Groups Set For 2025 NBA Cup
The NBA has officially announced the six groups of five teams apiece for the 2025 Emirates NBA Cup, also known as the in-season tournament (Twitter link).
In order to set the groups, the league splits the Western and Eastern Conferences into five three-team tiers based on last season’s regular season standings, with one club from each tier randomly drawn into each of the conference’s three groups.
For instance, the top three teams from the West will all be in separate groups, with each of those three groups also featuring one team in the 4-6 range, one in the 7-9 range, and so on.
Here are the groups for the 2025 NBA Cup:
- West Group A: Oklahoma City Thunder (1), Minnesota Timberwolves (6), Sacramento Kings (9), Phoenix Suns (11), Utah Jazz (15)
- West Group B: Los Angeles Lakers (3), Los Angeles Clippers (5), Memphis Grizzlies (8), Dallas Mavericks (10), New Orleans Pelicans (14)
- West Group C: Houston Rockets (2), Denver Nuggets (4), Golden State Warriors (7), Portland Trail Blazers (12), San Antonio Spurs (13)
- East Group A: Cleveland Cavaliers (1), Indiana Pacers (4), Atlanta Hawks (8), Toronto Raptors (11), Washington Wizards (15)
- East Group B: Boston Celtics (2), Detroit Pistons (6), Orlando Magic (7), Brooklyn Nets (12), Philadelphia 76ers (13)
- East Group C: New York Knicks (3), Milwaukee Bucks (5), Chicago Bulls (9), Miami Heat (10), Charlotte Hornets (14)
The round-robin group play games will be starting a little earlier than usual this season and will run from October 31 to November 28. Each team will face the other four clubs in its group once, with the winners of each group and one wild card team from each conference advancing to the eight-team, single-elimination knockout round.
The full schedule of group play games can be viewed right here.
The quarterfinals will be played on December 9-10, with the semifinals and final to follow on Dec. 13 and Dec. 16, respectively, in Las Vegas. The knockout round games will all be aired by one of the NBA’s new broadcasting partners, Amazon Prime.
The Bucks won last season’s NBA Cup, with star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo earning MVP honors after leading Milwaukee to a victory over the Thunder in the championship game.
Central Notes: Pistons, Ivey, Nance, Nesmith, Mathurin
Speaking on Tuesday to reporters, including Keith Langlois of Pistons.com, Pistons president of basketball operations Trajan Langdon spoke about the size and shooting that Duncan Robinson will bring to the team and lauded Caris LeVert for his defensive versatility, ball-handling, and “unselfish brand of basketball.” He also pointed out that both newcomers have plenty of postseason experience.
However, Langdon also made it clear that the additions of Robinson and LeVert aren’t the only reasons why he’s enthusiastic about his team’s potential in 2025/26.
“I think the one thing that does get lost in all of this, to be honest with you, is (Jaden Ivey‘s) return,” Langdon said. “A lot of people are saying, who are you filling with these guys that are exiting. I say, well, we have a pretty good free agent pickup in J.I., so I think he’s going to fill a lot of those point guard roles and play-making roles.”
In addition to getting Ivey back, the Pistons also expect young cornerstones like Cade Cunningham and Jalen Duren to continue improving.
“We have a chance to compete next year,” Langdon said. “The main thing for us is continuing to let these young guys develop and they’re in the gym working their butt off. Like I said from initially in the summer, if they get better, we’re going to be better. So it was finding pieces to complement our young players and their growth and ability to reach their potential. I think with our two additions, we got bigger and we want to continue to put them around guys who can play-make. That’s going to continue to help Cade grow and develop.”
Here’s more from around the Central:
- After the Pistons generated a $14.1MM traded player exception in their sign-and-trade deal sending Dennis Schröder to Sacramento, Hunter Patterson of The Athletic considers what sort of players it might make sense to target using that TPE. Herb Jones, Goga Bitadze, and Brandon Clarke are among the names he suggests.
- A member of the Cavaliers from 2018-21, Larry Nance Jr. has remained close with the organization since then and spent his summers in Cleveland in the years, writes Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com (subscription required). That’s one reason why it came as no surprise that the Ohio native signed a deal to return to the Cavs this offseason. “It just made too much sense, you know? I knew I would (be back one day). I didn’t know when,” Nance said. “… This is a team that’s really got a chance to win it all. And that’s the goal. That’s why I came back, and that’s what we’re going to do this year.”
- Aaron Nesmith and Bennedict Mathurin will be extension-eligible ahead of the start of the 2025/26 regular season and the Pacers plan to discuss new deals for them, but president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard is preaching patience, per Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star. “Can I just have like 24 hours please?” Pritchard said when asked on Monday about potential Mathurin and Nesmith extensions. “Literally, guys, we went straight from the Finals to the draft to free agency to Summer League. … We’ll look at all those kinds of things. But I think that’s a little premature. We have all summer and up until next year to do those.” Dopirak views Nesmith (who will be extension-eligible starting in October) as a no-brainer candidate for a new contract but acknowledges that Mathurin’s situation is a little more complicated.
Pacers Sign Kam Jones, Quenton Jackson
The Pacers have officially announced a pair of signings, issuing a press release to say that they’ve finalized a standard contract with second-round pick Kam Jones and have brought back restricted free agent guard Quenton Jackson on a two-way deal.
A 6’5″ combo guard, Jones spent his entire four-year college career at Marquette, where he was a consensus second-team All-American and a member of the All-Big East first team in 2025 after averaging 19.2 points, 5.9 assists, and 4.5 rebounds in 33.8 minutes per game across 34 outings as a senior.
Pacers president of basketball operations said on Monday that Jones reminds him of Andrew Nembhard as a player and Tyrese Haliburton as a person, per Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star.
“He’s hyper-positive,” Pritchard said. “… He’s got that kind of an ‘it factor’ of, that’s a Pacer.”
Indiana drafted Jones using the No. 38 overall pick, which the team had agreed to acquire a day earlier from San Antonio in exchange for a future second-round pick and cash. The rookie guard will occupy a spot on the Pacers’ 15-man roster in 2025/26 after signing a four-year, $8.7MM contract, according to Tony East of Locked on Pacers (Twitter link), who says the deal includes a good deal of non-guaranteed money in the later seasons.
As for Jackson, he received a qualifying offer to make him a restricted free agent after finishing each of the past two seasons on two-way deals with Indiana. The former undrafted free agent averaged 5.8 PPG, 1.9 APG and 1.6 RPG on .475/.375/.775 shooting in 28 games (13.6 MPG) in ’24/25 for the Pacers.
With Jackson back under contract on another two-way deal alongside RayJ Dennis, the Pacers have two of their three slots filled. The leading candidate for that third opening is probably Enrique Freeman, given that Indiana still has a two-way qualifying offer on the table to the 2024 second-rounder.
Contract Details: KPJ, J. Smith, Wiseman, Schröder, Stevens
Despite the fact that the Bucks used their room exception to complete the signing, guard Kevin Porter Jr. received the exact value of the bi-annual exception on his new two-year deal, Hoops Rumors has confirmed. The first year is worth $5,134,000, with a second-year player option worth $5,390,700. The move leaves roughly $3.65MM on Milwaukee’s room exception.
A player who re-signs with his previous team on either a one-year contract or a two-year deal with a second-year option is typically awarded the right to veto a trade for the rest of that season. However, Porter is one of a few players, along with Lakers big man Jaxson Hayes, who have waived that right as part of their new deals.
Sixers guard Eric Gordon and Raptors wing Garrett Temple have also given up that right to veto a trade, Hoops Rumors has confirmed.
We have more details on some of the recently signed contracts from around the league:
- Jabari Smith Jr.‘s five-year, $122MM rookie scale extension with the Rockets declines in the second season before increasing in each of the final three years, notes Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic. That dip in 2027/28 comes during the season in which an extension for Amen Thompson figures to be hitting Houston’s books — it could also be the final year of Kevin Durant‘s contract, if he signs a two-year extension with the team at some point.
- James Wiseman‘s new two-year, minimum-salary contract with the Pacers, which features a second-year team option, is partially guaranteed for $1MM in 2025/26, Hoops Rumors has learned. If Wiseman’s option for ’26/27 is exercised, that year’s salary would be partially guaranteed for roughly $1.13MM.
- Dennis Schröder‘s three-year deal with the Kings, which is worth exactly the three-year value of the mid-level exception ($44,427,600), is partially guaranteed for $4.35MM in the third year, tweets Michael Scotto of HoopsHype. Although the contract fits into the MLE, Sacramento is believed to have used an existing trade exception to accommodate the acquisition of Schröder.
- Isaiah Stevens‘ two-way contract agreement with the Kings will cover two years, according to Scotto (Twitter link).
Pacers’ Pritchard Discusses Losing Turner To Bucks
Asked during a Monday media session about losing free agent big man Myles Turner to their division rivals in Milwaukee, Pacers president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard said he had been engaged in “good-faith” negotiations with Turner’s camp and that team ownership was willing to go “deep into the tax” to hang onto Indiana’s starting center, per James Boyd of The Athletic and Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star.
“If we keep Myles at the number we were talking about — or in that ballpark, because I felt like that was still a little bit ongoing — and with the moves that we were talking about doing, we weren’t trickling into the tax,” Pritchard said (YouTube link). “We were over a second threshold.”
Pritchard clarified that the Pacers would not have operated over the second tax apron, so the “second threshold” he cited may have been a reference to the luxury tax brackets — the tax penalties get increasingly more punitive for every $5.7MM a team spends over the tax line. Indiana may also have exceeded the first apron if Turner had been re-signed.
There were conflicting reports on exactly what the Pacers’ final offer was, but most of those reports suggested the team hadn’t gone beyond a three-year bid worth about $22-23MM per year. Turner ultimately signed a four-year contract worth a total of nearly $109MM with the Bucks.
“I felt like we were working towards a deal,” Pritchard said. “But when you’re unrestricted, as soon as you hear a number that you feel like is good for you, then I think he felt like he had to take that.
“… It’s his opportunity, it’s his right to say, ‘Hey, that’s it and I’m going in a different direction.’ It was never acrimonious, it was always pleasant going back and forth. I think that there was a number he was trying to hit. I think we were in the ballpark. But that’s my opinion. It must not have been for him.”
Pritchard admitted that he learned about Turner leaving Indiana for Milwaukee the same way that most fans did.
“We would have been open on a sign-and-trade because it’s sort of mutually beneficial, but we didn’t get to that point, unfortunately,” Pritchard said. “I saw Shams (Charania) tweet it, and that’s how I knew that Myles was taking (the Bucks’ offer).
“… I was shocked, if I’m being perfectly honest. I thought we were kind of going back and forth in an open way. We’ve done big deals with that agency, and they’re great guys, and we’ll be doing more business with them. But Myles must’ve heard something in that (Bucks offer) that said, ‘I’m gonna take it right now.'”
While a sign-and-trade deal might’ve put the Pacers in position to acquire something of value in return for Turner, the Bucks were able to create the cap room unnecessary to sign him outright by completing a series of roster moves that included waiving Damian Lillard and stretching his $112.6MM in remaining salary across five seasons.
Pritchard acknowledged being surprised by Milwaukee’s aggressiveness, though he said the front office was aware of the possibility of an over-the-cap team finding a way to create cap room.
“We always say in our conference room, there’s cap teams that have cap space and there’s shadow teams that have cap space,” he said. “You can go get it, but it becomes very challenging by buying out (players) or making trades. Hat tip to Milwaukee to do that. … I can’t tell you that we were fully expecting that.”
Pacers Sign James Wiseman
10:00 pm: Wiseman signed a two-year, minimum-salary contract with a partial guarantee and a second-year team option, according to Tony East of Locked on Pacers (Twitter link). It’s a similar structure to the deal the big man received from the team last offseason.
2:31 pm: The Pacers have brought back free agent center James Wiseman, the team confirmed in a press release. President of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard had told reporters earlier in the day that a new deal with Wiseman was in the works.
The No. 2 overall pick in the 2020 draft, Wiseman signed with the Pacers as a free agent a year ago after playing for Golden State and Detroit in his first four NBA seasons. The big man impressed Indiana in the preseason and appeared to have the edge for the backup center role behind Myles Turner, but tore his left Achilles in the club’s regular season opener.
Wiseman has dealt with several injuries in his young career, including missing the entire 2021/22 season following knee surgery. Over the course of five years, the 24-year-old has appeared in 148 total games (55 starts), averaging 9.1 points and 5.6 rebounds in 18.9 minutes per contest.
As Scott Agness of Fieldhouse Files tweets, Pritchard said on Monday that Wiseman will get an opportunity to compete in Indiana’s new Turner-less frontcourt alongside Jay Huff, Tony Bradley, and restricted free agent Isaiah Jackson, who is considered likely to re-sign.
It’s unclear whether or not Wiseman’s salary will be guaranteed or if he’s assured of a regular season roster spot — it’s possible he’ll be vying for a 15-man spot with Bradley, whose salary is non-guaranteed. Still, Pritchard spoke enthusiastically today about Wiseman.
“We saw a lot of potential in him in the preseason and going up until his injury,” Pritchard said, per Matthew Glenesk and Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star. “Very long. Very athletic. Becoming a better shooter. I think he’s getting to that point where his injury is allowing him to get on the court and — not full, but do a lot. I think (assistant coach) Jim Boylen has done a great job with him and Isaiah quite frankly, in this shortened summer and they’ll continue to work. You don’t replace Myles but a combination of those players, we’re going to have to rely on.”
Pacers’ Pritchard: Haliburton Won’t Play In 2025/26
Speaking on Monday to reporters, Pacers president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard confirmed that star point guard Tyrese Haliburton, who tore his right Achilles tendon during Game 7 of the NBA Finals last month, will miss the entire 2025/26 season.
“I have no doubt that he will be back better than ever,” Pritchard said (Twitter video link via WISH-TV News). “… He will not play next year though. He would not jeopardize that now. So don’t get any hopes up that he will play.
Pritchard’s update doesn’t come as a real surprise, given how late in the spring Haliburton’s injury occurred. He suffered the Achilles tear on June 22 and underwent surgery the following day.
It typically takes upwards of a full calendar year for players to fully recover following Achilles surgery. By the time the NBA postseason tip off next April, Haliburton will be fewer than 10 months into his recovery process, and there’s no guarantee Indiana will make a deep playoff run – or even make the playoffs at all – without him available in 2025/26.
Pritchard said Haliburton’s absence will create “opportunities to grow” for some of Indiana’s players. While Andrew Nembhard and T.J. McConnell are the top two candidates to take over point guard duties, it wouldn’t be a surprise if Bennedict Mathurin also assumes more of a ball-handling and play-making role as he enters the final year of his rookie scale contract.
As Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star relays (via Twitter), Pritchard went on to joke that Haliburton will have to serve as his general manager until he’s healthy and that he’ll “probably be better than (actual GM) Chad (Buchanan).”
Haliburton has expressed no regrets about trying to play through a calf injury to win a championship, suggesting he’d do it the same way over again if he could, even knowing he’d suffer a far more significant injury. Pritchard doesn’t share that sentiment, Dopirak notes (via Twitter), even though the Pacers’ top basketball executive believes the club would have won Game 7 if Haliburton didn’t get hurt.
Free Agent Rumors: Guards, Kuminga, Pacers, Hayes
An expectation that Bradley Beal will soon become an unrestricted free agent is affecting the markets for free agent guards Chris Paul, Russell Westbrook, and Malcolm Brogdon, who are drawing interest from many of the same teams, writes Jake Fischer of The Stein Line (Substack link).
According to Fischer, the Clippers, Lakers, Bucks, and Timberwolves are among the teams expected to have interest in signing Beal if and when he finalizes a buyout agreement with the Suns, which seems increasingly likely. A previous report also identified the Warriors as a possible suitor for Beal, with the Heat viewed as less likely after their trade for Norman Powell.
The Clippers and Bucks are known to have interest in Paul, Fischer points out, so if Beal ends up with one of those teams, it would likely rule that club out for CP3, perhaps increasing the odds of the 40-year-old reuniting with the Suns.
As for Brogdon, he has the Clippers, Suns, Lakers, Warriors, Timberwolves, and Bucks are also among the teams that have registered some level of interest in him, along with the Pelicans and Kings, Fischer reports.
Free agents like De’Anthony Melton and Ben Simmons may also find themselves involved in this game of backcourt musical chairs, according to Fischer, who suggests that their potential landing spots should become more clearer once one or two of those top guards – starting with Beal – finds a new home.
Here are a few more notes on free agents from around the NBA:
- There was no traction on the Jonathan Kuminga front over the weekend, sources tell Anthony Slater of The Athletic (Twitter link). According to Slater, the Kings have been the most aggressive suitor for the Warriors restricted free agent so far, but nothing has come close. In fact, the market for all of the top restricted free agents remains “ice cold,” Slater adds.
- The Pacers are expected to reunite with a pair of familiar faces to fill out their frontcourt. Speaking to reporters today, president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard said the club is planning to re-sign James Wiseman and that things are trending in the right direction with restricted free agent Isaiah Jackson (Twitter links via Tony East).
- Veteran center Jaxson Hayes gave up his right to veto a trade this season when he re-signed with the Lakers, reports Dan Woike of The Athletic (Twitter link). By default, a player re-signing with his previous team on a one-year contract gets a de facto no-trade clause, but a team can ask a player to waive that right as part of his new deal.
Seven-Team Kevin Durant Trade Officially Finalized
The seven-team trade that sends star forward Kevin Durant and free agent big man Clint Capela (via sign-and-trade) to Houston is now official, according to press releases from several teams, including the Rockets.
“Having played against Kevin and coached him before, I know he’s the type of competitor who fits with what we’ve been building here in Houston,” head coach Ime Udoka said in a statement. “His skill level, love of basketball, and dedication to his craft have made him one of the most respected players of his generation, and my staff and I are excited to work with him.”
The move sets a new NBA record for most teams involved in a single trade. The terms of the deal are as follows:
- Rockets acquire:
- Kevin Durant (from Suns)
- Clint Capela (sign-and-trade; from Hawks)
- Suns acquire:
- Jalen Green (from Rockets)
- Dillon Brooks (from Rockets)
- Daeqwon Plowden (from Hawks)
- The draft rights to Khaman Maluach (No. 10 pick; from Rockets)
- The draft rights to Rasheer Fleming (No. 31 pick; from Timberwolves)
- The draft rights to Koby Brea (No. 41 pick; from Warriors)
- Either the Thunder’s, Mavericks’, or Sixers’ 2026 second-round pick (whichever is second-most favorable; from Rockets)
- Lakers acquire:
- The draft rights to Adou Thiero (No. 36 pick; from Nets)
- Warriors acquire:
- The draft rights to Alex Toohey (No. 52 pick; from Suns) and the draft rights to Jahmai Mashack (No. 59 pick; from Rockets)
- Note: Mashack’s rights will be sent to the Grizzlies in a subsequent trade.
- The draft rights to Alex Toohey (No. 52 pick; from Suns) and the draft rights to Jahmai Mashack (No. 59 pick; from Rockets)
- Timberwolves acquire:
- The draft rights to Rocco Zikarsky (No. 45 pick; from Lakers)
- Either the Warriors’ or Nuggets’ 2026 second-round pick (whichever is least favorable; from Suns)
- Either the Suns’ or Rockets’ 2032 second-round pick (whichever is most favorable; from Suns/Rockets)
- Note: The Suns, not the Rockets, retain the least favorable of the two picks.
- Cash (from Lakers).
- Note: $3.25MM, per ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link).
- Nets acquire:
- Either the Clippers’ 2026 second-round pick or the most favorable of the Celtics’, Pacers’, and Heat’s 2026 second-round picks (whichever is least favorable; from Rockets)
- The Celtics’ 2030 second-round pick (from Rockets)
- Hawks acquire:
- David Roddy (from Rockets)
- The right to swap their own 2031 second-round pick for the Rockets’ 2031 second-round pick (56-60 protected; from Rockets)
- Cash (from Rockets)
- Note: $85,300, per Marks (Twitter link).
Word first broke on Wednesday that the Durant trade was being expanded to be completed as a seven-team deal. For the most part, it was just a matter of folding separate draft-night trade agreements into a single transaction.
In addition to the original Durant blockbuster (story), this transaction incorporates trade agreements between the Suns and Nets (story), Suns and Warriors (story), Suns and Timberwolves (story), and Lakers and Timberwolves (story), as well as the sign-and-trade deal sending Capela from the Hawks to the Rockets (story).
The only two new additions to this deal are Plowden and Roddy, who are both entering the second year of two-way contracts. The addition of Plowden ensures that the Hawks are “touching” a second team besides Houston in the deal. He’s being waived by the Suns, reports Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic (Twitter link).
In exchange for sending out Plowden, the Hawks are filling that newly opened two-way slot with Roddy, a former first-round pick who spent more than half of the 2024/25 season in Atlanta on a standard contract.
Attaching the Capela sign-and-trade deal into this transaction has cap-related benefits for the Rockets, who would otherwise have had to send out a separate matching salary in order to sign Capela to his reported three-year, $21MM deal.
However, for the most part, amalgamating all those draft-night deals is just about streamlining the process for several teams, allowing them to take part in (or wait out) fewer trade calls and get their newly acquired rookies under contract sooner.
Stein’s Latest: Valanciunas, Horford, Ham, Suns, Reid, More
After reporting on Saturday that the Nuggets plan to go through with their trade for Jonas Valanciunas despite the veteran center’s interest in signing with EuroLeague club Panathinaikos, Marc Stein of The Stein Line reiterates in his latest Substack post that Denver’s front office is “determined to enforce” Valanciunas’ contract and “optimistic” the Lithuanian big man will be a Nugget in 2025/26.
As Stein explains, even if Valanciunas agreed to give back his entire $10.4MM salary for next season in a buyout, which would give the Nuggets enough cap space below the luxury tax line to use the full mid-level exception, Denver still wouldn’t have an easy way to find another backup center, with most of the top free agents already off the board.
Having access to the full MLE would theoretically give the Nuggets the ability to offer a lucrative contract to Al Horford, who is still a free agent, but Stein continues to hear the 39-year-old big man is “destined” to sign with the Warriors, who can currently only offer him the taxpayer version of the MLE.
Valanciunas doesn’t have the ability to unilaterally terminate his contract, and the Nuggets don’t have to accept a buyout even if he did forfeit his entire salary, Stein notes. One source Stein spoke to said a resolution remains uncertain but acknowledged that Valanciunas might have to remain with Denver despite his apparent desire to return to Europe.
Here’s more from Stein:
- The Suns and Knicks are both looking for a top assistant coach and have expressed interest in trying to lure Darvin Ham away from the Bucks, per Stein. However, Milwaukee is “determined to keep” Ham unless he gets the chance to become a head coach again elsewhere. Stein points out that joining Phoenix or New York would be a lateral move for Ham, since he’s already the Bucks’ top assistant, and says Milwaukee “loves having Ham back” after his two-year stint as the Lakers’ top coach.
- The Grizzlies are another team in search of a No. 1 assistant under new head coach Tuomas Iisalo, Stein adds.
- Before trading for Mark Williams and drafting Khaman Maluach, the Suns tried to pursue a sign-and-trade with the Timberwolves for Naz Reid, according to Stein, who writes that Reid’s new five-year, $125MM contract with Minnesota is believed to have played a factor in Myles Turner‘s decision to leave the Pacers for the Bucks in free agency. Indiana reportedly never offered Turner a deal as lucrative as Reid received from the Wolves.