Brad Stevens of the Boston Celtics was named NBA Basketball Executive of the Year for the second time in three seasons. The Celtics finished the 2025-26 season with a 56-26 record, securing a top-two playoff seed.
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Boston Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens was named the NBA Basketball Executive of the Year for the second time in three seasons on Tuesday.
Stevens' Celtics finished with the second-best record (56-26) in the Eastern Conference in 2025-26 and secured a top-two playoff seed for the fifth time in his five seasons in his current role.
Boston Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens was named the NBA Basketball Executive of the Year for the second time in three seasons on Tuesday.
Boston accomplished that despite parting ways with Al Horford, Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday before the season and only having All-NBA forward Jayson Tatum for 16 games after he recovered from an Achilles injury.
Stevens, who also won the award in 2023-24, is the 12th executive to receive the honor multiple times since it was first presented in 1972-73.
Stevens, 49, received 11 first-place votes and 69 total points in voting by his fellow executives. Atlanta Hawks general manager Onsi Saleh was second with 41 points, one more than Detroit Pistons president of basketball operations Trajan Langdon.
The Pistons recorded a 60-win regular season but trail the Orlando Magic, 3-1, heading into Game 5 at Little Caesars Arena on Wednesday.
Brad Stevens of the Boston Celtics was named NBA Basketball Executive of the Year in 2026.
The Boston Celtics finished the 2025-26 season with a record of 56-26.
Brad Stevens has won the NBA Executive of the Year award twice in the last three seasons.
The Celtics faced challenges by parting ways with key players like Al Horford, Kristaps Porzingis, and Jrue Holiday, and had Jayson Tatum for only 16 games due to an Achilles injury.
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Before joining Boston's front office, Stevens served as the team's head coach for eight seasons and tallied a 354-282 record. During his 13-year tenure with the franchise, the Celtics have made 12 playoff appearances.
The Celtics currently have a 3-1 lead in their first-round series with the Philadelphia 76ers. Game 5 is on Tuesday night in Boston.
The NBA has shared details of its anti-tanking, "3-2-1 lottery" draft reform plan with team general managers, according to a report from ESPN.
There could be minor tweaks to the proposal ahead of it being voted on by the league's owners on May 28, but the larger points of the plan have a majority of support and it is likely to be approved, per ESPN.
The "3-2-1 lottery" proposal is named for the number of lottery balls teams would be eligible to receive for the draft lottery drawing. It would expand the lottery from 14 to 16 teams, all of whom would have a chance at the No. 1 overall pick.
The teams with the worst records, though, will no longer have the best odds. The bottom three teams would fall into the relegation area and receive two lottery balls for the No. 1 pick.
Instead, the teams that miss the playoffs and play-in tournament but stay out of the relegation zone (fourth through 10th from the bottom of the standings) would be tied for the best odds with three lottery balls.
The ninth and 10th seeds of the play-in tournament would also receive two balls, while the loser of the play-in games between the seventh and eighth seeds would earn one lottery ball.
Additionally, there would be rules under this new format about the frequency with which teams could earn certain tiers of picks. No team could earn the No. 1 pick in consecutive years or more than three consecutive top-five picks.
Fighting against tanking has been a recent talking point for NBA commissioner Adam Silver. This proposal would also reportedly give the league the ability to reduce a team's lottery odds or even change a team's draft positioning if it is deemed to be tanking.
Per the report, this proposal would expire after the 2029 draft – the last draft ahead of the current collective bargaining agreement, which expires after the 2029-30 season. This sunset provision would allow owners to continue the "3-2-1" system or transition to a new draft lottery format at that time.
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Brad Stevens of the Boston Celtics was named top NBA executive