There are only so many minutes to go around.
OG Anunoby’s absence due to a right hamstring strain in Games 3 and 4 of the second round meant Miles McBride moved to the starting lineup, opening up his minutes for someone off the bench. After being buried in the rotation, Landry Shamet was the beneficiary.
He played 37 minutes between the two games and scored 27 points.
“Landry hadn’t played a drop all playoffs,” coach Mike Brown said. “I think the first game [of the first round], he was in the rotation and then the second game a little bit, then he was out. That’s six, seven games that he hadn’t seen significant minutes on the court. … He was huge on both ends of the floor.”
With Anunoby expected to return for Game 1 of the conference finals, it is likely those minutes will again disappear.
McBride will move back to his bench role. He, Mitchell Robinson, Jordan Clarkson and Jose Alvarado have consistently been Brown’s primary bench pieces. Shamet was originally above Alvarado in the pecking order, but Brown flipped that because he wanted to have a more natural point guard on the floor when Brunson is on the bench.
It is unlikely that Brown will expand to a 10-man rotation to include Shamet.
Brown has proven that he is not afraid to shake up his rotation at any given moment. With everyone healthy, it’s hard to see how Shamet finds his way on the court.
Mark Cuban, the Mavericks owner when Jalen Brunson began his career with the franchise, was critical of one of Brunson’s recent endorsement deals.
“Time to tell your agent to get you deals with the good guys,” Cuban posted to X while tagging Brunson. “CAA did you wrong.”
Cuban included a link to Brunson’s advertisement with Evernorth Health Services. Cuban notably owns Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company, which offers low-cost generic drugs and attempts to disrupt major pharmaceutical companies.
Karl-Anthony Towns, an avid card collector, revealed that he was outbid for a one-of-one Randy Orton WrestleMania 41 patch autograph. The winning bid came in at $42,100 on eBay.
“This has us SICK,” Towns wrote on his Instagram account “bigbodegascards,” which is dedicated to his card collecting. “Thought it was ours for the taking, until a last-minute NUCLEAR bid snuck in! Who has this card now!? We have to know!”
