There’s a lot bubbling beneath the surface of the NBA’s surprise-filled postseason right now.
Saturday night delivers the prospect of a thrilling Sixers/Celtics Game 7 in Boston. RJ Barrett’s (still?) bouncing miracle 3 booked a Raptors/Cavaliers Game 7 in Cleveland on Sunday on top of a Pistons/Magic Game 7 in Detroit. San Antonio’s Victor Wembanyama has already won his first playoff series. Jaden McDaniels, Rudy Gobert and the Chris Finch-coached, injury-battered Minnesota Timberwolves, meanwhile, have gone on quite a ride themselves to set up Wemby vs. Rudy in Round 2.
Minnesota Timberwolves@Timberwolves
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12:57 AM · May 2, 2026 · 13.1K Views
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All that said …
So much is percolating already about the 19 teams that have been sent home for the summer. And that’s why I’m back with another around-the-league notebook so soon after Thursday’s (which can be found right here ICYMI):
Contracts aplenty are covered in our around-the-league NBA latest
On the list of teams with fascinating offseasons ahead, Portland is high up there on The Stein Line’s ladder.
Part of that undoubtedly stems from all the attention that has been generated in Tom Dundon’s first official month of Blazers ownership … specifically all the ink already spilled on various cost-cutting measures he has instituted.
Blazers general manager Joe Cronin pushed back on that stubborn storyline Thursday at the team’s end-of-season interviews, insisting that the barbs Dundon has been increasingly subjected to are undeserved.
“Seeing those reports and some of those things, for me it was somewhat disturbing because I’ve gotten the opportunity to know Tom Dundon really, really well these last nine, 10 months and it’s just not an accurate depiction of what his goals are,” said Cronin, who also insisted that the team’s decision not to travel two-way players early in the San Antonio series was his call rather than the new owner’s.
Dundon’s supporters have long maintained that, in running the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes, he has not been shy about spending to back on-ice matters and focusing on talent. Cronin himself chimed in Thursday by saying: “He’s gonna spend when it touches the players and the players are always gonna be supported.”
To that end …
