Ravens

Alex Kennedy goes 1-on-1 with Tyrese Haliburton, who opens up about getting traded, the Pacers' future, his offseason training, etc.

Tyrese Haliburton won’t let trade 'resentment' define new Pacers era

With the No. 4 pick in the 2021 NBA Draft, Toronto selected a player who fits the Raptors&rsquo; signature archetype: a versatile-and-eager project with a good work ethic, defensive intangibles and length.&nbsp;
At 6-foot 9, with a 7-foot-3 wingspan, Barnes provides myriad possibilities that excite Raptors head coach Nick Nurse.
&ldquo;He's a multi-faceted, multi-positional, two-way player... It's a great pick for us,&rdquo; Raptors head coach Nick Nurse said.
Barnes is now slated to become the latest &lsquo;jack-of-all-trades&rsquo; wing in the team&rsquo;s recent history. Nurse also appreciates the 19-year-old&rsquo;s infectious charisma.&nbsp;
"He really has a magnetic personality,&rdquo; Nurse said. &ldquo;He has a high-energy type of personality... He is a great communicator and has a passion for winning."
Over the last few weeks, the rumor mill was churning and leaks indicated that the Raptors had been taking a closer look at Barnes.&nbsp;
Jalen Suggs was the assumed choice at No. 4 on countless mock drafts, presenting as the most linear positional fit. Since recent rumblings suggest that Kyle Lowry&rsquo;s departure is almost inevitable, Suggs seemed to be the natural replacement guard with his two-way talent and history of embracing the spotlight in the tensest moments.
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Jalen Suggs' all-time game-winner against UCLA called by Gonzaga's IMG radio team of Tom Hudson and Adam Morrison (yes, that Adam Morrison): <a href="https://t.co/DBtqdFjenL">pic.twitter.com/DBtqdFjenL</a>
&mdash; Brian Fonseca (@briannnnf) <a href="https://twitter.com/briannnnf/status/1378553798411628545?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 4, 2021</a></blockquote>

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It&rsquo;s tempting to criticize Toronto for choosing to bypass what was seen as the consensus choice, but the organization&rsquo;s confidence in Barnes, coupled with their record for drafting overlooked gems, suggests his game will translate well into the league. 
Coach Nurse also cited a "combination of size, length, two-way [ability], possible potential down the road" as qualities that stood out about Barnes in comparison to his peers that were considered.&nbsp;
Again, textbook Raptor stuff.&nbsp;
Toronto entered Thursday&rsquo;s draft with their first top-five pick since selecting Jonas Valančiūnas at No. 5 in 2011. How they fell into possession of the fourth overall pick was a little untraditional. Following a disappointing start to the 2020-21 regular season, Toronto couldn&rsquo;t find footing, continuously struggling with obstacles that disrupted their season. There was their relocation to Tampa Bay, the COVID-19 outbreak that affected the bulk of players and coaches, and a series of unfortunate injuries sidelining a host of contributors.
Eventually, the team realized their year was unsalvageable, and the final month or so of Raptors basketball consisted of Stanley-Johnson-and-Yuta-Watanabe-led starting lineups &mdash; a complete shell of the dominant rotation we witnessed just a season before.&nbsp;
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
The Raptors were presented with a unique opportunity to <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-to-tank-or-not-to-tank-analyzing-the-toronto-raptors-present-and-future" target="_blank" rel="noopener">go all-in with the tank</a>. It's safe to say the team&rsquo;s end-of-season performance didn't accurately depict their ceiling or talent-level. The opportunity to land a top-five pick and welcome a special young talent into the fold &mdash; hopefully in the comfort of Scotiabank Arena, before the team&rsquo;s ravenous fans &mdash; was too good to pass up. Consider it a reset of sorts, to reinvigorate an organization that was going through the motions after repeatedly drawing the shortest end of the stick.
In <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/should-nba-teams-draft-for-fit-or-take-the-best-player-available" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a recent piece for BasketballNews.com</a>, we discussed the layers involved in drafting for the &ldquo;best fit&rdquo; vs. selecting the &ldquo;best player available&rdquo; and the approaches that teams use in what could be a franchise-altering night. A major component of each team&rsquo;s approach is intel, as our Matt Babcock noted. The word in scouting circles was that Barnes impressed at his workouts with the Raptors. And considering Toronto&rsquo;s thinness at the forward spot, it isn&rsquo;t shocking that they went with Barnes. The Florida State product is eager to improve under the supervision of Toronto&rsquo;s respected player-development staff.
&ldquo;If they feel like they need to fix something, I'm willing to work with them,&rdquo; Barnes told reporters shortly after being drafted. &ldquo;I'm willing to do whatever it takes to be the best player I can be."&nbsp;
With all of the boxes Barnes checks, a shot that needs work is probably a drop in the bucket to the Raptors, who have polished multiple players into serviceable (and even top-percentile) shooters over the last half-decade. Rookies are rarely ever finished products, and there seems to be enough upside in Barnes to make the risk worthwhile for the franchise.
Amidst the talk of whether the front office made the correct decision, Barnes doesn&rsquo;t hold a shred of doubt regarding his fate in the NBA.
&ldquo;I feel I can be the greatest player in the league," he said.
This jolt of confidence and joy might be exactly what Toronto needs after a season they&rsquo;re likely trying to forget.

Many mock drafts had the Raptors selecting Jalen Suggs at No. 4. Instead, Toronto chose Scottie Barnes. Was that the right call?

Was Scottie Barnes the right pick for the Toronto Raptors at No. 4?

Etan Thomas, Dave Zirin, Drew Gooden and Tony Massenburg discuss what John Wall meant to D.C. and Russell Westbrook's fit on the Wizards.

Etan Thomas, Drew Gooden, Tony Massenburg, Dave Zirin on Wall-Westbrook deal

The NBA&rsquo;s oldest coach. The NBA&rsquo;s newest superstar.
In an instant, the fortunes of the San Antonio Spurs changed in a big way.&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/wembanyama-draft-lottery-nba-b0692a8ee59c2235f2d4f4387266eab7">Victor Wembanyama</a>&nbsp;is on his way to the NBA, and the coaching wins leader in Gregg Popovich will be waiting for him.
The right combination of ping-pong balls &mdash; 14, 5, 8 and 2 were the winning ones &mdash; gave the Spurs victory in the draft lottery Tuesday night, meaning they&rsquo;ll have the No. 1 pick June 22. That means they&rsquo;ve won the Wembanyama sweepstakes, and that four years of losing in a way that had never before happened under Popovich has actually paid off.
Pop and Wemby. A 74-year-old wine connoisseur who is one of the best basketball coaches in the world, and a&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-sports-basketball-las-vegas-6f4ac3d44f624ef36ddb00e314cf0401">19-year-old supertalent</a>&nbsp;who hails from the land where some of the best wines are made.
The NBA has a new dynamic duo.
&ldquo;When you talk about generational talents, it&rsquo;s often times beyond just your ability to make a shot or your ability to jump or your ability to put the ball on the floor,&rdquo; Spurs general manager Brian Wright said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s all of the little details that go into being great, becoming great. And as we&rsquo;ve studied Victor, he is very in-depth with everything that he does, whether it&rsquo;s on the court, whether it&rsquo;s training, or things that he&rsquo;s into off the court.&rdquo;
If the&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/wemby-victor-wembanyama-nba-draft-f5be654cce544c675559bad526220a9e">7-foot-3 Wembanyama</a>&nbsp;brings his current warm-up routine to the NBA, it&rsquo;ll be like none other. He&rsquo;s barefoot on the court for probably a good 15 or 20 minutes, stretching and doing various other things to get his feet ready. There&rsquo;s also some very specific ballhandling and passing things that he likes to do. It&rsquo;s not just a few shots, few dunks, few 3-pointers and go play. There&rsquo;s a plan and a reason for everything.
Popovich will love that. He knows Wembanyama has been taught the right way; the kid spent last year playing for Spurs icon Tony Parker&rsquo;s franchise in France, and is spending this season getting coached by Vincent Collet. That&rsquo;s someone Popovich coached against with the U.S. at the 2019 World Cup and the Tokyo Olympics. Popovich raves about Collet, not hiding his respect level for him at all.
They&rsquo;ll talk before long about Wembanyama. That&rsquo;s certain. Pop will immerse himself into knowing everything that makes the kid tick, just so he knows how he&rsquo;ll react to every situation he&rsquo;ll face with the Spurs next season and beyond.
&ldquo;His ability to connect and spend time and bounce between the really detailed development of basketball players and the bigger picture of developing people is just so impressive,&rdquo; Spurs managing partner Peter J. Holt said. &ldquo;I think no matter what Pop does, he&rsquo;s going to find a way to do that because that&rsquo;s in his heart. And I&rsquo;m excited to see whatever the next phase is in that journey.&rdquo;
This is an embarrassment of lottery riches for the Spurs. Let&rsquo;s be clear: They&rsquo;re not giving this back. But winning the lottery in 1987 and landing David Robinson was big, then winning the lottery again in 1997 and landing Tim Duncan was bigger, and now comes Wembanyama.
It&rsquo;s big. How big, well, that story will get told in the coming years.
&ldquo;Now it becomes real,&rdquo; former NBA player Ian Mahinmi &mdash; one of more than 40 international players that Popovich has had during his tenure in San Antonio &mdash; said during the telecast of Wembanyama&rsquo;s French league game Tuesday. &ldquo;Now everything becomes real.&rdquo;
Popovich talked before the Spurs&rsquo; last game of the season about how, during his career, he has been the &ldquo;beneficiary of serendipity to a max degree.&rdquo;
He&rsquo;s not wrong. And more good fortune has come to San Antonio. The Spurs haven&rsquo;t won a playoff series since 2017 and went a combined 121-186 over the last four seasons.&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/wembanyama-nba-draft-spurs-ee1a9bd2232173666d3302bb491c7c5c">They basically lost more games</a>&nbsp;in the last four years than they did in the previous eight years combined.
The losing ends now, if Wembanyama has anything to say about it. He&rsquo;s coming to the NBA with eyes on becoming a superstar, an icon, a champion. And he&rsquo;s about to become the star of the latest &mdash; and perhaps final &mdash; phase of Popovich&rsquo;s career.
&ldquo;Today was a good day,&rdquo; Wembanyama tweeted after the lottery.
Popovich doesn&rsquo;t tweet, but he and everyone else in San Antonio surely felt the same way. After 60 losses this season, they got the win they wanted most.

The NBA’s oldest coach and newest phenom could become the league's newest dynamic duo.

Victor Wembanyama, Gregg Popovich will be NBA’s newest dynamic duo

Gregg Popovich placed his left thumb on the inside of his right wrist, paused for a couple of moments and then confirmed that, yes, he has a pulse.
It was also an indication when asked that yes, he is thinking about Victor Wembanyama.
There are very specific rules that teams must follow right now when it comes to mentioning the name of the 7-foot-3 French phenom with big-man height and elite guard skills who will be the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft. Essentially, since the 19-year-old is not officially in the draft yet, they can&rsquo;t mention him.
So they don&rsquo;t. And they don&rsquo;t have to, either. Everyone knows what the teams who&rsquo;ll be in the NBA lottery next month are hoping to have happen when those 14 ping-pong balls go into a hopper and determine the future for Wembanyama and the team that&rsquo;s lucky enough to draft him.
&ldquo;If I have a pulse and I&rsquo;m in basketball, I&rsquo;m probably going to think about the ping-pong balls or the lottery, I guess. I can do that, right? It&rsquo;s not against the rules,&rdquo; said Popovich, the San Antonio coach and all-time NBA wins leader. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t talk about any players or anything, I guess. But I&rsquo;m alive. I have ears, and I see TV. There&rsquo;s a lottery, yes. I&rsquo;ve thought about it. Duh.&rdquo;
&ldquo;Duh&rdquo; would also be the appropriate answer when the lottery winner gets asked what they&rsquo;ll do with the No. 1 pick. There is no debate. Wembanyama is the pick. A team that was really bad this season is probably going to get really good really fast.
They were woeful for Wemby. Now they&rsquo;re waiting for Wemby.
&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a freak,&rdquo; soon-to-be Hall of Fame inductee Dirk Nowitzki said. &ldquo;I mean, unbelievable. You always think you&rsquo;ve seen it all during your life and your career and history of the league, and then somebody else comes along. Kevin Durant comes along, a 7-foot-2 two-guard. Now we have a 7-foot-4 two-guard. &hellip; This kid is unbelievable.&rdquo;
Playing for the Boulogne-Levallois Metropolitans 92, Wembanyama leads the French league with averages of 21.3 points. 9.9 rebounds and 3.1 blocks. He makes going viral an everyday thing; his latest break-the-Internet moment was when he took a 3-pointer, missed it short, followed the shot and slammed it home in one motion, completely unbothered by the players who were in his way.
&ldquo;Yeah, I&rsquo;ve seen him,&rdquo; Houston forward Jabari Smith Jr. said. &ldquo;Yeah, he&rsquo;s a problem.&rdquo;
The teams with the three worst records this season &mdash; Detroit, Houston and San Antonio &mdash; have the best odds of winning the lottery, 14% apiece. Detroit got here by having its worst season in more than 40 years. Houston has now had back-to-back seasons of 60 losses. San Antonio had its third-worst season ever.
They were never in the playoff race, though never drew any public scorn from the NBA office for trying to tank with hopes of improving draft odds, either &mdash; unlike Dallas, which faces a league investigation now for giving up on its play-in tournament chances with two games remaining. The team that wins the lottery will say it was all worth it. The others will feel at least some pang of disappointment, whether they say it or not.
&ldquo;Talent-wise, I think he&rsquo;s something that we&rsquo;ve never seen before,&rdquo; said Tony Parker, the former Spurs guard who&rsquo;ll be going into the Hall of Fame later this year &mdash; and owned the team that Wembanyama played for in France last season.
It&rsquo;s not just Wembanyama who will be coveted at this draft, though he is far and away the top prospect. This shapes up as a loaded draft at the top with G League Ignite standout Scoot Henderson and Alabama&rsquo;s Brandon Miller expected to be the second and third picks in some order. It&rsquo;s conceivable that in any other year, they would be vying to be picked first.
&ldquo;Looks good to me,&rdquo; Indiana coach Rick Carlisle said of the top of the draft class. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what&rsquo;s legal or not legal to say. The very top of (the draft) is very impactful.&rdquo;
Most experts would agree that Henderson and Miller are more than consolation picks. Teams that lands one of them should also get better, and that&rsquo;s why no team is betting it all on the lottery.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not really worried about where the ball drops,&rdquo; Detroit general manager Troy Weaver said. &ldquo;Would I celebrate with everybody? Absolutely, but I don&rsquo;t walk around like that.&rdquo;
Wembanyama &mdash; who keeps a relatively low public profile, rarely doing even postgame interviews despite worldwide interest in his every move &mdash; knows he captured the league&rsquo;s attention long ago. LeBron James respectfully called him an alien last fall, Durant raves about Wembanyama&rsquo;s game and French center Rudy Gobert said he knew at least three years ago that the teenager would be an enormous star.
Even Giannis Antetokounmpo marvels at Wembanyama, predicting he could be &ldquo;one of the best to play this game.&rdquo;
&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got to get ready for this kid,&rdquo; Antetokounmpo said.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s cool to see Giannis saying this stuff,&rdquo; Wembanyama said when he sat down with the NBA&rsquo;s social media team a few weeks ago and was shown the clip of Antetokounmpo&rsquo;s comments. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s probably like my favorite player.&rdquo;
Paolo Banchero was the No. 1 pick last year. He entered the league with massive expectations and delivered; he&rsquo;s the frontrunner to win rookie of the year after a strong opening season with the Orlando Magic. And he knows what Wembanyama will go through &ndash; on some level, anyway.
&ldquo;His hype is a lot bigger than my hype,&rdquo; said Banchero, who led Duke to the Final Four in his only year in college. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s going to have it probably worse than I did, but I&rsquo;d tell him to just enjoy it. I&rsquo;m sure he&rsquo;s dreamed of this for a while and a lot comes with it, but it&rsquo;s also a lot that you gain from it, a lot of good things as well. I&rsquo;d tell him embrace it all and shoot, have fun. It&rsquo;s going to be a dream come true for him.&rdquo;
A dream come true for the lucky team, too. And answers start coming soon. The draft lottery is May 16, the same day that Wembanyama&rsquo;s French season is scheduled to end. The draft is June 22. Summer league starts in early July; anticipation of Wembanyama playing in Las Vegas again after two ballyhooed games there this past fall is already building. He intends to play in the Basketball World Cup for France starting in August. And then his rookie season starts in October.
For one team, all the losing this season will be quickly forgotten, based on how four ping-pong balls land.
&ldquo;This can be his league,&rdquo; Nowitzki said, &ldquo;for a long, long time.&rdquo;
___
AP Sports Writers Kristie Rieken in Houston, Schuyler Dixon in Dallas, Noah Trister in Washington, Larry Lage in Detroit and Michael Marot in Indianapolis, along with Associated Press Writer Raul Dominguez in San Antonio, contributed to this story.

Playing for the Metropolitans 92, Wembanyama leads the French league with averages of 21.3 points. 9.9 rebounds and 3.1 blocks.

The losing is done, and teams are now waiting for Wembanyama

DALLAS (AP) &mdash; Caitlin Clark overwhelmed the reigning champions with another sensational game, scoring 41 points to help Iowa spoil South Carolina&rsquo;s perfect season with a 77-73 victory on Friday night in the Final Four.
The spectacular junior guard set a record for the highest-scoring semifinal game and became the first women&rsquo;s player to post back-to-back 40-point games in the NCAA Tournament. She now has the Hawkeyes in a spot they&rsquo;ve never been in before &mdash; one victory away from a national championship.
They&rsquo;ll have to beat another SEC team to do that as Iowa (31-6) will face LSU in the title game on Sunday afternoon. The Tigers&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/womens-final-four-lsu-virginia-tech-march-madness-292680727b52d2e99d887b40667dbc59">beat Virginia Tech</a>&nbsp;in the other national semifinal.
It&rsquo;s the Tigers&rsquo; first appearance in the title game as well, as Kim Mulkey became the second coach to take two different teams to the championship game.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Caitlin Clark's NCAA Tournament so far: Rd. of 64: 26 PTS | 12 AST | 7 REB Rd. of 32: 22 PTS | 12 AST | 3 STL Sweet 16: 31 PTS | 8 AST | 3 REB Elite Eight: 41 PTS | 12 AST | 10 REB Final Four: 41 PTS | 8 AST | 6 REB ARE YOU SERIOUS 🤯 <a href="https://t.co/drWn36Z9nt">pic.twitter.com/drWn36Z9nt</a>
&mdash; BasketballNews.com (@basketbllnews) <a href="https://twitter.com/basketbllnews/status/1642014148169981957?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 1, 2023</a></blockquote>

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Thanks to the spectacular play of Clark and the historic year by South Carolina, this was one of the most talked about and highly anticipated matchups in women&rsquo;s Final Four history.
The game lived up to the hype surrounding it &mdash; the best player vs. the best team &mdash; much to the delight of the sellout crowd of over 19,000 fans.
Coach Dawn Staley and South Carolina (36-1) had won 42 in a row, including last year&rsquo;s championship game.
This was Iowa&rsquo;s first appearance in the Final Four in 30 years. The last time the Hawkeyes advanced this far was 1993 and C. Vivian Stringer was the coach of that team that lost to Ohio State in overtime.
Clark wowed the crowd that included Harper Stribe, a young fan of the team who has been battling cancer. She was featured in a surprise video that informed the Hawkeyes&rsquo; star that she was the AP Player of the Year.
Trailing 59-55 entering the fourth quarter, South Carolina scored the first five points to take the lead. Clark answered right back with two deep 3-pointers and an assist to Monika Czinano to give the Hawkeyes a 67-62 lead.
South Carolina got within 69-68 on Raven Johnson&rsquo;s 3-pointer before Clark got a steal for a layup with 3:32 left. Neither team scored again until star Aliyah Boston was fouled with 1:37 left. She made the second of two free throws.
Clark then scored another layup on the other end out of a timeout to make it a four-point game. After a layup by Zia Cooke made it a two-point game with 58 seconds left, the Hawkeyes ran the clock down with McKenna Warnock grabbing a huge offensive rebound off a Clark miss with 18 seconds remaining.
Clark hit two free throws after South Carolina fouled her with 13.5 seconds left. They were her 38th and 39th point, moving her past Nneka Ogwumike for the most points scored in a Final Four semifinal game.
After a putback by Johnson with 9.9 seconds left got the Gamecocks within 75-73, Clark sealed the game with two more free throws.
As the final seconds went off the clock, Clark threw the ball high in the air and galloped around the court.
The loss ended a spectacular season for the defending champion Gamecocks, who were trying to become the 10th team to go through a season unbeaten.
Cooke led the Gamecocks with 24 points. Slowed by foul trouble, Boston had just eight points and 10 rebounds as the Hawkeyes packed the paint, daring South Carolina to shoot from the outside.
The Gamecocks finished 4-for-20 from behind the 3-point line and couldn&rsquo;t take advantage of their 49-25 advantage on the boards that included 26 offensive rebounds.

Caitlin Clark had another sensational game with 41 points to lift Iowa over South Carolina 77-73 and into the national championship game.

Caitlin Clark, Iowa end South Carolina's perfect season in Final Four

HENDERSON, Nev. (AP) &mdash; Victor Wembanyama blocked a shot Thursday afternoon, ran to the other end of the court, went airborne from just inside the foul line, corralled an alley-oop pass with one hand and slammed home a dunk.
The entire sequence lasted eight seconds.
It may have been the signature moment &mdash; and there were a lot of candidates &mdash; from Wembanyama&rsquo;s two-game trip to the U.S., which ended Thursday with the French phenom&rsquo;s Metropolitans 92 team rallying from 16 points down to top the G League Ignite 112-106. He led the way, of course, with 36 points and 11 rebounds.
&ldquo;As a first impression of the American game, that was really great," Wembanyama said.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Victor Wembanyama followed up his 37-point game on Tuesday with an equally impressive 36-point double-double in a win! 🔥 <a href="https://twitter.com/vicw_32?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@vicw_32</a>: 36 PTS | 11 REB | 4 AST | 4 BLK <a href="https://t.co/M5dy1WpUPT">pic.twitter.com/M5dy1WpUPT</a>
&mdash; NBA (@NBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBA/status/1578143067370127362?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 6, 2022</a></blockquote>

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So was he.
His final numbers from two exhibitions: 73 points on 22-for-44 shooting, nine 3-pointers, 15 rebounds and nine blocked shots. He flies back to France on Saturday, and the next time he plays in the U.S. there likely will be an NBA logo on his jersey, presumably after he becomes the No. 1 pick in the 2023 NBA Draft.
&ldquo;It's very, very special for France," Metropolitans 92 coach Vincent Collet said. &ldquo;Not only for France. He has huge potential. He's a huge talent."
The reviews are in from this two-game Vegas residency for <a href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-sports-basketball-las-vegas-6f4ac3d44f624ef36ddb00e314cf0401">Wembanyama, who stands 7-foot-3</a> in bare feet, and they were of the raving variety. The best of the bunch may have come from Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James, who suggested that calling Wembanyama a unicorn might not fully indicate how unique he is.
Instead, James went with an out-of-this-world comparison.
&ldquo;Everybody&rsquo;s been a unicorn over the last few years, but he&rsquo;s more like an alien,&rdquo; James said. &ldquo;No one has ever seen anyone as tall as he is but as fluid and as graceful as he is out on the floor ... He&rsquo;s, for sure, a generational talent.&rdquo;
Added Golden State guard Stephen Curry: &ldquo;He&rsquo;s like the (NBA) 2K create-a-player, every point guard that wants to be 7-foot. Cheat-code type vibes, man. He&rsquo;s a solid talent. It's great to watch.&rdquo;
Sure enough, when Wembanyama&rsquo;s around, a viral moment can happen at any time. It might be a dunk. It might be a block. It might be a fadeaway 3-pointer from the corner while his momentum has him drifting toward the baseline. It might be a 28-foot 3-pointer from the wing. It might be him kicking a ball into a monitor and narrowly missing fellow French center Rudy Gobert.
Yes, all those things happened.
The scene: Gobert and fellow Minnesota Timberwolves standout D&rsquo;Angelo Russell, in town to play the Lakers in a preseason game later Thursday, decided to postpone their afternoon nap &mdash; a staple of the NBA gameday routine &mdash; and make the 20-minute ride from Las Vegas to watch the game, arriving at halftime.
Gobert made a quick appearance on the game&rsquo;s televised broadcast. Wembanyama, standing nearby, stuck one of his massive feet into the path of a pass by Ignite center Eric Mika. The ball ricocheted into the monitor near Gobert&rsquo;s seat, knocking it over.
Gobert laughed. Wembanyama raised his hand to apologize.
&ldquo;Hey, he played soccer too,&rdquo; Gobert said.
Gobert raves about Wembanyama, who almost certainly will be the first top-five draft pick from France. And he doesn&rsquo;t think there&rsquo;s any real comparison: Gobert said Wembanyama&rsquo;s defensive instincts remind him of himself, while his ballhandling and shooting remind him of Kevin Durant.
&ldquo;What strikes me the most about him is his maturity," Gobert said. &ldquo;Obviously, he's a very unique talent and he has a very unique physique. But his maturity and his confidence ... he's very unique."
Thursday&rsquo;s game had a bit of a scare, and the other top NBA draft headliner in this showcase got the worst of that moment.
Scoot Henderson, the guard whose 28 points led the Ignite to a 122-115 victory on Tuesday night in the exhibition opener, left Thursday&rsquo;s game after less than five minutes. The reason: He banged knees with Wembanyama.
Henderson switched onto Wembanyama, who was dribbling on the wing. Wembanyama made a move, collided into Henderson and tumbled to the court, looking initially like he got the worst of that exchange. But Henderson, who was called for a foul on the play, wound up limping off for evaluation and the Ignite quickly said he wouldn&rsquo;t be returning.
&ldquo;Scoot's fine," G League coach Jason Hart said. &ldquo;It was precautionary."
There are 31 games left on Metropolitans&rsquo; 34-game schedule in the French league, and the plan &mdash; as of now &mdash; is for Wembanyama to finish his season, which is slated to go through mid-May. The NBA Draft is June 22.
Bouna Ndiaye, one of Wembanyama&rsquo;s agents, said some NBA teams might not understand why he&rsquo;s playing. The reason, he says, is because nobody can get Wembanyama out of the gym.
&ldquo;He wants to live on the court,&rdquo; Ndiaye said.
What these two games showed, in many ways, was just that the tapes of Wembanyama that have been coming out of Europe over the last few years weren't lying. He needs to get stronger. There&rsquo;s much he can still polish. He is, by all accounts, exceptional already.
&ldquo;Just before we came in last Saturday, we had a meeting with our doctor and we are going to prepare to plan the next two months to increase what he is doing, besides the court, to strengthen the body,&rdquo; Collet said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re always careful also with how much time he is practicing, not to go too far. ... We plan so that we limit the risk.&rdquo;
When Thursday was over, when the comeback was complete, Wembanyama briefly lifted his arms skyward in celebration, then shook a lot of hands, partook in a lot of hugs and posed for a lot of pictures.
With that, the draft hype continued on.
&ldquo;I'm still excited and so happy about it," Wembanyama said. &ldquo;I know I'm so lucky to have this chance."
___
AP Sports Writer Janie McCauley in San Francisco contributed.

Wembanyama's final numbers from two exhibitions: 73 points on 22-for-44 shooting, 9 three-pointers, 15 rebounds and 9 blocked shots.

Victor Wembanyama's 2-game Las Vegas exhibition stay ends with win

Victor Wembanyama's two-game showcase against the G League Ignite couldn't have gone better, as he averaged 36.5 points, 7.5 rebounds and 4.5 blocks on a 64.8 True Shooting percentage.
Not only are NBA executives salivating at the thought of landing him with the No. 1 pick in the 2023 NBA Draft, he has also garnered the attention of the best players in the world.
Last night, <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/lebron-victor-wembanyama-is-a-generational-talent-and-an-alien" target="_blank" rel="noopener">LeBron James raved about Wembanyama's unique skill set</a>, saying that while the term "unicorn" has been overused, Victor is "more like an alien" and that he is "for sure a generational talent." On Thursday, Giannis Antetokounmpo also had some high praise for Wembanyama.
"I had the chance to watch him in play in 2021, a year ago, for the first time because my little brother, Kostas, played for ASVEL and they were teammates. And he's incredible, man," Antetokounmpo said while shaking his head. "I believe in 2045, everybody [in the NBA] is going to look like Victor! But his skills, the way he can shoot the ball, the way he can move, he's extremely fast for his size, he can block shots, he can be a threat on the defensive end &mdash; he's unbelievable. I believe it's only a matter of time until he's in the league. For him, the key is just to keep getting better, keep staying humble and stay healthy. With a body like that and a skill set like that, as long as he stays healthy, he's going to keep improving. And keep enjoying the game as much as he can.
"He has the chance to be one of the best &mdash; not in his age, not in Europe &mdash; but one of the best to ever play this game. We have never seen someone like that before. I think it's a good challenge for everybody in the league, to have somebody who's 7-foot-2 and is able to shoot over you and dribble like he's a guard and block shots and run down the floor fast. We gotta get ready for this kid, you know? He's going to be really good."
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"He's incredible man... We gotta get ready for this kid, he's going to be really good" Giannis on watching Victor Wembanyama play in 2021 <a href="https://t.co/zNH5hsWzwf">pic.twitter.com/zNH5hsWzwf</a>
&mdash; NBA (@NBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBA/status/1578125128541827072?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 6, 2022</a></blockquote>

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For more on Wembanyama's game and what NBA talent evaluators are saying about his showing in Nevada, <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/etah-thomas-washington-wizards-scout-laron-profit-raves-over-victor-wembanyama-scoot-henderson-2023-nba-draft-prospects-g-league-ignite-metropolitans-92" target="_blank" rel="noopener">check out what Washington Wizards scout Laron Profit had to say about the phenom</a>.

Giannis Antetokounmpo has high praise for Victor Wembanyama, saying he has a chance to be one of the best players ever.

Giannis: Wembanyama 'has a chance to be one of the best' players ever

Gonzaga&rsquo;s Chet Holmgren was wrapping up a multiday visit Friday with the Orlando Magic, who hold the No. 1 pick in next week&rsquo;s NBA draft.
A person with knowledge of Holmgren&rsquo;s visit said meetings, interviews and a dinner with team officials were all part of the process during his time with Orlando. The person spoke on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press because neither side publicly revealed specifics about the visit.
There are three players who are the clear frontrunners for the No. 1 pick; Holmgren, Auburn&rsquo;s Jabari Smith and Duke&rsquo;s Paolo Banchero. <a href="https://apnews.com/article/orlando-magic-nba-sports-basketball-37f5b4e51c1c0f27654f5085db1a5ba5">Smith worked out for the Magic last week.</a> Banchero expects to meet with the Magic in the coming days.
Smith also met this week with Oklahoma City, spending parts of Sunday, Monday and Tuesday with the team that holds the No. 2 pick in Thursday&rsquo;s draft. He worked out for the Thunder as well, and isn&rsquo;t planning any other workouts &mdash; meaning he won't work out for Houston, which holds the No. 3 selection.
Smith said he enjoyed the Thunder workout, but made no secret of his wish to be the No. 1 pick.
&ldquo;It would mean a lot to me,&rdquo; Smith told reporters. &ldquo;A lot of great players have went No. 1. It would mean the world to me.&rdquo;
Holmgren, Smith and Banchero have similarities. All are forwards, all at least 6-foot-10 (Holmgren is a 7-footer), and all played one year of college ball. Holmgren and Smith were second-team AP All-Americans this past season, Banchero a third-team selection.
The Magic taking a long look at Holmgren probably isn't a surprise to another past Orlando star player. Memphis coach Penny Hardaway &mdash; the No. 3 pick by Golden State in 1993, before getting traded to the Magic &mdash; said as the college season was winding down that he got to know Holmgren well during the recruiting process, even while realizing that he was heading to Gonzaga instead.
He raves about Holmgren's potential.
&ldquo;He&rsquo;s all about competing, he&rsquo;s about excellence, he&rsquo;s tough. ... I marvel," said Hardaway, who spent his first six NBA seasons with the Magic. &ldquo;You see a Kevin Garnett, handle the ball, shoot, make passes, and I&rsquo;ve always loved his game. He&rsquo;s just a terrific player. Every part of his game I love. He&rsquo;s just a winner."

Gonzaga’s Chet Holmgren was wrapping up a multiday visit Friday with the Magic, who hold the No. 1 pick in next week’s NBA Draft.

Chet Holmgren visits with Magic as No. 1 pick intrigue builds

The Minnesota Timberwolves are talking to Denver Nuggets president Tim Connelly about their vacant president of basketball operations role, The Associated Press has confirmed.
The talks were confirmed by a person familiar with the discussions, who spoke with AP on condition of anonymity because neither franchise is commenting publicly. The talks were first reported by The Athletic.
Connelly is one of the NBA's rising top executives. He has built the Nuggets into a perennial playoff team that is expected to compete for a championship next season if Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. can return to health and rejoin <a href="https://apnews.com/article/denver-nuggets-nba-sports-nikola-jokic-6b7dc34c311b6810ec67c76ee2208c2d">two-time reigning MVP Nikola Jokic</a> on the court.
Connelly, who succeeded Masai Ujiri as the Nuggets' prime decision-maker in 2013 when Ujiri left to run the Toronto Raptors, has been courted before, by the Washington Wizards for their president of basketball operations position in 2019.
He's built both a solid roster and a respected front office in Denver, where the Nuggets have reached the playoffs the last four seasons under coach Michael Malone, including the Western Conference Finals in the Orlando bubble two years ago.
They <a href="https://apnews.com/article/denver-nuggets-nba-sports-jamal-murray-nikola-jokic-98c0c6136a8c3b14423c54f889a09a5d">won 48 games</a> in 2021-22 despite the absences of Murray (knee) for the entire season and Porter (back) for all but nine games before losing to Golden State in the first round of the playoffs.
In addition to losing Ujiri, the Nuggets lost front office executive Arturas Karnisovas in 2020 when he left to take the Chicago Bulls' executive vice president job. Karnisovas' departure led to the promotion of Calvin Booth from assistant GM to general manager in Denver.
The <a href="https://apnews.com/article/minnesota-timberwolves-memphis-grizzlies-nba-sports-9d7a219a489c09c76fcd763eeed7041d">Timberwolves also are a resurgent team</a>, coming off a season in which they doubled their win total from the previous season to 46. They pushed the second-seeded Memphis Grizzlies hard in a six-game first-round playoff loss.
That was only the second appearance in the playoffs for the club in the last 18 years. With Karl-Anthony Towns inside and Anthony Edwards outside, there is an enviable foundation in place on the floor.
The Wolves have had plenty of turnover in the top front office job over the years, mirroring the franchise&rsquo;s tumultuous and largely unsuccessful history.
They fired Gersson Rosas right before training camp began last fall in response to mounting tension around him in the building. Sachin Gupta was promoted to be president of basketball operations in Rosas&rsquo; place, with the caveat that the position would be evaluated again this summer.
Gupta drew raves within the organization for his humble, steady leadership, notably from head coach Chris Finch. The franchise is currently in an ownership transition, with Glen Taylor in the process of handing over control to co-buyers Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez in a sale that&rsquo;s scheduled to be completed by the end of next year.
If the Wolves were to hire Connelly, or anyone from outside the organization, Gupta would more than likely be given the chance to stay with the team in a prominent position.
___
AP Sports Writer Dave Campbell contributed from Minneapolis.

The Timberwolves are talking to Nuggets president Tim Connelly about their vacant president of basketball operations role.

Report: Timberwolves in talks with Nuggets' Tim Connelly

Progression isn't linear.
Some players enter the league and almost immediately experience superstardom. Just look at what Luka Doncic is doing at just 23 years old, averaging 31.5 points, 10.1 rebounds, and 6.6 assists while <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/luka-doncic-enters-into-next-tier-of-nba-superstars-following-western-conference-semifinals-comeback" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ending the hopes and dreams of a 64-win Phoenix Suns team</a>. For other stars, the maturation process is one that takes time. Take a glance across the aisle at the Miami Heat with Jimmy Butler and Kyle Lowry, who didn't make their first All-Star teams until 25 and 28 years of age, respectively.
Even the way that superstars experience progression differs dramatically from player to player. Steph Curry made his leap by improving as a two-point scorer. Giannis Antetokounmpo found a way to exceed his lofty ceiling by tirelessly building out his body.
That brings us to Jayson Tatum, fresh off vanquishing the aforementioned Finals MVP and the Milwaukee Bucks in what was a thrilling seven-game series. Buttery smooth scoring has long been the calling card of Tatum's game, and he's made alterations to that skill set over the years, eschewing mid-range shots for increased attempts at the rim and a bevy of pull-up three-pointers. But for as great of a scorer as Tatum has been as Boston's lead option, it's a different aspect of his game that has allowed him to ascend to a higher plane in these playoffs.
Jayson Tatum has taken yet another leap as a passer.
Tatum's assist average has increased every single season of his five-year career, and it feels as if it's all coming together this postseason. Through 11 playoff games, Tatum is averaging 6.1 assists per contest, which is not only a career-high but also a massive jump from the 4.4 dimes he averaged a night in the regular season. Five of his 10 highest-assist games have come in the 2022 playoffs, and his 12.5 potential assists &mdash; which measures passes to a player who shoots within one dribble &mdash; and 1.0 secondary assists&nbsp; (a.k.a. hockey assists) per game both register as career-highs.
His performance in Game 7 emblematized just how far he's come as a playmaker. Tatum was by far the best player on the floor, despite having the third-most points (23) in the game behind Antetokounmpo (25) and Grant Williams (27). His growth as a teammate, as a leader and as a player who has learned he can't do it alone shone brightly on the biggest stage. He finished with 8 assists and embraced his role as Boston's floor general.
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Williams will forever be etched into Boston lore thanks to his game-high 27 points on 7 made threes, but that wouldn't have been possible without the selflessness of his MVP-caliber teammate.
Milwaukee has long prioritized protecting the paint at all costs and allowing three-pointers from less-threatening options, and Sunday's Game 7 was no exception. In order to do so, Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer matched Brook Lopez with Williams (and later Derrick White) and had Lopez pre-rotate into the painted area even if this meant conceding corner threes.
Initially, coach Bud's strategy appeared to be one of prudence, as Williams missed 5 of his first 7 three-point shots &mdash; 3 of which came off passes from Tatum. A younger Tatum might've looked elsewhere for assistance, or even pulled out his do-it-himself kit. The present-day Tatum, however, was unfazed by Williams' sluggish start. He instead trusted his teammate's work and continued to feed him a diet of pinpoint passes when Lopez shifted over, with his focus on finding the best possible shots &mdash; which just so happened to be open corner three-pointers for a 41% long-range shooter.
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&ldquo;Every shot he took tonight was a great shot. He took 22 shots and easily could have had 30. I feel like he passed up and was hesitant because he missed a couple in a row. And I think regardless, we just say to play the right way, make the right plays," Tatum said.
"If Grant took 10 open shots in a row, that&rsquo;s what we expect. If guys (are) hesitant and pass up open shots, it kind of (ruins) the rhythm that we play off. So we tell everybody, 'When you&rsquo;re open, shoot the ball.'&rdquo;
Tatum did more than just find the open man in the crevices of Milwaukee's defensive scheme; he also flashed his widely diverse and rapidly improving passing portfolio.
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He broke down defenders in isolation and got downhill, only to kick out to open teammates with gorgeous spinning dimes like the one above. One thing to note: Tatum is passing on 38.6% of drives, the highest downhill passing rate of his career.&nbsp;
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He exhibited patience and let the defense come to him, waiting for double-teams to converge only to precisely move the ball to open teammates (See: Clip 1). He also made plays out of the short roll when utilized as a screener (Clip 2). Tatum even fulfilled his connective duties admirably within coordinated ATOs, hurling a gorgeous high-low pass to Jaylen Brown from Boston's HORNS formation for his prettiest dime of the night (Clip 3).
In the 2022 postseason, Tatum has assisted on more than one-fourth of his teammates' buckets (25.2% assist percentage), a career-best for the St. Louis native. After averaging just 1.6 assists per game in his rookie season, he's made what was once his biggest shortcoming a legitimate strength.
Boston's ceiling as a championship contender was always going to be defined by its stars' willingness to share amongst the group. Isolation basketball doomed this ball club in previous postseason runs, and it's the main reason the Celtics have yet to advance to an NBA Finals. Even at the beginning of the season, there were questions about Tatum and Brown's capacity to move the ball and keep Boston's offense fairly democratic. Heck, their teammate, Marcus Smart, questioned the duo's appetite to facilitate after Boston's lethargic 2-5 start to the regular season.
&ldquo;Every team knows we are trying to go to Jayson and Jaylen, and every team is programmed and studies to stop Jayson and Jaylen. I think everybody&rsquo;s scouting report is to make those guys try to pass the ball," Smart said on Nov. 2. "They don&rsquo;t want to pass the ball, and that&rsquo;s something that they&rsquo;re going to learn.
"They&rsquo;re still learning and we&rsquo;re proud of the progress they are making, but they are going to have to make another step and find ways to not only create for themselves, but create for others on this team, to open up the court for them later in the game where they don&rsquo;t always have to take those tough shots or take tough matchups when they do get the 1-on-1 and see a trap. Just reading that. It&rsquo;s something that we&rsquo;ve been asking for them to do and they&rsquo;re learning. We just got to continue to help those guys do that and to help our team.&rdquo;
Now, Smart's early-season angst feels like a distant memory. Jayson Tatum has taken the requisite steps as a playmaker, only escalating that growth within the postseason, and his Celtics are beginning to see the results.
Taking down the defending champions was a big test, and Tatum passed with flying colors by, well, passing the dang rock.
A new challenge begins against the Miami Heat's second-ranked playoff defense.
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Matt Brooks raves over Jayson Tatum's career stretch as a passer and breaks down his improved floor vision in the playoffs.

Jayson Tatum is passing with flying colors as his playmaking escalates

The Phoenix Suns gave Evan Sidery a behind-the-scenes look at the their organization and what it takes to run an NBA franchise.

Inside look at the Suns' rise: The making of an elite NBA organization

Mat Issa raves over Jordan Poole regarding his three-level scoring and how his ceiling may be higher than once thought.

Jordan Poole is even better than we could've imagined

Last night, on his 42nd birthday, Jamal Crawford announced his retirement from the NBA. Crawford is one of eight players in NBA history to play for 20 seasons; only Vince Carter (22), Robert Parish (21) and Kevin Willis (21) had a longer career.
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&ldquo; Goodbye to the game, all the spoils the adrenaline rush.&rdquo; Thank you basketball, I owe you everything &hellip;..✌🏾 <a href="https://t.co/PpKYjoqz9p">pic.twitter.com/PpKYjoqz9p</a>
&mdash; 🏁 Jamal Crawford (@JCrossover) <a href="https://twitter.com/JCrossover/status/1505795444693082112?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 21, 2022</a></blockquote>
Crawford will go down as arguably the greatest sixth man of all-time, and he's one of just two players to win the Sixth Man of the Year award three times. He was known for creating instant offense off of the bench, and he was one of the league&rsquo;s best ball-handlers &mdash; consistently coming up with new moves and wowing fans with his handles. He scored the second-most points off the bench in NBA history (trailing only Lou Williams), per <a href="https://twitter.com/statmuse/status/1505915685238497285" target="_blank" rel="noopener">StatMuse</a>.
Crawford was also known as one of the best teammates around the league, winning the NBA&rsquo;s Teammate of the Year award in 2018. He has strong relationships with many people around the basketball world &mdash;&nbsp; from players to coaches to executives to media. Throughout his career, he garnered a ton of respect from fellow players because of his immense love of the game and electrifying style of play, which inspired plenty of younger hoopers (especially in his hometown of Seattle).&nbsp;
Over the years, Crawford has done everything in his power to help up-and-coming Seattle-area players, even letting some live with him throughout his NBA career (including Isaiah Thomas, Nate Robinson and Abdul Gaddy among others).
&ldquo;That&rsquo;s what it&rsquo;s all about. When you&rsquo;re a kid, you think it&rsquo;s all about you making it. Then, as you get older, the real joy, the real fulfillment, comes from seeing someone else make it," Crawford <a href="https://hoopshype.com/2018/09/03/nba-seattle-supersonics-sonics-jamal-crawford-proam-crawsover/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told me</a> in 2018. &ldquo;How can I tell someone like Isaiah Thomas or Brandon Roy or Nate Robinson or Tony Wroten or any of these guys to go help the next generation if I&rsquo;m not doing it? It all goes full circle. That&rsquo;s the payback. I don&rsquo;t want anything from those guys, I just want them to do it for the next generation... Before looking at their talent, I like to see how good of a kid they are and what kind of character they have. That&rsquo;s No. 1 for me. Once I see that, I&rsquo;m willing to help to the moon and back. I want to work with them and show them that this [lifestyle] is attainable.&rdquo;
When Crawford thinks about his career, he's said that passing down that pay-it-forward mentality to the next generation of Seattle players is one of his proudest achievements. Chicago Bulls star Zach LaVine raves about Crawford, and he now tries to help younger players just as Crawford helped him.
&ldquo;Jamal is just, like, the best human being. He&rsquo;s a great person,&rdquo; LaVine&nbsp;<a href="https://hoopshype.com/2018/09/03/nba-seattle-supersonics-sonics-jamal-crawford-proam-crawsover/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told me</a> in 2018. &ldquo;I try to be the same way; it&rsquo;s just how you&rsquo;re supposed to be, how you&rsquo;re supposed to treat other people. I thank my parents [for instilling that]. I remember being in high school &ndash; or even right before I entered high school &ndash; getting little invites to their pro runs. To be a high-schooler going up against Brandon Roy, Jamal, Nate Robinson, Tone [Wroten]? You keep getting better and better. You can see the progression, and they can see that you&rsquo;re part of that group of players who will carry on Seattle basketball. You start from a young age and then once you get there [to the pros], you just pass it down the same way.&rdquo;
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Crawford is beloved by quite a few fan bases, having suited up for the Chicago Bulls, New York Knicks, Golden State Warriors, Atlanta Hawks, Portland Trail Blazers, Los Angeles Clippers, Minnesota Timberwolves, Phoenix Suns and Brooklyn Nets.
After a productive 2018-19 season with the Suns (where Crawford was a strong leader and scored 51 points in his final game), he had a hard time getting signed by NBA teams. The Nets ultimately signed him during the NBA Bubble in Orlando, but he appeared in just one game before injuring his left hamstring. That would end up being Crawford&rsquo;s final NBA game, as he remained unsigned throughout the 2021-22 season &mdash; even when COVID-19 ravaged rosters and created opportunities for other veterans.
What&rsquo;s next for the 42-year-old? He has already been co-hosting the HooperVision broadcasts on NBA League Pass alongside Quentin Richardson, and he has received other offers in the media space (such as podcasting opportunities). Crawford has long been considered an excellent candidate for a broadcasting gig, and now he can seriously pursue that.&nbsp;
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Recently, Crawford has been coaching his son's basketball team, and he revealed on a Twitter Spaces conversation several months ago that he has received coaching and front-office offers from NBA teams. He has said that he wants to become an NBA executive someday because he feels that the NBA needs more former players in those positions, but it remains to be seen when he&rsquo;ll pursue that.
&ldquo;I [have] wanted to get into management just from the standpoint, I think we need more players in those roles and positions, someone that can give some insight into what it is like in the locker room,&rdquo; Crawford said, according to <a href="https://landonbuford.com/2021/10/03/jamal-crawford-reveals-he-has-gotten-nba-coaching-front-office-offers/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Landon Buford</a>. &ldquo;Everything is not about numbers; sometimes, it is: what is driving this person? For example, how much does this person love the game? And is there something off the court affecting his on-the-court play? Those are the little nuances that I don&rsquo;t think they are looking at.
&ldquo;I would love to do that still, but I am enjoying coaching my son&rsquo;s team right now. Like, I am having a ball doing that. And I&rsquo;ll tell you guys that I have gotten offers for front-office and coaching in the NBA. I have put it on pause because I enjoy doing this, and I&rsquo;m the parent that is good with keeping the scorebook. The coach asked me to help out and that turned into a bug. I look forward to it and that&rsquo;s the immediate step basketball-wise, and then the other [stuff] will be there like TV and management hopefully at some point down the road.&rdquo;
After an amazing 20-year career, the basketball world is excited to see what the future holds for Crawford.
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Last night, on his 42nd birthday, Jamal Crawford announced his retirement after a 20-year NBA career. What's next for Crawford?

Jamal Crawford retires after 20-year NBA career: What's next for him?

Alex Kennedy examines which NBA players could have played professional football if they had seriously pursued it.

Which NBA players could have realistically played in the NFL?

<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft/big-board/players/jalen-suggs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jalen Suggs</a> has won at every level. High-school state champion (in basketball and football). U-19 gold medalist. National-title-game run in his lone collegiate season at Gonzaga.
Wherever Suggs goes, winning follows, and he doesn&rsquo;t expect that to change in the NBA.
Finishing with a 31-1 record, Gonzaga ran roughshod over their competition in large part due to Suggs&rsquo; all-around excellence. The five-star recruit from Minnesota averaged 14.4 points, 5.3 rebounds, 4.5 assists, and 1.9 steals per game on an elite 59.5 True Shooting percentage.
While Suggs is projected to be a top pick in the 2021 NBA Draft on Thursday, he nearly went down a very different path. He was also a star football recruit, ranked as the second-best overall player in Minnesota and the 15th-best dual-threat quarterback in the country, per <a href="https://247sports.com/Player/Jalen-Suggs-45572569/high-school-181332/?Sport=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">247Sports</a>. He led his team to a 4A Minnesota state championship as well as a runner-up finish.
As a senior, he <a href="https://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/ravens/bs-sp-ravens-jalen-suggs-terrell-suggs-gonzaga-20210402-gxj3ck2z3fdslcy77sovjbwrci-story.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">totaled</a> 2,213 passing yards and 25 touchdowns as well as 978 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns on the ground. Defensively, he had nine interceptions (and returned two for touchdowns). Suggs, who is the second cousin of NFL star Terrell Suggs, became the first athlete to earn Minnesota's Mr. Football and Mr. Basketball honors in the same season. He received scholarship offers from Georgia, Ohio State, Iowa State, Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota and Michigan State (while also <a href="https://247sports.com/college/alabama/LongFormArticle/Alabama-Football-Everything-Nick-Saban-said-after-first-spring-scrimmage-Bryce-Young-163570553/#163570553_1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">drawing interest</a> from Alabama's Nick Saban).
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Jalen Suggs, also an INSANE football player <a href="https://t.co/jqlsB7KEhT">pic.twitter.com/jqlsB7KEhT</a>
&mdash; PFF College (@PFF_College) <a href="https://twitter.com/PFF_College/status/1378559902902288384?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 4, 2021</a></blockquote>

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Suggs ultimately decided to go the basketball route, which has paid off in spades for the 6-foot-4 combo guard. There are several traits taken straight from the football field that Suggs constantly displays on the court.
&ldquo;I mean, you of course see it in the aggressiveness,&rdquo; Suggs said when BasketballNews.com asked about his football background. &ldquo;The way I embrace contact [and] bring contact on the basketball floor, I think that directly comes over from the football field. And the vision, I think, is the biggest one, honestly. From being a safety, reading eyes, reading body language, seeing where guys are turning to make a pass or make a certain move. And then quarterback-wise on offense, just reading defenses. Seeing different windows to throw the ball in and have the ability to fit in those tight windows. I do think those are the two biggest things that go directly from the football field to the basketball court.&rdquo;
Prior to his time at Gonzaga, Suggs never had the opportunity to fully focus on basketball. As an elite multi-sport athlete throughout high school, he would go months without touching a basketball. In the summer and fall months, Suggs&rsquo; main priority was football. Now, as a basketball player 100% of the time, he feels he&rsquo;s just now scratching the surface of his potential on the hardwood.
&ldquo;The sky&rsquo;s the limit, honestly,&rdquo; Suggs said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s funny, I haven&rsquo;t been a full-time basketball player. I&rsquo;ve always had to split the time between football season. And during football season, I never touched the basketball for the five months I was locked in on football. All the basketballs were put up in the closet and weren&rsquo;t touched until I was done. I mean, I think I have actually the most improvement to make out of anybody in this draft. So, I mean, couple that with the work ethic that I know I carry and, honestly, it&rsquo;s scary to think how good I can become.&rdquo;
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Suggs rounds out the top tier of the 2021 NBA Draft class, which also features Cade Cunningham, Jalen Green, and Evan Mobley. When asked how this draft stacks up to some of the top classes in NBA history, Suggs sounded very confident that this group could be special.
&ldquo;For as good as the top is, the rest of it is amazing as well,&rdquo; Suggs said. "I mean, I&rsquo;ve gotten the pleasure to play with some guys. It&rsquo;s funny, when you look at the top-five, it&rsquo;s me, Jalen [Green], Cade [Cunningham], Scottie [Barnes], Evan [Mobley] &ndash; all guys who I played with on USA basketball. For as great of talents as they are, they&rsquo;re even better people. That&rsquo;s what makes it so special. Our talent on the floor speaks for itself, but off the floor, in locker rooms, we&rsquo;re guys who lead, guys who you want in your locker room. So, man, just a special class, better people. I couldn&rsquo;t be more excited to go in and get this process started with these guys, and go through it with them too.
&ldquo;I think it has real potential to be exactly like that [2003 draft class]. We&rsquo;re all hard workers, all guys who are going to come in and make an impact. I can&rsquo;t speak highly enough about the guys at the top, to be honest. We definitely have a chance to rival that 2003 class that was legendary.&rdquo;
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There aren't many holes in Suggs&rsquo; game that stand out. The main areas where he could use some improvement are his outside shooting (33.7% from three-point range) and ability to create contact around the basket (3.8 free-throw attempts per game). Now, Suggs has hit the pre-draft process hard, working to perfect everything in his repertoire.
&ldquo;The best players in the league go into offseasons, or in-season, [and] there&rsquo;s always room to improve on everything,&rdquo; Suggs said. &ldquo;The best shooters can always get better. The best ball-handlers, the best finishers&hellip; I think, just overall, I&rsquo;m really looking to become a perfectionist in all the areas I feel like I&rsquo;m really good at. I don&rsquo;t feel like there&rsquo;s a true weakness, when you look at my game. I think [I&rsquo;m] just looking to perfect all those things and get them to an elite level, a top-notch level, in this league that I&rsquo;m going into is my focus.
&ldquo;As far as finishing around the rim, I think I&rsquo;ve always had a good floater, but sharpening that up and getting it to an elite level. Coming off of ball screens, the amount of spacing that&rsquo;s in this game right now &mdash; the way that everyone defends ball screens with the drop coverage &mdash; you get your floaters to look like lobs and lobs to look like floaters. If you got it money, it&rsquo;s honestly an easy shot &mdash; a simple two points and something that&rsquo;s really hard to guard. I think really getting that to an elite level will open up getting to the basket and finishing at the rim more, so I&rsquo;m focusing on that.&rdquo;
Projected as a consensus top-five pick &mdash; <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft" target="_blank" rel="noopener">currently slotted at No. 5 overall to the Orlando Magic in BasketballNews.com's latest mock draft</a> &mdash; Suggs&rsquo; competitiveness oozes out when asked where he could land. Putting a proverbial chip on his shoulder, Suggs says he will remember every team that passes on him and every prospect who is selected above him on Thursday night. Whenever a team passes on him, it will only add fuel to Suggs&rsquo; internal fire.
&ldquo;I mean, as far as where I go, that&rsquo;s not something I&rsquo;m really too worried about; I&rsquo;ll thrive in whatever system, whatever city, I end up in,&rdquo; Suggs said. &ldquo;Wherever I do end up, that&rsquo;s God&rsquo;s plan, so it&rsquo;s meant to be. I will say: the ones that do pass on me and take another prospect, it will come back. It will be to their detriment, honestly, because you can look at my track record &mdash;what I&rsquo;ve done and where I&rsquo;ve been &mdash; it&rsquo;s always win at the highest level. And my play has been at the highest level.
"As far as that goes, if somebody makes a decision that&rsquo;s not me, that&rsquo;s their opinion and I can never be angry at them for that, but I don&rsquo;t forget those kinds of things. That&rsquo;s just how competitive I am.&rdquo;

Jalen Suggs believes the 2021 NBA Draft could be an all-time great class. He also issued a warning to any executives who pass on him.

Jalen Suggs thinks 2021 draft 'definitely has a chance to rival 2003'

LAS VEGAS (AP) &mdash; USA Basketball didn&rsquo;t blow up Kevin Durant&rsquo;s phone with repeated calls to beg and plead for him to play in the Tokyo Olympics. It was a much more dignified process: They asked, then they waited.
It was the right move.
&ldquo;They helped me make the decision by letting me be me,&rdquo; Durant said.
Already an owner of two Olympic gold medals, Durant ultimately chose to try for three. The Brooklyn Nets forward will lead the U.S. Olympic team into Tokyo this month and could become just the second men&rsquo;s player in USA Basketball history to win three golds, joining Carmelo Anthony.
And not that this matters to Durant, because it doesn&rsquo;t, but he could simply rewrite the USA Basketball Olympic record book in the next few weeks as well.
&ldquo;I committed to USA Basketball when I was coming out of college, and every chance that I get that I&rsquo;m healthy and my mind&rsquo;s in the right place to play basketball, I go out there and play,&rdquo; Durant said. &ldquo;I finished the year off healthy, regular season and playoffs. So, I felt like it&rsquo;d be cool to get I guess a kickstart on next season by getting in shape a lot earlier in the summer with Team USA.&rdquo;
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Already the top three-point shooter in U.S. men&rsquo;s Olympic history, Durant is 25 points shy of tying Anthony (336) for the most in team Olympic play, 39 rebounds away from Anthony&rsquo;s mark in rebounds (125), 12 away from Anthony&rsquo;s mark in field goals made (113), three away from Anthony&rsquo;s mark in free throws made (53).
&ldquo;You know his famous quote? &lsquo;I am Kevin Durant.&rsquo; There&rsquo;s nothing changing,&rdquo; U.S. guard Bradley Beal of the Washington Wizards said. &ldquo;We know who he is. We know what he&rsquo;s capable of doing and he&rsquo;s doing the same thing in practice... and his leadership is just terrific. He&rsquo;s, like, 39-0 in USA Basketball. That&rsquo;s crazy and we want to keep that going.&rdquo;
Beal had it right: Durant is 39-0 in major international events with USA Basketball. He has two NBA championships, two NBA Finals MVP awards. He came back after a yearlong layoff from an Achilles injury this season in Brooklyn and was, again, his typical unguardable self.
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There&rsquo;s long been nothing left for him to prove, and he signed up for another Olympics anyway. Camp started Tuesday and Durant immediately began setting the tone for a roster that is mostly composed of first-time Olympians other than Durant, Draymond Green and Kevin Love.
&ldquo;There&rsquo;s this very cliche line that everyone uses in basketball when you&rsquo;re working out: Go game speed every rep,&rdquo; said Green, Durant&rsquo;s former Golden State teammate. &ldquo;Quite frankly, I&rsquo;ve never seen anyone do it, except him. That&rsquo;s how he plays the game. That&rsquo;s how he works. You&rsquo;re talking about a guy who would sit at home, sit in his house and watch an elementary-school basketball game just to watch basketball. Really, really loves the game, loves watching the game, loves hooping.&rdquo;
All that is true, and part of the lure for Durant to play this summer.
U.S. coach Gregg Popovich was another major factor. It&rsquo;s no secret that players around the league hold the longtime San Antonio coach in the highest regard, and Durant said the opportunity to play for the five-time NBA champion factored into his thinking.
&ldquo;If he had said no, I would have begged, cried, done anything I could to change his mind,&rdquo; Popovich said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s pretty obvious. But what it says about him, No. 1, is he loves the game. He really loves to play basketball. He loves to win. He loves the camaraderie. He wants to be part of this, all the time, as we all know. And that&rsquo;s his motivation. At the core, that&rsquo;s what he loves to do and luckily for all of us, that&rsquo;s who he is.&rdquo;
Mike Brown was part of Golden State&rsquo;s coaching staff when Durant was with the Warriors. Brown is also the coach of the Nigerian Olympic team, meaning he will be coaching against Durant &mdash; and his current boss, U.S. assistant coach and Golden State head coach Steve Kerr &mdash; when the Americans play the top African team in their first exhibition of this summer&rsquo;s stay in Las Vegas on Saturday night.
Like everyone else in the NBA, Brown only raves about Durant.
&ldquo;A lot of people see his scoring prowess,&rdquo; Brown said. &ldquo;Obviously, he can shoot the three, he can post up, his medium game is the best in the business. But when he came to the Warriors, I was shocked by two things. The biggest thing was just his feel and intelligence on the defensive end of the floor... and then on top of that, he&rsquo;s a phenomenal passer.&rdquo;
Put simply, he can do it all. That&rsquo;s been obvious forever. And a third gold medal would only enhance that already-lofty legacy of his.
&ldquo;I look forward to just being around the best players in the world, and around the best athletes as well,&rdquo; Durant said.
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SATURDAY GAME
The U.S. will call up some players from the USA Select Team, which was ending its practice schedule in Las Vegas on Friday, to fill out its roster for exhibitions &mdash; starting with the game Saturday against Nigeria, Popovich said.
The U.S. is missing Olympians Devin Booker, Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday because of the NBA Finals. San Antonio's Keldon Johnson, Cleveland's Darius Garland and Detroit&rsquo;s Saddiq Bey are reportedly the three players who were called up to replace them.
CURRY PASSES
Golden State&rsquo;s Stephen Curry is playing in Nevada this weekend &mdash; golf, not basketball. He&rsquo;s participating in the American Century Championship in Lake Tahoe, explaining there why he decided not to play for the Olympic team.
&ldquo;I do value the offseason, and I&rsquo;m working back on the court, but to try to go and play and there&rsquo;s just a lot that could happen,&rdquo; Curry said. &ldquo;I respect every single guy that goes and plays that&rsquo;s out there in Vegas and I wish them all the success and a gold medal to show for it and whatnot. It just wasn&rsquo;t right for me. And I&rsquo;m very confident in that decision. No regrets at all.&rdquo;
</div>

In Tokyo, Kevin Durant has a chance to win his third Olympic gold medal and rewrite Team USA's record book in the process.

Kevin Durant seeking third Olympic gold medal: ‘He loves to win'

It's a shame that these NBA playoffs aren't in glitzy cities.
It's a shame that LeBron James isn't fighting for a chance at his fifth career title.
It's a shame that this league is so predictable.
Actually, it's a shame that you're not witnessing the birth of young, rising stars before your very eyes.
There may not be a soul left to question what Trae Young is bringing to the table in his debut playoff run, nor one to tear down Devin Booker with the all-so-familiar-and-overused label of "just a scorer."
Instead, these two now-household names are not only demanding your attention, they're seizing it.
Young played in his in first Eastern Conference Finals game on Wednesday night on the road, and took hold of the game when it mattered most. He had multi-time All-Defensive Team member Jrue Holiday on his heels, as well as anybody who dared guard him on the perimeter.
If the Milwaukee Bucks switched on him, it didn't matter. He'd blow right past his man for a floater, or a lob, or an alley-oop off the backboard. Hell, he's even taking pull-up mid-rangers now. If they had to defend him off a high screen, he'd make one dribble move and fire, or he'd have enough time to do a shimmy and can a triple as the Bucks helplessly stared, too late to contest. And if Milwaukee elected to trap him toward mid-court, he'd pinpoint a teammate on the perimeter and get it to him with a behind-the-back pass.
Since the semifinal round started, in pick-and-roll situations as a ball-handler, Young has scored 1.31 points per possession on floaters and 1.28 points per possession on jumpers. In a more traditional sense, Young has averaged 30.5 points and 10.5 assists on 42.2% from the field. He's getting to the free-throw line over nine times per contest, and is making 87.3% of his attempts. He has not been afraid to shoot, either, taking the fifth-most shots on average (23.3) in the NBA this postseason.
If you're looking for a fun little storyline to follow, try this one on for size. In series openers, Young is averaging 38.3 points per game on 48.5% shooting, to go along with 10.3 assists and 5.3 rebounds. He is 28-for-30 on free throws in total. That is what you call setting the tone, with all three of those matchups coming on the road. We may as well call Trae "Mr. Game 1" at this point. His career's just getting started and he's getting F-bombs hurled his way from opposing audiences left and right. When was the last time that the underdog was also the villain?
In the Western Conference, there's Booker, who has willed the Phoenix Suns to a 2-0 lead over the Los Angeles Clippers without Chris Paul. Another player who's not afraid of the moment, yet is seeing his first postseason action in the sixth season of his career, Booker is turning the corner and making defenders pay probably more than anybody else in the NBA.
Seriously, once he's gotten a pick above the break or a handoff, that man has gotten to his spot every single time. Guys are staying in front of him pretty well, but it has not mattered. The minute that Booker has put the ball on the floor, he's found either corner of the key or the nail; at that point, there's nothing more teams can do besides contest. And even when defenders do get a hand up, he has so much elevation on his jumper to the point where it hasn't fazed him.
From the start of the second round and on, here's Booker's contested jump shot chart, <a href="https://basketball.instatscout.com/players/5278/fieldgoals" target="_blank" rel="noopener">courtesy of InStat</a>:
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/field-goals-devin-booker-1_lg.png" alt="" width="499" height="316" />
And here's an illustration of how effective Booker's jumpers have been in any playtype.
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 99.4658%; height: 236px;" border="1">
<tbody>
<tr style="height: 23px;">
<td style="width: 31.473%; text-align: center; height: 23px;">Playtype (Total No. of Poss)</td>
<td style="width: 31.473%; text-align: center; height: 23px;">Jumper Possessions</td>
<td style="width: 31.473%; height: 23px; text-align: center;">Points Per Possession</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 23px;">
<td style="width: 31.473%; text-align: center; height: 23px;">Pick-and-Roll Handler (42)</td>
<td style="width: 31.473%; text-align: center; height: 23px;">33</td>
<td style="width: 31.473%; text-align: center; height: 23px;">1.36</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 23px;">
<td style="width: 31.473%; text-align: center; height: 23px;">Isolation (27)</td>
<td style="width: 31.473%; text-align: center; height: 23px;">19</td>
<td style="width: 31.473%; text-align: center; height: 23px;">1.05</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 23px;">
<td style="width: 31.473%; text-align: center; height: 23px;">Catch-and-Drive (13)</td>
<td style="width: 31.473%; text-align: center; height: 23px;">11</td>
<td style="width: 31.473%; text-align: center; height: 23px;">1.82</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 23px;">
<td style="width: 31.473%; text-align: center; height: 23px;">Transition (21)</td>
<td style="width: 31.473%; text-align: center; height: 23px;">9</td>
<td style="width: 31.473%; text-align: center; height: 23px;">1.11</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 23px;">
<td style="width: 31.473%; text-align: center; height: 23px;">Off Screens (14)</td>
<td style="width: 31.473%; text-align: center; height: 23px;">9</td>
<td style="width: 31.473%; text-align: center; height: 23px;">1.11</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Get the picture?
As he's dragging his assignments with him, Booker is opening things up for others to thrive, as well. Maybe the savviest development in his game is his passing; however, it's his patience that has the Suns humming. When he's found himself in a double team or in a crowd, there's no sense of panic whatsoever. Booker is wisely waiting for his teammates to cut, go for a lob or locate themselves for a look on the perimeter. None of this would be possible if he couldn't make the reads as sharply as he has. The thing is, though, he's processing all of this so quickly, while maintaining a solid pace and timely decision-making simultaneously.
Booker's efficiency is at an all-time high, unafraid to take the big shots, yet possessing the balance necessary to be the well-rounded player he has become over the course of his development. His averages in the postseason speak for themselves: 28.3 points, 7.1 rebounds and 5.3 assists on 47.9% shooting. Not to mention that bouncing the defending NBA champions and the league's MVP in the first two rounds of your playoff career is a pretty loud way to say, "I'm here."
But that's how Young and Booker operate. They've got their own styles and ways to dissect and frustrate their opponents, all while putting on a show for the neutral audiences at home to enjoy, and both find themselves in position to make something really special happen for their respective teams.
Forget about the market they play in.
Forget about The King sitting at home.
Forget about a predetermined winner.
We're witnessing the next generation of superstardom blossom in the postseason, and judging by the latest returns on television ratings and social engagement, people are noticing.
As they should.

Spencer Davies raves over the rise of Trae Young and Devin Booker in the postseason as two blossoming superstars in the NBA.

The fearlessness of Trae Young and Devin Booker is on display

Not even an hour into the offseason, Jimmy Butler was already looking ahead.
There was no run to the NBA Finals this year for the Miami Heat, not even a single playoff victory for the team that rolled through the Eastern Conference in the restart bubble at Walt Disney World last summer. And when it was over, when <a href="https://apnews.com/article/milwaukee-bucks-miami-heat-brooklyn-nets-nba-sports-2ea48ef8eacf14d1da5f2cf7f95de3e4">Miami&rsquo;s four-game ouster by Milwaukee</a> was complete, Butler quickly summed up the offseason plan.
&ldquo;We can be better,&rdquo; Butler said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll be better.&rdquo;
The Heat don&rsquo;t have a pick in this year&rsquo;s draft, at least for now, and likely will have somewhere around $25 million in cap space that they can choose to use this summer.
Plenty of decisions need to be made about the roster for next season, but the clear cornerstones &mdash; Butler and Bam Adebayo, whose $163 million, five-year extension begins this fall &mdash; are among the selling points to free agents. Among those who&rsquo;ll likely be considered, assuming he decides to look for a new team: Toronto&rsquo;s Kyle Lowry, who insists that he wants to be part of more championship runs wherever he is.
&ldquo;Definitely want that feeling again of getting back to the finals,&rdquo; Adebayo said.
There were no shortage of moments that the Heat can point to with regret this season.
They lost 10 games to teams that didn&rsquo;t end up making the playoffs, lost nine games they led by double figures and were wildly inconsistent. They won 11 out of 12 games in one stretch, then immediately dropped six in a row. And COVID-19 was another issue; Butler tested positive and missed 10 games, a stretch where the Heat went 2-8.
&ldquo;This was one of the more memorable seasons just because it was so uniquely different than anything else we&rsquo;ve experienced,&rdquo; coach Erik Spoelstra said. &ldquo;Guys had to really adjust and adapt and I really commend our guys for doing that and not becoming cynical or making excuses for all the different protocols and things outside of just the competition.&rdquo;
Even after a season of near-constant adversity, the Heat missed having home-court advantage in Round 1 by just one game in the standings. They&rsquo;re nowhere near where they want to be &mdash; it&rsquo;s always about contending for titles in Miami &mdash; but they believe this summer&rsquo;s work on the roster won&rsquo;t require a major overhaul.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m appreciative that we get to call this our job, play the game that we love, being around people we enjoy being around,&rdquo; Butler said. &ldquo;Maybe it&rsquo;ll be a little bit different next year, next season, but for this year it was fun. Through the ups and through the downs, nobody complained. You just go out there and compete, play hard, and I think we did that for the most part.&rdquo;
Some of what to watch for as the Heat enter the offseason:
BUTLER EXTENSION
There would seem to be a reasonable chance that Miami and Butler work out an extension this summer. He&rsquo;s got two years left &mdash; the second year at his option &mdash; on his original four-year deal with the Heat, and with Adebayo signed for the next five seasons, taking care of Butler for future years figures to be high on the list of priorities.
OLADIPO&rsquo;S REHAB
Victor Oladipo long wanted to play in Miami, and the Heat finally got him in a trade-deadline deal. He appeared in four games before having to shut down and finally get another surgery on the leg he injured in 2019.
He won&rsquo;t be ready for the start of next season &mdash; provided things start on time, at least &mdash; and it&rsquo;s still unclear when he could play again. Having surgery in May means a return isn&rsquo;t likely until November at the earliest. He passed on a $45 million, two-year extension from Houston and enters free agency with the market unclear, given the uncertainty on when he&rsquo;ll play again.
ROBINSON AND NUNN
Duncan Robinson is Miami&rsquo;s single-season 3-point record-holder and one of the best in the league from beyond the arc, and Kendrick Nunn has started 111 regular-season games primarily at point guard in his two Miami seasons. Both are restricted free agents, and what Miami does with its qualifying offers is something to watch this summer.
DRAGIC AND IGUODALA
Other than Udonis Haslem (whom the Heat would warmly welcome back for a 19th season), Goran Dragic is Miami&rsquo;s longest-tenured player and the Heat hold a $19 million option on him for next season.
Dragic is 35, but his per-36-minute averages this season &mdash; 18.1 points, 4.6 rebounds, 5.9 assists &mdash; are roughly the same as the numbers he had during his lone All-Star season in 2017-18. Bringing him off the bench over the last couple of years might have extended his career.
Andre Iguodala has a $15 million team option for next season; he spent much of this season dealing with a balky hip yet was still effective in his role, and Spoelstra raves about him. Also, the 2021 NBA Finals will be the first since 2010 that do not have either the Heat or Iguodala taking part.
THE OLYMPICS
Butler, Adebayo and Robinson are among the 57 names under consideration by USA Basketball for the team that it&rsquo;ll take to the Tokyo Olympics. The U.S. team, to be coached by Gregg Popovich, will gather in Las Vegas for training camp in early July to start getting ready and play some warm-up contests.
Butler was part of the team that won gold for the U.S. at the Rio de Janeiro Games in 2016. Asked if he&rsquo;s thinking about playing in Tokyo, Butler sounded undecided.
&ldquo;That&rsquo;s a good question,&rdquo; Butler said. &ldquo;That is a very good question. It&rsquo;s not out of my mind just yet, but we definitely will see. I don&rsquo;t know."
___
More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

The Heat are nowhere near where they want to be, but they believe this summer’s work on the roster won’t require a major overhaul.

East champs no more, the Heat start to look to what's next

R.J. Hampton will never forget the first time he stepped foot on an NBA floor only 13 months ago.
Two games into his professional basketball career with the National Basketball League&rsquo;s New Zealand Breakers, his team made the trip over to the United States in early October for a pair of exhibition matchups -- first against the Memphis Grizzlies, then versus the Oklahoma City Thunder.
"That was a great experience for me,&rdquo; Hampton told reporters this week. &ldquo;I was very blessed even to be on an NBA court at 18 years old, playing against Ja Morant, playing against Chris Paul. I learned so much from those guys. I took a lot away from those games that now, over 365 days later, I can go back and prove myself."
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/usatsi_13480063-1_lg.jpg" alt="" width="860" height="AUTO" />
Hampton is one of the more intriguing young prospects in the upcoming 2020 NBA Draft. A standout in Dallas as a high schooler, he won two gold medals as a part of USA Basketball -- once in the 2017 FIBA U-16 Americas Championship, and again in the 2018 FIBA U-17 Basketball World Cup.
In three years at Little Elm High School, Hampton scored 2,854 points. In his final season, he averaged 32 points, 9.7 rebounds, 6.4 rebounds and 3.9 steals per game. Following a strong showing on the AAU circuit via the 2019 Nike EYBL -- where he scored 28.8 points per contest, second-highest in the league -- the top-five prospect made the decision to reclassify in the 2019 high-school recruiting class. According to the NBA's draft guide, had Hampton returned to high school, he would've been on pace to finish as one of the top-50 high-school scorers of all-time.&nbsp;
However, in lieu of going to college, Hampton elected to go the professional route overseas, similar to what recent NBA players such as Terrance Ferguson, Emmanuel Mudiay and Brandon Jennings did. Luckily for him, his family was overseas with him, so they experienced that together.&nbsp;
Off the floor, Hampton would watch a lot of TV and play video games during his free time. On the floor, he was playing against grown men, including former NBA talent, allowing him to get a taste of the physicality presented at the next level -- something that college prospects have to learn the hard way.
&ldquo;Playing in the NBL, I kinda already went through that learning curve, so I feel confident,&rdquo; Hampton said of the advantage of pro experience. &ldquo;I expect to get on the floor as fast as possible and make an immediate impact in the next coming years. I want to be a guy that is looked upon and one of the players that everybody counts on to get us wins."
Hampton broke out at the very beginning during the NBL Blitz showcase in front of NBA scouts. In his second game with the Breakers, Hampton notched 20 points on 7-for-13 shooting from the field, nabbing five rebounds and recording three steals with a pair of assists. It was a glimpse of his true capabilities that we wouldn&rsquo;t really see the rest of the season.
&ldquo;Coming out of high school [as] a top-five player in my class, I feel like I went to a situation where I didn't get to score a lot of points and do the 'oohs and aahs' that some other players got,&rdquo; Hampton said. &ldquo;But I think I learned a lot from my time over there, and I definitely think that's gonna further me immediately in the NBA."
Hampton went on to start 12 games, but his 17-game tenure in New Zealand was cut short last winter. Sidelined by a hip injury that forced him out of action, both parties made a mutual decision to have the highly-touted guard return home to the states in February to prepare for the NBA Draft.
Hampton&rsquo;s been putting in work with his trainer, Tyler Relph, over the last two years in order to ready himself for the next level.
"Going over to New Zealand, I wouldn't say it was the most ideal situation [for R.J.]," Relph told BasketballNews.com over the phone. "For a young kid, he just did a great job dealing with it, and I think it matured him a ton. So I think he's immediately ready mentally for what the NBA brings. He's pretty much just a totally different person."
According to Relph, Hampton gained between 22-25 pounds of muscle since his return from overseas.
"Immediately, your game transforms when you can take contact," Relph said. "Defensively, you can get in front of guys and bump 'em off spots, get through ball screens and stuff like that."
In addition, part of the pre-draft process has been reconnecting with the two people that recruited Hampton when he reclassified -- Penny Hardaway and Mike Miller of the Memphis Tigers. Though he never suited up in the blue-and-gray threads, all three have continued to have a great rapport. Hardaway is in his ear about being a pure point guard and making the right reads, while Miller has assisted him with his jumper -- an aspect of the game that Hampton is heavily focused on.&nbsp;
&ldquo;He changed my base,&rdquo; Hampton said of Miller. &ldquo;A lot of times, I was skinny, down low with my shot; it caused me to be unbalanced, so he gave me a wider base. One thing Mike Miller did, he shot in the NBA Finals with his shoe off. He has tremendous confidence, so being a confident shooter is something we&rsquo;ve worked on for the past six, seven months in different drills.&rdquo;
Relph said the shot adjustments are extremely noticeable.
"That's another thing that people are knocking him [about], and now that's the thing that translates right away to next year," Relph said. "He's changed a lot. Mike did a ton with his base, which looks phenomenal. And then, we just changed where he brings the ball up from, his shooting path, and he's been great. His shot has improved leaps and bounds, and now I would say he's a good shooter that can consistently make NBA threes."
Relph raves over Hampton's ability to leap off any foot at any time. Some guys are one-foot leapers, some guys need two steps, but the 19-year-old can fly in any scenario. Furthermore, Relph said that Hampton's god-given speed will vault him into the top-five fastest players in the NBA right away.
"You have Lamborghinis that can go from 0-to-60 in a split second, then you have cars that take a while to get there -- he's a Lamborghini," Relph said. "His slow-to-quick twitch is second to none.
"I think that he has a chance to be just an elite scorer in the league -- with the combination of his speed, creating separation, getting into his shots. He's got a great feel of when to score; he knows when he has space. He can make any shot, he can make contested shots. His ability to rise in the mid-range is elite."
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So far, Hampton has worked out for seven teams in person -- the Detroit Pistons, Brooklyn Nets, Orlando Magic, Cleveland Cavaliers, Washington Wizards, Boston Celtics and Denver Nuggets.&nbsp;
"His confidence right now is just at an all-time high," Relph said. "He's had great workouts for teams. Every team has said how much different he looks and how much better he looks and how much he's improved."
When asked about a potential fit on the Nets, Hampton loved the idea of playing off Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant and gaining wisdom from the veteran duo, as well as the blossoming Caris LeVert and new head coach Steve Nash. It definitely helps that he&rsquo;s spoken with Nets GM Sean Marks (who's from New Zealand) over the phone and face-to-face.
Hampton also mentioned that his workout with the Celtics went well, as Danny Ainge, Austin Ainge and Brad Stevens all attended and spoke with the soon-to-be rookie.
When asked what aspects of his game will translate easiest to the NBA, Hampton points out his speed, athleticism and ability to make plays for himself and his teammates. Early on, his biggest challenge may be getting back into a groove because he hasn&rsquo;t played in a game since Jan. 12. As far as his position and role are concerned, his main focus is having the versatility to guard 1-through-3.
"What all rookies are gonna have to work on is speed of the game, the physicality of the NBA and defensive rotations and reads," Relph said. "And then, the grind of an 82-game season... I think people are gonna be surprised at how good he'll be at making other guys better."
It&rsquo;s odd to conduct interviews virtually in comparison to the norm, but Hampton has taken it in stride. He feels great. In fact, Hampton went as far to say that he and LaMelo Ball are the readiest prospects in this 2020 draft class.
During this pre-draft process, Hampton's schedule has been rigorous. He wakes up to run a couple miles every morning, then he'll go lift weights and do some strength training before working out with either Relph or Miller (depending on what city he's in). Relph said his committment has been outstanding.
Hampton understands how unique of a year this is going to be. The draft process is moving quickly. Before he knows it, Nov. 18 will be here. Then, free agency; then, training camp; and then, opening night on Dec. 22.
"I think the biggest thing I expect [is] just to go in there and work every day, go in there and prove myself again, working my ranks up through the NBA. [I want to] have a great team, great system that I can thrive in,&rdquo; Hampton said. &ldquo;I want to be as ready as possible.&rdquo;

R.J. Hampton and his trainer, Tyler Relph, give a behind-the-scenes look at his pre-draft training ahead of the 2020 NBA Draft.

Anderson (IN) Ravens