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Pete Thamel: Vanderbilt All-SEC point guard Tyler Tanner has withdrawn from the NBA Draft and decided to return to Vanderbilt, he tells ESPN. He earned honorable mention All-American honors last year, averaging 19.5 points and 5.1 assists per game.
Stack, going back to Dre for a minute, your respect for him is obvious. He really respects you. In fact, he was on his podcast pushing hard for you to get the North Carolina job, which ultimately went to Michael Malone. Were you surprised that they went outside the family? Because they’ve never gone outside the family.” Jerry Stackhouse: “Yeah, I mean, I was and I wasn’t. With what was going on there with Hubert (Davis), I think nobody really liked how that went down for him. Being part of the family, and then to not have an opportunity to talk about it, I think that was the most disappointing thing for me. They were like, ‘We’re not going to interview.’ I felt like I had a resume that could stand up to anybody. I won Coach of the Year in the SEC. I had a team that finished fourth in the SEC when we weren’t even participating in NIL.
Adam silver is one of America’s most powerful men. Part businessman and part diplomat, he leads a multibillion-dollar international conglomerate and exercises soft power across continents. But on the day we met, the commissioner of the National Basketball Association appeared aimless, drifting awkwardly through the roped-off VIP area of a sports-business conference in Nashville. Silver had just concluded a keynote session. Unlike other headliners, such as Major League Baseball’s Rob Manfred and the Southeastern Conference’s Greg Sankey, who’d been interviewed onstage by journalists, Silver had been joined in conversation by his friend Bob Myers, a former Golden State Warriors executive, who opened by congratulating Silver on his decency, integrity, and “moral compass.” The commissioner is carefully stage-managed. Media engagements are rare; rarer still are the probing questions that might be asked of someone leading a business valued at roughly $200 billion. Early last year, I’d approached the NBA about a profile—not just of Silver but of the game itself, a holistic look at the evolution of professional basketball. The answer: a hard no. Hence the trip to Nashville.
Joe Tipton: NEWS: Vanderbilt star guard Tyler Tanner has declared for the NBA Draft while maintaining his college eligibility, he told @On3. The 6-foot sophomore averaged 19.5 points, 3.6 rebounds, 5.1 assists, and 2.4 steals per game this season, earning First-Team All-SEC and SEC All-Defensive Team honors.
Kentucky basketball just picked up a commitment from Mason Williams, the son of former NBA champion and Jackson State head coach Mo Williams. The younger Williams — rated a four-star in the 2026 class — has chosen to play his college ball in the SEC. His father was a star at Alabama before embarking on a long NBA career that included a championship.
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Such a rise to stardom for Gilgeous-Alexander is stunning if you consider he was the 11th overall pick in the 2018 NBA draft and he was traded by the Los Angeles Clippers after his rookie season. The former University of Kentucky star said the first individual award that really meant something to him was being named the MVP of the 2018 Southeastern Conference men’s basketball tournament after leading the Wildcats to a title. “I played a pretty good tournament. That was my coming-out party as a collegiate player,” Gilgeous-Alexander told Andscape. “I kind of knew after that I was going to enter the draft.”
Dawn Staley says she is convinced that NBA teams may never be ready to hire a woman as a head coach after her recent experience with the New York Knicks. Staley boasts one of the greatest coaching résumés in the history of basketball, which is why the Knicks interviewed her earlier this year before ultimately choosing Mike Brown as their new head coach to replace Tom Thibdeau. Staley said she was legitimately interviewed by the Knicks and entered the process with an open mind, but acknowledged that she doesn't think the league is ready for such a historic hire. "No, I don't [believe it will happen in my lifetime]," Staley said Tuesday during SEC media day. "And I hope I'm wrong."
Dan LeBatard: But this has the potential to be the biggest salary cap crime that we've seen. Pablo Torre: Yes. Yes. $28 million. And that, by the way, for the T-Wolves in that era in the '90s, five first-round picks, suspensions for the owner of the team for Glenn Taylor as well as other punishments down the line. But this this as tied into again an ongoing SEC DOJ investigation into fraud by this green bank, this climate change friendly company whose biggest investor or at least the most important, influential, notable investor was Steve Ballmer who put in $50 million of his own money. I mean, this is not merely a story about salary caps or circumvention. This is now a question that the seven sources I spoke to are asking. What else did Steve Balmer know about this?
Michael Scotto: Two-time SEC All-Defensive Team selection Cam Mathews (Mississippi State) will join the Houston Rockets and compete for a two-way spot in training camp, league sources told @hoopshype .
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Karter's older brother, Kevin Knox, played for John Calipari with the Wildcats and was the 2018 SEC Freshman of the Year.
One and done. Texas guard Tre Johnson, who took home SEC freshman of the year honors during the 2024-25 season, has declared for the 2025 NBA Draft. The unsurprising move means it’s draft prep time for Johnson, who is considered one of the top college prospects for the upcoming draft.
Shams Charania: Oklahoma freshman Jeremiah Fears is entering the 2025 NBA draft and forgoing his remaining college eligibility, he tells ESPN. The SEC all-freshman guard is the No. 7 prospect in ESPN's NBA draft projections.
BACK IN MARCH, Pelinka attended the SEC tournament in Nashville and linked up with an old friend, Steven Curtis Chapman, for a bourbon. It was there that the Grammy-winning recording artist offered some advice on where the GM should aim his scouting efforts. "'There's a kid that plays on Tennessee,'" Pelinka remembered Chapman saying. "And I was like, 'Yeah, Dalton. There's no way. He's a top-five pick. I am not going to spend all my time there.' He was like, 'No, my wife has a feeling. Like, he's going to be a Laker.'"