Spurs big man Victor Wembanyama has unanimously been named the league’s Rookie of the Year, the NBA announced today (via Twitter). The top pick of the 2023 draft lived up to his billing, averaging 21.4 points, 10.6 rebounds, 3.9 assists, a league-high 3.6 blocks and 1.2 steals in 71 games. Wembanyama received all 99 first-place votes for 495 points (Twitter link). Wembanyama is the first player to have at least 1,500 points, 700 rebounds, 250 assists, 250 blocks and 100 3-pointers made in a season. He is the second rookie to lead all NBA players in blocks per game in a season, joining Manute B ..read more

Now that the Bucks‘ season has come to an end, the Pistons are expected to formally seek permission to interview Milwaukee general manager Jon Horst for their president of basketball operations job soon, Marc Stein reports in his latest story at Substack. According to Stein, it’s not yet known whether the Bucks will grant Detroit permission to meet with Horst, a Michigan native who began his NBA career in the Pistons’ basketball operations department. Elsewhere in his Substack article, Stein says that Jimmy Butler‘s future has become an “increasingly hot topic” around the NBA following the Hea ..read more

The Magic worked their way back from a fourth-quarter deficit to weather a Donovan Mitchell 50-point performance and force a Game 7. Josh Robbins of The Athletic writes that everyone in the rotation made an impact, including Cole Anthony, who had a major bounce-back game after scoring five combined points in the past two games. “I thought Cole won us the game today,” Franz Wagner said. “He had huge minutes off the bench, making plays on both sides, and that’s what it takes to be successful in the playoffs.” Anthony played most of the fourth quarter with Gary Harris out, scoring nine points and ..read more

Bulls guard/forward Alex Caruso has won the Hustle Award for the 2023/24 season, the NBA announced in a press release written by Brian Martin. According to the league, the award “honors a player who makes impactful effort plays that might not appear in the box score.” The award was created eight years ago, with Grizzlies guard Marcus Smart being a three-time winner. Some of the hustle statistics that the NBA tracks include deflections, loose balls recovered, charges drawn, screen assists, contested shots and box-outs. Caruso led in the league in deflections per game (3.7) and on a per-minute b ..read more

With another regular season in the books, multiple teams around the NBA are making head coaching changes in advance of the 2024/25 campaign. In the space below, we’ll provide regular updates on the head coaching searches for each club that has yet to give anyone the permanent title. Some of these searches could extend well into the offseason, so be sure to check back often for the latest updates. You’ll be able to access this page anytime under the “Hoops Rumors Features” menu on the right sidebar on our desktop site, or on the “Features” page in our mobile menu. Updated 4-27-24 (4:00pm CT) Ac ..read more

After Shams Charania reported earlier today that Damian Lillard‘s availability for Game 4 of the Bucks‘ series with Indiana is uncertain, head coach Doc Rivers confirmed that the star guard is dealing with an Achilles strain, telling reporters that Lillard underwent an MRI. Rivers didn’t know the results of that MRI when he spoke to the media, but he indicated that he isn’t necessarily counting on having Lillard available on Sunday, per Jim Owczarski of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “Not looking great, but we don’t know yet,” Rivers said. As for the Bucks’ other injured star, Rivers said tha ..read more

While Bam Adebayo is probably a long shot to be named the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year for this season, the Heat big man is one of the finalists for the first time in his career, writes Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. Prior to this spring, Adebayo had never finished higher than fourth in Defensive Player of the Year voting. “They’re actually watching games, they’re actually looking at games,” Adebayo said of the award voters. “They’re paying attention to what I do. It’s not only what shows up in the stat book.” As Chiang writes, Adebayo blocked just 0.9 shots per game in 2023/24, wel ..read more

Tiebreakers among teams with identical regular-season records were broken on Monday through random drawings to determine the order for this year’s draft prior to the lottery. The results are as follows, according to a press release from the league: Charlotte Hornets (No. 3) over Portland Trail Blazers (No. 4). Note: The Hornets will get one more lottery ball combination (out of 1,000) than the Trail Blazers. Sacramento Kings (No. 13) over Golden State Warriors (No. 14) Note: The Kings will get one more lottery ball combination (out of 1,000) than the Warriors. Note: The Warriors will send ..read more

Luka Doncic, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Nikola Jokic were revealed on Sunday as the finalists for the Most Valuable Player award, via NBA Communications (Twitter link). The Mavericks guard led the league in scoring (33.9 points per game) and finished second in assists (9.8) while also grabbing 9.2 rebounds per contest. Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder to the top seed in the Western Conference by averaging 30.1 points, 5.5 rebounds, 6.2 assists and 2.0 steals. Jokic, who is widely considered the favorite to win his third MVP trophy, averaged 26.4 points, 12.4 rebounds and 9.0 assists. The NB ..read more

The Hawks fell to the Bulls in the play-in, failing to reach the playoffs for the first time since 2020 as a result. With a roster that doesn’t fit together even when healthy, Atlanta could look to go in a number of different directions this offseason. The Hawks are stuck in the middle, lacking incentive to tank due to the first-round picks they owe the Spurs as a result of acquiring Dejounte Murray and also having several talented players on the roster. As The Athletic’s John Hollinger observes, attention will likely turn to star guard Trae Young after trade talks involving Murray didn’t pan ..read more