Erik Spoelstra Talks Heat Youth, Expectations
In their first full season without Jimmy Butler since 2020, the Heat are counting on some of their young players to help bridge the gap to the new era. As Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel writes, head coach Erik Spoelstra has faith that Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Nikola Jovic are up to the task.
Spoelstra has been impressed with the Jovic’s improved approach during his nascent career with the Heat.
“If you look at where Niko was as a rookie to where he’s becoming right now, it’s night and day, the work ethic and it’s a consistency of approach every single day,” Spoelstra says. “I think the last two summers have been really good because it’s been a strong balance of the Miami Heat player development program and then going to play for his national team.”
As for Jaquez, Spoelstra is unconcerned with the 24-year-old’s below-average shooting numbers and is more focused on how he reads the floor.
“He’s clever, when he gets into all of his spins and fake spins and putting the shoulder down. Now it’s about making the paint-decision reads when you get in there,” Spoelstra said. “But I don’t want it to be his whole game based on whether he’s making a three-point shot or not. That’s not him at his best. Him at his best are these plays that are unscripted, getting downhill.”
Another Heat neophyte who is set to make an impact going forward is their 2025 first-round pick, Kasparas Jakucionis. Jakucionas recently shook off a brutal start to Summer League, exploding for 24 points on 7-of-12 shooting (including 5-of-9 three-pointers) on Friday against the Hawks. However, he’s not satisfied with the performance, writes Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald.
“It felt good, yeah,” he said. “But eventually we still lost. I didn’t do a great job on the other side like rebounding, getting out on transition defense.”
Jakucionas said that he’s been watching a lot of film and talking frequently with Heat legend Udonis Haslem and the rest of the coaching staff. Spoelstra has been encouraged by the 19-year-old’s play and suggests his early struggles could be a positive in the long term.
“He had a lot of turnovers, some mistakes,” Spoelstra said. “All the intangibles — the defense, the hustle plays, the passing, all of that he was able to do while having some uneven offensive play. Sometimes that can take a spirit or confidence away from a player, but he found a way to impact the game, impact winning.”
The Heat have a solid guard rotation in Davion Mitchell, Tyler Herro, and the newly acquired Norman Powell, among others, but none of them bring quite the same skill set that Jakucionas can. Given the rookie’s size and play-making, his ability to play alongside any one of those guards could help unlock different lineups for Miami.
Heat Notes: Ware, Wiggins, Jakucionis, Butler Trade
Kel’el Ware‘s underwhelming Summer League performance drew a stern reaction from head coach Erik Spoelstra, writes Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. Ware took over as the Heat’s starting center midway through last season and earned second-team All-Rookie honors. The organization values him highly enough that he wasn’t included in its offer for Kevin Durant, but there’s disappointment in how he has looked so far this summer.
“A big part of this is he has to really embrace and improve his professionalism, his consistency, his approach every single day,” Spoelstra said. “He has to get better with that. It’s learning how to become a pro. I understand that he was 20 last year and he’s 21. But we have bigger expectations. It’s not your normal growth and growing pains of a young player learning how to become a pro. But that’s what this summer is about. Learning how to become a pro, learning how to be consistent every single day.
“The talent is there. The professionalism and consistency has to improve, and it is. Our standards are not going to change and our expectations and how fast we want that to improve for him are not going to change. But he has to get better at it, he has to take ownership of it.”
Through two games in the California Classic and one in Las Vegas, Ware is averaging 12.0 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game while shooting 39.4% from the field and connecting on just 1-of-10 three-point attempts. He posted a team-worst plus-minus rating of minus-21 in Friday’s loss to Atlanta.
Ware acknowledged to Chiang that he needs “to do better with definitely boxing out, a little bit more defensive end and just finishing the ball.”
There’s more on the Heat:
- Andrew Wiggins has been linked to the Lakers in trade rumors, but Spoelstra considers him to be an important part of the rotation for the upcoming season, Chiang tweets. A source tells Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald (Twitter link) that none of the offers Miami received for Wiggins were tempting. “We got Wiggins to get Wiggins,” the source said, referring to the February trade with Golden State. “He’s a good player. He’s been a big part of winning teams.”
- After two rough games in California, Kasparas Jakucionis displayed his potential with 24 points in his Las Vegas debut, Chiang adds in a separate story. However, the No. 20 overall pick was disappointed with other parts of his game on Friday. “Basketball is a lot more than just shooting,” he said. “It felt good, yeah. But eventually we still lost. I didn’t do a great job on the other side like rebounding, getting out on transition defense. So yeah, but I definitely felt better with the shot.”
- Five months after sending Jimmy Butler to Golden State, the trade seems more like a win than it did in February, observes Ira Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel. Drafting Jakucionis with the pick they got from the Warriors and using Kyle Anderson, who was also part of the deal, to obtain Norman Powell have helped to balance the scales, according to Winderman.
Heat Notes: Powell, Clutch Shooting, Cap Space, D. Robinson
Norman Powell called it a “childhood dream” to play for the Heat during an introductory news conference conducted via Zoom on Wednesday, writes Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. That dream was realized on Monday when the Clippers agreed to send Powell to Miami as part of a three-team trade that also included Utah. Powell wasn’t exactly expecting to be dealt after a career-best season, but it wasn’t a complete surprise.
“I didn’t know what to think at first,” he said. “It has been a crazy last couple of weeks, from talking to [Clippers general manager] Lawrence Frank at my exit meeting and what they were telling me. It was something I knew was a possibility, from them communicating teams were interested, inquiring about me. But it was made to seem like it wasn’t a high possibility of it happening and they valued me and wanted me to be a Clipper and we were going to figure out … extension talks.”
Powell’s love for the Heat comes from being a fan of Dwyane Wade while growing up. He believes he has the work ethic to fit right into Heat culture and said he can provide scoring punch in whatever role he’s given.
“I see myself as a plug and play,” Powell said. “I see myself as a key guy, a one, two option that can help carry a team to win. … I’ve always seen myself as a go-to guy that can help carry a team, help a team win. I don’t have a big ego of ‘I have to be the main guy.’ I want to win.”
There’s more from Miami:
- Powell should help the Heat improve their clutch shooting, which cost them several games last season, Jackson states in a separate piece. Miami posted the league’s worst record in close games after January 1 and ranked in the bottom two for shot-making in clutch situations throughout the entire season. Jackson notes that Powell was 12th in the league in clutch three-point shooting among players with at least 10 attempts, going 7-of-14.
- The trade won’t have an immediate effect on the Heat’s cap space beyond next season, Jackson adds. Powell has a $20.5MM expiring contract, while Kevin Love also had an expiring deal and Kyle Anderson‘s $9.4MM salary for 2026-27 was non-guaranteed.
- Powell represents a clear upgrade from Duncan Robinson, who was sent to Detroit in a sign-and-trade deal, contends Ira Winderman of The Sun Sentinel. Winderman views Powell as a more complete offensive threat than Robinson, who is primarily an outside shooter. He adds that it would have cost close to $20MM per season to keep Robinson, so there’s not much salary difference in acquiring Powell.
Eastern Notes: White, Langdon, Beasley, Johnson, Jakucionis
The Celtics traded away two starters this offseason and Derrick White‘s four-year, $118MM extension has kicked in for 2025/26. But he was reasonably sure he wouldn’t be dealt, he told Chris Forsberg of the Celtics Talk Podcast (hat tip to Brian Robb of Masslive.com).
“I think every summer is pretty crazy, especially nowadays,” White said. “But I didn’t feel too worried about anything. My agent and Brad (Stevens) had been talking and all the other rumors and stuff, I wasn’t really too worried about. I mean, I feel like it’s cool to be wanted by other teams, but I wanted to stay in Boston, and I was glad they wanted to keep me.”
Here’s more from the Eastern Conference:
- Pistons top exec Trajan Langdon admitted that the gambling investigation involving Malik Beasley news left them “not much time” to pivot,” Omari Sankofa II of the Detroit Free Press tweets. The Pistons pulled their three-year, $42MM offer to Beasley, an unrestricted free agent, when the news broke. “I was able to communicate with Malik and his agent Saturday, which was obviously right before we could start talking to free agents on Sunday,” Langdon said. “It was disappointing for us, because we were excited to get him back.”
- Lottery pick Tre Johnson strives for greatness, which is one big reason why the Wizards are excited about his future, Josh Robbins of The Athletic writes. “I really don’t have too much of a life outside of basketball, and that was literally a choice up to me because of just how good I wanted to be,” Johnson said.
- Kasparas Jakucionis, the Heat‘s first-round pick, had a rough time at the California Classic Summer League, Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald writes. He score just 12 points on 1-of-15 (6.7%) shooting from the field, including 0-of-11 from three-point range, in his first three summer league games. However, he’s not panicking over his showing. “I think I need to just settle in more, play at my own pace, don’t get sped up too much as I was these three games,” Jakucionis said. “I didn’t feel myself in those games. But I think that’s normal. It’s a process, so I’m just happy to be here, happy to be able to learn from coaches, from other guys by working out, watching film and just understanding the game.”
Groups Set For 2025 NBA Cup
The NBA has officially announced the six groups of five teams apiece for the 2025 Emirates NBA Cup, also known as the in-season tournament (Twitter link).
In order to set the groups, the league splits the Western and Eastern Conferences into five three-team tiers based on last season’s regular season standings, with one club from each tier randomly drawn into each of the conference’s three groups.
For instance, the top three teams from the West will all be in separate groups, with each of those three groups also featuring one team in the 4-6 range, one in the 7-9 range, and so on.
Here are the groups for the 2025 NBA Cup:
- West Group A: Oklahoma City Thunder (1), Minnesota Timberwolves (6), Sacramento Kings (9), Phoenix Suns (11), Utah Jazz (15)
- West Group B: Los Angeles Lakers (3), Los Angeles Clippers (5), Memphis Grizzlies (8), Dallas Mavericks (10), New Orleans Pelicans (14)
- West Group C: Houston Rockets (2), Denver Nuggets (4), Golden State Warriors (7), Portland Trail Blazers (12), San Antonio Spurs (13)
- East Group A: Cleveland Cavaliers (1), Indiana Pacers (4), Atlanta Hawks (8), Toronto Raptors (11), Washington Wizards (15)
- East Group B: Boston Celtics (2), Detroit Pistons (6), Orlando Magic (7), Brooklyn Nets (12), Philadelphia 76ers (13)
- East Group C: New York Knicks (3), Milwaukee Bucks (5), Chicago Bulls (9), Miami Heat (10), Charlotte Hornets (14)
The round-robin group play games will be starting a little earlier than usual this season and will run from October 31 to November 28. Each team will face the other four clubs in its group once, with the winners of each group and one wild card team from each conference advancing to the eight-team, single-elimination knockout round.
The full schedule of group play games can be viewed right here.
The quarterfinals will be played on December 9-10, with the semifinals and final to follow on Dec. 13 and Dec. 16, respectively, in Las Vegas. The knockout round games will all be aired by one of the NBA’s new broadcasting partners, Amazon Prime.
The Bucks won last season’s NBA Cup, with star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo earning MVP honors after leading Milwaukee to a victory over the Thunder in the championship game.
Heat’s Larsson, Johnson Headline All-California Classic Team
A pair of players from the Heat‘s 15-man standard roster earned spots on the All-California Classic Summer League team after the four-team event wrapped up on Tuesday night, with second-year wings Pelle Larsson and Keshad Johnson both making the cut (Twitter link).
The full five-man team of California Classic standouts is as follows:
- Pelle Larsson (Heat): 16.5 PPG, 4.0 RPG, 2.0 APG, +17 (two games)
- Keshad Johnson (Heat): 12.0 PPG, 6.5 RPG, 2.5 BPG, .563 FG% (two games)
- David Jones-Garcia (Spurs): 22.7 PPG, 5.3 RPG, 2.7 APG, 1.3 SPG, .471 3PT% (three games)
- Jackson Rowe (Warriors): 9.3 PPG, 5.0 RPG, 2.0 SPG, 1.7 APG, 1.3 BPG, .579 FG% (three games)
- Cole Swider (Lakers): 19.7 PPG, 5.0 RPG, 1.3 BPG, .455 3PT% (three games)
The Heat and Lakers each went 2-1 at the four-day, round-robin tournament, with the Spurs and Warriors posting 1-2 records.
While both Larsson and Johnson are on standard contracts in Miami, Rowe is on a two-way deal with Golden State and Jones-Garcia and Swider don’t currently have contracts in place with their NBA teams beyond the Summer League.
The California Classic, which took place at the Chase Center in San Francisco, is a prelude to the NBA’s main Summer League event in Las Vegas — all 30 teams, including the Heat, Lakers, Spurs, and Warriors, will compete in the Vegas Summer League, which tips off on Thursday.
Heat Notes: Mitchell, Powell, Beal, Lillard, Fontecchio, Ware
Davion Mitchell, who re-signed with the Heat this week after playing the best basketball of his NBA career following a trade-deadline deal that sent him to Miami, said on Tuesday that the organization is “completely different” from the other NBA teams he has spent time with (Sacramento and Toronto).
“One, coach (Erik Spoelstra) is one of the greatest coaches of all time,” Mitchell said when asked what makes Miami different, per Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. “So just learning from him, just asking questions, you won’t get any better answers from anybody else, I think. And just my teammates, my teammates wanted me here, they embraced me here, they wanted me to be myself. If I can be somewhere and be myself, I know I can be the best player I can be.”
As good as Mitchell was in during his 30 regular season games with Miami, the team struggled during those contests, posting a 10-20 record. He’s optimistic that working together this offseason will help put the Heat in a better position to open the 2025/26 season.
“It’s going to be good for me and the team, just the chemistry that we can build,” Mitchell said. “We won a couple games, we even made it to the playoffs with very little chemistry, especially with injuries and just getting traded here. So we didn’t really know how to jell with one another. I feel like we kind of figured it out a little bit (near the end of the season. But to have a training camp with one another, just to go at each other, just to learn from one another, spend time outside of basketball with each other, I think is going to build a lot of team chemistry.”
Here’s more on the Heat:
- Mitchell is excited about Miami’s addition of Norman Powell, noting that the veteran wing will bring championship experience to the team. “He’s a winning player, he plays both sides of the ball, he can score with the best of them,” Mitchell said. “He kind of does it all. Even if he’s not shooting the ball well, he can disrupt defensively. So you want guys like that on the floor that can help you win like that.”
- While the acquisition of Powell makes a Bradley Beal signing a long shot, the Heat are still in play as a possible Damian Lillard landing spot, Chiang writes in another Miami Herald story. However, Chiang believes Miami’s odds would increase if Lillard waits until midway through the season or next offseason to sign his next contract.
- New Heat forward Simone Fontecchio, acquired from Detroit in the Duncan Robinson sign-and-trade, is hoping to fill a similar offensive role to the one Robinson played in Miami, according to Chiang. “I watched a lot of Duncan Robinson in the last three years, because I think our skill set is pretty similar,” Fontecchio said. “Of course, he’s a tremendous shooter and he did an amazing job all the years in Miami and I was always kind of looking at him, the way he was getting off shots and I always kind of wanted to do the same thing. I think I can try to play like a little bit off handoffs, running off screens, do a little bit of that.”
- Sharing his takeaways from the Heat’s second Summer League game at this week’s California Classic, Chiang writes that the team will want to see more going forward out of second-year center Kel’el Ware, who put up an underwhelming stat line of 12 points (on 4-of-10 shooting) and three rebounds in 28 minutes in Sunday’s loss to the Lakers. As we noted last week, the Heat’s coaching staff had hoped Ware would “dominate” Summer League play ahead of his second NBA season.
Where Things Stand In NBA Free Agency
We’re now into the second week of the NBA’s 2025/26 league year, and while free agency has been resolved for many top players, there are still a number of intriguing names who don’t yet have new contract agreements in place.
Let’s check in on where things stand for some of those players…
The restricted free agents
While they’re not the only four restricted free agents still on the board, there are four names who make up the top tier of notable unsigned RFAs, with each of them ranking among our top 10 free agents as of June 30. Those four players are Josh Giddey (Bulls), Jonathan Kuminga (Warriors), Quentin Grimes (Sixers), and Cam Thomas (Nets).
The restricted free agent market will likely play out very slowly this summer, given that there are essentially no teams (with the possible exception of Brooklyn) in position to sign any one of those players to the kind of offer sheet that would give the player’s current team pause. Here’s what we know about each of those four RFAs:
Josh Giddey (Bulls)
The expectation is that Giddey will remain in Chicago, so it’ll just be a matter of figuring out exactly what his next contract looks like. His camp is reportedly hoping to match (or, presumably, exceed) the five-year, $150MM extension that Jalen Suggs signed with Orlando last fall. Whether the Bulls are willing to go that high in terms of annual salary and/or years remains to be seen.
Jonathan Kuminga (Warriors)
The Kings, Wizards, Heat, Bulls, Bucks, and Nets were among the teams said last week to have expressed varying level of interest in a sign-and-trade deal for Kuminga. However, some of those teams have since made moves that will make Kuminga a less appealing – or practical – fit.
Sacramento has reportedly been the most aggressive suitor for Kuminga so far, having “floated” the idea a package that included 2024 first-rounder Devin Carter and two second-round picks.
But with no deal imminent, the expectation is that the 22-year-old and his camp will meet at the Las Vegas Summer League with interested teams, including the Warriors. A return to Golden State remains very much in play despite Kuminga’s up-and-down tenure in Golden State so far.
Quentin Grimes (Sixers)
The Sixers remain very confident that they’ll re-sign Grimes sooner or later and have “splashed cold water” on possible sign-and-trade scenarios, league sources tell Tony Jones of The Athletic. As with Giddey, it seems like the main question with Grimes isn’t where he’ll end up, but what his new contract with his current team will look like.
Cam Thomas (Nets)
We’ve heard very little since free agency opened about Thomas. In a Bleacher Report stream last Thursday (YouTube link), NBA insider Jake Fischer said the Nets guard “does not really have a market, to my understanding.”
Brooklyn is the only team in the league operating below the minimum salary floor, so it’s not as if the Nets are going to be outbid by a rival suitor — it certainly seems as if the only way Thomas ends up on a new team this offseason is if Brooklyn doesn’t want to bring him back.
The veteran unrestricted free agents
The next four highest-ranked unsigned players from our top-50 list after those four restricted free agents are long-tenured veterans. Here’s what we know about those players:
Chris Paul
The Clippers, Suns, and Bucks have been the teams most frequently linked to Paul in recent days. Milwaukee probably offers the best path to a starting role, which is something that’s reportedly important to the longtime NBA point guard, but he also wants to be close to his family in Los Angeles, which could give an edge to those two Western Conference teams.
Russell Westbrook
Another L.A. native who would reportedly like to play closer to home, Westbrook was said to be drawing legitimate interest from the Kings, but that was when it looked like Sacramento was going to trade Malik Monk. If that doesn’t happen, there may not be a spot on the Kings’ backcourt (or on the team’s cap) for Westbrook.
Al Horford
While Horford has been linked to several teams in the last week or two, the one constant has been the Warriors, who continue to look like the frontrunner to land the big man if he doesn’t retire. Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe (Twitter link) reported on Monday that Horford continued to mull his options, with no deal imminent.
I suspect Golden State wants to resolve its Kuminga situation before officially committing its taxpayer mid-level exception to Horford, since doing so would hard-cap the team at the second tax apron and potentially complicate its ability to match an aggressive offer sheet for Kuminga.
Malcolm Brogdon
Reporting on Monday indicated that the Clippers, Suns, Lakers, Warriors, Timberwolves, Bucks, Pelicans, and Kings have all conveyed at least some level of interest in Brogdon. With some other higher-profile guards still out there, Brogdon may be the Plan B for some teams, which would mean he’d have to wait for some of those other players to commit before his options really crystalize.
The two veteran guards who aren’t yet free agents
Damian Lillard is currently on waivers and Bradley Beal is still working on a buyout with the Suns, but the expectation is that both players will reach unrestricted free agency pretty soon.
Lillard is a bit of a wild card, since he’s likely to miss the 2025/26 season due to an Achilles tear. He hasn’t ruled out the possibility of signing with a team sooner rather than later, and there will certainly be no shortage of clubs who would welcome the opportunity to help him with his rehab process and get a leg up on retaining him for ’26/27. But he’s not the type of player who will help a team win in the short term.
Beal, on the other hand, is coming off a pretty solid offensive season and would become a much more valuable investment if he’s on a contract that’s closer to his minimum salary than his maximum. The Clippers, Lakers, Bucks, Timberwolves, and Warriors are among the teams believed to have interest in signing Beal.
With many of those clubs also eyeing Paul, Brogdon, or other guards, Beal may be the first domino to fall — if and when he finds a new team, the ones that miss out can shift their focus elsewhere in earnest. The Clippers are rumored to the favorites for Beal, per Kurt Helin of NBC Sports.
The trades that aren’t yet official
As our full breakdown of this offseason’s trades shows, there are only two agreed-upon deals that aren’t yet official: Denver’s acquisition of Cameron Johnson from the Nets, plus the Jonas Valanciunas/Dario Saric swap between the Nuggets and Kings.
There has been speculation that the Nuggets will combine both of those agreements into a single transaction to avoid creating a hard cap at the first tax apron. At the very least, as NBA insider Marc Stein tweets, Denver needs to get the Johnson/Michael Porter Jr. trade done before the deal with the Kings in order to be able to get below the first apron. That will allow the Nuggets to take back more salary than they send out for Saric.
The Nets may be thoroughly exploring scenarios for how to take full advantage of their current cap room before they finalize that trade with the Nuggets, since it will cut into their space significantly — swapping Johnson for Porter will use up $17MM+ of their room.
The delay on these deals is not an indication that the Valanciunas/Saric deal won’t eventually be finalized. Multiple reports have indicated it remains on track, despite Valanciunas’ reported desire to get out of his NBA contract and sign with the Greek team Panathinaikos. Multiple reports, including another one from Stein on Monday night (Twitter link), have also indicated that the Nuggets have told the veteran center they intend to keep him and want him to honor his contract.
For what it’s worth, a report from SDNA in Greece indicates that Panathinaikos was assured by Valanciunas’ representation that the Nuggets would let him out of his NBA deal and was surprised to find out that Denver hadn’t signed off on that plan at all.
Although those two Denver deals are the only ones we know about that aren’t official, that doesn’t mean there won’t be more trades still to come — the Clippers, Heat, and Jazz, for instance, agreed to a three-team trade on Monday and finalized it later in the day. It’s possible that more deals could be around the corner as teams and executives congregate for Summer League action.
Norman Powell To Heat, John Collins To Clippers In Three-Team Trade
4:21 pm: The three-team trade is official, according to a press release from the Jazz.
9:27 am: The Clippers, Jazz and Heat have reached an agreement on a three-team trade, sources tell Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link). The deal will send Norman Powell to Miami, John Collins to L.A. and Kevin Love, Kyle Anderson and a 2027 Clippers second-round pick to Utah.
Powell is coming off the best scoring season of his career and will bring more offensive punch to Miami’s backcourt. After finishing fourth in the Sixth Man of the Year balloting in consecutive seasons, Powell was moved into the starting lineup and responded by averaging 21.8 points per game while shooting 48.4% from the field and 41.8% from three-point range.
Powell, 32, will make $20.5MM next season before becoming a free agent in 2026. He’s eligible for a three-year extension worth $77.4MM. Those limits would increase to $128.5MM over four years in six months.
The Clippers were reluctant to give Powell a long-term extension, sources tell Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link). With Kawhi Leonard and James Harden both signed through 2026/27, the team is preserving cap space for 2027 free agency.
Miami will use the expanded traded player exception to acquire Powell, Bobby Marks of ESPN notes (Twitter link), hard-capping them at the first tax apron, and will be $1.3MM over the luxury tax line once the deal is complete.
Miami will be just $3.9MM away from that first-apron threshold once the trade is complete, so it won’t be able to use the full taxpayer mid-level exception of $5.7MM, according to cap expert Yossi Gozlan (Twitter link), who also speculates that acquiring Powell means the team is probably no longer a logical fit for Bradley Beal, who is believed to be nearing a buyout with Phoenix.
Collins, 27, will bring more frontcourt depth to a Clippers team that recently added Brook Lopez in free agency. Collins has been a starter in Utah since being acquired from Atlanta two years ago, but he was limited to 40 games last season. He has one year left on his contract at $26.6MM and can sign an extension worth up to $100.5MM over three years, per Marks. While a massive payday is unlikely for Collins, it’s worth noting those extension limits would increase six months after the trade to $166.7MM over four years.
L.A. is now $6.7MM below the first apron with $5.3MM of its mid-level exception remaining, according to Gozlan (Twitter link). With their top three-point shooter now gone, Gozlan expects the Clippers to be in the market for Beal.
Anderson, 31, has been a useful contributor on contending teams throughout his career, but it’s not clear how he fits in with the rebuilding Jazz. His contract covers two more seasons at $9.2MM and $9.7MM, but 2026/27 is non-guaranteed. Love, who’ll turn 37 in September, has a $4.15MM expiring deal and will likely become a buyout candidate.
Gozlan notes that Utah can create a $26.6MM trade exception by using the mid-level exception to take on Anderson and Love (Twitter link). Alternatively, the Jazz could create roughly $22MM in cap space by waiving the non-guaranteed contracts of KJ Martin ($8MM) and Jaden Springer ($2.4MM) and could be in position to make a play for one of the remaining free agents.
It sounds like Utah will continue operating over the cap, going the trade exception route, tweets Marks.
Free Agent Rumors: Guards, Kuminga, Pacers, Hayes
An expectation that Bradley Beal will soon become an unrestricted free agent is affecting the markets for free agent guards Chris Paul, Russell Westbrook, and Malcolm Brogdon, who are drawing interest from many of the same teams, writes Jake Fischer of The Stein Line (Substack link).
According to Fischer, the Clippers, Lakers, Bucks, and Timberwolves are among the teams expected to have interest in signing Beal if and when he finalizes a buyout agreement with the Suns, which seems increasingly likely. A previous report also identified the Warriors as a possible suitor for Beal, with the Heat viewed as less likely after their trade for Norman Powell.
The Clippers and Bucks are known to have interest in Paul, Fischer points out, so if Beal ends up with one of those teams, it would likely rule that club out for CP3, perhaps increasing the odds of the 40-year-old reuniting with the Suns.
As for Brogdon, he has the Clippers, Suns, Lakers, Warriors, Timberwolves, and Bucks are also among the teams that have registered some level of interest in him, along with the Pelicans and Kings, Fischer reports.
Free agents like De’Anthony Melton and Ben Simmons may also find themselves involved in this game of backcourt musical chairs, according to Fischer, who suggests that their potential landing spots should become more clearer once one or two of those top guards – starting with Beal – finds a new home.
Here are a few more notes on free agents from around the NBA:
- There was no traction on the Jonathan Kuminga front over the weekend, sources tell Anthony Slater of The Athletic (Twitter link). According to Slater, the Kings have been the most aggressive suitor for the Warriors restricted free agent so far, but nothing has come close. In fact, the market for all of the top restricted free agents remains “ice cold,” Slater adds.
- The Pacers are expected to reunite with a pair of familiar faces to fill out their frontcourt. Speaking to reporters today, president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard said the club is planning to re-sign James Wiseman and that things are trending in the right direction with restricted free agent Isaiah Jackson (Twitter links via Tony East).
- Veteran center Jaxson Hayes gave up his right to veto a trade this season when he re-signed with the Lakers, reports Dan Woike of The Athletic (Twitter link). By default, a player re-signing with his previous team on a one-year contract gets a de facto no-trade clause, but a team can ask a player to waive that right as part of his new deal.