Basketball Intelligence For 5/5/26

With a resounding Game 1 win over Philly, the Knicks are dominating postseason basketball games like no team in NBA history. Can this possibly be real?

The Sixers’ latest blowout loss, Jalen Brunson goes for blood, and more from 137-98 Game 1 dismantling
DeAntae Price, The Inquirer

OKC-LAL

The Thunder Will Take the Noise as a Compliment
Logan Murdock, The Ringer

Deandre Ayton is winning with the Lakers, and he loves that you’re watching
Dan Woike, The Athletic

Deandre Ayton is key to Lakers upset vs. Thunder
Broderick Turner, LA Times

Lakers’ X-factor against Thunder is … Luke Kennard
Melissa Rohlin, California Post

THE PLAYOFFS: ROUND ONE

The NBA’s Gap Between Great and Gone Has Never Been Smaller
Howard Beck, The Ringer

What Got You Here Won’t Get You There
Chris Gunther, Charting Hoops

The Problem With “Takeaways”
The Parquet Poet

DET-ORL

everything orlando had ran through one calf
bang!

franz wagner missed 48 regular-season games and three playoff games, and the magic never survived either absence.

Detroit grit prevails again 23 years later
Juri Bilcich

LEAGUEWIDE

Draft Lottery reform is wonderful and long overdue
John Hollinger, The Athletic

TEAM-SPECIFIC

CHI: Is new Bulls executive Bryson Graham prepared for big-market, small-organization Chicago?
Jon Greenberg, The Athletic

DAL: John Poulakidas ready to establish himself in the NBA
Joe Henricksen, Chicago Sun*Times

DAL: Inside the Mavericks’ hiring of Masai Ujiri
Marc Stein, The Stein Line

Note: Here is a link to the April interview referenced in this story: Patrick Dumont offers rare interview

ORL: Magic president: No reason to ‘dismantle’ team despite loss
Ohm Youngmisuk, ESPN

ORL: Magic’s first big offseason decision is its heart
Philip Rossman-Reich, World R Squared

THE DRAFT

Who deserves lottery luck? This is how the drawing will play out if justice is served.
Ricky O’Donnell, SBNation

New 2026 NBA Mock Draft
Jonathan Wasserman, Bleacher Report

Ranking 2026 NBA Draft Lottery Teams Most Desperate for No. 1 Pick
Dan Favale, Bleacher Report

Sacramento Kings
The Sacramento Kings need a face-of-the-franchise prospect more than anyone else, and it’s not all that debatable.
The Nets not having control over their 2027 first-rounder gives them a peripheral case, but playing in Brooklyn, they can hold out hope for free-agent victories unavailable to other squads. That includes the Kings.
Domantas Sabonis is the closest this roster gets to a top-15 guy, and he’s more of an any-given-season All-NBA candidate rather than a perennial staple. His limitations on defense and even, to a lesser extent, on offense also require you to flesh out the rest of the core in ultra-specific ways.
Crossing your fingers for Keegan Murray to become pillar material is a fool’s errand. The odds of him reaching his peak have diminished over the past couple of seasons, and even if he hits it, his pinnacle looks something like a complementary offensive player who can play lockdown defense.
All the cap space in the world wouldn’t change anything for the Kings. Not that it matters. They don’t have any. They need to cut costs just to avoid the luxury tax.
Sacramento isn’t winning any trade wars, either. It has control over all of its own first-rounders with the exception of 2031 (swap) but is too far from contention to transact its way to the mountaintop. You could add Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Victor Wembanyama or Nikola Jokić to the meat and potatoes of this core, and it still wouldn’t sniff the inner circle of title hopefuls.

Dillon Mitchell Scouting Report
Ersin Demir, NBA Draft Newsletter

Today’s BI is dedicated to the memory of Adrian Smith

Former Kentucky star, NBA veteran Adrian Smith dies at 89
Associated Press

Please help us meet rising production costs by becoming a paid subscriber.

Basketball Intelligence Newsletter

Discussion about this post

Ready for more?