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Five Under-The-Radar Players To Watch In 2025

September 1st, 2025 at 3:40pm CST by Earnest Marshall

We’re still 28 days away from most teams beginning training camp, which typically determines multiple positional battles for teams ahead of the coming season. Still, the majority of teams’ offseason roster moves have been completed and preliminary pecking orders are in place, meaning we can take a stab at identifying true breakout players for 2025/26.

In the space below, we’ll be focusing on players who appear poised to go from the fringes of rosters to rotational mainstays. Think of Guerschon Yabusele last season, who went from being out of the league to being one of the NBA’s most coveted role players.

Last year in this exercise, we included Max Christie, who increased his scoring average from 4.2 points to 9.6 points per game. So while Larry Nance Jr. seems primed for a massive year with the Cavaliers as a role player, he has 546 career games under his belt and doesn’t really fit our criteria.

Luka Garza/Josh Minott, Boston Celtics

The Celtics went out of their way to add both Garza and Minott to standard deals early in free agency after the Timberwolves declined options on both players. However, the Wolves opting to not bring them back isn’t necessarily an indictment — more of a testament to the win-now depth Minnesota built ahead of them.

Garza hasn’t played many minutes over the course of his four-year NBA career, but he has certainly produced when given the opportunity. He holds career averages of 4.9 points and 2.0 rebounds in 7.8 minutes per game, which works out to per-36 averages of 22.7 points and 8.9 rebounds.

It would be easy to write off that kind of production since per-36 is hardly an indicative statistic of one’s talents, but that sample comes across 124 career games. And in 39 career regular season G League games, Garza averaged 26.3 points and 9.8 rebounds per contest.

The Celtics lost Luke Kornet in free agency, traded away Kristaps Porzingis, and are not considered likely to bring back Al Horford. That leaves Neemias Queta, Chris Boucher and Xavier Tillman as the only players in front of Garza in the frontcourt. It isn’t out of the realm of possibility that Garza emerges as a starter down the line.

Minott is also included here after his training camp last season had coaches raving. While he never ended up in the rotation, it’s still noteworthy that the Celtics added him early in free agency. Minott will battle Jordan Walsh, Baylor Scheierman and rookie Hugo Gonzalez for minutes off the bench at the wing position. In 32 career regular season G League games, he has averaged 19.2 points, 7.5 rebounds, 1.1 steals and 1.8 blocks.

Nigel Hayes-Davis, Phoenix Suns

If there was an option to select “most likely to be this year’s Yabusele,” Hayes-Davis would have to rank near the top. Hayes-Davis established himself as one of the best international players after not playing in the league since 2017/18. The Suns gave him a standard guaranteed deal after he averaged 15.1 points per game for Fenerbahce. On a new-look Phoenix team, he should get plenty of chances to contribute.

Jaylen Clark, Minnesota Timberwolves

The Timberwolves selected Clark with the No. 53 pick in the 2023 draft, with the Wolves essentially redshirting him while he recovered from injury in 2023/24. Last year, in his first healthy NBA season, Clark emerged as a reliable depth option, averaging 4.1 points across 13.1 minutes in 40 games.

With the loss of Nickeil Alexander-Walker to the Hawks in free agency, the Wolves will look to rely on their younger depth options to establish themselves this season. While all eyes are on Rob Dillingham and Terrence Shannon Jr. to take steps forward, look for Clark (and perhaps Leonard Miller), to gain more of a foothold in the rotation.

Cam Spencer, Memphis Grizzlies

Every opportunity he received, Spencer impressed for the Grizzlies and their G League affiliate. In just 10.1 minutes per game last year (25 appearances), Spencer averaged 4.2 points. In eight regular season G League games, Spencer averaged 23.5 points and 3.5 assists while shooting 53.8% from the field and 49.3% on three-pointers.

Memphis drafted Spencer last year with the No. 53 overall pick, and he spent all of last year on a two-way deal. After standing out in their developmental system, the second-year guard was rewarded with a standard contract this offseason. Even though the Grizzlies are flush with rotation-caliber players, there could be an opportunity for Spencer to earn some bench minutes following the departure of Desmond Bane.

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Hoops Rumors’ Lists, Trackers, Features

August 31st, 2025 at 12:45pm CST by Luke Adams

In addition to passing along news, rumors, and analysis on a daily basis, Hoops Rumors provides a number of additional features and resources that can be found anytime on the right-hand sidebar of our desktop site under “Hoops Rumors Features,” or on the “Features” page in our mobile menu.

Since those links are easy to overlook and aren’t readily accessible to our app users, we want to periodically highlight a number of our lists, trackers, and other features.

For instance, our lists of current free agents by position/type and by team are constantly updated, as are our lists of 2026 free agents by position/type and by team.

We have a number of features related to NBA trades, including a roundup of this offseason’s deals, a recap of the trade exceptions currently available to teams, lists of the players who can’t be traded until December 15 or January 15, and details on which players can veto trades in 2025/26 and which players have trade kickers.

We have info on how teams are using mid-level and bi-annual exceptions in 2025/26, as well as which clubs are hard-capped and which have open roster spots. Our free agent tracker, two-way contract tracker and contract extension tracker provide information on most of the deals signed this summer, while our list of non-guaranteed contracts by team helps provide a more complete picture of each team’s roster.

We’ve got details on how much this season’s maximum salaries, minimum salaries, and mid-level/bi-annual exceptions are worth, as well as more details on the key cap figures for the 2025/26 season. We’ve also shared early projections for maximum salaries, minimum salaries, and mid-level/bi-annual figures for 2026/27.

The Hoops Rumors Glossary provides in-depth explanations on many concepts related to the salary cap and Collective Bargaining Agreement, presented in the simplest possible terms. We’ve updated the majority of our entries to reflect the changes made in the most recent CBA.

Finally, we’re in the process of breaking down all 30 teams’ summer moves in our Offseason Check-In series.

Many of our features and trackers are cyclical and will be reintroduced as the year goes on. For example, during draft season next spring, we’ll be keeping tabs on all the early entrants for the 2026 NBA draft.

Be sure to check out the sidebar on our desktop site or our Features page for all of our current resources.

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17 Players Remain Eligible For Rookie Scale Extensions

August 30th, 2025 at 10:15pm CST by Rory Maher

Players who are entering the fourth and final year of their rookie scale contracts were permitted to sign rookie scale extensions as of early July. Those players, who were all 2022 first-round selections, will have until the day before the 2025/26 regular season starts (October 20) to finalize long-term agreements with their current teams.

Players eligible for rookie scale extensions can sign new deals that run for up to five years, with those contracts taking effect beginning in 2026/27. If they don’t sign extensions during the offseason, those players will be eligible for restricted free agency in the summer of 2026.

As our tracker shows, four players — Paolo Banchero, Jabari Smith Jr., Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams — have already signed rookie scale extensions with their respective teams this offseason. A fifth — Blake Wesley — is no longer eligible after reaching a buyout agreement with Washington and subsequently signing a one-year deal with Portland.

Eight other 2022 first-round picks are ineligible rookie scale deals for various reasons.

That leaves 17 players — including Defensive Player of the Year runner-up Dyson Daniels — who remain eligible for rookie scale extensions this offseason:

While some of these players almost certainly won’t sign new deals, we should still see several more extensions signed before the October 20 deadline. There has been an uptick in rookie extensions over the past several offseasons as more teams look to lock up their promising young players in advance of free agency. Since 2020, at least 10 players have signed rookie extensions every year, topping out at a record-setting 14 in 2023.

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NBA 2025 Offseason Check-In: Denver Nuggets

August 29th, 2025 at 12:07pm CST by Luke Adams

Hoops Rumors is checking in on the 2025 offseason for all 30 NBA teams, recapping the summer’s free agent signings, trades, draft picks, departures, and more. We’ll take a look at each team’s offseason moves and consider what might still be coming before the regular season begins. Today, we’re focusing on the Denver Nuggets.

Free agent signings

  • Bruce Brown: One year, minimum salary. Signed using minimum salary exception.
  • Tim Hardaway Jr.: One year, minimum salary. Signed using minimum salary exception.
  • Kessler Edwards: One year, minimum salary. Non-guaranteed (Exhibit 10). Signed using minimum salary exception.

Trades

Draft picks

  • None

Two-way signings

  • Tamar Bates
    • One year, $85,300 partial guarantee (will increase to $318,218 at start of regular season).
  • Curtis Jones
    • One year, $85,300 partial guarantee (will increase to $318,218 at start of regular season).
  • Spencer Jones
    • One year, $85,300 partial guarantee.

Departed/unsigned free agents

Other roster moves

  • None

Salary cap situation

  • Operating over the cap ($154.6MM) and above the luxury tax line ($187.9MM).
  • Carrying approximately $188.3MM in salary.
  • No hard cap.
  • Taxpayer mid-level exception ($5,685,000) available.
  • Two traded player exceptions available (largest worth $6,880,985).

The offseason so far

Typically, a team firing both its general manager and its head coach with less than a week left in the regular season would be a sign of major dysfunction and a signal that the roster of that presumably free-falling franchise is next in line for an overhaul.

But the Nuggets, who parted ways with Calvin Booth and Michael Malone on April 8, actually had a very strong finish this spring — they won the rest of their regular season games under new leadership, knocked off a tough Clippers team in the first round of the playoffs, then took the 68-win Thunder to seven games in the second round, giving the eventual champions the most difficult challenge they faced in the Western Conference bracket.

Denver has since internally promoted executive Ben Tenzer to replace Booth and handed the head coaching reins to former Malone assistant David Adelman. The decision to stay in house to fill both jobs suggests that management believes the Booth/Malone duo, specifically, was the problem and that a full-fledged organizational reset isn’t necessary.

That thinking carried over for the most part this offseason to the roster, where a starting group headed up by Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, and Aaron Gordon has been the Nuggets’ strength in recent years, while the bench has lagged behind. Only seven Denver players appeared in all seven games of the OKC series this spring, and only six of those players averaged at least 15 minutes per game, an indicator of how heavily the team leaned on its starters even after Malone’s departure.

So with one exception (which we’ll get to in a minute), the Nuggets focused this summer on upgrading their bench. They reunited with Bruce Brown, who played a significant role as a jack-of-all-trades off the bench during the club’s championship run in 2023. Based on his play that year, Brown got too expensive for Denver to retain at the time, but his stock had dropped following up-and-down stints in Indiana, Toronto, and New Orleans, opening the door for the Nuggets to bring him back on a minimum-salary deal.

The Nuggets also got a team-friendly veteran’s minimum rate for Tim Hardaway Jr., a veteran wing who hasn’t averaged fewer than 26 minutes per game or made less than $16MM in a season since 2016/17. Hardaway isn’t exactly a two-way dynamo, but he’s a solid role player who can make three-pointers (.361 career 3PT%) and is versatile enough to guard multiple positions on defense. Getting him on the minimum should pay off, especially since he’s the sort of player who could benefit from playing with Jokic.

Speaking of Jokic, the Nuggets hadn’t made it a priority in recent years to find him a reliable backup, but that was a goal this offseason, resulting in a trade that sent Dario Saric to Sacramento in exchange for Jonas Valanciunas.

It seemed for a few weeks as if Valanciunas was looking to get out of his NBA contract in order to sign with Panathinaikos in Greece, but the Nuggets wanted the big man in Denver, and non-stars who are under contract generally have little leverage to steer themselves to preferred destinations. So it didn’t come as a real surprise when Valanciunas eventually confirmed he’d be reporting to the Nuggets and expressed enthusiasm about playing for the team.

If Valanciunas embraces the opportunity available for him in Denver, he should be a great fit behind Jokic. The bruising Lithuanian is a talented low-post scorer and rebounder whose steady production could allow the Nuggets to lean a little less heavily on their three-time MVP than they’ve had to in recent years — Jokic averaged a career-high 36.7 minutes per game in 2024/25, but I’d be pretty shocked if he played that much again in ’25/26.

While much of Denver’s offseason work focused on improving the bench, the team did make one noteworthy change to its starting lineup, sending Michael Porter Jr. and an unprotected 2032 first-round pick to Brooklyn in exchange for Cameron Johnson.

Porter was an important part of the Nuggets’ title team and has been an effective secondary scorer – and their most reliable three-point shooter – in recent years. But he was a negative on the defensive end and was overpaid on his maximum-salary contract.

Swapping him out for Johnson, who is owed just $44MMish over the next two seasons, will give Denver a comparable scorer and shooter (Johnson averaged 18.8 PPG and made 39.0% of his threes for Brooklyn last season) who should be more of an asset defensively — it also created the financial flexibility necessary to bring in a player like Valanciunas and his $10.4MM cap hit. That 2032 first-rounder, which will convey when Jokic is 37 years old, could end up being a pretty valuable pick, but the Nuggets deemed it a worthwhile risk to give it up in an effort to maximize their superstar’s prime.

Up next

The Nuggets are carrying just 14 players on guaranteed contracts and have room to add a 15th man. While they technically have several cap exceptions available, including the mid-level, bi-annual, and a pair of modest trade exceptions, using any of those – with the exception of the taxpayer portion of the mid-level exception – would hard-cap them at the first tax apron. The club is already less than $3MM away from that threshold.

That means if Denver does carry a 15th man, it’s more likely to be a minimum-salary player whose contract isn’t fully guaranteed, in order to give the team some in-season flexibility. Veteran forward Kessler Edwards, who signed an Exhibit 10 deal, is one candidate to make the roster in that capacity.

For what it’s worth, due to incentives in the Johnson and Gordon contracts, the Nuggets are relatively close to the first apron despite only being $400K or so above the luxury tax line. While Denver has gone out of its way not to hard-cap itself so far this offseason, I still think the club is probably more likely to finish the 2025/26 season below the tax line than above the first apron — the Nuggets have been a taxpayer for three straight years, so dipping below that threshold this season could be an important first step toward resetting the repeater clock.

Jokic and Johnson are both eligible for veteran contract extensions this offseason, but Jokic has reportedly conveyed a preference to wait until 2026 (when he’d be eligible for a more lucrative deal), while Johnson faces extend-and-trade restrictions after being dealt to Brooklyn and may want to wait until next summer too.

That leaves Christian Braun and Peyton Watson as the Nuggets’ most important preseason extension candidates, with Braun leading the way. Having been elevated to the starting lineup last fall in the wake of Kentavious Caldwell-Pope‘s free agency departure, Braun has emerged as a critical supporting player in Denver, setting career highs with 15.4 points per game and a .397 3PT% in 2024/25.

The Nuggets will obviously want to keep Braun long-term, but with lucrative deals for Jokic, Murray, Gordon, and Johnson already on the books, the team will have to be careful about navigating the tax aprons going forward. Denver’s previous front office made a habit of freely handing out extensions and being willing to overpay to get them done, but being too generous with Braun could create some difficult roster decisions down the road. The team should be wary of going much beyond about $85-90MM for four years.

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2025/26 NBA Waiver Claims

August 29th, 2025 at 11:18am CST by Luke Adams

As of the 2024/25 league year, the non-taxpayer mid-level exception, room exception, and bi-annual exception can all be used to acquire players via waiver claims, giving teams new ways to land other clubs’ roster casualties whose salaries don’t exceed the MLE (approximately $14.1MM in ’25/26)

[RELATED: Values Of 2025/26 Mid-Level, Bi-Annual Exceptions]

In the past, in order to claim a player off waivers, a team generally had to be able to fit the player’s entire salary into cap room, a traded player exception, or a disabled player exception.

Despite the new options available to teams eyeing a player who has recently been cut, waiver claims will likely continue to be infrequent going forward. Once the draft and the early part of the free agent period have passed, many teams around the NBA aren’t in position to take on additional salary or don’t have excess roster spots available for newcomers. Plus, most of the players who end up on waivers are being cut because their current contracts aren’t considered great values.

With all that in mind, it’s perhaps no surprise that the players most frequently claimed on waivers are those on minimum-salary deals, since any club is eligible to place a claim on those players using the minimum salary exception.

Even for minimum-salary claims, there are some caveats — the minimum salary exception can only be used to sign players for up to two years, so the same rules apply to waiver claims. If a player signed a three-year, minimum salary contract, he can’t be claimed using the minimum salary exception, even if he’s in the final year of his deal. And if a player received more than the minimum salary in an earlier season, he can’t be claimed using the minimum salary exception.

Essentially, the minimum salary exception can only be used to claim a player whose current contract could have been signed using the minimum salary exception.

Taking into account all the factors that reduce the odds of a waiver claim, it makes sense that nearly all of the players who get released ultimately clear waivers. The 2021/22 and ’22/23 league years each featured just six waiver claims each, for instance, while there were only three in ’23/24. Last season’s seven waiver claims were the most in a single league year since 2019/20.

Despite how infrequent they are, we still want to track all the waiver claims that take place during the 2025/26 league year, since you never know which claim may end up being crucial. Last season, for example, the Pelicans claimed Brandon Boston Jr. off waivers from San Antonio in October and he became a regular – and reasonably effective – rotation player for the banged-up team.

We’ll track this year’s waiver claims in the space below, updating the list throughout the season to include the latest moves. Here’s the current list:

  • Suns claim Jordan Goodwin from Lakers (July 23) (story)
    • Goodwin was a valuable role player for the Lakers during the second half of the 2024/25 season, but when Los Angeles needed to create room below its first-apron hard cap to sign Marcus Smart, he was the odd man out due to the fact that his minimum-salary contract ($2.35MM) was only partially guaranteed for $25K. As it turns out, the Lakers won’t even be on the hook for that $25K after the Suns took on Goodwin’s contract via waivers. The veteran guard is expected to compete for a spot on Phoenix’s roster with Jared Butler, who is also coming to camp on a non-guaranteed deal.
  • Pistons claim Isaac Jones from Kings (November 6) (story)
    • In search of reliable veteran frontcourt depth to help make up for an early-season Keegan Murray injury, the Kings waived second-year forward Isaac Jones in order to sign Precious Achiuwa. Jones, who gave Sacramento pretty solid minutes in a limited role as a rookie in 2024/25, didn’t make it through waivers. The Pistons, who had an open spot on their 15-man roster, placed a claim and made him their 15th man, at least for now — Jones’ minimum salary is non-guaranteed until January 7, so Detroit has a couple months to decide whether or not he’s a keeper.
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Four 2025 NBA Draft Picks Remain Unsigned

August 28th, 2025 at 7:16pm CST by Luke Adams

As our tracker shows, 55 of the 59 players selected in June’s 2025 draft have either signed their first NBA contracts or are confirmed to be playing overseas for the upcoming season. John Tonje (Jazz) and Amari Williams (Celtics) recently became the latest 2025 draftees to sign with their respective teams, having finalized two-way deals.

That leaves four players – all second-round picks – who remain unsigned. Those players are as follows:

  1. Mohamed Diawara (Knicks)
  2. Alex Toohey (Warriors)
  3. Will Richard (Warriors)
  4. Jahmai Mashack (Grizzlies)

NBA insider Jake Fischer provided an update on Richard today, writing that the former Florida wing is expected to sign with Golden State once Jonathan Kuminga‘s restricted free agency is resolved. Fischer didn’t say whether Richard would be signing a standard contract or a two-way deal, but his wording suggested the former Florida guard is a candidate for a 15-man roster spot.

Signing Richard to a contract that begins at the rookie minimum could help the Warriors manage their cap/tax/apron situation, since he’d only count for about $1.27MM (compared to roughly $2.3MM for a veteran minimum deal).

Fischer didn’t mention Toohey, who was selected four picks ahead of Richard. That doesn’t necessarily mean Toohey isn’t a candidate for a 15-man roster spot — in certain hard-cap scenarios, it could make sense for the Warriors to carry two rookie-minimum players. But it might be a signal that Richard is the better bet for a standard deal, while Toohey could end up on a two-way contract or as a draft-and-stash prospect.

Diawara is in a similar boat to Richard and Toohey, seemingly stuck in limbo while the Knicks mull their options with their remaining roster spots. It looks like the Knicks will have to carry at least one draft-rights player on a rookie minimum contract in order to navigate their own hard cap, and Diawara is one of two leading candidates to fill that spot — 2023 second-rounder James Nnaji is the other.

If Nnaji signs a standard contract or if the Knicks find a way to create enough cap flexibility to fill out their roster with veteran minimum signings, Diawara is probably ticketed for a two-way deal. As a European-born player who was playing overseas prior to be drafted, the 20-year-old forward would typically be a strong draft-and-stash candidate, but his French team, Cholet Basket, announced last month that Diawara was headed to the NBA.

That leaves Mashack, whose next step remains unclear. It’s not uncommon for one or two players selected near the end of an NBA draft to end up as domestic draft-and-stash prospects, signing directly with their teams’ G League affiliates. But Mashack probably deserves better than that after a strong five-game Summer League showing in which he filled up the box score by averaging 9.0 points, 4.4 assists, 4.0 rebounds, 2.0 steals, and 1.2 blocks in 23.7 minutes per contest while making 41.7% of his three-point attempts.

The Grizzlies have a two-way contract slot open alongside PJ Hall and Javon Small, so signing Mashack to fill that opening would make the most sense to me — if that’s the plan, I’m not sure why it hasn’t happened yet.

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NBA 2025 Offseason Check-In: New Orleans Pelicans

August 28th, 2025 at 11:01am CST by Luke Adams

Hoops Rumors is checking in on the 2025 offseason for all 30 NBA teams, recapping the summer’s free agent signings, trades, draft picks, departures, and more. We’ll take a look at each team’s offseason moves and consider what might still be coming before the regular season begins. Today, we’re focusing on the New Orleans Pelicans.

Free agent signings

  • Kevon Looney: Two years, $16,000,000. Second-year team option. Signed using non-taxpayer mid-level exception.
  • Jaden Springer: One year, minimum salary. Non-guaranteed (Exhibit 9). Signed using minimum salary exception.

Trades

  • Acquired the No. 23 pick in the 2025 draft and the draft rights to Mojave King from the Pacers in exchange for the Pacers’ 2026 first-round pick.
    • Note: The Pelicans had acquired the Pacers’ 2026 first-round pick (with top-four protection) in a previous trade; the Pacers got it back in this deal.
  • Acquired the draft rights to Derik Queen (No. 13 pick) from the Hawks in exchange for the draft rights to Asa Newell (No. 23 pick) and either the Pelicans’ or Bucks’ 2026 first-round pick (whichever is more favorable).
  • Acquired Jordan Poole, Saddiq Bey, and the draft rights to Micah Peavy (No. 40 pick) from the Wizards in a three-team trade in exchange for CJ McCollum (to Wizards), Kelly Olynyk (to Wizards), the Bulls’ 2027 second-round pick (to Wizards), and the draft rights to Mojave King (to Rockets).

Draft picks

  • 1-7: Jeremiah Fears
    • Signed to rookie scale contract (four years, $34,193,629).
  • 1-13: Derik Queen
    • Signed to rookie scale contract (four years, $24,355,797).
  • 2-40: Micah Peavy
    • Signed to four-year, $8,685,386 contract. First two years guaranteed. Third year non-guaranteed. Fourth-year team option.

Two-way signings

  • Trey Alexander
    • One year, $85,300 partial guarantee (will increase to $318,218 at start of regular season).
  • Hunter Dickinson
    • One year, $85,300 partial guarantee (will increase to $318,218 at start of regular season).
  • Bryce McGowens
    • One year, $85,300 partial guarantee (will increase to $318,218 at start of regular season).

Departed/unsigned free agents

Other roster moves

  • Signed Herbert Jones to a three-year, $67,580,892 veteran contract extension that begins in 2027/28. Includes third-year player option.
  • Waived Antonio Reeves (non-guaranteed contract).
  • Waived Lester Quinones (two-way contract).

Salary cap situation

  • Operating over the cap ($154.6MM) and below the luxury tax line ($187.9MM).
  • Carrying approximately $183.7MM in salary.
  • Hard-capped at $195,945,000.
  • Portion of non-taxpayer mid-level exception ($6,104,000) available.
  • Full bi-annual exception ($5,134,000) available.
  • Three traded player exceptions available (largest worth $13,445,122).

The offseason so far

The future in New Orleans looked bright during David Griffin‘s first year as head of basketball operations in 2019/20. The Pelicans had just acquired a haul of players and draft picks headlined by Brandon Ingram from the Lakers in exchange for Anthony Davis and had lucked into No. 1 overall pick Zion Williamson, who looked like a natural successor to Davis as the club’s franchise player.

However, injuries to Williamson, Ingram, and a handful of other key Pelicans players consistently derailed the team’s forward momentum. During Griffin’s six seasons on the job, New Orleans posted a winning record just twice and compiled a total of two playoff victories in a pair of brief postseason appearances.

The organization still hasn’t given up on Williamson, who has missed more regular season games (258) during his first six NBA seasons than he has played (214) and faced a lawsuit this spring accusing him of rape and abuse. But Ingram was traded in February, and Griffin was subsequently replaced this spring by former Pistons general manager Joe Dumars.

The decision to hire Dumars raised some eyebrows. The longtime executive was the architect of a Detroit team that advanced to at least the Eastern Conference Finals for six straight years during the 2000s, but the second half of his tenure with the Pistons produced underwhelming results, and it has been a while since he has even been involved in personnel decisions for an NBA team — he worked in the league office for the past three years.

Dumars’ first summer in New Orleans has been a fascinating one. On the surface, many of the moves he has made point toward a soft reset for the Pelicans. The club added a pair of rookies in the draft lottery – Jeremiah Fears at No. 7 and Derik Queen at No. 13 – and got younger in a trade that sent CJ McCollum and Kelly Olynyk to the Wizards in exchange for Jordan Poole, Saddiq Bey, and second-round pick Micah Peavy.

With Dejounte Murray still recovering from a torn Achilles that figures to keep him on the shelf for the start of the season, Herbert Jones and Trey Murphy III coming off shoulder surgeries, and even Bey still making his way back from an ACL tear, there’s a world in which the Pelicans take a patient approach to the 2025/26 campaign, wait for all their key players to get healthy, and evaluate their core players and rookies to see how they all fit together before pushing forward in ’26/27.

But it doesn’t seem like that approach is the one Dumars and the Pelicans have in mind. The price to trade up from No. 23 to No. 13 for Queen was New Orleans’ 2026 first-round pick, which will be the most favorable of the Pelicans’ own first-rounder and the Bucks’ first-rounder — that unprotected pick was sent to Atlanta for the right to draft Queen, leaving New Orleans without a first-round selection for 2026 and strongly suggesting that tanking won’t be a consideration.

If Queen turns into an impact player and that “most favorable” 2026 pick ends up in the mid- to late-teens, the trade would be a coup for Dumars. But it carries remarkable risk, given that New Orleans is coming off a 21-win season and probably won’t have its starting point guard available when the 2025/26 season tips off. In a competitive Western Conference, they’re far from a lock to make the playoffs. And while it doesn’t look like Giannis Antetokounmpo is going anywhere at this point, the Bucks’ pick has real lottery upside too in the event of an Antetokounmpo injury or trade.

Even if the Pelicans are relatively confident another 21-win season isn’t on tap, the 39-win Mavericks just provided a reminder that the flattened lottery odds open the door for a middle-of-the-pack team to claim a top pick — the Pelicans know this first-hand, having jumped from No. 7 in the pre-lottery order to get Williamson in 2019.

The pressure will be on head coach Willie Green to turn things around after a disappointing 2024/25 season. Dumars, who has long been fond of Green and nearly drafted him for the Pistons in 2003, opted not to make a head coaching change immediately after taking the reins. However, if the Pelicans underachieve again in ’25/26, it’s not to hard to imagine Green being the next NBA head coach who finds himself on the hot seat.

In addition to Fears, Queen, Poole, and Bey, the Pelicans’ other notable newcomer this offseason was longtime Warriors center Kevon Looney. While I have some reservations about the Queen and Poole/Bey trades, I liked the Looney signing — he has long been an underrated defender and rebounder, he’s still just 29 years old, and his new two-year, $16MM contract is only guaranteed for one season. He should bring some added stability to the center position after the Pelicans had to rely on rookie Yves Missi as their starter in ’24/25.

Up next

The Pelicans are carrying 14 players on guaranteed contracts for the 2025/26 season, with Jaden Springer signed to a non-guaranteed Exhibit 9 contract. Their three two-way slots have been filled.

New Orleans has about $4.2MM in breathing room below the luxury tax line, which is more than enough for a 15th man on a minimum-salary contract. While it’s possible the team will leave that spot open to start the season for the sake of flexibility, it probably makes sense for depth purposes to fill it, given that Murray likely won’t be ready to play and a few other players will be managed carefully as they return from major injuries.

Springer may be the leading 15th-man candidate for now, but the Pelicans could bring in a couple more vets on training camp deals to compete for that spot. And since whoever makes the team will likely be on a non-guaranteed contract, New Orleans will have the flexibility to waive that player a month or two into the regular season without paying his full-season salary.

The Pelicans already took care of their top extension candidate this offseason by signing Jones to a three-year, $67.6MM deal. That was a logical move that should pay off, especially if Jones – already one of the NBA’s best defenders – can continue developing and expanding his offensive game.

But that will likely be the last extension the Pelicans sign before the regular season begins. Williamson and Poole will both be eligible to sign new deals, but the club seems extremely unlikely to further invest in the duo at this point, given that they both still have multiple years left on their contracts. Poole has yet to even play a game as a Pelican, while Williamson will, at the very least, need an extended run of good health to warrant another significant commitment from New Orleans.

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Deadline Looms For Teams To Stretch 2025/26 Salaries

August 28th, 2025 at 10:18am CST by Luke Adams

Friday, August 29 is the last day that an NBA team will be able to waive a player who has a fully or partially guaranteed salary for 2025/26 and stretch that player’s ’25/26 salary across multiple seasons.

[RELATED: Hoops Rumors Glossary: Stretch Provision]

The stretch provision deadline has historically been August 31, and while that’s technically still the case, the current Collective Bargaining Agreement tweaked the wording of the rule. In order to apply the stretch provision to a player’s current-season salary, a team must now ensure the player clears waivers on or before August 31 rather than simply requesting waivers on him by August 31.

The adjusted wording is similar to the CBA language related to the league-wide salary guarantee date in January. In that case, a team must place a player on waivers on or before January 7 in order to have him clear waivers ahead of the league-wide Jan. 10 guarantee date. In the case of the stretch provision rule, a player whose salary is being stretched now must be waived by August 29 at 4:00 pm Central time to ensure he has cleared waivers prior to September 1.

A player who clears waivers between September 1 and the end of the 2025/26 season can still have his cap hit(s) for 2026/27 and subsequent seasons stretched across multiple years, assuming he’s owed guaranteed money beyond this season. But his ’25/26 cap charge would remain unchanged in that scenario, unless he reaches a buyout agreement with his team.

The stretch provision allows teams to gain some short-term relief at the cost of reduced long-term flexibility. It’s used most frequently by teams in the luxury tax who want to lower their projected tax bill (or duck out of tax territory entirely) or by teams who want to create extra cap room to accommodate a specific roster move.

While the stretch provision typically isn’t used all this frequently, it has been deployed this offseason in two very noteworthy instances. The Bucks stretched the two years and $112,583,016 remaining on Damian Lillard‘s contract, while the Suns stretched the two years and $96,915,050 left on Bradley Beal‘s deal after he agreed to a buyout.

Like Beal, Cole Anthony (Grizzlies) and Vasilije Micic (Bucks) agreed to buyouts with their respective clubs and then had the stretch provision applied to their leftover salaries — $11.1MM for Anthony and $2MM for Micic. Both players had just one season of guaranteed salary remaining.

Since the stretch provision allows a team to spread the player’s remaining salary across twice the remaining years on his contract, plus one additional year, the new cap hits for those four players are as follows:

  • Lillard (Bucks): $22,516,603 for five seasons (through 2029/30)
  • Beal (Suns): $19,383,010 for five seasons (through 2029/30)
  • Anthony (Grizzlies): $3,700,000 for three seasons (through 2027/28)
  • Micic (Bucks): $666,667 for three seasons (through 2027/28)

The Suns’ moves significantly reduced their projected luxury tax payment and moved them well below the second tax apron, while the Bucks’ and Grizzlies’ moves helped create the cap room necessary for other transactions.

We likely won’t see a flurry of cuts today and tomorrow in order to take advantage of this rule, but the deadline is still worth keeping in mind for the possibilities it will take off the table. Any player on a guaranteed expiring contract who is waived after August 29 without a buyout agreement or a waiver claim will have his remaining salary count entirely against his team’s ’25/26 books.

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Decisions On 2026/27 Rookie Scale Team Options

August 28th, 2025 at 9:14am CST by Luke Adams

While decisions on player and team options for veteran NBA contracts are typically due in June, the deadline to exercise third- and fourth-year team options for players on rookie scale contracts arrives each fall. This year’s deadline for teams to pick up rookie scale options is October 31, 2025.

All the players whose options will be exercised or declined by Oct. 31 are already under contract for the 2025/26 season. Their teams will have to make a decision on whether they want to lock in those players’ contracts beyond the coming season, picking up or turning down team options for the 2026/27 campaign.

For players who signed their rookie scale contracts in 2023 and have already been in the NBA for two years, teams must decide on fourth-year options for 2026/27. For players who just signed their rookie deals last year and only have one season of NBA experience under their belts, teams will already be faced with a decision on third-year options for ’26/27.

In many cases, these decisions aren’t difficult ones. Rookie scale salaries are affordable enough that it usually makes sense to exercise these team options, even if a player isn’t a key cog on the roster. And for those players who do have a significant role on a team’s roster, the decision is even easier — it’s not as if the Spurs will consider turning down their option on Stephon Castle, for instance.

Still, we’ll wait for a trusted reporter, the NBA, a player (or his agent), or a team itself to confirm that an option is indeed being exercised or declined, and we’ll track that news in this space.

Listed below are all the rookie scale decisions for 2026/27 team options that clubs must make by Oct. 31. This list will be updated through the deadline as teams’ decisions are reported and announced. The salary figures listed here reflect the cap hits for each team.

Here are the NBA’s rookie scale team option decisions for 2026/27 salaries:

Atlanta Hawks

Boston Celtics

Brooklyn Nets

Charlotte Hornets

Chicago Bulls

Cleveland Cavaliers

Dallas Mavericks

Denver Nuggets

Detroit Pistons

Golden State Warriors

Houston Rockets

Indiana Pacers

Los Angeles Clippers

Los Angeles Lakers

Memphis Grizzlies

Miami Heat

Milwaukee Bucks

  • None

Minnesota Timberwolves

New Orleans Pelicans

New York Knicks

Oklahoma City Thunder

Orlando Magic

Philadelphia 76ers

Phoenix Suns

Portland Trail Blazers

Sacramento Kings

San Antonio Spurs

Toronto Raptors

Utah Jazz

Washington Wizards

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NBA 2025 Offseason Check-In: Indiana Pacers

August 27th, 2025 at 2:36pm CST by Luke Adams

Hoops Rumors is checking in on the 2025 offseason for all 30 NBA teams, recapping the summer’s free agent signings, trades, draft picks, departures, and more. We’ll take a look at each team’s offseason moves and consider what might still be coming before the regular season begins. Today, we’re focusing on the Indiana Pacers.

Free agent signings

  • Isaiah Jackson: Three years, $21,000,000. Includes Achilles-related injury protection. Re-signed using Bird rights.
  • James Wiseman: Two years, minimum salary. First year partially guaranteed ($1MM). Second-year team option. Signed using minimum salary exception.

Trades

  • Acquired their own 2026 first-round pick from the Pelicans in exchange for the No. 23 pick in the 2025 draft and the draft rights to Mojave King.
    • Note: The Pelicans had acquired the Pacers’ 2026 first-round pick (with top-four protection) in a previous trade; the Pacers got it back in this deal.
  • Acquired the draft rights to Kam Jones (No. 38 pick) from the Spurs in exchange for the Kings’ 2030 second-round pick and cash ($2.5MM).
  • Acquired Jay Huff from the Grizzlies in exchange for the Trail Blazers’ 2029 second-round pick and the right to swap their 2031 second-round pick for either the Pacers’ or Heat’s 2031 second-round pick (whichever is least favorable).

Draft picks

  • 2-38: Kam Jones
    • Signed to four-year, $8,685,386 contract. First year guaranteed. Second year partially guaranteed ($1,075,459). Third year non-guaranteed. Fourth-year team option.
  • 2-54: Taelon Peter
    • Signed to two-way contract.

Two-way signings

  • Quenton Jackson
    • One year, $85,300 partial guarantee (will increase to $318,218 at start of regular season).
  • Taelon Peter
    • Two years, $85,300 partial guarantee (will increase to $318,218 at start of regular season); second year non-guaranteed.

Note: The Pacers carried over RayJ Dennis on a two-way contract from 2024/25.

Departed/unsigned free agents

Other roster moves

Salary cap situation

  • Operating over the cap ($154.6MM) and below the luxury tax line ($187.9MM).
  • Carrying approximately $181.8MM in salary.
  • Hard-capped at $195,945,000.
  • Full non-taxpayer mid-level exception ($14,104,000) available.
  • Full bi-annual exception ($5,134,000) available.

The offseason so far

Through 82 regular season contests and 22 of 23 total playoff games, 2024/25 was a dream season for the Pacers, who improbably overcame a 10-15 start to win three playoff series and then went toe-to-toe with the 68-win Thunder in the NBA Finals. But with Indiana looking to seize control of Game 7, star point guard Tyrese Haliburton – who was coming off a calf injury – tore his right Achilles tendon, ending his night, his season, and ultimately the team’s championship hopes.

Haliburton’s injury didn’t invalidate all the memorable performances, comebacks, and series victories that came before it, but it put a serious damper on one of the greatest years in team history — and it will have a lasting impact beyond the spring of 2025.

Even if the Pacers hadn’t won Game 7 in Oklahoma City, getting through that night without any serious injuries likely would’ve given the front office confidence to heavily invest in the roster going forward. Team owner Herb Simon hardly ever pays the luxury tax, but for a team that came within one win of a title and was in position to bring back its entire core, I think he would’ve been comfortable doing so.

However, with Haliburton ruled out for the entire 2025/26 season, Indiana’s outlook for the coming year isn’t nearly as promising. Without their star player available, the Pacers almost certainly won’t be a serious championship contender next spring. That likely made Simon much more reluctant to become a taxpayer, which – in turn – resulted in the loss of longtime center Myles Turner in free agency to the division-rival Bucks.

To be clear, the Pacers and Turner were very much engaged in contract talks when free agency started, and president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard later insisted that ownership was willing to go “deep into the tax” to bring back the 29-year-old. Still, I have to think Indiana’s front office wasn’t quite as aggressive as it would have been if Haliburton were healthy.

While there were conflicting reports on exactly what the Pacers’ final offer to Turner was, most of those reports suggested the team hadn’t gone beyond a three-year bid worth about $22-23MM per year. That’s comfortably below what rival Eastern Conference centers like Jarrett Allen ($30MM per year), Jakob Poeltl ($28MM per year), and even Nic Claxton ($24.3MM per year) received on their most recent long-term contracts.

It seemed as if the Pacers were playing hardball with Turner to some extent, recognizing that no rival suitor had $20MM+ in cap room available and perhaps hoping that his price would come in low enough that they could duck under the tax line with a cost-cutting move elsewhere on the roster. Public remarks from Pritchard and general manager Chad Buchanan in the wake of Turner’s departure certainly suggested they weren’t expecting Milwaukee to find a way to open up the cap space necessary to give the big man a four-year contract worth in excess of $27MM annually. Turner reportedly accepted that offer without giving the Pacers a chance to match it.

With the rest of their starters and top reserves already under contract for the 2025/26 season, the Pacers dedicated much of their summer to finding a way to fill the new Turner-shaped hole in their frontcourt. They picked up Tony Bradley‘s non-guaranteed minimum-salary option and re-signed the centers who opened last season second and third on the depth chart behind Turner: Isaiah Jackson and James Wiseman.

Both Jackson and Wiseman suffered early-season Achilles tears of their own last fall, but Indiana clearly still believes both players are capable of providing positive minutes and is confident about how their recoveries are progressing.

I was pretty convinced that Jackson wouldn’t even get a qualifying offer, but the Pacers not only made him a restricted free agent, they re-signed him to a three-year, $21MM contract that will be fully guaranteed as long as he doesn’t have any recurring Achilles issues. As for Wiseman, he got a deal similar to the one he signed last year, a two-year, minimum-salary pact with a partially guaranteed first-year salary and a second-year team option.

Relying on a pair of big men coming off Achilles tears and a veteran journeyman would be risky, so the Pacers were also active on the trade market addressing the center position, acquiring Jay Huff from the Grizzlies in exchange for a future second-round pick and a second-round swap.

Huff is an intriguing pickup. He has put up monster numbers in the G League in recent years, and that production began to translate to the NBA level in 2024/25, as he averaged 6.9 points, 2.0 rebounds, and 0.9 blocks in 11.7 minutes per game across 64 outings for Memphis, with a .515/.405/.786 shooting line. I get the sense that the Pacers have high hopes for Huff, having brought in an assistant coach who worked closely with him at Virginia and reportedly helped convince the Grizzlies to take a shot on him a year ago.

Huff and Jackson will likely be fighting for the top spot on the Pacers’ depth chart at the five, with Wiseman and Bradley possibly vying for a spot on the 15-man regular season roster — neither player has a fully guaranteed deal, so if Jackson and Wiseman look healthy and effective, Bradley could be the odd man out.

Up next

With 15 players on standard contracts and three on two-way deals, the Pacers’ roster looks ready for the regular season, but there’s a little wiggle room there. As noted above, neither Wiseman nor Bradley has a guaranteed contract, so Indiana could waive one of them this fall in order to open up its 15th roster slot. In that scenario, Bradley would be the more likely release candidate, since he’s not owed any guaranteed money, whereas Wiseman has a $1MM partial guarantee.

If the Pacers do open up a roster spot, they wouldn’t be obligated to fill it right away and could create some additional roster and financial flexibility by leaving it open at the start of the season. But it’s also worth keeping an eye on veteran forward James Johnson, who remains unsigned. Buchanan said last month that Johnson hopes to continue his playing career, and Indiana has found room for him on its roster after the start of the season in the past.

The more pressing items on the Pacers’ to-do list this fall will be a pair of potential contract extensions — Bennedict Mathurin is eligible for a rookie scale extension, while Aaron Nesmith is up for a veteran extension.

Both players will face an October 20 deadline, though Nesmith has two years left on his current deal and would become extension-eligible again starting in July 2026 if he doesn’t sign a new contract at this point. Mathurin, conversely, would be headed for restricted free agency next summer if he enters the season without an extension in place.

Nesmith has a more clearly defined role and more clearly defined extension parameters — the Pacers are limited to offering him up to three years and approximately $63MM on top of the $22MM he’s still owed over the next two seasons. That price seems reasonable for a player who has emerged as one of the club’s most reliable wings — Nesmith has averaged 12.1 points per game and made 42.3% of his three-point attempts over the past two seasons while admirably handling tough defensive assignments.

Mathurin has more upside than Nesmith as a scorer and an all-around offensive weapon, but his fit in Indiana’s Haliburton-led offense hasn’t exactly been seamless, so it’s unclear exactly how hard the team will push to get something done.

On one hand, it may make sense to extend Mathurin now before he takes on a larger role with Haliburton out and potentially has a career year in 2025/26. On the other hand, the Pacers simply may not be convinced he’s part of their long-term plans, especially if he’s seeking a deal north of $20MM per year — they avoided the tax this year, but a lucrative new contract for Mathurin would put them in danger of surpassing that threshold in 2026/27.

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