And-Ones: Sengun, Giannis, Future Rankings, G League Swap, Drell
Rockets center Alperen Sengun made an eye-opening statement regarding Giannis Antetokounmpo after Turkey defeated Greece for the EuroBasket semifinals.
“He’s not a great passer. He’s an amazing player, you know, but he’s not a great passer. So we just tried to help and jump to close the paint,” Sengun said, per Edvinas Jablonskis of BasketNews.com.
When asked about Sengun’s comments on Sunday, according to BasketNews, the Bucks superstar replied, “I’m not the guy that will talk back to coaches or players or people that say bad things about me. It doesn’t really matter because at the end of the day, you won’t remember what they say. You’ll remember how I respond. So, I keep everything to myself. You can go see my clips on YouTube. And then come back and ask me if I’m a good passer. There you go. That’s it.”
The disagreement continued on social media but both players later issued apologies for comments they made on Instagram, according to Eurohoops.net.
We have more from around the international basketball world:
- ESPN’s Insiders updated their three-year future rankings of every NBA franchise based on a variety of factors. Not surprisingly, the defending champion Thunder received the top ranking. The Rockets, Knicks, Cavaliers and Clippers rounded out the top five, with the Suns occupying the bottom of the totem pole.
- The Oklahoma City Blue, the Thunder‘s NBA G League team, has acquired a 2026 first-round pick and the returning player rights to Steven Richardson from the Wisconsin Herd in exchange for the returning player rights to Cormac Ryan, Thunder beat reporter Rylan Stiles tweets. Ryan joined the Bucks‘ camp roster on an Exhibit 10 deal last week, so this clears the way for him to receive a bonus up to $85,300 if he’s waived and then spends 60 days or more with the Herd.
- Spanish club Joventut Badalona and former Bulls forward Henri Drell have reached an agreement for the next two months with an option to extend until the end of the season, according to Penya.com. Drell played in the EuroBasket tournament with the Estonian national team. Last year, he played 15 games with La Laguna Tenerife. Drell appeared in four games with Chicago during the 2023/24 season.
And-Ones: Roster Holes, G League Trades
With the start of training camp mere weeks away, Kevin Pelton of ESPN takes a look at the biggest 2025/26 roster holes for all 30 NBA teams.
Beyond the reigning champion Thunder, who will be bringing back their full playoff lineup and whose perceived biggest need is a fresh arena, Pelton believes every club has personnel issues.
Among top East contenders, Pelton posits that Cleveland could use some help along the wing with injured swingman Max Strus expected to be out for multiple months. Pelton notes that New York may want to add more proven veteran help to shore up its bench. In the West, Pelton observes that the Rockets and Nuggets could use help at the point, while Minnesota could benefit from some additional depth on the perimeter.
There’s more from around the basketball world:
- The Pistons‘ G League club, the Motor City Cruise, has traded the returning player rights to big man Cameron Martin and guard Javante McCoy to the Nuggets‘ NBAGL affiliate, the Grand Rapids Gold, for the rights to center Charles Bediako and a 2026 international pick, Motor City has announced (Twitter link).
- Raptors 905, the Raptors‘ NBAGL affiliate, is trading their rights to guard Kennedy Chandler to the Sixers‘ G League club, the Delaware Blue Coats, in exchange for wing Patrick McCaw and a future first-rounder, reports Blake Murphy of Sportsnet.ca (via Twitter). Murphy tweets that some EuroLeague teams considered bringing McCaw aboard earlier in the offseason. McCaw has been in the G League for four seasons, and Murphy is unsure if he’ll continue suiting up close to NBA scouts or will take a more lucrative offer elsewhere.
- In case you missed it, newly crowned EuroBasket MVP Dennis Schröder cited Hall of Fame countryman Dirk Nowitzki as the major inspiration who helped turn Germany into an international force.
Western Notes: Gobert, Abdelfattah, Sengun, Durant
The Timberwolves paid a hefty price to the Jazz to acquire Rudy Gobert. Minnesota was heavily criticized for giving up five players and a package of first-rounders for the defensive stalwart after Gobert’s first season in the organization. However, the trade can now be considered a resounding win for the Timberwolves, Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic opines.
Krawczynski cites Gobert’s impact over the past two seasons and suggests the team’s success during that stretch have changed the culture in Minnesota. The organization has become a place players want to play with heightened expectations and Gobert has been a big part of that change.
We have more from the Western Conference:
- The Timberwolves have officially hired Mahmoud Abdelfattah as head coach of the Iowa Wolves, the club’s NBA G League affiliate, according to a team press release. The Wolves’ decision to hire him was reported last month. Most recently, Abdelfattah spent the 2023/24 season as the head coach of the Sydney Kings of Australia’s National Basketball League. Prior to his time with the NBL’s Kings, the Chicago native spent four seasons (2019-2023) in the Rockets organization.
- Alperen Sengun has been one of the stars of the EuroBasket tournament, which comes as no surprise to Rockets coach Ime Udoka, according to Danielle Lerner of the Houston Chronicle. That’s what Udoka advised his starting center when he visited Turkey this summer. “It was really, ‘Be aggressive and get back to dominating as you have throughout your career,’ basically,” Udoka said. “For him, we wanted to work on specific things and the way they guard him over in Europe, in EuroBasket. And he’s doing a great job, obviously, getting high assist numbers, being very efficient, but doing all the things and trying to be well rounded. So it wasn’t just about scoring the ball.”
- Speaking of Udoka, the Rockets coach received this message from Kevin Durant — use me in any way necessary. Durant would rather fit in than have their young core become passive. “He wants to kind of be implemented into the group, and people not take a back seat to him,” Udoka told Lerner. “That’s his message to a lot of the young guys: Be who you are, continue to grow in those areas, and I’ll fit in where we see necessary.”
Pacific Notes: Harris, Wiggins, Hayes-Davis, Aspiration
Zach Harris has been named general manager of the Warriors’ NBA G League affiliate, the Santa Cruz Warriors, according to a team press release. Additionally, Noah Robotham has been promoted to assistant GM.
Harris is entering his second season with the Santa Cruz Warriors after serving as an assistant GM last year. He joined the Warriors organization with four years of G League experience, having worked for the Grand Rapids Gold as a basketball strategy coordinator for the 2022/23 season, the Capital City Go-Go as a basketball operations assistant from 2018-20, and as an intern for the Iowa Wolves in 2017.
Robotham is entering his third season with the Santa Cruz Warriors, having spent last year as the team’s manager of basketball operations. In his first season with the Warriors in 2023/24, he served as a coaching associate and basketball operations coordinator.
Here’s more from the Pacific Division:
- The Lakers reportedly are looking to upgrade the wing position with the Heat’s Andrew Wiggins as a potential target. Lakers beat reporter Jovan Buha expresses skepticism on his Buha’s Block podcast (video link) that the Lakers can pull off a Wiggins trade without including a first-round pick. He also doesn’t expect that some combination of Dalton Knecht, Rui Hachimura and Gabe Vincent would be enough to pull off a trade.
- The Suns signed Nigel Hayes-Davis to a one-year contract in July after he spent seven years playing overseas. The Athletic’s Doug Haller details Hayes-Davis’ long journey back to the NBA. “For sure, I would’ve been surprised (it took so long), but to talk about the past is almost pointless,” Hayes-Davis said. “… I will say that I’m appreciative of the journey that I’ve had. Is it the one I thought about as a child growing up? Of course not. But it’s been fantastic.”
- The ongoing saga regarding Kawhi Leonard‘s no-show endorsement deal with Aspiration as a means of the Clippers potentially circumventing the league’s salary cap rules has been a hot topic the past two weeks. ESPN’s Shwetha Surendran takes a closer at the now-defunct company, including its business model and high-profile investors.
Why So Many Players Will Be Signed-And-Waived Before Season
The Raptors have signed three free agents to their offseason roster this week. They’ve also waived those same three players, with Quincy Guerrier, Tyreke Key, and Jarkel Joiner each spending no more than a single day under contract with the team, despite the fact that training camp is still weeks away.
There will be dozens of this sort of “sign-and-waive” transaction completed in the next five-plus weeks before opening night — many of them will involve players who don’t have a realistic path to make their team’s regular season roster and won’t be under contract for more than a day or two.
While they may look pointless on the surface, these moves are meaningful to teams and players for a couple reasons. Here are the two reasons why you can count on seeing many more sign-and-trade moves in the coming weeks:
1. In order to secure a player’s G League rights
Up to four players waived by a team prior to the start of the NBA regular season can be designated as “affiliate players.” As we explain in more detail in our glossary entry on the subject, if a player designated as an affiliate player signs a G League contract, he’s automatically assigned to that team’s NBAGL squad.
A player can only be made an affiliate player if his returning rights aren’t already controlled by a G League team. That’s why our annual list of affiliate players around the league consists mostly of undrafted rookies and a few veterans who have never played in the NBAGL before.
If a player has only ever been assigned to the G League while on a standard or two-way contract with an NBA team, his returning rights aren’t controlled by that club. For example, if a team were to sign Emoni Bates to a training camp deal this fall, it could designate him as an affiliate player, since he has only played in the G League while on a two-way contract with the Cavaliers — that means the Cleveland Charge don’t control his returning rights.
Sign-and-waive transactions involving players meant to be designated as affiliate players often don’t occur until training camps begin, since a player is typically require to participate in at least one day of team activities in order to qualify as an affiliate player.
2. In order to award a player a bonus
Many of the players who are signed and immediately waived by an NBA team can’t be designated as affiliate players because their G League rights are already controlled by a specific club.
This applies to the three players signed-and-waived by the Raptors this week — Guerrier and Key played for the Raptors 905 last season, while Toronto’s affiliate made a trade last month to acquire Joiner’s returning rights. That means if Guerrier, Key, and Joiner sign G League contracts this fall, the 905 would control them as “returning rights” players and wouldn’t have to use one of their four “affiliate player” slots to retain them.
The Raptors didn’t need to sign Guerrier, Key, and Joiner to contracts to acquire their G League rights, but giving them non-guaranteed Exhibit 10 deals will allow Toronto to award those players some bonus money on top of their standard G League base salaries.
A player who signs an Exhibit 10 contract and then is waived before the season will earn his Exhibit 10 bonus if he spends at least 60 days with his team’s G League affiliate. This season, the maximum Exhibit 10 bonus amount is $85,300. Since those bonuses don’t count against the cap, they serve as a way for teams to reward or incentivize a player who joins their G League affiliates instead of seeking another opportunity, perhaps overseas.
The majority of players who sign Exhibit 10 contracts are awarded the maximum allowable bonus ($85,300), but some G League role players will agree to receive bonuses that come in below that max. For example, Key – who averaged just 17.3 minutes per game during the NBAGL regular season in 2024/25 – agreed to a bonus worth just $35K, Hoops Rumors has learned.
Still, even a modest Exhibit 10 bonus represents a significant raise for a player who signs a G League contract. Shams Charania of ESPN reported in the fall of 2022 that the base NBAGL salary at that time was $40,500. It’s possible that figure has increased slightly since then, but it’s still just a small fraction of what a player would earn on a standard – or even a two-way – NBA contract. An Exhibit 10 bonus could double or even triple a G League player’s earnings for that season.
It’s worth noting that if the Raptors hadn’t acquired Joiner’s returning rights from the Hawks’ G League affiliate, they wouldn’t be in position to carry him on the 905’s roster or give him an Exhibit 10 bonus. If an NBA team signs and waives a player whose NBAGL rights are held by another organization, it’s generally a safe bet that a G League trade to acquire that player’s returning rights is in the works.
While only some of the many sign-and-waive transactions that occur between now and the start of the regular season are about acquiring a player’s NBAGL rights, nearly all of them will involve lining up some bonus money for a player ticketed for the G League.
Heat Notes: 2026, Rozier, Achiuwa, Settle, Young
While the idea of opening up cap room in 2026 was once a goal for the Heat, that’s no longer the case, according to Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald, who notes that several potential marquee ’26 free agents have signed contract extensions that will keep them off the market.
The Heat still want to maintain flexibility going forward, but that will likely be more about having room below the luxury tax line than creating cap space, Jackson explains.
Outlining what it would look like for Miami to operate either over or under the 2026/27 cap, Jackson points out that generating a meaningful chunk of cap room would likely require the club to part ways with both Andrew Wiggins and Norman Powell. Operating over the cap appears to be the more “prudent” path for the Heat next summer, Jackson concludes.
Here’s more on the Heat:
- After reporting earlier this week that the Heat have been in contact with Precious Achiuwa and have mulled the idea of waiving Terry Rozier, Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel (subscription required) digs a little deeper into that subject, exploring why Miami has considered that path. As Winderman details, Rozier is a potential bounce-back candidate and may be a better player than Achiuwa in a vacuum, but the veteran guard could also end up buried on a crowded backcourt depth chart, whereas the team has a more pressing need up front.
- Although the Heat’s training camp won’t formally get underway until the week of September 29, several players are already back on the practice court at Kaseya Center for drills, Winderman writes within a look at the team’s roster. Winderman confirms in the same story that Miami – which currently has a full 21-man roster – is still expected to sign undrafted rookie free agent Steve Settle to an Exhibit 10 contract at some point before the regular season, as previously reported.
- The Sioux Falls Skyforce, Miami’s G League affiliate, acquired Jahmir Young‘s returning rights from the Grand Rapids Gold in a three-team trade that sent Bryson Warren‘s rights to the Westchester Knicks and Moses Brown‘s rights to the Gold (the Nuggets‘ affiliate), per a press release. Young was one of four players who signed Exhibit 10 contracts with the Heat on Thursday, so if he’s waived before the season and then decides to play in the G League, the Skyforce would have his rights.
Southwest Notes: FVV, Adams, Grizzlies, Pelicans, Mavs
The Rockets‘ trade for Kevin Durant was clearly the most impactful move of the team’s offseason, but extending Steven Adams and re-signing Fred VanVleet on a more team-friendly deal shouldn’t be overlooked, Danielle Lerner of The Houston Chronicle (subscription required) writes in a preview of the club’s season.
As Lerner points out, both VanVleet and Adams are respected locker-room leaders in addition to providing value on the court and were among Houston’s most effective players in the postseason series vs. Golden State.
After winning 52 games last season, the Rockets appear capable of increasing that number in 2025/26, perhaps to the 55-win range, Lerner writes. However, winning in the playoffs will be the ultimate barometer of success in Houston this season — the team hasn’t won a postseason series since 2020.
We have more from around the Southwest:
- In addition to previewing Houston’s 2025/26 campaign, Lerner spoke to beat writers for other Southwest teams within the past week to get a sense of their outlooks for the coming season. Michael Wallace of Grind City Media (Chronicle subscriber link) believes the Grizzlies are capable of competing for a top-six seed in the West after trading away Desmond Bane; Jim Eichenhofer of Pelicans.com (subscriber link) thinks the Pelicans will exceed expectations after having widely been projected as the No. 14 team in the conference; and Eddie Sefko of Mavs.com (subscriber link) forecasts a 48-34 regular season and a playoff berth for the Mavericks.
- While the Mavericks‘ new four-year, $89MM extension with P.J. Washington looks relatively team-friendly in a vacuum, it’s unclear how much sense it makes for Dallas, according to Yossi Gozlan of The Third Apron (Substack link), who points to a crowded frontcourt and the team’s increasingly pricey roster going forward as ways the deal could backfire.
- The Memphis Hustle, the Grizzlies‘ G League affiliate, acquired the returning player rights for guard Evan Gilyard from the Raptors 905 in exchange for a 2025 NBAGL first-round pick, according to an announcement from the team (Twitter link). Gilyard, who averaged 12.3 points and 5.4 assists per game during the 2024/25 G League regular season for Toronto’s affiliate, is now a candidate to sign an Exhibit 10 contract with Memphis if the team wants to pay him more than the standard NBAGL salary.
Second-Rounder Mashack To Open Season With Memphis Hustle
Former Tennessee guard Jahmai Mashack, whose NBA rights were acquired by the Grizzlies after he was selected 59th overall in June’s draft, will open the season with the team’s G League affiliate, the Memphis Hustle, according to Chris Herrington of The Daily Memphian (Twitter link).
Herrington’s report was confirmed by Damichael Cole of The Memphis Commercial Appeal (via Twitter).
According to Cole, the Grizzlies are still high on Mashack, who impressed during a five-game Summer League showing, averaging 9.0 points, 4.4 assists, 4.0 rebounds, 2.0 steals and 1.2 blocks in 23.7 minutes per contest (.462/.417/.600 shooting line). But after reaching an agreement to sign Olivier-Maxence Prosper, the Grizzlies no longer have an open two-way spot, which leaves Mashack as the odd man out for now.
As Herrington notes, Mashack’s NBA rights are still controlled by the Grizzlies — he’ll be a domestic draft-and-stash player of sorts and not a free agent.
Gui Santos (Warriors) and Nikola Djurisic (Hawks) are two other recent examples of second-round picks who spent their first post-draft seasons in the G League — for what it’s worth, both players later signed standard contracts rather than two-way deals.
Mashack, who turns 23 years old in November, spent four college seasons with the Volunteers, mostly in a reserve role until he was a senior in 2024/25. In 38 starts last season (28.2 MPG), the 6’4″ wing averaged 6.0 PPG, 4.2 RPG, 1.5 APG and 1.7 SPG, with a shooting line of .454/.351/.723.
Mashack had been one of four 2025 draft picks who remained unsigned, and technically that’s still the case. But it certainly sounds like he’ll sign a G League contract before the season begins rather than an NBA deal with the Grizzlies.
Still, it’s worth noting that two-way contracts are non-guaranteed and don’t count against the salary cap, so it wouldn’t be surprising if Mashack ends up with the Grizzlies at some point in ’25/26. A multiyear standard deal toward the end of the season with subsequent seasons being non-guaranteed or partially guaranteed is another possibility.
NBA G League Announces Schedule, Expanded Playoffs For 2025/26
The NBA G League has officially revealed its schedule for the 2025/26 season, per a press release.
As usual, the regular season won’t begin until late December, with the league holding a separate event in the fall leading up to its Winter Showcase during the week before Christmas. In the past, this 14-game fall event has been known as the Showcase Cup. It was rebranded last year as the Tip-Off Tournament, and that moniker has carried over to 2025/26.
The Tip-Off Tournament, which begins on Friday, November 7, will see the league’s teams split into four regions. Each team will play 14 games and the four clubs with the best winning percentage in each region, along with the next four best teams from any region, will advance to the single-elimination championship tournament at the Winter Showcase in Orlando from December 19-22.
The G League’s regular season will consist of 36 games and will begin at the Winter Showcase, running through Saturday, March 28. For the first time, the top eight teams from each conference will make the postseason and compete in the G League playoffs in the spring — previously, only the top six teams in each conference qualified for the playoffs.
For a second consecutive year, all 30 NBA franchises will have their own G League affiliates. With 31 total teams in the NBAGL, the only unaffiliated club left in the league is the Mexico City Capitanes.
Although there are no new expansion teams for 2025/26, the Pacers‘ affiliate – formerly known as the Indiana Mad Ants – has rebranded as the Noblesville Boom as it moves to a new home (The Arena at Innovation Mile).
Here’s the full list of G League teams for the 2025/26 season:
- Atlanta Hawks: College Park Skyhawks
- Boston Celtics: Maine Celtics
- Brooklyn Nets: Long Island Nets
- Charlotte Hornets: Greensboro Swarm
- Chicago Bulls: Windy City Bulls
- Cleveland Cavaliers: Cleveland Charge
- Dallas Mavericks: Texas Legends
- Denver Nuggets: Grand Rapids Gold
- Detroit Pistons: Motor City Cruise
- Golden State Warriors: Santa Cruz Warriors
- Houston Rockets: Rio Grande Valley Vipers
- Indiana Pacers: Noblesville Boom
- Los Angeles Clippers: San Diego Clippers
- Los Angeles Lakers: South Bay Lakers
- Memphis Grizzlies: Memphis Hustle
- Miami Heat: Sioux Falls Skyforce
- Milwaukee Bucks: Wisconsin Herd
- Minnesota Timberwolves: Iowa Wolves
- New Orleans Pelicans: Birmingham Squadron
- New York Knicks: Westchester Knicks
- Oklahoma City Thunder: Oklahoma City Blue
- Orlando Magic: Osceola Magic
- Philadelphia 76ers: Delaware Blue Coats
- Phoenix Suns: Valley Suns
- Portland Trail Blazers: Rip City Remix
- Sacramento Kings: Stockton Kings
- San Antonio Spurs: Austin Spurs
- Toronto Raptors: Raptors 905
- Utah Jazz: Salt Lake City Stars
- Washington Wizards: Capital City Go-Go
- No NBA affiliation: Mexico City Capitanes
Southeast Notes: Badji, Young, Riley, Arison
The Hornets’ G League affiliate, the Greensboro Swarm, has traded for the rights to center Ibou Badji in a deal with the Bucks’ NBAGL squad, the Wisconsin Herd, Greensboro announced via Twitter.
In the exchange, Wisconsin acquired the No. 31 pick in the 2025 G League draft and the rights to center Jeremiah Tilmon and guard Lindell Wigginton.
Badji, 22, led the G League in blocks in 2024/25, and was named to the G League All-Defensive Team for his play with Wisconsin. The big man inked a two-way deal with the Blazers in 2023/24, appearing in 22 contests (one start). He averaged 1.5 PPG and 2.3 RPG in 10.3 MPG.
Across 34 games for the Herd in 2024/25, Badji averaged 6.8 PPG, 5.6 RPG, and 3.4 BPG. He joined the Spanish squad La Laguna Tenerife in April.
Wigginton last played in the Chinese Basketball Association, while Tilman has been with clubs in Kuwait, the Dominican Republic, and Korea since 2024.
There’s more out of the Southeast Division:
- Hawks guard Trae Young is eligible for a standard veteran extension and could decline his 2026/27 player option to begin a new deal sooner rather than later. Keith Smith of Spotrac previews what a possible contract might look like for Young, though he observes that Atlanta appears to be waiting to see how the four-time All-Star performs with the team’s new-look roster before committing to a lengthy extension. Young, an undersized guard, would need to make an All-NBA in 2026 to qualify for a super-max contract, worth up to 35% of the cap’s max in the first season.
- Heat owner Micky Arison is headed to the Hall of Fame this week as a contributor. Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun-Sentinel examines why Pat Riley, who has made the Hall of Fame before as a coach, has yet to make the cut as a contributor. Riley is one of the great modern executives, having overseen three very different rosters en route to seven NBA Finals appearances since 2005/06, winning three championships.
- In case you missed it, Miami opted not to waive and stretch the $26.7MM contract of guard Terry Rozier ahead of this season. The deadline to do so was Friday.