2025 June | Hoops Rumors

Top International Prospects Staying In 2025 Draft

June 15th, 2025 at 7:01pm CST by Eli Cohen

Several of the top international prospects among this year’s early entrants have decided to keep their names in this year’s draft pool.

Noa Essengue, Joan Beringer, Hugo Gonzalez, Nolan Traore, Ben Saraf, Noah Penda, Hansen Yang, Alex Toohey, Bogoljub Markovic, Rocco Zikarsky, Dink Pate, Izan Almansa, Saliou Niang, Mohamed Diawara, and Eli Ndiaye are all staying in the 2025 NBA draft, reports ESPN’s Jonathan Givony (via Twitter).

That player group represents 15 of the 16 international players ranked in the ESPN’s Top-100 prospect board, with Essengue the highest-ranked prospect at nine, and Ndiaye the lowest at 97. The lone ranked prospect to withdraw from the draft was Neoklis Avdalas, ranked 51.

With a bigger-than-usual amount of lower-ranked NCAA prospects returning to school thanks to NIL deals, the international class has a chance to gain ground with strong pre-draft showings. Essengue, in particular, has seen his draft stock rise following a strong playoff run for Ratiopharm Ulm.

Billy Donovan, Bulls Working On Contract Extension

June 15th, 2025 at 6:01pm CST by Eli Cohen

The Bulls are working to reach an agreement on an extension with head coach Billy Donovan, reports Marc Stein for The Stein Line (via Twitter). This comes on the heels of the Bulls declining the Knicks’ request to interview Donovan in their head coaching search.

Donovan has been Chicago’s head coach for the past five seasons, during which time he has amassed a record of 195-205 (.488). The team went to the 2022 playoffs under Donovan, losing in five games to the Bucks.

After trading Alex Caruso and Zach LaVine last year, the Bulls are attempting to retool on the fly, building around a younger core while trying to stay competitive. Donovan appears to be the coach the Bulls are counting on to help forge the identity of the new-look roster as they look to keep adding to a group that features Matas Buzelis, Coby White, and likely Josh Giddey, whose restricted free agency represents the biggest contract decision the team has to make this summer.

Chicago will also have to decide how Nikola Vucevic fits into its long-term plans. The veteran center has one year left on his deal and is coming off an excellent offensive season, which could make him a trade candidate.

Neoklis Avdalas To Withdraw From NBA Draft

June 15th, 2025 at 5:01pm CST by Eli Cohen

Greek forward Neoklis Avdalas is withdrawing from the 2025 NBA draft, agent Alex Saratsis tells ESPN’s Jonathan Givony (Twitter link).

The 6’8″ 19-year-old wing was the 51st-ranked prospect on ESPN’s top-100 board and will look to build off a strong pre-draft process going into the 2026 draft.

Avdalas played this season for the Greek team Peristeri, averaging 8.8 points, 2.6 rebounds, and 1.3 assists in 19.2 minutes per game while shooting 40.7% from three-point range. He’s a career 35.5% three-point shooter over the last four years of Greek Basket League and EuroLeague play.

International players have until the end of the day on Sunday to pull their names out of this year’s draft, while May 28 was the deadline for college players to withdraw and keep their NCAA eligibility.

Draft Notes: Amini, Torresani, M’Madi, 2025 Class

June 15th, 2025 at 4:23pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Mohammad Amini, a 6’8″ Dominican-Iranian forward, has withdrawn his name from this year’s draft, sources inform Jon Chepkevich of DraftExpress (Twitter link). Amini isn’t among ESPN’s top 100 prospects.

Amini is currently plying his trade for French club Nancy Basket. This past season, he averaged 6.3 PPG, 2.7 RPG, 1.1 APG and 0.8 SPG, while logging .579/.313/.585 shooting splits.

There’s more out of the impending draft:

Italian guard David Torresani has opted to pull his name from this year’s pool of draft candidates, sources tell Chepkevich (via Twitter). According to Chepkevich, the 20-year-old will now consider his NCAA options for 2025/26. Torresani is not considered by ESPN to be one of the best 100 players among this year’s class.
Morón Basketball Club guard Mathis M’Madi has withdrawn his name from this month’s draft, tweets Chepkevich. The French-born M’Madi will next suit up for Madagascar in AfroBasket this August. Chepkevich notes that M’Madi, who also isn’t in ESPN’s top 100, worked out with three NBA teams this year.
Jeremy Woo of ESPN shares his “draft superlatives,” outlining the prospects who have a specific skill that stands out in this year’s draft class. Among the young talent, Woo praises Rutgers guard Dylan Harper as the draft class’ best shot creator, Baylor guard V.J. Edgecombe as the top leaper and dunker, and Arizona forward Carter Bryant as having the most NBA-ready frame.

Magic Acquire Desmond Bane From Grizzlies In Three-Player Deal

June 15th, 2025 at 4:02pm CST by Arthur Hill

4:02 pm: The trade is now official, per a Magic press release (Twitter link).

10:14 am: The Grizzlies will trade Desmond Bane to the Magic in exchange for Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Cole Anthony, four unprotected first-round picks and one first-round pick swap, according to Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).

Memphis will receive the 16th selection in this year’s draft, along with a “most favorable” 2026 first-round pick that will likely be Phoenix’s and unprotected first-rounders from Orlando in 2028 and 2030, Charania adds, noting that there’s light protection on the pick swap in 2029 (Twitter link).

Bane provides a potent offensive weapon for a Magic team that often struggled to score. He averaged 19.2 points, 6.1 rebounds and 5.3 assists in 69 games this season with a .484/.392/.894 shooting line. He’ll be another scoring threat to team with Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner and should be a good complement to defensive specialist Jalen Suggs in the backcourt as Orlando looks to become a contender in what should be a weakened Eastern Conference.

The 27-year-old guard just completed the first season of a five-year, $197.2MM extension, so Orlando will be getting the security of a long-term contract. Bane will make $36.7MM next season, with that number rising to $44.9MM in the final year of his deal in 2028/29.

Caldwell-Pope wasn’t able to provide the Magic with consistent backcourt scoring after being signed away from Denver last offseason, but Charania notes that he’s a strong defensive wing who’ll bring championship experience to Memphis. Caldwell-Pope, 32, appeared in 77 games this season, averaging 8.7 PPG, his lowest scoring average since his rookie season. He shot 43.9% from the field and 34.2% from three-point range, significantly below the numbers he posted during his two years in Denver.

Caldwell-Pope has two years left on the deal he signed last summer and will earn $21,621,500 in each of the next two seasons.

Anthony has been a productive scorer during his five years in Orlando, but his playing time (18.4 minutes per game) and scoring average (9.4 PPG) both hit career lows this season. The 25-year-old guard will provide Memphis with instant offense off the bench and will make $13.1MM next season with a $13.1 team option for 2026/27.

Cap expert Yossi Gozlan tweets that the trade can be processed right away rather than waiting for the moratorium to be lifted on July 6. He adds that the Magic are required to do a 100% salary match because they project to be above the $195.9MM first apron next season. As a result of aggregating salaries, they will be hard-capped at the $207.8MM second apron in 2025/26, but can escape the luxury tax by declining team options on Moritz Wagner ($11MM) and Gary Harris ($7.5MM).

Gozlan also states that Orlando’s combined salary and tax bill could top $350MM in 2026/27 once Banchero’s expected max extension kicks in (Twitter link).

In addition, Gozlan notes that the deal will impact a possible renegotiation and extension for Jaren Jackson Jr. by decreasing the Grizzlies’ available cap space from $6.9MM to $4.5MM. Additional trades may be necessary to free up more money for Jackson.

ESPN’s Bobby Marks points out (via Twitter) that Bane has a 15% trade bonus in his contract, but it will be voided because it would push his salary over the maximum.

Pacers’ Jarace Walker Expected To Miss Rest Of Finals

June 15th, 2025 at 2:52pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Pacers reserve forward Jarace Walker likely won’t return to action during the NBA Finals, head coach Rick Carlisle said on Sunday, per Tony East of ClutchPoints (Twitter link). Walker has missed the entire series so far with a sprained right ankle.

“He is doing better,” Carlisle said. “He is off crutches and he is walking with a slight limp now. So it’s very unlikely that he’ll be able to play in this series. But he is doing better. It would be great if he was available because I do think he would help us.”

The 6’8″ forward enjoyed an expanded bench role on Indiana during his second pro regular season out of Houston. In 75 healthy games, Walker averaged 6.1 PPG, 3.1 RPG, and 1.5 APG in 15.8 MPG. He also notched shooting splits of .472/.405/.667. Carlisle tightened his rotation in the playoffs, reducing Walker’s minutes to 9.8 MPG.

Without Walker available, Obi Toppin has become an even more essential frontcourt bench contributor for Indiana in the series, taking on a larger role.

Indiana and the Thunder are currently knotted up, 2-2, in the ongoing series. A pivotal Game 5 is slated for Monday night in Oklahoma City. The Pacers are appearing in their first NBA Finals since 2000 — more than three years before the 21-year-old Walker was even born.

Knicks Notes: Thibodeau, Bickerstaff, Kidd, Coach Search

June 15th, 2025 at 1:47pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff seemingly came to the defense of now-former Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau, without explicitly naming the team or coach, writes Matt Ehalt of The New York Post.

During a conversation on ESPN Radio’s “Joe & Q” on Friday, Bickerstaff was asked about the league-wide reaction to the coaching situation in New York. The Knicks fired Thibodeau after he led to a 51-win regular season and its first Eastern Conference Finals appearance in 25 years and have since been denied permission to speak to several currently employed head coaches around the NBA.

“I don’t want to call it the cherry on top, but it’s the final straw, I think, of what has happened this season and the level of respect that we feel coaches deserve versus what they are getting,” Bickerstaff said.

“When you are a coach, you feel like there is a job that you have been told to do,” Bickerstaff added. “And when you go out and do that job well, you should carry it over to the next year. If you have had past successes, that should envision future successes. You can’t guess what the future is going to look like with somebody new.”

There’s more out of New York:

The Knicks received serious push-back when they attempted to talk with current Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd about their new head coaching vacancy, observes Ryan Dunleavy of The New York Post. Among the other teams New York reached out to, the team got similarly emphatic rejections, as ESPN’s Shams Charania recently detailed on The Rich Eisen Show (YouTube video link).“Out of the five rejections, some of the scenarios that I heard [were], you know, teams would just hang up,” Charania said. “They would say no—and hang up. Teams would have maybe some profanity, maybe there is some ‘F— no.'” In addition to Kidd, the Knicks reportedly also reached out to the Timberwolves, Rockets, Hawks and Bulls about poaching their current head coaches.
Following a stellar five-year stint under Thibodeau that turned them back into perennial threats in the East, the Knicks must nail this next head coaching hire, opines Steve Popper of Newsday (subscriber link). Popper notes that, though New York was ridiculed after being rejected in all five of its initial bids for rival coaches, sources told him that Kidd and Chicago coach Billy Donovan were still potentially in the running. Popper takes stock of some free agent candidates for the gig, including Taylor Jenkins, Mike Brown, Michael Malone, Mike Budenholzer and Frank Vogel.
In case you missed it, the Knicks are now seen as a long shot to acquire 15-time All-Star Suns forward Kevin Durant in a trade.

Lakers Expected To Keep Trey Jemison, Re-Sign Christian Koloko

June 15th, 2025 at 12:00pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Lakers are likely to bring back two-way players Trey Jemison and Christian Koloko next season, Jovan Buha of The Athletic said in a recent video Q&A session (YouTube link, hat tip to BasketNews).

Jemison signed a two-year, two-way contract in January, so Buha expects L.A. to keep him as one of its three two-way players. The 25-year-old center had some productive moments in his 22 games with the Lakers, averaging 2.6 points and 2.8 rebounds in 10.3 minutes per night while shooting 61.9% from the field. He also spent time with New Orleans last season and had brief stints with Washington and Memphis in 2023/24.

Koloko, who’ll turn 25 this week, joined the Lakers in September after overcoming a blood clot issue that forced him to sit out the 2023/24 season. He appeared in 37 games, averaging 2.4 points and 2.5 rebounds in 9.2 minutes per night and shot 60.6% from the floor. Koloko will become a restricted free agent if the Lakers submit a qualifying offer, which Buha expects them to do.

“I think it would be a mistake to let him walk without at least trying to retain him,” Buha said. “Koloko makes sense as a 14th or 15th guy on the roster, a third center. And Jemison fits as a two-way guy. I think both guys would tentatively be back.”

The Lakers’ other two-way player from this season, Jordan Goodwin, was promoted to a standard contract in late March. There was speculation that Jemison or Koloko might join him to become eligible for the playoffs, but L.A. opted to keep veteran big man Alex Len, who made two brief appearances in the first-round loss to Minnesota. Coach J.J. Redick played without a center for long stretches as the series wore on.

Buha addressed a few other topics in the video, stating that Jazz center Walker Kessler is probably unrealistic as a trade target and suggesting veteran point guard Chris Paul as a free agent addition on a veteran’s minimum contract.

Rockets Notes: Smith, Adams, VanVleet, Sheppard

June 15th, 2025 at 10:00am CST by Arthur Hill

Rockets forward Jabari Smith Jr. is focused on improving his ball-handling skills in preparation for his fourth NBA season, he tells Ari Alexander of KPRC in Houston (Twitter video link, hat tip to Ben DuBose of Rockets Wire). Smith felt it was important to get back to work quickly after the Rockets were knocked out of the playoffs by Golden State in the first round.

“Just the mindset, I was very hungry,” he said. “We didn’t finish the season how we wanted to, so I was ready to get back in the gym and work on what I need to work on. I want to have a big summer and come back next year looking like a whole different player.”

This is a significant offseason for Smith, the No. 3 pick in 2022, who will be eligible for a rookie scale extension. He missed close to two months after fracturing a bone in his hand, then was removed from the starting lineup in late February. He averaged a career-low 12.2 PPG in 57 games, but he just turned 22 last month and offers a high-level combination of defense, rebounding and outside shooting. He’s reportedly among the Rockets players Phoenix is targeting in a potential Kevin Durant trade.

Smith’s summer program includes working with skills trainer Aaron Miller, who has an extensive history with NBA players.

“It’s real technical, with a lot of attention to detail,” Smith said. “I just like how detailed it is, and how down to the science it is.”

There’s more from Houston:

Steven Adams‘ salary will decline each season under his new three-year extension, per Keith Smith of Spotrac (Twitter link). The contract is front-loaded at $14,130,434 for the upcoming season, followed by $13MM in 2026/27 and $11,869,566 in 2027/28. As we relayed yesterday, the deal is fully guaranteed and contains no team or player option.
Fred VanVleet and the Rockets have “mutual interest” in staying together, Shams Charania of ESPN confirms. Houston faces a June 29 deadline to exercise a $44.9MM option on the 31-year-old guard, but it’s possible that the option may be declined and replaced with a longer contract. Cap expert Yossi Gozlan suggests (via Twitter) that Adams’ early extension agreement could be a sign that there’s confidence about a restructured deal with VanVleet. He also states that Houston could get below the aprons and dodge the luxury tax by waiving all its non-guaranteed contracts, trading the 10th pick in the draft and cutting VanVleet’s current salary by about 25%.
Reed Sheppard will participate in this year’s Summer League in preparation for a larger role next season, Danielle Lerner of The Houston Chronicle states in a mailbag column.

And-Ones: Howard, Jordan, Shoe Deals, 2019 Redraft

June 15th, 2025 at 8:59am CST by Arthur Hill

Dwight Howard was ejected Saturday during his BIG3 debut for getting into a fight with former NBA player Lance Stephenson, BasketNews relays. The scuffle began after Howard, who plays for the Los Angeles Riot, appeared to get elbowed in the chest by Stephenson of Miami 305. Howard swatted Stephenson’s arm away, and they began exchanging punches (video link from Ballislife.com).

“This is not exactly how I pictured my debut going,” Howard said in a statement released by his team.

Stephenson was also involved in an incident with L.A.’s Jordan Crawford, BasketNews adds. After a brief confrontation, Crawford put his hand in Stephenson’s face and touched his nose. Stephenson responded by throwing a punch, but both players stayed in the game.

Howard, an eight-time All-Star and a member of this year’s Basketball Hall of Fame class, is one of the most significant names ever to join the BIG3, which is now in its eighth season.

“Dwight’s legacy speaks for itself,” league co-founder Ice Cube said. “He still has fun playing the game … and now he gets to show his full skill set in the BIG3.”

Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

Michael Jordan is looking forward to joining the NBC Sports broadcasting team when the network resumes covering the NBA this fall, announcer Noah Eagle said during an appearance on the Awful Announcing Podcast with Brandon Contes. Jordan will serve as a special contributor, but his duties haven’t been defined. Eagle said NBC Sports executive Jon Miller, a longtime friend of Jordan who arranged his hiring, told him that the NBA legend is “legitimately excited.” “And I asked him, I said, ‘Is he legitimately in on this?’ And he was like, ‘Yes, he’s fully, fully in,’” Eagle said. “Whatever that means is great. I have no idea what he’s going to be doing, but I just love the fact that I can walk around and be like, ‘You know my colleague?’ ‘Who’s that?’ ‘You know, Michael Jordan. No big deal. Just a Hall of Famer. Some would say he’s the greatest basketball player ever, but, yeah, he’s also my co-worker.’”
Jason Jones and Shakeia Taylor of The Athletic examine the evolution of shoe contracts among NBA players, noting that Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton is debuting the Puma Hali 1 during the Finals. Jones and Taylor state that players are placing greater emphasis on ownership and control of their brands.
Memphis guard Ja Morant rises to the No. 1 pick as HoopsHype conducts a 2019 redraft. Cleveland guard Darius Garland also moves ahead of New Orleans forward Zion Williamson, the actual No. 1 pick, with Miami guard Tyler Herro and Washington guard Jordan Poole rounding out the top five.

Month: June 2025