Talen Horton-Tucker Nearing Deal With Fenerbahce, Hoping To Stay In NBA
Guard/forward Talen Horton-Tucker, who has spent the past six years in the NBA after being selected 46th overall in the 2019 draft, is finalizing a contract with Turkish powerhouse Fenerbahce, reports Donatas Urbonas of BasketNews.com.
According to Urbonas’ sources, Horton-Tucker is still hoping to sign another NBA contract, but if he is unable to find a deal he likes, he’s expected to sign with the reigning EuroLeague champion.
Bugra Uzar of Eurohoops.net confirms the news, stating that Horton-Tucker has a deal in place with Fenerbahce but it won’t be completed yet as the 24-year-old awaits another NBA opportunity. A final decision is expected to be made in the next few days, Uzar adds.
Horton-Tucker won a championship as a rookie with the Lakers in 2020 and spent three years in Los Angeles prior to being traded to Utah in the 2022 offseason. He spent the next two years with the Jazz, but was unable to find a guaranteed contract as an unrestricted free agent last summer.
The Chicago native signed a non-guaranteed Exhibit 10 deal with the Bulls last September and wound up making the team’s regular season roster — he was the only player on an Exhibit 10 contract last fall to have that deal become a standard non-guaranteed deal.
Horton-Tucker, who said it was a “dream come true” to open the 2024/25 season with his hometown team, not only made the roster but eventually had his contract guaranteed when the Bulls decided to keep him around past the January deadline to waive non-guaranteed deals.
Overall, Horton-Tucker appeared in 58 games last season off the bench, averaging 6.5 points, 1.7 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 12.5 minutes per contest, with a shooting line of .457/.336/.735. He holds career averages of 9.2 PPG, 2.6 RPG and 2.8 APG on .427/.299/.771 shooting in 305 games (19.5 MPG).
As Urbonas notes, Fenerbahce’s roster features several former NBA players, including Brandon Boston Jr., who spent last season with New Orleans.
Mavericks Re-Sign Dante Exum
September 1: Nearly two months after his deal was first reported, Exum has re-signed with Dallas, per NBA.com’s official transactions log. As we detailed in a separate story, the Mavs opened up room under the hard cap and a roster spot by waiving and stretching Prosper.
July 2: The Mavericks and Dante Exum have reached an agreement on a one-year deal that will extend the veteran guard’s stay in Dallas, reports Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).
Exum, who will turn 30 later this month, spent the first seven years of his professional career in the NBA, playing for Utah and Cleveland after being selected fifth overall in the 2014 draft. However, he struggled to establish himself as a reliable rotation player, due in part to his lack of offensive production.
Exum played in Europe for two seasons from 2021-23, developing a reliable three-point shot during his time with Barcelona and Partizan Belgrade, then returned stateside during the 2023 offseason and has played in Dallas since then.
Injuries, which hampered Exum’s development earlier in his career, have continued to be an issue during his second NBA stint, limiting him to 75 total appearances across the past two seasons, including just 20 last season due to right wrist surgery and a broken left hand.
But he has been a very effective role player for the Mavs when healthy, averaging 8.0 points, 2.8 assists, and 2.4 rebounds in 19.5 minutes per game, with a shooting line of .516/.472/.768.
Once Irving’s new deal is done and Russell officially signs, the Mavs won’t have enough room below a hard cap at the second tax apron to re-sign Exum on a minimum-salary deal, so they’ll need to make a corresponding roster move at some point to finalize all those moves, as cap expert Yossi Gozlan notes (via Twitter).
Waiving Brandon Williams, whose salary is mostly non-guaranteed, would be the easiest path to creating that space below the second apron, but he was productive in a rotation role during the second half of last season. Olivier-Maxence Prosper, a 2023 first-round pick, has been considered a trade candidate.
Giannis To Start Season With Bucks After Team Re-Signs Brother Thanasis
In a move to solidify Giannis Antetokounmpo‘s desire to stay with the Bucks, the franchise is re-signing his brother, Thanasis Antetokounmpo, on a guaranteed one-year, $2.9MM (minimum-salary) contract, ESPN’s Shams Charania reports (Twitter link).
The signing is official, according to a team press release relayed by The Athletic’s Eric Nehm (Twitter link).
According to Charania, after a summer of exploring options, Giannis Antetokounmpo — who is currently playing for Greece in the EuroBasket tournament — is staying in Milwaukee to start the season. This will quell speculation that the superstar might request a trade this offseason.
Naturally, if things don’t go well for the Bucks as the season progresses, that could always change. But having his brother back in the fold gives Giannis some added incentive to stay put.
Thanasis is also playing for Greece in the tournament. He was medically cleared to play again this spring after recovering from an Achilles tendon injury.
The 32-year-old underwent surgery in early May of 2024 after tearing his Achilles. He was a free agent this past season after signing mainly minimum contracts to play with his brother in Milwaukee.
Thanasis, who made two appearances with the Knicks in 2015/16, saw action in 196 Bucks games from 2019-24. He played 34 games during the 2023/24 season and has posted averages of 2.4 points and 1.6 rebounds in 7.7 minutes per contest over the course of his NBA career.
The Bucks will now have 15 players on guaranteed contracts, ESPN’s Bobby Marks tweets. This could put Andre Jackson Jr.‘s roster status in jeopardy — the former UConn guard has an $800K guarantee on his $2,221,677 contract. It becomes fully guaranteed if he makes the opening night roster.
Bogdan Bogdanovic Ruled Out Of EuroBasket With Hamstring Injury
Bogdan Bogdanovic has been ruled out of the EuroBasket due to a ruptured hamstring muscle, according to reports from Eurohoops.net and BasketNews.com.
The Serbian Federation released a statement regarding Bogdanovic’s injury, which also revealed that the Clippers wing will return to the United States to receive treatment.
“Bogdanovic has been diagnosed with a ruptured hamstring muscle, which will prevent him from playing in the remainder of the European Championship. In agreement with Bogdan’s club, the Los Angeles Clippers, the captain will undergo intensive therapy in the United States in the coming period to recover as quickly as possible,” the statement read.
Bogdanovic, the captain of the Serbian national team, was injured on a drive to the basket late in the second quarter against Portugal on Friday. Bogdanovic was examined by the Serbian and Clippers medical teams, which determined the extent of his injury.
In two EuroBasket 2025 appearances, the 33-year-old averaged 9.0 points, 3.5 rebounds and 4.0 assists in 20 minutes per contest. Serbia has a 3-0 record in Group A and will now try to win the tournament without him.
The overriding concern for Bogdanovic now is whether his injury will linger into the NBA season. The veteran guard dealt with hamstring injuries early in the 2024/25 season, but played 30 games during the second half of the season for the Clippers, averaging 11.4 points and 3.2 assists in 25.0 minutes per game. He began the season with the Hawks, who dealt him to the Pacific Division club at the trade deadline.
Bogdanovic is set to make just over $16MM during the upcoming season and the Clippers hold a $16MM club option for the final year of his contract in 2026/27.
Jeremy Lin Announces Retirement
Former NBA guard Jeremy Lin announced today on Instagram that he’s retiring as a basketball player following a lengthy professional career (hat tip to RealGM).
“As athletes, we are always aware that the possibility of retirement is never far away,” Lin wrote as part of a longer statement. “I’ve spent my 15-year career knowing that one day I would have to walk away, and yet actually saying goodbye to basketball today has been the hardest decision I’ve ever made.
“It’s been the honor of a lifetime to compete against the fiercest competitors under the brightest lights and to challenge what the world thought was possible for someone who looks like me. I’ve lived out my wildest childhood dreams to play in front of fans all around the world. I will forever be the kid who felt fully alive every time I touched a basketball.”
After starring in college at Harvard, Lin went undrafted in 2010 but quickly caught on with Golden State. He didn’t play much as a rookie, only making 28 NBA appearances for the Warriors (9.8 minutes per game) and spending a good chunk of 2010/11 in the G League (then known as the D-League).
Lin, now 37, was cut by both Golden State and Houston (which claimed him off waivers) before the lockout-shortened 2011/12 season began. A couple days after being released by Houston, he was claimed again, this time by the Knicks.
While his time with New York was relatively brief, he was a major contributor during a 26-game stretch from February-March 2012, memorably averaging 18.5 points, 7.7 assists, 3.7 rebounds and 2.0 steals in 34.2 minutes per contest and helping the team turn its season around.
As a restricted free agent in the 2012 offseason, Lin signed a lucrative Arenas provision contract with the Rockets, which New York declined to match. Lin spent two seasons in Houston but bounced around the league over the following five years, playing for the Lakers, Hornets, Nets, Hawks and Raptors, winning an NBA title as a role player with Toronto in 2019.
Overall, Lin appeared in 480 NBA regular season games — including 221 starts — from 2010-19. He held career averages of 11.6 PPG, 4.3 APG, 2.8 RPG and 1.1 SPG in 25.3 MPG, with a shooting slash line of .433/.342/.809.
Lin has mostly played in China and Taiwan over the past six years, though he did attempt an NBA comeback during the ’20/21 campaign with the G League’s Santa Cruz Warriors.
Mavericks Waive, Stretch Olivier-Maxence Prosper
9:00 pm: Prosper has been officially waived, according to NBA.com’s transaction log.
3:50 pm: The Mavericks are waiving former first-round pick Olivier-Maxence Prosper and using the stretch provision on his $3MM cap hit, reports Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).
According to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link), the 6’8″ forward is expected to draw interest as an unrestricted free agent when he hits the open market in a couple days.
Dallas was reportedly trying to trade Prosper ahead of the 4:00 pm CT deadline to use the stretch provision. However, the Mavs were said to be reluctant to part with one of their two remaining second-rounders to shed Prosper’s salary, and instead will stretch it over three years, with annual cap hits of about $1MM through 2027/28.
The Mavericks will automatically decline their $5.3MM team option on Prosper for ’26/27 by releasing him.
Dallas needed to open up room under the second tax apron — at which the team is hard-capped — to re-sign Dante Exum, whose minimum-salary contract can now be finalized after being agreed to on July 2. Exum will essentially replace Prosper as the 15th standard contract on the team’s roster.
The 24th overall pick in the 2023 draft, Prosper has played a very limited role during his first two years in Dallas, averaging 3.5 points and 2.2 rebounds in 10.0 minutes per game across 92 regular season outings, with a .396/.260/.658 shooting line.
Prosper, who is from Montreal, also played 25 G League games with the Texas Legends as a rookie in 2023/24. The 23-year-old averaged 18.3 PPG, 7.8 RPG, 2.0 APG and 0.9 SPG on .498/.418/.762 shooting.
Nets Waive Tosan Evbuomwan
8:00 pm: The move is official, per NBA.com’s transaction log.
2:18 pm: The Nets are waiving Tosan Evbuomwan, according to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link). The former Princeton star had been on a two-way contract with Brooklyn.
A 6’8″ combo forward from England, Evbuomwan went undrafted in 2023 following a standout college career with the Tigers. He signed a two-year two-way deal with the Nets on January 1.
In 28 games with Brooklyn last season, the 24-year-old averaged 9.5 points, 4.3 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 0.9 steals in 23.8 minutes per contest. Evbuomwan’s shooting slash line was .427/.312/.753.
Brian Lewis of The New York Post believes waiving Evbuomwan may be a precursor to a potential trade for the Nets (Twitter link). Two-way deals are non-guaranteed and don’t impact a team’s salary cap, plus the Nets already have a two-way opening, but Lewis is certainly a plugged-in reporter.
Evbuomwan started 2023/24 — his rookie season — in the NBA G League with the Pistons’ affiliate, later inking a 10-day deal with Memphis and 10-day and two-way contracts with Detroit. He appeared in 17 NBA games with the two clubs (21.6 MPG), averaging 5.9 PPG and 3.5 RPG on .507/.375/.680 shooting.
After being cut from his two-way deal by the Pistons last October, Evbuomwan signed an Exhibit 10 deal with the Clippers to secure a G League bonus, which he achieved by spending 60-plus days with the San Diego Clippers. He landed with the Nets a couple months later.
In 31 NBAGL games (33.1 MPG) with the San Diego Clippers and Long Island Nets in ’24/25, Evbuomwan averaged 19.1 PPG, 7.2 RPG and 2.6 APG on .501/.354/.766 shooting.
Jose Alvarado Exits AmeriCup Game On Stretcher
Competing for Puerto Rico on Thursday in the quarterfinals of the 2025 AmeriCup, Pelicans guard Jose Alvarado took a hard fall to the court in overtime and had to be taken off the court on a stretcher (Twitter video links).
As Rod Walker of NOLA.com writes, Alvarado lost his balance while battling for a rebound and appeared to land on his tailbone when he hit the floor. He stayed on the court for a few minutes after the play in obvious pain before being carted off on a stretcher.
Prior to his injury, Alvarado was helping to keep the Puerto Rican team in Thursday’s quarterfinal, pouring in 25 points in 36 minutes of action and making 7-of-15 three-pointers. Puerto Rico ultimately fell short in overtime, losing 82-77 to Argentina, who will face Canada in a semifinal on Saturday.
“Appreciate the love, y’all. But your boy good,” Alvarado wrote in his Instagram story after the game (hat tip to Walker). “God got me.”
While there has been no official update yet on his status, Alvarado projected confidence in that social media post that he avoided a serious injury, which would be a relief for the Pelicans. The team is coming off a season that was essentially a write-off due to a series of health issues affecting key players, with Dejounte Murray (Achilles), Trey Murphy III (shoulder), and Herbert Jones (shoulder) among those recovering this summer from various surgeries.
Alvarado was one of the Pelicans regulars afflicted by the injury bug in 2024/25, having missed over a month-and-a-half from mid-November to early January due to a hamstring strain. However, he was healthy and available for most of the rest of the season, appearing in 56 games and posting 10.3 points, 4.6 assists, 2.4 rebounds, and 1.3 steals in 24.4 minutes per night. All of those averages were career highs.
Alvarado is entering the first season of the two-year, $9MM extension he signed last September. He’ll make $4.5MM in 2025/26 before making a decision on a $4.5MM player option next June.
Mavs’ Jaden Hardy On Trade Block?
Following up on his report yesterday with colleague Marc Stein, Jake Fischer reiterates in his latest story for The Stein Line (Substack link) that the Mavericks are actively exploring ways to bring back Dante Exum. Dallas’ primary focus on that front, Fischer writes, has been trying to trade former first-round pick Olivier-Maxence Prosper.
However, Prosper isn’t the only player Dallas is open to moving. According to Fischer, Jaden Hardy is another candidate to be sent out in a deal, and resolution on the trade front is expected by tomorrow evening.
The reason for that specific timeline is because of the Friday 4:00pm CT deadline for waiving and stretching players — multiple sources have told Fischer the Mavs might be forced to go that route, as they’re reluctant to part with either of their two remaining second-round picks to shed salary and create a roster spot.
Fischer doesn’t state it outright, but Prosper figures be the main candidate to be stretched, as his $3MM contract for 2025/26 could be treated as expiring if his $5.3 team option for ’26/27 is declined. That would spread his $3MM cap hit across three seasons at approximately $1MM per year, opening up an extra $2MM in room below the 2025/26 second tax apron.
Dallas reached an agreement to re-sign Exum to a one-year deal way back in July 2, but the transaction still hasn’t been officially finalized. That’s because the Mavericks’ team salary for apron purposes currently sits at approximately $206.2MM, which is about $1.6MM below the second apron ($207,824,000).
The Mavericks hard-capped themselves at the second apron by using the taxpayer mid-level exception to sign D’Angelo Russell last month. That means their team salary can’t surpass $207,824,000 at any point for the rest of the 2025/26 league year. A minimum-salary deal for Exum would carry a $2,296,274 cap hit.
Hardy, 23, was the 37th pick of the 2022 draft after spending one season with the now-defunct G League Ignite. He inked a three-year, $18MM extension with Dallas last October — that deal begins in ’25/26 and includes a flat $6MM per year structure, with a team option in ’27/28.
The 6’4″ shooting guard made 57 appearances for the Mavs last season, averaging 8.7 points, 1.6 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 1.4 turnovers in 15.7 minutes per game. His shooting line was .435/.386/.698.
The Mavs are currently carrying 15 players on guaranteed or partially guaranteed contracts for ’25/26, so moving off Prosper, Hardy or another player is also necessary to open up a spot for Exum on their projected 15-man regular season roster.
Suns Sued By Two Minority Shareholders
A pair of Suns minority shareholders – Andy Kohlberg of Kisco WC Sports and Scott Seldin of Kent Circle Investments – have sued the team in a Delaware Chancery Court, reports Michael McCann of Sportico. The minority owners say in their complaint that they’re “dissatisfied” with the way Suns Capital Group LLC (Mat Ishbia‘s group) has managed the team.
As McCann details, Kisco and Kent Circle claim they haven’t been allowed to view records and financial information that would help them understand how the franchise is being run and how much their shares are worth. They’re demanding a court order that would allow them to look into alleged “potential breaches of a limited liability company agreement, mismanagement of the team and conflicts of interest,” McCainn writes.
According to Gerald Bourguet of PHNX Sports, when Ishbia took over as the Suns’ controlling owner in 2023, he gave the team’s 16 limited partners the opportunity to sell their stakes in the team at the same $4 billion valuation that applied to his majority stake. Fourteen of the 16 partners took that buyout offer, with Kisco and Kent Circle representing the only two holdouts.
Kisco has since sought a buyout from Ishbia’s group; there are conflicting reports on whether Kent Circle has done the same. Bourguet’s report suggests both minority stakeholders have looked to be bought out, while McCann says Kent Circle hasn’t done so but has expressed “growing concerns” about management.
The price that Kisco and Kent Circle are demanding from Suns Capital Group LLC to buy them out is based on a valuation in excess of $6 billion, according to Bourguet. The complaint, per McCann, alleges that Ishbia’s LLC didn’t respond in good faith to Kisco’s efforts to divest its shares by June 1 and instead issued a capital call for June 2 with “no advance notice.” The per-unit valuation conveyed on that call was “strikingly low and bears no relationship to the actual value of the company which is worth billions,” according to the plaintiffs.
In a letter to Kisco and Kent Circle, Suns Capital Group LLC indicated it has no objections to the minority partners finding another buyer for their shares, per Bourguet. However, the majority ownership groups insists that the minority stakeholders have no right to demand Ishbia’s LLC be the one to buy them out at a significantly higher valuation than the 2023 price.
Kisco and Kent Circle, meanwhile, argue in their complaint that the majority ownership group has been putting pressure on and diluting the team’s minority owners, citing “mismanagement and lack of transparency.”
According to Bourguet, the plaintiffs suspect Ishbia’s group of entering into undisclosed side deals and also raised questions about the funding of a practice facility for the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury. As McCann writes, the complaint states that facility was “seemingly paid for using” team funds but that the minority stakeholders were “provided virtually no information” about how it was funded or the process used to determine its funding.
Attorneys for Suns Capital Group LLC will have the opportunity to respond to the complaint, McCann notes.