[Charania] San Antonio Spurs’ Victor Wembanyama has won the 2025-26 NBA Defensive Player of the Year award. He is the youngest player in league history to win the award.
Victor Wembanyama is the first ever unanimous DPOY winner
Every documented incident involving Shaquille O’Neal, his own feces, and his teammates
Victor Wembanyama on being the first-ever unanimous DPOY and the youngest player to win the award: “It feels great… The real struggle may have been getting to 65 games. But I am super proud to be the first unanimous.”
[Stein] This means Utah’s lottery pick CANNOT fall lower than No. 8 in the May 10th lottery … so the Jazz are assured of retaining their top-eight-protected pick in the first round rather than sending it to Oklahoma City.
LeBron James is closer in age to Michael Jordan than he is to Cooper Flagg.
Joe Mazzulla on being in contention for Coach of the Year: “I haven’t made one basket all year. Our staff hasn’t made a basket. We haven’t gotten a block. We haven’t ran back on defense. We didn’t play in a back-to-back. We didn’t have to play hurt. We haven’t really done shit.”
Stein on cost-cutting by new Blazers owner Tom Dundon: “You cannot, as an owner, get a reputation for skimping on spending. That is going to get your franchise in a lot of trouble… Players are well aware of this chatter already. Coaches are talking about this.”
[Guillory] Alperen Sengun talked about this video at practice today: “I just saw that video today. Everybody was sending it to me. It’s kind of funny. I was just trying to get something out of my pocket. That’s why I got up. No disrespect to LeBron. … but I didn’t stand up for him.”
[Charania] More award history: Wembanyama is the first ever unanimous DPOY.
Victor Wembanyama on if he feels the weight of Tim Duncan and David Robinson as Spurs franchise legends: “I wouldn’t say, weight, no, I would say, I feel safe. It feels like if you trip, you know there’s a lot of hands that are ready to catch you.”
Bill Simmons on Blazers’ owner’s extreme cost-cutting measures: “And if I was a Portland fan, I’d feel good about the team… except now we just had El Cheapo take over the team, and this guy’s like, ‘You know what, Donald Sterling had some good ideas… the way Sterling cut costs was pretty smart.’ ”
[Weiss] Victor Wembanyama becomes the first-ever unanimous DPOY in NBA history. Opponents shot just 40.7 percent from the field against him and 8.7 percentage points worse than average when he was the closest defender.
[ESPN] Sheel Tyle, co-owner of the Blazers, posted on X that “we are doing something else [instead of t-shirts],” but the team hasn’t said or posted anything further on the matter.
Bill Simmons admits the play-in affected his awards voting: “The play-in did change my 6MOY vote. I had Jaquez over Keldon Johnson, but then Miami lost on Wednesday, and I was just like, ‘I’m going to have the 6MOY on a team that couldn’t get to the last round of the play-in?’ I switched it.”
Brandon Ingram on only taking 1 shot in the 2nd half: “Coach wanted to use me as a screener. He noticed that my man wasn’t coming off me so he wanted me outside of the action and being a receiver. At the end of the day, me shooting 9 shots is not going to win basketball games.”
Luka Doncic is the only player in the last 10 seasons to win the scoring title and NOT be a finalist for MVP
[Sirius XM] Jeanie Buss: “Well, I’ve always said I want to see him (LeBron) retire as a Laker. But he’s going to be a free agent. It’s really his decision to make. He is a valuable player in this league, even in his 23rd season… Maybe he just wants to go out quietly.”
[Highlight] “Altercation” occurs after Mitch Robinson steps over Dyson Daniels
Adam Silver says the NBA could adopt a “division of European teams” due to many of the league’s best players being from Europe, and due to “advancements in supersonic air travel”
[Post Game Thread] The Cleveland Cavaliers (2-0) defeat the Toronto Raptors (0-2), 115-105.
Most interesting subplot for Game 3 of Portland-San Antonio: is Tom Dundon too cheap to pay for the crowd to have special t-shirts?
Bill Simmons rewatching his reasoning to vote SGA for MVP “I watched it on social media and what I saw was a person who was confused and didn’t have a lot of conviction in his choice. I was a little embarrassed by it. I’m doing gymnastics not to pick Jokic… I voted for Joker. I changed my pick.”
[Charania] The Brooklyn Nets have signed head coach Jordi Fernandez and the entire coaching staff to multiyear contract extensions, sources tell ESPN. This solidifies a long-term commitment for Fernandez after two seasons at the helm.
The NBA has finalized the first round pre-lottery order: WAS, IND, BKN, UTA, SAC, MEM, ATL, DAL, CHI, MIL, GSW, OKC, MIA, CHA, CHI, MEM, OKC, CHA, TOR, SAS, DET, PHI, ATL, NYK, LAL, DEN, BOS, MIN, CLE, DAL.
Spurs Twin Towers in attendance for Wemby’s playoff debut.
Victor Wembanyama passes Duncan for most points in a playoff debut in Spurs history as they take game 1 against the Blazers: 35 PTS, 5 REB, 2 BLK, 1 AST on 13⁄21 FG, 5⁄6 3P, 4⁄5 FT in 33min
[Highlight] James Harden hits the tough 3-pointer to beat the shot clock, while Jamal Shead is all over him (with a replay)
Brandon “me shooting 9 shots is not going to win basketball games” Ingram goes 3-15 from the field in game 2.
40 years ago (April 20, 1986) Michael Jordan scored 63 points against the Celtics. A still standing playoff record.
Complete Voting Results for 2025-26 Defensive Player of the Year
[Highlight] James Harden drops Scottie Barnes and gets an extremely high friendly bounce on the 3-pointer (with a replay).
James Harden in a Game 2 win: 28 PTS | 5 REB | 4 AST | 5 STL | 1 BLK on 9-14 FG
[Highlight] OG Anunoby gets up for the nasty dunk
Karl Anthony-Towns speaks on his dad sitting court side: “Any son out there who plays basketball or plays any sport, when you get to see your father there… you want to make him proud.”
[Post Game Thread] The Orlando Magic (1-0) defeat the Detroit Pistons (0-1), 112-101.
[Highlight] Wemby pulls up in the corner for a triple
[Highlight] The camera pans to a smorgasbord of Spurs Legends™ as Manu Ginobli, Tim Duncan, George Gervin, David Robinson and coach Gregg Popovich are in attendance for tonight’s Spurs/Blazers playoff game
Brandon Ingram with a disastrous performance in game 2 vs the Cavs: 7/4/3 on 3-15 shooting (20%) with 5 turnovers.
Jakob Poeltl in the loss vs Cleveland: 2/4/1 in 9 minutes, $104 Million extension hasn’t begun
[Stein] Steve Kerr ultimately parting ways with the Golden State Warriors could signal the beginning of a “real overhaul” in The Bay Area.
[Charania] The Brooklyn Nets have signed head coach Jordi Fernandez and the entire coaching staff to multiyear contract extensions, sources tell ESPN. This solidifies a long-term commitment for Fernandez after two seasons at the helm.
[Highlight] Deni Avdija calls iso on Wemby. Drives to the middle, bumps him back, and shoots over him for the middy
[Highlight] The Cleveland Cavaliers lead their series 2-0 over the Toronto Raptors with a 115-105 victory. Donovan Mitchell, James Harden, and Evan Mobley all score 25+ for Cleveland.
Evan Mobley in the win: 25/8/2 on 11⁄13 FG
[Shelburne/Slater] The Golden State Warriors offered substantial draft capital and multiple valued players for Kawhi Leonard at the trade deadline before being turned down. The Warriors are expected to revisit trade talks with the Clippers this Summer.
James Harden has a higher TS% and the same EFG% as SGA in the playoffs.
[Highkin] In the latest of Tom Dundon’s cost-cutting measures, the Blazers are the only playoff team that didn’t send their two-way players (who are ineligible to play in the playoffs) on the road for Games 1 and 2 this weekend.