The NBA has had loads of dates that pressure us to recollect the place we have been, what we have been doing and who we have been with within the second.
When LeBron James selected the Miami Warmth on July 8, 2010. When Kevin Durant joined the Golden State Warriors on July 7, 2016. When Kobe Bryant dropped 60 factors within the closing recreation of his profession on April 13, 2016. When Luka Doncic joined the Los Angeles Lakers simply this Feb. 2 definitely meets the standards, too.
But it surely’s a rarity to witness two such occasions on the identical day — not to mention simply hours aside. Which is why Monday, Could 12, 2025, will not be forgotten in NBA circles anytime quickly.
Between the Dallas Mavericks parlaying the Eleventh-best lottery odds into the highest total choice — and with it, the correct to draft Duke phenom Cooper Flagg subsequent month — and the defending champion Boston Celtics dropping Jayson Tatum for not solely the remainder of this 12 months’s playoffs, however probably the overwhelming majority of subsequent season with a torn Achilles tendon, it was a flurry of reports and heartbreak and was actually a “stunning day throughout,” as one East scout stated.
It was additionally massively consequential. For a league that has already slanted closely towards Western Convention dominance, the mixture of one other generational expertise touchdown within the West has solely elevated that divide. The lone true East superpower dropping a top-5 participant in his prime for 10-plus months turns it right into a chasm.
Because the mud nonetheless settles on the Mavericks’ magical lottery and Tatum’s franchise-altering damage, we canvassed the league on what lies forward for the ever-expanding convention imbalance, for a now wide-open East and for a logjam within the West that simply added one other generational prospect.
League insiders on preliminary shock of Tatum’s damage
Few accidents are as consequential because the one Tatum simply suffered. The 27-year-old, who has the richest contract within the NBA, was getting into the prime of his profession and can probably make his fourth consecutive All-NBA first staff. He is nicely on his option to an all-time nice profession and already possesses a Corridor of Fame résumé.
He is the most effective participant on the defending champions, a staff that entered Monday — even whereas trailing New York Knicks — because the heavy favorites to win the East.
“It is a fully unexpected situation,” one East govt stated. “This simply would not occur to a man like that.”
Sure, the Celtics are watching a monetary cliff. However staff president Brad Stevens and the Boston entrance workplace would probably have discovered a option to ease their luxurious tax invoice and not using a large loss to their core. And whereas it is at all times harmful to undertaking too far into the longer term within the NBA, Boston was positioned to be at or close to the highest of the East for the remainder of the last decade.
“Your thoughts begins operating via eventualities you by no means may’ve thought would occur,” the manager stated of Boston’s potential mindset. “They’ve lots of considering to do.”
Boston’s hopes of repeating this season are all however gone; the Knicks can shut out the Celtics on Wednesday (7 p.m. ET, TNT).
And with Tatum primarily written off for your entire 2025-26 season, it is arduous to see a situation during which the Celtics do not retrench a bit this summer time, with an eye fixed on getting inexpensive and constructing as much as one other Finals run in 2026-27.
“This already was their final probability with their staff to go so far as potential [before the financial crunch],” a West scout stated. “They will must get inventive.”
A weak East race turns into weaker — and extensive open
1:27
Did Jayson Tatum’s damage finish Celtics’ repeat title bid?
The “Get Up” crew discusses if Jayson Tatum’s damage derails Boston’s championship hopes.
Milwaukee and Miami have been already headed out of the image. The Warmth discovered a option to scrape into the playoffs as soon as once more after successful 37 video games, however have been routed by the Cleveland Cavaliers within the first spherical after buying and selling Jimmy Butler III through the season, displaying Miami has a number of work to do to return to the East’s elite.
The Bucks, in the meantime, discover themselves at a crossroads after their very own devastating damage, with Damian Lillard tearing an Achilles through the Bucks’ five-game, first-round loss to the Indiana Pacers. That, plus three straight first-round exits, has left Giannis Antetokounmpo with an unsure future in Milwaukee.
The Japanese Convention finals-bound Pacers may step into the void. Indiana has established an id as a frenetic offense behind Tyrese Haliburton and Pascal Siakam on the controls, and has a younger roster largely beneath staff management shifting ahead (with the notable exception of middle Myles Turner, a free agent this offseason).
The New York Knicks stand on the precipice of the franchise’s first convention finals in 25 years, behind a cohesive beginning 5 that is beneath contract for the foreseeable future. And Cleveland, regardless of a season crumbled by accidents and by the Pacers, will consider it may bounce again behind its personal younger core of Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen.
Different middling East groups may sense a chance to make aggressive strikes to maneuver up a tier, a technique that in any other case may need hinged on whether or not Boston’s dynasty actually took off.
“[Tatum’s injury] makes folks begin having completely different ideas about going after it,” an East scout stated. “‘How shut are you to creating the Finals?’ ‘What do different groups’ home windows seem like now?’ All of that elements in.”
Might the Orlando Magic select to swing a deal so as to add to its core of Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner? Maybe the Philadelphia 76ers, after some lottery luck gave them the third decide in June’s draft, may get wholesome and return to postseason rivalry, or Cade Cunningham and the rising Detroit Pistons may take one other step ahead.
Of all the probabilities, one is more likely to be a focus all through the summer time and subsequent season.
“It makes the East worse, for positive,” the scout stated. “That is not good for the league.”
Draft lottery outcomes create new questions concerning the system
Tatum’s damage overshadowed absolutely the chaos that had overtaken the league a few hours earlier in Chicago. With Cooper Flagg atop each draft board within the league, there was an anticipation that rivaled the thrill for Victor Wembanyama in 2023.
However realizing Flagg’s probably vacation spot in June grew to become secondary to the Dallas Mavericks successful the highest decide with a 1.8% probability. And, as a result of the San Antonio Spurs jumped to second and the 76ers leapt to 3rd, this draft lottery was simply the third in NBA historical past the place the three worst information missed out on the highest three picks.
“That is actually a ‘Cautious what you want for’ second for the league,” one govt stated.
The final time it occurred was in 1993, when the Orlando Magic, a 12 months after touchdown Shaquille O’Neal with the highest decide, did so once more to get Chris Webber. And, though they wound up buying and selling Webber to the Warriors within the deal that introduced Anfernee Hardaway to the Magic, Orlando successful back-to-back drafts brought on the NBA to vary the lottery guidelines the next season.
Is there an opportunity that might occur this time round? It appears unlikely, given these guidelines went into impact in 2019 after NBA commissioner Adam Silver’s first try to vary them a couple of years earlier had failed. However it’s honest to wonder if the acknowledged purpose of the adjustments — discouraging tanking — has labored, whereas concurrently hurting the worst groups’ probabilities to enhance.
And but there have been some league insiders who have been completely happy that the groups that spent the 12 months making an attempt to be on the prime of the draft — particularly the Utah Jazz and Washington Wizards — did not achieve securing the highest decide.
“The advantage of [lottery night] is these groups did not get assist,” a scout stated. “Tank all you need, however it would not assure you something.”
One govt advised to ESPN that if the league needed to eradicate tanking, it ought to eradicate the draft solely, and as an alternative let groups create wage cap area to signal rookies to offers. However even that govt stated there wasn’t a practical probability of that ever taking place for loads of causes, together with future draft picks being beneficial commerce foreign money.
The league additionally would undoubtedly level to groups corresponding to Indiana and Denver, which have put collectively aggressive rosters with no decide larger than seventh, as proof {that a} prime decide is not the one option to lay the inspiration of a contender, even in a smaller market.
Draft lottery grows the convention divide
1:32
‘NBA Countdown’ crew in shock after Mavericks lottery win
Malika Andrews, Brian Windhorst and Chiney Ogwumike react to the Mavericks successful the lottery.
Whereas the headliner was Flagg touchdown in Dallas, the mixture of the Mavericks and Spurs getting the highest two picks is the newest second the place the Western Convention is getting an elite infusion of expertise.
Since 2004, when Dwight Howard adopted LeBron James in touchdown with Japanese Convention groups, there was a gentle run of generational prospects touchdown out West, from Anthony Davis to Karl-Anthony Cities to Zion Williamson to Victor Wembanyama and now Flagg. That does not even think about different guys who landed on that aspect of the ledger who weren’t seen in that very same mild, like Anthony Edwards or Doncic.
“The West simply retains getting richer,” one govt stated. “How come all people retains going to the West? For the veteran gamers, you may say it is higher climate, going to California, higher organizations. However they’ve additionally simply gotten actually fortunate.
“It looks like each time there’s certainly one of these generational skills — Victor, Zion, Anthony Davis — they simply find yourself within the West. It is simply dangerous luck … it’s what it’s.”
Though this summer time portends to be a very busy one from a transaction standpoint, 12 Western Convention groups at present consider they’ll contend for residence court docket within the West subsequent season: the Thunder, Rockets, Lakers, Nuggets, Clippers, Timberwolves, Warriors, Memphis Grizzlies, Sacramento Kings, Phoenix Suns, the Mavericks and the Spurs.
The East, in the meantime, has Cleveland, New York and Indiana sitting on the prime, adopted by large uncertainty in each Boston and Milwaukee, after which large questions concerning the upside of each staff after that. Think about a world, for instance, the place Antetokounmpo winds up on a Western Convention staff this summer time?
“Cooper Flagg goes to the West for the subsequent 10 years, Giannis might be headed West, Tatum is out of the combination for a 12 months and the Celtics probably are, too,” a scout stated.
“Good for East groups who’re making an attempt to make the Finals.”
