- In an exclusive interview with Marc J. Spears of Andscape, forward Brandon Ingram talks about joining the Raptors and leaving the Pelicans. While the former All-Star has “a lot of love for New Orleans,” he’s ready for a fresh start in Toronto. “This team can be whatever we want it to be,” Ingram said of the Raptors. “We have everything on the defensive end. We play hard. The next thing is execution over and over again on the offensive end. … The East is wide open this [upcoming season]. We have a chance to be better, but we’ve got to expedite it.”
Rookie big man Derik Queen has been medically cleared to participate in full basketball activities, the Pelicans announced today (via Twitter).
Head coach Willie Green said Queen was a full participant in Saturday’s practice, tweets Will Guillory of The Athletic. While the team wants to get Queen up to speed, Green said New Orleans will be careful not to rush the process after a lengthy layoff.
Queen has been rehabilitating from July surgery to address a torn scapholunate ligament in his left wrist, an injury he sustained at Summer League in Las Vegas. He was a limited participant during New Orleans’ training camp due to the injury.
Queen was selected with the 13th overall pick in June after the Pelicans sent Atlanta this year’s No. 23 selection and an unprotected 2026 first-rounder (the most favorable of New Orleans’ and Milwaukee’s picks) for the right to draft the Maryland big man, who was highly productive in his lone season with the Terrapins. In 36 games last season, the 20-year-old forward/center averaged 16.5 points, 9.0 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 1.1 steals and 1.1 blocks in 30.4 minutes per contest.
We have several more injury notes from around the NBA:
- Bulls guard Coby White, who has been battling a calf strain since August and didn’t play in any preseason games this fall, “looked good” after going through most of the contact portions of Saturday’s practice, according to head coach Billy Donovan (Twitter links K.C. Johnson of Chicago Sports Network). Donovan added that White would go through additional contact work on Monday after taking Sunday off. For his part, White said he was encouraged by today’s session, though he cautioned he’s still working on regaining his conditioning and rhythm. “We’ll see. It’s in the works,” White said of potentially playing in Chicago’s season opener, per Johnson.
- Celtics star Jaylen Brown sustained a left hamstring injury in Wednesday’s preseason finale. As Jay King of The Athletic writes, head coach Joe Mazzulla didn’t say whether Brown would be active for next Wednesday’s season opener, but the injury doesn’t sound serious — Brown is considered day-to-day, per Mazzulla.
- Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic expressed optimism that lottery pick Collin Murray-Boyles could be ready for Wednesday’s season opener in Atlanta after the former South Carolina forward sustained an arm injury last week, tweets Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca. According to Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca (Twitter links), Murray-Boyles is day-to-day with a right forearm strain.
- Although Raptors center Jakob Poeltl missed time during preseason with lower back stiffness and exited Friday’s preseason finale with the same injury, Rajakovic clarified after the game that the Austrian big man was pulled for precautionary reasons (Twitter links via Lewenberg). Poeltl is under contract through 2029/30 after signing a lucrative long-term extension in July.
- Forward Jae’Sean Tate, who underwent offseason ankle surgery, went through contract drills in Saturday’s practice, per Rockets head coach Ime Udoka (Twitter link via Danielle Lerner of The Houston Chronicle). The team remains optimistic that Tate will be available for Houston’s season opener, but Dorian Finney-Smith probably won’t be, according to Udoka. Finney-Smith, a free agent addition, is recovering from June ankle surgery.
- Former Alabama forward Grant Nelson was originally expected to sign an Exhibit 10 deal with the Nets shortly after Summer League in July, but the signing was delayed until a few days ago due to an otherwise unspecified “stress reaction from overworking,” he told Brian Lewis of The New York Post. “It was like a small, little minor injury that held me out of training camp. And then I feel like I did everything I could. I caught the injury really early, so I wasn’t out long. But it worked out perfect. So now I’m back healthy, feeling 100 percent.”
- Backup Lakers center Jaxson Hayes exited Friday’s preseason finale with a right wrist contusion, the team announced (Twitter link via Dan Woike of The Athletic). Head coach JJ Redick said after the game that X-Rays on the wrist were negative, with another update on Hayes expected to come on Sunday, as veteran NBA report Mark Medina relays (via Twitter).
- Trail Blazers forward Deni Avdija experienced upper back stiffness on Thursday in Utah, causing him to exit Portland’s preseason finale, per the team (Twitter link). It’s unclear if Avdija will miss additional time as a result of the injury.
Camp invitee Christian Shumate has been waived by the Pelicans, the team announced today (Twitter link).
Shumate went undrafted this June after spending his final four college seasons at McNeese State. While the 6’6″ forward made just 26.9% of his three-pointers and 51.2% on free throws over the course of his college career, he was an All-Southland selection in each of his four years with the Cowboys and won the conference’s Defensive Player of the Year award in both 2024 and 2025.
In 35 games as a senior last season, Shumate averaged 10.3 points, 6.5 rebounds and 1.3 blocks in 27.6 minutes per contest, with a shooting line of .623/.309/.423. He helped the Cowboys reach the NCAA tournament for the second straight year — they upset Clemson in the first round before falling to Purdue.
Shumate made three appearances during the preseason for the Pelicans, averaging 4.0 PPG and 2.3 RPG in 6.1 MPG. His next step will likely be the Birmingham Squadron, New Orleans’ G League affiliate. He’ll earn a $50K bonus on top of his base G League salary if he spends at least 60 days with the Squadron.
The Pelicans now have 18 players under contract — 14 on guaranteed deals, Jaden Springer on an Exhibit 9 agreement, and three on two-way contracts.
The Pelicans have picked up their fourth-year option on Jordan Hawkins and their third-year option on Yves Missi, Spotrac contributor Keith Smith tweets. The duo now have their rookie scale contracts guaranteed through the 2026/27 season.
Hawkins, the 14th overall pick of the 2023 draft out of UConn, will make $7,021,895 in ’26/27, while Missi, who was selected with the No. 21 pick out of Baylor last year, will pull in $3,512,760.
Hawkins missed some time due to back pain last season but wound up appearing in 56 games, including nine starts. He averaged 10.8 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 23.6 minutes per contest. Prized for his shooting prowess, he only made 37.1% of his overall attempts and 33.1% of his three-point tries. He’s projected to back up Trey Murphy III at the shooting guard spot this season.
Missi was one of the league’s top rookies last season. He appeared in 73 games, including 67 starts, and averaged 9.1 points, 8.2 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 1.3 blocks in 26.8 minutes per night. He’s expected to retain his starting center spot to open this season with veteran newcomer Kevon Looney injured.
We’re tracking all of the 2026/27 rookie scale option decisions right here. They’re due by October 31.
The Warriors are still the NBA’s most valuable team, according to Kurt Badenhausen of Sportico, who unveiled the website’s updated NBA franchise valuations for 2025 on Thursday.
Badenhausen projects the Warriors’ value at $11.33 billion, which represents an incredible 24% increase from last year’s $9.14 billion valuation. The NFL’s Dallas Cowboys, at $12.8 billion, continue to be the only global sports franchise whose valuation comes in higher than Golden State’s, according to Sportico’s projections.
As Badenhausen outlines, the Warriors lead the NBA in revenue by a significant margin, having generated an estimated $833MM last season. Golden State makes more than $5MM per game in ticket revenue, along with $2.5MM from luxury suites; the club also has a $45MM per year jersey patch deal with Rakuten, earns almost double what any other team makes in sponsorship revenue, and is one of the few teams to fully own and operate its arena, per Sportico.
After placing third a year ago, the Lakers have jumped to second place on Sportico’s 2025 list at $10 billion, based on Mark Walter‘s recent agreement to purchase the team at that valuation. The Lakers moved slightly ahead of the third-place Knicks, who come in at $9.85 billion.
Every team’s valuation has increased by at least 9% since last year, per Sportico, with the average value of an NBA franchise now at $5.51 billion (up 20% from 2024) and no team worth less than $4 billion.
The average valuation has more than doubled since 2022, when it was $2.58 billion. As Badenhausen writes, the NBA’s new $76 billion media rights deal and its global ambitions – including the possible creation of a league in Europe – have played a part in those gains.
Although the Warriors’ $833MM is something out of an outlier, NBA teams generated an average of approximately $408MM in revenue last season, according to Badenhausen, with the Grizzlies coming in last at $301MM. Memphis also ranks 30th on Sportico’s list of franchise values.
Despite placing at the bottom of this list, the Grizzlies actually had the most significant increase in their franchise valuation this past year, rising from $3.06 billion to $4 billion (31%). The Pelicans (30%), Timberwolves (29%), and Eastern Conference champion Pacers (27%) were the other biggest risers.
Of course, it’s worth noting that figures from Sportico or any other media outlet are just estimates and often don’t quite match up with the sale prices for franchises that change hands. But these projections are usually in the right ballpark and remain useful for getting a sense of the league’s most and least valuable teams.
Here’s Sportico’s full list of NBA franchise valuations for 2025:
- Golden State Warriors: $11.33 billion
- Los Angeles Lakers: $10 billion
- New York Knicks: $9.85 billion
- Los Angeles Clippers: $6.72 billion
- Boston Celtics: $6.35 billion
- Brooklyn Nets: $6.22 billion
- Chicago Bulls: $6.12 billion
- Miami Heat: $6.03 billion
- Philadelphia 76ers: $5.61 billion
- Houston Rockets: $5.53 billion
- Dallas Mavericks: $5.24 billion
- Toronto Raptors: $5.22 billion
- Phoenix Suns: $5.09 billion
- Atlanta Hawks: $5.02 billion
- Sacramento Kings: $5 billion
- Cleveland Cavaliers: $4.86 billion
- Denver Nuggets: $4.8 billion
- Washington Wizards: $4.78 billion
- Indiana Pacers: $4.76 billion
- Milwaukee Bucks: $4.54 billion
- San Antonio Spurs: $4.5 billion
- Oklahoma City Thunder: $4.34 billion
- Utah Jazz: $4.27 billion
- Portland Trail Blazers: $4.25 billion
- Minnesota Timberwolves: $4.24 billion
- Orlando Magic: $4.21 billion
- Detroit Pistons: $4.17 billion
- Charlotte Hornets: $4.13 billion
- New Orleans Pelicans: $4.02 billion
- Memphis Grizzlies: $4 billion
As Badenhausen notes, Sportico’s projections are based on a control sale price, rather than limited stake purchases. Controlling shares in the Celtics, Lakers, and Trail Blazers all changed hands this past year, though only the Celtics sale has been formally approved by the NBA so far.
William Chisholm is buying the Celtics in two stages, with an initial valuation of $6.1 billion and a blended valuation of roughly $6.5 billion. Walter is purchasing the Lakers at a valuation of $10 billion, while Tom Dundon is buying the Blazers at a $4.25 billion valuation.
Kevon Looney, the Pelicans‘ projected starting center, will be out for at least two or three weeks, the team announced (via Twitter).
According to the Pelicans, Looney was diagnosed with a proximal tibiofibular ligament sprain in his left knee, an injury sustained during the team’s October 5 contest against South East Melbourne. He’ll be reevaluated in two-to-three weeks, with further updates provided as appropriate, per the team.
Looney signed a two-year deal with the Pelicans after spending the first 10 seasons of his career with the Warriors, with whom he won two championships. He holds career averages of 5.0 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 1.6 assists per game.
Looney was brought in by New Orleans to add veteran experience to the frontcourt depth chart alongside second-year center Yves Missi and rookie Derik Queen, the latter of whom is recovering from wrist surgery that kept him out for the entirety of the Pelicans’ preseason.
Given New Orleans’ suddenly shallow depth chart up front, second-year big man Karlo Matkovic could be in line for an increased role early in the season. He played 42 games for the Pelicans last season and averaged 7.7 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 1.0 blocks in 18.8 minutes per night.
With the 2025/26 NBA regular season just around the corner, we’re getting serious about predictions for the upcoming campaign and continuing an annual Hoops Rumors tradition.
With the help of the lines from a series of sports betting sites – including BetMGM and BetOnline – we’re running through the predicted win totals for each of the NBA’s 30 teams, by division. In a series of team-by-team polls, you’ll get the chance to weigh in on whether you think those forecasts are too optimistic or too pessimistic.
In 2024/25, our voters went 13-17 on their over/under picks. Can we top that in ’25/26?
We’ll wrap up our series today with the Southwest Division…
Houston Rockets
- 2024/25 record: 52-30
- Over/under for 2025/26: 52.5 wins
- Major offseason moves:
San Antonio Spurs
- 2024/25 record: 34-48
- Over/under for 2025/26: 44.5 wins
- Major offseason moves:
Dallas Mavericks
- 2024/25 record: 39-43
- Over/under for 2025/26: 41.5 wins
- Major offseason moves:
- Added: Cooper Flagg, D’Angelo Russell
- Lost: Spencer Dinwiddie, Olivier-Maxence Prosper, Kai Jones
Memphis Grizzlies
- 2024/25 record: 48-34
- Over/under for 2025/26: 39.5 wins
- Major offseason moves:
New Orleans Pelicans
- 2024/25 record: 21-61
- Over/under for 2025/26: 30.5 wins
- Major offseason moves:
Previous voting results:
- New York Knicks (53.5 wins): Over (63.2%)
- Boston Celtics (42.5 wins): Over (52.7%)
- Philadelphia 76ers (42.5 wins): Under (58.7%)
- Toronto Raptors (37.5 wins): Over (50.2%)
- Brooklyn Nets (20.5 wins): Over (54.4%)
- Cleveland Cavaliers (56.5 wins): Over (58.0%)
- Detroit Pistons (46.5 wins): Over (60.5%)
- Milwaukee Bucks (42.5 wins): Over (74.4%)
- Indiana Pacers (37.5 wins): Over (50.1%)
- Chicago Bulls (32.5 wins): Over (60.8%)
- Orlando Magic (51.5 wins): Over (52.8%)
- Atlanta Hawks (47.5 wins): Over (54.9%)
- Miami Heat (37.5 wins): Over (54.4%)
- Charlotte Hornets (27.5 wins): Over (50.6%)
- Washington Wizards (21.5 wins): Under (62.4%)
- Oklahoma City Thunder (62.5 wins): Over (62.9%)
- Denver Nuggets (53.5 wins): Over (72.1%)
- Minnesota Timberwolves (49.5 wins): Over (58.7%)
- Portland Trail Blazers (34.5 wins): Over (57.1%)
- Utah Jazz (18.5 wins): Over (55.3%)
- Los Angeles Clippers (48.5 wins): Under (58.7%)
- Los Angeles Lakers (48.5 wins): Under (52.1%)
- Golden State Warriors (46.5 wins): Over (68.3%)
- Sacramento Kings (34.5 wins): Over (55.1%)
- Phoenix Suns (31.5 wins): Under (56.8%)
October 13: Both Hunter and Oduro have been released, per NBA.com’s transactions log.
October 9: The Pelicans have signed Chase Hunter and Josh Oduro to Exhibit 10 contracts, Spotrac contributor Keith Smith tweets.
New Orleans’ intent to sign Hunter, an undrafted rookie guard, was reported just after this year’s draft.
Hunter had a lengthy college career with Clemson, which spanned six years from 2019-25. He was awarded a medical redshirt after a foot injury limited him to nine appearances in his freshman year, then was granted another extra year of extra eligibility due to COVID-19.
Hunter ended up appearing in 167 games across those six years, making 123 starts. As a super-senior in 2024/25, he averaged a career-best 16.5 points per game on .470/.407/.866 shooting while also contributing 3.0 rebounds, 2.5 assists, and 1.4 steals in 33.5 minutes per contest. Hunter earned first-team All-ACC honors this year and left Clemson as the school’s third all-time leading scorer.
Oduro was signed and waived by the Pelicans during last season’s training camp. The 6’9” forward, who went undrafted in 2024, played four collegiate seasons at George Mason before transferring to Providence for his final year. He averaged 12.9 points and 6.6 rebounds across 148 college games (128 starts).
Oduro played 44 games last season for the Birmingham Squadron, the Pelicans’ G League affiliate, averaging 11.4 points, 8.2 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.1 blocks in 29.4 minutes per game.
Both players are likely to be waived and join the Squadron. They’ll be eligible for bonuses worth up to $85,300 if they stay with that club for at least 60 days.
7:00 pm: The Pelicans have waived both Carton and Mitchell, per NBA.com’s official transaction log, putting them on track to join the Squadron.
9:17 am: The Pelicans have signed D.J. Carton and Trhae Mitchell to Exhibit 10 contracts, Spotrac contributor Keith Smith tweets.
New Orleans had two openings on its training camp roster after waiving a pair of players earlier in the week.
Carton, who was on Portland’s Summer League roster in July, opened last season with the Raptors on a two-way contract, but was waived in December.
Across parts of two seasons with the Raptors, Carton appeared in eight NBA games, logging just 69 total minutes. The 6’3″ guard has compiled 14 points, eight rebounds, six assists, and three steals with a .267/.143/.833 shooting line during his limited NBA minutes.
Carton appeared in 22 G League contests with the Raptors 905 and the San Diego Clippers last season, averaging 13.5 points and 5.0 assists in 29.6 minutes per game.
Mitchell was on New Orleans’ camp roster last season. He appeared in 50 games for the Birmingham Squadron, the Pelicans’ G League affiliate, after being waived by the NBA club and averaged 7.6 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 27.8 minutes per contest.
Both players will likely be waived and join the Squadron. They’ll be eligible for bonuses worth up to $85,300 if they stay with that club for at least 60 days.
The Pelicans have cut Exhibit 10 training camp signings Garrison Brooks and Jalen McDaniels, the team announced today (Twitter link).
Both forwards are now likely to link up with the Pelicans’ G League club, the Birmingham Squadron. If Brooks and McDaniels remain with Birmingham for at least 60 days, each player will be eligible for a bonus worth up to $85,300 on top of his standard NBAGL salary.
The 26-year-old Brooks went undrafted out of Mississippi State in 2022. He suited up for the Westchester Knicks of the G League during his first pro season, but otherwise has been playing abroad in Korea and Lithuania.
McDaniels, 27, logged three-and-a-half pro seasons with the Hornets. The older brother of All-Defensive Timberwolves wing Jaden McDaniels was the No. 52 pick in the 2019 draft and has since been rostered with Philadelphia, Toronto, Sacramento, San Antonio and Washington, though following his Charlotte exit, he only saw NBA minutes with the Sixers, Raptors and Wizards.
Across 252 career NBA regular season games games, the San Diego State alum boasts averages of 6.7 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.2 assists per contest, with a shooting line of .449/.322/.777.