An NBA holiday weekend begins
With a Friday (Night) Freebie to put on a bow on a wild week on and off the floor
Sorry, Moms.
Mother's Day doubles as an NBA holiday in 2026.
That's certainly not the first time I've used that line in recent weeks, but there's really no other way to say it when the league's Draft Lottery — which also happens to be one of the most anticipated lotteries ever as well as the last edition under the current system before major changes are instituted — is scheduled for Sunday at 3 PM ET.
Our twice-a-week contributor Jake Fischer will be one of the 16 reporters allowed in the sealed-off, no-phones-allowed, pen-and-paper-only drawing room in Chicago where the lottery takes place before the results are revealed on live TV. Can't wait to read and hear what Jake sees.
In the interim?
Here are a few quick Friday footnotes from an incredibly busy week:
🏀 No resolution yet on Steve Kerr's status going forward as the coach in the Bay Area after 12 seasons and four championships. The expectation within the Warriors, as covered Sunday in my Intel-packed piece above, is that Kerr's return is seen as more likely than not at this stage ... especially since the sides are still actively working through next steps when the Warriors are a full three weeks removed from their last game of the season. Yet it looks increasingly likely that the wait for official clarity on Kerr's status for Year 13, barring an unexpected weekend announcement, will drag into next week. As in after Golden State learns its fate in Sunday's lottery.
🏀 Even before the Knicks' impressive Game 3 victory at Philadelphia on Friday night without the injured OG Anunoby, they had seized clear-cut Favorites in the East status. They won't lose that from us, either, even if they have to take on the Detroit/Cleveland winner without Anunoby, who obviously has to be handled with extreme caution and patience after sustaining the same sort of dreaded injury (hamstring) that has tormented the likes of Luka Dončić and Jalen Williams this spring.
🏀 The aforementioned Young Jake likewise packed a ton into his latest around-the-league compilation of Intel that dropped Thursday … most notably his reportage about the stumbling Cavaliers and the daunting 2-0 series deficit they face heading into Saturday's Game 3 in Cleveland against top-seeded Detroit. Check out all of Fischer's latest handiwork here ICYMI:
🏀 There were so many must-see news conferences throughout the week featuring lead decision-makers from various front offices. The latest: Josh Kroenke spoke at length Friday afternoon about the Nuggets' disappointing first-round elimination and acknowledged that the early exit compels Denver to consider any incoming trade pitch that does not involve Nikola Jokić. Watch it in full here:
🏀 Playoff Math, as featured in last week's Friday Freebie, will indeed return during these playoffs, but the contribution from longtime NBA advanced stats maven Roland Beech this week is a graphic that simply illustrates how the aforementioned Pistons — as well my beloved Buffalo Sabres — have removed themselves from an unwanted list across the four major North American team sports in terms of ending a torturous drought by finally winning a playoff series:
Yes: Sacramento and Orlando are still very much stuck on that dreaded list.
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Programming Note
We regrettably had to scrap Community Predictions for the second round of these playoffs.
Monday was so dang newsy — with Dallas (Masai Ujiri) and Chicago (Bryson Graham) making headline hires and Orlando creating a coaching vacancy — that there was simply no time to publish a community-wide call for picks like we did before the first round. The Committee (of One) ultimately decided that it just didn't make sense to do so Tuesday after two of the four Round 2 matchups were already underway.
I should have just asked for predictions via Substack Notes on Monday once it became apparent that it was the only time-friendly option. Rest assured that we'll bring the tradition back for the conference finals and NBA Finals … and at least we can share some highlights from the Round 1 predictions as compiled by our longtime trusty tabulator Deven P:
Irrational eBay Purchases (Cont’)
Saw this gem that I shouldn't have even been looking for:
Can't say I needed it or that I managed to negotiate a decent deal ... but you also don't see a Buffalo Braves basketball from the 1970s in pretty pristine condition very often.
So, yeah.
Snapped it right up.
Neat that y’all got an invite…. what team, if any, leaps into a top four pick?
Miami, Golden State, Mavs?