California Notes: Warriors, Buss Legacy, DeRozan, Monk
After acquiring six-time All-Star forward Jimmy Butler midway through 2024/25, the Warriors’ offseason will be focused on building out their roster with an eye towards a deeper playoff run next spring.
In a story previewing the team’s summer, Yossi Gozlan of The Third Apron (Substack link) notes that Golden State possesses the draft picks and movable contracts needed to make some key personnel improvements.
According to Gozlan, restricted free agent forward Jonathan Kuminga‘s next deal could prove crucial to helping the club level up. Gozlan considers a sign-and-trade with another team to be the best path for the Warriors to maximize value for the 22-year-old and for Kuminga to get the bigger role he seems to be seeking. The Warriors also have other, more veteran free agents for whom they could extract value in sign-and-trade deals.
Golden State has just nine players under contract heading into the summer and are $17.4MM below the projected luxury tax line.
There’s more out of California:
- With the Buss family set to sell their majority stake in the Lakers after 46 years, Jim Alexander of The Orange County Register looks back on the transformative impact late patriarch Dr. Jerry Buss’ ownership had on the league at large. Beyond drafting superstars Magic Johnson and James Worthy early in his tenure, Buss helped eventize the league, making the games more than just basketball and helping elevate the NBA’s profile around the world.
- Now-Pacers All-NBA guard Tyrese Haliburton‘s big showing in the ongoing Finals highlights a glaring point guard deficiency for the team who drafted him in 2020, observes Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee. After trading Haliburton in 2022, the Kings went on to move De’Aaron Fox to San Antonio this past season as part of a three-team deal that netted them swingman Zach LaVine. New general manager Scott Perry now must work to find the club’s new lead ball-handler of the future, Anderson writes, noting that players like Ja Morant, Trae Young, Darius Garland, and Jrue Holiday have been floated as potential trade fits.
- The Kings haven’t yet engaged in trade conversations about veteran wings Malik Monk or DeMar DeRozan, but Anderson tweets that talks could kick up with Kevin Durant‘s trade fate now resolved.
Texas Notes: Wemby, Durant, Rockets, Flagg
All-Star Spurs center Victor Wembanyama has been maximizing his summer. The 7’4″ big man, whose 2024/25 sophomore season was cut short early by a blood clot issue, spent two weeks with monks at Shaolin Temple in China.
Reflecting on the stint during an appearance on “The Shop” with Lakers All-Star LeBron James, former seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady and streamer Kai Cenat, Wembanyama spoke fondly of his time abroad, writes Larry Holder of The Athletic.
“It was a great experience,” Wembanyama said. “My goal going there was putting my body through things that it’s not used to doing and allowing my range of movement and strength. This was probably as very different as possible from what I’m used to doing.”
There’s more out of the Lone Star State:
- The Spurs were considered a potential Kevin Durant suitor and were said to be among his preferred landing spots, but he’ll join one of San Antonio’s division rivals instead. According to Jeff McDonald of The San Antonio Express-News (subscription required), the Spurs’ refusal to include either the No. 2 overall pick or Stephon Castle in their offer is believed to have prompted Phoenix to look elsewhere. Multiple reports indicated San Antonio wasn’t one of the teams engaged in serious trade talks with the Suns.
- The Rockets‘ decision to trade Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks, the No. 10 pick in this year’s draft and five future second rounders for Durant should give Houston the go-to scorer the team has been missing and will create more lineup optionality for head coach Ime Udoka, write Doug Haller, Sam Amick, and Kelly Iko of The Athletic. The Rockets’ elite defense and Durant’s offensive weapons make them a “match made in heaven,” The Athletic adds.
- The Mavericks control the top pick in this week’s impending draft and are expected to use it on superstar Duke forward Cooper Flagg. The 6’8″ phenom’s longtime trainer, Matt MacKenzie, recently raved to Mike Curtis of The Dallas Morning News (subscriber link) about Flagg’s relentless drive and stunning aptitude. “You only had to tell him something once and he was immediately starting to apply it into drill work,” MacKenzie told Curtis, “and then I would watch his games and he would immediately start to try to apply it into his game. So there was just an incredibly steep learning curve. He was able to pick up on things quickly. It was very natural to him.”
Nuggets’ Dario Saric Picks Up Player Option
Nuggets reserve big man Dario Saric has picked up his $5.4MM player option for the 2025/26 season, sources inform Marc Stein of The Stein Line (Twitter link).
Saric was inked to a two-year, $10.6MM deal last summer via Denver’s taxpayer mid-level exception. He was a relative disappointment, and quickly fell out of the team’s rotation.
The 31-year-old played just 16 regular season contests, averaging 3.5 PPG, 3.1 RPG, and 1.4 APG in 13.1 MPG. He was out of David Adelman‘s playoff lineups entirely. Instead, power forward Aaron Gordon was often used as a small-ball center to back up three-time MVP starting five Nikola Jokic in the postseason.
Saric’s deadline to make a decision on the contract was June 29. Denver’s new-look front office, led by interim general manager Ben Tenzer, presumably isn’t surprised that he opted to lock in the security of the deal, since he would’ve been unlikely to earn more than the veteran’s minimum in free agency this summer.
For his career, the 6’10” big man boasts averages of 10.4 PPG and 5.3 RPG, and is a 36% three-point shooter on 3.6 triple tries a night. He could have some intriguing upside to another team, if Denver can find a destination to reroute his salary this offseason, but he’ll have negative value on the trade market.
Thunder Notes: SGA, Daigneault, Game 7, Pacers
The Thunder collapsed in Game 6 of their ongoing NBA Finals series against Indiana on Friday, with the final score of 108-91 not nearly reflective of how grisly things got. The Pacers led by as many as 31 points, while the Thunder went 8-for-30 from distance and turned the ball over a whopping 21 times.
Now, the series is knotted up as it returns to Oklahoma City for a conclusive Game 7 on Sunday.
According to Marc J. Spears of Andscape, MVP Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is doing his darnedest to shake off a disappointing night.
“One game,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “Winner takes all. Give it your best shot. Bring your ‘A’ game. I don’t try to complicate it.”
Gilgeous-Alexander submitted his worst performance of the Finals in Game 6, though he put up 21 points, which was still the highest scoring output for a Thunder player.
“The way I see it is, we sucked tonight,” Gilgeous-Alexander said after accounting for eight of his team’s turnovers. “We can learn our lessons. We have one game for everything, for everything we’ve worked for, and so do they. The better team Sunday will win.”
There’s more out of Oklahoma City:
- Thunder coach Mark Daigneault contends that his team’s face-plant, in what could have been a closeout game, was not reflective of who they have been in the playoffs so far, writes Tim MacMahon of ESPN. “From our standpoint, it was uncharacteristic,” Daigneault said. “It was disappointing. It was collective. It wasn’t one guy. Just we were not where we needed to be on either end of the floor for much of the game. We have to be a lot better before Game 7.”
- The stakes for the Thunder to wrap up an historic 68-game regular season with a franchise-first championship (at least, in Oklahoma City) are monumental. Per Anthony Slater of The Athletic, Gilgeous-Alexander thinks that a Game 7 loss in the Finals would be just as disappointing as, say, as a second-round defeat. Without a championship, he would view the season as a failure. “I see it as the same thing,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “In round two, if we had lost, I would have been just as disappointed. We would have went home and our season would have been over. If we lose (on Sunday), the season is over in the wrong way. Either way, I would have been extremely disappointed, so I don’t think it’s any different.”
- By botching Game 6 against the Pacers, the Thunder have stumbled into a do-or-die contest Sunday, where anything can happen, notes Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman (subscriber link). There’s no room for error anymore. Oklahoma City struggled to even contain Indiana’s top reserves in the game, Obi Toppin and T.J. McConnell. Toppin scored a Pacers-best 20 points, while McConnell notched 12 points, nine boards, six assists and four steals.
Lakers Notes: Walter, Buss Family, Sale, NBA Reaction
The Lakers were at the center of the NBA conversation once again this week — during an exciting ongoing Finals series — when it was revealed that the Buss family was selling its approximate 66% majority stake in the franchise to minority owner Mark Walter. Los Angeles was valued at $10 billion in the sale.
Bill Plaschke of The Los Angeles Times opines that Walter, who owns stakes in multiple other teams including the Dodgers, will give Los Angeles a more expansive trajectory moving forward — unencumbered by the financial constrictions or occasional cronyism that may have impeded the Lakers’ title pursuits of years past.
Plaschke predicts that, as was the case with MLB’s Dodgers, Walter will help modernize and build out L.A.’s infrastructure behind the scenes.
Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports observes that, much in the same way the Lakers’ purchase in 1979 by late family patriarch Dr. Jerry Buss led to a massive sea change for the league at large, the Buss family’s departure from team control signals the end of another era.
There’s more out of Crypto.com Arena:
- Current Lakers governor Jeanie Buss was the guiding force to galvanize this record-smashing sale, ESPN insider Shams Charania said on the network’s “The Pat McAfee Show” (Twitter video link). Charania added that the Buss family trust, split between the six children of the departed Dr. Buss, will still hold a significant stake in the team for at least a while. “The Buss family will have just over 15% of the minority share for a period of time,” Charania said. “Jeanie Buss will stay on as the governor for a period of time after this sale… My understanding is that Jeanie Buss really drove this sale of the Lakers.”
- Unlike when a similar situation played out with former Mavericks majority owner Mark Cuban, Jeanie Buss’ short-term continued role as Lakers governor has been defined in a written agreement, ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne told ESPN Radio Los Angeles’ Clinton Yates (Twitter video link, h/t to RealGM for the transcription). “It’s in writing,” Shelburne said. “Mark Cuban did not get his role in writing. Jeanie Buss’ is in writing. That’s part of the deal. She’s staying on for the foreseeable future to run the team. There’s going to be a great continuity in this transfer of ownership.” Cuban said ahead of the Mavericks’ sale that he’d remain in his governor role, but that didn’t end up happening.
- The league at large has weighed on the Lakers’ blockbuster sale, according to Tim Bontemps and Dave McMenamin of ESPN. “This is a good move,” an NBA source told ESPN. “The Lakers can finally be run like a real business.” As Bontemps and McMenamin note, the franchise was revenue-dependent under the Buss family. Now, it’s just another investment for the far wealthier Walter. “Most of these owners now, this is a part of their portfolio,” an executive said. “It’s not the only thing in their portfolio.”
Draft Notes: Guards, Wings, Trades, Fears, Queen
Even after Duke phenom Cooper Flagg and Rutgers guard Dylan Harper, the draft’s presumed top two picks, come off the board, this year’s draft lottery is loaded with intriguing wings and guards.
David Aldridge of The Athletic consulted with anonymous league scouts and coaches about the best guard prospects in the draft, and also took a look at the best potential NBA wings.
Harper proved to be somewhat divisive. The folks Aldridge consulted were decidedly mixed on his upside, with some projecting him as an eventual All-Star and others believing he could be a longtime pro but may not have a high ceiling.
“He has a professionalism about him that’s really uncommon,” one college assistant coach said of Harper. “He knows the game. He plays the right way. He guards. He tries defensively.”
Arizona wing Carter Bryant may lack a great handle, but an Eastern Conference scout appreciates the rest of his offensive makeup. He’s projected to be the No. 10 pick in the latest ESPN mock.
“His shot’s fluid, especially in spot-up situations,” the scout said. “He’s not somebody who’ll create his own shots, at least his first few years in the league. He’s good at relocating to open space. His shot comes out of his hand really well, and the defense is high-level.”
There’s more intel ahead of the draft:
- In a fairly deep draft year, Kevin O’Connor of Yahoo Sports identifies several prospects he believes could be worth trading down out of the top three to acquire for the Spurs and Sixers. O’Connor evaluates the shooting promise of Duke guard Kon Knueppel and Texas guard Tre Johnson, the motor of Baylor wing V.J. Edgecombe, and the upside of Duke center Khaman Maluach, among other lottery-level players.
- Should they stay put, the Nets could still have plenty of promising possibilities to select with the eighth pick this year. An NBA scout raved to Brian Lewis of The New York Post about the upside of Oklahoma guard Jeremiah Fears, who could still be available in the middle of the lottery. “I’m not [drafting] in the top two or three, in terms of being able to hit a home run on a guy that could be an absolute superstar game-changer, he’d be one of the guys past [Nos.] 3 or 4 that could actually do that,” the scout said.
- Under a new front office regime, the Pelicans are high on freshman Maryland big Derik Queen, a source informs Field of 68’s Jeff Goodman (Twitter link). New Orleans possesses the No. 7 pick this season following another injury-plagued year. The All-Big Ten center averaged 16.5 PPG and 9.0 RPG in Maryland last year.
Nets Notes: Johnson, Trade Rumors, Draft, Bailey
After Memphis received a blockbuster haul of future draft assets from Orlando in its Desmond Bane trade, Brian Lewis of The New York Post (subscriber link) considers how that could impact the Nets‘ return in a potential Cameron Johnson trade.
Johnson, 29, is a solid two-way player – if never an All-Star – and remains in his athletic prime. The 6’8″ forward, who established himself as a starter on a talented Suns team before being dealt to Brooklyn, averaged 18.8 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 3.4 assists per contest in 57 healthy games for the Nets this past season. He posted a shooting line of .475/.390/.893.
As Lewis writes, Johnson isn’t the passer or rebounder that Bane is, and he’s three years older than the Magic’s latest addition. However, they posted similar scoring and shooting numbers this past season, and Johnson’s current contract is more team-friendly than Bane’s — the Nets forward is owed $44MM over the next two seasons, while Bane will make $163MM across the next four years.
NBA sources have repeatedly informed Lewis that they expect the 2025 offseason to be incredibly active, and that they anticipate Brooklyn will be heavily involved in trade activity.
There’s more out of Brooklyn:
- Although Lewis tweets that he anticipates the Nets will explore ditching veteran salaries and getting involved in three-team trades, he has been informed that Brooklyn is also being floated in conversations about deals that the team has nothing to do with. According to Lewis, this is “predictable gamesmanship” in the offseason, and the Nets make for an easy subject of speculation due to their significant cap room.
- The Nets’ name has been thrown around in the trade rumor mill so often, C.J. Holmes of The New York Daily News opted to take stock. Holmes believes it’s quite possible Brooklyn gets involved as a third team to help facilitate a Kevin Durant trade out of Phoenix, but he’s skeptical the Nets will achieve their “Plan A” of acquiring Giannis Antetokounmpo from Milwaukee.
- Although Rutgers wing Ace Bailey initially seemed to be out of reach for the Nets at the No. 8 pick, his recent refusal to work out for anyone seems to presage a drop in this year’s draft. Net Income of Nets Daily wonders if Brooklyn would trade up to nab the 18-year-old if he falls out of the top three picks — but perhaps not out of the top five.
Pacers’ Tyrese Haliburton Will Play In Game 6
7:40 pm: Doctors informed Haliburton that his calf ailment would normally take multiple weeks to recover, per Shams Charania of ESPN (via Twitter). Given the stakes, the Pacers guard pushed to play.
5:52 pm: All-NBA Pacers point guard Tyrese Haliburton will suit up for Game 6 of the NBA Finals against the Thunder on Thursday night, head coach Rick Carlisle told reporters (Twitter link via Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press). Carlisle added that Haliburton won’t face any sort of minutes limit (Twitter link via Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports).
It had previously been reported that the 25-year-old Olympian intended to give it a go, but his availability had not been confirmed. Haliburton had been considered a game-time decision to play through a right calf strain incurred in the first half of Monday’s Game 5, a 120-109 loss.
The defeat marked the first time Indiana had lost two consecutive games during its postseason run to the Finals this spring.
Across 21 contests in his second-ever playoffs, Haliburton has averaged 17.9 points, 9.1 assists, 5.8 rebounds, 1.3 steals and 0.7 blocks per game. Those numbers dipped a little in Game 5 when the former Iowa State star attempted to play through the calf injury.
Haliburton failed to connect on a single field goal attempt on Monday, finishing with four points on 0-of-6 shooting. He did chip in seven rebounds and six assists.
Indiana, playing in its first Finals since 2000, now returns to Gainbridge Fieldhouse on the brink of elimination. The Pacers trail the Thunder 3-2 in the series.
Oklahoma City coach Mark Daigneault, in his own pregame presser, anticipated that Haliburton would give it his all, per Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star (via Twitter).
“We’re expecting his best punch,” Daigneault said. “Indiana’s a great team, we’re expecting their best punch.”
Thunder Notes: SGA, Title Path, Market Size, Jalen Williams, K. Williams
Now leading Indiana 3-2 in the NBA Finals, the Thunder and their All-NBA point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander are on the cusp of securing their first title in Oklahoma City. Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman (subscriber link) unpacks what that would mean for the team, Gilgeous-Alexander, All-NBA forward Jalen Williams, big man Chet Holmgren, team owner Clay Bennett, longtime general manager Sam Presti, head coach Mark Daigneault, and more.
Gilgeous-Alexander, who’s already one of the most NBA’s most efficient scoring guards, can still be maximized as a distributor by Oklahoma City, writes Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca. Grange observes that, over the last 40 years, only Gilgeous-Alexander and Kevin Durant have scored 2,400 or more points with a true shooting mark of .630 or better, both during their respective MVP seasons for the Thunder.
The 6’6″ guard continues to try to thread the needle when it comes to looking to score and looking to involve other players in the offense. Grange notes that Gilgeous-Alexander notched eight assists in Game 2 and 10 more in Game 5, but has had just seven total dimes in the other three games of the series.
There’s more out of Oklahoma City:
- The Thunder’s consistent organizational infrastructure has helped the club return to the NBA Finals and reach the brink of a championship, observes Anthony Slater of The Athletic. Presti has held his gig for 18 seasons and counting, while Bennett has proven to be a stabilizing force on the business front. Slater notes that the Thunder, who won just 24 games three years ago, have managed a remarkable turnaround back to contention.
- The Thunder have hardly let being the league’s third-smallest market franchise limit their aspirations, writes Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic. Rival executives are convinced that Oklahoma City spends extensively on its front office— its 88 basketball operations staffers lap the big-market Lakers’ 56. Vorkunov also notes that the team’s front office stability has been appealing to help the team retain talent.
- Hall of Fame former Chicago forward Scottie Pippen has noticed the parallels between himself and All-NBA Thunder wing Jalen Williams, writes Tim MacMahon of ESPN. Both were two-way standouts who blossomed next to more established scoring guards en route to Finals appearances. “He is pretty special,” Pippen told MacMahon. “I’m enjoying watching him. I see a lot of me in him for sure. I see a guy rising to be one of the top players in this league. He’s definitely a player that is capable of being able to lead that franchise to multiple championships — him and Shai, of course.”
- In another piece for The Oklahoman (subscriber link), Mussatto examines Kenrich Williams‘ natural fit in Oklahoma City. Williams has now been with the Thunder longer than every player on the roster aside from Gilgeous-Alexander and Luguentz Dort. “He’s an old head,” Dort said of Williams. “He has an old soul. You feel it every time you’re around him. His leadership has been big for us on and off the court.” Williams is in the second year of a four-season, $27.2MM deal with the club. Thanks to a deep backcourt, Daigneault has been deploying Williams in spot minutes throughout the playoffs. He’s been averaging 8.1 MPG in the 14 games he’s seen action.
Ace Bailey Cancels Pre-Draft Workout With Sixers
Former Rutgers star Ace Bailey has opted to cancel his lone scheduled pre-draft workout, with the Sixers, sources inform Jonathan Givony of ESPN.
Bailey, projected as a top prospect in this month’s draft, had rejected workout invitations from lottery teams prior to this slated Philadelphia audition. The Sixers possess the No. 3 overall pick.
A 6’10” wing, Bailey averaged an impressive 17.6 PPG, 7.2 RPG, and 1.3 APG across 30 healthy contests for Rutgers this past season. He earned 2025 All-Big Ten and Big Ten All-Freshman honors for his play.
The young star is considered a high-upside scorer and shot creator, but his strategy to avoid team workouts has puzzled clubs and could compel a draft slide. This Philadelphia situation certainly won’t help that. Kyle Neubeck of PHLY Sports tweets that flights, hotel accommodations, and dinner plans had all been scheduled for Bailey’s visit.
Still, the 76ers haven’t ruled out the possibility of drafting Bailey, having scouted him “extensively” during the season, according to Givony, who points out that the team previously selected Tyrese Maxey and Jared McCain without having brought them in for private workouts.
Duke forward Cooper Flagg and Bailey’s former Scarlet Knights teammate Dylan Harper are widely anticipated to be the top two selections this year, with Bailey, Baylor forward V.J. Edgecombe, Texas guard Tre Johnson, Oklahoma guard Jeremiah Frears, Duke center Khaman Maluach, and Duke wing Kon Knueppel among the next tier of young NBA hopefuls.
The Blue Devils and Rutgers could have a virtual stranglehold on the 2025 draft’s top eight spots, with five players anticipated to be selected between the two programs. Unlike Rutgers, however, Duke actually made the NCAA Tournament this past March.
Givony previously reported that Bailey’s camp views him as a top-three prospect in this year’s draft class, but wants him in a situation where there’s a path to stardom, including regular minutes and usage as a rookie.