Scotto’s Latest: Gafford, Huerter, Jazz, Boozer, Giddey, More
Looking ahead to the 2025 offseason trade market, Michael Scotto of HoopsHype identifies Daniel Gafford as a possible trade candidate to watch if the Mavericks and the veteran big man are unable to come to terms on a contract extension.
While Gafford has been a key rotation player over the last season-and-a-half in Dallas, he doesn’t project to be a starter as long as Anthony Davis and Dereck Lively are healthy, and his expiring $14.4MM contract could be a useful salary-matching piece as the Mavericks shop for backcourt help this summer.
Scotto also notes that Bulls wing Kevin Huerter drew some interest from the Jazz after being acquired by Chicago at this year’s trade deadline. The Kings were known to have explored the possibility of a John Collins trade before making their De’Aaron Fox deal, so Huerter likely came up in those talks with Utah. However, Scotto’s wording suggests the Jazz still had interest in Huerter after Sacramento agreed to send him to the Bulls.
It’s unclear if the Jazz will circle back to Huerter this summer or if their interest was solely about acquiring another asset that would’ve been attached to the veteran’s unwanted contract.
Here are several more highlights from Scotto’s latest rumor round-up:
- Carlos Boozer, who earned two All-Star berths with the Jazz during his playing career, has been around the team at the draft combine in Chicago this week and is expected to be hired by Utah as a scout, league sources tell HoopsHype.
- According to Scotto, there’s still a belief around the NBA that Bulls restricted free agent Josh Giddey will be seeking a five-year, $150MM contract this summer, similar to the one Jalen Suggs signed with Orlando last fall. That was Giddey’s reported asking price last October as well.
- While David Griffin wanted to hang onto Kelly Olynyk and re-sign Bruce Brown, it’s unclear how new Pelicans head of basketball operations Joe Dumars feels about that veteran duo, Scotto writes. There’s a similar situation at work in Atlanta, where there was an expectation prior to Landry Fields‘ dismissal that the Hawks would try to re-sign Larry Nance Jr. and Caris LeVert while letting go of Clint Capela. It’s not yet known if that will still be the plan for the new-look front office, Scotto notes.
- Sixers assistant Coby Karl isn’t expected to return to Nick Nurse‘s coaching staff next season, Scotto reports.
Phil Knight Won’t Be Bidding On Trail Blazers
Despite making efforts in the past to buy the Trail Blazers, Nike co-founder Phil Knight said on Wednesday that he won’t be involved in the bidding process now that the franchise is formally up for sale.
“Five years ago, when I was a younger man, I had a great interest in being a part of the Portland Trail Blazers franchise,” Knight said in a statement, per Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic (Twitter link). “However, at my current age, I can confirm that I no longer have interest.”
Knight, formerly the chairman and CEO of Nike, is now the chairman emeritus of the company at age 87. A native of Portland, he has an estimated net worth of over $30 billion, per Forbes.
Knight teamed up with Los Angeles Dodgers co-owner Alan Smolinisky in 2022 in an effort to buy the Trail Blazers from late owner Paul Allen‘s estate, which was being overseen by his sister Jody Allen. She stated at the time that the franchise wasn’t for sale.
According to Sean Highkin of Rose Garden Report (Twitter links), it’s unclear whether Vulcan LLC – the ownership group that controls the Blazers – would have wanted to sell to Knight even if he still had interest in bidding. As Highkin explains, the group believes Knight planted Jody Allen hit pieces in the New York Post and Wall Street Journal after his offer for the team was turned down.
Potential bidders for the Blazers haven’t yet been identified, but Highkin wrote in his story on the sale (Substack link) that Allen’s estate expects a “competitive group.”
As Highkin details in that story, resolution on the future of the Moda Center likely won’t occur until after the sale of the franchise is complete. The city of Portland and the Blazers agreed last year to a five-year bridge extension for the team’s lease on the arena, which runs through 2030. That extension was designed to give them time to negotiate a longer-term deal.
Draymond Green Fined $50K By NBA
Warriors forward Draymond Green has been fined $50K by the NBA for making an “inappropriate comment that questions the integrity of game officials,” the league announced today in a press release (Twitter link).
As Shams Charania of ESPN tweets, the fine is believed to be a response to a moment that occurred late in the fourth quarter of Game 3 and was captured on ESPN’s broadcast (YouTube link via The Pat McAfee Show).
While his sideline remarks couldn’t be heard on the broadcast, Green appeared to be telling his teammates that the Timberwolves were favored by 5.5 coming into the game and saying, “I know what they’re doing,” referring to the game’s officials. Golden State trailed by eight points at the time before hitting a three-pointer to make the final score 102-97.
The NBA, which doesn’t take kindly to any implication from its players that its referees are attempted to influence the outcome of games for gambling purposes, presumably concluded that’s what Green was doing here.
Luka Doncic, Trae Young, and Rudy Gobert are among the players who have been fined in recent seasons for rubbing their fingers together in a “money” gesture aimed at referees.
2025 NBA Free Agent Preview: Small Forwards
NBA teams in need of an impact small forward this summer likely won't be looking to the free agent market for their answer. While there's a chance that one of the greatest players of all-time will become a free agent, that star is widely expected to remain in Los Angeles. And after that, the starting-caliber small forwards dry up awfully fast.
Still, for teams seeking a depth option at the three rather than someone who can be relied upon to play 30-plus minutes per night, there could be a few interesting - and cap-friendly - targets out there.
Let’s take a closer look at this summer’s free agent small forwards, as we continue our breakdown of the 2025 free agent class by position.
Draft Notes: Fland, Combine, Coward, Knueppel, Markovic
Guard Boogie Fland, who entered the 2025 NBA draft pool following his freshman year at Arkansas, has decided to withdraw his name from this year’s list of early entrants, agent Mike Miller told Jonathan Givony of ESPN (story via ESPN’s Jeff Borzello).
Fland, the No. 42 prospect on ESPN’s big board of 2025 prospects, had been in attendance at this week’s draft combine in Chicago but won’t take part in the rest of the event. Instead, he’ll shift his focus to the NCAA transfer portal, which he entered earlier this spring while testing the draft waters.
According to Borzello, there has been “significant buzz” about the possibility of Fland transferring to Florida for his sophomore season. A strong showing at the college level in 2025/26 could improve his standing for the 2026 NBA draft if he decides to declare as an early entrant again next spring.
Here are a few more draft-related notes:
- In another story for ESPN.com, Givony, Jeremy Woo, and Jeff Borzello share their draft combine takeaways from Tuesday, identifying Yaxel Lendeborg, Drake Powell, Chaz Lanier, Mark Sears, and Tre Johnson as some of the day-one standouts while noting that Cedric Coward is generating some buzz among NBA personnel as a potential first-round pick. Coward is currently at No. 35 on ESPN’s board.
- Duke’s Kon Knueppel, a projected lottery pick, didn’t take part in the athletic testing or shooting drills at the combine beacuse he sprained his ankle a few weeks ago and is “not all the way back yet,” agent Mark Bartelstein tells Givony (Twitter link). “He’s at 85% now and we want him at 100%,” Bartelstein said. “He’s really close. Hopefully, he’s back by the end of the week and can participate in our pro day Friday.” As Givony points out, the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement requires Knueppel to complete the athletic testing and shooting drills at a later date at a team facility.
- Serbian prospect Bogoljub Markovic, who was forced to miss the draft combine because he was still playing for Mega Basket, recently sprained his ankle, which will sideline him for the quarterfinals of the ABA League playoffs, per Givony (Twitter links). However, Markovic still intends to attend the European combine in Treviso in early June and then travel stateside to work out for NBA teams ahead of the draft.
Latest On Suns’ Head Coaching Search
As the only NBA team currently conducting a head coaching search, the Suns are taking their time and casting a wide net, according to John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 (Twitter link), who reports that the team has reached out to and interviewed roughly 15-to-20 candidates.
Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic also hears from sources that the Suns have conducted more than 15 interviews and are making “great progress.”
Gambadoro says the second round of interviews will begin soon, but he doesn’t anticipate a final decision being made this week or next week. Phoenix is more likely to make a hire near the end of May or even during the first part of June.
Gambadoro’s latest report doesn’t mention any specific candidates, so it’s unclear who exactly the Suns have spoken to about the vacancy on their bench.
However, earlier reports indicated that the team was looking closely at assistant coaches from around the league, such as Johnnie Bryant and Jordan Ott of the Cavaliers, Sean Sweeney and Jared Dudley of the Mavericks, Royal Ivey and Ben Sullivan of the Rockets, and Dave Bliss of the Thunder, among others.
As we noted on Tuesday within our preview of the Suns’ offseason, multiple reports have stated that the team is expected to prioritize a younger, first-time head coach after firing two veteran coaches with championship experience (Frank Vogel and Mike Budenholzer) in the past 12-plus months.
“Unbelievable basketball IQ,” new general manager Brian Gregory recently said, per Rankin, when asked what the team is looking for in a new coach. “Tremendous communicator. Shares our vision and what we understand needs to be done to be successful in basketball in this new NBA.”
Although Phoenix wasn’t the only team to enter the spring without a permanent head coach in place, multiple clubs have decided to retain their interim coaches, so it looks increasingly likely that the Suns will be the only team to conduct a full-fledged coaching search this offseason.
Warriors Provide Formal Update On Stephen Curry
Having already ruled out Stephen Curry for Game 5 of their second-round series vs. Minnesota, the Warriors put out a press release today providing an additional update on their star guard following a reevaluation of his injury (Twitter link).
Curry, who has been sidelined for the last three games (all Golden State losses) due to a left hamstring strain, is making “good progress” in his recovery, according to the Warriors. The club says he has been cleared to take part in light on-court workouts, including shooting drills.
The plan is for Curry to be reevaluated on Saturday, per the team. Game 6, which was previously identified as “the earliest potential window” for the 37-year-old to return, is scheduled for Sunday.
Of course, if the Warriors can’t figure out a way to win Game 5 without Curry in Minnesota on Tuesday, their season would be over, which would seriously reduce the short-term significance of that Saturday examination.
With Curry still unavailable tonight, the Warriors figure to continue leaning heavily on Jimmy Butler and Jonathan Kuminga as their go-to scorers. Kuminga, who was out of the rotation for most of the first round of the playoffs, has averaged 23.7 points per game on .595/.444/.773 shooting in the three games since Curry went down.
Northwest Notes: Edwards, Westbrook, Jazz, Blazers
With the Timberwolves trailing Golden State at halftime in Game 4 on Monday, a locker-room speech from Anthony Edwards helped spark a huge third-quarter turnaround, writes Dave McMenamin of ESPN.
“I told them, ‘We only got two wins,'” Edwards told reporters after Minnesota’s Game 4 win. “I’ve never seen a series end 2-1. I told them we have to get two more wins and right now we’re playing like we already got four wins. … We had to figure it out because if we would have kept playing like that, we would have lost tonight.”
Edwards made good on his halftime speech by coming out and scoring 16 points on 6-of-8 shooting in the third quarter. The Timberwolves as a whole outscored the Warriors 39-17, making it the largest positive margin in a single quarter in Wolves playoff history, per McMenamin.
As Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic writes, the Timberwolves will need to remain cognizant of Edwards’ message and avoid getting complacent going forward in order to finish off the series. After building a big lead in the third quarter on Monday, they saw that lead whittled down to seven points in the fourth before putting the game way. As they head home for Game 5, guard Nickeil Alexander-Walker spoke about a need to “understand the moment.”
“Have to be present and understand that these are situations that are pivotal,” he said. “You have a chance to close out on your home court as opposed to having to go elsewhere and try to win and then do it again and come back on the road and travel.”
Here’s more from around the Northwest:
- The Nuggets had been interested in Russell Westbrook for years before signing him last summer, believing that his energy and competitiveness would be a welcome addition to the roster, writes Ramona Shelburne of ESPN. However, the veteran guard remains a volatile personality who reportedly pouted after being taken out near the end of a first-round loss and got into a heated discussion with Aaron Gordon in the locker room after being challenged over his attitude, sources tell ESPN. According to Shelburne, the Nuggets’ chances of advancing in the playoffs and having a shot at another title could come down to which version of Westbrook they get going forward.
- Even though there was nearly a 50/50 chance that the Jazz would end up at No. 5 in the draft, that outcome was still a gut-punch for fans in Utah on the heels of a 17-win season. Tony Jones of The Athletic weighs what’s next for the Jazz after a disappointing lottery night, suggesting that the team should still land a promising young building block at No. 5. But since that player likely won’t make an immediate impact on winning as a rookie, Utah could be back in this position in 2026, hoping for better lottery luck.
- Keith Smith of Spotrac previews the coming offseason in Portland, evaluating the Trail Blazers‘ top trade candidates and considering what a rookie scale extension might look like for Shaedon Sharpe (Smith projects $112MM over four years).
Jayson Tatum Undergoes Surgery To Repair Torn Achilles
Celtics star Jayson Tatum has undergone surgery to repair a ruptured right Achilles tendon, the team announced today in a press release (Twitter link).
Tatum’s 2024/25 season is over, and given the typical recovery timeline following an Achilles tear, his ’25/26 availability is very much in jeopardy as well. According to the Celtics, no timeline is available for his return yet, but he’s expected to make a full recovery.
This is exactly the diagnosis that Tatum and the Celtics feared when the 27-year-old was carried off the court on Monday after suffering a non-contact right leg injury. After taking an awkward step near the top of the key, Tatum crumpled to the floor and was unable to put any weight on the leg as he was helped off the floor.
It’s a devastating blow in both the short term and the long term for the Celtics, who face a 3-1 deficit in their second-round series against the Knicks and will face a significant uphill climb as they look to make a comeback without their leading scorer.
Tatum, who has earned three consecutive First Team All-NBA nods, will almost certainly make it four in a row this spring after averaging 26.8 points, 8.7 rebounds, and 6.0 assists per game in 72 regular season outings. He had put up 28.1 PPG, 11.5 RPG, and 5.4 RPG through eight playoff contests.
Besides dealing a massive blow to the Celtics’ chances to repeat as NBA champions, Tatum’s injury casts a major cloud over the 2025/26 season.
There had already been speculation about the possibility of Boston making cost-cutting roster moves this offseason after spending the last two seasons operating above the second tax apron. With Tatum unlikely to play much – if at all – next season, shedding salary could become a greater priority for a Celtics team that will be hard-pressed to repeat the success of the past two years without its star forward on the court.
This is the first major injury of Tatum’s NBA career — the 10 games he missed this season represented a career high, as he had never been sidelined for more than eight in any of his previous seven years in the league.
Tatum signed a five-year, super-max contract extension last July that will go into effect beginning in 2025/26. The deal, which runs through at least 2029, with a ’29/30 player option, projects to be worth nearly $314MM.
Mavs Intend To Keep No. 1 Pick, Draft Cooper Flagg
Since the Mavericks‘ unlikely lottery win on Monday night, there has been speculation about the possibility of the front office – which clearly isn’t shy about taking big swings – including the No. 1 overall pick in a trade for a proven superstar such as Giannis Antetokounmpo.
However, that’s not the plan in Dallas, according to Tim MacMahon of ESPN, who hears from sources that the Mavericks intend to use the pick to draft consensus top prospect Cooper Flagg and won’t entertain the idea of trading it. Marc Stein (Twitter link) has heard the same thing from a source with knowledge of the team’s thinking.
According to MacMahon, Mavericks governor Patrick Dumont considers it a “gift” to get the opportunity to draft a prospect like Flagg. The possibility of re-gifting the Duke star to another team isn’t under consideration, says MacMahon, noting that Dumont has given general manager Nico Harrison leeway to run the front office but still has the final say on all basketball decisions.
As MacMahon points out, the decision to trade Luka Doncic to the Lakers in February resulted in “significant business concerns” for the Mavericks, in addition to creating a murky long-term outlook for a franchise that has traded away control of its own first-round picks from 2027-30. Being able to add Flagg to Dallas’ core would go a long way toward mitigating both of those concerns, MacMahon writes.
[RELATED: Mavs Rejoice After Getting Top Pick]
Flagg will be joining a Mavs roster headlined by Anthony Davis, Kyrie Irving, Dereck Lively, and P.J. Washington.
As fortunate as Dallas is to be in position to bring aboard a talent like Flagg, there’s still plenty of work to be done on the roster this summer. With Irving expected to miss a significant chunk of the season while he recovers from a torn ACL, the team is short on ball-handling and play-making and will be looking to upgrade its backcourt.