Trey Lyles Signs With Real Madrid
September 10: Lyles has officially signed with Real Madrid, according to a press release from the team.
September 4: Free agent big man Trey Lyles is finalizing a contract with Real Madrid, sources tell Donatas Urbonas of BasketNews.com. The news of Lyles landing with the EuroLeague powerhouse was first reported by Javier Maestro of Spanish outlet Encestando.
Agent Rich Paul confirms to Marc Stein of The Stein Line that Lyles is signing with Real Madrid (Twitter link). Lyles’ one-year deal will be worth $3MM and will feature an NBA out clause, per Grant Afseth of RG.org.
A 10-year NBA veteran, Lyles has spent the past three-plus seasons in Sacramento. In 69 appearances with the Kings last season, the 6’9″ power forward averaged 6.5 points and 4.6 rebounds while shooting 34.0% from three-point range in 19.6 minutes per game.
Lyles, who has also been used as a small-ball center in recent years, apparently didn’t attract much NBA interest on the open market this offseason, which is a little surprising given his solid-if-unspectacular track record as a contributing role player.
While Lyles was linked to the Heat last month, Miami re-signed Dru Smith shortly thereafter, seemingly ending any further speculation on that front.
Despite playing 10 years in the league, Lyles is still only 29 years old — he turns 30 in a couple of months. The 6’9″ Canadian played one college season at Kentucky prior to being selected 12th overall back in 2015.
Lyles has largely been a rotation regular reserve throughout his career, holding averages of 7.6 PPG and 4.3 RPG in 650 regular season contests, including 131 starts (18.4 MPG). His career shooting slash line is .441/.347/.741.
Lyles spent two years apiece with Denver, Utah and San Antonio at the start of his career. He also had a six-month stint with Detroit during the 2021/22 campaign. This will be Lyles’ first European stop, Urbonas notes.
Real Madrid won both the regular season and playoffs of Spain’s top domestic league (Liga ACB) last season, but was eliminated in the quarterfinals of the EuroLeague playoffs. The team’s roster features several former NBA players, including Chuma Okeke, Theo Maledon and Mario Hezonja, among others.
Greece Reaches EuroBasket Semis Behind Giannis’ 29 Points
Behind Giannis Antetokounmpo, Greece reached the EuroBasket semifinals for the first time in 16 years, downing Lithuania, 87-76, in Riga, Latvia on Tuesday.
The Bucks superstar poured in 29 points to carry his team into a semifinal matchup with Turkey. Greece stalled in the quarterfinals during four of the last five EuroBasket tourneys, but broke though with a strong second-half effort.
Greece led 44-38 at the halftime break. Lithuania scored the first three points of the second half before Greece increased the cushion back to 51-41. It was 58-43 midway through the third quarter. Lithuania never got closer than eight points the rest of the way.
Giannis converted 9-of-15 shots and 11-of-16 free throws while scoring 29 points. He also added six rebounds, two assists, four steals and a block. Vasileios Toliopoulos hit three 3-pointers while scoring 17 points and Kostas Sloukas added 11 points and four assists.
Greece moved to within just two wins of their third EuroBasket crown. They took gold in 1987 and 2005.
“My players did a great job playing with a big heart in front of so many thousands of people from Lithuania in a very nice atmosphere,” head coach Vasileios Spanoulis said, per FIBA.
Nuggets big man Jonas Valanciunas led Lithuania with 24 points and 15 rebounds.
“Tonight was a battle. Both teams battled until the end. They were stronger,” Valanciunas said. “They were better than us. I was just happy we fought until the end, no matter what. It was a good fight.”
EuroLeague Standout Roman Sorkin Drawing Interest From NBA Teams
Maccabi Tel Aviv big man Roman Sorkin, who excelled in the EuroBasket tournament for Israel’s national team, has garnered interest from the Trail Blazers, Knicks and Heat, Ian Begley of SNY TV tweets.
Sorkin was one of the top bigs in the EuroLeague last season, averaging 12.9 points and 4.1 rebounds, and he opened even more eyes in the tournament. He averaged 16.5 points, 6.0 rebounds and 1.2 assists in six games, including a double-double against Slovenia.
Sorkin is no stranger to the U.S., having played four seasons for Oregon from 2014-18. He has played in Israel throughout his professional career.
Whether Sorkin will be able to leave Maccabi is another issue. He reportedly signed a five-year extension with the club last year, which puts him under contract through 2029, according to BasketNews.com. Sorkin would need to have some sort of out clause or buyout agreement to pursue an NBA opportunity.
Portland has 15 players under guaranteed contracts, so it would have to waive or trade one of those players to open up a roster spot.
The Heat only have 12 players with fully guaranteed contracts, but have two players with partial guarantees and can’t sign a 15th man while remaining below the luxury tax line.
The Knicks have 12 players on standard contracts, but only have room for one veteran’s minimum contract and another on a rookie minimum deal due to salary cap restrictions. Sorkin wouldn’t be a candidate for the Knicks’ rookie minimum roster slot. Since they don’t hold his draft rights, his salary would count as the veteran’s minimum for tax/apron purposes even if his cap hit was the rookie minimum, due to tax variance.
Alperen Sengun Leads Turkey Into EuroBasket Semifinals
Turkey advanced to the EuroBasket semifinals on Tuesday by defeating Poland by a score of 91-77 in the tournament’s first quarterfinal matchup.
Rockets center Alperen Sengun, who entered the day as Turkey’s top scorer, once again led the way for the team by putting up 19 points, 12 rebounds, and 10 assists in just under 31 minutes of action. It was the first EuroBasket triple-double for Sengun after he came within one assist of achieving the feat during group play vs. Czechia — he’s the youngest player to ever register a triple-double in a EuroBasket game, per FIBA.
With 151 points, 76 rebounds, and 50 assists through seven games, Sengun is the first player in the last 30 years to compile at least 150 points, 50 rebounds, and 50 assists in a single EuroBasket tournament, tweets Armando Caporaso of Sportando.
Cedi Osman, (10 points and a team-best +18 on/off mark), Shane Larkin (13 points, five assists), and Furkan Korkmaz (10 points) are among the former NBA players who also played key roles in Tuesday’s victory for the Turkish national team. Osman sustained an ankle injury in the third quarter, but head coach Ergin Ataman said after the game that he hopes the forward will be able to play on Friday, as Edvinas Jablonskis of BasketNews.com relays.
Veteran guard/forward Mateusz Ponitka and former Raptor Jordan Loyd were Poland’s leading scorers, with 19 points apiece.
The Turkish team is now 7-0 at EuroBasket 2025 and is on track for its best result since 2001 — and maybe ever. Turkey, which hosted the 2001 tournament, won silver that year, but hasn’t finished higher than eighth since then and has only ever made the top four of the European championships one other time (fourth place in 1949).
Turkey will face the winner of today’s Lithuania vs. Greece game in the semifinals on Friday.
EuroBasket Notes: Kleiza, Giannis, Muurinen, Thanasis, Georgia
Lithuania faces Greece in the quarterfinals of the EuroBasket tournament on Tuesday. Lithuanian general manager Linas Kleiza admits it will be difficult to keep Greece’s star player, Giannis Antetokounmpo, under control, Arik Barkas of Eurohoops.net writes.
“It’s a very tough matchup,” he said. “You guys (Greek media) have a very good team and a major superstar, one of the best, if not the best, players in the world. So this is a huge challenge for us, and we’re going to try to do our best, play hard, work hard, and see where it goes. But you guys definitely have a great team.”
So what is Lithuania’s plan?
“I don’t know. We’ll see tomorrow. Hope he has a bad game,” Kleiza said. “That’s all you can hope for. We’re going to try our best, but that’s why he’s the MVP. How do you stop that?”
We have more on the EuroBasket tournament:
- Finland will face Georgia in the quarterfinals on Wednesday. Finnish teenager Miikka Muurinen has made a splash in the tournament, Rafael Barlowe of NBABigBoard.com writes. Though he has only averaged 5.8 points per game, Muurinen is shooting 10-of-11 inside the arc and bringing energy on both ends, according to Barlowe. The 18-year-old forward is being pursued by top colleges such as Arkansas, Duke, and Kentucky and is considered a potential first-rounder in the 2027 draft.
- Thanasis Antetokounmpo, who recently re-signed with the Bucks after missing last season due to an Achilles injury, is using Eurobasket as a stepping stone to his NBA return, HoopsHype tweets. “Having this tournament be a ramp-up period as I get back to the NBA is a blessing from God. It’s not often you get a jump start like this,” he said. “I’m blessed to be able to step on the court, find my rhythm, and build.”
- The government of Georgia is rewarding the national team with a bonus due to its success in the tournament, according to Semih Tuna of Eurohoops.net. That bonus amounts to approximately 948 thousand Euros, or about $1.114MM U.S. dollars.
And-Ones: Horton-Tucker, NBC Promo, Micic, Unrivaled
Talen Horton-Tucker agreed to a contract with perennial Turkish power Fenerbahçe at the beginning of the month but he was given a 21-day window to continue to search for an NBA deal, according to Marc Stein in his latest Substack article for The Stein Line.
Horton-Tucker was unable to find a guaranteed contract in free agency last year but wound up spending the season with the Bulls. He made the team’s regular season roster after having signed a non-guaranteed Exhibit 10 deal last September — he was the only player on an Exhibit 10 contract to have that deal become a standard non-guaranteed deal.
Horton-Tucker eventually had his contract guaranteed when the Bulls decided to keep him around beyond the league-wide salary guarantee date in January.
Here’s more from around the basketball world:
- During the Baltimore-Buffalo NFL game on Sunday night, NBC released a new NBA promo — one featuring the lineup of several of its announcers and analysts, in the same way that NBA teams announce their starters pregame, according to The Associated Press’ Tim Reynolds. The spot promoted NBC’s opening night doubleheader on Oct. 21. NBC, which hasn’t aired NBA games since 2002, is once again an NBA partner after getting in on the league’s new 11-year, $76 billion series of broadcast deals with ABC/ESPN, NBC/Peacock and Amazon Prime Video.
- Former NBA guard Vasilije Micic, who signed with Hapoel Tel Aviv this offseason, revealed six teams that pursued him in free agency, Sportando relays. Micic provided those details on the X and O’s Chat Podcast. “Regarding Europe, I had no contact with Panathinaikos,” he said. “I have a great relationship with coach (Ergin) Ataman, but they have a different vision. Some clubs were unable to meet my financial demands. Four teams were strongly competing: Real Madrid, Hapoel (Tel Aviv), Fenerbahce, and Olympiacos. Additionally, Crvena Zvezda and Anadolu Efes were the first teams to listen to my requests.”
- Unrivaled said it has been valued at $340MM after its inaugural season, Kendra Andrews of ESPN reports. The league features professional women’s 3-on-3 contests. Unrivaled will use some of the funds to increase the venue space it has in Miami and add 150 seats to the game arena, according to Andrews. The average salary of players will remain in the six figures.
EuroBasket Quarterfinals Set After Greece Beats Israel
Led by Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo, who dominated with 37 points (on 18-of-23 shooting) and 10 rebounds in 29 minutes, Greece was the final team to advance to the quarterfinals of EuroBasket 2025 on Sunday after defeating Israel.
Although the game was close through most of the first three quarters and the final margin of victory was only five points, the Greek national team never trailed and was ahead for 39:13 of the 40-minute contest, according to FIBA. Trail Blazers forward Deni Avdija scored a team-high 22 points for Israel in the loss.
Greece will now face Lithuania, which eliminated host nation Latvia in the round of 16.
In a press release, FIBA announced the dates and tip-off times for each single-elimination quarterfinal matchup, which will continue to be held in Riga, Latvia. They are as follows:
Tuesday, September 9:
- Turkey vs. Poland – 9:00am CT / 5:00pm EEST
- Lithuania vs. Greece – 1:00pm CT / 9:00pm EEST
Wednesday, September 10:
- Finland vs. Georgia – 9:00am CT / 5:00pm EEST
- Germany vs. Slovenia – 1:00pm CT / 9:00pm EEST
Turkey and Germany are the only two undefeated teams (6-0) in the tournament, with both advancing to the quarterfinals on Saturday following victories over Sweden and Portugal, respectively. Turkey faces Poland, which went 3-2 in the group phase and knocked off Bosnia and Herzegovina for a spot in the quarterfinals, while Germany will take on Slovenia, which ousted Italy.
Serbia and France, which both went 4-1 during the group phase and were among the favorites to medal, both lost in the round of 16. Finland and Georgia pulled off those upsets, and will now meet for a spot in the semifinals.
The teams that were eliminated in the round of 16 have been officially classified as well. Group position was the primary criterion, followed by group phase record and point differential.
- France
- Serbia
- Italy
- Latvia
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Israel
- Portugal
- Sweden
Doncic, Slovenia Advance In EuroBasket With Win Over Italy
Despite a mild injury scare during the first half of Sunday’s game, Lakers star Luka Doncic led the Slovenian national team to an 84-77 victory over Italy at EuroBasket 2025, securing the country’s spot in the quarterfinals.
After pouring in 22 points in the first quarter, Doncic left the court to get his quad muscle stretched out in the Slovenian locker room, a league source tells Dan Woike of The Athletic. However, he returned to the floor a few minutes later and finished the first half with 30 points, en route to a 42-point, 10-rebound performance.
It was the first time in the tournament that Doncic has scored at least 40 points in a game, but he got close a couple times during the group stage and is now averaging 34.0 points per contest, making him this year’s leading scorer at EuroBasket by a considerable margin. He’s just the third player in the past 30 years to have at least 40 points and 10 rebounds in a EuroBasket game, per Cesare Milanti of Eurohoops, joining Germany’s Dirk Nowitzki (2001) and Spain’s Pau Gasol (2015).
Shooting guard Klemen Prepelic (11 points on 3-of-10 shooting) was the only other Slovenian player to score in double-digits.
Heat forward Simone Fontecchio led the way for the Italians with 22 points, five rebounds, and three steals. Italy was a +11 when Fontecchio was on the court, but was outscored by 18 points during his time on the bench.
Sunday’s game may be longtime NBA forward Danilo Gallinari‘s last for Italy, as he has suggested he plans to retire from the national team after EuroBasket. He had 10 points and three rebounds in 12 minutes of action.
Italy’s head coach Gianmarco Pozzecco also confirmed after Sunday’s loss to Slovenia that he plans to step down from his role with the national team, as Edvinas Jablonskis of BasketNews.com relays.
“It’s my last game with Italy,” Pozzecco told reporters. “I want to thank my president, Giovanni Petrucci, for giving me this honor to become coach of the national team. From deep of my heart, it’s like… Maybe, for sure, the best moment of my life. It was a real honor to have this role in Italian basketball.”
Three of the EuroBasket quarterfinals have now been set. Turkey will face Poland on Tuesday, while Slovenia matches up with Germany and Finland plays Georgia on Wednesday. Lithuania, which will play on Tuesday, awaits the winner of today’s showdown between Giannis Antetokounmpo‘s Greek team and Deni Avdija‘s Israeli squad.
Georgia Surprises France, Poland Ousts Bosnia At EuroBasket
Sunday produced another shocking upset at EuroBasket, as Georgia defeated France to reach the quarterfinals of the tournament for the first time ever, writes Cesare Milanti of Eurohoops.
Kamar Baldwin and Tornike Shengelia each scored 24 points and Shengelia added eight rebounds in the 80-70 victory. Orlando center Goga Bitadze also chipped in eight points. The French team got 14 points from Sylvain Francisco and 12 from Guerschon Yabusele.
“We said from the pregame meeting that we are playing to win,” Shengelia said. “We are happy to be here, but we are not satisfied.”
Next up for Georgia is a meeting on Wednesday with Finland, who took down Serbia on Saturday. Loaded with NBA talent, the French and Serbian teams were expected to be top contenders for the gold medal.
“We missed sometimes some easy shots,” French coach Frederic Fauthoux said after watching his team shoot 35% from the field, “so this is basketball.”
France was undersized with Vincent Poirier having to withdraw just before the start of the tournament due to right knee issues and Victor Wembanyama, Mathias Lessort and Rudy Gobert also unavailable. However, Georgia’s Sandro Mamukelashvili told reporters after the game that it wouldn’t have mattered if France was at full strength, per Edvinas Jablonskis of BasketNews.
“I wish them nothing but the best, but right now I can text Victor Wembanyama and tell him we just beat France,” the former Spurs center said, “and it’s too bad he was not here because we would beat them with him too.”
Poland kicked off Sunday’s elimination games with a 90-82 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina, Milanti adds in a separate story. Former NBA guard Jordan Loyd led the way with 28 points, and Mateusz Ponitka contributed 19 points and 11 rebounds.
Poland will face unbeaten Turkey on Tuesday in a quarterfinals matchup.
EuroBasket Notes: Wagner, Doncic, Larkin, Serbia
Germany advanced to the EuroBasket quarterfinals earlier today by beating Portugal, but the experience is somewhat bittersweet for Franz Wagner because his brother isn’t involved, writes Edvinas Jablonskis of BasketNews. Moritz Wagner, normally a regular part of the German national team, is still recovering from an ACL tear in his left knee that he suffered in December.
“He’s now doing some media stuff, I think, for German television as well,” Franz said. “So he’s watching all the games for sure. And obviously, we talk to him a bunch, so I know that he would love to be here.”
Moritz has been representing Germany for more than a decade, dating back to under-18 tournaments. He was part of the 2023 squad that went undefeated while capturing the gold medal at the World Cup, and he earned MVP honors in the qualifying tournament for the 2020 Summer Olympics.
Franz, who led the team with 16 points in the win over Portugal, said his brother has been offering encouraging words from the sidelines.
“Just have fun, go out there and enjoy the game,” he said. “Obviously, there’s pressure and all this stuff involved, but at the end of the day, we’re playing the game.”
There’s more from EuroBasket:
- After posting a triple-double last Sunday against Belgium, Luka Doncic narrowly missed another one in Thursday’s win over Israel, according to Eurohoops. The Slovenian star, who finished with 37 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists, said he and his teammates are confident about their medal chances. “We’re hoping for the medal. We think we can win a medal,” he said. “I know a lot of others don’t, but we believe in us. Everybody that’s here, we all believe, everyone in everyone.”
- Shane Larkin, who became a star in Turkey after a brief NBA career, wants to pay back the country by winning a medal, per Samih Tuna of Eurohoops. “If I’m part of the team that went out there and did something special, bring a medal back home to Turkiye, it would mean everything to me,” Larkin said.
- Serbian head coach Svetislav Pesic blamed a lack of physicality for today’s upset loss to Finland, BasketNews relays. Finland collected 20 offensive rebounds, resulting in numerous second-chance points. “We can look for excuses, but the reality is that you need to be in better physical shape at a tournament like this,” Pesic said. “We weren’t. Several players played through injuries. We also had a virus in the team — an illness. Nikola Jovic didn’t practice. Those things are not excuses, but when you play against a team like this, at a tournament like this, you need to be physically stronger. You can’t say the players didn’t give what they could — you can always give more, but it just didn’t happen.”