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But the 2006 finals remains Dwyane Wade’s basketball masterpiece, one that saw him join Michael Jordan (1993), Rick Barry (1967) and Elgin Baylor (1962) as the only players with four consecutive 35-point games in the league’s championship series. From Games 3 through 6, Wade scored 16 more points in the paint than any Mavericks player. “Bottom line, in the finals, it was kind of Jordan-esque. It really was,” Mourning told The Athletic of Wade’s performance. “He averaged almost 40 points a game in the finals. That’s getting it done. And it just took the others to kind of come together and do their part — you know, me, Shaq, (James) Posey, J-Dub (Jason Williams), Udonis (Haslem), and Antoine Walker, all of us. “We contributed in our own little ways from that perspective, but D-Wade was phenomenal to watch. He threw us on his shoulders. He just carried us.”
Tom Haberstroh: PLAYOFF UPDATE: It is true that stars play through soreness/injuries more in the playoffs. This postseason, stars played 88.9% of its games, way up from reg season. Most games missed: Luka, KD, JDub. 2025-26 Star Participation % REG SEASON ... 66.2% PLAYOFFS ......... 88.7%
The Oklahoma City Thunder have received calls from rival teams with trade interest in Chet Holmgren. The Thunder have let those teams know that Holmgren is not available. Holmgren is starting a five-year, $239 million rookie scale extension this coming season. His first-year salary projects to be $41.25 million. This extension mirrors that of Jalen Williams, who deal looks exactly the same as Holmgren's in terms of annual salary.
Joel Lorenzi: Sam Presti says his players had every reason to reference injuries in exit meetings — notes OKC's playoff starters from last season played 11 games together, and that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren played 27 games together. "Not one guy raised that as an issue that they wanted to reflect on."
Chandler Parsons on Chet Holmgren: "I do think there is some sort of mental block when it comes to Victor Wembanyama. I really do. I don't think it is like Space Jam, but I don't think he can take two shots in Game 7. You don't play 33 minutes and take two shots. I would rather live and die with going down with Ajay Mitchell out and Jalen Williams out. I would rather have him be 0 for 15 than one for two."
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Anthony Slater: Jalen Williams on the Spurs: “It honestly feels like we are playing a version of ourselves.” Could he have changed the outcome? “I think we could’ve won if I played…But it’s also hats off to them. What do you want them to do about me being hurt?”
Joel Lorenzi: Jalen Williams on his hamstring injuries, the timing of his return, what this stretch taught him. “We went through all the right protocol to try and give it a go to play. … Everybody in the world knows I wasn't myself. I played nine minutes (in Game 6), I don't even think I shot the ball, I just couldn't move, but I'd rather have went out there and tested it out.”
Brandon Rahbar: SGA on not having Jalen Williams: "Not having Dub for the whole year basically sucked. He's such a unicorn out there. He's a 20 point per game scorer, guards 1-5. Last season he got All NBA for offense, All NBA for defense and was an All Star. At 24 years old. Losing a guy like that hurts. Having a swiss army knife like that.. is a luxury.. and we didn't have that luxury this year."
Justin Martinez: Mark Daigneault on the opportunity for Jalen Williams to get healthy this summer: "I'm excited about a healthy Jalen Williams. I'm excited about a healthy team and what that can look like moving forward. So that becomes the priority, especially with him. It was a tough year for him, and we need to do everything we can to get him in full form, and he does too. I give the big guy a ton of credit. He played the entire playoff run last year with a ligament tear in his wrist that no one knew about. The minute we lost the game, the sky falls on a guy like that. He didn't make one excuse, helped us win a championship. Came back this year, had the surgery, didn't start the season and then had the hamstring stuff. He's had a very, very tough calendar year. But he stayed inside the team and stayed competitive. And we've got his back as we move through this and gets back to 100 percent."
Joel Lorenzi: Mark Daigneault on Jalen Williams’ injury-related absences this season and the importance of his summer “Missing him impacts your ceiling. Missing Ajay Mitchell impacts your ceiling. But we've been able to maintain a really high floor. I'm proud of that. That's a huge accomplishment for the season, and it will pay dividends moving forward and will pay dividends for us this year. “I'm excited about a healthy Jalen Williams. I'm excited about a healthy team and what that can look like moving forward. So that becomes the priority especially with him. It was a tough year for him, and we need to do everything we can to get him in full form, and he does too.”
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“The whole league now is trying to beat (OKC). That means they’re building their teams that way,” Kerr said. “San Antonio, they got young talent, they got Wemby, and they have really good and strong defensive guards. It was like, ‘Oh, s—.’ All of a sudden, they got a rival. I don’t know who the next young team who’s going to be doing that is, but you better believe when all these teams are building their rosters, they got the Thunder in mind, because they know for the next six, eight years, the Thunder are going to be at the top of the heap.” Now the Thunder will move with the Spurs — who boast a core trio aged 22 and younger — in mind. OKC’s summer comes with decisions. Holmgren and Jalen Williams’ extensions activate next season. With the second apron looming — the Thunder currently projected to be about $39 million above that mark next season — they hold team options on Isaiah Hartenstein ($28.5 million) and Lu Dort ($18.2 million).
Joel Lorenzi: Mark Daigneault says Jalen Williams didn’t suffer any setback in Game 6, but acknowledges that he didn’t undergo the normal return-to-play procedure leading into his return. Says “all the stakeholders” huddled before the game before he gave it a go, and did the same afterward. Says Williams actually felt good after Game 6 relative to his recovery. Notes that if OKC should advance, he’ll continue his rehab and they’ll move forward with the same process.
Joel Lorenzi: Jalen Williams left the arena after tonight’s Game 6 loss without speaking to media. He played 10 mins in his return after missing Games 2 through 5 with a hamstring injury.
