Basketball Intelligence For 5/10/25
The day's best news and reporting
*FEATURE OF THE DAY*
Assessing WNBA CBA negotiations, from salaries to salary cap
Kevin Pelton/Michael Voepel, ESPN
WNBA
Ranking the top 25 WNBA players for the 2025 preseason
ESPN
Valkyries projections vs. first-year WNBA expansion teams
Kendra Andrews/Kevin Pelton, ESPN
TEAM NEWS
BOS: Jayson Tatum isn't Superman: Why the Celtics star struggles in clutch moments
Tom Haberstroh, Yahoo! Sports
Unfortunately, Tatum’s hero-ball obsession isn’t anything new. Throughout his career, Tatum hasn’t been shy about how he has idolized Kobe Bryant, the godfather of hero ball, who was known for taking on double- and triple-teams in clutch moments and hitting the impossible shot. For Bryant, it was a reputation — if not mythology — that was built more on volume than efficiency. Too often, Tatum has tried to emulate that superhero quality and has come up empty.
BOS: Kristaps Porziņģis' lingering illness looms large over a Celtics team looking for answers
Dan Devine, Yahoo! Sports
BKN: What happened the last time the Nets won the NBA Draft Lottery?
Sharif Phillips-Keaton, Nets Wire
CLE: 14 Takeaways from Cavs Game 3 win over Pacers: Donovan Mitchell gives another masterclass
Jackson Flickinger, Fear The Sword
CLE: ‘Don’t understand what I’m going through’: Darius Garland opens up about frustrating, painful injury
Chris Fedor, Cleveland.com
CLE: Donovan Mitchell needed help. The Cavaliers got healthy and gave it to him.
Ben Golliver, The Washington Post
This time there would be no endgame drama. Carlisle made a point to cast the gritty Pacers as the “underdogs” despite their series-opening road wins, and for once they played like it.
CLE: Cavs, back at full strength, rediscover their identity in 126-104 Game 3 rout of Pacers
Chris Fedor, Cleveland.com
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