Will people even remember the 2025 NBA Finals?
Dan Patrick and Gilbert Arenas break down the reason why people will not remember the 2025 NBA Finals because of the low-market teams, whereas the Kevin Durant trade from Phoenix to Houston will continue to turn heads.
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Associated Press
12 minutes ago
- Associated Press
Pacers bright future becomes much cloudier because of Tyrese Haliburton's injury
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Tyrese Haliburton took the Indiana Pacers to heights few thought possible after they started this season with a 10-15 record. His historic postseason run included a litany of incredible plays, buzzer-beating winners and occasionally unprecedented stat lines, and it helped propel the Pacers to their second NBA Finals appearance and within one victory of the franchise's first championship. Now, after suffering an apparent Achilles tendon injury in Sunday night's Game 7 loss, the logical question is whether the Pacers can contend for a title next season — if their top playmaker misses the entire season with the injury. Even so, coach Rick Carlisle believes it's only the start for Haliburton & Co. 'He will be back,' Carlisle said following the 103-91 loss at Oklahoma City. 'I don't have any medical information about what's what, what may or may not have happened. But he'll be back in time, and I believe he'll make a full recovery.' A healthy Haliburton certainly makes the Pacers a stronger team. They likely wouldn't have made it this far without him helping to orchestrate three incredible rallies from seven points down in the final 50 seconds of regulation in three weeks. But after scoring nine points, all on 3-pointers, in the first seven minutes of the biggest game in franchise history, Haliburton's crash to the floor and sudden departure created a double whammy for Indiana. Not only did they lose their leader, but Indiana also fell short in its title chase. Again. 'We just kept battling because we wanted to make Indiana proud, make our fans proud,' three-time All-Star Pascal Siakam said. 'We tried our best, but we've got to be strong. It's hard to look forward into the future after you lose like this.' But everyone else is, and the questions about Haliburton's playing status could make this offseason murkier than expected for Pacers president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard. There are silver linings, though. At age 25, Haliburton is young enough to return to his pre-injury form and today's medical advances could help shorten the expected timetable of about 12 months. Many players, including some much older than Haliburton, have shown it is possible to make a full comeback, and Siakam has no doubt Haliburton will join the club. 'I know there's more coming, it's just a tough a situation,' Siakam said. 'I think back a couple of years and basketball was just not fun, you know, and I got traded here and these guys, they just gave me a boost and playing with these guys is so incredible. I found joy with so much swagger and happiness.' That's unlikely to change regardless of Haliburton's health because his effusive, contagious personality even in the face of adversity will continue to be a key feature for Indiana. Players such as Siakam won't allow that to change. But Indiana also will begin next season with a strong supporting cast intact and room to grow defensively. Indiana's deep rotation routinely wore down playoff opponents with its racer-like tempo, a model it could replicate again next season as it has done each of the previous two even when Haliburton didn't play. Nine of Indiana's top 10 players are under contract for 2025-26, with starting center Myles Turner the lone exception. Indiana's longest-tenured player has a cap hold estimated at slightly less than $30 million, meaning if he re-signs for something close, Indiana would be barely moving into the first apron and could stay out of that spending threshold with another move. The Pacers also have strong guard play from Andrew Nembhard and T.J. McConnell, who can run the show, as well as emerging defender Ben Sheppard. Aaron Nesmith and Bennedict Mathurin also demonstrated their scoring prowess in the postseason. Both also showed they can defend guards and forwards, giving Indiana perhaps the toughness and flexibility to overcome a Haliburton absence. And Haliburton's absence could create more minutes for young players such as Mathurin, Sheppard and forward Jarace Walker, a lottery pick in 2023. For now, though, it remains hard to fathom — chasing a title with Haliburton possibly out for most, if not all, of next season. 'A lot of us were hurting from the loss and he was up there consoling us. That's who Tyrese Haliburton is,' McConnell said. 'He's just the greatest.' ___ AP NBA:
Washington Post
16 minutes ago
- Washington Post
The NBA offseason is officially here. It's been going on for some time, actually
Kevin Durant already has been traded to Houston. The New York Knicks are looking for a coach. Cooper Flagg is about to become the No. 1 pick in the draft. Expansion plans likely will take a big step forward in a few weeks. The Los Angeles Lakers just got sold. The NBA offseason officially has started. In reality, it's been going for a few weeks already. There's a parade in Oklahoma City on Tuesday to celebrate the newly crowned champion Thunder, and in every other NBA city there's going a parade of movement — some of which already has started — over the coming weeks to try to catch the champs. 'These are difficult equations,' Golden State coach Steve Kerr said as the Warriors were starting their summer more than a month ago. 'You look around the league, and you see some teams that have mortgaged their future, and they're in some trouble. There are other teams that have done so, and they're championship contenders.' Outside of Oklahoma City — where virtually the entire rotation is expected to be back, led by MVP, Finals MVP, scoring champion and NBA champion Shai Gilgeous-Alexander , who just put together one of the best individual seasons of all time — there are plenty of questions everywhere. Among them: — Will the Spurs get Victor Wembanyama back at full strength after he missed the last two months of the regular season with deep vein thrombosis in one of his shoulders? (The answer is believed to be yes.) — How will Boston, Milwaukee and Eastern Conference champion Indiana fare now that Jayson Tatum, Damian Lillard and Tyrese Haliburton are set to miss most, if not all of, next season with Achilles tendon injuries? (The answer is probably not great.) — Who will New York get to replace the fired Tom Thibodeau? (The answer is anyone's guess, especially after multiple teams refused to let their under-contract coaches interview for that gig.) The injury situations for the Celtics, Bucks and Pacers certainly have teams thinking that the East could be more of a wide-open race in 2025-26. Orlando made a big move earlier this month, landing Desmond Bane from Memphis to play with Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner. And the Magic made that move knowing it would take them into the luxury tax, but that's the price they're willing to pay to try to win now. 'We put our foot on the gas here,' Magic president Jeff Weltman said. 'So, as I've always said, that train is coming for everybody. We probably skipped a station here and I hope that our team is good enough to merit where the finances will take us.' Houston finished 16 games behind Oklahoma City in the Western Conference and still got the No. 2 seed for the playoffs. The Rockets are hoping to close that gap now that they've added one of the greatest scorers in league history in Durant — who was the subject of trade talks for some time. 'Being part of the Houston Rockets, I'm looking forward to it,' Durant said in an interview with Fanatics at Fanatics Fest, where he was on stage for a scheduled discussion when the news broke Sunday. 'Crazy, crazy couple of weeks, but I'm glad it's over with.' The Durant trade was probably the biggest in the NBA since the Lakers landed Luka Doncic earlier this year. The team that traded Doncic was the Dallas Mavericks; they went on to win the draft lottery and the right to land Flagg, the one-and-done star out of Duke. Flagg will be the No. 1 pick on Wednesday night, just like LeBron James was 22 years ago. James has a decision to make on his player option for next season with the Lakers in the coming days, though all signs point to him returning and becoming the first 23-season player in NBA history. 'At this point of my career, you think about when the end is. That's human nature,' James told The Associated Press last week in an interview promoting his partnership with Amazon. 'You think: Is it this year? Or next year? Those thoughts always creep into your mind at this point of the journey. But I have not given it a specific timetable, date. I'm seeing how my body and family reacts, too.' The Lakers struck a deal last week for Mark Walter to become the majority owner, a move that would end a 46-year run of team control by the Buss family. There are sales pending for the Minnesota Timberwolves (which is expected to be done in the next few days, with Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez set to finally close on that agreement) and the Celtics as well. There likely will be discussions on both at the board of governors meeting in Las Vegas next month, and that's also where the NBA is expected to officially open a process of exploring possible expansion. 'It will be on the agenda to take the temperature of the room,' Commissioner Adam Silver said. 'We have committees that are already talking about it. But my sense is at that meeting, they're going to give direction to me and my colleagues at the league office that we should continue to explore it.' Free agency starts in earnest on June 30, summer leagues in Utah and California open a few days later and then the every-team-goes NBA Summer League in Las Vegas — where Flagg likely will debut as a Mavericks player — opens July 10. There will be a schedule release likely in August, then camps open in late September. It is the offseason. Nobody is really off, at least not for a few more weeks anyway. 'You get away from the game a little bit,' Warriors guard Stephen Curry said. 'And then you're rebuilding everything for another great run.' ___ AP NBA:
29 minutes ago
Kristin Chenoweth stuns with sky-high notes in NBA Finals national anthem
Kristin Chenoweth delivered a gravity-defying performance of the national anthem over the weekend. At Game 7 of the NBA Finals on Sunday, the Emmy and Tony Award-winning Oklahoma native hit several sky-high notes as she sang "The Star-Spangled Banner." Her performance was lauded by many on social media, including Lindsay Lohan, "Cheer" star Monica Aldama and more. Chenoweth looked glam during her performance, wearing sparkling knee-high boots. She also sported an Oklahoma City Thunder shirt. Oklahoma City ultimately beat the Indiana Pacers 103-91 in Game 7 to take home the championship, prompting Chenoweth to share a video from the game on her Instagram story, cheering, "We did it!" In a video shared on the NBA's official Instagram page, Chenoweth said she's an "Okie" -- the Broadway star was born in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma -- and that she's been "a huge basketball fan my whole life." "Eight years ago, I named my dog Thunder," she added. She also mentioned how much she loves singing the national anthem. "I do love this song," she said. "And I take it very seriously. I definitely do my own version." "Thunder up! Where's Rumble when you need him?" she added, referring to the team's mascot, Rumble the Bison. "That's gonna be the name of my next dog."
