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Bulls’ Ayo Dosunmu Expects To Be Ready For Training Camp

July 31st, 2025 at 12:42pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Bulls swingman Ayo Dosunmu expects to be a full participant in training camp after his 2024/25 season was cut short by shoulder surgery, Julia Poe of the Chicago Tribune reports (subscription required).

Dosunmu underwent left shoulder surgery in early March. He had an estimated four-to-six month recovery window.

“I feel great,” Dosunmu said. “I feel right on schedule if not ahead. I’m just excited for these next couple of months to really get in even better shape and be able to go out there.”

Dosunmu has been cleared for contact and is looking forward to scrimmaging against teammates such as Coby White and Matas Buzelis later this summer when Bulls players host an informal mini-camp in Miami, according to Poe.

Dosunmu appeared in 46 games this past season, making 26 starts and averaging a career-high 12.3 points, 3.5 rebounds and 4.5 assists per contest with .492/.328/.785 shooting splits. His shoulder injury may partially explain why his three-point shooting dropped off from a 40.1% success rate the previous season.

The 25-year-old is entering the final year of his three-year, $21MM contract. He will make $7.5MM next season before becoming an unrestricted free agent next summer, unless he’s signed to an extension.

Dosunmu was nagged by a shoulder injury over the last two years. At some point, he fractured the anterior of his non-shooting shoulder, creating weakness in the socket. That led at times to partial dislocation, resulting in numbness.

He tried to play through the pain but he dislocated his shoulder in a Feb. 20 game against the Knicks and toughed it out a few more games before being shut down.

Dosunmu projects to play regular minutes at the two and three and could slot into the starting lineup alongside guards Josh Giddey and Coby White, as he did frequently last season. He’ll be battling Kevin Huerter and Isaac Okoro, among others, for playing time.

Hoops Rumors Glossary: Minimum Salary Floor

July 31st, 2025 at 11:09am CST by Luke Adams

The NBA’s salary cap primarily serves as a way to restrict the amount a team can invest in player salaries in a given year. However, because the league has a soft cap rather than a hard cap, there’s technically no specific figure that clubs are prohibited from exceeding once they go over the cap to re-sign players. As long as a team doesn’t use certain exceptions or acquire a player via sign-and-trade, that team doesn’t face a hard cap.

There is, however, a specific threshold on the lower end that teams must meet in each NBA season. The league’s minimum salary floor requires a club to spend at least 90% of the salary cap on player salaries. For instance, with the 2025/26 cap set at $154,647,000, the salary floor for this season is $139,182,000.

For the purposes of calculating whether a team has reached the minimum salary threshold, cap holds and international buyouts aren’t considered, but players who suffered career-ending injuries or illnesses are included in the count, even if they’ve since been removed from the club’s cap.

Under the NBA’s previous Collective Bargaining Agreement, the penalties levied against a team whose salary was below the minimum floor at the end of the season weren’t very harsh — the franchise was simply required to make up the shortfall by paying the difference to its players.

However, the current Collective Bargaining Agreement has made those penalties for teams below the minimum salary floor significantly more punitive.

A team is now required to reach the minimum salary floor by the start of the regular season, rather than the end of the regular season. A team whose salary is below the minimum floor at the start of the regular season won’t receive a share of the end-of-season luxury tax payouts.

Additionally, a team whose salary is below the minimum floor at the start of the season will have a cap hold added to its salary in order to reach the minimum floor. For instance, a team with a $134,182,000 salary on opening night in 2025/26 would have a $5MM cap hold added to its salary to reach the $139,182,000 floor and would be unable to immediately access that $5MM of cap room (that “frozen” room could eventually be unfrozen if the team increases its salary above the minimum floor).

At the start of the regular season, a team is assigned an “MTS threshold” figure, which is the lesser of the minimum salary floor or the team’s salary as of opening night. A team that dips below its “MTS threshold” at any time during the regular season would have until the end of the next day to get back above that threshold.

This happened to the Pistons during the 2024/25 season — they briefly dropped below the minimum salary floor when they waived Paul Reed‘s partially guaranteed $8MM contract in December and were required to get back above the floor by the end of the next day. They did so by signing Javante McCoy to a contract worth well above his minimum a little over 24 hours later.

A team that begins the season below the floor cannot reduce the shortfall amount it pays the NBA by spending on player salaries during the season. For example, a team that starts the season $5MM below the floor would pay the league $5MM at that time and wouldn’t recoup that money even if it moves above the floor during the season.

However, if that team’s salary ends up more than $5MM below the floor by the end of the season (ie. as a result of likely incentives not being earned), the club would owe the league an additional payment on top of that initial $5MM.

While the previous CBA called for a team that finished the season below the floor to pay the shortfall to its own players, the shortfall money is now sent to the NBA, which then redirects it to all players. That shortfall money will generally be disbursed to each player in the league in proportion to his salary for that season.

Based on the changes in the current CBA, it’s unlikely that we’ll see any team open a regular season below the minimum salary floor anytime soon — all of the incentives that teams had to remain below the floor into the season have been eliminated. A team operating below the floor on opening night wouldn’t be able to access all of its cap room, would forfeit an end-of-season tax payment, and wouldn’t even be able to award its shortfall amount exclusively to its own players.

The Nets are currently the only NBA team operating below the minimum salary floor for 2025/26 — it’s a safe bet they’ll rectify that sometime before the start of the season this October.

Note: This is a Hoops Rumors Glossary entry. Our glossary posts will explain specific rules relating to trades, free agency, or other aspects of the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement. Information from ESPN’s Bobby Marks and Larry Coon’s Salary Cap FAQ was used in the creation of this post.

Earlier versions of this post were published in past years.

Signed Second-Round Picks Now Count Against Cap

July 31st, 2025 at 10:10am CST by Luke Adams

Between July 1 and July 30 of each NBA league year, a player signed using the second-round pick exception doesn’t count toward his team’s cap, but that changes as of July 31. Beginning on Thursday, each of the second-rounders signed using that exception will begin carrying 2025/26 cap hits.

[RELATED: 2025 NBA Draft Pick Signings]

The effect this will have on teams around the league is negligible. The only club still operating below the cap is Brooklyn, but the Nets didn’t make any second-round picks in this year’s draft and haven’t signed any second-rounders that were stashed from previous drafts, so this change won’t reduce their cap room at all.

The Nets are far from the only NBA team that hasn’t signed a second-round pick to a standard contract this offseason. In fact, only 11 of the league’s 30 clubs have done so.

The Suns, Magic, Hornets (two picks), Sixers, Lakers, Pistons, and Pacers made the top eight selections of the 2025 second round and have signed those players to standard deals, while the Pelicans (No. 40 pick Micah Peavy), Kings (No. 42 pick Maxime Raynaud), Cavaliers (No. 49 pick Tyrese Proctor), and Hawks (2024’s No. 43 pick Nikola Djurisic) have joined them. The rest of this year’s second-rounders are either still unsigned, will play overseas, or agreed to two-way contracts.

None of those 11 teams surpassed an apron threshold as a result of their second-rounders’ new cap hits. For example, the Cavs would be well over the second apron with or without Proctor on their books.

Since none of those teams will see their ability to make other roster moves affected by the new cap charges, this is really more of a housekeeping note than anything.

Pelicans Sign Bryce McGowens To Two-Way Contract

July 31st, 2025 at 9:11am CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

July 31: McGowens’ two-way contract with the Pelicans is now official, the team announced in a press release.

July 30: The Pelicans are signing free agent guard Bryce McGowens to a new two-way deal, his Priority Sports agents Kyle McAlarney and Mark Bartelstein tell Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).

McGowens has split his three previous NBA seasons between the Hornets and Trail Blazers.

The Nebraska swingman inked a two-way deal with Charlotte as a rookie in 2022/23, toggling between Charlotte and its NBAGL affiliate, the Greensboro Swarm. His contract was converted to a multiyear standard deal midway through that first pro season. In 105 combined regular season bouts for the Hornets across two years, he averaged 5.2 PPG, 1.9 RPG, and 1.0 APG, with a shooting line of .419/.330/.764.

Charlotte cut McGowens in the summer of 2024, and he subsequently agreed to a two-way deal with the Blazers. The 6’7″ wing played a limited role at the NBA level for Portland, averaging just 2.5 MPG across 13 outings.

Still just 22, McGowens put up impressive numbers for the Rip City Remix, Portland’s NBAGL affiliate, in 2024/25. Across 16 regular season bouts, he averaged 29.3 PPG, 4.0 RPG, 3.4 APG, 1.5 SPG and 0.8 BPG on .487/.330/.806 shooting. A right rib fracture cut his season short.

McGowens will join fellow two-way signings Trey Alexander and Hunter Dickinson in New Orleans.

And-Ones: Hollis-Jefferson, LeBron, Sophomores, G. Arenas

July 31st, 2025 at 8:59am CST by Luke Adams

After recently going viral on NBA Twitter for a tweet in which he made his case for an NBA roster spot, veteran forward Rondae Hollis-Jefferson spoke to Cyro Asseo of HoopsHype about his quest to get back into the league.

“I feel like, given the time I was in the NBA, I think it was very important for me to self-reflect and think about all the things that I could have done differently that kind of shaped me into the person I am today,” Hollis-Jefferson said. “I was just sitting there the other day thinking about it. I was thinking about it all, man. Just where I’m at, how far I’ve come, the growth, the experiences, everything that I’ve been through.

“… It was one of those days where your wheels are turning. And I said, man, I should be in the NBA, dude. I know everyone knows how hard I work, how much I care about basketball, but that’s really where it stemmed from.”

A first-round pick in 2015, Hollis-Jefferson appeared in 305 regular season games for three teams from 2015-21. While he has been out of the NBA for four years, he has continued to compete in professional leagues around the world, spending time in Turkey, Puerto Rico, South Korea, the Philippines, and Lebanon.

Still just 30 years old, Hollis-Jefferson says a desire to be closer to home is a big part of the reason why he’d love to make it back to the NBA.

“Just wanting to be on that big stage and really, really wanting to be closer to home, to be closest to my kids,” he said. “It’s one thing for them to take a max five-hour flight to, say, California, versus a 20-hour travel day to Asia or somewhere else.”

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

Despite some speculation that a recent meeting between LeBron James, his business partner Maverick Carter, and Nikola Jokic‘s agent Misko Raznatovic was a recruiting trip, they were actually discussing plans for an international basketball league that is being spearheaded by Carter, multiple sources tell Ben Horney, Daniel Roberts, and Alex Schiffer of Front Office Sports.
Jeremy Woo of ESPN.com identifies the 10 most interesting second-year NBA players he’ll be watching in 2025/26. Woo’s list includes first-year standouts, like reigning Rookie of the Year Stephon Castle, players recovering from major injuries, such as Thunder guard Nikola Topic and Sixers guard Jared McCain, and youngsters who will be in line for major role increases as sophomores, including Rockets guard Reed Sheppard.
Former NBA All-Star Gilbert Arenas was among six people arrested on Wednesday on suspicion of hosting illegal high-stakes poker games at a mansion in Los Angeles owned by Arenas, according to a report from The Associated Press. The press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office detailing the specifics of the case can be found right here.
A man has been found guilty for second-degree murder in the killing of former NBA forward Adreian Payne, per Silas Morgan and Cristobal Reyes of The Orlando Sentinel (susbcription required). Lawrence Alexander Dority, who shot and killed Payne in May 2022, claimed that he thought the 31-year-old was reaching for a gun and cited self-defense, but Orange County Sheriff’s Office investigators concluded Payne didn’t have a weapon on him and that he didn’t pose a threat to Dority, who is scheduled to be sentenced on August 29.

Jonathan Kuminga Rumors: AfroBasket, Suns, Kings, Trade Talks

July 31st, 2025 at 7:37am CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

With Jonathan Kuminga‘s negotiations in restricted free agency seemingly set to drag on into August, the Warriors forward will likely have his international commitments affected by the stalemate.

As Marc Stein of The Stein Line details (via Twitter), the ongoing talks between Kuminga’s representatives and Golden State are expected to prevent him from suiting up for the Democratic Republic of Congo in this year’s AfroBasket competition, which tips off on August 12 in Angola. Kuminga had initially been listed on the team’s roster ahead of the tournament.

The primary reported suitors for Kuminga at this juncture are a pair of the Warriors’ Pacific Division rivals, the Suns and the Kings.

While Phoenix has legitimate interest in Kuminga, it’s unclear whether the club has the sort of young talent or draft assets to get a deal done. John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 FM Phoenix (Twitter link) reports that second-year Suns forward Ryan Dunn has never been discussed in trade talks and insists that he will not be included.

Andscape’s Marc J. Spears, meanwhile, hears that Kuminga is intrigued by the possibility of playing for the Kings.

“He wants to go (to Sacramento),” Spears said during an NBA Today appearance on Wednesday (Twitter video link). “The Kings are offering a starting spot, power forward, next to Keegan Murray, next to [Domantas] Sabonis. He’s talked on a zoom call with Scott Perry, the GM; B.J. Armstrong, the assistant GM; and also with their head coach [Doug Christie]. So he’s in, he wants to go there.”

Spears also shared some details on what a Suns offer for Kuminga might look like. “I heard they’re offering Royce O’Neale and four seconds and Nick Richards,” he said.

For what it’s worth, Phoenix only currently controls three second-round picks.

ESPN’s Shams Charania also appeared on NBA Today on Wednesday (Twitter video link) and suggested that Sacramento has been open to including a protected first-round pick in its sign-and-trade offer for Kuminga. Charania added that both the Kings and Suns have been willing to go up to about $90MM over four years for the 22-year-old. For now, Golden State has rejected sign-and-trade proposals from both teams.

“(The Warriors) want a good player, they also want an unprotected first-round pick, a good first-round pick,” Charania said. “The Sacramento Kings, I’m told, have actually offered a first-round pick in those conversations – it’s been a conditional first-round pick – as well as a potential rotation player. But the Warriors have wanted to the Sacramento Kings to give them an unprotected – fully – first-round pick.”

Phoenix doesn’t presently have the ability to trade a first-round pick.

Luke Adams contributed to this story.

Pacific Notes: Bronny, Suns, Saric

July 30th, 2025 at 11:05pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Lakers guard Bronny James is adjusting to life ahead of his second pro season, as he tells Dave McMenamin of ESPN. James, who still deals with occasional health issues after suffering a cardiac arrest in the summer of 2023, is looking to improve his conditioning and develop his defense. After his second Summer League stint, the 6’2″ USC alum seems to feel a bit more secure in who he is and his own upside.

“My confidence level is, for sure, taking a leap,” James told McMenamin.

James’ head coach JJ Redick, a rookie in his own role in 2024/25, believes the 20-year-old can potentially crack the team’s rotation sooner rather than later — provided his fitness improves.

“The biggest thing for Bronny is that he has to get in elite shape,” Redick told McMenamin. “That’s the barrier of entry for him right now. And if he does that, I think he’s got a chance to be a really fantastic player in the NBA.”

Lakers athletic trainer Mike Mancias explained how James, son of All-Star L.A. teammate LeBron James, can continue to build on his conditioning.

“His conditioning is like a basketball 401(k),” Guthrie said. “It is all about daily deposits… That 401(k) will be great because he’s been putting in the work starting now, starting in the offseason, focusing on his diet, focusing on sleep, focusing on all those things. That’s all part of conditioning. It’s all tied together.”

There’s more out of the Pacific Division:

Former Suns director of safety, security and risk management Gene Traylor has been fired by Phoenix after he sued the club for discrimination, harassment and retaliation, sources inform Baxter Holmes of ESPN. “Mr. Traylor was terminated from his position as a security manager because an independent, outside investigation concluded that he violated company policies with respect to confidential information about security operations and he was intentionally untruthful with the investigator,” Suns senior VP of communications Stacey Mitch said in a statement to Holmes.
New Kings center Dario Saric is determined to play meaningful minutes for Sacramento after riding pine with Denver for most of 2024/25, per Johnny Askounis of Eurohoops. The 31-year-old spoke with gathered reporters after a practice with the Croatian national team, as the club gears up for the second round of the 2027 FIBA World Cup pre-qualifying matchups. “I went to Sacramento, passed medicals, talked to the coach and general manager,” Saric said. “I received positive feedback. I hope to get minutes at the four and five positions. But you never know for sure. I thought I was going to play in Denver too, but I ended up sitting on the bench.” Instead, the 6’10” vet appeared in just 16 games for the Nuggets.
In case you missed it, restricted free agent Warriors forward Jonathan Kuminga remains frustrated by his stalemated contract talks with Golden State.

Atlantic Notes: Nets, Thomas, Edgecombe, Bridges

July 30th, 2025 at 10:02pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

The Nets still have significant cap space this summer, observes Yossi Gozlan of The Third Apron (Substack link). The club is also still in a bit of a contract stalemate with restricted free agent guard Cam Thomas.

For now, including cap holds, Brooklyn has $28.1MM in available cap room, per Gozlan. Although Brooklyn has agreed to new deals with its own free agents, wing Ziaire Williams and center Day’Ron Sharpe, the agreements are not yet official.

Noting that those signings have been held up as Brooklyn looks into potential trades using its cap real estate, Gozlan proceeds to detail the mechanisms available to the Nets to bring back one or both players — and how a new Thomas contract could complicate matters.

At most, Brooklyn can only have $15,464,700 in cap room when the season hits, so one way or another, more money will be on the books for the Nets soon. How the team navigates these deals remains to be seen.

There’s more out of the Atlantic Division:

Although the Nets and Thomas appear to be far apart as their contract talks drag on, The New York Post’s Brian Lewis (subscriber link) submits strategies for the two sides hashing things out before the season. Lewis notes that, beyond agreeing to the offer Brooklyn has put on the table, Thomas could also decide to accept his qualifying offer and hit unrestricted free agency next summer. Lewis consulted with plugged-in sources about the advice they would give Thomas about the situation, if asked.
Sixers rookie guard VJ Edgecombe received some words of wisdom prior to last month’s draft, from a very veteran source. The Baylor alum explained on new teammate Paul George‘s “Podcast P” show (YouTube video link) that Dallas sharpshooter Klay Thompson offered him some solid insights about the NBA. “Enjoy the journey,” Edgecome said Thompson told him (hat tip to Grant Afseth of Dallas Hoops Journal for the transcription). “He was like, ‘You’re gonna win championships and all that, but draft night? That’s the best time. You only do that once.’”
The Knicks have enjoyed an eventful offseason so far, having brought in former two-time Coach of the Year Mike Brown to replace the recently exiled Tom Thibodeau, and added vets Guerschon Yabusele and Jordan Clarkson to round out their bench depth. But there’s still business to attend to. Stefan Bondy of The New York Post notes that signing All-Defensive forward Mikal Bridges to a new contract extension headlines three key items that should be on the Knicks’ remaining offseason agenda. Since the end of the playoffs, the 6’6″ swingman has been eligible for a deal that could be worth, at most, $156MM over four seasons.

Silver, Tatum Meet With UK PM, Possible Investors About European League

July 30th, 2025 at 5:49pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

United Kingdom prime minister Keir Starmer held a meeting on Wednesday with NBA commissioner Adam Silver and deputy commissioner Mark Tatum regarding a potential NBA Europe league, sources inform insider Marc Stein of The Stein Line (Twitter link). Silver and Tatum are also holding court with various possible stakeholders about this new venture.

Stein tweets that, in addition to Starmer, Silver and Tatum have conferred with investment firm Redbird Capital Partners, private equity firms KKR and CVC, Abu Dhabi’s Department of Culture and Tourism, and representatives from Turkish soccer team Galatasaray. Silver and Tatum also met with the U.S.’s ambassador to the U.K., Warren Stephens.

Silver and Tatum’s meetings with possible European league investors included other basketball teams, in addition to the aforementioned private equity and investment firms, sovereign wealth funds, and government officials, a source tells Scott Soshnick and Dan Bernstein of Sportico. Private equity funds have been given a strict 20% ownership cap for any NBA team, although it remains unclear if that rule would remain in effect for this new league.

Soshnick and Bernstein also report that the new league could be supported by both the NBA and FIBA, and that a new team could be established in London specifically. The fresh league would employ FIBA rules, not NBA rules.

ESPN’s Tim Bontemps is convinced that a slate of two announced European regular season games for 2025/26, in combination with word of these meetings, makes a new European league something of an inevitability.

“This all goes back to the NBA Europe plan that the league is potentially looking to enact over the next couple of years,” Bontemps said during an appearance on NBA Today (Twitter video link). “Could be an expansion for the league, try to make a bunch of money over in Europe… This all points toward that league trying to get off the ground at some point here in the near future.”

Silver and FIBA secretary general Andreas Zagklis previously held a spring presser to verify that “exploratory” conversation were being held about a possible new European league, which would tentatively feature 12 permanent teams and four wild-card spots. The possibility of extant EuroLeague squads getting involved was floated.

Current NBA owners are expected to own a stake in the new league at large, but would not own individual teams.

Mavericks, Suns Announce Preseason Schedules

July 30th, 2025 at 4:00pm CST by Rory Maher

The Mavericks formally announced their 2025 preseason schedule on Wednesday, as Marc Stein of The Stein Line relays (via Twitter).

Stein reported nine days ago (Twitter link) that the Mavericks would hold their training camp this fall in Vancouver, Canada. Today’s press release confirms that Dallas will travel to Vancouver for a training camp held at Simon Fraser University from September 30 through October 4.

The Mavs’ preseason slate begins Oct. 6 when they host the defending champion Thunder in Fort Worth, Texas. They will return to Dallas on Oct. 11 for their second preseason contest vs. Charlotte.

On Oct. 13, the Mavericks will head to Utah to face the Jazz. Dallas’ preseason slate concludes on Oct. 15 with a neutral game in Las Vegas against the Lakers.

The Suns also announced their preseason schedule today (Twitter link).

According to the press release, Phoenix’s first preseason game is Oct. 3 in Palm Desert, CA vs. the Lakers. The Suns will then make a lengthy trip to Macao, China for a pair of contests against the Nets on Oct. 10 and Oct. 12.

Phoenix’s preseason schedule concludes with a home contest against the Lakers on Oct. 14 — a quick turnaround given the long international flight.

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