The Fever win the Commissioner's Cup, the Nuggets add to the bench and more
The Indiana Fever, minus Caitlin Clark (groin), upset the Lynx in Minnesota, seizing the Commissioner's Cup in the finale and spoiling the chance of a repeat champ. A pot of $500,000 and $120,000 in cryptocurrency was split among the winners, and they partied in the locker room with champagne and vodka seltzers. Natasha Howard’s ball pressure, floaters through the lane, transition attacks and bounce passes to cutters made her the MVP, finishing the game with 16 points on 40% shooting, with 12 rebounds and four assists.
The Lynx raced off a 20-12 lead at the end of the first quarter after putting the squeeze on Aliyah Boston and Howard, resulting in nine misses with zero makes. Then the Fever forcefully took over, shutting down the Lynx to zero digits for the last 8:13 of the half. Coach Stephanie White said, “We made their movement a little bit more difficult because of our positioning. Our point of attack on ball screen defense was better.”
On the other side, Howard blasted her way to the line and set up two treys for Sophie Cunningham with dribble penetration, and Kelsey Mitchell cut backdoor for a left-side layup plus made a mid-range jumper over drop coverage.
Indiana’s defense then savaged the Lynx, holding them to 29.4% accuracy in front of their disheartened supporters in the second half. Their brutishness caused Napheesa Collier to fall apart after the first quarter, not giving her much wiggle room to attack and pouncing on her passes.
Collier was held to six baskets in 18 tries. Howard, who spent a good chunk of time trailing her, pressuring the dribble and forcing her into tough jumpers, said, “I knew I had a handful with Collier; she’s a great player. My thing was just limit her to hard shots.”
Nuggets add two more players to the bench:
Tim Hardaway Jr. and Jonas Valančiūnas were signed on Tuesday by the Nuggets, improving on what was already a successful offseason. The Nuggets had one of the worst benches in the league in 2024-25, and that, along with an inadequate defense, was why they fell short to the eventual champions, the OKC Thunder.
Hardaway, who had 77 starts last year in Detroit, can be a streaky sniper, as he’s made 591 3-pointers in the previous three regular seasons on 36.8% shooting. Consider that many of his attempts were open looks because of the attention created by Luka Dončić in Dallas plus Cade Cunningham in Detroit. Additionally, he was not a factor in the 2025 playoffs (31.3 minutes per game) as his long jumper disappeared. He can likely be more effective in a shorter role off the bench.
Valančiūnas is the latest attempt to plug the unsolved problem of locating a serviceable backup to Nikola Jokić. Last year, the Dario Šarić experiment was a disaster, and the team was better with Aaron Gordon and what’s left of DeAndre Jordan in that role.
Valančiūnas can be exposed on defense, but he has no trouble getting his own shot in single coverage. He’s a massive body with a dependable post game and solid face-up moves. The real value is in the former because it can create a double team.
Now the Nuggets have three quality bench options, whereas Russell Westbrook was the only one late last year.
More of the same is expected for the Heat:
Run it back harder is the mantra, but without Duncan Robinson, who is arguably the top shooter in team history. He was signed and traded to the Detroit Pistons (three-year, $48 million) after exercising his early termination option for his contract in Miami, which guaranteed him $10 million.
Keeping the crew together was expected, no matter what team president Pat Riley said at his end-of-season press conference, but the Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson confirmed it with his Wednesday reporting. Per Jackson, the Heat couldn’t properly evaluate last season because of the turmoil surrounding Jimmy Butler’s departure, Andre Wiggins’ injury, and players mixed out of their roles.
Their rookie, Kasparas Jakučionis, will aid the rotation because he is a penetrator, which was one of the team’s important needs. Yet, rookies rarely start under Heat culture and sometimes don’t immediately play. On top of that, Robinson’s departure now leaves a hole to fill for dependable outside shooting since Tyler Herro (37.5%) and Wiggins (36%) are the best remaining mid-to-high volume options.
Indiana lost Tyrese Haliburton for presumably all of next year (Achilles tear) and lost Myles Turner in free agency to Milwaukee, the Bucks still have an ordinary team around Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Celtics are expected to be in a gap year. Yet, the East is not open enough for the Heat. They’ll be condemned to the middle again next year while they wait for another unhappy star to ask out of his situation, which they may not be able to afford via trade. Perhaps after another appearance, they can submit a bid to the league to rename the Play-In Tournament the Miami Heat Invitational.
The Heat are determined to keep building with late lottery to mid-first-round picks, but this isn’t enough to forge a champion unless a talented player slips because of poor scouting by the teams above.
Herro is a fine player. He made his first All-Star team in 2024-25 and became more dangerous as a scorer. But he’s not a great player because he doesn’t slow down a match or pressure a defense by getting to the line and can be exposed when guarding the ball.
Adebayo is an A-list defender, but his scoring is average because he’s an athletic roller with an OK jumper and hook. Consider that he’d be the sixth offensive option on Riley’s Lakers behind Kareem, Magic, James Worthy, Bob McAdoo and Norm Nixon. It’s too hard to go anywhere worthwhile in the playoffs when a team’s best player can’t be a top-two option on offense.