Scotto: Trae Young, LaMelo Ball Among Players To Monitor In Offseason
Hawks guard Trae Young has just one guaranteed year left on his contract after this season, with a player option for 2026/27. As he nears potential free agency, executives around the NBA are wondering whether Atlanta will be looking to extend Young this offseason or whether he might emerge as a trade candidate, writes Michael Scotto of HoopsHype.
As Scotto notes, Young has spoken about wanting to win a championship in Atlanta with head coach Quin Snyder, and the Hawks have an intriguing collection of young talent around him, including forward Jalen Johnson, defensive ace Dyson Daniels, and 2024’s No. 1 overall pick Zaccharie Risacher.
However, the Hawks have been a middle-of-the-pack team since making the Eastern Conference Finals in 2021, compiling between 36 and 43 wins and failing to get out of the first round of the playoffs in each of the three years since then — this season, they’re on pace for 37 wins and another play-in spot. They also don’t control their own first-round picks in any of the next three drafts.
Additionally, Scotto writes, Hawks ownership will be looking to avoid surpassing the luxury tax threshold in 2025/26, which could affect their ability to re-sign free agents such as Clint Capela, Caris LeVert, and/or Larry Nance Jr. — or to bring in additional talent.
Atlanta did have talks with the Pelicans prior to this year’s trade deadline about forward Brandon Ingram, with Capela, Onyeka Okongwu, De’Andre Hunter, and Bogdan Bogdanovic among the names that came up in those multi-team discussions, Scotto reports. Ingram was ultimately sent to Toronto, with the Hawks sending Hunter to Cleveland and Bogdanovic to the Clippers.
Shortly after the trade deadline passed last month, NBA insider Chris Haynes (Twitter link) referred to Young’s future in Atlanta as “murky,” while Kevin O’Connor of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link) wondered if the 26-year-old might request a trade this summer. Scotto doesn’t quite go that far, but says Young’s situation in Atlanta is one that executives around the league will be monitoring in the coming months.
Here’s more from Scotto on players to watch entering the 2025 offseason:
- Rival executives are curious about whether point guard LaMelo Ball is still at the forefront of the Hornets‘ long-term plans and will be keeping an eye on him this offseason, Scotto reports. Veteran forward Miles Bridges is another name to watch in Charlotte, since his contract has a declining salary structure that was meant to make it more trade-friendly, Scotto adds. It also remains to be seen whether the Hornets will put center Mark Williams back on the trade block after a deadline deal with the Lakers fell through due to medical concerns.
- RJ Barrett‘s name came up in the Ingram trade talks between the Raptors and Pelicans, but New Orleans didn’t view the forward as an ideal fit on their roster, according to Scotto, who suggests that Barrett could emerge as a trade candidate this summer with Toronto prioritizing Ingram, Scottie Barnes, and Gradey Dick. The former No. 3 overall pick is under contract for $57MM+ across two more years after this season.
- NBA executives widely expect Wizards forward Khris Middleton to pick up his $33.35MM player option for 2025/26, Scotto reports. If he does, he and guard Marcus Smart – who will have an expiring $21.59MM deal, will be trade candidates to monitor in Washington. The same goes for Richaun Holmes, though his expiring $13.28MM contract only features a small partial guarantee ($250K), so he’s probably more likely to be waived than traded.
Knicks Notes: Robinson, Achiuwa, Ryan, Bridges, Raptors Dispute
Knicks center Mitchell Robinson, who missed the first 58 games of the season while recovering from ankle surgery, was “really good” on Friday in his first game back, head coach Tom Thibodeau told reporters, including Stefan Bondy of The New York Post. The big man had six points and four rebounds and was a +11 in 12 minutes in his season debut vs. Memphis.
Robinson provided the Knicks with some energy off the bench again on Sunday vs. the Heat, grabbing a pair of offensive rebounds, blocking a shot, and making his only field goal attempt in 13 minutes of action. He said after the game that he’s happy about his progress so far.
“It’s coming along. Just taking time. First game, as y’all saw, tired as hell. Second game, not so much. But still a little bit,” Robinson said, per Bondy. “That’s what’s going to happen when you miss 10 months playing ball.”
As Bondy notes in another New York Post story, Robinson has said he believes his minutes limit is 18, but he has been held in the 12-to-13 minute range in each of his first two outings so far. The 26-year-old says he’s OK with that, though he’s looking forward to being able to play a little more.
“I think each week it goes up more and more,” he said of the minutes restriction. “It is [frustrating] because it’s hard to get a rhythm.”
Here’s more on the Knicks:
- Robinson’s return has pushed Precious Achiuwa out of the rotation, as Bondy observes. Achiuwa played just four minutes on Friday and was a DNP-CD for the first time this season on Sunday.
- The Knicks have a pair of open two-way slots, which they’ll likely fill on Monday or Tuesday before the March 4 two-way signing deadline. Veteran sharpshooter Matt Ryan was among the two-way players waived by the team over the weekend. “I thought he did a really good job for us. Hard worker,” Thibodeau said of Ryan, according to Bondy. “You’re always looking at ways to improve the team. [Team president Leon Rose] and his staff, that’s what they do. And then we’re obviously very pleased with him and wish him well.”
- Mikal Bridges‘ up-and-down season continued on Sunday as he was benched for most of crunch time during the Knicks’ comeback overtime win over Miami. Thibodeau said after the game that he stuck with Miles McBride over Bridges – who scored just five points on 2-of-11 shooting in 28 minutes – because the lineup was working, Bondy writes for The New York Post. Thibodeau added that Bridges took the decision in stride. “That’s what you love about the team. Whoever has got it going, we’re going to ride those guys a little bit more,” Thibodeau said. “The most important thing is the team winning. And Mikal is fully engaged in the team and he does a lot of the dirty work for us and it’s much appreciated.”
- The arbitration hearing to settle the legal dispute between the Knicks and Raptors will take place during the week of July 21, according to Baxter Holmes of ESPN. The Knicks filed a lawsuit in August 2023 alleging that former video coordinator Ikechukwu Azotam illegally took thousands of proprietary files with him to a position in Toronto and shared them with his new club. New York was seeking $10MM in damages from the Raptors, who referred to the suit as “baseless” and argued that the issue ought to be resolved through the NBA’s arbitration process by commissioner Adam Silver rather than in court. That’s what will happen in July, despite the Knicks’ claims that Silver is biased due to his relationship with Raptors governor Larry Tanenbaum, the chairman of the league’s Board of Governors.
Stein’s Latest: Mavericks, Luka, Edwards, Knicks, Kessler, Budenholzer
Sam Amick of The Athletic reported last week that the Mavericks reached out to the Timberwolves to inquire about a possible Luka Doncic/Anthony Edwards swap earlier this season before pivoting to the Lakers and Anthony Davis. Veteran Milwaukee-area reporter Gery Woelfel has reported that the Mavs made a similar inquiry with the Bucks about Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Addressing those rumors, NBA insider Marc Stein of The Stein Line (Substack link) says he has consistently heard that the Mavericks only discussed Doncic by name with one team: the Lakers.
While Dallas did talk to Minnesota and Milwaukee, according to Stein, those discussions have been described to him as “very brief in nature and intentionally broad and vague,” with no conversations about Doncic specifically.
Here are a few more items of interest from Stein:
- Following the expiration of Moses Brown‘s 10-day contract, the Mavericks can’t fill the 15th spot on their standard roster until April 10 due to their hard cap. Promoting two-way player Kessler Edwards, who has played a rotation role in recent weeks and can only be active for 10 more NBA games, is one option Dallas is considering for that final week of the season, league sources tell Stein. However, the team’s decision will depend in part on its health and roster needs as of April 10, Stein notes. While the Mavs have a serious frontcourt shortage right now due to injuries, that may not be the case in five-and-a-half weeks.
- The Knicks were “right there” with the Lakers before the trade deadline in trying to pry third-year center Walker Kessler away from the Jazz, league sources tell Stein, who says Utah made it clear to both clubs that it didn’t want to seriously entertain pitches for Kessler during the season. The big man will be eligible for a rookie scale extension during the 2025 offseason.
- Although Stein can’t confirm if Mike Budenholzer‘s job in Phoenix is any actual jeopardy, he says the topic has generated “heightened whispering and curiosity” in coaching circles. The Suns parted ways with Monty Williams in 2023 when he still had three years and $20MM+ left on his contract and let go of Frank Vogel in 2024 just one year into his five-season, $31MM deal. Budenholzer reportedly received a five-year contract worth in excess of $50MM when he was hired by Phoenix last May. His Suns have a 28-33 record and are four games back of the final play-in spot in the West.
- In case you missed it, Stein also reported that the Wizards gave real consideration to the idea of reacquiring Bradley Beal from the Suns prior to last month’s trade deadline. However, the teams couldn’t agree to terms and it seems unlikely that Beal would have waived his no-trade clause to return to D.C. anyway.
Kings Sign Skal Labissiere To 10-Day Contract
9:54am: Labissiere’s 10-day deal is official, the Kings confirmed in a press release (Twitter link via Sean Cunningham of Fox 40 Sacramento).
5:42am: The Kings have agreed to sign big man Skal Labissiere to a 10-day contract, agent Daniel Hazan tells Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).
The 28th overall pick in the 2016 draft, Labissiere hasn’t made an NBA regular season appearance since December 28, 2019, so if he gets into a game during his 10 days with Sacramento, it will be his first in over five years.
Labissiere appeared in 148 total games with Sacramento and Portland from 2016-20. He has spent most of his time in the G League since then, making stops with the Westchester Knicks and the Mexico City Capitanes before joining the Stockton Kings in 2023. He also had a brief stay with a team in Puerto Rico.
The 6’11” forward/center has had a solid 2024/25 season in Stockton, averaging 14.7 points, 7.1 rebounds, 2.1 assists, and 1.3 blocks in 25.8 minutes per game, with a shooting line of .614/.364/.750, across 36 total outings. He was one of the players voted by fans into the G League’s Up Next Game at All-Star weekend last month.
While Labissiere will provide some frontcourt depth for the Kings with starting center Domantas Sabonis sidelined due to a hamstring strain, the signing is more about making sure the team adheres to roster requirements.
Sacramento has been operating with just 13 players on standard contracts since Daishen Nix‘s 10-day deal expired nearly two weeks ago and needed to re-add a 14th man by Tuesday, since teams can’t carry fewer than 14 players on standard contracts for more than 14 days at a time.
Labissiere will earn $128,603 on his 10-day deal, while the Kings carry a cap hit of $119,972. Assuming he officially signs on Monday, the contract will run through March 12, covering the club’s next five games.
Kings’ Sabonis Out At Least One Week With Hamstring Strain
Star center Domantas Sabonis has been diagnosed with a Grade 1 left hamstring strain after undergoing an MRI and will miss at least one week, the Kings announced late on Sunday night.
Sabonis suffered the injury on Saturday in a win over Houston. Just over one minute into the game, the big man grabbed his left hamstring while running up the court. Head coach Doug Christie immediately called timeout, and Sabonis headed to the locker room to get the injury examined, with the Kings subsequently announcing that he wouldn’t return.
It’s obviously not good news for the Kings, who are battling for a playoff spot, that they’ll be without their most valuable player for at least the next week, but the diagnosis could have been worse — a Grade 1 strain is considered the mildest form and may not result in an extended absence for Sabonis.
Sabonis has averaged 19.5 points, a league-leading 14.1 rebounds, and 6.2 assists per game in 56 contests this season. He has a shooting line of .596/.432/.747 and the Kings have had a +4.0 net rating when he’s on the court, compared to a -3.7 mark when he sits.
With Sabonis unavailable for most of Saturday’s game, backup center Jonas Valanciunas logged nearly 30 minutes after averaging just 14.3 MPG in his first eight appearances as a King.
Valanciunas finished the game with 15 points, 14 rebounds, four steals, and three blocks, playing a key role in helping Sacramento to secure the win. He’ll presumably continue to see increased minutes while his fellow Lithuanian recovers. Sacramento is scheduled to play in Dallas on Monday, in Denver on Wednesday, at home vs. San Antonio on Friday, and in L.A. against the Clippers on Sunday.
The Kings are currently 31-28, which puts them ninth in the Western Conference standings, but it’s a very tight race. They’re percentage points ahead of the 32-29 Mavericks at No. 10 and are just a half-game behind the Clippers (32-28), Warriors (32-28), and Timberwolves (33-29), who holds the sixth, seventh, and eighth seeds, respectively.
Pacers Sign Tony Bradley To 10-Day Contract
March 2: Bradley’s contract is official, the Pacers announced (via Twitter).
March 1: The Pacers intend to use their open 15-man roster spot to bring in center Tony Bradley on a 10-day contract, reports Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link).
Bradley, 27, has appeared in a total of 179 regular season games for four NBA teams since being selected 28th overall in the 2017 draft. He holds career averages of 4.4 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 0.6 blocks in 11.1 minutes per game with the Jazz, Sixers, Thunder, and Bulls.
The 6’11” center wasn’t in the NBA at all last season, having spent the year with the Texas Legends in the G League.
He has played in the NBAGL since the start of the 2024/25 campaign too, appearing in 24 total Tip-Off Tournament and regular season games for the College Park Skyhawks and averaging 14.0 PPG, 10.6 RPG, and 1.1 BPG in just 22.8 MPG.
The Pacers entered the season with Isaiah Jackson and James Wiseman vying for backup minutes behind starting center Myles Turner, but both reserves suffered season-ending Achilles tears in the fall, leaving the team short on frontcourt depth.
Indiana traded for Thomas Bryant in December but has remained on the lookout for a third option in the middle. The team reportedly reached a tentative agreement with Alex Len before he decided to join the Lakers instead. The Pacers also brought in Jahlil Okafor on a 10-day contract last month. The 15th spot on their roster has been empty since Okafor’s 10-day deal expired.
Bradley will earn $150,179 on his 10-day contract, while the Pacers carry a cap hit of $119,972. If Indiana waits until Sunday to complete the signing, the deal will cover the team’s next six games before expiring on the night of March 11. At that time, the Pacers would have the option of signing Bradley to a second 10-day contract.
Cavaliers Waive JT Thor
The Cavaliers have waived forward JT Thor, who was on a two-way contract with the team, according to the official transaction log at NBA.com.
Thor, 22, was the 37th overall pick in the 2021 draft out of Auburn and spent three seasons with the Hornets before signing a two-way contract with Cleveland in September.
The 6’9″ forward was a regular in Charlotte, appearing in 165 total games as a Hornet, but played a limited role for the Cavaliers this season, appearing in just nine games and averaging 4.7 minutes per night. He was effective in his rare appearances, compiling 28 points on 9-of-15 shooting in 42 total minutes.
Thor also saw action in 24 Tip-Off Tournament and regular season games for the Cavs’ G League affiliate, the Cleveland Charge, averaging 14.3 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 2.1 assists in 31.8 minutes per contest, with an underwhelming shooting line of .434/.276/.762.
Waiving Thor opens up a two-way slot for the Cavaliers to sign Nae’Qwan Tomlin, who has reportedly agreed to a two-year, two-way deal with the team. Thor was technically waived on March 1, per NBA.com, so he would retain his playoff eligibility if he signs with a new team before the end of the season.
Clippers Sign Jordan Miller To Four-Year Deal, Waive MarJon Beauchamp
4:29pm: The Clippers have officially announced Miller’s new contract and placed Beauchamp on waivers.
12:17pm: The Clippers have agreed to a four-year deal with second-year wing Jordan Miller and will promote him from his two-way contract to the standard 15-man roster, sources tell Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter links). According to Charania, Los Angeles will waive forward MarJon Beauchamp to open up a roster spot to complete the move.
The 48th overall pick in the 2023 draft, Miller played just 28 total minutes in eight NBA appearances for the Clippers as a rookie, but has seen more action at the NBA level in 2024/25, averaging 4.7 points, 1.7 rebounds, and 1.1 assists in 12.4 minutes per game across 30 outings.
Miller had been active for 49 NBA games, just one shy of the 50-game limit for two-way players, which explains the timing of the move. Promoting him now will also allow the Clippers to fill their newly opened two-way slot before the March 4 deadline.
While Miller’s contributions at the NBA level have been modest, he has thrived at the G League level with the San Diego Clippers (known as the Ontario Clippers last season). He averaged 20.9 PPG on .491/.355/.829 shooting in 39 NBAGL games last season and has bumped those averages to 23.9 PPG on .509/.350/.844 shooting in seven games in ’24/25.
Charania pegs the value of Miller’s new four-year deal at $8.3MM, but that would require a rest-of-season salary that would push the Clippers’ team salary slightly beyond the tax line.
Charania suggests that Miller will actually earn $1MM for the rest of the season, which would result in a four-year total closer to $8.1MM. That $1MM salary for the final six weeks of this season is well beyond Miller’s prorated minimum, so I’d expect the final three years of the contract to include little to no guaranteed money, giving the club plenty of flexibility to either move on from the 25-year-old or hang onto him at a team-friendly rate in future seasons.
The Clippers will use a portion of their mid-level exception to complete the signing.
Beauchamp, the 24th overall pick in 2022, is actually younger than Miller, having turned 24 just before the start of this season. But he has struggled to establish himself as a reliable NBA rotation player, averaging 4.2 PPG and 1.9 RPG in 129 career contests (11.2 MPG).
Beauchamp, who spent his first two-and-a-half NBA seasons with the Bucks, was traded from Milwaukee to Los Angeles at the deadline in exchange for Kevin Porter Jr. That was a salary-motivated move for the Clippers, who didn’t want to be on the hook for Porter’s 2025/26 player option and won’t carry any dead money beyond this season for Beauchamp.
Clippers Sign Patrick Baldwin, Seth Lundy; Waive Kai Jones
4:11pm: Jones has been waived, the Clippers announced (via Twitter). The team has also officially completed its two-way deals with Baldwin and Lundy, per NBA.com’s transaction log.
1:40pm: The Clippers are signing free agent wings Patrick Baldwin Jr. and Seth Lundy to two-way contracts, according to Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).
Los Angeles will open up one two-way slot by promoting Jordan Miller to the standard 15-man roster, as Charania reported earlier this afternoon. The team will create a second opening by waiving big man Kai Jones, Charania adds.
Baldwin, 22, was selected 28th overall in the 2022 draft by Golden State. The 6’9″ forward has appeared in 91 total NBA regular season games, averaging 3.7 points and 2.0 rebounds in 9.0 minutes per night, with a shooting line of .401/.366/.658. He was traded from Washington to San Antonio in the four-team Kyle Kuzma/Khris Middleton deal last month, then was cut by the Spurs.
Lundy, who will turn 25 next month, was the 46th overall pick in the 2023 draft. He appeared in nine NBA games while on a two-way contract with the Hawks as a rookie and opened the 2024/25 campaign on a two-way deal too before being waived in December. Lundy was dealing with an ankle injury when he was cut by Atlanta and hasn’t played at all in the NBA or G League this season.
Jones, meanwhile, appeared in 28 games for the Clippers this season after spending most of 2023/24 out of the NBA. The former 19th overall pick, who fell out of favor in Charlotte after two years as a Hornet, averaged 2.2 points and 1.6 rebounds in 7.4 minutes per night for Los Angeles. He had a semi-regular rotation role earlier in the season but has played primarily in garbage time since the calendar turned to 2025.
Taking into account the Clippers’ roster moves reported earlier today, the team will be completing a total of five transactions — signing Baldwin and Lundy, waiving Jones and MarJon Beauchamp, and promoting Miller. Once the dust has settled, L.A. will once again have a full 18-man roster, with 15 players on standard contracts and three on two-way deals.
What Teams Got In Return For Their Traded 2025 Draft Picks
The origins of 2025's most valuable draft picks - the ones that could turn into top-10 selections - are pretty widely known. It's no secret that the Spurs control Atlanta's first-rounder because of their Dejounte Murray trade or that the top-six protected pick the Sixers owe the Thunder stems from an Al Horford salary dump.
But there are dozens of other 2025 draft picks likely to change hands, and the reasons that teams gave up some of those picks aren't quite so memorable. That's especially true of traded second-rounders, but it applies to a few first-round selections too.
For instance, if you're a Pistons fan, you likely haven't forgotten why Detroit owes its top-13 protected first-rounder to the Timberwolves, but if you root for another team, you may not remember that the Pistons originally gave up that pick in a 2020 deal with Houston that saw Detroit acquire Trevor Ariza and the draft rights to Isaiah Stewart.
Going down memory lane and revisiting past deals to see what sort of impact they'll have on this year's draft is a fun exercise, so we're going to run through all of this year's traded draft picks and identify the deal in which they were initially given up.
A couple caveats before we dive in: First, we're just looking at the initial trade in which the pick was moved, so if it has changed hands a few times since then, we're not covering all of those subsequent deals.
The one exception to that rule is if the pick was essentially traded twice by the same club -- for example, the Hawks sent their 2025 second-rounder with top-40 protection to one team and then dealt it with 41-59 protection to another team. We'll look at both deals, since that pick could still end up going to either one of those teams.
Second, we're not including the traded picks that are locks (or near-locks) to fall into their protected range this season, such as the top-14 protected first-rounder the Hornets owe Sacramento or the top-10 protected pick the Jazz owe Oklahoma City. We're just focusing on picks that will - or at least have a pretty good chance to - change hands this spring.
With all that in mind, let's revisit the deals in which teams gave up 2025 draft picks...
