Draft Notes: Lendeborg, Kings, Beringer, Knox, Mock
Former UAB forward Yaxel Lendeborg, who reportedly has a lucrative offer on the table to transfer to Michigan if he opts to return to college, is among the prospects who will be working out for the Kings on Friday, tweets James Ham of TheKingsBeat.com.
Lendeborg comes in at No. 26 on ESPN’s best available prospects list, making him a possible late first-round pick. Interestingly, Sacramento currently only controls a second-rounder — No. 42 overall — in June’s draft.
While there have been no reports (that we’re aware of) to this point indicating the Kings are interested in acquiring an earlier selection, it also wouldn’t be surprising at all if they do — there are always teams on the hunt for young players on cost-controlled contracts. For what it’s worth, the Nets — who have a league-high five picks (all in the top 36) — are expected to be active in trade talks around the draft.
The other five prospects joining Lendeborg on Friday will be Zakai Zeigler (Tennessee), RJ Felton (East Carolina), Ben Henshall (Perth), Cameron Matthews (Mississippi State) and Jalon Moore (Oklahoma). Henshall (No. 63) and Moore (No. 73) also appear on ESPN’s big board, while the other players do not.
Here are a few more draft-related notes:
- French center Joan Beringer, a late bloomer who is the third-youngest player in the 2025 class, is drawing late-lottery interest, sources tell Grant Afseth of RG.org. The 18-year-old big man comes in at No. 16 on ESPN’s board. According to Afseth, scouts have pegged the Hawks (No. 13) as a potential fit, since Clint Capela is an unrestricted free agent and the team could be looking for a younger option at backup center behind Onyeka Okongwu.
- Guard Kobe Knox is withdrawing from the draft and will transfer to South Carolina for his senior season, reports Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports (Twitter link). Knox is the younger brother of Warriors forward Kevin Knox and the older brother of early entrant Karter Knox. The middle Knox brother averaged 10.8 points, 3.1 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.1 steals on .463/.331/.767 shooting in 30 games in 2024/25 with South Florida (28.6 minutes per contest).
- Cyro Asseo de Choch of HoopsHype recently released the website’s latest aggregate mock draft, which compiles 10 mock drafts from various outlets for a composite ranking. The aggregate mock also features a scouting report on each prospect in the first round.
Cavaliers’ Koby Altman On Roster: ‘I Love Our Foundation’
The Cavaliers had the second-best regular season in franchise history in 2024/25, winning 64 games en route to the No. 1 seed in the East. But injuries — including a toe sprain to Darius Garland — limited the team to some extent in the postseason, and Cleveland lost its second-round series against Indiana in five games.
At his end-of-season media session on Monday, president of basketball operations Koby Altman said that while the Cavaliers were frustrated by their playoff showing, there’s still an “internal belief” that the current roster — particularly the “core four” of Garland, Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen — has an opportunity to contend for championships going forward, per Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com.
“Obviously, we feel it. It’s raw for us. We’re disappointed how it ended. But it was a remarkable year on so many fronts and you guys were all invested in this. We’re not going to go anywhere. We’re going to keep fighting for that championship and this window is wide open, we believe.”
Here are a few more highlights from Altman’s presser, courtesy of Fedor.
On his confidence in the roster:
“I love our foundation. I love our core. Our starting lineup, the average age is 26.8. We have two All-Stars that are 25 (Garland) and 23 (Mobley), respectively, and they’re going through it, they’re going through these experiences, they’re going through these battles and we’re sustainable in a lot of ways, not just because guys are under contract, but our youth.
“Our belief in this group in a lot of ways, there’s a newness to this group as well in terms of our new head coach that’s been with us for one year. Us figuring out our offensive identity happened this year and so I’m really high on and optimistic about our future. That being said, it can’t just be 82 games. We have to figure out this next 16, we have to figure out how to get over the hump. But this group has shown they can play some of the best basketball in the world. It’s how do we do it on the highest stage and continue to keep pushing to get over that hump?”
On not overreacting to the playoff loss:
“If we were going to be reactionary, it would have been last year after everything that was written about that group, and all the rumors and all this and that and we stood pat and look what happened, right? I think the same thing now as you lean in even more to what we’re building, the culture that we have here, the internal growth, the youth, the sustainability of that.
“I think there’s a championship window that we have here that’s wide open and that’s one that we’re going to try to pursue next year and the year after and the year after and so forth. We’re not done by any stretch. But I would say if there was a time that we were going to crumble it potentially would’ve been last year, certainly not after what we’ve seen from this group this year is something where were we are going to break up a group that’s been together for three years and has accomplished what they’ve accomplished and is ready to take that next step. As disappointing as this ending was.”
On potentially re-signing backup guard Ty Jerome, who finished third in Sixth Man of the Year voting:
“Love to keep him. I mean, listen, we’re hopeful. I would say that I got to be careful ‘cause he’s going to be an unrestricted free agent, and he is ours, so we can talk about Ty in that vein. Part of (head coach Kenny Atkinson‘s) system, which is, again, we’re always going to be rooted in player development, which is great. And so when guys find that confidence in this system, their value gets driven up. Same thing with Sam Merrill. You want to call these guys end-of-bench players before that have become real rotational players and valuable within the ecosystem, not just us.
“I think the good news is those guys are going to be, they’re going to do really well for themselves. And the good news also is that we know because of our program, we’re going to be able to continue to develop our end-of-bench guys to become rotational guys. That’s going to be part of our evolution and also how we navigate some stiff penalty taxes. We have to continue to develop from within. And those two stories are incredible success stories from the development programs and putting them in a position to be successful. And so, yes, we’d love to keep Ty, but we’ll see what the marketplace holds.”
Altman said owner Dan Gilbert has given the front office “no restrictions in terms of going into the tax.” He added that Cleveland was willing to be a taxpayer and will operate over the second apron “if we need to go there” — the Cavs project to be over the second apron in 2025/26.
Altman also discussed how the Cavaliers can improve their individual and collective mental toughness, Gilbert’s “support” and “positivity,” why they’re likely to “run it back,” and defended Allen from the criticism he has faced for his poor showing at the end of the Pacers series.
Jazz Announce Dates For Salt Lake City Summer League
The 10th edition of the Salt Lake City Summer League will take place at the University of Utah’s Jon M. Huntsman Center on July 5, 6 and 8, the Jazz announced today in a press release. The Grizzlies, Thunder and Sixers will also participate in the six-game, round-robin event.
“Salt Lake City Summer League has become an annual summer staple in our community since its launch 10 years ago,” said Jonathan Rinehart, president of the Salt Lake City Stars and Salt Lake City Summer League. “While Delta Center undergoes renovations, we’re committed to preserving the tradition of the event and look forward to giving fans a first look at the highly anticipated 2025 draft class.”
The 2025 draft will occur over two days, June 25 and 26. Salt Lake City Summer League could feature several first- and second-round picks, with Philadelphia (Nos. 3 and 35) and Utah (Nos. 5, 21, 43 and 53) currently controlling the earliest selections. Oklahoma City owns Nos. 15, 24 and 44, while Memphis has Nos. 48 and 56.
SLC summer league is a prelude to the primary Las Vegas Summer League, which features all 30 teams and will take place from July 10-20.
And-Ones: Jokic, Malone, Spending Power, Jordan, Uniforms
After Sunday’s lopsided Game 7 loss to Oklahoma City, Nuggets superstar Nikola Jokic was asked whether or not he intends to suit up for Serbia at the EuroBasket tournament this summer, as Johnny Askounis of Eurohoops relays. Jokic helped the Serbian national team win a bronze medal at the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
“I think the Olympics made me even better. Playing for your country, with other rules, with different players,” he said. “I need to decide. … I need to talk with the coaches and some of the main players. And we will see. But for now, for the next couple of days, there will be a lot of beer probably.”
Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- Michael Malone, the former head coach of the Nuggets who was fired with three games left in the regular season, is joining ESPN for its coverage of the Western Conference Finals, according to The Associated Press. The series tips off on Tuesday, with top-seeded Oklahoma City hosting Minnesota. Malone will be featured on both the pregame and halftime shows.
- Which NBA teams will have the most spending power this offseason? Which will have the least? Danny Leroux of The Athletic breaks each team into categories, with the Nets having by far the most projected cap space at $58MM. The Spurs are among the group who project to have access to the full (aka non-taxpayer) mid-level exception, the Pacers could have the taxpayer MLE, and the Cavaliers are expected to be over the second tax apron. Leroux also gives a brief rundown of the types of moves each club could consider with respect to their financial situation.
- A uniform worn by Bulls legend Michael Jordan during the 1992/93 season was recently sold at auction for $2.6MM, per Dan Hajducky of ESPN.com. Jordan, who wore the red uniform during road games, led the league in scoring for the seventh straight time and led Chicago to its third consecutive title in ’92/93. The former Hornets owner is joining NBC Sports as a special contributor when the NBA returns to the network this fall.
- The NBA has informed teams that city edition uniforms will not be worn during the conference finals or finals, a league source tell Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star (Twitter link). The city edition uniforms were evidently only permitted for the first two rounds of the playoffs. Indiana faces New York in the Eastern final.
Lakers Notes: Reaves, Offseason, Centers, Streit, Draft
There has been speculation that the Lakers might look to trade Austin Reaves this summer to address the team’s needs on the wing and/or frontcourt. He struggled in the Lakers’ first-round loss to Minnesota after a strong regular season and is on a below-market-value contract, which could make it tricky to extend him prior to 2026 free agency — he’s considered likely to decline his $14.9MM player option for 2026/27, per Khobi Price of The Southern California News Group.
However, president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka made it clear that the Lakers highly value the shooting guard when he referred to Reaves as one of the team’s three pillars, alongside Luka Doncic and LeBron James, Price writes.
“When your foundation for those three players is that they’re players of high character and a highly competitive nature, that’s the perfect starting point, to have three players like that,” Pelinka responded when asked about the benefit of having training camp ahead of the 2025/26 season.
“LeBron (is) a selfless player, high character. All he cares about is winning. Luka Doncic, the same. Austin Reaves, the same. When you get those three pillars in a training camp environment and you’re starting to build an ethos around them, that’s a great starting point.”
Here’s more on the Lakers:
- In a subscriber-only column for The Los Angeles Times, Bill Plaschke explains why he believes it’s in the team’s best interest to trade Reaves for a center, despite the impressive strides he’s made over the years. Plaschke is a big fan of Reaves’ game, toughness and story, but says his skill set isn’t an ideal complement for Doncic and argues he’s the team’s best remaining trade chip outside of Doncic and James, who aren’t going anywhere. If they want to make a major upgrade in the middle, moving Reaves is the Lakers’ best option to do so, Plaschke contends.
- The Lakers were at the center of attention last spring and summer amid a coaching change, but there hasn’t been much buzz about them this offseason, writes Dan Woike of The Los Angeles Times (subscriber link). According to Woike, the Lakers have shown “no interest” in trading Reaves unless they receive a “top-tier” big man in return, and there aren’t any centers like that on the market right now. Nic Claxton of the Nets and Daniel Gafford of the Mavericks have been linked to the Lakers, Woike notes, but neither is an elite center or a lock to be heading to L.A., for various reasons.
- The Lakers parted ways with strength coach Ed Streit last week, people with knowledge of the situation tell Woike. Streit, whom Woike describes as a “well-liked” member of the franchise, was initially hired as an assistant strength coach in 2019 before being promoted in 2021.
- Los Angeles controls the 55th pick in next month’s draft. LZ Granderson of The Los Angeles Times would like to see the Lakers draft a mature, experienced center prospect with their lone selection.
Celtics Rumors: Holiday, Porzingis, Tatum, Brown, More
Even before Jayson Tatum suffered a torn Achilles tendon, the Celtics were contemplating “significant offseason changes” due to a payroll (including luxury tax) that is projected to surpass $500MM in 2025/26, confirms Jay King of The Athletic. But with Tatum likely to miss most — if not all — of next season, a more “drastic shakeup” could be in the works.
Although Jrue Holiday battled injuries and saw his offensive numbers decline in ’24/25, he’s still expected to draw interest from contending teams if the Celtics make him available on the trade market, league sources tell King. Holiday turns 35 years old next month and is owed $104.4MM through ’27/28, but he’s highly regarded around the league due to his championship pedigree and reputation as a strong defensive player, King writes.
Kristaps Porzingis is another clear trade candidate due to his expiring contract. But don’t expect the Celtics to simply shed his salary in a straightforward salary dump, King adds.
Here are a few more rumors and notes on the 2024 champions:
- According to King, Tatum’s heavy workload was an “occasional topic of contention” within the organization prior to the injury. Including the playoffs, Tatum has played more minutes than any player in the league since Boston selected him No. 3 overall in 2017, King notes, and he also won a pair of gold medals with Team USA in 2021 and 2024, so he hasn’t many rest opportunities in recent years. Tatum admitted in March that “a lot of headbutting” occurred prior to games when the team wanted to him rest but he wanted to play.
- Prior to the Game 6 elimination, Chris Mannix and Rachel Nichols of Sports Illustrated speculated about what moves the Celtics might make this summer (YouTube link). “The question is what do you do here? Because I think there’s a pretty decent chance that this team gets dismantled in a major way,” Mannix said. Nichols followed up by asking if Jaylen Brown could be on the move. Mannix doesn’t think so, but said, “I think two or more rotation players in the top seven could be gone next year, and they could use next year as a gap year.” Holiday and Porzingis were two more players brought up in the discussion.
- It’s clear the Celtics won’t be running things back for a second straight summer, according to Chris Forsberg of NBC Sports, who is “pretty confident” that next year’s roster will feature Tatum, Derrick White, Payton Pritchard, Baylor Scheierman, and Jordan Walsh. However, Forsberg is less certain about the rest of the roster, including Brown, who is entering the second season of his five-year, super-max contract. Sharpshooter Sam Hauser is another trade candidate if the team is unable to cut costs elsewhere, Forsberg writes.
- In his Celtics offseason preview for ESPN.com, Bobby Marks lays out some of the options Boston could consider this summer, noting that the punitive restrictions of the second tax apron will likely be the main reason the team decides to make changes. Marks also released a video version of his offseason guide via YouTube.
Kristaps Porzingis Discusses Mysterious Illness
Celtics center Kristaps Porzingis, who is under contract for $30.7MM next season before hitting free agency in 2026, struggled mightily in the playoffs due to the lingering effects of a mysterious illness he contracted in February.
It seemed like Porzingis was mostly recovered late in the regular season, but he was particularly ineffective in Boston’s second-round loss to New York, averaging just 4.2 points and 3.7 rebounds on .240/.222/.647 shooting in 15.5 minutes per game. Those numbers are a precipitous drop compared to what he posted in the regular season: 19.5 PPG, 6.8 RPG, 2.1 APG and 1.5 BPG on .483/.412/.809 shooting in 45 contests (28.8 MPG).
After the Celtics were eliminated on Friday night, Porzingis admitted he still doesn’t have any solid answers about what has been causing the “energy zaps” and stamina “ebbs and flows” over the past two-plus months.
“I’m not sure,” Porzingis said, per Brian Robb of MassLive. “I mean, doctors are trying to help as much as possible. It was just some lingering fatigue, some effects.
“It was just extremely weird, and many symptoms that were kind of super weird. So I think nobody has a clear answer. I’ll see how I go from here. Maybe I do some extra testing and some extra stuff and see if we find something. If not, maybe just a reset. Reset for my whole system and that will give my energy levels hopefully back up.”
Porzingis, who played 11 minutes on Friday, said he would have fallen asleep immediately if he had laid down in the locker room after the game, according to Adam Himmselbach of The Boston Globe.
“(It was) super, super frustrating. As frustrating as you can imagine. Just to not be able to help this team more, especially with (Jayson Tatum) going out,” Porzingis said (story via ESPN’s Brian Windhorst). “Not being too much of a help just hurts deep inside.”
“… I tried to give what I had. It wasn’t much, as you could see,” he added, per Himmelsbach.
According to Robb, Porzingis never considered sitting out after he was medically cleared by doctors, who tested his heart, among other organs. He also still plans to play for Latvia at this summer’s EuroBasket.
“The main thing for me now is just to let my system get into a normal state,” Porzingis said. “Get my energy back up and then I’ll start to look into some things maybe outside of basketball at first, and then the European Championships later in the summer, so I’m excited about that.
“So this summer I expect a nice bounce-back for myself and then heading into the next season.”
Celtics’ Jaylen Brown On Loss To Knicks: ‘Feels Like Death’
The defending champion Celtics were eliminated from the playoffs on Friday, having been blown out by the Knicks in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference semifinals, writes Brian Windhorst of ESPN.
“Finishing in May feels weird, it’s definitely not something we were prepared for,” said Celtics star Jaylen Brown, who fouled out before the end of the third quarter after scoring 20 points but with seven turnovers. “Things didn’t go our way this year, and it’s unfortunate.
“But we hold our head up regardless. Losing to the Knicks feels like death. But I was always taught that there’s life after death, so we’ll get ready for whatever’s next in the journey.”
Boston had an unexpectedly poor start to the second-round series, losing the first two games at home after holding 20-point second-half leads in each contest. Things went from bad to worse in Game 4, when the Celtics blew another double-digit second-half lead and perennial All-NBA forward Jayson Tatum sustained a torn Achilles tendon.
While the Celtics had their chances, especially early on in the series, they were thoroughly outplayed in Game 6. Head coach Joe Mazzulla made sure to credit the Knicks for their dominant performance, Windhorst notes.
“We ran into a great team. You have to tip your hat off to the Knicks,” Mazzulla said. “They outplayed us. They played better.”
As Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe writes, the Celtics now face a summer of uncertainty due to Tatum’s injury, their extremely expensive roster, and the restrictions of the NBA’s tax aprons.
Center Kristaps Porzingis, who battled “extreme fatigue” — one of the lingering effects of a mysterious February illness that was never identified — throughout the playoffs, could be on the trading block this offseason, according to Himmselbach. Veteran guard Jrue Holiday could be in the same boat.
Himmelsbach also suggests that big man Al Horford could opt to retire. Windhorst recently reported the impending free agent hopes to re-sign with the Celtics, but that was before Tatum’s injury. Horford will turn 39 years old in early June.
But the team wasn’t thinking about the future in the immediate aftermath of the loss.
“It sucks,” guard Derrick White said. “You’ll never get this season back. You’re never going to have the exact same team again.”
New York, which entered the playoffs as the No. 3 seed in the East, will now face No. 4 Indiana in the team’s first conference final appearance in 25 years.
Fischer: Myles Turner Expected To Re-Sign With Pacers
Myles Turner will be one of the NBA’s marquee free agents this summer, but it sounds like he probably won’t be going anywhere. According to Jake Fischer of The Stein Line (Substack link), there’s a “rising expectation” around the NBA that the veteran center will re-sign with the Pacers.
Turner is finishing his 10th season in Indiana after being selected with the 11th pick of the 2015 draft. The 6’11” big man has helped the Pacers reach the Eastern Conference Finals each of the past two seasons, and those back-to-back deep playoff runs have contributed to the league-wide perception that Indiana will do what it takes to retain him this summer, Fischer writes.
While Turner has been the subject of trade rumors several times during the past decade, Indiana never pulled the trigger on a deal.
With the 29-year-old on an expiring contract this season and not eligible for an extension prior to free agency, there was more speculation leading up to February’s trade deadline that he might be gettable, but the Pacers never appeared to seriously entertain the idea of moving him this year, which suggested they felt good about their odds of negotiating a new deal this offseason.
Turner’s current contract, which he signed in January 2023, was a two-year extension worth $41MM. He has made a strong case over the last two seasons for a raise on that $20.5MM annual salary, having continued to serve as the Pacers’ defensive anchor while providing strong offensive production. In 149 regular season outings since the start of 2023/24, he has averaged 16.3 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 1.9 blocks per game on .503/.379/.773 shooting.
Rudy Gobert (three years, $109.5MM) and Jarrett Allen (three years, $90.7MM) are among the veteran centers who have signed contract extensions during the 2024/25 season that might come up as comparables for Turner during his upcoming negotiations. Those deals will cover Gobert’s age 33-to-35 seasons and Allen’s age 28-to-30 seasons. Turner will turn 30 next March.
Investing heavily in Turner could create some cap issues for the Pacers, who have historically remained out of luxury tax territory — they haven’t been a taxpayer since 2006 and have paid just under $9MM in total tax penalties since the system was introduced nearly 25 years ago.
Indiana already has $165MM in guaranteed money on its books next season for 10 players, with the luxury tax line projected to come in at $187.9MM. If the Pacers have to pay $30MM+ per year to re-sign Turner and want to stay out of tax territory, they’d have to shed salary elsewhere on the roster. According to Fischer, rival teams are anticipating “roster-consolidation trade conversations” in Indiana.
Luke Adams contributed to this story.
Pistons Notes: Draft, FA Targets, East, Offseason
For the first time since 2018, the Pistons do not hold a first-round pick in the NBA draft, as their own selection — No. 17 overall — was sent to Minnesota as part of a trade, writes Omari Sankofa II of The Detroit Free Press (subscription required). However, the Pistons do control a second-rounder, which comes in at No. 37.
“I can’t tell you there’s a specific thing we’re looking at doing in the draft,” head of basketball operations Trajan Langdon said. “Again, understand the landscape of it and see if we can move up if there’s a player we really like, but we have to look at how much that cost is for the kind of player we think we’re gonna get, and we’ll weigh all these things as we get information in Chicago and start doing our draft prep going forward for us to draft in June.”
Sankofa lists three needs — size, power forward depth and shooting — the Pistons could target if they keep their pick, and three prospects — Johni Broome, Adou Thiero and Drake Powell — who could fill them.
Here’s more on the Pistons:
- Who will Detroit look to sign in free agency this summer? Hunter Patterson of The Athletic speculates on potential targets, with Naz Reid and Bobby Portis coming in at No. 1 and No. 2, respectively. Both big men hold player options for 2025/26. The third of eight players on Patterson’s list is forward Santi Aldama, who will be a restricted free agent if Memphis gives him a qualifying offer, as expected.
- Aside from the Pacers, Knicks and Cavaliers, there are suddenly major question marks about much of the rest of the Eastern Conference entering ’25/26. The Pistons appear primed to capitalize on that uncertainty and have a chance to take another major step forward after going from 14 to 44 wins over the past two seasons, Sankofa writes for The Detroit Free Press (subscriber link).
- Yossi Gozlan of The Third Apron (Substack link) previews Detroit’s offseason, detailing the team’s short- and long-term salary cap outlook, potential rookie scale extensions for Jalen Duren and Jaden Ivey, and what the roster might look like next season. According to Gozlan, the Pistons are likely to operate as an over-the-cap team this summer, which means they’ll have access to the non-taxpayer mid-level exception. Re-signing both Dennis Schröder and Malik Beasley could be difficult, so it’s possible they might lose one in free agency. Gozlan also discussed the team’s offseason with Bryce Simon of The Pistons Pulse Podcast (YouTube link).