The bumbling Knicks president actually fell asleep during a top player’s pre-NBA Draft workout, according to ESPN analyst Jay Williams. Williams, who’ll serve as a roving reporter/analyst during ESPN’s 2017 NBA Draft coverage Thursday night, has been talking with most of the projected top picks before the big event at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center. NBA DRAFT RUMORS: Knicks, Bulls could be targeting Josh Jackson Williams told shocked anchor Bob Ley the somnolent Phil story during Thursday’s edition of “Outside the Lines....

Suns — Deandre Ayton, C, Arizona He’s a physical freak who has the ability to develop into a power big man with a jump shot. His defense wasn’t great at Arizona, but he was playing out of position, and teams are betting he is capable of being a much bigger presence in the middle. Kings — Luka Doncic, PG/SG, Slovenia Doncic spruced up his case to be the No. 1 pick with his MVP performance for Real Madrid in the Euroleague Final Four....

Joel Embiid, Jabari Parker and Andrew Wiggins will all forgo the combine in favor of focusing on private workouts, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. Embiid and Parker were not on the list of players set to participate in the combine, and Wiggins dropped out once it was confirmed Embiid and Parker were out, Wojnarowski reports. NBA MOCK DRAFT: Where Embiid, Parker, Wiggins land Wiggins was the only player without any questions leading into the combine, while Embiid and Parker each have questions about health and athleticism, respectively....

Detroit landed the No. 1 overall pick at Tuesday night’s NBA Draft lottery, much to the delight of Pistons legend Ben Wallace, who represented the team on the ESPN broadcast. The Pistons are expected to select Oklahoma State star Cade Cunningham to kick off the 2021 NBA Draft. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported shortly after the conclusion of the lottery drawing that Cunningham only plans to visit Detroit before draft day, so it would be a major surprise if he slides down the board....

This is now a 2020 NBA Draft big board about the end of the season. It feels weird. Of course, its evaluations and proclamations aren’t final. There will still be some modified pre-draft process. There will also be plenty of time to draw final analytic conclusions and pore over prior game tape to find things that were missed. In that spirit, it’s worth looking at a few prospects who made progress up the board in the last few months and others who could climb higher with a deeper analysis of their games....

Potential lottery picks like Georgia’s Anthony Edwards and Iowa State’s Tyrese Haliburton made their intentions known early, but plenty of other college stars were on the fence. This draft class isn’t particularly strong or deep, so it will be a challenge for teams to find contributors for their rotations. NBA MOCK DRAFT: Warriors face tough decision with top pick There is a bigger issue than the talent level of this group, of course....

For 82 games, you might have been able to take a holier-than-thou stance, preaching about love of the game and respect for fans. Back in March, All-Star Wizards guard John Wall said the NBA has, “kind of gotten a little softer,” because of teams’ propensity to rest stars. Heat president Pat Riley was livid about the resting issue, calling it, “a travesty, an absolute travesty, and blatantly so.” Said MVP candidate James Harden of the Rockets, “I’m a hooper....

Warriors-Cavs Game 4: Spreads and totals | Preview and picks James has set a record for most points through three games of an NBA Finals and is on pace to equal Michael Jordan’s record of averaging 41 points per game through the entire series. He’s aware of his place in the record book, but more importantly, he’ll continue to handle the ball and take a lot of shots (he even missed some layups in Game 3)....

That was the initial reaction by many upon hearing reports saying Turner had signed a four-year $75 million deal with the Trail Blazers on Friday afternoon. It turns out the deal actually ended up being for $70 million over the same span, but it was still more money than expected for the do-it-all swingman. MORE: Free agency tracker | These free agents may scare off teams The Trail Blazers entered the offseason with more than $25 million in cap space, so they were in position to add talent without sacrificing much of what made them one of the best surprises of the 2015-16 season....

Let’s take a look at the deals, and give grades for the teams involved. (Teams can’t officially sign players until the moratorium period ends Thursday at 12:01 p.m. ET, so all details below are based on reports. Follow Sporting News’ free agency tracker to see the original report for each contract and the specific terms of each deal.) Milos Teodosic Deal: Signs with Los Angeles Clippers, two years, $12.3 million Other notes: player option in year two This is going to be fun....

But the Thunder still have a good chance to keep the five-time All-Star, according to Marc Stein of The New York Times. From Stein’s most recent newsletter: George made it clear in April the final result of the season wouldn’t “persuade or indicate where I’m going to this offseason,” so this shouldn’t come as a huge surprise. He has also grown close to triple-double machine Russell Westbrook, saying this past season the 2017 NBA MVP was making his decision “easier....

MORE: The 23 best free agents available this offseason The Vertical reported Friday Durant will host several NBA teams at a single site, likely in New York, beginning July 1, as he and his representatives consider a new contract. While the Thunder reportedly remain the front-runners to re-sign the seven-time All-Star forward, almost a dozen other teams are also interested. Sources told The Vertical Durant is especially interested in a possible deal with the Warriors, but added his representatives are also looking to invite officials with the Spurs, Celtics, Clippers and Heat....

That’s the best way to explain Dallas’ rebooted pursuit of Clippers center DeAndre Jordan, who famously jilted the Mavs after signing with the team in 2015, choosing to renege and return to Los Angeles in the end. There were a lot of burned bridges after that fiasco, but the Mavs are willing to let them be repaired. Dallas added Slovenian star Luka Doncic in the draft last week, giving the team a young base of Doncic and Dennis Smith Jr....

The New York Times’ Marc Stein reported Saturday that the New Zealand Breakers of Australia’s National Basketball League are “trying to convince” the 34-year-old to sign with them for the upcoming season. MORE: NBA free agency tracker 2019: Full list of signings, best available players Stein notes that the owner of the Breakers, Matt Walsh, was a teammate of Noah’s during their college days at the University of Florida. He also points out Noah’s situation would be akin to that of former top pick Andrew Bogut, who recently wrapped up an MVP season in the NBL with the Sydney Kings....

The moratorium has taken a beating thanks to DeAndre Jordan’s free agency indecision, but consider that it has been a valuable tool in dampening the blow of significant free agent losses for a number of teams, as what might have been outright signings were turned into sign-and-trades. The most notable example was the Warriors’ would-be signing of Andre Iguodala, whose exit would have left the Nuggets empty-handed. Because the league was in a moratorium, the Nuggets, Warriors and Jazz worked out a deal that brought Randy Foye to Denver....

Holding this occasion in its proper perspective is not a bad thing. The basketball world has tended lately to operate as if every year’s draft has an obvious LeBron or AD or Zion at the top, but that is not how things have tended to develop. We’ve had about as many along the lines of Anthony Bennett, Markelle Fultz and Andrew Wiggins: a total flop, a mystifying disappointment, a productive but underwhelming regular....

The NBA’s annual Christmas Day tradition continues tomorrow with five marquee matchups spread evenly from 12:10 p.m. EST to 10:30 p.m. EST. The slate starts with the Philadelphia 76ers (19-12, 5-7 away) visiting the New York Knicks (18-15, 8-9 home), followed by the LA Lakers (13-19, 5-11 away) vs. Dallas Mavericks (17-16, 12-5 home), Milwaukee Bucks (22-10, 8-7 away) vs. Boston Celtics (23-10, 12-5 home), Memphis Grizzlies (20-11, 7-9 away) vs Golden State Warriors (15-18, 12-2 home), and Phoenix Suns (19-14, 5-9 away) vs Denver Nuggets (20-11, 11-3 home)....

The prospect of seeing the Raptors raise the NBA champions banner to the rafters while simultaneously witnessing Zion Williamson’ professional debut sounded too good to be true. As it turned out, that’s because it was. On Thursday, ESPN reported the number one overall pick of the draft will be sidelined for a number of weeks after suffering a knee injury in New Orleans’ pre-season game against the San Antonio Spurs the previous weekend....