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What’s one more mock draft, right? In May, hours after the NBA Draft Lottery, The Athletic NBA writers made their predictions on how they saw the lottery shaking out. In the weeks that followed, prospects have been interviewed, measured, put through drills and visited various teams across the league. With the draft finally here, what…

Jimmy Haslam was bluffing. Or, at minimum, keeping the Milwaukee Bucks’ cards close to the vest. It was May 6 at the Milwaukee Art Museum, where the team’s co-owner joined the rest of the Bucks’ brass, along with the media, to discuss the hiring of new coach Taylor Jenkins. However, the topic, inevitably, turned to…

The Pulse Newsletter 📣 | This is The Athletic’s daily sports newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Pulse directly in your inbox. Good morning! Many things have happened since we last spoke. Let’s get to it:  🌴 Giannis blockbuster ⚾ An improbable title ⚽ Messi’s record, for now While You Were Sleeping: Giannis, Bucks…

This class was good enough to ignite a full-on freshman revolution throughout college basketball. It looked promising enough to inspire a colossal tank-a-thon around the pros. At long last, the 2026 NBA Draft has arrived. The hooping world braces for impact. Across two days and two different TV channels, the future of this league begins to…

For one NBA scout who saw Santa Clara this season, Allen Graves didn’t look like a prospect on the radar for the 2026 NBA Draft. He was aware of Graves, but the forward’s game didn’t excite him. But the analytics staff for this scout’s team raved about Graves, which prompted the scout to take a…

The developmental corps survey ahead of the 2026 NBA Draft continues! We previously examined the Western Conference; now it’s time for the Eastern Conference. The 2026 NBA Finals offered two extremes in roster construction. The San Antonio Spurs arguably have the league’s best developmental corps. The champion New York Knicks, meanwhile, had only two draft…

Pericles, a Greek general during the Golden Age of Athens, once said, “Time is the wisest counselor of all.” As the basketball world processes Giannis “the Greek Freak” Antetokounmpo’s trade to the Miami Heat, it feels like the inevitable, disappointing conclusion to an otherwise successful business partnership between one of the NBA’s premier superstars and…

This story is part of Peak, The Athletic’s desk covering the mental side of sports. Sign up for Peak’s newsletter here. With the New York Knicks one win away from a championship, Jalen Brunson was fielding questions from reporters when a voice cut through the crowd. “Hey Jalen, Kon from Charlotte.” As in Kon Knueppel,…

For more than a year following Damian Lillard’s Achilles tear, the scuttlebutt around the Milwaukee Bucks was whether or not they were going to have to trade Giannis Antetokounmpo to greener pastures. Antetokounmpo is all about wanting to compete for championships, and the Bucks aren’t even close to that now. Advertisement Well, at least the…

MILWAUKEE — The idea that Giannis Antetokounmpo is going to wear a different jersey is just … wild. It’s hard to comprehend. It’s just not something that you could imagine if you’ve followed his career in Milwaukee or, in my case, covered him here for most of that time. During the last six months, if…