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And-Ones: Achilles Injuries, Draft, Cap Room, Z. Smith

June 27th, 2025 at 8:55pm CST by Eli Cohen

NBA commissioner Adam Silver says the league is looking into the upswing in Achilles tendon injuries, writes Tim Reynolds Of The Associated Press.

This season alone saw Tyrese Haliburton (Pacers), James Wiseman (Pacers), Isaiah Jackson (Pacers), Dejounte Murray (Pelicans), Dru Smith (Heat), Jayson Tatum (Celtics), and Damian Lillard (Bucks) suffers Achilles tears. Nuggets 2024 first-rounder DaRon Holmes also tore his Achilles during Summer League last July.

“We had already convened a panel of experts before Tyrese’s most recent Achilles rupture,” Silver said. “We had seven this year. We had zero last year under the exact same circumstances. The most we’ve ever had in a season is four.”

Some of the factors Silver is considering are how young players and NBA players train in the offseason. He also says the league is employing artificial intelligence to help with this inquiry.

“I’m hopeful that by looking at more data, by looking at patterns, this is one area where A.I. — people are talking about how that’s going to transform so many areas — the ability with A.I. to ingest all video of every game a player’s played in to see if you can detect some pattern that we didn’t realize that leads to an Achilles injury,” he said.

We have more news from around the league:

After trading down from No. 31 on Thursday, Timberwolves president Tim Connelly suggested during a post-draft media session that a number of prospects seemed to have their slots locked in before the second round began. “It was really curious how agent-driven the second round became,” Connelly said, per Chris Hine of The Star Tribune (via Twitter). “We called players left and right, and there was 20 deals done before the draft started.” The extra day in between the first round and the beginning of the second round seems to have impacted the way agents have maneuvered their clients to the spots they prefer in the second round.
With the 2025 draft in the rear-view mirror, the offseason financial picture is clearer, writes Keith Smith for Spotrac. The Nets remain the only team with cap space, though the Pistons could still choose to be a room team as well. He adds to keep an eye out for the Grizzlies attempting to dump one or two more players to free up the cap space to renegotiate and extend Jaren Jackson Jr.‘s contract, then runs through the cap situations for the other 27 teams too.
Former Sixers guard Zhaire Smith will be working out for teams in Las Vegas on July 11, reports Marc J. Spears for Andscape (via Twitter). Smith’s career got derailed early on due to a broken foot, followed by a life-threatening allergic reaction to sesame that left him forced to use a feeding tube. He has since been trying to get back to the league, including playing 14 games last season with the Mavericks’ G League team, the Texas Legends — he averaged 20.9 points and over a block per game.

Timberwolves, Naz Reid Agree To Five-Year Deal

June 27th, 2025 at 7:57pm CST by Luke Adams

The Timberwolves and Naz Reid are in agreement on a new contract, according to Shams Charania of ESPN, who reports that the reserve forward/center intends to sign a five-year, $125MM contract to remain in Minnesota.

Reid held a player option worth approximately $15MM for the 2025/26 season, but will turn down that option in advance of Sunday’s deadline in order to finalize his new deal with the Wolves in July. According to Charania, the new contract will also feature a player option on the final year.

After winning the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year award in 2023/24, Reid had another strong showing for the Timberwolves in ’24/25, matching or exceeding his stats from the previous season in several key categories. The 25-year-old averaged 14.2 points, 6.0 rebounds, and 2.3 assists in 27.5 minutes per game across 80 outings (17 starts).

Reid has knocked down 39.5% of 5.4 three-point attempts per game over the past two seasons, making him a valuable floor-spacer in Minnesota’s frontcourt alongside center Rudy Gobert. Lineups featuring Reid and Gobert outscored opponents by 11.8 points per 100 possessions last season, the best mark of any of the team’s 25 most frequently used duos.

According to Charania, there was a “vibrant market developing” in free agency for Reid, with teams prepared to offer similar money and potentially a starting role. While Brooklyn is the only club currently projected to have enough cap room to have offered Reid a starting salary in the range of $20-25MM, there are other clubs that probably had the ability to get there.

The Pistons, for instance, were known to be interested in adding a stretch big man, and were cited as a team with interest in Reid. Detroit has the ability to create roughly $17MM in cap room and could have attempted to move off one more contract to create additional spending flexibility.

But the Timberwolves spoke both publicly and privately since their season ended about their desire to retain Reid, and showed with their five-year offer that they were serious about holding off rival suitors.

The next orders of business for the Wolves will be figuring out what happens with starting power forward Julius Randle and guard Nickeil Alexander-Walker. Randle holds a $30.9MM player option that he must decide on by Sunday, while Alexander-Walker will be an unrestricted free agent.

Although Minnesota has expressed a desire to keep all three players, retaining both Randle and Alexander-Walker would almost certainly push team salary well over the second tax apron for a second straight year, as cap expert Yossi Gozlan outlines (via Twitter). That may not appeal to the front office (or team ownership).

There has been some skepticism about the Wolves’ ability to keep all three players, with Alexander-Walker viewed as the most likely odd man out. Accounting for Randle’s option and no new deal for Alexander-Walker, the Wolves currently project to operate just below the second apron, tweets ESPN Bobby Marks.

Celtics Explore Flipping Anfernee Simons, Georges Niang

June 27th, 2025 at 7:31pm CST by Luke Adams

Neither Anfernee Simons nor Georges Niang is technically a member of the Celtics yet, as the deals sending them to Boston won’t become official until July. However, the Celtics have explored the idea of flipping Simons to a new team, according to Jay King of The Athletic, who reports that Niang is also a candidate to be moved before the 2025/26 season.

Brian Robb of MassLive.com has published a similar report, citing sources who say Boston is expected to remain active in the trade market and will explore its options with players like Simons and Niang.

As both King and Robb explain, a desire to retain free agent centers Al Horford and Luke Kornet is one reason why the Celtics are motivated to continue making moves to create more cap flexibility.

After agreeing to send out Jrue Holiday to Portland in a deal for Simons and Kristaps Porzingis to Atlanta in a trade for Niang, Boston projects to operate a little below the second tax apron, but would almost certainly have to go back above that threshold in order to re-sign Horford and Kornet.

The Celtics also appear hopeful about the possibility of moving below the luxury tax line entirely, writes King, since that would be a first step toward taking the team out of repeater taxpayer territory for future seasons (two years out of the tax are required to reset the repeater clock).

Getting below the tax line would require shedding at least $15MM-ish in additional salary, and more than that in order to re-sign Horford and Kornet.

As King observes, it likely wouldn’t be difficult to move off Sam Hauser, whose $10MM salary for 2025/26 would neatly fit into a team’s non-taxpayer mid-level exception. However, the Celtics have been more focused on scenarios that would allow them to hang onto the sharpshooting wing.

A trade involving Jaylen Brown or Derrick White could provide an avenue to significant cap savings, but multiple reports have suggested the Celtics would need to be blown away to consider moving either player. VP of basketball operations Mike Zarren told reporters on Thursday “there hasn’t been anything close to serious about trading” Brown or White, adding that “those guys are key parts of our team, and we’re lucky to have them here.”

Thunder To Sign Zack Austin, Chris Youngblood

June 27th, 2025 at 6:38pm CST by Eli Cohen

The 2025 champion Thunder have agreed to an Exhibit 10 deal with Pitt forward Zack Austin, reports Jon Chepkevich of DraftExpress (Twitter link). They will also sign Alabama guard Chris Youngblood to an Exhibit 10 deal, Blake Byler writes for BamaOnLine.

An Exhibit 10 contract is a non-guaranteed agreement that could be converted to a two-way deal before the season or puts the player in line for a bonus worth up to $85K if he’s waived and then spends at least 60 days with his team’s G League affiliate.

Austin is a 6’7″ forward who played the last two seasons for Pitt after transferring from High Point University in North Carolina. He was named to the ACC All-Defensive team this season after averaging 1.1 steals and 1.6 blocks per game. He also contributed 9.2 points and 4.7 rebounds per contest while making 38.1% of his three-point attempts and 90.2% of his free throws. Those numbers were significantly up from his career averages of 33.5% from three and 78.2% from the line.

A high-level athlete with a great motor, Austin’s block percentage of 6.1% ranked 7th in the ACC, and was first among players shorter than 6’10”.

Youngblood is a 6’4″ fifth-year senior who is a career 39.3% three-point shooter with Kennesaw State, South Florida, and Alabama. He averaged 10.3 points per game for the Crimson Tide after starting slow due to an ankle injury. His defining performance for Alabama came in the Round of 16 against BYU, where he scored 19 points and made five three-pointers, helping the team advance to the Elite Eight.

The Thunder previously agreed to a deal with Iowa shooting wing Payton Sandfort.

Southwest Notes: Flagg, Wells, Rockets, Tanke

June 27th, 2025 at 5:58pm CST by Eli Cohen

Most No. 1 picks go to teams that are completely reliant on their transcendent play, but that’s not the case for Cooper Flagg and the Mavericks. That’s something Flagg is excited to take advantage of, according to ESPN’s Tim MacMahon, who notes that the former Duke star referred to it as a “blessing” not to be the immediate centerpiece of a rebuilding franchise.

In his introductory press conference on Friday, Flagg discussed how much he’s looking forward to learning from champions and veterans like Anthony Davis, Kyrie Irving, and Klay Thompson.

“I’m just looking forward to being a sponge. Just getting down here, I’m excited to just learn, soak it all in, and learn from the guys that are older and have been through it all before,” he said. “Those guys have so much knowledge. They’ve been through so much, and they have so much experience that it’s just going to be an incredible opportunity for me to learn and grow under them.”

Mavericks president of basketball operations Nico Harrison is excited about Flagg’s ability to work as a two-timeline linchpin.

“We’re in win-now mode, and so he adds to that, but he’s also the future of the franchise,” Harrison says.

We have more from the Southwest division:

Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd is looking forward to taking advantage of Flagg’s impressive versatility, which he says will be tested in summer league, as Kidd plans on possibly using him as a point guard to see what he can do, writes Grant Afseth for Dallas Hoops Journal. “I want to put him at the point guard. I want to make him uncomfortable and see how he reacts,” Kidd says. “It is all right to fail. It is all right to turn the ball over.” Kidd sees Flagg’s development unfolding in a similar manner to how he approached the development of Giannis Antetokounmpo during Kidd’s time as the Bucks’ head coach.
According to general manager Zach Kleiman, the Grizzlies‘ somewhat unexpected trade of Desmond Bane was influenced in part by contributions from an unexpected source, per Damichael Cole of the Memphis Commerical Appeal (via Twitter). “Jaylen’s emergence was a significant part of it,” Kleiman said of rookie wing Jaylen Wells. After being drafted 39th in the 2024 draft, Wells emerged as a primary wing defender and off-ball shooter, helping stabilize a lineup that was looking for answers at the wing position.
The Rockets have hired Ryan Tanke as their chief operating officer, writes Danielle Lerner for the Houston Chronicle. Tanke was the COO for the Timberwolves and WNBA affiliate Lynx for the past six years, and had been in the organization for 27 years in total before stepping down as the franchise transitions to a new ownership group. One of his responsibilities in Houston will be overseeing the upcoming renovations to the Toyota Center, which Lerner writes is estimated to require $635MM in maintenance over the next 20 years.

Sixers, Justin Edwards Agree To Three-Year Deal

June 27th, 2025 at 5:34pm CST by Luke Adams

The Sixers will decline their minimum-salary team option on forward Justin Edwards in order to sign him to a new three-year contract, sources tell Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).

According to Charania, the new deal will pay Edwards roughly $2MM in 2025/26 and will be fully guaranteed for the first two years.

Edwards, who will turn 22 this December, joined the Sixers last summer as an undrafted free agent out of Kentucky. He opened the season on a two-way deal before being promoted to the standard roster after the trade deadline in February.

The 6’7″ forward had an impressive rookie year in Philadelphia, averaging 10.1 points, 3.4 rebounds, 1.6 assists, and 1.0 steal in 26.3 minutes per game across 44 outings (26 starts). He registered a shooting line of .455/.363/.696.

The Sixers will have the ability to complete this deal with Edwards using his Non-Bird rights. While it sounds like it might be worth the veteran’s minimum (which is projected to start at $2,048,494 for a second-year player in ’25/26), the minimum salary exception can only be used for deals of up to two years.

It wouldn’t be a surprise if Edwards’ deal includes a team option in year three, since that would give the Sixers the ability to make him a restricted free agent in 2027 instead of having to take him to unrestricted free agency in 2028.

Hawks To Sign Kobe Johnson

June 27th, 2025 at 5:05pm CST by Eli Cohen

The Hawks have agreed to a deal with UCLA forward Kobe Johnson, Jonathon Givony reports for ESPN (via Twitter).

Johnson played for three years at USC, emerging as a starter and a defensive force after averaging just 7.5 minutes per game as a freshman. He subsequently transferred to UCLA for his senior year.

In his lone year as a Bruin, Johnson averaged 7.9 points, 5.9 rebounds, 2.9 assists, and 1.6 steals while shooting 36.2% from three and earning a spot on the Big Ten All-Defensive team, his third consecutive selection to his conference’s All-Defensive team. While his three-point shot has been up-and-down, Johnson is a career 76.7% free-throw shooter, which offers some hope for him finding eventual shooting consistency.

While Givony doesn’t specify the terms of the agreement, it will likely be a non-guaranteed Exhibit 10 contract for Johnson. Exhibit 10 deals can be converted into two-way contracts, though the Hawks have already reached two-way agreements with Eli John Ndiaye and Kentucky’s Lamont Butler to two-way contracts.

An Exhibit 10 deal would also put Johnson on track to join the College Park Skyhawks, the Hawks’ G League team, as an affiliate player once the season begins.

Coleman Hawkins Expected To Attend Warriors’ Training Camp

June 27th, 2025 at 4:46pm CST by Luke Adams

Former Illinois and Kansas State forward Coleman Hawkins is expected to attend training camp with the Warriors, a source tells Jeff Goodman of Field of 68 (Twitter link). He’ll also play for the Warriors’ Summer League team, tweets Bryan Kalbrosky of USA Today.

While Goodman doesn’t provide any specifics on Hawkins’ potential contract with Golden State, a training camp invitee would typically receive an Exhibit 10 deal, which is a one-year, non-guaranteed minimum contract that doesn’t count toward the cap unless the player makes the regular season roster.

After spending four years with the Fighting Illini, Hawkins transferred to Kansas State in 2024 ahead of his final college season. He filled up the stat sheet as a full-time starter for the Wildcats, averaging 10.7 points, 6.9 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 1.8 steals, and 1.3 blocks per game, though he did struggle to score efficiently, shooting 40.1% from the field (30.3% on three-pointers) and 57.7% from the free throw line.

Hawkins, who wasn’t ranked among this year’s top 100 draft-eligible prospects by ESPN or The Athletic, is the third undrafted rookie reported to have a potential camp deal in place with Golden State, joining LJ Cryer and Chance McMillian.

Clippers Expected To Sign Telfort, Poulakidas To Exhibit 10s

June 27th, 2025 at 4:35pm CST by Eli Cohen

The Clippers have agreed to a deal with Butler guard Jahmyl Telfort, ESPN’s Jonathan Givony reports (Twitter link).

Law Murray of The Athletic adds (via Twitter) that Telfort, along with Yale shooting guard John Poulakidas, will be on the Clippers’ Summer League roster, with both undrafted rookies likely to sign Exhibit 10 contracts.

After testing the waters during the 2024 draft process, the 6’7″ Telfort returned to school as a super-senior and averaged 16 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 3.4 assists while shooting a college career-high 36.1% on three-point attempts. He reportedly had a strong Portsmouth Invitational Tournament as part of his pre-draft process.

Poulakidas is a 6’5″ senior who shot over 40% from three on 604 attempts throughout his college career. He averaged 19.4 points per game for the Bulldogs this season.

Within the same tweet, Murray says that Nevada wing Kobe Sanders, whom the Clippers drafted after acquiring the 50th pick from the Knicks, will likely start his career in Los Angeles on a two-way contract.

Former No. 2 Pick Jabari Parker Signs With KK Partizan

June 27th, 2025 at 4:16pm CST by Luke Adams

Jabari Parker, who was selected between Andrew Wiggins and Joel Embiid in the 2014 NBA draft, has signed a new two-year contract with KK Partizan, the Belgrade-based club announced today in a press release.

Parker’s deal will include NBA outs, according to his agency, Priority Sports (Twitter link). The veteran forward hasn’t been on an NBA roster since being waived by Boston in January 2022, but if an opportunity does arise, it sounds like he’ll have the ability to pursue it.

Parker appeared in 310 regular season games from 2014-22 for Milwaukee, Chicago, Washington, Atlanta, Sacramento, and Boston, averaging 14.1 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 2.0 assists in 27.5 minutes per night, with a .494/.326/.743 shooting line. Injuries were an issue for the former Duke star during his time in the NBA, as he tore his left ACL twice — once as a rookie in 2014, then again in 2017.

Parker, who is still just 30 years old, has spent the last two seasons playing for FC Barcelona in Spain. He made the All-Liga ACB second team in 2025 after averaging 13.0 PPG and 3.8 RPG with an .514/.483/.784 shooting line in 33 Liga ACB (Spanish League) games. He was also productive in EuroLeague play, with averages of 13.9 PPG and 4.1 RPG on .489/.386/.837 shooting.

Barcelona and Parker mutually agreed to part ways earlier this month, ending a contract that had originally been set to run through the 2025/26 season.