Free Agency Notes: Cancar, Nuggets, Turner, Middle Class, Spending Power
Veteran forward Vlatko Cancar is expected to leave the Nuggets and head to Europe next season, Donatas Urbonas of BasketNews.com reports. The Italian team Olimpia Milano has emerged as the leading candidate to sign Cancar, Urbonas adds, with a report from Aris Barkas of Eurohoops suggesting the two sides are on track to complete a two-year deal.
Cancar, 28, has spent the past five seasons with Denver. He has battled health problems in recent years, having missed all of 2023/24 due to a torn ACL and then undergoing another knee surgery this past season. In 13 total appearances in 2024/25, he averaged 1.8 points and 2.5 rebounds in 11 minutes per contest.
Cancar is an unrestricted free agent after playing on a one-year veteran’s minimum deal.
Here’s more news on the free agent front:
- Nikola Jokic lamented the Nuggets’ lack of depth after the team was eliminated by the Thunder in the playoffs. That issue has been addressed, as The Denver Post’s Bennett Durando notes (subscription required). Denver agreed to trade Michael Porter Jr. and replace him with Cameron Johnson from the Nets, made another agreed-upon trade for big man Jonas Valanciunas, and reached agreements with Tim Hardaway Jr. and Bruce Brown in free agency.
- Despite a report from the Indianapolis Star’s suggesting they went higher, both The Athletic and Jake Fischer of The Stein Line (Substack link) contend that the Pacers’ best offer to Myles Turner was in the $20-22MM per year range. Turner agreed to a four-year, $107MM deal with Central Division rival Milwaukee on Tuesday. According to Spencer Davies of RG.org, Turner would have stayed in Indiana for $25MM per year, but the organization held firm, offering a three-year, $66MM contract, with no player option on year four.
- The Athletic’s John Hollinger notes that the league “middle class,” solid rotation players but not superstars, are doing surprisingly well in free agency. He points out that eight such players received some or all of a team’s non-taxpayer mid-level exception on the first day of free agency.
- Factoring in all the reported moves prior to Wednesday, Spotrac contributor Keith Smith examines the remaining spending power of all the Eastern Conference and Western Conference teams.
And-Ones: Kokoskov, Luxury Tax Payments, 2026 Mock, Injuries, NBA TV
Hawks assistant Igor Kokoskov is leaving his position to become head coach of Turkish League team Anadolu Efes, according to Eurohoops.net. Kokoskov has signed a three-year contract.
Kokoskov has been an assistant in the NBA for 19 years, along with a stint as the head coach of the Suns during the 2018/19 season. He was also a head coach in the EuroLeague with Fenerbahce during the 2020/21 season.
Here’s more from around the international basketball world:
- How much did NBA teams who stayed below the luxury tax get rewarded for keeping their salaries below the line? Non-tax teams collected $11,530,235 from the taxpaying clubs, Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report tweets.
- Is it too early to talk about the 2026 draft class? Not for draft experts like The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie. He’s posted his first 2026 mock with Kansas guard Darryn Peterson, Duke forward Cameron Boozer and BYU wing A.J. Dybantsa occupying the top three spots.
- Thunder executive Sam Presti believes there’s a direct correlation between the number of games played and injuries. Presti mentioned the NBA’s 65-game rule to qualify for certain awards, the condensed schedule due to the in-season tournament and the recent uptick in physicality allowed by the league, according to an ESPN story.“I think the one thing we have to do is get away from the defensive nature of trying to convince people, players and teams that there’s no connection between the loads and the injuries,” Presti said. “I think it’s — we’re kind of bordering on a level of like, it’s almost insulting.”
- TNT Sports will cease production efforts on NBA TV at the end of the league’s calendar year in September, according to the Sports Business Journal’s Austin Karp. The league will begin operating the network starting Oct. 1. It will continue to carry some regular-season games during the 2025/26 season, plus WNBA, G League and other games from international leagues. One key element is that there will be far fewer live games on NBA TV once the new media-rights deal kicks in this fall with ESPN/ABC, NBC Sports and Prime Video, Karp adds.
Suns Notes: Booker, Green, Beal, Hayes-Davis
The Suns and Devin Booker are discussing a contract extension, according to NBA insider Chris Haynes, who notes (via Twitter) that the star guard will soon be eligible to add two years and $150MM onto his current deal.
Marc Stein and Brian Windhorst both reported last month that Phoenix was likely to offer Booker a maximum-salary extension once he’s eligible on July 6 and the 28-year-old was expected to accept it, so Haynes’ report doesn’t come as a surprise.
Here are few more notes and rumors out of Phoenix:
- Doug Haller of The Athletic spoke to a handful of Jalen Green‘s former coaches to get a better idea of how he and Booker will be able to coexist in the Suns’ backcourt. Green, a former No. 2 overall pick, will be sent to Phoenix from Houston as part of the Kevin Durant trade. “First off, they’re really good guys,” former Rockets head coach Stephen Silas said of Green and Booker. “They’re both selfless. They both want to win. They both have seen the goods and the bads and have a really good feel for team basketball and what it takes to help you get over the top and win. It remains to be seen, but I think when you start with the base that those two guys have, it could work.”
- Arizona Sports 98.7’s John Gambadoro has predicted that Phoenix will either trade or buyout Bradley Beal, who still has two years left on his maximum-salary contract, which features a full no-trade clause. While Beal would be open to certain trade scenarios, his preference is to stay with the Suns, as he doesn’t want to uproot his family or move away from them, a source close to the three-time All-Star tells Fred Katz of The Athletic.
- Katz also takes a look at why using the waive-and-stretch provision on Beal isn’t possible unless he gives up at least $13.8MM in a buyout and spoke to some NBA executives about what type of contract the veteran shooting guard might be able to get if he were a free agent (in the range of the non-taxpayer mid-level exception).
- Nigel Hayes-Davis‘ contract with Fenerbahce included a €1 million NBA buyout clause, notes Donatas Urbonas of BasketNews.com. The NBA’s “excluded international player payment amount” for 2025/26 is $875K, which means the Suns could pay up to that portion of Hayes-Davis’ buyout — the rest would come out of his NBA salary, unless Fenerbahce agrees to lower the amount of the buyout. The veteran forward agreed to a guaranteed one-year deal with Phoenix on Monday.
Luke Adams contributed to this article.
And-Ones: 2025 Draft Grades, 2026 Class, France, Gabriel
Five teams earned ‘A’ grades on Sam Vecenie’s post-draft report card for The Athletic, including four teams who had picks in the top six. The fifth team to earn an A was the Hawks, primarily for landing an unprotected 2026 first-round pick from the Pelicans to drop 10 spots in the middle of the first round.
Another 18 teams earned ‘B-‘ to ‘B+’ grades, meaning they mostly met or exceeded the value expected at their respective draft slots. Multiple clubs who only had second-round picks, like the Cavaliers and Warriors, found themselves in this tier. A few teams who ended up landing players who slid from pre-draft projections also ended up in this group, with the Jazz getting Ace Bailey at No. 5, the Heat landing Kasparas Jakucionis at No. 20 and the Thunder getting Thomas Sorber at No. 15.
That left five teams to earn a mark of ‘C’ or lower from Vecenie (Houston and Denver did not make any selections). The Pelicans were marked down for the haul they gave up to move up from No. 23 to No. 13 and select Derik Queen. The Nets were questioned for making three selections – Egor Demin, Nolan Traore and Ben Saraf – with positional overlap, while the Knicks earned a middling grade for selecting a stash player who may not make it to the league.
We have more from around the basketball world:
- The 2026 draft looks to be loaded on paper, with a strong blend of returners who would have been drafted this year and high-level incoming talent. In ESPN’s first full 2026 mock draft, Jonathan Givony and Jeremy Woo have Darryn Peterson of Kansas as the No. 1 overall pick. A.J. Dybantsa (BYU), Cameron Boozer (Duke), Nate Ament (Tennessee) and Mikel Brown Jr. (Louisville) round out their top five. Among returning college players, Jayden Quaintance (No. 6, Kentucky) and Yaxel Lendeborg (No. 14, Michigan) are the highest-ranking.
- Jonathan Wasserman of Bleacher Report‘s top three looks identical to ESPN’s, but he has Arizona’s Koa Peat at No. 4 in his first 2026 mock draft. Another significant difference between the two boards is Baylor wing Tounde Yessoufou‘s spot — Wasserman has him at No. 6, but ESPN places him at No. 23.
- France has named its 18-man preliminary roster for EuroBasket 2025, per the team (Twitter link). Bilal Coulibaly, Moussa Diabate, Ousmane Dieng, Zaccharie Risacher, Alex Sarr and Guerschon Yabusele are the current NBA players on the roster. Former NBAers on the team include Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot, Frank Ntilikina and Theo Maledon, among others.
- Former NBA player Wenyen Gabriel is leaving Panathinaikos to sign with Bayern Munich in Germany, according to Donatas Urbonas of BasketNews. Gabriel played his first EuroLeague season in 2024/25, averaging 6.0 points per game, and will remain in the league by signing with Bayern. The 6’9″ big man played 150 NBA games from 2019-24 across stints with the Lakers, Pelicans, Trail Blazers, Kings and others. He averaged 4.4 PPG and 3.4 RPG for his career.
Former No. 2 Pick Jabari Parker Signs With KK Partizan
Jabari Parker, who was selected between Andrew Wiggins and Joel Embiid in the 2014 NBA draft, has signed a new two-year contract with KK Partizan, the Belgrade-based club announced today in a press release.
Parker’s deal will include NBA outs, according to his agency, Priority Sports (Twitter link). The veteran forward hasn’t been on an NBA roster since being waived by Boston in January 2022, but if an opportunity does arise, it sounds like he’ll have the ability to pursue it.
Parker appeared in 310 regular season games from 2014-22 for Milwaukee, Chicago, Washington, Atlanta, Sacramento, and Boston, averaging 14.1 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 2.0 assists in 27.5 minutes per night, with a .494/.326/.743 shooting line. Injuries were an issue for the former Duke star during his time in the NBA, as he tore his left ACL twice — once as a rookie in 2014, then again in 2017.
Parker, who is still just 30 years old, has spent the last two seasons playing for FC Barcelona in Spain. He made the All-Liga ACB second team in 2025 after averaging 13.0 PPG and 3.8 RPG with an .514/.483/.784 shooting line in 33 Liga ACB (Spanish League) games. He was also productive in EuroLeague play, with averages of 13.9 PPG and 4.1 RPG on .489/.386/.837 shooting.
Barcelona and Parker mutually agreed to part ways earlier this month, ending a contract that had originally been set to run through the 2025/26 season.
Former NBA Guard Milos Teodosic Announces Retirement
Serbian point guard Milos Teodosic has announced his retirement as a basketball player, as BasketNews.com relays.
Teodosic spent most of his career playing overseas, but had a two-year stint in the NBA with the Clippers from 2017-19. He appeared in 60 contests for L.A., averaging 8.0 points, 4.0 assists, and 2.4 rebounds in 21.4 minutes per game, with a shooting line of .420/.378/.811.
“First of all, thank you for 30 years of shared battles, joy, happiness, and sorrow,” Teodosic said as part of a much longer statement. “The time has come for me to say goodbye to one phase of my love for the magical game played under the hoops. Behind me—behind us—are years filled with passion, struggle, and sacrifice. There were trophies won, but also finals lost. That’s all part of basketball, and part of life. And I wouldn’t change a thing. I would do it all the same, all over again!”
The 38-year-old began his playing career in Serbia before spending several years with Olympiacos (2007-11) and CSKA Moscow (2011-17). He won a EuroLeague MVP award in 2010 with the Greek club and a EuroLeague championship in 2016 with the Russian squad.
Following his stint in the NBA, the point guard returned to Europe, where he finished out his career with Virtus Bologna in Italy (2019-23) and Crvena Zvezda in Serbia (2023-25).
Teodosic made the All-EuroLeague first team three times and the second team three more times between 2010-17, earning a spot on the league’s All-Decade team for the 2010s. He’s the EuroLeague’s 13th all-time leading scorer and ranks sixth in total assists.
Teodosic also represented Serbia at several international competitions, including the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, where the team won a silver medal.
And-Ones: Taylor, Parker, Avdija, Power Rankings
Maria Taylor has officially been named NBC Sports’ lead studio host for the NBA and WNBA, according to an NBC Sports press release.
NBC reacquired the rights to NBA games in an 11-year agreement with the league last summer and will begin its coverage in 2025/26. Taylor will host NBC Sports’ NBA studio programs on Sunday and Tuesday nights alongside analysts Carmelo Anthony and Vince Carter.
Taylor has been the lead host of Football Night in America since 2022. Taylor also served as a host for the Tokyo, Beijing, and Paris Olympics and numerous other major events.
Here’s more from around the international basketball world:
- Jabari Parker, the No. 2 pick of the 2014 draft, will play for a different European team next season. Parker and FC Barcelona have mutually agreed on an early termination of their contract, Johnny Askounis of Eurohoops.net relays. Parker is expected to stay in the EuroLeague and join Partizan Mozzart Bet for the 2025/26 season. He averaged 13.8 points, 4.0 rebounds, 1.7 assists, and 0.8 steals per game over 39 appearances last season in the EuroLeague.
- Trail Blazers forward Deni Avdija is among 20 players on the preliminary roster announced by the Israeli Basketball Association for the EuroBasket tournament this summer, according to Askounis. Israel is scheduled to compete in Group D of the preliminary round, facing Iceland, Poland, France, Belgium, and Slovenia in Katowice from Aug. 28-Sept. 4. Avdija made his debut for the Israeli national team in 2019.
- Not surprisingly, the champion Thunder are at the top of The Athletic’s and ESPN’s power rankings for next season. The Pacers, Knicks, Timberwolves and Cavaliers round out The Athletic’s top five. ESPN has a much different top five, going with the Timberwolves at No. 2, followed by the Nuggets, Cavs and Rockets.
Draft Notes: Latest Mocks, Murray-Boyles, Jakucionis, NIL Impact, Seniors, Team Needs
The latest ESPN mock draft has plenty of guards going in the lottery. Their experts, Jonathan Givony and Jeremy Woo, believe that eight guards and/or wings will come off the board within the first 13 picks.
After Cooper Flagg (Mavericks) and Dylan Harper (Spurs), ESPN’s latest mock has guards V.J. Edgecombe (Sixers), Kon Knueppel (Hornets) and Jeremiah Fears (Jazz) rounding out the top five. Ace Bailey, formerly considered a top three pick, slips to the Wizards at No. 6. The Suns, who are acquiring the No. 10 pick from the Rockets, are projected to take South Carolina big man Collin Murray-Boyles.
Here’s more draft-related info:
- In his latest mock draft, The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie says he thinks the Sixers trading down from the No. 3 slot remains a real possibility. The Hornets have also had discussions moving both up and down the board from the No. 4 spot, while Texas wing Tre Johnson could be a surprise selection in the top five, Vecenie writes, adding that Johnson could go as high as No. 3.
- Speaking of Murray-Boyles, he worked out for the Trail Blazers over the weekend, as did Illinois guard Kasparas Jakucionis, Aaron Fentress of The Oregonian tweets. ESPN ranks Murray-Boyles at No. 13 overall with Jakucionis at No. 10. Portland owns the No. 11 pick.
- Just 32 non-international early entrants from colleges and other basketball teams or leagues and 14 international players remain in the draft, a dramatic drop-off from recent years. What’s the difference? NIL money has motivated most prospects to stay in college, unless they believe they’ll go in the first round, as Amanda Christovich of Front Office Sports details. “If you are not a guaranteed first-round pick, top-20, top-30 guy—unless you really do not want to play college basketball anymore, we are recommending and most of them are staying in school as long as they possibly can,” Michael Raymond, president and founder of Raymond Representation, told Christovich.
- The draft is usually headed by one-and-dones and other underclassmen. However, there are more seasoned college players who will come off the board this year. HoopsHype’s Cyro Asseo de Choch takes a look at the cream of the senior crop.
- The Athletic’s Law Murray breaks down the biggest draft needs for each team, identifying the picks each of those clubs hold.
Rudy Gobert Will Reportedly Miss EuroBasket 2025
Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert will not compete in this summer’s EuroBasket tournament, according to Yann Ohnona of French outlet L’Equipe.
A longtime member of France’s national team, Gobert suggested in February that he was likely to sit out the event, per RealGM.
“After the Euro, it’s always harder, that’s when you feel the backlash. And you don’t recover the same at 33 years old than at 23,” said Gobert, who turns 33 next week.
The four-time Defensive Player of the Year has not missed an international competition with France since 2017, Ohnona writes. That was also a EuroBasket tournament.
Gobert, who was named to the All-Defensive Second Team this season with Minnesota, has won a total of six medals with France, including a pair of silvers at the 2021 and 2024 Olympics. Spurs star Victor Wembanyama is also considered unlikely to play for France this summer after being diagnosed with a deep vein thrombosis — a blood clot — in his right shoulder in February, Ohnona notes.
EuroBasket 2025 begins August 27 and runs through September 14.
Jarrett Culver Signs With Japanese Team
Former NBA lottery pick Jarrett Culver has signed with the Sendai 89ers of the B. League, the top basketball league in Japan, according to the agency RBA Showcase (Twitter link).
Culver was selected with the sixth overall pick in the 2019 draft out of Texas Tech and appeared in 97 games with the Timberwolves in his first two NBA seasons. He was subsequently traded to Memphis ahead of his third year and signed a two-way contract with Atlanta for year four.
Culver appeared in a total of 144 NBA regular season games for those three teams from 2019-23, averaging 6.5 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 1.2 assists in 17.2 minutes per contest, with a .401/.276/.509 shooting line. The 6’6″ swingman had good length for a wing and showed promise defensively in college, but never developed into a reliable rotation player at the NBA level.
The 26-year-old signed an Exhibit 10 contract with Orlando last fall and spent the 2024/25 season with the Osceola Magic in the G League, averaging 13.5 PPG, 5.4 RPG, and 2.5 APG on .441/.330/.663 in 49 total appearances.
Reporting earlier this month had indicated that Culver was nearing a deal with the 89ers. This will be his first time playing for a team overseas.