Between Giannis Antetokounmpo's supermax decision, how the Clippers will retool, Miami looming as a free agent destination in 2021, Victor Oladipo's future and Golden State's reboot, the 2020 offseason Read more »

It's fitting that this season should end on a pro-forma note since these playoffs have at bottom been about satisfying sponsors and television partners, trying to keep rich folks off each other's necks. Read more »

The Heat make winning look like a matter of practical magic- nothing they do is that remarkable besides how they do it. They have manifested excellence by giving a damn. Read more »

LeBron is a winning enterprise unto himself and Miami has been consistently competing for titles since the 90s. These are two legibly very good teams, and now we find out which one deserves to be called great. Read more »

There's nothing wrong with characterlessness, or a lack of narrative, but what lies beneath that pap is a discomfort with the mercenary and transactional nature of the professional sports, or perhaps even more discomfitingly, boredom. Read more »

Anthony Edwards established himself as the sort of volume shot creator NBA teams usually seek at the top of the draft. Read more »

The flip-side of the Clippers' epic demise is the joyful rise of one of the league's youngest, most unique teams. Read more »

The Clippers anesthetized themselves against failure before it happened rather than afterwards. But what is on the other side of their schadenfreude? Whose good time has been ruined? Read more »

Toronto took two steps back when Kawhi exited, but still flourished, nearly every player on the roster improving to compensate for a loss they couldn't totally overcome. They did their job; they'll realize that once this fresh failure stops smarting. Read more »

The Bucks will stew in professional failure, consider what went wrong and what might get worse, in the coming year. After that period of unpleasant reflection, they can dream about what might improve, because that's a possibility too. Giannis is still in Milwaukee. Read more »

A component of small ball is a type of player that is very hard to find: a floor spacer with the requisite size to keep the team from being destroyed in the paint and on the boards as well as the quickness to switch everything. Read more »

Maybe it merely appears that we are always at a start, because there is always so much left to do. If the players begin with and continually return to the outrage they had last week, they can't go wrong. Read more »

If Arturas Karnisovas nails the head coach hire, and holds mostly firm roster-wise, Chicago could hit the 2021 offseason with enough space for a max free agent. Read more »

There's a fine line between persistence and stubbornness. Being able to tell one from the other, that's where the money is. Read more »

Deni Avdija looks the part for what the NBA looks for in a combo forward these days and there's plenty of video available of him in various contexts to be certain that he knows how to play. That has been enough for him to solidify his status as a top-five prospect in a class lacking a whole lot of star potential at the top. Read more »

The number one seeds in each conference appear to be taking the circuitous route to the peaks they'll need to find in later rounds. There's time for that, but it's far from abundant. Read more »

As the NBA's culture has evolved into one that favors a language that's half-meme-talk and half-financial-analysis, perhaps its gatekeepers should consider the appeals it once made to the millions who tuned in to watch the old stuff, but can't bother with the new. Read more »

Maintaining flexibility for what looks like a terrific 2021 free agent class is paramount for the Knicks. By building up their base, they could be poised to be a destination in fairly short order, just not this offseason. Read more »

As out of his mind as he's been, T.J. Warren's recent performances are a logical extension of what he's become over the past couple seasons and what he's been for considerably longer than that. Read more »

Beyond retaining Christian Wood, and maybe chasing a restricted free agent, it's going to be the kind of offseason that leaves Pistons fans feeling underwhelmed name-wise. Read more »