Tag: nytimes.com

There will be no relitigating the NBA MVP award. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander won his second straight trophy on Sunday, deservedly, with Nikola Jokić and Victor Wembanyama finishing as runners-up. Regardless of what happens in the Western Conference finals between Gilgeous-Alexander’s Oklahoma City Thunder and Wembanyama’s San Antonio Spurs, that was the correct result. Advertisement Here’s the…

With the 2025-26 NBA regular season complete, The Athletic presents its end-of-season NBA Player Tiers, a look at determining and slotting the top 125 players in the league. These are not rankings but more so a hard look at the value of the league’s best players, and the project is a subjective exercise. My evaluation…

DETROIT — The Pistons locker room was silent. The bulk of the fans who remained after Detroit’s blowout Game 7 loss at Little Caesars Arena were there for the Cleveland Cavaliers after being bussed in by owner Dan Gilbert. As disappointing as their performance was Sunday evening, Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff refused to view…

Both the No. 3 New York Knicks and the No. 4 Cleveland Cavaliers came into the 2025-26 regular season expecting to be here, in the Eastern Conference finals. That was before a flawed, injury-plagued Raptors team took the Cavs to seven games, before the Knicks seemed ready to surrender in the first round to the…

Taylor Rooks and Blake Griffin, the host and a panelist on the Amazon Prime pregame studio show, got in a few digs at ESPN’s Shams Charania for reporting the news that was supposed to be announced exclusively on Prime: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander would win the NBA MVP award. Charania, the lead ESPN reporter, sent out a…

The NBA’s MVP, once again, resides in Oklahoma City. Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has won a second consecutive regular-season MVP award, the NBA announced Sunday. The 27-year-old beat fellow finalists Nikola Jokić of the Denver Nuggets and Victor Wembanyama of the San Antonio Spurs. The now-two-time MVP finished with 83 first-place votes compared to 10…

Oklahoma City Thunder forward Jalen Williams is back in the lineup. The All-Star was not listed on Oklahoma City’s injury report for Game 1 of their West finals series against the San Antonio Spurs on Monday night, making him available to return from a six-game absence. The 25-year-old has been out since suffering a left…

Udonis Haslem, if nothing else, has always been unapologetically candid. His outspoken, straightforward nature works well for television analysis. That’s only one side of the man who played 20 seasons in the NBA, all with the Miami Heat. There’s a genuine nature in Haslem, now an NBA analyst for Prime Video, that builds trust with…

CHICAGO — When the San Antonio Spurs won the 2023 NBA Draft Lottery, it was a foregone conclusion what Spurs officials would do next. They kept the No. 1 pick and drafted Victor Wembanyama, who was widely considered the best prospect in a generation. The Dallas Mavericks had an easy choice of their own when…

CHICAGO — While the NBA appears headed toward its most significant draft lottery changes in decades, with a vote on the “3-2-1 proposal” looming at a Board of Governors meeting on May 28, critics remain inside the league’s front offices. The most common concern from team executives polled by The Athletic at last week’s Draft…