And just like that, it’s next season in the NBA.
The New York Knicks will be feted with a championship parade through the streets of Manhattan on Thursday after a postseason in which they successfully rallied from six double-digit deficits, including all four of their NBA Finals victories against the San Antonio Spurs.
It continued the unprecedented run of NBA parity, with eight franchises winning championships in the last eight seasons: the Toronto Raptors in 2019, the Los Angeles Lakers in 2020, the Milwaukee Bucks in 2021, the Golden State Warriors in 2022, the Denver Nuggets in 2023, the Boston Celtics in 2024, the Oklahoma City Thunder last year and now the Knicks.
“To me, it just really speaks to the state of NBA basketball and the state of the future of the game,” Commissioner Adam Silver said. “And now with this draft class coming in this year — again, not just the first pick, but a draft that’s considered the deepest in many years — there’s so much talent everywhere. … So it’s a really bright future ahead for the league.”
It is, but every team is now chasing the Knicks. They had all the answers.
For 29 other franchises, at least on some levels, there seems to be only questions.
- Will the Bucks really trade Giannis Antetokounmpo after 13 seasons, 10 All-Star selections, two Most Valuable Player awards and an NBA championship in 2021?
- Will LeBron James come back for a 24th season? If so, will it be with the Lakers for a ninth year or will he look for a presumably final chapter elsewhere?
- What will the Washington Wizards do with the No. 1 pick in the draft later this month?
- And who will coach in Dallas and Portland?
Those are just some of the major issues facing teams around the league as summer gets underway. It’s going to be hard for the Knicks to repeat because it’s hard for any team to repeat — as the Thunder found out this season.
“The history of the NBA is littered with teams that were not able to find ultimate success again,” Thunder general manager Sam Presti said. “I think there have only been three teams that have repeated since we’ve been in Oklahoma City, and the reasons for that are many, probably too many to list. But the fact is that it helps illustrate how rare and how special it is when you do have a chance to win at the highest level in this league or in professional sports in general.
“However, NBA history is also built on the backs of those teams that saw their losses as a continued quest for improvement and progress. Most importantly, they saw it as what competition boils down to, what it’s all about at any level of sports.”
The Giannis question
Antetokounmpo will be eligible this fall for an extension that could be worth up to $275 million.
But the Bucks don’t have a roster that’s a championship contender. If they trade Antetokounmpo, they can essentially start over with what would be a slew of players and draft picks. If they keep him, there’s no guarantee he’ll be happy — because it seems like he’s primarily interested now in trying to win more titles.
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“I just think before the draft is a natural time, right, because if Giannis does play somewhere else, we’re going to get a lot of assets. … You’ve got to get it right,” Bucks co-owner Jimmy Haslam said in May when the team introduced new coach Taylor Jenkins — who was told that Antetokounmpo may or may not be with the franchise when next season starts.
The draft is next week. And logic would suggest that the Bucks — if they are going to trade Antetokounmpo — might do so at least a few days before the draft, so they have some idea of whom to target with the capital they would get as part of whatever deal might go down.
The Miami Heat have been mentioned in the Giannis sweepstakes for months and are involved in talks with the Bucks again.
LeBron watch
James never has gone into a summer with this much freedom.
He could stay with the Lakers. He could pick another spot. He could retire. He could demand a max salary. He could take less money to help a team out. Or he could just continue posting videos of chip-ins on Instagram; yes, James has the golf bug.
“When the time comes, you guys will know what I decide to do,” James said when the Lakers were eliminated by the Thunder in a 4-0 first-round sweep.
The Lakers have a lot of other decisions, including how to handle an extension for Austin Reaves. Getting some sense from James about his plans would go a long way toward having other moves fall into place.
The Spurs
Victor Wembanyama is eligible for a four-year extension that would top $250 million, and there’s no reason the Spurs wouldn’t want to commit to keep the game’s most fascinating player around. The extension would start in 2027-28.
There are other roster spots to address, but the starters are under contract.
It will be interesting to watch how free agents view San Antonio as a destination, especially because the Spurs will go into next season as one of the favorites — if not the biggest one — for the 2027 NBA title.
“Competitiveness, that’s what makes you better,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. “That’s what pushes you to continue to improve in the dark, long hours when nobody is around. We improved a whole lot this year. We have … more motivation to continue to get better.”