- Ashton Smith, who worked as a player development coach with the Hawks last season, has been promoted to an assistant coach, according to Lauren Williams of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Twitter link).
A panel of 20 coaches, executives, and scouts around the NBA polled by ESPN’s Tim Bontemps overwhelmingly picked Nuggets center Nikola Jokic as the current best player in the NBA, with Jokic receiving 19 votes while Lakers guard Luka Doncic earned the last one.
However, the predictions for 2025/26 MVP were more divided — Jokic leads the way with seven votes, but Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (five), Doncic (four), and Spurs big man Victor Wembanyama (two) each received multiple votes, while Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo and Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards each got one too.
The panel polled by Bontemps also predicted who will be the NBA’s best player in 2030 (Wembanyama received 16 votes), who will win Rookie of the Year in 2025/26 (Cooper Flagg earned 19 votes), and where LeBron James will be when the 2026/27 season begins — seven respondents expect him to still be a Laker, while five said he’ll be retired and eight believe he’ll be with a new team.
Those coaches, executives, and scouts also believe the Hawks (seven votes) had the best offseason of the NBA’s 30 teams, while the Pelicans (nine votes) had the worst summer. And they nearly unanimously picked the Thunder to repeat as champions. Just two respondents chose the Nuggets to win the 2026 title, while the other 18 stuck with Oklahoma City.
Here are more odds and ends from around the NBA:
- After being let go by the Pelicans in April, former WNBA star and veteran NBA executive Swin Cash is joining Amazon Prime Video for the 2025/26 season, according to Richard Deitsch of The Athletic. Cash will have the role of “front office insider” on Prime Video’s NBA studio show, then will become a studio analyst for Amazon’s WNBA coverage.
- Thomas Bryant, Precious Achiuwa, Alec Burks, and Delon Wright are among the unsigned players identified by Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report as bargain free agents who are capable of helping any NBA team.
- John Hollinger of The Athletic views the Thunder (62.5 wins), Clippers (48.5), Warriors (45.5), Bulls (32.5), and Jazz (18.5) as the five teams who are the best bets to exceed the over/under win projections set by oddsmakers for the 2025/26 season.
Magic fans are embracing Desmond Bane following Orlando’s blockbuster acquisition of the scoring guard early this offseason, The Athletic’s Josh Robbins writes. Bane is feeling the love in the city.
“I haven’t been to the grocery store yet, honestly,” Bane said. “But my car broke down on the side of the road today on the highway. There was a decent amount of people screaming my name outside the window. So I think that it’s safe to say that Orlando fans are excited.”
The excitement surrounding Bane reflects the expectations fans have for the team. Orlando with Bane in tow looks poised to be an Eastern Conference contender this season. Bane joins Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner, and Jalen Suggs as cornerstones of a rapidly improving roster.
As Robbins writes, the East is wide open next season. Cleveland and New York will almost certainly enter the year as favorites to win the conference, but major injuries to Jayson Tatum and Tyrese Haliburton have created some uncertainty at the top. The Magic are hoping to take advantage.
“I don’t think that there is any limit to put on what this team can do,” Bane said. “I mean, we are a new team, adding some new pieces and things like that. But we have a very good roster in place, a lot of guys that can do a lot of different things. So it’s very exciting from that standpoint. I just want to come in and be the glue, the guy that brings his whole thing together, kind of rounds out some of the gaps that they may have had in their team.”
We have more from the Southeast Division:
- Another team that could make some noise in the Eastern Conference, the Hawks, kept busy this week when they moved Kobe Bufkin to the Nets. As Yossi Gozlan of the Third Apron writes (Substack subscriber link), the Hawks have done well to make moves that simultaneously keep them competitive now with an eye toward the future. The Bufkin deal gives Atlanta some added flexibility to extend Dyson Daniels and/or Kristaps Porzingis next year, Gozlan adds.
- Ted Leonsis, CEO of Monumental Sports which owns the Wizards and Capitals, said he wants to own MLB’s Nationals and the MLS’ D.C. United, per Greg Rosenstein of NBC (Twitter link). Leonsis said he has a good relationship with Nationals owner Mark Lerner, but that the Nationals aren’t yet ready to sell.
- Wizards sophomore guard Kyshawn George got an opportunity to suit up for Canada at the AmeriCup this summer, serving as a primary scorer for the team and averaging 13.5 points per game. According to Chase Hughes of Monumental Sports Network, George believes the experience will benefit him as he rejoins the Wizards. “I think just my confidence in general [was helped], how aggressive I was with the ball whether it was creating for myself or for my teammates. It’s just up to me to keep doing that, keep getting better at it and transfer it now to the Wizards organization,” George said.
The Heat‘s G League affiliate, the Sioux Falls Skyforce, acquired the returning player rights to Alex Fudge from the South Bay Lakers, Los Angeles’s developmental team, the Skyforce announced in a release. The move was a three-team deal, with the Skyforce obtaining a 2026 first-round pick from the College Park Skyhawks (the Hawks‘ affiliate) while sending them Malik Williams. South Bay also obtained Caleb Daniels from Sioux Falls and Michael Devoe from College Park.
Fudge went undrafted in 2023 out of Florida but signed with the Lakers on a two-way contract that summer. He was later waived and then signed a two-way deal with Dallas before being cut last offseason. He spent all of last season with South Bay, averaging 5.5 points in 15 regular season games. The 22-year-old has appeared in six NBA games.
The other player in the deal with NBA experience is Williams, who suited up in seven games (two starts) with Toronto on a 10-day contract in 2023/24. He averaged 14.8 points and 9.2 rebounds per game in the G League last year with Sioux Falls.
Daniels previously signed an Exhibit 10 deal with Miami before averaging 10.8 PPG with the Skyforce last season. Devoe signed Exhibit 10 deals with the Clippers in 2022 and Jazz in 2023. He last played in the G League in 2023/24.
G League trades can often indicate a team is gearing up to sign one or more of the players involved to an Exhibit 10 contract. When teams sign players to Exhibit 10 deals, those players are eligible for a bonus worth up to $85,300 if they spend at least 60 days with that organization’s G League affiliate.
Devoe played last year in Germany, so this trade doesn’t necessarily mean he will for sure suit up in the G League. But if he does, the South Bay Lakers currently controls his returning rights.
We have more from around the basketball world:
- The Spurs signing Luke Kornet is one of the NBA’s most underrated moves of the offseason, John Hollinger of The Athletic opines. San Antonio got a big that pairs nicely with Victor Wembanyama or can play when he’s off the floor without breaking the bank. In an article evaluating some of the most overlooked moves of the summer, Hollinger credits the Bulls for re-signing Josh Giddey at a decent price point and the Heat for trading for Norman Powell, while applauding various other moves.
- On the other hand, several teams made deals Hollinger was not a fan of. The Heat salary-dumping Haywood Highsmith is one such move, while the Pelicans acquiring Jordan Poole is another.
- With free agency largely over, pending the conclusion of restricted free agency for Quentin Grimes and Jonathan Kuminga, Keith Smith of Spotrac took a look at how teams spent their money this offseason. Small-market teams mostly led the way in total spending, signing players to big extensions. The Thunder, for example, led the league in new extension money at $776.3MM spread out between Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Chet Holmgren, Jalen Williams and Jaylin Williams.
- The Thunder laid the blueprint for teams building through draft capital, winning a title with drafted players Holmgren and Williams leading the charge alongside Gilgeous-Alexander, who was himself acquired alongside draft assets. Bobby Marks and Jeremy Woo of ESPN rank the top teams in the league by their draft capital, with the Thunder still leading the way with 13 incoming future first-round picks. Two rebuilding teams, the Nets and the Jazz, round out the top three.
After rebuffing trade interest in former first-round pick Kobe Bufkin earlier in the offseason, the Hawks became more open to the idea of moving him after the Las Vegas Summer League concluded, according to Grant Afseth of RG.org.
While Bufkin posted strong averages of 19.5 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 4.2 assists per game in four Vegas outings, he struggled to score efficiently, making just 35.5% of his shots from the floor, including 25.9% of his three-point attempts. The Hawks, who are hoping to contend in what looks like a wide-open Eastern Conference, are focused on players who can help them win right now and weren’t sure Bufkin fit that bill, as Afseth explains.
Bufkin was ultimately sent to Brooklyn, though the Pacers also registered some interest, sources tell RG.org.
As for the Hawks, they intend to lean on Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Luke Kennard for ball-handling duties behind star point guard Trae Young, according to Afseth, who says the team envisions Alexander-Walker taking on a more significant offensive role than he had in Minnesota — he has been working closely with Atlanta’s coaching staff to prepare for those increased responsibilities, Afseth adds.
Here’s more from around the Eastern Conference:
- Raptors governor and NBA Board of Governors chairman Larry Tanenbaum is obligated to begin the process of selling his 20% stake in Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment (the Raptors’ parent company) to Rogers Communications by July 7, 2026, per Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca. There are “rumblings” that process could begin sooner, Grange says, but either way, it sounds like it’s just a matter of time until Rogers – which already controls 75% of MLSE – owns nearly the entire company. Rogers increased its stake in MLSE from 37.5% to 75% a year ago.
- Which Nets players are the most and least likely to be part of the team’s long-term plans? Brian Lewis of The New York Post explores that question in a subscriber-only article, suggesting that Cam Thomas seems unlikely to remain in Brooklyn beyond 2025/26, whereas Egor Demin, Nolan Traore, and whoever the Nets draft with their 2026 lottery pick seem destined to be cornerstones going forward.
- Addressing the recent trade rumors linking Heat forward Andrew Wiggins to the Lakers, Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel explains why he thinks Miami would be better off keeping Wiggins than trading him for a return of Rui Hachimura and Dalton Knecht.
September 16: The trade is official, according to announcements from both teams. The Nets waived big man David Muoka in order to open up a spot on the 21-man roster for Bufkin.
September 15: The Hawks and Nets have agreed to a trade that will send former first-round pick Kobe Bufkin from Atlanta to Brooklyn in exchange for cash considerations, reports Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link). The Hawks will acquire $110K in cash, per Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link).
The 15th overall pick in the 2023 draft, Bufkin has battled injuries since entering the NBA. He missed a significant chunk of his rookie year due to a fractured left thumb and a sprained toe, then underwent season-ending shoulder surgery into December 2024, less than two months into his second season.
In total, the 6’4″ guard made just 27 appearances for the Hawks, averaging 5.0 points, 2.0 rebounds, and 1.6 assists in 11.9 minutes per night, with a .374/.220/.654 shooting line. Bufkin – who will turn 22 on Sunday – has more upside than he’s been able to show so far, so the Nets will take a chance on him in the hopes that he’ll have better health luck going forward.
Brooklyn has more than enough cap room to take on Bufkin’s $4.5MM salary for this season, which will push the team over the minimum salary floor, at least for now. His rookie scale contract also includes a $6.9MM team option for 2026/27 — the Nets will have to make a decision on that option by October 31.
While the Nets are in a good position to roll the dice on Bufkin from a salary cap perspective, adding him to the mix will exacerbate a looming roster crunch. Once the deal is official, Brooklyn will be carrying 15 players on guaranteed salaries and four on partially guaranteed or non-guaranteed salaries. The team also intends to add Ricky Council IV to the latter group. A number of those players will have to be waived or traded in order for the Nets to set their 15-man regular season roster next month.
Brooklyn still has roughly $11.6MM in cap room for now, as ESPN’s Bobby Marks tweets, though the club could increase that figure by waiving some of those players with non-guaranteed or partially guaranteed contracts. The Nets would be in danger of falling back below the minimum salary floor in that scenario and will want to make sure they’re above that threshold by opening night.
The Hawks, meanwhile, will generate a $4.5MM trade exception as a result of the deal, generating a little extra financial flexibility below the luxury tax line and opening up another roster spot for one of their camp invitees to compete for.
With Bufkin no longer in the mix, Atlanta will have just 10 players on fully guaranteed salaries, plus Vit Krejci and N’Faly Dante on partial guarantees, Mouhamed Gueye on a non-guaranteed contract, and Caleb Houstan, Charles Bassey, and Kobe Johnson on Exhibit 10 deals.
The Celtics appear likely to take a step backward in 2025/26 due to Jayson Tatum‘s Achilles injury and the loss of Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis, who were both shipped out in cost-cutting moves. However, Jaylen Brown expressed optimism about the upcoming season in an interview this week on V-103 FM in Atlanta, relays Conor Ryan of The Boston Globe.
“I know Boston, it looks gloomy right now, obviously with JT being out and us kind of ending the year, but it’s a lot to look forward to,” Brown said. “I want the city to feel excited about that. This is not the end, so I’m looking forward to what’s next.”
Being in his hometown, Brown received a question about possibly joining the Hawks someday. With four years left on his $304MM super-max extension, it’s not a realistic possibility anytime soon, but Brown left the door open. When host Darian Morgan said he’d like to see Brown in a Hawks uniform, the Celtics star replied, “I feel you. I think my grandma would too.”
There’s more on the Celtics:
- New majority owner William Chisholm shares Brown’s outlook about the team’s prospects, per Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe. Chisholm believes other players will seize the opportunity to replace the stars who are no longer available. “I think they’re going to surprise some people,” Chisholm said. “I think this is a good team and I think we have a really good coach and a really good president of basketball operations. I think Payton Pritchard said it in an interview, that we’re going to surprise some people, and I think there’s real talent here that hasn’t been fully realized.”
- Newly acquired Chris Boucher may be the favorite going into camp to win the starting job at power forward, Brian Robb of MassLive states in a mailbag column. Coach Joe Mazzulla’s handling of the four spot should provide an indication of how he plans to approach the season, Robb adds. Using the 6’9″ Boucher alongside Neemias Queta would give the team more size on defense and better rebounding. Another option is to start shooting specialist Sam Hauser, which would satisfy Mazzulla’s tactical reliance on a three-point barrage but would leave the Celtics vulnerable in other areas. Robb mentions Josh Minott as a potential wild card who could wind up earning regular minutes.
- Second apron concerns mean Holiday and Porzingis would likely have been traded even if Tatum hadn’t gotten injured, but some other moves might have played out differently, Robb adds in the same piece. He believes Al Horford or Luke Kornet would have been re-signed if Tatum had been healthy, and the Celtics might have made a stronger effort to add low-cost veteran free agent depth.
September 11: Two-and-a-half months after his agreement was first reported, Johnson has officially signed with the Hawks, the team announced in a press release. It’s an Exhibit 10 deal, confirms Lauren L. Williams of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Twitter link).
June 27: 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.
The Hawks have signed big man Charles Bassey, the team announced in a press release on Wednesday. It’s a non-guaranteed Exhibit 10 contract, a league source tells Lauren Williams of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Twitter link).
Bassey was selected by Philadelphia with the 53rd pick in the 2021 draft. He was waived after one year with the Sixers and signed with San Antonio, where he played for the past three seasons.
Injuries were an issue for Bassey during his time with the Spurs — his 2022/23 season was cut short due to a non-displaced patella fracture, then he suffered a season-ending ACL tear in December 2023. The 24-year-old appeared in 36 games in 2024/25, averaging 4.4 points and 4.2 rebounds in 10.4 minutes per night.
Bassey was a standout with the Celtics during Summer League play this July, averaging 15.3 points and 11.0 rebounds per contest in Las Vegas while shooting 70.4% from the field across three outings. He reportedly drew interest from Partizan Belgrade, but has decided to remain stateside as he seeks an NBA roster spot.
While most camp invitees who receive Exhibit 10 contracts don’t end up making their teams’ regular season rosters, there could be a pathway for Bassey to earn a spot in Atlanta. As we detailed last week, the Hawks are carrying just 11 players on fully guaranteed contracts (plus Vit Krejci with a significant partial guarantee), so players with non-guaranteed deals or small partial guarantees – including Bassey, Caleb Houstan, Mouhamed Gueye, and N’Faly Dante – could be vying for two or three roster spots.
Because he has four years of NBA experience, Bassey isn’t eligible to have his Exhibit 10 deal converted into a two-way contract.
Finland pulled off one of the biggest international upsets in recent years, surprising Serbia on Saturday in a EuroBasket elimination game, writes Edvinas Jablonskis of BasketNews. Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen led the way for the Finnish team with 29 points, eight rebounds, four assists and three steals in the 92-86 victory.
“Unreal,” Markkanen said. “Great performance by the team. We needed every single one of them tonight — everybody in the stands, the staff, the players. Big credit to them. We’re not done yet, but we’re gonna enjoy this. Obviously, that’s a heck of a team we just beat, and now we move forward.”
Led by perennial MVP candidate Nikola Jokic and with six other current and former NBA players on its roster, Serbia was considered among the favorites for the EuroBasket title when the tournament began. But its prospects took a major hit when Bogdan Bogdanovic suffered a ruptured hamstring muscle last week that forced him out of the competition.
Serbia cruised to victories in its first four games behind dominant performances from Jokic. However, they dropped to second in Group A after Wednesday’s loss to Turkey and didn’t respond well in the knockout round.
Jokic delivered 33 points and eight rebounds on Saturday, but Serbia didn’t offer much other scoring punch outside of Nikola Jovic‘s 20 points. Despite his many career accomplishments, Jokic has never medaled at EuroBasket.
Up next for Finland will be the winner of Sunday’s game between France and Georgia.
Lithuania also advanced to the quarterfinals on Saturday with an 88-79 victory over Latvia, joining Turkey and Germany, who won earlier in the day.
With Rokas Jokubaitis sidelined by a serious knee injury, Arnas Velicka starred for the Lithuanians with 21 points, 12 assists and five rebounds, while Azuolas Tubelis contributed 18 points and 12 rebounds and Deividas Sirvydis added 18 points.
Latvia was eliminated despite a stellar performance from Hawks big man Kristaps Porzingis, who finished with 34 points and 19 rebounds before fouling out late in the game. Porzingis told reporters that he has mostly recovered from the illness that sapped his strength last season with Boston, according to BasketNews.
“It’s true that there were still some days when I wasn’t feeling perfect, and I’m still working my way back to having my gas tank full,” he said. “But as the tournament went on, I started to feel really good physically, and I knew I could push my body, I could push myself to go. Today was an example of that. It’s just up from now. Overall, a great summer with my Latvian teammates, being back home, enjoying time with family. And yeah, I would have liked to finish on a more beautiful note.”
Lithuania’s quarterfinals opponent will be the winner of Sunday’s Greece-Israel matchup.