NBA lottery race, WNBA draft and free agency, and NCAA portal underway
By Noah Zimmerman
noah@queensledger.com
It’s been a thrilling few years for basketball in New York City, from NBA contenders, to WNBA champions, to a miraculous NCAA Tournament run. Between the city’s four biggest basketball teams there have been plenty of memorable moments, but plenty still to be desired.
Over the past few weeks the NBA playoff picture and draft lottery have solidified, the WNBA offseason roared into action with the 2026 draft held Monday night, and in NCAA hoops the transfer portal has once again opened. Regardless of recent successes or shortcomings, the basketball landscape in the nation’s biggest sports market will look vastly different moving forward.
Knicks hunt May hoops
With the conclusion of the 2025-26 NBA season, the Knicks emerged as the Eastern Conference’s 3rd seed. They finished one game ahead of the Cleveland Cavaliers, but a handful of games short of the 2nd place Boston Celtics. Leading the pack in the East were the Detroit Pistons with a 60-22 record.
New York will take on the Atlanta Hawks in the opening round of the postseason, which tips off this Saturday night at Madison Square Garden. The Knicks took two of their three games against Atlanta this regular season, both coming on the road but decided by just three points.
Jalen Brunson and company will have to come out firing to hold off a resurgent Atlanta team, who have remained viable even after trading franchise star (and Knicks nemesis) Trae Young.
Game 1 of the first round will tip off at MSG at 6pm this Saturday, April 18. Game 2 will also be played in New York before Games 3 and 4 in Atlanta. If necessary Games 5 and 7 will be hosted by the Knicks with Game 6 back in the A.
Should the Knicks advance, their next foe will likely be the rival Celtics, who take on the winner of the 7 vs 8 play-in game on Wednesday night. It’s hard to see the 76ers or Magic fending off the Celtics, who have put together a phenomenal year even without star forward Jayson Tatum, who returned from a ruptured achilles just in time for postseason action.
Nets lock up lottery odds
It’s been a brutal season in Brooklyn as they registered the 4th worst season in the franchise’s NBA history. Despite their 20-62 record there have been more than a few promising signs for the future. As the NBA season concluded Brooklyn cemented the joint-best odds to land the highly coveted #1 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft.
This season Michael Porter Jr. was phenomenal in his first season as a Net– and as a primary option– and has expressed a desire to remain in Brooklyn. Terrence Mann provided valuable leadership and depth, Nic Claxton grew his game as both a playmaker and defender, and Day’ron
Of their five 1st round picks last year, most have shown tremendous promise. Egor Dëmin was terrific as a rookie and can carve out a career as a valuable role player. While Ben Saraf struggled at the NBA level he impressed in the G League before registering a few strong performances for the Nets down the stretch.
Brooklyn will pick no worse than 7th, guaranteeing a higher selection than last season’s #8 overall pick. Alongside the Washington Wizards and Indiana Pacers, the Nets will have a 14% chance of picking first and over 50% chance of a top-four pick, with the final order decided in the draft lottery on May 10. On June 22 the Nets will welcome a new top talent to their roster, hoping for a chance to land one of the coveted consensus top-3 of Darryn Peterson, AJ Dybantsa, or Cameron Boozer.
New York’s new Sabally
The New York Liberty have lost some valuable talent in the last week and a half. After the Toronto Tempo selected Nyara Sabally and the rights to Adja Kane in the WNBA expansion draft, they signed former Liberty forward Isabelle Harrison to a 1-year deal.
Despite the losses, New York has hit the ground running in free agency. They made one of the biggest moves in the league over the weekend, bringing in star forward Satou Sabally. The move reunites Satou with Sabrina Ionescu, two parts of a dynamic Oregon Ducks women’s basketball team that went to the Final Four in 2020.
Jonquel Jones became the first of New York’s “big three” to re-sign, inking a multi-year deal. Both Breanna Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu have made comments stating intentions to remain in New York. With the addition of Satou Sabally, the Liberty have constructed another four-headed behemoth of a team, ready to chase a second championship this season.
Top transfer targets vanishing from NCAA portal
Rick Pitino and St. John’s have their work cut out for themselves in order to replace their fleet of departing seniors. The portal opened with a bang last week, but a lot of the nation’s top transfer targets have already been snatched up.
The Johnnies have a massive Ejiofor-shaped hole to fill on their roster and while rising junior Ruben Prey has shown plenty of promise, he’s going to need a lot of help to fill Zuby’s shoes. To help with their guard depth, SJU has splashed big time on Quinn Ellis, a seasoned Euroleague player with multiple years of professional experience.
Co-captain Sadiku Ibine-Ayo is transferring in search of a bigger role in his final season. Joining him in the portal are European role players Lefteris Liotopolous and Imran Suljanovic. Another devastating blow was the loss of Dylan Darling, re-entering the portal and landing with the Grand Canyon Lopes after one season at St. John’s and a very memorable layup vs Kansas. His decision came just hours after Ellis committed to the Red Storm.
Kansas big man and one of the top targets in the portal, Flory Bidunga, had St. John’s among his top-four landing spots. He passed up on the Johnnies, Blue Devils, and Wolverines to land with Louisville.
There are plenty of options left on the board, but for St. John’s to repeat as transfer portal winners, they’ll have to get busy in a hurry.
(Editor’s Note: This article was originally published on Tuesday, April 14 at 12pm. It has been edited to include mentions of Quinn Ellis committing to St. John’s and Dylan Darling transferring to GCU.)
