Miami Heat's fallback option emerges in the event of failed Giannis Antetokounmpo trade
Like just about every team in the league, the Miami Heat would love to trade for Giannis Antetokounmpo. But what if the Milwaukee Bucks aren't ready to trade the face of their franchise? Chances are, the Bucks aren't ready to trade the two-time MVP.
So, if the Heat aren't able to pry Antetokounmpo away from Milwaukee, where should Miami turn next? According to Mike Scotto of Hoops Hype, the Heat could view trading for Jonathan Kuminga as a 'fallback option.'
'Miami has prioritized pursuits of Giannis Antetokounmpo (if he became available this summer) and Durant (whom they're actively trying to acquire) on their wish list ahead of Kuminga, who's viewed as a fallback option to the two superstars.'
Hoops Hype on Miami Heat/Jonathan Kuminga
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While every fan in Miami would instantly recognize Antetokounmpo or Kevin Durant, some non-basketball enthusiasts may need to be informed on the type of potential Kuminga offers.
The seventh overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft will still be just 23 when next season starts, and he's averaged over 15.3 points per game across the past two years. He could very well be the next breakout star that takes the NBA by storm, but the Warriors aren't eager to just give the former first-round pick away either.
Besides, why wouldn't the Heat have just demanded that Kuminga be the centerpiece in their previous Jimmy Butler trade with the Warriors? It's possible Golden State just wasn't ready to move on from their young wing prospect quite yet. We'll see if that changes this offseason.
Related: Kevin Durant trade rumors deliver disappointing update for Heat, Rockets and Spurs fans
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Hamilton Spectator
35 minutes ago
- Hamilton Spectator
The rest that's built into the NBA Finals can be a good thing, especially now
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Given the way Indiana guard Tyrese Haliburton was limping on his way out of the postgame news conference after Game 5 of the NBA Finals, it's safe to assume he's a fan of the schedule right about now. Put simply, he could use a couple of days off — at least. Haliburton has a lower leg injury — nobody's saying exactly what it is, whether it's ankle or calf or something else — and it seems to be the sort that if this were a back-to-back situation in December, he'd be missing at least one game. But these are the finals, this is June, there no back-to-backs in the playoffs and when the league gets to the last series two-day breaks between games aren't uncommon. Amen to that, the Pacers are probably saying right about now. 'The Finals, the NBA Finals, is one of the great stages in all of sports,' Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. 'And so, it shouldn't happen quickly and abruptly. It should happen at the right pace and the right tempo, and the space in between games does help player health. That's a very important aspect of it.' There was a one-day gap between games in this year's finals just once, separating Games 3 and 4 in Indianapolis. Everything else has seen a two-day gap, as will be the case going into Game 6 at Indy on Thursday night. And if the Pacers win to force a Game 7 back in Oklahoma City, that'll be preceded by another two days off going into an ultimate game on Sunday night. It should be noted that the Thunder don't mind the schedule being drawn out, either. 'We recover,' Oklahoma City coach Mark Daigneault said. 'The finals are great because you get extra time in between the games. I think that's huge in terms of rest and recovery at this time of the year. I think it's good for the product. I think it's a good thing and by the time the ball goes up in the air, everybody is going to be ready to play and everybody is going to be excited.' Even those who aren't dealing with an injury seem to be welcoming the two-day gaps between finals games. 'It's a lot of games. It's tiring, for sure,' Thunder star and league MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said. 'But every game is tiring. When you're giving your all, every possession, you're going to be tired. I don't think I'm the only one out there that is tired.' It wasn't always like this. The first NBA Finals were in 1947, before the league was called the NBA (it was the Basketball Association of America then) and before the title round was called the finals (after being called the BAA Finals in the early years, it was called the NBA World Championship Series until the mid-1980s). That first year, Philadelphia and Chicago played five games in seven days. It would be unthinkable to play at that pace now; the NBA, for much of the last decade, hasn't even scheduled stretches like that in the regular season. The finals between Minneapolis and New York did the same thing — five games, seven days — in 1953. Boston and the Los Angeles Lakers played a five-game series in an eight-day span in 1965. Golden State and Washington played four games in eight days in 1975, with two cross-country flights in there as well. And this was long before charter flights became the rule in the NBA, too. 'We're fortunate in this series. Travel is pretty reasonable. Not a long distance,' Carlisle said, evidently aware that the finals has the shortest distance between the dueling cities — Oklahoma City and Indianapolis are separated by 688 miles by air — than any finals matchup since 1956. 'Not a long flight. I do believe it's a better circumstance for the overall integrity of the competition.' The two extra days gives everybody — Haliburton, coaches, everyone — more time to get ready. Daigneault, the father of kids ages 3 and 2, said it gives him more time to be a dad between games. 'I do twice as much parenting,' he said, 'not twice as much work.' Carlisle said coaches get more time to study film, though at this point in the series it's pretty clear that the Thunder and Pacers know each other about as well as they can. And Haliburton will get another 24 hours of whatever scheme the Pacers' medical staff draws up to try to get his leg good to go in Game 6. 'All these guys playing in this series on both sides. I think it's pretty clear now that we're going into the sixth game, and all attention and the crowd noise in both arenas, everything, this is a lifetime opportunity,' Carlisle said. 'Not many guys are going to sit, even if they are a little banged up.' ___ AP NBA:
Miami Herald
43 minutes ago
- Miami Herald
How Tkachuk went from uncertain to start playoffs to ‘best I felt' with Panthers near repeat
It was the days leading up to the Florida Panthers' Stanley Cup playoffs opener against the Tampa Bay Lightning, and Matthew Tkachuk still wasn't sure if he would be suiting up when their title defense began. The star winger had been sidelined since mid-February by an apparent groin injury sustained during the 4 Nations Face-Off. For three weeks leading up to the postseason, he slowly upped his on-ice progression from simple skating to an individual conditioning plan to finally rejoining team practices. Still, Tkachuk wasn't sure if his body would be OK enough — forget fully healthy; that wasn't going to be the case — for him to be able to contribute at the start of the playoffs. 'I thought there was maybe a 50% chance I wouldn't be playing as close to about a week or five days before the playoffs started,' Tkachuk said. But Tkachuk worked. And worked. And worked. 'Very lucky and fortunate that I've got great trainers and doctors,' Tkachuk said. 'They all somehow got me healthy enough to play.' The Panthers are nearly two months into their playoff run now. They enter Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final on the cusp of repeating as Stanley Cup champions, leading the Edmonton Oilers 3-2 in the best-of-7 series. And Tkachuk, while obviously still dealing with some effects of his ailments, has been able to power through to be a key contributor for Florida this postseason. 'I'm feeling the best I felt,' Tkachuk said Monday, on the eve of Florida's first chance to secure a second consecutive title. 'So personally, I'm very happy with where the health is and everything.' Tkachuk enters Tuesday with 22 points (seven goals, 15 assists) in 22 games this postseason. He has logged at least one point in 15 of those 22 outings, including eight of 10 over the past two rounds. But for Tkachuk, the series he knew he needed to be on the ice for was that opening round against the Lightning. Tkachuk said that round 'was definitely the worst I felt, by far' — understandable as it was his first game action since the injury. So why did Tkachuk feel the need to play in that series? 'Just knowing that was going to be, other than this round, that was our toughest round, playing Tampa,' Tkachuk said. 'So I knew that even at nowhere close to what I expected out of myself, I knew I needed to help out as best I can, if we're going to get by them.' Florida got by them in five games. Tkachuk made a statement in the series opener, scoring twice on the power play and adding another assist despite only playing 11:43 while coach Paul Maurice eased him back into game action. Tkachuk finished the round with five points, adding another goal in Florida's Game 3 loss and an assist in the series-clinching Game 5. Maurice already knew how much pain Tkachuk was willing to play through to help his team in the playoffs. He saw it two years earlier, when Tkachuk sustained a fractured sternum in the first period Game 3 of the 2023 Cup Final against the Vegas Golden Knights on an open-ice hit by Vegas forward Keegan Kolesar. Tkachuk finished that game, scoring the game-tying goal with 2:13 left in regulation before Florida won in overtime. Tkachuk managed to play 16:40 in Game 4 of that series before having to be held out of Game 5. 'He could adapt his game very well,' Maurice said. 'We knew he wasn't 100% or close to it, actually.' He probably still isn't, although Maurice on Monday said Tkachuk is at 'full health,' but Tkachuk's fitness has improved each round. So, too, has his game. He had four assists and 22 hits while averaging a little more than 18:30 minutes per game in Florida's seven-game second-round series against the Toronto Maple Leafs. He had two goals and seven points — plus 13 hits and five blocked shots — while averaging about 17 minutes per game in Florida's five-game Eastern Conference final series against the Carolina Hurricanes. And he has six two goals and six points through the first five games of the Stanley Cup Final against Edmonton while averaging more than 19:30 minutes per game. 'I think the last three games he's played have been the best of the playoffs by far, so he's back,' Maurice said. 'But it was still the mental part about how far you want to stress that — taking hits, giving hits and things like that.' Tkachuk has learned what it takes to be ready even when not at his best. Being part of three elongated playoff runs during the past three years — Florida's game on Tuesday will be No. 314 since the start of the 2022-23 season — helps with that. Tkachuk said the grind of playing that much hockey in that span is 'probably worse than anybody could imagine.' But the end result — the potential to win a second Stanley Cup — is well worth it. 'We've worked so hard this year and gone through so many ups and downs and so much,' Tkachuk said. 'It's been a grueling year. It's been tough with guys fighting through injuries, guys having down years. For us to be in this position right now, we've worked so hard for this.'
Fox Sports
an hour ago
- Fox Sports
The rest that's built into the NBA Finals can be a good thing, especially now
Associated Press INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Given the way Indiana guard Tyrese Haliburton was limping on his way out of the postgame news conference after Game 5 of the NBA Finals, it's safe to assume he's a fan of the schedule right about now. Put simply, he could use a couple of days off — at least. Haliburton has a lower leg injury — nobody's saying exactly what it is, whether it's ankle or calf or something else — and it seems to be the sort that if this were a back-to-back situation in December, he'd be missing at least one game. But these are the finals, this is June, there no back-to-backs in the playoffs and when the league gets to the last series two-day breaks between games aren't uncommon. Amen to that, the Pacers are probably saying right about now. 'The Finals, the NBA Finals, is one of the great stages in all of sports,' Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. 'And so, it shouldn't happen quickly and abruptly. It should happen at the right pace and the right tempo, and the space in between games does help player health. That's a very important aspect of it.' There was a one-day gap between games in this year's finals just once, separating Games 3 and 4 in Indianapolis. Everything else has seen a two-day gap, as will be the case going into Game 6 at Indy on Thursday night. And if the Pacers win to force a Game 7 back in Oklahoma City, that'll be preceded by another two days off going into an ultimate game on Sunday night. It should be noted that the Thunder don't mind the schedule being drawn out, either. 'We recover,' Oklahoma City coach Mark Daigneault said. 'The finals are great because you get extra time in between the games. I think that's huge in terms of rest and recovery at this time of the year. I think it's good for the product. I think it's a good thing and by the time the ball goes up in the air, everybody is going to be ready to play and everybody is going to be excited.' Even those who aren't dealing with an injury seem to be welcoming the two-day gaps between finals games. 'It's a lot of games. It's tiring, for sure,' Thunder star and league MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said. 'But every game is tiring. When you're giving your all, every possession, you're going to be tired. I don't think I'm the only one out there that is tired.' It wasn't always like this. The first NBA Finals were in 1947, before the league was called the NBA (it was the Basketball Association of America then) and before the title round was called the finals (after being called the BAA Finals in the early years, it was called the NBA World Championship Series until the mid-1980s). That first year, Philadelphia and Chicago played five games in seven days. It would be unthinkable to play at that pace now; the NBA, for much of the last decade, hasn't even scheduled stretches like that in the regular season. The finals between Minneapolis and New York did the same thing — five games, seven days — in 1953. Boston and the Los Angeles Lakers played a five-game series in an eight-day span in 1965. Golden State and Washington played four games in eight days in 1975, with two cross-country flights in there as well. And this was long before charter flights became the rule in the NBA, too. 'We're fortunate in this series. Travel is pretty reasonable. Not a long distance,' Carlisle said, evidently aware that the finals has the shortest distance between the dueling cities — Oklahoma City and Indianapolis are separated by 688 miles by air — than any finals matchup since 1956. 'Not a long flight. I do believe it's a better circumstance for the overall integrity of the competition.' The two extra days gives everybody — Haliburton, coaches, everyone — more time to get ready. Daigneault, the father of kids ages 3 and 2, said it gives him more time to be a dad between games. 'I do twice as much parenting,' he said, 'not twice as much work.' Carlisle said coaches get more time to study film, though at this point in the series it's pretty clear that the Thunder and Pacers know each other about as well as they can. And Haliburton will get another 24 hours of whatever scheme the Pacers' medical staff draws up to try to get his leg good to go in Game 6. 'All these guys playing in this series on both sides. I think it's pretty clear now that we're going into the sixth game, and all attention and the crowd noise in both arenas, everything, this is a lifetime opportunity,' Carlisle said. 'Not many guys are going to sit, even if they are a little banged up.' ___ AP NBA: recommended
