brandon Ingram: 63.6% on 15.4 attempts</li>
<li>Giannis Antetokounmpo: 61.3% on 15.2 attempts</li>
<li>Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: 57.6% on 15.8 attempts</li>
<li>Ja Morant: 51.2% on 18.4 attempts</li>
<li>Joel Embiid: 45.9% on 15.0 attempts</li>
</ul>
Truly, you have to watch him. Despite having sub-elite burst, a sub-elite handle and a middling vertical pop, SGA consistently gets to his spots. Factor in his supporting cast (read: general lack of spacing), and his numbers become nonsensical. He simply shouldn't be this efficient within his context, but he's good enough to make it work.
He is a beacon of flexibility and deceleration. His ability to vary his stride length &mdash; some steps are quick and choppy, others are longer &mdash; is top-tier stuff. Gaining leverage is the name of the game, and SGA stops-and-slithers his way into it on a majority of his drives.
Defenders are rarely at risk of being blown by in a traditional sense, but they can never catch up to him. More accurately, they can never match his timing.
Take this play, for example.
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Cody Martin doesn't do anything wrong here. He's squarly in front of SGA when the drive starts. Even with SGA attacking his front foot, Martin is never out of position ... until the second step on the gather.
That second step is longer and more powerful than the first, allowing SGA to gain a little bit of an advantage when gliding through the air. That turns this:
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Into this:
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Watching SGA duck under defenders is a hidden joy. You don't have to be Allen Iverson-fast if you can get your shoulder into a guy's chest.&nbsp;
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Martin reaches in space, but SGA counters with a behind-the-back dribble. With Martin upright, SGA crosses back to his left&nbsp;and sinks low&nbsp;to create the early advantage.
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He now <a href="https://twitter.com/NekiasNBA/status/1503721522053238785?s=20&amp;t=0mgvyxKROeC9qeB3tz4COw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">has Montrezl Harrell (Micro Shaq???) on a patch of land</a>. He's able to get lower than him, too, then catch Harrell off guard with a Steve Nash-ian scoop. Harrell's barely off the ground by the time the shot's up.
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The gather timing is wild enough; SGA altering his level of explosion on the gather is some nasty stuff.
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Look at how silly he makes Mason Plumlee look. Plumlee goes with a full-blown vertical contest &mdash; typically the right thing to do! &mdash; but because SGA leads at 10% capacity, he's able to slide under Plumlee for an unbothered layup.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has seemingly found a hack early on in his career: the actual moves don't have to change much if you alter the timing enough to throw defenders off. The stop-and-start nature of his game keeps his enemies off-balance; his finishing moves deliver the final blow.
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Nekias Duncan breaks down the unique driving ability of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

Stop and start: Taking a drive with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander

We live in a star-horny society.
You could look to a number of things to prove this. Watch an ad for an upcoming NBA game that&rsquo;ll air on ESPN or ABC. They&rsquo;ve been repurposing the same song all year, and apparently have assigned Fat Joe to rhyme the names of the stars from said game.
&ldquo;Kyrie Irving, James Harden coming through in the clutch.&rdquo;
&ldquo;Steph Curry hittin' Klay in the cut.&rdquo;
The formula is always the same: highlight the stars, not the teams. Make it &ldquo;<a href="https://twitter.com/SmittyBeatz_/status/1467871495657504773" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Curry vs. Embiid</a>,&rdquo; then at the very end, change it to Warriors vs. 76ers. Or, in this case, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CZUo0M4pst9/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kyrie vs. Curry</a>, and Harden vs. Klay, before making it Nets vs. Warriors.
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Now, look to the Most Improved Player Award. CJ McCollum is the only Most Improved Player of the last 10 years to not become an All-Star, and he probably should&rsquo;ve been selected at least once.
Early on, what you&rsquo;d often see were players winning the MIP award because of increased counting stats, even when the counting stats only improved because their minutes did &mdash; and the players&rsquo; per-36 stats remained eerily similar. Apologies to Don MacLean and the 24-win Washington Bullets of 1994.
Other times, the award would just go to top draft picks who developed as many already expected they would, regardless of how their team performed. Looking at you, Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf and Pervis Ellison, respectfully. Though, sometimes, they absolutely nailed it, like with Dale Ellis in 1987, Tracy McGrady in 2001, Jermaine O&rsquo;Neal in 2002 and Hedo T&uuml;rkoğlu in 2007.
In recent years, the award has become more of a star-crowning achievement that cements your arrival, no longer potentially rewarding a 30-year-old journeyman like Darrell Armstrong for finally putting it all together on <a href="https://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_1999.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">one of the league&rsquo;s best regular-season teams</a> of 1999. Or an out-of-nowhere revelation like Isaac Austin, who had left the NBA for Europe before coming back and winning the award in 1997.
This year, we&rsquo;re probably going to follow a similar star-making template. Ja Morant is expected to win the award despite being the No. 2 overall pick in 2019. Expect to see 2019 No. 5 overall pick Darius Garland right behind him.
Why is the award going to high draft picks who just develop as top selections are expected to, like Brandon Ingram two seasons ago? Players should be considered if they've made huge leaps and filled important roles on respectable teams. Right now, it feels like we're only rewarding players who make the jump from above-average starter to star.
So here, I&rsquo;ll highlight guys closer to that Austin, Armstrong, archetype, who really should get Most-Improved-Player consideration (even though they won't) instead of only the rising stars who dominate the category. Guys who proved they belong &mdash; they matter, too.
Caleb Martin, Miami Heat
Caleb Martin and his twin Cody had been teammates with the Charlotte Hornets over the last two seasons, and because they play the same position, one of them had to go. Out went Caleb.
Apparently, <a href="https://www.charlotteobserver.com/sports/charlotte-hornets/article258506473.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">thanks to J. Cole</a>, Caleb got a shot with the Miami Heat, and if you&rsquo;re an agent representing a fringe NBA player, that is where you&rsquo;d probably want your client to go.
Caleb&rsquo;s jumped from 5.0 points, 2.7 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 0.7 steals in 15.4 minutes per game in his last Charlotte season to 9.5 points, 4.0 rebounds, 1.1 assists and 1.0 steals in 23.1 minutes per game in Miami.
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Per-36 minutes, the scoring has improved from 11.6 to 14.9 points. The offensive rating has skyrocketed from 99 to 122. The defensive rating is down from 112 to 107. The previously non-existent shooting has gone from 38/25/64 splits to 52/40/76 from the field, three and free-throw line, with a true-shooting percentage at 61.8, up more than 15 percentage points from last season. He&rsquo;s also top-five on the Heat in both win shares (3.9) and win shares per 48 (.158).
In Miami, he&rsquo;s guarded some of the opposition&rsquo;s toughest assignments &mdash; yes, even with multiple Defensive-Player-of-the-Year candidates on his own team in Bam Adebayo and Jimmy Butler &mdash; and went from a two-way contract player to a rotation guy who simply has to get playoff minutes in order for the Eastern Conference&rsquo;s No. 1 team to be at their best from 1-through-9 this spring. He&rsquo;s had a massive impact, and a largely unforeseen one.
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Do me a favor and watch these late defensive possessions from Miami Take a look at one guy shifting the game through defensive impact His name is Caleb Martin <a href="https://t.co/NFRmelYcux">pic.twitter.com/NFRmelYcux</a>
&mdash; Brady Hawk (@BradyHawk305) <a href="https://twitter.com/BradyHawk305/status/1500323996201590788?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 6, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Javonte Green, Chicago Bulls
This list was made for someone like Javonte Green.
This dude, at 28, is the only Radford alum to play in the NBA for more than five career games, and they were the only school to offer him out of high school. After going undrafted, he played overseas, including at LEB Plata (Spain&rsquo;s third division after Liga ACB and LEB Oro) and Serie A2 Basket (Italy&rsquo;s second league after Lega Basket Serie A). After four seasons in Europe, he finally got to the NBA in 2019, and until this year, he had averaged just over 10 minutes through 89 games with the Boston Celtics and the Bulls, who acquired him just under a year ago.
This season, Green&rsquo;s up to 24.5 minutes per contest, with 36 starts in 48 games for the playoff-bound Bulls who currently sit at No. 4 in the Eastern Conference. His averages are up from 3.6 points and 1.7 rebounds to 7.6 points and 4.3 rebounds per game, with about a steal and half a block too. His shooting&rsquo;s up from 52/33/75 to 54/35/83, and although his per-36 stats are roughly the same, his offensive rating is way up from 118 to 131 (team-high), and his True Shooting percentage is a career-high .637. His .139 win shares per 48 minutes are second to only DeMar DeRozan in Chicago too.
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<a href="https://www.nbcsports.com/chicago/bulls/bulls-javonte-green-making-name-self-regardless-role" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Shout out to K.C. Johnson for the timely feature on Green</a> that went up Tuesday, in which I&rsquo;ll grab the following quote to support this agenda:
&ldquo;I know what I&rsquo;m on the team for and what I bring to the team," Green said. "I&rsquo;m going to continue to do that whether that&rsquo;s coming off the bench or starting. I&rsquo;m just here to do my job, be here for my teammates. Whatever they need me to do, I&rsquo;m going to do it regardless if I&rsquo;m starting or coming off the bench. It&rsquo;s not like I&rsquo;m mad about it or anything.&rdquo;
Green&rsquo;s the kind of guy that goes on your squad and instantly becomes a fan favorite, unless you only care about "hoooooperzzzzz."
Gary Payton II, Golden State Warriors
Gary Payton II&rsquo;s been in the league in some capacity since 2016, but has typically been a fringe, perimeter defensive specialist who didn&rsquo;t catch on anywhere aside from the Washington Wizards of 2019-20, with whom he started 17 of his 29 appearances. He was with Golden State last year, but only for 10 games; most of his season was spent in the G League, where he won Defensive Player of the Year.
His averages in those 10 Warrior games last season? 4.0 minutes, 2.5 points, 1.1 rebounds and 0.6 steals. This year? 17.1 minutes, 7.1 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1.4 steals. He&rsquo;s also shooting 61% from the field and 36% from three on nearly two attempts per game &mdash; his jumper&rsquo;s been a factor on him spinning his wheels prior to now.
He&rsquo;s one of the best defenders on the planet, which is something we got a whiff of in Washington, but it&rsquo;s really amplified thanks to his increased role in Golden State. A 102 defensive rating, for a guard in this era, is a rarity &mdash; it&rsquo;s first in the NBA among qualified backcourt players by three points.
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On the ball, he&rsquo;s one of the absolute best in the league to watch defensively, and should get All-Defensive consideration even in his limited role. Word to Triple H. He&rsquo;s. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzgtubZmjng">That. Damn. Good</a>.
Jarred Vanderbilt, Minnesota Timberwolves 
The only one of these guys to have actually been drafted, Jarred Vanderbilt is the rare developmental success story out of Minnesota. Selected No. 41 overall in 2018, Vanderbilt was originally in the Denver Nuggets&rsquo; system before he was included in a four-team deal two February&rsquo;s ago, landing him here.
From 2018 through 2020, Vanderbilt logged 4.1 minutes per game in just 28 NBA appearances. Last season, he became a rotation piece, though it was still on a typical Timberwolve team &mdash; one that finished 23-49 and 13th&nbsp;in the Western Conference.
He averaged 5.4 points, 5.8 rebounds, 1.0 steals and 0.7 blocks on 17.8 minutes per contest on 61% shooting. This season, he&rsquo;s up to 7.0 points, 8.8 rebounds, 1.4 steals, 0.7 blocks in 25.9 minutes per game on 59% shooting. His win shares are up from 3.1 to 5.4, and has been second on the T-Wolves (after Karl-Anthony Towns) for each of the last two seasons in win shares per 48 among players who&rsquo;ve logged 300 or more total minutes, improving to .164 from .132. This year, he has a 106 defensive rating too. Like GPII, that is primarily why he&rsquo;s here.
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Jarred Vanderbilt singlehandedly outrebounded the Lakers entire big man rotation, while teaming with KAT and Jaden to turn LeBron and Melo into potatoes The Wolves got up 20 (TWENTY) more shot attempts than LA while holding them to 38% shooting Vando. 1st. Team. All. Defense. <a href="https://t.co/oVjKFmu4hf">pic.twitter.com/oVjKFmu4hf</a>
&mdash; Key Sang (@Phantele_) <a href="https://twitter.com/Phantele_/status/1472191041575034880?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 18, 2021</a></blockquote>

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He&rsquo;s clearly been a large part of why the Timberwolves have played respectable defense, even as their top-three guys have been largely known for&hellip; well, not that. Patrick Beverley has come in to help, as well, and the <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/we-should-give-dangelo-russell-more-credit">T-Wolves are 37-29 and seventh&nbsp;out West</a>.
Vanderbilt might flirt with an All-Defensive Team selection this season, which wasn&rsquo;t something you could say last year.
Honorable Mentions 
Amir Coffey, Los Angeles Clippers
Grant Williams, Boston Celtics
Gabe Vincent, Miami Heat 
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Bryan Fonseca highlights four NBA players who deserve praise for improving, even though they won't receive any hardware.

Analyzing long-shot Most Improved Player candidates who deserve love

Although some top-tier players who were expected to hit free agency this coming summer have already signed extensions, the 2022 NBA free-agent class will feature quite a few stars.
In particular, the crop of guards up for grabs is quite impressive, which is where we will begin this three-part ranking series.
1. James Harden &mdash; Philadelphia 76ers &mdash; Player Option
James Harden holds a player option worth $47.4 million for the 2022-23 season, and it was reported that Harden would exercise it in conjunction with his trade from Brooklyn to Philadelphia. Although he hasn't done so yet, Harden has said he plans to. Over the summer, the maximum offer the Sixers can present to Harden is a pact that would pay him up north of $270 million over the next six years, which ESPN analyst Bobby Marks declared would be the "worst contract in NBA history." Here's a look at what Harden's annual salary would look like:
2022-23: $47.4 million 2023-24: $49.7 million 2024-25: $53.7 million&nbsp; 2025-26: $57.7 million 2026-27: $61.7 million&nbsp;
2. Zach LaVine &mdash; Chicago Bulls &mdash; Unrestricted
Zach LaVine bet on himself instead of signing a four-year, $105 million extension last offseason, and the gamble has most certainly paid off. He's averaging 24.6 points, 4.9 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 2.9 made three-pointers while shooting 40.0% from downtown and a career-high 85.7% from the free-throw line. Steph Curry is the only player in the NBA to match or exceed LaVine in those statistical categories this season. With LaVine playing at such a high level and the Bulls near the top of the Eastern Conference standings, Chicago is fully expected to offer him a max deal of five years at approximately $200 million. The most any other team can offer LaVine is around $160 million over four years.
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3. Bradley Beal &mdash; Washington Wizards &mdash; Player Option
The Wizards announced last month that Bradley Beal underwent surgery to repair a torn ligament in his left wrist. Prior to the injury, Beal's scoring average had dipped dramatically (from 31.3 points per game in 2020-21 to 23.2 this season), and he was shooting just 30.0% from downtown, but the three-time All-Star was averaging a career-high 6.6 assists. Beal's player option for the 2022-23 season is worth $36.4 million.
4. Kyrie Irving &mdash; Brooklyn Nets &mdash; Player Option
It's been a tumultuous season for both Kyrie Irving and the Nets. Kyrie's refusal to get vaccinated against COVID-19 &mdash; which resulted in him being banished from the team for the first half of the year before Brooklyn welcomed him back to play in road games &mdash; reportedly was an important factor in James Harden's decision to demand a trade. In the preseason, the Nets were heavy favorites to take home the title, but find themselves below .500 and in ninth place in the East. Brooklyn is just 1-9 in the last 10 games Irving has appeared in. Considering all the drama (and the reports that Irving would consider retirement if he was traded), it seems safe to assume Kyrie will remain in Brooklyn. But when it comes to Mr. Irving (who has a player option for the 2022&ndash;23 season worth $36,934,550), making assumptions often proves unwise. Stay tuned.&nbsp;
5. Anfernee Simons &mdash; Portland Trail Blazers &mdash; Restricted
It could be argued that Anfernee Simons has increased his value more than any player in the league over the last five months. After averaging a modest 7.8 points per game last season, Simons is pouring in 17.3 points per game in 2021-22, which represents the largest year-over-year increase in the NBA this season. And his numbers are even more impressive dating back to the start of the New Year, when he was permanently inserted into the starting lineup.
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38 points (9 threes), 3 rebounds, 3 assists in 40 minutes. If you're not taking notice of <a href="https://twitter.com/AnferneeSimons?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@anferneesimons</a> yet, you should be! <a href="https://t.co/5IPvZXFvyo">pic.twitter.com/5IPvZXFvyo</a>
&mdash; Portland Trail Blazers (@trailblazers) <a href="https://twitter.com/trailblazers/status/1500324039100755972?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 6, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Over the 27 games he's appeared in since the calendar flipped to January, the 22-year-old Simons is averaging 23.4 points, 5.8 assists, 2.7 rebounds and 4.4 made triples, while shooting 42.3% from downtown and 86.6% from the charity stripe. Simons leads the league in made three-pointers (119) in 2022. Yes, he's struggled on the defensive end, but one of the primary reasons the Blazers made multiple major moves before the deadline (trading away CJ McCollum, Norman Powell and Robert Covington) was to clear up cap space to sign Simons to a considerable extension this summer. They are not going to let him walk.
6. Jalen Brunson &mdash; Dallas Mavericks &mdash; Unrestricted
After two solid, if unspectacular, seasons to start his NBA career, Jalen Brunson took a significant step forward last season; he averaged 12.6 points, 3.8 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.2 treys in 25.7 minutes per game, while shooting 52.3% from the floor and 40.5% from downtown. The Villanova product has continued to improve in 2021-22, posting career-highs in points (16.2), assists (5.3) and rebounds (3.7) per contest. Brunson also showed he could shoulder increased responsibility by stepping in and stepping up when Luka Doncic missed 14 of Dallas' first 35 games this season. Jalen played the best basketball of his NBA career over an eight-game stretch in mid-to-late December, when he averaged 22.4 points and 7.9 dimes a night. This offseason, Brunson reportedly will be seeking a four-year, $80 million deal. The New York Knicks are among the teams expected to express serious interest.
7. Collin Sexton &mdash; Cleveland Cavaliers &mdash; Restricted
Collin Sexton injured his left knee in a game in early November, and an MRI revealed a torn meniscus. He had surgery a week later, sidelining him for the entirety of the 2021-22 campaign. It will be fascinating to see what offers he receives on the open market. Last season, Sexton averaged 24.3 points and 4.4 assists while shooting 47.5% from the floor, 37.5% from downtown and 81.5% from the free-throw line. However, he struggled defensively, and the Cavs registered a league-worst 60-159 record over the first three years of his career. With Sexton out of action this season, Cleveland is 10 games above .500. Because he is restricted, the Cavs can match any offer he receives this summer.&nbsp;
8. Malik Monk &mdash; Los Angeles Lakers &mdash; Unrestricted
Mailk Monk, the 11th overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft, failed to live up to expectations over the first four years of his career in Charlotte. He made just one career start as a member of the Hornets, and had averaged 9.1 points, 2.0 rebounds and 1.8 assists in 233 appearances while shooting below 34% from downtown. As a result, the Los Angeles Lakers were able to ink him to a one-year contract at the veteran minimum ($1.7 million) for this season. Surprisingly, Monk has established himself as one of the Lakers' most consistent and effective players. In the 23 games he's started for L.A., Monk has averaged 17.0 points, 4.0 rebounds, 3.3 assists while posting a True Shooting percentage of 58.8%. He will look to cash in with a significant pay raise in July.&nbsp;
9. Russell Westbrook &mdash; Los Angeles Lakers &mdash; Player Option
Besides Monk's unexpected success and the MVP-caliber performance of the ageless wonder that is LeBron James, the 2021-22 Lakers season has been an absolute nightmare. L.A. is eight games below .500 and desperately fighting just to make the Play-In Tournament. And Russell Westbrook is the player <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/russell-westbrook-opens-up-about-shaming-from-lakers-fans" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the public has pilloried and pinned the Lakers' failures on</a>. Russ has a player option for the 2022-23 season worth a whopping $47,063,478, so there is almost zero chance of him opting out. The Lakers will undoubtedly explore all possible trade scenarios this offseason.
10. John Wall &mdash; Houston Rockets &mdash; Player Option
John Wall showed flashes of his immense talent last season, when he averaged 20.6 points and 6.9 assists per game for the Rockets, but he hasn't set foot on an NBA court since April 2021. Wall will almost certainly exercise his player option for 2022-23 worth $47.4 million. At that point, he'll be on an expiring contract, which will make it far easier for Houston to move him.
Best of the Rest: Dennis Schroder, Patty Mills (player option), Kendrick Nunn (player option), Victor Oladipo, Gary Payton II, Gary Harris, Lonnie Walker IV (restricted), Tomas Satoransky, Ricky Rubio, Goran Dragic, Delon Wright, Lou Williams, Facundo Campazzo (restricted), Bruce Brown Jr., Donte DiVincenzo (restricted), Pat Connaughton (player option), Jeremy Lamb, Tyus Jones, Cory Joseph
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Tommy Beer ranks the top guards who could be available as part of the 2022 NBA free-agent class.