International Notes: Satoransky, Fournier, Wainright, Quinn
Veteran guard Tomas Satoransky will be a free agent this summer and his future with Spanish EuroLeague team Barcelona is up in the air, he told Ernest Macia of Catalunya Radio (Twitter link).
“No one from Barça has communicated anything to me,” Satoransky said (hat tip to Sportando). “I will have to evaluate the options that come my way, but for now there is nothing.”
Satorasnky played six NBA seasons from 2016-22. This is his fourth consecutive season with Barcelona and sixth overall. He also played for Sevilla in Spain from 2009-14.
Here are a few more international items of interest:
- In an interview with Julie Yalap of INFOSPORT+ (Twitter video link), longtime NBA wing Evan Fournier revealed that he contemplated retiring from basketball after the 2024 Olympics in Paris, when he won a silver medal with the French national team. “I seriously considered retiring after the Paris Olympics,” Fournier said (hat tip to BasketNews for the transcription). “I had given myself a little bit of time to think about it. I went to the mountains and I thought, ‘Okay, let’s give it a go. I’ll enjoy it.’ I was coming off two difficult seasons with the Knicks and I deeply love basketball, so I thought, ‘Enjoy yourself and end your career on that note.’” He also explained why he was intrigued by the possibility of joining Olympiacos, with whom he has spent the past two seasons, and said he plans to retire within the next two or three years.
- Forward Ish Wainright, who played for Phoenix and Portland from 2021-24, is discussing a two-year contract extension with Hapoel Tel Aviv, according to Noa Poplinger of Israeli outlet Sport5. Wainright has spent the past two seasons with Hapoel, notes Kevin Matorando of Sportando.
- Veteran guard Quinn Cook, who played in China last season, backed out of a contract agreement with an Iranian team in January, he told Marc J. Spears of ESPN’s Andscape. Cook also recently agreed to play in the upcoming Basketball Africa League (BAL) season, but the Rwandan team he agreed to terms with decided not to compete due to a disagreement with the United States. Cook, a two-time champion who played five years in the NBA, is open to other opportunities in the BAL. “I have never been to Africa,” Cook told Spears. “I was excited about checking it out. I also planned on going with my mom and sister. Rwanda was a spot we were supposed to hit, but now I will have to wait and see. Everything happens for a reason, but I hope BAL teams see I’m available and I’m open to play for another team.”
And-Ones: Lottery, Combine, Dunk Contest, Hayes, More
The NBA has officially set the dates for this year’s most significant pre-draft events, including the combine and lottery.
According to the league (Twitter link), the G League combine will take place from May 8-10, with the full-fledged combine to follow from May 10-17. Typically, the NBA invites approximately 75 top prospects to the combine, with a group of several dozen less-heralded draft-eligible players taking part in the G League combine. A handful of standouts from the G League event then receive invitations to stick around for the rest of the week.
As for the draft lottery, it will take place on Sunday, May 10, giving lottery teams the opportunity to learn exactly where their picks will land before they evaluate and interview prospects at the combine.
Here are more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- Lakers center Jaxson Hayes and Spurs rookie Carter Bryant have accepted invitations to take part in this year’s NBA dunk contest, reports Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link). Both players are first-time participants.
- It’s poised to be an eventful few weeks for Hayes, who is also in the final stages of securing Slovenian citizenship, reports Donatas Urbonas of BasketNews.com. According to Urbonas, Hayes is putting the finishing touches on the paperwork required for a Slovenian passport and would be eligible to play for the national team this summer in World Cup qualifiers if there are no snags. Hayes spoke back in October about his goal of gaining Slovenian citizenship to team up with Lakers teammate Luka Doncic in international play.
- Danny Leroux of The Athletic looks ahead to the 2026 offseason, previewing the spending power for each NBA team, including the ones projected to have cap room. While trades made in the next six days could impact Leroux’s estimates, the Bulls (up to $68MM) and Wizards (up to $50MM) currently project to have the most space, while four teams – the Cavaliers, Thunder, Magic, and Knicks – are on track to operate in second-apron territory.
- The sixth season of the Basketball Africa League will tip off in South Africa on March 27. Marc J. Spears of Andscape has the details on the schedule and the format for the coming season, which will wrap up in late May with an eight-team playoff and a championship game.
And-Ones: First-Time All-Stars, Adubato, BAL, Wood, More
As ESPN’s Kevin Pelton writes, there has been an average of between five and six first-time All-Stars over the past five years, including six first-time honorees last season. Pelton lists 10 players who have a shot at making their first mid-season exhibition game in 2025/26 based on their strong starts.
The All-Star format will be different again this year, Pelton notes, with two eight-player teams from the United States and one eight-player international group competing in a round-robin tournament. Trail Blazers forward Deni Avdija (Israel) and Bulls guard Josh Giddey (Australia) are among the international candidates on Pelton’s list, with Lakers guard Austin Reaves and Hawks forward Jalen Johnson among the first-time American candidates.
Reaves will miss his third straight game on Saturday in Atlanta due to a right groin strain, tweets Dan Woike of The Athletic.
Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- Former NBA assistant and head coach Richie Adubato has passed away at age 87, per Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel. Adubato’s NBA coaching career spanned two decades, spending time with Detroit, New York, Dallas, Cleveland and Orlando. The New Jersey native also coached the WNBA’s New York Liberty and Washington Mystics, Beede adds, and was a radio analyst for the Magic from 2005-20. Our condolences go out to Adubato’s friends and family.
- The Basketball Africa League has largely been run as a tournament over the past several years, but NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum tells Marc J. Spears of Andscape that the BAL will eventually have 12 teams and permanent franchises, though when that will happen is still to be determined. Spears hears there will likely be 10 permanent franchises down the line, with the other two spots going to annual at-large qualifying teams.
- Former NBA big man Christian Wood reportedly fired three gunshots at the ground to scare away three men who broke into a Los Angeles home he was inside on Wednesday, according to Alex Valdes of The Athletic. The LAPD told The Athletic that no property was taken in the incident, and the suspects fled the scene after being confronted. Wood, a 30-year-old forward/center, was waived by the Lakers in February 2025, but hasn’t played in a game since February 2024 due to a knee injury.
- A variety of former NBA figures have migrated to the college basketball scene over the past year because of the introduction of NIL deals and the transfer portal. Jake Fischer of The Stein Line (Substack link) takes a deep dive on the topic, writing that universities have pursued NBA talent due to their skills and expertise in navigating a variety of different job responsibilities that previously weren’t needed at the college level. “The trend will only continue to accelerate,” said Wes Wilcox, who left his post as assistant GM for the Kings late last season to become GM of the Utah Utes. “The number of colleges looking toward the NBA to help in this space is only going to rise.”
NBA Africa Dikembe Mutombo Humanitarian Award Created
The NBA is honoring one of its most beloved and influential players by announcing the NBA Africa Dikembe Mutombo Humanitarian Award, writes Marc J. Spears of Andscape.
The Hall of Fame center, who died in September at 58, is being celebrated for his dedication to expanding the game in Africa and supporting humanitarian causes on the continent.
Commissioner Adam Silver revealed the new award on Saturday at the annual NBA Africa All-Star Luncheon, and the league describes it as “a new annual honor that will recognize a person or an organization that works to advance health, education or economic opportunity across the continent of Africa.” Mutombo, who hailed from the Democratic Republic of Congo, was appointed by former commissioner David Stern as the NBA’s first global ambassador.
“[Mutombo] was a constant fundraiser,” Silver said. “I used to sort of joke when we traveled with him, [and] he had his card as the NBA ambassador — these days when I take out my business card, young people say, ‘what is that piece of paper?’ But when people still had business cards, he would start with his NBA ambassador card, and then he’d wait until I walked away and out would come four other cards of all these other programs that he would be raising money for. He was so committed to it.
“His spirit was infectious. Part of it was just being a 7-footer. We all knew when we traveled with him, whether it was to Mumbai — a place where people might not know much about basketball or Dikembe Mutombo — I think because of his size, because of his laugh, just because of his presence, they instantly would know he was somebody important and he’d create those connections, something we all talk about so much these days.”
Spears notes that the NBA Africa Luncheon is typically filled with energy and celebrations of African music and culture. Although that was true this year, the mood was mixed with solemn remembrances of Mutombo, whose photos adorned the walls of the event.
Mutombo enjoyed an 18-year NBA career, spending time with the Nuggets, Hawks, Rockets, Sixers, Knicks and Nets. He was a three-time All-Star and ranks second on the career blocks list with 3,289. He punctuated many of those rejections with a finger wag that became his trademark.
In addition to his excellence on the court, Mutombo was twice recognized with the J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award in honor of his service to the community.
His legacy includes the Dikembe Mutombo Foundation, which was established in 1997 to improve the quality of life for people in the Congo, and a $29MM hospital he opened in 2009 near Kinshasa, which is the nation’s capital. He was also a strong promoter of Basketball Without Borders and an early investor in the Basketball Africa League.
Silver announced Saturday that the NBA will donate 55 basketball courts in Africa in honor of the number Mutombo wore throughout his career, with the first set to be built in Kinshasa.
And-Ones: WBD Lawsuit, Top Storylines, G League Trade, More
The legal battle between the NBA and Warner Bros. Discovery took another step forward in recent days. Responding to the NBA’s motion to dismiss their lawsuit, TBS and WBD filed a 33-page memorandum last Friday attempting to convince New York Judge Joel M. Cohen to deny that motion, per Michael McCann of Sportico.
The parent company of TNT Sports, filed a lawsuit against the NBA in July, alleging that the league was in breach of contract after it refused to recognize TNT’s right to match Amazon’s new broadcast deal with the NBA.
The latest filing from TBS/WBD insists that the league acted in bad faith to “circumvent” the network’s matching rights by including certain terms in its deal with Amazon that it knew TBS/WBD couldn’t specifically match. For instance, one clause in the NBA/Amazon agreement requires NBA games to be aired on a platform that also broadcasts NFL games. Amazon has a deal with the NFL, whereas TBS/WBD does not.
If the case continues to advance through the legal system, court records suggest a trial would be held sometime in April 2025, according to McCann.
Here are more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- Paul George‘s impact in Philadelphia and the Knicks’ potential hole at center are among the key storylines to monitor in the Eastern Conference this season, in the view of Fred Katz and Sam Amick of The Athletic. Katz and Amick also took a look at the top storylines to watch in the West, including whether Victor Wembanyama is ready to take the leap to superstardom, Ja Morant‘s potential redemption tour, and which second-tier team could move into the top group of contenders.
- The South Bay Lakers, College Park Skyhawks (Hawks), and Texas Legends (Mavericks) have completed a three-team trade, with South Bay acquiring the returning rights to forward Chris Silva and center Jake Stephens in the deal, per a press release. The Skyhawks received Joirdon Nicholas‘ rights, while the Legends received multiple G League draft picks from the Lakers’ affiliate.
- Responding to a pair of U.S. senators who criticized the NBA for partnering with Rwandan dictator Paul Kagame, deputy commissioner Mark Tatum wrote in a letter that the league has followed “the lead of the U.S. government as to where it’s appropriate to engage in business around the world,” according to Mark Fainaru-Wada of ESPN. “If American policies were to change regarding business activities in and relating to Rwanda or any other BAL (Basketball Africa League) market, our actions would of course change accordingly,” Tatum said, adding that the NBA has promoted multiple social impact initiatives in Rwanda.
- Sixers center Joel Embiid, Bucks guard Damian Lillard, and Cavaliers president of basketball operations Koby Altman are among the individuals across the NBA who are facing the most pressure entering the 2024/25 season, according to Michael Pina of The Ringer, whose top five is rounded out by Knicks forward Julius Randle and Heat wing Jimmy Butler.
Raptors Sign Ulrich Chomche To Two-Way Deal
The Raptors have officially signed No. 57 overall pick Ulrich Chomche to a two-way contract, per the NBA’s transaction log.
According to Blake Murphy of Sportsnet (Twitter link), Chomche’s deal will cover two years instead of just one, putting him on track to reach restricted free agency in 2026. Chomche was the youngest player in this year’s draft class (he won’t turn 19 until December 30), so his camp and the Raptors agreed to approach his development with a longer-term view, Murphy explains.
Chomche, who was born in Cameroon, was part of the NBA Academy Africa before playing in the Basketball Africa League in 2022 and 2023. The 6’11” center became the first player in league history to be selected in an NBA draft after playing in the BAL.
The Raptors reportedly sent the Timberwolves $1MM in cash to acquire the No. 57 pick in last month’s draft in order to nab Chomche. That deal ended up being expanded to include four teams.
Toronto has now filled all three of its two-way slots, with Chomche joining D.J. Carton and Branden Carlson. The club also has 15 players on guaranteed standard contracts. It’s unclear if the Raptors plan on making any more roster changes in the coming days, weeks, or months, or if this is essentially the group they’ll take into training camp (with camp invitees to fill out the 21-man squad).
Grizzlies To Acquire No. 53 Pick Cam Spencer From Wolves
JUNE 28, 10:33am: The Timberwolves will acquire a future second-round pick from the Grizzlies to move down from No. 53 to No. 57, and cash considerations from the Raptors for No. 57, reports Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic (Twitter link).
JUNE 27, 5:16pm: The Timberwolves are swapping the No. 53 pick to the Grizzlies for the No. 57 pick, Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium tweets. Minnesota will then send the No. 57 pick to the Raptors, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski tweets.
UConn shooting guard Cam Spencer was taken with the No. 53 and he’ll now join the Grizzlies. Spencer played a key role in UConn’s championship run this past season, averaging 14.3 points, 4.9 rebounds and 3.6 assists after transferring from Rutgers. He also played three seasons at Loyola Maryland. Spencer shot 44% from beyond the 3-point arc for the Huskies and knocked 41.7% of his 3s in 132 college games.
He’s the fourth UConn player to get selected in this draft. Stephon Castle and Donovan Clingan were chosen in the lottery and Tristen Newton was also selected in the second round.
Cameroon big man Ulrich Chomche was chosen at No. 57 and he’ll join Toronto. He spent this past season with the NBA Academy Africa. He only played three games during the Basketball Africa League qualifiers, in which he averaged 13 points, nine rebounds, three assists, three blocks and one steal per game. Overall, he averaged 8.5 points, 2.4 assists and 2.1 blocks in 26 games last season.
He’s the first player from the NBA Academy to be drafted.
Minnesota, in a cap-saving move, agreed to trade shooting guard Wendell Moore Jr. and the 37th pick to Detroit earlier in the day. The Pistons used that pick to select forward Bobi Klintman.
Essentially, the Timberwolves made three deals to trade out of the second round.
And-Ones: Barkley, Nunn, Ibaka, Africa
Hall of Famer Charles Barkley recently said he’s going to retire from TV at the conclusion of 2024/25, which could be the final season TNT holds the media rights to NBA games. Barkley has been an analyst on Inside the NBA since 2000.
While his comments certainly seemed genuine, Andrew Marchand of The Athletic believes Barkley will cover the NBA again in some fashion after next season ends, noting the 61-year-old has frequently talked about retirement in the past but he just signed a highly lucrative 10-year contract a couple years ago.
That long-term deal with TNT could complicate matters, but potential new (or returning) media rights holders like Amazon and NBC would love to have Barkley and the entire Inside the NBA crew on board, Marchand writes. A “more plausible” scenario, according to Marchand, would be ESPN giving Barkley a “sweetheart deal” he can’t refuse, perhaps offering to let him work less frequently while still covering the most important games, such as the NBA Finals.
Here’s more from around the basketball world:
- Former NBA guard Kendrick Nunn, who helped lead Panathinaikos to a EuroLeague championship in ’23/24, was arrested less than a day after helping his Greek club win a domestic title, according to Eurohoops. Nunn was detained after a verbal exchange with his wife, who declined to press charges, and has subsequently been released. The 28-year-old signed a two-year contract extension with Panathinaikos last month, but he hasn’t ruled out an NBA return, as his deal contains out clauses. Nunn last played for the Lakers and Wizards in ’22/23.
- Big man Serge Ibaka, who played 14 NBA seasons from 2009-2023, says he’s undecided on what he’s going to do next season after spending the ’23/24 campaign with Bayern Munich in Germany, per Eurohoops. Ibaka was rumored to be signing a one-year deal with Real Madrid, but he denied that’s the case.
- Tania Ganguli of The New York Times takes an in-depth look at the NBA’s investment in Africa, which includes the Basketball Africa League. The NBA has long believed the continent could be a key way to grow the popularity of the sport and add young talent to the league’s player pool, but commissioner Adam Silver wonders if enough money is being spent to support growth. “As much as we are investing in Africa, the opportunity is so enormous I worry that we’re under-investing,” Silver said in an interview. “There’s so much opportunity, but it’s not always easy to know how to deploy capital, which government you should be dealing with, who the honest brokers are. And so we’re learning as we go.”
Spurs Notes: Jones, Wembanyama, Vassell, Mavomo
The Spurs have been better when Tre Jones is on the court, but he’s not complaining about being moved to a reserve role after starting last season, writes Chris Hine of The Star Tribune. Coach Gregg Popovich has opted for a non-traditional approach, starting Jeremy Sochan at point guard to create a super-sized lineup.
“I try to view it as, I see how our starting lineup is and how much height and length we have all around the court with that starting lineup,” Jones said. “I see the advantages it gives our team. It’s not hard feelings or anything about that. I’m trying to just be a spark off the bench for us. I’m trying to be a leader for us off the bench as well.”
Jones has been effective in his role off the bench, averaging 8.9 points, 3.1 rebounds and 6.3 assists in 25.8 minutes per night through eight games. With the addition of Victor Wembanyama, San Antonio has a chance to be successful for the first time in Jones’ four seasons with the team, and he’s willing to do whatever is necessary to be part of that. Jones described the 7’4″ rookie as a “cheat code” and said he has changed the trajectory of the franchise.
“Very exciting times for our organization,” Jones said. “You can definitely feel a shift through the organization the last couple of years. You can feel it throughout the entire city even. Our city backs us up so much and supports us so much. You can feel that tremendously throughout all the people you run into, all the fans, everyone working for us in the organization, you can feel it all.”
There’s more on the Spurs:
- Wembanyama is making a difference with 2.4 blocks per game, but the Spurs still have one of the league’s worst defenses, notes Andrew Lopez of ESPN. Going into Wednesday’s game, San Antonio had a defensive rating of 110.9 during Wembanyama’s minutes, but it rises to 129.4 when he’s resting. “Size can translate into blocked shots, more rebounding, and that overall helps your defense,” Popovich said. “Length helps you with deflections and that sort of thing, keeping people out of the paint. So it’s been the emphasis since the beginning of training camp that we would behoove ourselves to improve defensively.”
- Devin Vassell was limited to 12 minutes Wednesday in his return after missing two games with an adductor injury, Lopez tweets. Popovich said Vassell didn’t reaggravate the condition, but he’s being eased back into his regular role. San Antonio lost by 21 points in New York, so there was no need for Vassell to play extended minutes in the fourth quarter.
- In a special report for ESPN, Leonard Solms examines the journey of Emmanuel Mavomo, who has become an assistant coach with the Spurs’ G League team in Austin after starting in the Basketball Africa League.
And-Ones: All-Star Game, Bronny, Caboclo, BAL
Having made the decision to revert back to the East vs. West format and a standard 12-minute fourth quarter for the 2024 All-Star Game, commissioner Adam Silver tells Marc J. Spears of ESPN’s Andscape that the NBA is also planning additional changes in the hopes of improving the game’s level of play.
As Silver explains, a conversation with Chris Paul made him realize that the All-Star Game’s alterations to pregame and halftime protocols – including longer pregame introductions and an extended musical performance at the half – disrupt players’ typical routines and making them more inclined to treat it like a meaningless exhibition.
“I’ll take responsibility for that,” Silver told Spears. “We’re sending mixed signals. And if we want guys to treat this like a real game, and again, this is not about Finals intensity, it’s just a fun game. But if we want players to treat it that way, we have to treat it that way. And so, it means that the introduction is going to have to be a little bit shorter and halftime’s going to have to be a little bit more typical, starting in Indianapolis.
“… I anticipate we’ll still have halftime entertainment. But it won’t be as long,” Silver continued. “I recognize this is not the Super Bowl. It’s an All-Star Game. It’s a different vibe, and we can still have an entertaining halftime but get the guys back on the floor in a more reasonable time. When it comes to the [All-Star] Game, we just got to make it clear to everybody involved, coaches included, that we’re looking for a basketball game.”
The NBA’s All-Star Game will be played in Indianapolis in 2024 and in San Francisco in 2025.
Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- LeBron James offered an update on his son Bronny James on Monday, telling reporters – including ESPN’s Dave McMenamin – that Bronny will undergo a medical examination later this month following his July cardiac arrest. If he passes that exam, the plan is for Bronny to return to practice for USC with the intention of playing this season, according to LeBron.
- Former NBA first-round pick Bruno Caboclo has signed a contract with KK Partizan, the Serbian team announced today in a press release. While Caboclo’s new deal with Partizan runs through the 2024/25 season, Italian club Reyer Venezia has maintained that it holds the rights to the forward for the ’23/24 campaign after signing him earlier this year, so it’s unclear whether or not Caboclo has officially negotiated his release from that contract.
- The NBA announced on Tuesday that the Basketball Africa League’s fourth season will tip off in March 2024 and will expand to South Africa for the first time in league history.
- While it’s not necessarily surprising that the Nuggets and Celtics have looked like the NBA’s best teams through the season’s first two weeks, it’s impressive that the two clubs have played so well early on after overhauling their rotations during the offseason, writes John Hollinger of The Athletic.