News, notes and observations as we rely down the ultimate days of the 2025–26 NBA common season …
Exploring Keldon Johnson’s function with the Spurs
Mitch Johnson needed so as to add one thing. It’s mid-March and Johnson was wrapping up an interview. He had talked about Victor Wembanyama, about De’Aaron Fox, about Stephon Castle. But Johnson needed to say his piece about what he feels is an neglected piece of San Antonio’s success: Keldon Johnson, the Spurs’ tremendous sixth man.
“I can’t remember a player that embraced that transition from leading scorer to bench at the age that he is and on the same team,” says Mitch Johnson. “I can’t remember that ever happening. It’s just a reflection of his desire to want to win and to be here to do it.”
A number one reserve function was by no means one thing he envisioned, Keldon informed me final week earlier than San Antonio’s sport in opposition to Denver. In truth, when then-coach Gregg Popovich prompt it years in the past, he resisted. “I was definitely a little iffy about it,” says Johnson. Johnson was a starter his first three full seasons in San Antonio. In 2022–23, he led the Spurs in scoring. “I really had to look in the mirror and really see what I wanted to do,” says Johnson. “Do I want to be here? Do I want to be a part of something special?”
The reply: Yes. Johnson loves San Antonio. He owns a 22-acre ranch simply outdoors the town, stocked with goats, chickens, cows and horses. And whereas it took him time to embrace his new function, Johnson has thrived in it. He’s averaging 13 factors this season on 52% capturing, together with 37% from three, numbers which have pushed Johnson to the highest of the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year race. His impression on San Antonio’s success—60 wins and counting—has been measurable, says Mitch Johnson.
“The role embracement from him has been earlier than everybody else on this team,” says Mitch. “We asked him to embrace the role before the team was ready and was built for him to star in that role. For a young player to do that is almost unheard of.”
As Johnson has grown into the function, it has grown on him. “I like being the energy guy,” Johnson says. Rebounding, protection, diving for unfastened balls. Freed from the accountability of a main scorer, Johnson has discovered quite a lot of methods to impression profitable.
“I feel like it just gives my team a different level and a different approach coming to the game,” says Johnson. “Knowing that when I’m on the bench and I’m accessing the game and I’m seeing what’s going on, I can get an idea of what we may need when I come in. And that means more than anything, knowing that my teammates depend on me for this role each and every night.”
Why Michael Malone took a school head teaching job
North Carolina’s hiring of Michael Malone despatched a shock wave via the NBA. Malone might be properly paid by North Carolina, reportedly earning north of $8 million, which might put him within the higher half of NBA coaches’ pay. But Malone, who was fired by the Nuggets final spring after nine-plus seasons, figured to be closely concerned within the upcoming teaching cycle. Instead, he’s off to North Carolina to teach within the faculty ranks for the primary time.
“It wasn’t an easy decision,” Malones stated at a information convention on Tuesday. “But what I kept thinking about was I have a chance to be a part of something special. The history, the tradition, to be a part of something much bigger than myself. This was the only college job I’d ever consider.
Sniff around a little and it makes more sense. Malone and his representatives probably had a pretty good read on what jobs might be open next week—and where Malone stood with the teams doing the hiring. Taking the Carolina job—and the fat salary that comes with it—is a pretty good fallback. According to Malone, it was a 10-day recruitment by North Carolina officials that culminated with a five-hour meeting in his home on Easter Sunday.
Will it work? North Carolina’s last attempt at hiring a pro coach has had mixed results. Malone was at best the third choice, after Tommy Lloyd and Billy Donovan. There’s no doubting Malone’s coaching acumen—he has the championship ring to support it—but college coaching is more than that. It’s recruiting (and sometimes re-recruiting), player development, the transfer portal. Malone will have plenty of support navigating the college landscape, but it could be a bumpy transition.
Will Giannis Antetokounmpo remain with the Bucks?
Add Bucks general manager Jon Horst to the list of people talking in Milwaukee. In the aftermath of Giannis Antetokounmpo’s latest round of interviews—which came weeks after Bucks owner Wes Edens gave a revealing interview with ESPN—Horst sat down with the team’s beat writers to address Giannis’s future.
The gist: It’s still unclear. Horst (publicly, anyway) has not abandoned convincing Antetokounmpo to sign an extension this summer. The Bucks, Horst noted, do have assets this summer in the form of first-round picks (three of which can be traded on draft night) and movable contracts. And he remains convinced that Antetokounmpo wants to be there.
“I trust and believe what Giannis has said and has been written: ‘I want to win, and if I can win in Milwaukee that’s where I want to be.’ You know?” stated Horst. “Everything else is conversation, alignment, discussion … and that’s for him and that’s for us. But 100% believe that Giannis Antetokounmpo cares about winning and would love to win in Milwaukee. I believe that.”
We’ll see. Usually when there was this a lot public airing of laundry a divorce is inevitable. But Horst has pulled rabbits out of his hat earlier than and I do consider Antetokounmpo, if the Bucks can swing a deal so as to add one other impression participant, needs to remain in Milwaukee and likes his possibilities of competing within the Eastern Conference. Can Horst do it? Stay tuned.
Billy Donovan’s future in Chicago
Will Billy Donovan stick round in Chicago? That’s the query after a somewhat unusual, 26-minute information convention by Bulls president and CEO Michael Reinsdorf, who fired top exec Artūras Karnišovas (along with general manager Marc Eversley), pulling the plug after a disappointing six-year run. Speaking to reporters, Reinsdorf made it clear that anybody involved in Chicago’s entrance workplace job wanted to know that Donovan as head coach got here with it.
“If we’re interviewing someone and they’re not sold on Billy, said Reinsdorf, listing Donovan’s achievements, “then they’re probably not the right candidate for us.”
Listen—Donovan is a wonderful coach. But declaring that any incoming GM has to take him is idiotic, and possibly shrinks the pool of candidates. Moreover, will Donovan even need to be there? In 2020, Donovan bolted Oklahoma City when the Thunder went right into a rebuild. The Bulls are within the fledgling levels of their very own. Donovan plans to satisfy with Reinsdorf on Monday, a supply tells Sports Illustrated. The results of that assembly will form the route the staff goes subsequent.
Who might be Trail Blazers’ coach?
Speaking of householders, the Tom Dundon period formally started in Portland final week, with the NBA formally approving Dundon’s group as the brand new homeowners of the Trail Blazers. Dundon will attempt to push via public funding for renovations to the Moda Center—anticipated to be round $600 million—which is able to ease considerations concerning the Texas-based billionaire uprooting the staff.
Who will coach the staff is one other query. Chauncey Billups, formally nonetheless the pinnacle coach, isn’t coming again. Tiago Splitter, who has finished a reputable job filling in for Billups this season, is a candidate to maintain the job. Dundon, I’m informed, has been intrigued by the school teaching panorama. Something to remember because the Blazers’ season winds down.
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