Twenty players have received invitations to attend the 2022 NBA draft and sit in the green room, sources told ESPN.

Jabari Smith, Chet Holmgren, Paolo Banchero, Jaden Ivey, Keegan Murray, Bennedict Mathurin, Dyson Daniels, Shaedon Sharpe, Jalen Duren, AJ Griffin and Johnny Davis received the first batch of 11 invites last Thursday, followed by Ousmane Dieng, Jeremy Sochan, Ochai Agbaji, Mark Williams and Malaki Branham on Monday.

TyTy Washington, Tari Eason, Jalen Williams and MarJon Beauchamp received what are believed to be the final four invitations Wednesday for the June 23 draft. The green room is a staging area in front of the NBA draft podium where players, families and agents await commissioner Adam Silver calling a player’s name upon selection.

The process of deciding which players to invite to the draft involves communication with presidents or general managers of teams picking throughout the first round. Teams are asked to vote on the 25 players whose names they expect to hear called first. This is to ensure that players aren’t sitting for very long under the bright lights before a national television audience as the second round approaches.

Receiving an invitation is considered a positive sign for a player’s draft stock, although there have been instances in the past of prospects falling to the second round while sitting in the green room. Examples include Bol Bol, Deyonta Davis, Nic Claxton, Maciej Lampe and Rashard Lewis.

All 20 players invited are projected among the top 23 prospects in the latest ESPN Top 100 rankings.

Jonathan Givony is an NBA draft expert and the founder and co-owner of DraftExpress.com, a private scouting and analytics service utilized by NBA, NCAA and international teams.

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BOSTON — The Golden State Warriors find themselves in a position they’ve been in many times before: one win away from an NBA title.

Playing in the NBA Finals for the sixth time in the past eight years, there is a dose of cautious optimism flowing through the Warriors’ locker room as they take a 3-2 series lead into Boston for Game 6 on Thursday night (9 PT on ABC). But the Warriors also made it clear that no one is celebrating yet.

“You do yourself a disservice if you think about things that don’t even exist yet,” Klay Thompson said.

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The Warriors have struggled in closeout games this postseason, failing to wrap up each series they’ve played with their first opportunity — all coming on the road.

The stakes awaiting them on the other side of their next game against the Boston Celtics only makes it more difficult.

“Clinching is probably the hardest game you’ll play,” Andre Iguodala said.

Warriors coach Steve Kerr said he doesn’t see a common thread in the games Golden State has dropped.

Perhaps it’s more about their opponents’ survival instincts. Before Game 4 of the first round, Denver‘s Nikola Jokic said he didn’t feel that his team deserved to be swept when it trailed 3-0 in the series. That propelled the Nuggets to a Game 5 win. In the second round, Memphis outworked the Warriors from the start. In the Conference finals, the Mavericks were looking to avoid the sweep, just like the Nuggets.

In each of the Warriors’ three failed closeout opportunities, they trailed by double digits at the half. They managed to stay close in the first quarter, but the second quarter became a big problem, especially against Memphis and Dallas.

Golden State has also had a problem defending the perimeter. The Warriors’ opponents have shot 53-for-115 (46.1%) from beyond the 3-point line in those three losses. This could present an issue against the Celtics, as Boston has hit 317 3-pointer this postseason, the most all time in a single playoff year.

In this series, Games 4 and 5 were the first set of consecutive losses the Celtics had strung together since late March, when they lost to the Toronto Raptors and Miami Heat. Before that, they hadn’t dropped back-to-back games since January.

“We know [the Celtics are] going to play with a sense of desperation,” Thompson said. “So for us to match that or exceed that, it’s going to take the most effort we’ve had to give all year.”

When the Warriors closed out their series against Denver, Stephen Curry said that Golden State might have forgotten the grit it takes to wrap up a series, especially to start the game. That trend continued in the Western Conference semifinals and conference finals, as well. But now, the Warriors are relying heavily on not only their experience in the playoffs but in winning title-clinching games.

“You just understand what the nerves are like,” Curry said. “We understand the specifics of how we need to approach the game from a physicality perspective, our game plan adjustments from Game 5 to Game 6, understanding what the building is going to feel like, that energy, being prepared for it.”

Curry said he will be reminding himself — and his less experienced teammates — of that heading into the game. But after that, it’s about the mindset the Warriors have been preaching all season long: stay locked in on what’s happening in front of you.

“At the end of the day, once you get out there, you just have to be in the moment,” Curry said. “You got to be present as much as possible, not worry about the consequences of a win or a loss. The only opportunity you have is that 48 minutes. The more you can trick your mind into being in the moment and staying there, that’s the best advice I can give anybody in that situation, because it’s going to be the hardest game you probably ever played in your career because of what the stakes are.”

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The Dallas Mavericks are acquiring center/power forward Christian Wood from the Houston Rockets in exchange for the No. 26 pick in the 2022 NBA draft and four players with expiring contracts, sources told ESPN.

Dallas will send Boban Marjanovic, Marquese Chriss, Trey Burke and Sterling Brown to Houston, sources said, creating roster flexibility and adding a productive big man.

Sources said Houston was motivated to move Wood because the Rockets want to open up playing time for 2021 first-rounder Alperen Sengun and likely the No. 3 overall pick. The Rockets pounced on the opportunity to acquire a first-round selection without taking on any long-term salary.

Wood, 26, averaged 19.1 points and 9.9 rebounds during his two seasons with the Rockets. He is due to make $14.3 million for the 2022-23 season, the final year of his contract.

Upgrading at center was one of the Mavs’ primary goals entering the offseason in the wake of their run to the Western Conference finals.

The Rockets now have the Nos. 3, 17 and 26 picks in the June 23 draft.

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Is ex-Bear Cordarrelle Patterson actually a better kick returner than all-time Chicago Bears great Devin Hester? At first, this question sounds ridiculous. Hester is widely known as the best returner in NFL history.

Just this past year, Hester was eligible for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Unfortunately, Devin wasn’t selected. Many fans voiced their opinions and frustrations on social media when the news broke.

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SAN FRANCISCO — The highlights of the Stephen Curry 3-pointers, Robert Williams’ blocked shots and, now, Andrew Wiggins‘ dunks, continue to run as the premier moments in the 2022 NBA Finals.

Celtics coach Ime Udoka keeps trying to tell everyone they’re missing the point.

The Golden State Warriors are one win from claiming another title after a 104-94 Game 5 victory over the Boston Celtics Monday night. But the Warriors are not ahead 3-2 because they’re winning the anticipated battle of the series — Boston’s relentless and expertly constructed No. 1 defense going against the historic shooting wizard and his brothers in arms — but because of the exact opposite.

These Finals are being won at the other end of the court, the Warriors’ defense suffocating the Celtics and negating Boston’s game plan.

And that’s how fans who were pouring out of Chase Center Monday night explained it, too, after watching Curry go 0-for-9 on 3-pointers, the first time in four years and 233 games he didn’t make a triple.

“I know that’s the thing people notice at first, consistently, how well I shoot my ball, how I shoot my shots, that flair,” Curry said. “I can’t control the narratives however people talk about the game. When you watch the game, it’s not just about that. … I think we are [the] No. 2 defense for a reason.”

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Udoka, the Celtics’ first-year coach, did make some adjustments to his defensive game plan against Curry, namely having his big men crowd him more after screens and employing more switches to discourage the kind of shooting Curry had been displaying in the series.

But he spent more time before Game 5 worrying about Boston’s offense. And as he and his team take the five-hour flight back to the East Coast on Tuesday, he’ll be working on those issues more intently as he prepares for Game 6.

“Again,” Udoka said, repeating himself from last week when he was peppered with questions about Curry. “I don’t know if it was our defense as much as offensive struggles that hurt us tonight.”

When Curry scored 43 points in Game 4 … the Warriors had 107 as a team. Wiggins put up a sublime 26-point effort Monday, which probably could be classified as the best game of his pro career considering the stakes, and the Warriors scored … 104.

In Game 2, their other win, they scored 107. They are averaging 105 points per game in this series, 10 fewer than they scored in the Western Conference finals against the Dallas Mavericks. Golden State is shooting 45% in the series, which is good, but 7% less than the last round.

The Celtics aren’t shutting down the Warriors, but they are managing on that end.

When the Celtics lost Game 2, they scored … 88 points. In Games 4 and 5, they didn’t crack 100.

The defensively potent Celtics are on the verge of costing themselves a title … on offense.

The Warriors have dedicated themselves to playing rough — and not just because Draymond Green did some minor pushing during dead balls in the first few games. They are refusing to give Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, the Celtics’ primary ball handlers, much space.

The crowding is frustrating Boston. The turnovers, meanwhile, continue to come in droves.

In Game 5, Boston had 18. In a stat that has become ubiquitous, the Celtics are now 1-7 when they turn it over 16 times or more in the postseason and 13-2 with fewer.

The Golden State Warriors lead the Boston Celtics 3-2 in the Finals, with Game 6 Thursday (9 p.m. ET, ABC) in Boston.

GAME 5: GS 104, BOS 94
o Whatever it takes: How Warriors won G5
o Warriors are suffocating C’s game plan

GAME 4: GS 107, BOS 97
o Curry’s epic game changes series
o Celtics, Warriors need their big men

GAME 3: BOS 116, GS 100
o C’s use size, quickness to regain control
o Curry in unfamiliar underdog territory

GAME 2: GS 107, BOS 88
o Steph was a problem for the Celtics
o C’s lament more third-quarter woes

GAME 1: BOS 120, GS 108
o Boston’s win one year in the making
o Celtics beat Dubs at their game

o Series keys | Experts’ picks | Odds

Every Boston player knows this; Udoka has displayed it in bold type on the scouting reports. Still, they cannot stop themselves.

“We’re hard to beat when we don’t turn the ball over,” said Tatum, who is closing in on the playoff turnover record after adding four to his total Monday to make it 95 in 23 games. “Clearly, we’re easy to beat when we do.”

When the Celtics get sloppy on offense, they regularly look to the officials for answers. Regardless of the accuracy of the calls, it’s not a trend that typically helps them. On Monday, they drew two technical fouls, including one from Udoka, who usually tries to get his players to stop whining and get back on defense after they don’t get a preferred whistle.

Udoka was nearly ejected in the fourth quarter when he pointed at referee Tony Brothers in anger and Brothers confronted him instead of tossing him.

“Probably something we shouldn’t do as much,” Udoka said of the complaining. “And we all did too much.”

The Warriors were routinely in the top five in defensive efficiency between 2015 and 2017 when they won their first two titles with this core. But they finished outside the top 10 in three of the previous four seasons, even when they reached the Finals in 2018 and 2019. They rededicated themselves to it over the past year, with current defensive coordinator and newest Sacramento Kings head coach Mike Brown leading the effort.

The defensive push includes improvement from Wiggins, who has proven to be a potent stopper since getting traded to Golden State, and from Curry, who has gone from being a defensive weak spot to a player who can more than hold his own. This has been a common discussion point over this season, but has never been more valuable than these past two weeks.

It seems the Curry matchup the Celtics are having more difficulty with isn’t when he has the ball, but when the Warriors guard is on defense.

“They were trying to attack [Curry] over and over again and he held up pretty well,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “The key to our game is defense.”

Fatigue could be playing a role, too. After going seven games the past two rounds, the Celtics will have to do it again to win the title. In a telling stat, Tatum is shooting 56% in the first quarters during the Finals but just 24% in the fourth, including 2-of-10 over these past two losses.

But Boston’s issues go deeper than that. The Celtics often have struggled to execute under pressure offensively throughout the season. It’s a flaw that has been frustrating for a team that is so close to its ultimate goal. It’s dangerously close to being a fatal one.

“We’ll regroup and bounce back,” Tatum said, referencing a tone he has gone to as the Celtics have faced elimination games throughout this run. “I’m sure of it.”

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In 2015, when Chicago R&B wunderkind Ravyn Lenae was just 16, she self-released a sophisticated, vigorous EP called Moon Shoes, singing about romance and longing with the grace and lucidity of an artist who understood herself. Now 23, Lenae has grown considerably from that already auspicious start. On her new debut full-length, Hypnos (Atlantic), her razor-sharp voice glides through songs smoothly enough to make everyone who ever bought a hoverboard jealous. Lenae can stir up complicated emotions with a tiny gesture—a brief trill, a simmering coo—and she also knows how to make big statements. On “Where I’m From,” she evokes bittersweet longing and hopeful wonder as she sings of her African diasporic roots, which were severed by America’s ugly history but remade in her imagination; with a controlled whisper, she coaxes warmth from the song’s plucked acoustic guitar and unembellished reggaeton beat. Hypnos runs close to an hour, and it has a few lulls where you might notice its length, but the album peaks so high and so often that you’ll forget all about those by the end. When a restrained chorus blossoms atop the shuffling beat of “Satellites,” it’s like a cool summer breeze blowing into the song’s late-evening heat—an ecstatic release of tension that many pop songs promise but few deliver.

Ravyn Lenae, Wed 6/22, 7:30 PM, Metro, 3730 N. Clark, $30, $25 in advance, 5+

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In 2015, when Chicago R&B wunderkind Ravyn Lenae was just 16, she self-released a sophisticated, vigorous EP called Moon Shoes, singing about romance and longing with the grace and lucidity of an artist who understood herself. Now 23, Lenae has grown considerably from that already auspicious start. On her new debut full-length, Hypnos (Atlantic), her razor-sharp voice glides through songs smoothly enough to make everyone who ever bought a hoverboard jealous. Lenae can stir up complicated emotions with a tiny gesture—a brief trill, a simmering coo—and she also knows how to make big statements. On “Where I’m From,” she evokes bittersweet longing and hopeful wonder as she sings of her African diasporic roots, which were severed by America’s ugly history but remade in her imagination; with a controlled whisper, she coaxes warmth from the song’s plucked acoustic guitar and unembellished reggaeton beat. Hypnos runs close to an hour, and it has a few lulls where you might notice its length, but the album peaks so high and so often that you’ll forget all about those by the end. When a restrained chorus blossoms atop the shuffling beat of “Satellites,” it’s like a cool summer breeze blowing into the song’s late-evening heat—an ecstatic release of tension that many pop songs promise but few deliver.

Ravyn Lenae, Wed 6/22, 7:30 PM, Metro, 3730 N. Clark, $30, $25 in advance, 5+

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