Pacers Notes: Huff, Wiseman, Oladipo, Johnson, Haliburton
After losing longtime starting center Myles Turner to the division-rival Bucks, the Pacers will take a “by committee” approach to the position in 2025/26, general manager Chad Buchanan confirmed during an appearance on the Setting The Pace podcast (YouTube link).
The team re-signed Isaiah Jackson and James Wiseman earlier this month and made a trade with Memphis to acquire Jay Huff. Veteran journeyman Tony Bradley is also in the mix, though his contract is fully non-guaranteed, so if Jackson and Wiseman are fully recovered from Achilles tears, there may not be room for him on the regular season roster.
Discussing the team’s deal for Huff, Buchanan pointed out that the big man had a huge game against the Pacers’ G League team in the playoffs a couple years ago and added that Indiana’s analytics department had its eye on the 27-year-old for a while.
“Watching him in Memphis this year when he got his opportunity, he really shined,” Buchanan said (hat tip to Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star). “He had moments of running the floor, finishing lobs, shooting threes, protecting the rim. He’s not a perfect player by any means — he’s got areas that he needs to be better at and improve at. But we felt like what we were losing in Myles and what Jay provided at the age he was at, his basketball IQ, his feel of the game were really good fits for the way we play.”
Buchanan also spoke highly of Jackson and Wiseman, suggesting that Jackson’s skill set will give the Pacers’ lineup a different look and stating that the team remains just as bullish on Wiseman as it was when it first signed him a year ago.
“He’s in a great spot physically,” Buchanan said of the former No. 2 overall pick. “He still has to go through the hurdles of playing in a 5-on-5 game and things like that, but we’re very encouraged with where his recovery is going.”
Here’s more on the Pacers:
- Buchanan confirmed on the Setting The Pace podcast that Indiana was among the teams that attended Victor Oladipo‘s workout in Las Vegas (YouTube link). However, he didn’t suggest that a reunion with the former Pacers All-Star is forthcoming . “Obviously, we have a history with Victor,” the Pacers’ GM said (hat tip to Dopirak). “We’re always going to be looking for, if it’s the right player at the right time that fits us, we’re going to have to consider it whether it’s Victor or not. Many teams watched along with us. We get tied to him because he’s a former player of ours. I don’t think we’re any different than any other team that watched him out there.”
- Veteran forward James Johnson, who has been with the Pacers for parts of the last three seasons, hopes to continue his playing career, according to Buchanan, though it’s unclear whether Indiana will have room on its roster for him (YouTube link). “Tyrese (Haliburton)’s injury creates a butterfly effect with what we have to plan on and how the roster fits together,” Buchanan said (hat tip to Dopirak). “Right now, it could be challenging to find a spot for James, as much as we want him back.” The GM did acknowledge “that could change,” and it’s worth noting that Johnson didn’t start the 2023/24 season on the Pacers’ roster but was eventually added, first on a non-guaranteed contract, then on 10-day deals, then on a rest-of-season agreement.
- Appearing on The Pat McAfee Show (YouTube link) this week, Haliburton said that he has been in touch with both Jayson Tatum and Kevin Durant to discuss the recovery process from a torn Achilles. Souichi Terada of MassLive.com has the details
Cholet Basket Announces Knicks’ Diawara Headed To NBA
Mohamed Diawara, the French forward selected last month with the 51st pick in the draft, is headed to the NBA, according to his former team. Cholet Basket published a social media post on Friday bidding farewell to Diawara and wishing him the best as he heads stateside (Twitter link).
While there are no details yet on what kind of contract Diawara will be signing, the update from Cholet Basket indicates that Diawara will be joining the Knicks, who acquired his NBA rights as part of a draft-night trade with the Clippers, rather than remaining overseas as a draft-and-stash player.
Most players drafted in Diawara’s range will sign two-way contracts, and that’s certainly an option for him. The Knicks don’t yet have any players locked into two-way deals and only have a single two-way qualifying offer on the table, for 2024 second-rounder Kevin McCullar. So no corresponding roster moves would be necessary to have Diawara fill one of those two-way openings.
However, the possibility of Diawara signing a standard deal shouldn’t be ruled out. The Knicks don’t have enough room below their second-apron hard cap to sign two minimum-salary veterans in order to get to the minimum 14 players on standard contracts for the regular season. So, barring a cost-cutting move, they’ll likely fill one of those roster openings with a second-round pick who can sign a rookie-minimum contract that won’t be subject to tax variance.
The Knicks have no shortage of former second-round picks whose draft rights they hold. Generally speaking though, the longer a player remains overseas, the less likely he is to ultimately sign an NBA contract. That makes a recent draftee like Diawara a better bet to fill that standard roster spot.
Appearing in 27 games for Cholet last season, Diawara averaged 5.8 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 1.4 assists in 19.6 minutes per game, with a shooting line of .383/.310/.488. While those numbers don’t exactly jump off the page, he was also seeing his first regular action in France’s top basketball league (LNB Élite) at the age of 19 and has plenty of room to continue growing.
Diawara made four Summer League appearances for the Knicks in Las Vegas this month, averaging 7.0 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 1.8 assists in 22.3 minutes per game.
Fischer’s Latest: RFAs, Smart, Vucevic, Brogdon
In addition to sharing the latest updates on Nets guard Cam Thomas, NBA insider Jake Fischer checked in on the other three most notable remaining restricted free agents during his Bleacher Report live stream on Thursday, discussing Bulls guard Josh Giddey, Warriors forward Jonathan Kuminga, and Sixers guard Quentin Grimes.
Fischer stated that he doesn’t expect there to be resolution on either Giddey or Grimes this month (YouTube link) and expressed a belief that Grimes, Kuminga, and Thomas will eventually agree to short-term deals with their respective teams rather than long-term contracts (YouTube link).
While that leaves Giddey as the most likely player of the quartet to work out a longer-term agreement, Fischer added that he thinks Giddey’s dynamic with the Bulls is the “most strained” of the bunch right now, due to how the negotiations have played out so far (YouTube link).
Here’s more from Fischer:
- Before Marcus Smart agreed to a buyout with Washington and signed with the Lakers, the Wizards had “a ton” of trade discussions about the former Defensive Player of the Year, per Fischer (YouTube link). The Bucks, Hawks, and Heat were among the teams that spoke to the Wizards about possible deals involving Smart, according to Fischer, who says that Washington and Miami talked at one point about a trade that would’ve included Terry Rozier.
- Responding to a question about the possibility of the Bulls trading Nikola Vucevic, Fischer stressed that there isn’t much of a market for the veteran center (YouTube link). “I think at this juncture, we’re probably more likely to see a Nikola Vucevic buyout mid-season than we are to see a trade,” Fischer said. “Depending on how the market unfolds, depending on how injuries develop. There just really hasn’t been much of a Nikola Vucevic trade market in a while.”
- Fischer views the Timberwolves as perhaps the most logical landing spot for free agent guard Malcolm Brogdon (YouTube link). Fischer acknowledges that that Minnesota wants to give youngsters Rob Dillingham and Terrence Shannon Jr. more opportunities to establish themselves as rotation players, but notes that the team could use another veteran option to complement Mike Conley, who will turn 38 in October. “I think Minnesota still stands as a really good situation for Malcolm Brogdon and one that he’s been monitoring, one that the Wolves have checked in on,” Fischer said. “I’m not making a prediction, but I think that’s a good situation for Malcolm Brogdon.”
Heat Sign Myron Gardner To Two-Way Deal
10:55 am: The Heat have officially signed Gardner, the team announced in a press release.
9:58 am: Free agent guard/forward Myron Gardner has agreed to sign a two-way contract with the Heat, agent Jake Cohen tells NBA insider Chris Haynes (Twitter link). The deal will cover two seasons, according to Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel (Twitter link).
Gardner, 24, went undrafted out of Little Rock in 2023 and has spent his first two professional seasons playing for the Osceola Magic, Orlando’s G League affiliate. In 50 total appearances for Osceola last season, he averaged 10.0 points, 6.2 rebounds, 1.5 assists, and 1.0 steal in 21.2 minutes per game, with a shooting line of .488/.353/.761.
Gardner impressed the Heat this month with his play at the California Classic and Las Vegas Summer Leagues. In four total outings, he put up 13.2 PPG, 4.2 RPG, 1.8 APG, and 2.8 SPG on .500/.615/1.000 shooting, earning praise from Summer League head coach Eric Glass, who praised the way that Gardner “assaults the paint.”
“He’s so aggressive, he’s so strong going downhill,” Glass said, per Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald.
As our tracker shows, Gardner will fill the Heat’s second two-way slot, alongside big man Vladislav Goldin. The expectation is that guard Dru Smith will take the team’s third two-way contract sooner or later — Miami gave him a two-way qualifying offer last month.
Gardner will be eligible to appear in a maximum of 50 NBA regular season games in 2025/26 on his two-way deal, which will pay him $636,435.
Latest On Cam Thomas
Providing an update on Cam Thomas‘ restricted free agency on Thursday, Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report (YouTube link) said he expects Thomas to ultimately return to the Nets, since it doesn’t seem as if there are other “real” suitors pursuing the high-scoring guard.
Fischer also identified Thomas as the most likely of the top remaining RFAs to accept his qualifying offer, noting that the gap between the sort of contract he’s seeking and what Brooklyn has offered is pretty significant.
“I have not heard that Brooklyn has offered Cam Thomas anything further than a two-year deal with a team option on the second (year) that I don’t believe is going much north – if north at all – of the $14.1 million mid-level exception,” Fischer said. “… Cam Thomas thinks of himself as one of the most elite play-maker scorers in the NBA, and he wants to be compensated as such.
“… I definitely believes he wants north of $20 (million per year),” Fischer added.
Thomas has increased his scoring average in each of his four NBA seasons and put up career highs of 24.0 points and 3.8 assists per game in 2024/25. However, he was limited to just 25 games last season due to hamstring issues and has been up and down from an efficiency standpoint, with career averages of 43.9% from the floor and 34.9% on three-pointers. He’s also not considered an above-average defender.
Brooklyn previously reached two-year agreements with Day’Ron Sharpe and Ziaire Williams that both include second-year team options, so the fact that the front office offered Thomas a deal with a similar structure makes sense. Despite taking on multiyear deals for Michael Porter Jr. and Terance Mann in trades this offseason, the Nets remain in position to carry over a significant chunk of cap room to the 2026 offseason.
The Nets may yet be willing to increase their offer for Thomas, but if the overall structure of their proposal doesn’t change and they continue to offer just one fully guaranteed year, he would have to decide whether accepting a qualifying offer worth roughly $6MM and sacrificing $8MM+ in 2025/26 earnings would be worthwhile in order to ensure he reaches unrestricted free agency next summer.
Accepting the qualifying offer would also give the 23-year-old the ability to veto trades during the ’25/26 season.
Thomas is one of four restricted free agents who received a standard (ie. not a two-way) qualifying offer in June and remains unsigned. The other three are Josh Giddey of the Bulls, Jonathan Kuminga of the Warriors, and Quentin Grimes of the Sixers.
Derek Fisher, Austin Rivers Among NBC’s New NBA Analysts
NBC Sports has added several former NBA players to its roster of game analysts for the upcoming 2025/26 season, announcing in a press release that it has hired Derek Fisher, Austin Rivers, Brad Daugherty, Robbie Hummel, and Brian Scalabrine.
The five new additions will join a group of game analysts that already includes Jamal Crawford, Reggie Miller, and Grant Hill, whose agreements with NBC have been previously reported.
NBC Sports also officially confirmed the hiring of play-by-play man Michael Grady, who will be one of the network’s play-by-play voices for its NBA coverage, along with Mike Tirico, Noah Eagle, and Terry Gannon.
Carmelo Anthony and Vince Carter are among the other former NBA players who will work for NBC next season — they’ll both be studio analysts. Maria Taylor and Ahmed Fareed will serve as studio hosts, while Michael Jordan has also been named a special contributor.
NBC will broadcast up to 100 regular season games per season beginning in 2025/26, including up to five per week for part of the season. Additionally, the network will broadcast playoff games during the first two rounds and will air a conference final every other year, alternating with Amazon. NBC will also be the new home of the NBA’s All-Star weekend.
[RELATED: NBA Announces Details Of Media Deals With Disney, NBC, Amazon]
It’s the first time since 2002 that the network will air NBA games. NBC is reportedly paying approximately $2.5 billion per year for the next 11 seasons for NBA broadcasting rights.
Shake Milton Signs With Partizan Belgrade
3:03pm: Milton has officially signed a two-year deal with Partizan, the team announced (via Twitter).
8:45am: Just a few days after being waived by the Lakers, veteran NBA guard Shake Milton is reportedly engaged in serious talks with KK Partizan. The Serbian outlet Meridian Sport reported that Milton and Partizan Belgrade were discussing a possible deal, while Telesport (Twitter link) and Donatas Urbonas of BasketNews.com classified those negotiations as “advanced.”
A second-round pick in 2018, Milton has appeared in 359 NBA regular season games for six teams over the past seven seasons. After spending the first five years of his career in Philadelphia, the 28-year-old has bounced around the league since 2023, playing for the Timberwolves, Pistons, and Knicks in 2023/24 before suiting up this past season with the Nets and Lakers — he was sent to Los Angeles along with Dorian Finney-Smith in a mid-season trade.
In 57 total outings for Brooklyn and L.A. in 2024/25, the 6’5″ guard averaged 5.5 points, 1.8 assists, and 1.8 rebounds in 14.7 minutes per night, with a .453/.358/.797 shooting line. He was released by the Lakers because his $3MM salary for ’25/26 was non-guaranteed and the team needed to create extra breathing room below the first tax apron to sign Marcus Smart.
If Milton does end up signing with Partizan or another European team, it would be the first time the former SMU star has played overseas.
Partizan Belgrade, which competes in the EuroLeague and the ABA League, is coming off an ABA League title this spring but went just 16-18 in EuroLeague play. The club’s roster features no shortage of former NBA players, including Jabari Parker, Sterling Brown, Isaac Bonga, Aleksej Pokusevski, Frank Ntilikina, Duane Washington, and Carlik Jones.
Hoops Rumors Chat Transcript: 7/24/2025
Hoops Rumors hosted a live chat today at 2:00 pm Central time (3:00 pm Eastern).
And-Ones: Biggest Mistakes, Summer League Standouts, More
As effectively managed as some NBA teams have been in recent years, all 30 clubs have made at least a few moves they regret, according to Zach Kram of ESPN.com, who runs through some of the biggest missteps of the 2020s and names the most glaring mistake each team has made this decade.
Kram’s list begins with “small-scale problems,” like the Cavaliers not giving Isaiah Hartenstein a qualifying offer in 2021 and the Knicks signing Evan Fournier to a $73MM contract in 2021, before advancing to “draft disasters” – such as the Celtics trading the draft rights to No. 30 pick Desmond Bane – and miscellaneous midtier mistakes,” including the Pistons giving Monty Williams the largest head coaching contract in league history.
Kram’s final two categories are “too high a cost for too little reward” and “franchise-altering terrible trades.” The top two mistakes on his list are the Mavericks moving Luka Doncic and the Suns giving up the assets they did to land Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal.
Here are more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- John Hollinger of The Athletic shares his biggest takeaways from this month’s Summer League games, including identifying Tolu Smith of the Pistons, Nae’Qwan Tomlin of the Cavaliers, and Drew Timme of the Nets as players to watch going forward. Hollinger also mentions Jazz big man Kyle Filipowski, Timberwolves guard Terrence Shannon Jr., Pistons forward Ron Holland, Thunder guard Ajay Mitchell, and Cavaliers wing Jaylon Tyson as the players who showed they were “too good for summer league.”
- While Summer League success doesn’t always carry over to the subsequent regular season, scouts around the NBA find July’s games “extremely valuable” for evaluating players, as Tobias Bass of The Athletic writes. “Before the draft, no matter what your opinion is about a player or how analytics project him to be, it’s always interesting to see how competitive they are once they get to summer league,” one Western Conference scout told Bass. “How quickly they pick up terminology, are they culture fits and can they keep the main thing the main thing? Can they be attentive, on time and professional, especially with all the distractions in Vegas?”
- Keith Smith of Spotrac empties out his notebook after traveling to Las Vegas for Summer League, sharing quotes from coaches, scouts, and executives about each of the NBA’s Eastern Conference and Western Conference teams.
Pacers Granted Disabled Player Exception
The Pacers have been granted a disabled player exception worth $14,104,000, general manager Chad Buchanan stated during an appearance on the Setting The Pace podcast (YouTube link).
Indiana was eligible for that exception as a result of Tyrese Haliburton‘s Achilles tear, which will sideline him for the entire 2025/26 season.
“We’ve applied for that and been granted that exception, so I don’t know if I’m breaking news there for you guys,” Buchanan said when asked by co-host Alex Golden about the possibility of the team applying for a DPE. “Whether we use it or not depends. Using the full exception would put us into the luxury tax, which we’re not opposed to if it’s the right player.”
A disabled player exception gives an over-the-cap team some extra spending power – but not an additional 15-man roster spot – when it loses a player to an injury deemed likely to sideline him through at least June 15. As we explain in our glossary entry, the exception can be used to sign a free agent, to claim a player off waivers, or to acquire a player in a trade.
The disabled player exception can only be used on a single player and can only accommodate a player on a one-year deal. A free agent signee can’t get a multiyear contract, and any trade or waiver target must be in the final year of his contract.
The exception is worth either half the injured player’s salary or the value of the mid-level exception, whichever is lesser. Since Haliburton is earning over $45MM this season, the Pacers’ DPE is worth the amount of the non-taxpayer MLE.
Buchanan, who was asked about the possibility of adding more backcourt depth with Haliburton out for the year, acknowledged that if the front office were to target a specific position, it would likely be a point guard. However, he added that the Pacers haven’t pursued that possibility “super hard” and mentioned RayJ Dennis, Kam Jones, and Quenton Jackson as young guards the team likes and will continue to develop behind Andrew Nembhard and T.J. McConnell.
Indiana is currently operating about $6MM below the luxury tax line. If the club doesn’t use its disabled player exception on a free agent before or during the season, it also could come in handy at the trade deadline. For example, if the Pacers were to trade Obi Toppin and his $14MM salary for a player on an expiring $14MM contract, they could use the DPE to take on that player, creating a new trade exception worth Toppin’s outgoing salary.
It’s worth noting that the Pacers also still have their full $14.1MM mid-level exception available — it can be used to sign free agents and/or acquire players via trade too, and it can be split among multiple players, unlike the DPE.
The deadline to use a disabled player exception is March 10. The mid-level exception can be used until the final day of the regular season.