The 2025-26 is coming to a close and the is starting to solidify, but buzz around and the is already humming.
For the 10 teams already , the focus has turned to the draft lottery on May 10 and how it will impacts their franchise. The 2026 draft is widely viewed as ; several of the top players are expected to be in the league, which has resulted in some of the most overt in years.
Check back here for all the latest buzz, news and reactions from our ESPN NBA insiders, with the latest info at the top:
Quick links:
| |
ESPN’s Anthony Slater talked to players, coaches and executives about how they feel about tanking in the NBA and the future it has in the league.
In ESPN’s conversations with dozens of players, coaches and front office executives, a consistent theme emerged: Nobody likes it — “I hate it,” Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr said — but not many deny it is often the most prudent team-building path when stuck near the bottom. Different seasons and different drafts will generate different forms, but everyone agrees it’ll continue until the NBA figures out either the proper rules or punishments to curb it.
“These teams are doing the whole gamut: sitting guys in the fourth, playing analytically bad lineups, drawing up plays for bad shots,” one Western Conference general manager said. “The creativity is impressive and I don’t blame them. It’s the best strategy to get better. Look at all the most promising teams in the league: Thunder, Spurs, Pistons, Rockets, Hornets. Years of being bad and building up on high picks. It’s painful but worthwhile.”
The strategies are growing in audaciousness and frequency of use. The orders from management are coming in earlier in the season, creating months of competitively compromised and often unwatchable basketball. The average margin of victory in NBA games this season is 13.1 points, the largest spread in history, and a record 89 games have been decided by 30 or more points.
Brian is joined by ESPN’s Tim Bontemps and Tim MacMahon to discuss the firing president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas and general manager Marc Eversley and why the franchise could finally be moving in the right direction. They then move on to the potential playoff matchups, including a potential intriguing series between the and and why the ‘ wins of late have them set up for a deep playoff run. They close on whether the should shut down for the regular season
The are expected to engage a search firm in order to find a replacement for vice president Arturas Karnisovas and general manager Marc Eversley, whom the team running the basketball operations department, sources told ESPN.
It’s a different approach from the process Chicago used when it hired Karnisovas in 2020. Team president and CEO Michael Resindorf said then that he targeted the top “No. 2” in basketball and went after general managers such as Karnisovas, who was then with the , and Bobby Webster, who was then general manager of the , but has since been promoted to their head of basketball operations.
This is only the second time since 2003 that the Bulls have hired a new head of basketball operations. Before Karnisovas got the job in 2020, John Paxson assumed the role for 17 years from 2003 to ’20. Karnisovas and Eversley went 224-254 across six seasons leading the organization to one winning season and one playoff appearance.
Even though Chicago sits 29-49 and in 12th place in the Eastern Conference, the opening is expected to be an attractive one around the league. The Bulls have flexibility on how they can build their roster with their own lottery pick, approximately $60 million in cap space and young players on the roster without long-term salary commitments.
Chicago is still expected to try to in some capacity after the season. — Jamal Collier
ESPN’s Shams Charania went inside the drama between two-time MVP and the , as a crucial summer window approaches. The story details what has led to the falling out in Milwaukee and what it means for the future of both Antetokounmpo and the Bucks.
This season, the Bucks have gone 17-19 with Antetokounmpo in the lineup and 14-28 without him, and they rank 25th in offensive rating and 26th in defensive rating overall. They are one of six NBA teams to rank in the bottom five in both categories.
All the while, the uncertainty of Antetokounmpo’s future in Milwaukee lingered. The Bucks engaged in trade talks ahead of the Feb. 5 trade deadline but chose to hold on to him, even as it became increasingly clear that they didn’t have much hope of even elevating into the play-in race. Milwaukee is now headed to the draft lottery for the first time since 2016, snapping a streak of nine consecutive years in the playoffs. The Bucks haven’t won a postseason series since 2022. Antetokounmpo, who is under contract for one more season, has played in a career-low 36 games and privately feuded with the organization for several months, culminating in rebuking the team’s requests to shut down in the final month of the season and setting up another contentious summer.
“When your best player is one foot in, one foot out,” said one team source, “you’re not going to win.”
The Bucks have officially been eliminated from the playoffs.
The have dismissed the executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas and general manager Marc Eversley after six seasons, per ESPN’s Shams Charania.
The 29-49 Bulls sit in 12th in the East and are bound for the lottery.
The North Carolina Tar Heels are former coach Michael Malone for the same position with the school, per ESPN Pete Thamel.
Malone won the 2022-23 NBA championship with the Nuggets.
Brian is joined by ESPN’s Tim Bontemps and Tim MacMahon to discuss ‘s big weekend and where the Rookie of the Year award race currently stands. They then jump into the biggest storylines over the final week of the regular season, including the drama between the and , the playoff races to watch and the mounting injuries hampering the ‘ playoff hopes.
“I don’t know who’s going to still have their jobs in Chicago by the end of next week,” Brian Windhorst said on the podcast. “Whether it’s by their own decision or by other people’s decision.”
forward has reached another financial benchmark for games played.
The salary protection for his $42.2 million salary in 2026-27 was nonguaranteed headed into the season. But now that he has played in 61 games, 80% ($33.7 million) of his $42.2 million salary for next season is protected.
The remaining $8.4 million will become guaranteed if Williamson’s combined body weight and body fat percentage is less than 295. There were seven times he was required to weigh in this season. It’s unclear what he weighed during those check-ins.
Williamson has one of the league’s most unusual contracts. His salary next season and in 2027-28 originally became nonguaranteed when he missed more than 22 games in the 2022-23 season. His $44.9 million salary in 2027-28 remains nonguaranteed.
The 61 games played this season is tied for the third most in his career. He’s averaging 21.1 points and 5.7 rebounds per game. The Pelicans, who have been eliminated from playoff contention, have four games left on . — Bobby Marks
star is out indefinitely with a Grade 2 right hamstring injury, sources told ESPN’s Shams Charania and Dave McMenamin. Doncic will miss the rest of the regular season, and his availability for the playoffs is uncertain.
In the 20 minutes after the news broke, the Lakers’ title chances dropped from 30-1 to 100-1, per DraftKings Sportsbook.
Doncic, who has played in 64 games and ranked fourth in , will apply for what’s called an “extraordinary circumstances challenge” to the 65-game rule for award consideration, per his agent, Bill Duffy.
Statement from Luka Doncic’s agent Bill Duffy of WME Basketball: “This season, Luka Dončić has performed at a historic level, leading the league in scoring, carrying the Lakers to third place in the Western Conference and placing himself in the middle of one of the most tightly…
Per ESPN’s Bobby Marks, Doncic can apply the exception for the two games he missed in December for the birth of his daughter. The application must be made no earlier than 12 p.m. ET on the last day of the regular season and no later than 11:59 p.m. on the day after the last day of the regular season.
Doncic signed a three-year extension last August and has been named All-NBA in five of the six previous seasons.
There will be no financial implications in his next contract if the application is denied.
Though the Lakers haven’t provided a timeline for his return, Grade 2 hamstring injuries typically require a monthlong recovery. Doncic has averaged a league-high 33.5 points this season, along with 7.7 rebounds and 8.3 assists.
The Lakers, who have gone 8-2 in their past 10 games, are third in the Western Conference, one game ahead of the No. 4-seeded , 2.5 games ahead of the No. 5-seeded and 3.5 ahead of the No. 6-seeded .
for postseason honors could have significant financial implications for guard .
In the scenario Maxey is named All-NBA this season, he would become eligible to sign a four-year, $300 million supermax extension in the 2027 offseason if he is also named All-NBA next season. The first year of the extension would begin in 2029-30.
A player with seven or eight years of NBA service is supermax eligible if they are named All-NBA in the immediately preceding season or in two of the immediately preceding three seasons. Maxey ranks fourth in the league in points per game (28.8) and third in total clutch points. — Bobby Marks
Brian is joined by ESPN’s Tim Bontemps and Tim MacMahon to go over this season’s final edition of the MVP straw poll, including whether still has a chance to catch reigning MVP, , for the award. They also cover the close battle in the Rookie of the Year race between and .
The investigation into an alleged deal between the LA Clippers, Kawhi Leonard and the company Aspiration is ongoing, sources told ESPN’s Baxter Holmes.
“Wachtell’s investigation is ongoing,” said an NBA spokesperson. “There is more work to be done and no set timeline.”
The news broke in September of 2025 that the Clippers were being investigated over allegation that a $28 million endorsement deal between Leonard and Aspiration constituted salary cap circumvention. Owner Steve Ballmer has denied the allegations.
Read more:
ESPN’s Jeremy Woo and Tim Bontemps talked to executives across the league about the upcoming 2026 NBA draft, including whom they believe will be taken with the first overall selection, what concerns front offices have with prospects and best fits.
“I think this draft is, in some ways, similar to the [2024 Zaccharie] Risacher year, but on a higher level,” they said. “That year it was like, ‘Is anyone going to be really good?’ This year, it’s like, ‘Well, s—, there’s a lot of guys.’ You have high confidence that at least some of them are going to be really, really good. You’re not really sure which ones.
“You don’t want to be drafting at 1 and end up with the fifth-best player.”
The NBA draft lottery takes place on May 10 ahead of the draft on June 25 and 26.
ESPN’s Tim Bontemps and Dave McMenamin broke down the six possible avenues LeBron James could take this offseason, including staying with the Los Angeles Lakers, returning home to Cleveland and or landing with some surprising wildcard teams around the league.
In their weekly intel file, ESPN’s Tim Bontemps and Brian Windhorst talked to coaches, front offices and scouts to gauge the growing hype around the San Antonio Spurs’ playoff run.
“They’re my favorite now,” the scout told ESPN. “I’ve been thinking a lot about it. His game is going to be even more dominant in the playoffs and every game he’s going to get more and more into your head. In Game 1, your players will think about him on some of their shots. By Game 4, they’ll be having full-on nightmares.”
The Spurs are currently two games behind the Oklahoma City Thunder for the top seed in the Western Conference.
