The Indiana Pacers acquired Pascal Siakam from the Toronto Raptors this past January with both the player and team anticipating a probable long-term contract coming in the offseason. Siakam and the Raptors were unable to agree to an extension, which led to a trade for a package centered on Bruce Brown Jr. and three first round picks.

The Pacers are reportedly preparing a five-year max contract offer to Siakam.

"They understand it's a maximum level contract commitment you're going to have with Pascal Siakam," said Shams Charania. "That's what they're preparing to offer him this summer. He wants to be there. There's mutual interest in getting a deal done."

Charania expects the summer "to be a little quiet" for the Pacers with internal improvement more likely than significant roster change.

Dallas Mavericks big man Maxi Kleber is expected to play in Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals, barring a late setback ahead of the game. Kleber is returning from a separated shoulder that occurred in Game 6 of the first round.

Kleber has been out since that first-round series clincher on May 3. At one point, it looked like Kleber's season might be over. However, the Mavericks said that Kleber's return would be dependent on his recovery and how deep the team's playoff run goes.

Dallas is on the verge of clinching a trip to the 2024 NBA Finals. The Mavericks lead the Timberwolves 3-0 heading into Tuesday's Game 4 in Dallas.

Jaylen Brown was awarded the Larry Bird Eastern Conference finals MVP after the Boston Celtics completed a sweep of the Indiana Pacers on Monday.

Brown averaged 29.8 points, five rebounds, three assists, and two steals for the series.

Brown received five out of nine votes, with Jayson Tatum getting the other four votes.

“He was unreal this whole series, a complete player on both sides of the ball that you don’t really see much these days,” said Derrick White of Brown. 

Egor Demin has committed to BYU for the 24-25 season.

Demin is a projected lottery pick in 2025 who is currently playing for Real Madrid.

Demin is a 6'9 guard from Russia. 

The Indiana Pacers were eliminated by the Boston Celtics from the Eastern Conference Finals in four games despite playing three incredibly close games.

The Pacers had at least a 90 percent win probability in the fourth quarter of Games 1, 3 and 4, according to ESPN Stats & Information research. 

"For a young team like us, this experience in the playoffs is second to none," said Andrew Nembhard, who finished with a team-high 24 points in Game 4. "A lot of our first times. A lot of little things we maybe wanted to do better and we learned how these games go and what being in a series feels like."

"I can tell you like, yeah, we're going to learn from it and it's going to happen, but it's not guaranteed," Siakam said. "I know how hard it is to get to this point. It's unfortunate. You want to give credit to the other team because they took advantage of every mistake that we made. They did well.

"But for us, it's been hard, like heartbreaking losses after heartbreaking losses. Yeah, you're going to be encouraged by it and you hope to put the right amount of work to continue to get better. Because we need to be a lot better if you want to compete with those teams. And understand it doesn't matter how good we played, we didn't get it done."

The Boston Celtics are returning to the NBA Finals for the second time in three seasons. In 2022, they lost to the Golden State Warriors in six games after initially taking a 2-1 series lead. 

Boston has reshaped large portions of their roster over the past two seasons while Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum are more developed players.

"We feel like we're a different team than we were last year and the year before that," Jaylen Brown said. "I know everybody wants to continue to kind of pigeonhole us to what was happening in the past but we've had a different team every single year, different coaches, we've had like three coaches in the last five years. And still people want to make it seem like it's the same, it's the same, it's the same.

"Time has gone by, experience has been gained and I think we are ready to put our best foot forward."

Veteran wing Evan Fournier is prioritizing staying the NBA for his next contract, as opposed to returning to play in Europe. A rumor came up at the EuroLeague Final Four that Fournier could play for Olympiacos in Greece or ASVEL in his native France next season.

The Detroit Pistons hold a $19 million team option for Fournier for next season. The Pistons are expected to decline that option to create cap space. That will make Fournier an unrestricted free agent this summer.

Fournier is expected to play for France at the 2024 Summer Olympics. He's likely to know his NBA future ahead of the Olympics, which will begin in Paris and the surrounding area in late July.

Fournier has played for the Denver Nuggets, Orlando Magic, Boston Celtics and New York Knicks, in addition to the Pistons, in his 12-year NBA career. New York traded Fournier to the Detroit at this season's trade deadline.

Kristaps Porzingis has been out since late April with a non-contact calf strain, but there is optimism he could be cleared to play in Game 1 of The Finals.

"There's definitely hope, there's definitely optimism," said Shams Charania of Porzingis.

"There are still some hurdles, I'm told, that he has to clear before he can play in Game 1 of The Finals."

Entering the Eastern Conference Finals, there was reportedly a chance that Porzingis could return during that series if it were to extend.

Game 1 of The Finals is on Thursday, June 6th at TD Garden.

Lithuania guard Kasparas Jakucionis has committed to the University of Illinois. Jakucionis is considered one of the top international guards heading to a United States college, and he's a potential first-round pick in the 2025 NBA Draft.

The 6-foot-6 guard has appeared in five games for Barcelona across various competitions over the last two seasons. Across multiple different competition, with Barcelona and their youth team, Jakucionis averaged 17.7 points, 6.0 rebounds and 5.2 assists.

Jakucionis is just one of what is expected to be several international players to commit to playing college basketball in the United States. The advent of NIL deals has made collegiate basketball a more attractive path for foreign-born players than it used to be.

DJ Wagner has chosen to follow John Calipari to Arkansas. Wagner, who entered the transfer portal when Calipari left Kentucky, will now follow suit.

A former top-five recruit, Wagner is one of three former Wildcats to join Calipari on the Razorbacks. Adou Thiero and Zvonimir Ivisic are also headed to Arkansas. Calipari also got recruits Boogie Fland, Karter Knox and Billy Richmond to flip to Arkansas too.

In addition to the above, the Razorbacks are adding transfers Johnell Davis from Florida Atlantic and Jonas Aidoo from Tennessee.