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We asked you, The Bouncers, if you thought the Mavericks winning the lottery with 1.8 percent odds was incredible luck or whether you believed the lottery was rigged. You voted, and 54.7 percent believe it was luck, and the remaining 45.3 percent believe it was rigged. That’s a calmer result than I anticipated!
Boston’s Bad News
Jayson Tatum tore his Achilles. What now?
The big fear for Celtics star Jayson Tatum came true yesterday when it was confirmed he tore his Achilles tendon during Game 4 Monday night. He had successful surgery to repair it, and now the Celtics enter an extremely difficult summer of decisions. Whether or not they won the title, the Celtics were going to have to make tough choices on the roster with their immense luxury tax bill that far exceeds the second apron threshold.
Now with Tatum and his $54 million salary likely giving them zero production for much of, if not all of, next season, contending for a championship might be a fool’s errand. It would make sense to cut salary, possibly let 38-year-old Al Horford leave in free agency while trading away Jrue Holiday or Kristaps Porziņģis (the assumed contracts they could possibly jettison with Holiday being the most likely), and then hope for a healthy return for Tatum in the 2026-27 season. This terrible news for the Celtics dramatically changes the landscape of the Eastern Conference, and Boston will need to recalibrate their plan.
I decided to tap in with our Celtics beat reporter, Jay King, for a Q&A about this very subject. Make sure you also check out his podcast “Still Poddable” on the subject.
Is there any reason to believe Tatum would see a second of time in a game next season, even if the Celtics have a deep playoff run?
Jay: Tatum loves to play. He has often fought the Celtics to play when he’s a little banged up. If he feels ready to go before the end of next season and passes all the physical tests in front of him, I would imagine he will let it be known he wants to return to the court. Of course, the organization will want to be cautious with its crown jewel. And the timeline of the injury should force him to miss at least most of next season, if not all of it.
How does this affect any potential plans the Celtics had to trim payroll this summer or reconstruct the roster?
Jay: My first thought went to Al Horford, an impending free agent, and Jrue Holiday, who will turn 35 next month. Will they still fit into the Celtics’ plans now that Tatum is expected to miss at least much of next season? Boston was always expected to trim some salary this summer, but could consider more radical changes now that Tatum is looking at an extended absence. And Horford and Holiday won’t be the only possible changes.
Do the Celtics still have enough or a way to compete for the title without Tatum next season?
Jay: Maybe if Baylor Scheierman becomes an All-NBA wing overnight. For real, though, the Celtics have a net rating of minus-0.9 with Tatum on the bench so far this postseason. Though that number was much better during the regular season, they don’t have enough to compete for a championship without him. They could still be dangerous, though, depending on what changes the front office makes.
The Celtics still have Game 5 in Boston tonight against the Knicks at 7 p.m. ET on TNT. They’re down 3-1 in the series and must win to keep their season alive.
The Last 24
Would Mavericks trade No. 1 pick?
🏀 Wild possibilities. Your shocking lottery night might lead to big moves. Could Jaylen Brown be on the move?
💰 I got 5 on it. The Trail Blazers are going up for sale. Want to buy an NBA team?
😞 Just spectating. Steph Curry has only been able to watch most of the second round. It’s a cruel trick.
👀 New favorites? After all this Tatum news and series shuffling, your new East favorites? The Knicks.
🎧 Tuning in. Today’s “NBA Daily” discusses the Pacers being uncompromising in their identity.
Just Tell Us
Why is the MVP announcement so late?
Why hasn’t the MVP award been announced yet? We should know whether or not Shai Gilgeous-Alexander or Nikola Jokić is the 2024-25 regular-season MVP by now. It would be an especially dramatic storyline considering they’re currently battling it out in the second round of the Western Conference playoffs. And yet, we’re left scratching our heads, wondering why this announcement is crawling to the pace of a 1990s schedule.
I actually went back and looked at the announcement of the previous MVP awards dating back all the way to 1991. Why? Because I’ve got a lot of free time, and I’m a world-class procrastinator. What I found is that a later announcement like this in the ‘90s was actually pretty common. We typically didn’t get to find out Michael Jordan won it or someone stole it from MJ until early in the conference finals.
However, since the year 2000, this has been something that typically gets announced before we reach May 10. In fact, it’s pretty rare we get past May 10 without knowing who won the award. I left out the seasons shortened by labor disputes and the pandemic for the chart below. I also left out 2017-2019, when the league was doing its awards show in June.
This holdup two weeks into May isn’t something we’ve experienced in 18 years. And since we’re not going to get the announcement until at least next week, that means it’ll be the first MVP announced in the conference finals since Jordan won the 1998 MVP.
So, why are we being robbed of this extra bit of drama to hang over Thunder-Nuggets? It feels like back in the David Stern era, the results would be stapled to the jerseys of the players. Remember Hakeem Olajuwon versus David Robinson in 1995?
Asking around the league, there is no rhyme or reason being given to it. I’m not calling anybody a liar, but I also choose not to buy it. So, I’ll throw out some conspiracy theories and you decide what you want to believe:
- They accidentally deleted the online ballots file.
- The recently appointed agency of Dominique-Olajuwon-Garnett-Ewing messed with the data, and we don’t know how to unencrypt it.
- The league doesn’t want to upset either Jokić or SGA with the result, should they lose the series. Even though it would be awesome for the league and fans to have this.
- The trophy also suffered a season-ending injury.
- Gen Z thinks MVP awards aren’t cool anymore.
- We’re waiting for it to be decided in a Jake Paul boxing match.
OKClutch City
The Thunder have learned to be clutch
All season long, the Thunder just didn’t find themselves in any clutch games. They were simply too dominant. And when they finally ended up in one against Nikola Jokić and the Nuggets in Game 1, they choked away the game in a bunch of different ways. Championship knowhow fell to youthful exuberance. They got their revenge with a monster Game 2 blowout, and then lost in overtime to Denver in Game 3. Another clutch loss.
After last night’s 112-105 Game 5 victory, the Thunder have now run off two straight clutch game victories. OKC is actually 4-2 now in clutch games in the playoffs, winning two against the Grizzlies in the first round and pulling even to 2-2 against Denver in this round so far. It helped the Thunder take a 3-2 lead in the series because they managed to make shots as a team down the stretch of Game 5, and Big Honey was left on an island by his teammates.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 10 of his 31 points in the fourth quarter. All 10 of them came in the final 3:33. Lu Dort came to life scoring nine of his 12 points in the fourth, and the Thunder, overall, hit 55.6 percent of their shots and 3-pointers in a massive 34-19 final period to take control of this game.
As for Jokić? He had 13 points on 4-of-6 shooting in the final 12 minutes. He came to play. His teammates went 1-of-15 from the field. Jamal Murray was the only player to make a shot in the fourth. One single shot. Murray finished with 28 points on 27 shots. Jokić finished with 44 points on 17-of-25 shooting, 5-of-7 from deep, 5-of-5 from the line, 15 rebounds (six offensive), five assists and just two turnovers in 44 minutes.
OKC was clutch. Jokić was clutch. His team was not. And now the Thunder are on the verge of their first Western Conference finals berth since 2016. As long as they can close it out.
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About Last Night
Pacers send 64-win Cavaliers to Tulum
The Pacers are headed back to the Eastern Conference finals after dismissing the 64-win, No. 1 seed Cavaliers in five games. Yes, the Cavs had some injuries in this series, but the Pacers punched them in the mouth in Game 1, and it never felt like Cleveland knew what to do from there. Maybe it truly is a different series if the Cavs are at full strength, because we saw them play historically good basketball this season. But it’s the third straight postseason we’ve seen some combination of them not being ready in big moments and/or injuries taking them down. And it’s the second straight postseason of the Pacers being too much for an opponent.
The Pacers await their opponent between the Knicks and Celtics, but the Cavs enter the summer needing to figure out once again if this is fluke or flaw. They don’t have their first-round pick. They have Ty Jerome and Sam Merrill as free agents, but this team is already projected to be in the second apron without them. And they have to figure out why their team seems to buckle mentally in these playoff series.
Does it mean trading Darius Garland away? Does it mean swapping out role players like Max Strus (41.6 percent shooting in 2025 playoffs) and De’Andre Hunter (42.9 percent) for guys who are more capable of stepping up? How do you figure out why this team went from the best 3-point shooting team in the NBA to 29.4 percent in the five games against Indiana?
Once again, Cleveland goes into the summer wondering whether to blame injuries or a flawed roster, because Kenny Atkinson’s regular season boost didn’t translate to postseason improvement.
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(Photo: David Butler II / Imagn Images)