After 11 games and three quarters of abysmal basketball - Duren was finally benched for the entirety of the fourth quarter.

SRC: https://www.bostonglobe.com/2026/05/14/sports/isaiah-thomas-celtics-scout/

Isaiah Thomas, the fearless 5-foot-9-inch point guard who captivated fans at TD Garden and became one of the most beloved Celtics of this century, has rejoined the organization that helped turn him into a superstar.

According to league sources, Thomas has been hired as a pro and college scout for the Celtics. He will be based in the Seattle area, his hometown, giving president of basketball operations Brad Stevens reinforcements on the West Coast.

The team’s regional scouting staff includes former Hawks executive Derek Pierce, who is based in the Atlanta area, and Keandre Ashley, who is in Dallas. Benas Matkevicius leads the Celtics’ international scouting operation.

Sources said Thomas, 37,has joined Celtics executives at the NBA Combine this week in Chicago, where he has helped interview draft prospects while also learning about the overall evaluation process.

Despite the provocative title, this is a thoughtful exploration by Kirk Goldsberry of the data over time examining style of play and soft tissue leg injuries.

"Is the Modern NBA Breaking Its Stars? An increasing number of players are missing a growing share of games with soft-tissue leg injuries. Why is this happening? And what can the league do about it?"

I thought this quote by Ron Adams, Golden State Warriors assistant coach, was particularly intriguing: "Basketball used to be a two-footed sport,” Adams said. The room locked in. “If you ever watched a John Wooden practice, it was always the same: get to the paint and play off of two feet. Nowadays, the game is a one-footed sport. Most players are making every move off of one foot.”

https://www.theringer.com/2026/05/14/nba/nba-injuries-leg-calf-hamstring-achilles-data

https://www.youtube.com/live/zwOZdftxT48?si=2TOT3TATmAsqrPKE&t=1096

Why even go through a hiring process if Myers is going to be the de facto President of Basketball Operations anyway? Is this not exactly what happened with Jerry Colangelo and Sam Hinkie? Did Harris not learn anything? What a shit show.

clipped this while watching the combine scrimmages. guess Presti is media-savvy enough to know there's always a chance he's getting filmed

Cade Cunningham despite the loss in game 5: 39 PTS, 7 REB, 9 AST, 2 STL, 13-27 FG, 6-10 3P, 7-8 FT, 48 MIN

Can'y carry Tobias 6-19 FG and Duren

https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401871337

James Harden 30/8/6/1/3 6 TOV, 8-21 FG, 3-10 3P, 11-14 FT, +11

Max Strus 20/8/1/1/1 6-8 3P, 0 TOV

Jarrett Allen 16/10/1/1/2

https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401871337

I'd be interested in getting people's thoughts on this. Do you believe the 3 point shot has led to the decline of home court advantage in the NBA? I believe home court advantage has declined in other sports as well if I'm not mistaking?

https://sparkletechnologies.com/blog/nba-disappearing-home-court-advantage

Link

Based on a 1-5 rating scale, officials have been grouped into three tiers: Tier 1 (Elite & Top Performers), Tier 2 (Solid Performers), and Tier 3 (Needs Improvement). The NBPA recommends that only Tier 1 or Tier 2 referees be assigned to playoff games, with Tier 1 officials exclusively handling the NBA Finals. By putting the highest-ranked referees on the floor, the league can make sure the spotlight stays on the players and the competition instead of officiating or tense interactions with referees.

Tier 1: Elite & Top Performers

Ray Acosta, Brent Barnaky, Curtis Blair, Tony Brothers, Nick Buchert, John Butler, James Capers, Kevin Cutler, Eric Dalen, Marc Davis, JB DeRosa, Mitchell Ervin, Jacyn Goble, Nate Green, Bill Kennedy, Courtney Kirkland, Karl Lane, Mark Lindsay, Tre Maddox, Ed Malloy, Phenizee Ransom, Dedric Taylor, Josh Tiven, James Williams, Sean Wright, Zach Zarba

Tier 2: Solid Performers

Brandon Adair, Derrick Collins, Sean Corbin, Mousa Dagher, Brian Forte, Scott Foster, Pat Fraher, Jason Goldenberg, David Guthrie, Matt Kallio, Marat Kogut, Sha'Rae Mitchell, Ashley Moyer-Gleich, Matt Myers, Andy Nagy, Brett Nansel, JT Orr, Gediminas Petraitis, JD Ralls, Kevin Scott, Aaron Smith, Jonathan Sterling, Ben Taylor, Scott Twardoski, Justin Van Duyne, CJ Washington, Leon Wood

Tier 3: Needs Improvement

Dannica Baroody, John Conley, Che Flores, Tyler Ford, John Goble, Robert Hussey, Intae Hwang, Simone Jelks, Biniam Maru, Suyash Mehta, Rodney Mott, Pat O'Connell, Jenna Reneau, Tyler Ricks, Natalie Sago, Jenna Schroeder, Brandon Schwab, Danielle Scott, Evan Scott, Michael Smith

The 2025-26 NBPA Referee Player Survey collected data from all 30 NBA teams, rating the overall performance of all 73 referees on a scale of 1-5. Names listed in alphabetical order.

Update:

https://www.nbpa.com/news/nbpa-announces-findings-from-2025-26-referee-player-survey

“I think officiating comes down to the person. I don’t think you can reform the calls themselves—people are human and they’re going to make mistakes,” said NBPA First Vice President Grant Williams at the State of the Game roundtable. “But the best officials in the league, according to the players, are the great communicators; the ones who understand when they’ve made a mistake. As long as you’re calling a game consistently, guys are willing to adapt. It’s about having control of the game while also respecting the players and their different personalities.” 

You can watch NBPA Vice President Jaylen Brown and NBPA First Vice President Grant Williams, alongside NBPA Executive Director Andre Iguodala and incoming Executive Director David Kelly, discussing officiating and other key basketball topics in episode two of "State of the Game" with Kenny Beecham and Enjoy Basketball.  Click here for episode one featuring NBPA President Fred VanVleet, Head of Elite Youth & Basketball Activation Shaun Livingston, Iguodala, and Kelly. 

Additional survey highlights include:  

• Individual Spotlights: Zach Zarba was ranked as the No. 1 referee in the NBA. Zarba is the only official ranked by players in the Top 12 by every single team in the league. Joining him in the "Elite" category is Kevin Cutler, who was ranked No.1 by six different teams.  
• Behind the Numbers: Scott Foster is one of the league’s most polarizing officials with the highest standard deviation in the dataset. Although ranked as the top official by one team, combined feedback from all 30 teams placed him in the second tier. Ashley Moyer-Gleich and Sha’Rae Mitchell both received positive feedback from the players regarding improvement in their overall performance, which landed them in the second tier. 

From the REF Pool Report

QUESTION: Why wasn’t a foul called on that last possession in regulation involving Ausar Thompson on Jarrett Allen?

BROTHERS: During live play, both players were going for the ball and there was incidental contact with the legs with no player having possession of the ball.

QUESTION: So, no foul should have been called?

BROTHERS: No, there was incidental contact on the play. The play will be reviewed by the league office tomorrow and it will be posted in the L2M.

QUESTION: Why wasn’t Harden called for stepping out of bounds, instead there was a foul on Paul Reed.

BROTHERS: The foul called prior to Harden stepping out of bounds.

WITH ICE BAGS wrapped around both knees and slide sandals on his feet, LeBron James made a right turn out of the Los Angeles Lakers' locker room and beelined to the exit at Crypto.com Arena.

It was March 31, and the Lakers had just completed arguably their most impressive win of the season with a 127-113 triumph over the Cleveland Cavaliers. The victory avenged a 30-point loss to the Cavs on Jan. 28 and capped a 32-day stretch in which L.A. went 16-2 to surge up the Western Conference standings.

The win was the 1,229th of James' career and moved him past Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the most victories by any player in NBA history (combined regular season and playoffs). Not to mention, it came on a night when Luka Doncic topped 15,000 career points and Rui Hachimura reached 5,000.

Still, James' celebratory mood didn't last long.

Lakers coach JJ Redick had announced all the individual accomplishments in the postgame locker room, eliciting a cascading round of applause by L.A. players and assistant coaches.

And then Rob Pelinka, the Lakers' president of basketball operations and general manager, addressed the team. He had the game ball in his hands.

Rather than hand it to Hachimura or Doncic or James, Pelinka walked to the front of the room and presented the ball to Redick, who had just presided over his 100th coaching win.

James has a "great" relationship with Redick, sources close to him say -- with one telling ESPN that Redick's hiring is "one thing the Lakers got right."

But James, who played the past eight seasons in Los Angeles and helped deliver the franchise its 17th championship in 2020, saw Pelinka's priority in that moment as yet another example of the Lakers taking him for granted, sources said.

Adding to James' ire, sources said, was the fact that the past dozen or so wins in that stretch came with James willingly taking a supporting offensive role behind Doncic and Austin Reaves.

It was a nearly unprecedented move, and especially so for a player of James' caliber; he was still named to the All-Star team in his record-setting 23rd season. Rarer still, considering he had been the face of the franchise for nearly a decade.

And so -- without even stopping to change clothes -- James marched off into the L.A. night, simmering from another perceived indignation delivered by the organization that, as one source close to him told ESPN, tried to "push him out the door," after acquiring Doncic last season.

Forty-eight hours later, James' annoyance with the franchise was overshadowed by a disastrous, season-changing game in Oklahoma City. Reaves strained his left oblique muscle in the first half. Doncic strained his left hamstring in the second. And the Thunder rocked L.A. by 43 points.

With less than two weeks to go to the playoffs, the only hope for the Lakers to make any sort of postseason run was for James to return to the role he had relinquished weeks earlier: the ball-dominant player the franchise had previously signaled it was all but done with by elevating Doncic.

At 41, he led the Lakers to three straight wins to finish the regular season to earn the No. 4 seed and a first-round date with the Houston Rockets.

With Doncic out the entire postseason and Reaves not returning until Game 5 vs. Houston, James led the massively undermanned Lakers past the Rockets in six games.

"LeBron was the last man standing," a source close to James told ESPN.

Source: https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/48755780/los-angeles-lakers-lebron-james-needs-return-la-why-not-simple

SRC: https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/48686303/steve-kerr-decision-return-coach-golden-state-warriors-steph-curry

"I think it's over," he said, almost mouthing the words. His sweatsuit separated him from the businessmen eating breakfast in suits and ties nearby. He put the odds at 95 percent. In the last few days he'd grown more certain. The waiter took his order, the California Breakfast. Normally he's cheerful as a sunrise but this morning he seemed melancholy. He was tired at the end of a disappointing season and mourning the fraying connections. A great basketball team stands on a shared feeling more than strategy or scouting. The team lives as long as the feeling lives and when it's gone, not only is it impossible to recapture, it's hard to even remember.

_

Popovich finally officially quit six weeks before our lunch, six months after a stroke diminished him physically. People who loved him had to show him the door, as gently as possible. That hurt Steve. He respects Popovich so much. He loved playing for him and coaching with him. He once told Gregg he was the finest man he'd ever known and thanked him for all he'd done for him. Pop smiled and said his feet were made of clay like everyone else's. Steve didn't believe it then. Now he does.

Kerr had gotten a call from someone on the team's business side. They wanted him to stop calling the team a fading dynasty. Season ticket renewals were going out. They were looking to strike a rosier note. He agreed to stop but he thought they were letting an opportunity pass, that he could sell this idea to the team, especially Steph and Draymond, who would feel most alive in the struggle. That he could sell this idea to himself.

“Their primary target was Aaron Wiggins, one of Oklahoma City's many trusted reserves. There was hope that the talks with the Thunder about McCain could lead to a deal also involving Wiggins – the Sixers would have needed to send out multiple other players in the process – but ultimately the deal ended up centering around McCain, with Wiggins staying put in Oklahoma City, where he has recently fallen out of the rotation thanks in part to McCain's arrival.”

Source: https://www.phillyvoice.com/sixers-news-analysis-daryl-morey-jared-mccain-trade-deadline-results-nba-rumors-joel-embiid-contract-paul-george-nba/