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Pelicans To Guarantee Zion Williamson’s 2025/26 Salary

July 15th, 2025 at 2:14pm CST by Luke Adams

Zion Williamson‘s salary for the 2025/26 season will become fully guaranteed if he remains under contract with the Pelicans through Tuesday, and – unsurprisingly – that’s the plan, league sources tell Shamit Dua of In The NO.

If Williamson were placed on waivers today, the Pelicans would be on the hook for just $7,889,218 of his $39,446,090 salary for the coming season and would wipe his ’26/27 and ’27/28 salaries off their books entirely. But there’s no indication that the team has ever given real consideration to taking that route with the 25-year-old, who has two All-Star berths on his résumé despite battling injury issues since entering the NBA.

After Williamson appeared in a career-high 70 games in 2023/24, he was limited to just 30 appearances in ’24/25 due to hamstring and back issues. It was the fourth time in the six years since he was drafted first overall that he failed to play more than 30 games in a season. As usual, the former Duke star put up superlative numbers when healthy, including 24.6 points, 7.2 rebounds, 5.3 assists, and 1.2 steals in 28.6 minutes per game.

Even outside of Williamson’s injury woes, it was a tumultuous year for the Pelicans, who won just 21 games and then underwent a front office overhaul this spring. Williamson, meanwhile, was suspended for one game in January after being late to a team flight and faced allegations of rape and abuse in the spring, raising questions about his future in New Orleans.

However, new executive vice president of basketball operations Joe Dumars stated last month that Williamson is still considered a franchise cornerstone, suggesting at the time that there were no plans to trade (or waive) him this summer.

Williamson’s contract includes pathways for him to “re-guarantee” his future salary each season. He could guarantee 40% of his 2026/27 salary by playing at least 41 games next season; another 20% by reaching 51 games; and another 20% by appearing in at least 61 games. The final 20% would be guaranteed if he meets certain weigh-in benchmarks — that was the only requirement he met this past season, which is why only 20% of his $39.4MM salary was guaranteed until today.

July 15 is the annual decision date on Williamson, so if he doesn’t re-guarantee 100% of his 2026/27 salary based on those games-played and weigh-in requirements this coming season, he would have to remain under contract through July 15, 2026 to lock in his full $42,166,510 for ’26/27.

Mavs’ Dereck Lively Undergoes Right Foot Procedure

July 15th, 2025 at 1:08pm CST by Luke Adams

Mavericks center Dereck Lively recently underwent surgery to clean up bone spurs in his right foot, according to reports from Marc Stein of The Stein Line and Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter links).

Lively was in a walking boot following the procedure, but has since gotten out of that boot, tweets Stein. According to Charania, the expectation is that the big man will be healthy for training camp this fall.

The right foot is the same one that Lively injured earlier this year. He was diagnosed in January with a small fracture in his foot/ankle area, which sidelined him until April and limited him to 36 total games in 2024/25. He averaged 8.7 points, 7.5 rebounds, 2.4 assists, and 1.6 blocks in 23.1 minutes per night in those 36 appearances.

Reporting in the spring indicated that a disagreement over how to treat Lively’s foot injury resulted in a “loud, heated confrontation” between Mavericks director of player health and performance Johann Bilsborough and athletic performance director Keith Belton, which led to an HR investigation. Belton has since been let go by the team.

As Stein points out, Lively’s surgery means that three important Mavericks players are now recovering from surgeries. Kyrie Irving, of course, is making his way back from an ACL tear, while Anthony Davis recently underwent a procedure to repair a detached retina.

Grizzlies, Santi Aldama Finalize Three-Year Deal

July 15th, 2025 at 12:45pm CST by Dana Gauruder

July 15: Aldama’s three-year contract with the Grizzlies is now official, according to a press release from the team (Twitter link).

June 30: The Grizzlies have taken care of their two big pieces of offseason business within the first half-hour of free agency. After striking a deal to renegotiate and extend Jaren Jackson Jr.‘s contract, the club has reached a three-year, $52.5MM contract agreement with restricted free agent forward Santi Aldama, reports ESPN’s Shams Charania (Twitter link).

Even with a limited number of teams able to open up enough cap space to make a competitive offer beyond the $14.1MM non-taxpayer mid-level exception, Aldama was expected to attract interest on the market. The Pistons, in particular, were heavily linked to the Spanish big man. He’ll now stick around in Memphis after a breakout season.

While the full terms of the agreement haven’t been reported yet, it’s quite possible the contract will be heavily frontloaded, cap expert Yossi Gozlan tweets. The Grizzlies could start it as high as $19MM since they have so much luxury tax flexibility. They’ll go over the cap to re-sign Aldama after using their cap space on Jackson’s renegotiation.

Aldama became an RFA when the Grizzlies extended a qualifying offer to him on Sunday.

In 2024/25, he averaged 12.5 points, 6.4 points, and 2.9 assists per game while shooting 36.8% from three, all career-high numbers. He also averaged 13.0 PPG and 6.0 RPG while shooting 41.7% from three in the Grizzlies’ four playoff games this spring.

Jackson, Aldama and 2024 lottery pick Zach Edey — currently recuperating from ankle surgery — now figure to be the key big men in Memphis for years to come.

Jazz Have No Plans To Trade Markkanen

July 15th, 2025 at 9:37am CST by Luke Adams

The Jazz have been aggressively purging their roster of established veterans since Austin Ainge was hired as the team’s president of basketball operations last month, buying out Jordan Clarkson and trading Collin Sexton to the Hornets and John Collins to the Clippers for extremely limited returns.

However, while there has been a good deal of speculation from rival scouts and executives about whether Lauri Markkanen could be the next veteran on the move, Utah has no plans to trade its star forward at this point, per Tim MacMahon of ESPN.

As MacMahon explains, Markkanen shouldn’t necessarily be considered “untouchable,” but the Jazz continue to view the 28-year-old as part of their long-term core and hope he’s still on the roster by the time the club becomes competitive again.

Markkanen, who was sent from Cleveland to Utah as part of the Donovan Mitchell blockbuster in 2022, made an All-Star team and was named the NBA’s Most Improved Player in his first year with the Jazz. Over the course of his first two seasons in Utah, he averaged 24.5 points and 8.4 rebounds per game with an excellent shooting line of .490/.395/.885.

The Finnish forward battled injuries last season and was limited to just 47 appearances. His production also dropped off, as he put up just 19.0 PPG and 5.9 RPG with a more pedestrian shooting line of .423/.346/.876.

Coming off that down season and with four years and nearly $196MM left on his contract, Markkanen’s trade value appears diminished, so it makes sense that the Jazz aren’t eager to entertain offers, MacMahon writes.

Given that it would require a substantial haul for Ainge and his front office to consider moving the seven-footer, Markkanen may need a bounce-back performance this season to restore his value to the point where a potential suitor might be willing to make that sort of offer.

In the meantime, hanging onto Markkanen is unlikely to compromise the Jazz’s rebuilding efforts as they look to hang onto their top-eight protected 2026 first-round pick. His contract is the only sizable deal on the team’s books beyond this season, and there’s probably not enough established veteran talent on the roster for Utah to contend for a play-in spot in the West in 2025/26 even if Markkanen returns to All-Star form.

Victor Oladipo Seeking NBA Comeback

July 15th, 2025 at 9:05am CST by Luke Adams

Two-time NBA All-Star Victor Oladipo took part in a “well-attended” private workout on Monday in Las Vegas, according to Jeremy Woo of ESPN, who says the veteran guard competed in a five-on-five scrimmage alongside a handful of international pros in front of representatives from many NBA and European teams.

Multiple team sources who attended the workout were impressed by how Oladipo looked, says Woo. The 33-year-old, who hasn’t played in the NBA since 2023, is hoping to make it back to the league after recovering from a series of knee injuries and was described as being in “excellent” shape on Monday, Woo adds.

In a Twitter post on Sunday, Oladipo said he feels “great right now,” writing that he believes he’s capable of helping a team and that his injuries are behind him. According to Woo, there’s a belief that the former No. 2 overall pick could end up on an NBA roster this fall for training camp.

Oladipo was one of the NBA’s best two-way performers in 2017/18, when he averaged 23.1 points, 5.2 rebounds, 4.3 assists, and 2.4 steals per game across 75 outings for the Pacers. He earned MVP and Defensive Player of the Year votes that season, winning the league’s Most Improved Player award and claiming a spot on the All-NBA third team and All-Defensive first team.

Oladipo made a second consecutive All-Star team for Indiana in 2018/19, but his season was cut short by a ruptured quad tendon, which sidelined for roughly a full calendar year. That quad tendon injury continued to be an issue after the guard eventually returned to action and required a second surgery in 2021.

Oladipo has appeared in just 102 total NBA games since sustaining that initial quad injury in January 2018, most recently suiting up for the Heat during the 2022/23 season. He sustained a torn left patellar tendon in his last game with the Heat in April 2023.

Pelicans Sign Herb Jones To Three-Year Extension

July 14th, 2025 at 7:04pm CST by Earnest Marshall

JULY 14: The signing is official, the team tweets.

JULY 10: The Pelicans and forward Herbert Jones have agreed to a three-year, $68MM extension, according to Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link). The deal will feature a player option on the final year, Charania adds.

Jones’ current contract will pay him roughly $13.9MM this season and $14.9MM in 2026/27. His new extension will begin in ’27/28 and will be start at 140% of his previous salary, with 8% annual raises, for a total of $67.6MM.

That means he’s now under contract for five seasons (including the player option in ’29/30) and would earn $96.4MM if he plays out the full deal.

The coveted defensive ace has evolved into a leader and mainstay for the Pelicans after being selected 35th overall in the 2021 draft. In four seasons with New Orleans, Jones holds averages of 10.1 points, 3.8 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 1.6 steals and 0.7 blocks per game.

Jones joins Trey Murphy and Zion Williamson as the only Pelicans players on guaranteed contracts through at least 2027/28, though Dejounte Murray and the team’s 2024 and 2025 draftees have options for that season.

Jones has drawn plenty of outside interest due to his lock-down defense and growing three-point ability (he shot 41.8% in his last fully healthy season). However, with both he and Murphy on respectable and affordable deals, New Orleans likely won’t be eager to move either.

Jones, specifically, will have a six-month trade restriction once he officially signs his extension, so he won’t become eligible to be dealt until January.

Grizzlies Sign Ty Jerome To Three-Year Deal

July 14th, 2025 at 6:16pm CST by Rory Maher

JULY 14: The signing is official, according to the team’s PR department (Twitter link).

JUNE 30: The Grizzlies will sign free agent guard Ty Jerome to a three-year contract worth $28MM, per Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). The deal will include a third-year player option, Charania adds.

It has been a busy Monday evening for the Grizzlies, who had already agreed to new deals with Jaren Jackson Jr., Santi Aldama, and Cam Spencer. Jerome’s contract will come out of the room exception, which can be worth up to about $27.7MM over three seasons.

Reports leading up to free agency stated that Memphis was the frontrunner to sign Jerome, who is coming off a career year with Cleveland in which he averaged 12.5 points, 3.4 assists, 2.5 rebounds and 1.1 steals in 70 games (19.9 minutes per contest). He also posted an elite shooting line of .516/.439/.872.

While Jerome was excellent in the Cavaliers’ first-round playoff series vs. Miami, he struggled mightily on both ends of the court in their second-round loss to Indiana. That may have limited his earnings potential to an extent.

Still, it’s surprising that Jerome will “only” make $27.7MM over the next three years, considering the Cavs agreed to give another backup guard — Sam Merrill — a four-year, $38MM deal. Merrill is a better defender, but Jerome was far more productive on offense last season.

Either way, Jerome will secure the first major payday of his career as he nears his 28th birthday (July 8).

Sixers Forward Paul George Undergoes Knee Surgery After Workout Injury

July 14th, 2025 at 5:45pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Sixers forward Paul George underwent an arthroscopic procedure on his left knee Monday to treat an injury suffered during a recent workout, ESPN’s Shams Charania tweets.

George will now begin a rehab program and be reevaluated prior to start of training camp, Charania adds. The Sixers issued a statement confirming George’s surgery, which was relayed by PHLY Sports’ Kyle Neubeck (Twitter link).

Sources informed Neubeck that the surgery was an “arthroscopic cleanup” that did not involve major ligaments (Twitter link).

It’s another health-related setback for the franchise and for George, who was the Sixers’ front office’s prized signing last summer, when he inked a four-year max deal. George was supposed to be the missing link in the franchise’s championship puzzle but Philadelphia didn’t even make the playoffs after an injury-riddled season.

Knee and groin injuries limited George to just 41 games during his first season in Philadelphia. He averaged 16.2 points, 5.3 rebounds and 4.3 assists while shooting 43 percent from the field and 35.8 percent from long range. He had averaged at least 21.9 PPG in his previous nine seasons, including five full seasons with the Clippers.

George played 74 regular seasons games in his last season with the Clippers but he dealt with a laundry list of ailments during his time in Los Angeles. During his first four years with the Clippers, he never appeared in more than 56 games.

Holdover Justin Edwards and recent free agent acquisition Trendon Watford could play key early-season roles at power forward if George isn’t fully healthy by the season opener.

Timberwolves Sign Naz Reid To Five-Year Deal

July 14th, 2025 at 5:04pm CST by Luke Adams

JULY 14: The signing is official, according to a team press release.

JUNE 27: The Timberwolves and Naz Reid are in agreement on a new contract, according to Shams Charania of ESPN, who reports that the reserve forward/center intends to sign a five-year, $125MM contract to remain in Minnesota.

Reid held a player option worth approximately $15MM for the 2025/26 season, but will turn down that option in advance of Sunday’s deadline in order to finalize his new deal with the Wolves in July. According to Charania, the new contract will also feature a player option on the final year.

After winning the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year award in 2023/24, Reid had another strong showing for the Timberwolves in ’24/25, matching or exceeding his stats from the previous season in several key categories. The 25-year-old averaged 14.2 points, 6.0 rebounds, and 2.3 assists in 27.5 minutes per game across 80 outings (17 starts).

Reid has knocked down 39.5% of 5.4 three-point attempts per game over the past two seasons, making him a valuable floor-spacer in Minnesota’s frontcourt alongside center Rudy Gobert. Lineups featuring Reid and Gobert outscored opponents by 11.8 points per 100 possessions last season, the best mark of any of the team’s 25 most frequently used duos.

According to Charania, there was a “vibrant market developing” in free agency for Reid, with teams prepared to offer similar money and potentially a starting role. While Brooklyn is the only club currently projected to have enough cap room to have offered Reid a starting salary in the range of $20-25MM, there are other clubs that probably had the ability to get there.

The Pistons, for instance, were known to be interested in adding a stretch big man, and were cited as a team with interest in Reid. Detroit has the ability to create roughly $17MM in cap room and could have attempted to move off one more contract to create additional spending flexibility.

But the Timberwolves spoke both publicly and privately since their season ended about their desire to retain Reid, and showed with their five-year offer that they were serious about holding off rival suitors.

The next orders of business for the Wolves will be figuring out what happens with starting power forward Julius Randle and guard Nickeil Alexander-Walker. Randle holds a $30.9MM player option that he must decide on by Sunday, while Alexander-Walker will be an unrestricted free agent.

Although Minnesota has expressed a desire to keep all three players, retaining both Randle and Alexander-Walker would almost certainly push team salary well over the second tax apron for a second straight year, as cap expert Yossi Gozlan outlines (via Twitter). That may not appeal to the front office (or team ownership).

There has been some skepticism about the Wolves’ ability to keep all three players, with Alexander-Walker viewed as the most likely odd man out. Accounting for Randle’s option and no new deal for Alexander-Walker, the Wolves currently project to operate just below the second apron, tweets ESPN Bobby Marks.

Wizards Waive Richaun Holmes

July 14th, 2025 at 4:10pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Wizards have waived veteran big man Richaun Holmes, Michael Scotto of HoopsHype tweets.

Holmes’ $13.28MM contract for next season only had a partial guarantee of $250K. He averaged 7.4 points and 5.7 rebounds in 17.2 minutes over 31 games (seven starts) last season.

Holmes will be an unrestricted free agent once he clears waivers. Given his age — 31 — and lack of playing time last season, it’s no surprise that Washington would clear salary by cutting Holmes loose.

Holmes declined a $12.88MM option on his contract last summer in order to sign a two-year, $25.9MM contract that included the partial guarantee on year two. He had been acquired during the trade deadline from Dallas in the deal that sent Daniel Gafford to the Mavs. He appeared in 17 games for Washington that season, making eight starts and averaging 7.1 points and 6.1 rebounds in 18.7 minutes per night.

Holmes was once one of the most sought-after big men in the league. He was signed by Sacramento on a four-year, $46MM contract in 2021 and averaged in double digits in three consecutive seasons for the Kings.

Once the Wizards signed free agent Marvin Bagley III to back up Alex Sarr, it was clear that Holmes was no longer in the Wizards’ plans. He should draw interest from teams seeking frontcourt depth.