KK Partizan recently received lucrative buyout offers for Isaac Bonga from four unnamed NBA teams, according to Pedrag Saric of Meridian Sport (hat tip to Eurohoops). However, the Serbian club rejected those offers for the German forward, who played in the NBA from 2018-22, because Partizan didn’t want to lose its most consistent player.
Bonga is still just 26 years old and could receive NBA interest again this summer, assuming he stays with the Belgrade-based team for the remainder of the 2025/26 season. In 41 total games (26.3 minutes per contest) this season, Bonga has averaged 10.1 points, 5.6 rebounds and 1.0 steal on .505/.312/.830 shooting.
Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- Tanking has come under increased scrutiny this season, in part because of the perceived strength of the 2026 draft class. “This draft has a chance to be legendary,” one NBA executive told Forbes contributor Adam Zagoria. How can the league combat teams trying to intentionally lose to boost their lottery odds? Kevin O’Connor of Yahoo Sports lays out his idea to address the tanking issue.
- Giannis Antetokounmpo‘s investment in prediction market company Kalshi isn’t a great look for the NBA, says Dan Wetzel of ESPN.com. As Wetzel writes, Antetokounmpo’s minority stake in Kalshi technically doesn’t break any league rules, but it’s easy to see how it could cause fans to lose confidence in the integrity of the sport — one popular category a couple weeks ago was whether or not the Bucks‘ star forward would be traded.
- Speaking to the media on Saturday, Antetokounmpo said he would the welcome opportunity to be an owner in the NBA’s proposed European league, per Javier Molero of Eurohoops. “Being an owner? 100%,” the two-time MVP said. “If there’s an opportunity that comes across my desk to be an owner in sports, anything, I would consider it 100%. In the real NBA, I don’t know if I have that type of money. If I ever come into a position where I’m able to make that decision and it won’t affect my lifestyle, my family’s lifestyle, and it won’t be too risky for my wealth and network, I will consider doing it.”
Maybe the solution to tanking is just give all the teams who miss the playoffs a 1/14 chance of getting the top pick, a 1/13 chance of getting the #2 pick, etc.
Another mechanism the NBA could use with or without even odds to all non-playoff teams would be to award the fifth pick to the non-playoff team with the *best* record, the sixth pick to the second best remaining non-playoff team, and so on.
Had that been in place last year, the Top 4 lottery winners would have been followed by the Spurs at 5 (via Hawks), the Hawks at 6 (via Kings), and the Bulls at 7, with the Wizards falling all the way to 13 and the Jazz down to 14.
That’s if you feel it’s still even necessary for the NBA to have a draft given the existing cap rules and a potentially easier fix setting rookie salary pools for teams based on their payroll in relation to the cap and the first and second aprons.
They don’t really care about tanking. It’s all about engagement. Now that the trade deadline is done it’s just gives all the talking heads something to talk about. Tanking has been going on since the inception of the lottery.
Tanking predates the lottery. It is the reason the lottery even exists.
Not only is that investment likely to be problematic for Giannis, but he evidently just qualified his desire to stay a Buck with an “as of now…” Oy 🤦♂️
So he’s no longer hiding his plausible deniability but openly suggesting that his heart could change. I know it’s partially not his fault because he’s constantly being asked this question and it’s obvious that an all time great player like him will not stay with a team sinking out of the playoffs for long.
How long is Bonga under contract for?
Everyone’s making a big thing out of tanking,look if your the worst team you deserve the best pick its that simple.these teams have had the worst records while playing their best players its not going to change now,so why not see what some of the young guys have in em.its not the best watch I get it but by next year or so it will be hopefully.
Get rid of the draft and there’ll be no more tanking.
If you give all the non-playoff teams the same odds, then the play-in teams will try and tank rather than play for a spot. How about penalizing the worst four teams by giving them lower odds than the middle non-playoff teams?
Make another Stepien draft rule, no Top 5 picks in back to back seasons.
That would be stupid
Kevin O Connor was made for Yahoo
By no means am I a fan of Giannis investing in Kalshi, but an ESPN beat writer has ZERO room to talk about the integrity of the game when it comes to betting apps. Look no further than the failed ESPNBet platform (now bet365).
Give the worst teams a higher cap or different aprons so they can take on bad contracts for picks, sign players, etc. Penalizes owners for being bad and levels the playing field.