Free agency latest and coaching carousel chatter on the eve of the NBA Finals
Cavaliers, Lakers, Pelicans, Pistons, Pacers and, of course, Mavericks and Celtics ... all are featured in my latest around-the-league notes compilation
One last batch of the around-the-league notes before the NBA Finals begin?
As it should be!
But first please allow me to plug this Finals preview podcast I recorded Wednesday with the NBA's original Sunday Notes Specialist: Legendary Boston Globe columnist Bob Ryan.
On the latest edition of #thisleague UNCUT, Bob joined me to break down Celtics vs. Mavericks as only he can and pay tribute, as well, to the one and only Bill Walton:
To the latest from my notebook ...
Away from the NBA Finals: Today I heard another succinct but well-placed forecast of optimism that the Cavaliers will succeed in convincing Donovan Mitchell to sign a long-term contract extension this offseason.
By now you surely know the consequences if Cleveland is unable to do so.
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The latest rumbles on the Lakers' coaching search amid an ongoing (and ever-expanding) leaguewide belief that ESPN's JJ Redick, who will make his NBA Finals broadcasting debut Thursday night when Boston plays host to Dallas in Game 1, remains the favorite to take over for the ousted Darvin Ham:
🏀 It has been suggested in some corners of the league that Lakers star big man Anthony Davis probably prefers for James Borrego to get the job over Redick. Not only has Borrego been a head coach twice already in Orlando and Charlotte compared to Redick's lack of head coaching experience, but he and Davis overlapped briefly during Borrego's first stint with the Pelicans after Davis was drafted No. 1 overall in June 2012.
🏀 As first reported here May 27, it's now an open secret in league coaching circles that the Lakers would still want Borrego on the coaching staff if Redick indeed proves to be their choice to take over as head coach. Yet I've heard skepticism about the Pelicans' readiness to let Borrego, currently associate head coach in New Orleans under Willie Green, make that sort of lateral move while still under contract. Can the Lakers get Borrego if they don't make him the head coach?
🏀 Trying to hire Borrego as an assistant after considering him for the top job would hardly be new ground for the Lakers. In their previous two coaching searches, Jason Kidd and Terry Stotts were asked during the interview process if they would be willing to come to Los Angeles as the top assistant. Kidd said yes and spent two seasons on Frank Vogel's staff before becoming the head coach in Dallas; Stotts passed on the opportunity to join Ham's staff.
🏀 While Redick and Borrego have clearly separated themselves as the top two candidates for the Lakers' post, there is a what-if scenario circulating in coaching circles this week about Monty Williams and whether he could still potentially surface as a candidate if the Detroit Pistons were to part ways with Williams after just one season … and depending, obviously, on whether he actually became available fast enough. As covered at length here Sunday, Williams' status with the Pistons remains uncertain and is currently being evaluated by Detroit's new president of basketball operations Trajan Langdon … even though Williams has five seasons left on a contract worth nearly $80 million. Remember: Before the Lakers hired Vogel entering the 2019-20 season, they first tried to hire Tyronn Lue (before negotiations collapsed) and then Williams (who chose the Phoenix job over L.A.'s).
An interesting discussion point if nothing else about the Lakers' widely perceived top candidate: As a season-ending awards voter thanks to his broadcasting jobs, Redick elected not to vote for Davis for either first or second team All-Defense this season. Davis made All-Defense first team anyway after proclaiming himself to be "the best defensive player in the league" in the wake of his snub from the three-player shortlist of finalists for Defensive Player of the Year.
Redick voted for the three finalists on his All-Defense first team ballot — Miami's Bam Adebayo, Minnesota's Rudy Gobert and San Antonio's Victor Wembanyama — as well as Chicago's Alex Caruso and New Orleans' Herb Jones. Redick's second team selections were Cleveland's Jarrett Allen, Denver's Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Oklahoma City's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Orlando's Jalen Suggs and Boston's Derrick White.
"I'll never get [Defensive Player of the Year]," Davis told ESPN's Dave McMenamin in April. "They're not giving it to me. The league doesn't like me. I'm the best defensive player in the league. I can switch 1 through 5. I can guard the pick-and-roll the best in the league from a big standpoint. I block shots. I rebound.
"I don't know what else to do. I'm over it. I'm just going to do what I got to do to help the team win and try to play for a championship. Accolades and individual awards, I'm done with those."
Davis finished fourth in DPOY voting and ultimately proved to be this season’s only player to earn both All-NBA and All-Defense honors.
I wrote in Sunday's notes compilation about the Pacers' desire to sign Andrew Nembhard to a contract extension this offseason in addition to the lucrative new deal that Indiana is expected to comfortably hash out with Pascal Siakam.
Nembhard's case, it must be noted, is far trickier.
After his outstanding performance in the playoffs, Nembhard is increasingly considered by some rival teams as a lead guard, meaning that he also might project as a player capable of generating a richer offer in down-the-road free agency than the Pacers can offer in an extension this summer.
The Canadian emerged as a sturdy postseason complement to All-Star guard Tyrese Haliburton. Yet with a scheduled salary of just $2 million next season in the final year of his current contract, Nembhard will be restricted to tacking on four years in the estimated ballpark of $75 million this offseason due to CBA limits on raises.
Nembhard's eligibility window for a contract extension opens July 22. The Pacers will naturally be hoping that Nembhard, selected No. 31 overall in the 2022 draft, opts for the first semblance of long-term security that can be put on the table this summer rather than trying to play out the longer road to free agency.
If no extension materializes this summer, Indiana would have the option of making Nembhard a restricted free agent in the 2025 offseason — with matching rights on any external offer he gets — by declining its team option for 2025-26 and then issuing him a qualifying offer.
Another interesting Pacers development: Siakam, I'm told, has not yet decided whether he is or isn't playing for his native Cameroon in a six-team Olympic qualifying tournament in early July.
Siakam, who has never played for his country's senior national team, is listed on Cameron's preliminary roster for the last-chance qualifying event, which will be hosted by Latvia (potentially featuring Boston's Kristaps Porziņģis) and also includes Brazil, Georgia, Montenegro and The Philippines. Only the tournament winner advances to the Paris Olympics.
The conundrum for Siakam: He is expected to verbally agree to his lucrative new contract early in free agency, benefiting from the new rule that stipulates his negotiating window with the Pacers will open on the day after the NBA Finals and all but ensuring a verbal agreement on a new deal before June 30, but Siakam won't be able to formally sign the new deal until the NBA's moratorium of new signings is lifted on July 6 … days after the qualifying tournament in Latvia has begun. One naturally suspects he would prefer to be signed and sealed before playing in international competition.
Cameroon might have been favored to win the six-team qualifier with both Siakam and Philadelphia's Joel Embiid on the roster, but Embiid announced in October that he will play internationally for the United States despite having two other options: Cameroon and France. Both Siakam and Embiid were born in Cameroon before playing collegiately in the United States.
Just to spell out the new rules: Every NBA team can begin negotiating "with upcoming free agents who finished the just-completed season on its roster" on the day after the NBA Finals are complete. Negotiations with all other free agents must wait until 6 PM ET on June 30.
The league's moratorium will be lifted and contracts can begin to be signed at 12:01 PM ET on July 6.
Dereck Lively II only turned 20 on Feb. 12, but he has quickly emerged in his rookie season as one of the Mavericks' most important players.
Lively's rise over the past year has been remarkable. Yet as high as they were on the 7-footer — projecting him as a top-five talent in the 2024 draft class and quickly likening his potential to former title-winning Mavericks center Tyson Chandler — you constantly heard last summer that Olivier Maxence-Prosper was believed to be the more NBA-ready rookie. Lively was drafted No. 12 overall; Maxence-Prosper went No. 24.
Lively appeared to quickly buck those expectations by winning the starting center spot in training camp. In a move designed to ease pressure on the then-19-year-old, Dallas then decided not to start Lively on Opening Night at San Antonio against Victor Wembanyama ... but wound up scrapping that plan after all of two quarters. Lively started the second half and totaled 16 points and 10 rebounds in his NBA debut, outdueling the Spurs' eventual Rookie of the Year who everyone had come to see.
According to research from ESPN's Tim MacMahon, Dallas sports a net rating of +19.7 points per 100 possessions in the 261 minutes that Lively has played in these playoffs alongside Luka Dončić and Kyrie Irving. It's the league's highest reading for the 178 trios to play at least 175 minutes this postseason.
According to an NBA Finals computer simulation from my friends at Strat-O-Matic, Boston is about to beat Dallas in five games to win the 18th title in franchise history.
Regular readers will recall that I turned to my S-O-M pals to simulate the entire season in October. The Celtics were projected in that exercise to go 64-18 (which is exactly what they did) and then win it all via a 4-0 Finals sweep of the Minnesota Timberwolves. Strat-O's early belief in the Wolves also led me to shout them out here a couple weeks ago after Minnesota won three times on Denver's floor in the second round to eliminate the defending champions.
According to the latest simulation, Boston is projected to win the first two games at home as well as Game 4 in Dallas and a Game 5 clincher back in TD Garden, with notable production from Jayson Tatum (28.4 PPG, 11.2 RPG and 5.6 APG), Jaylen Brown (26.2/7.0/3.8) and Derrick White (19.4/6.0/5.0). Strat-O sees Dončić averaging a near triple-double for the series (35.6 PPG, 9.6 RPG and 9.0 APG) with Irving contributing 26.8 points and 5.6 assists per game.
If you still want to register your own Finals prediction in permanent ink, click here and please make sure to get the pick in before this file gets locked shortly before Game 1 tips off Thursday at 8:30 PM ET.
Lakers should just call Phil 🥴
Whoa, breaking news that the Lakers are targeting Dan Hurley!