Western Notes: Topic, Beal, Abdelfattah, Holsopple
Nikola Topic, a 2024 lottery pick, spent his entire first season in the NBA rehabbing a partially torn ACL in his left knee that required surgery. The Thunder guard took some positives from his long road to recovery, he told Justin Martinez of The Oklahoman.
“I didn’t play a basketball game for a very long time, and that was really hard,” Topic said. “But as you go through that process, you learn something about yourself that you didn’t know you had. … I took positives from it and learned from it.”
Topic returned to action during the Summer League. He averaged 10.8 points, 5.8 assists and 1.8 steals in 27.3 minutes per game in five appearances.
“I feel more confident,” Topic said. “Going into a game, sleeping before a game and just everything about it, I feel way more confident.”
Here’s more from the Western Conference:
- Bradley Beal‘s primary motivation to sign with the Clippers was the opportunity to join another contender. “I need a ring. I want one bad. I feel like I’ve got a new life of rejuvenation, for sure, a new hunger. I’m excited about the opportunity, new city, a new environment but a hungry environment, too,” he told KMOV’s Tamar Sher (video link). After getting bought out by the Suns, Beal signed a two-year, $11MM contract with a player option.
- The Timberwolves are hiring Mahmoud Abdelfattah as head coach of their NBA G League affiliate, the Iowa Wolves, Michael Scotto of HoopsHype tweets. Abdelfattah will also be an assistant coach for USA Basketball’s AmeriCup Qualifying Team. He was previously the head coach of Australia’s Sydney Kings.
- The Lakers are hiring Jeremy Holsopple as their new head strength and conditioning coach, Marc Stein of The Stein Line tweets. As the Mavericks’ athletic performance director, Holsopple was named as the NBA’s top strength and conditioning coach in March 2021.
And-Ones: Dynasties, Wolves, Concern-O-Meter, Traded Picks
It may seem like the Thunder have the makings of dynasty, but ESPN’s Tim Bontemps details why it’s tougher than ever to build a dominant team. He outlines how the tax aprons make it more difficult for teams to run it back with the same core of players and that roster mistakes can haunt contenders for several years.
“You have to be right on every decision,” one Western Conference scout told Bontemps. “Now, you have to look at things in not a one-year window, but a three-year window. You literally can’t mess anything up. It puts pressure on the organization to think differently and smartly to make sure you are best-positioned to make the right decisions.”
We have more from around the league:
- Point guard Mike Conley will turn 38 before opening night and finding a suitable replacement could be difficult for the Timberwolves. Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report gets creative in an effort to solve that problem, proposing a four-team trade in which Minnesota winds up with Magic guard Anthony Black.
- The Athletic’s Zach Harper provides his ratings for the ‘concern-o-meter’ regarding 10 potential red flags that have popped up around the league this offseason. Rating high on the ‘concern-o-meter’ is the demise of free agency, the moves made by the Pelicans and the continued health issues for the Sixers.
- Speaking of the Pelicans, Sam Quinn of CBS Sports takes a look at every future traded first-rounder, ranking them from least valuable to most valuable. New Orleans’ unprotected 2026 pick, which its new front office dealt to the Hawks in a draft-night trade, is considered the most valuable among those picks. The Bucks‘ 2029 pick, which could go to either the Trail Blazers or Wizards, is ranked No. 2, followed by the 2027, ’29 and ’31 first-rounders the Suns dealt away.
Thunder Notes: Ring Night, Durant, Hartenstein, Sorber
Thunder fans shouldn’t get distracted by the presence of Kevin Durant at their ring night celebration, writes Rylan Stiles of Sports Illustrated. According to a Friday report, Durant’s first game with the Rockets will kick off the new NBA season on October 21 at Oklahoma City, which is when the home team will be honored for capturing the city’s first-ever championship.
Durant has a long and complicated history with OKC fans. He was their first hero when the team moved from Seattle in 2008 and led them to the NBA Finals in 2012. However, a rift was created when he left for Golden State as a free agent four years later and he usually gets loudly booed during visits to Oklahoma City.
Stiles encourages fans to look past their feud with Durant for at least one night and savor the ring presentations and the raising of the championship banner. Stiles doesn’t expect forgiveness, but he said the crowd should celebrate the accomplishments of MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and his teammates, who were able to accomplish something for the franchise that Durant never did.
There’s more on the Thunder:
- After winning 68 games and bringing home the championship, there are reasons to believe OKC will be even better next season, Stiles suggests in a separate story. Fourteen players return from the title team, with first-round pick Thomas Sorber replacing Dillon Jones on the 15-man roster. The team figures to benefit from internal development with so many young players, plus 2024 lottery pick Nikola Topic will be active after missing all of last season due to injury. In addition, several contenders have taken a step back so the Thunder’s path through the regular season might be easier.
- A $28.5MM team option on center Isaiah Hartenstein will be the Thunder’s major decision for next summer, Justin Martinez of The Oklahoman states in a mailbag column. While it’s possible that Hartenstein could agree to a new deal with a smaller average annual value, Martinez notes that re-signing him may mean parting with Luguentz Dort ($17.7MM) and Kenrich Williams ($7.2MM), who will also be on team options. Martinez views Hartenstein as the most likely of the three to be let go because his salary is so large.
- The Thunder can afford to be patient with Sorber if he’s not fully ready in time for training camp, Martinez adds in the same piece. The 19-year-old big man underwent surgery in February for a turf toe injury and missed all of Summer League, even though he was able to work out individually during practices. There has been no official word on Sorber’s status, and he said at a post-draft press conference that he was “just taking it day-by-day.”
Look Ahead At Potential 2026 Free Agents
Free agency is not the headline event it once was in the NBA, as a large portion of the top players on the market tend to extend, like Luka Doncic did last weekend with the Lakers, or move in trades rather than signing with new teams. However, there are still likely to be talented players available and ready to contribute to new situations, as Zach Harper details for The Athletic.
Teams like the Lakers, Clippers, and Heat have made an effort to keep their flexibility for next year, write Tim Bontemps and Kevin Pelton for ESPN. However, those teams are also expected to try to maintain cap space for 2027, a summer in which multiple MVPs – Giannis Antetokounmpo and Nikola Jokic – could potentially reach the market, though of course neither is guaranteed to be available.
The Celtics will also likely look to retool their roster next summer after trading away key contributors in Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis for salary cap relief, as they seek to rebuild their roster into a contender around Tatum once he has recovered from his Achilles tear.
Trae Young, with a $48.9MM player option for the 2026/27 season, has the potential to be one of the top names on the board, and while Harper expresses confidence that an extension with the Hawks will get done, there have been rumors that it’s far from a certainty, and that next season could serve as an evaluation period for the Hawks’ core under a new head of basketball operations.
Other high-end veterans with player options for ’26/27 include James Harden (Clippers), Zach LaVine (Kings), Draymond Green (Warriors), Austin Reaves (Lakers), Andrew Wiggins (Heat), Fred VanVleet (Rockets), and Bradley Beal (Clippers). Harper considers Harden, Green, and Reaves very likely to remain with their current teams, and VanVleet also relatively likely to stay, though the Rockets have some level of flexibility in regard to the future of their roster.
Then there are the unrestricted free agents. As of this moment, LeBron James (Lakers) and Kevin Durant (Rockets) represent the cream of the crop, but there are other talented players such as Porzingis (Hawks), Anfernee Simons (Celtics), Coby White (Bulls), and others who are sure to garner suitors.
For what it’s worth, Durant has been widely expected to extend with Houston, but James is ineligible to be extended prior to free agency and White’s salary is so modest relative to his value that he’s considered likely to wait until he can get a bigger payday on the free agent market.
One interesting inflection point will be players on team options, such as Isaiah Hartenstein and Luguentz Dort on the Thunder, and Bogdan Bogdanovic and Brook Lopez on the Clippers. The Thunder, particularly, could have some tough decisions to make on their role players soon as lucrative extensions take effect for stars Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Chet Holmgren, and Jalen Williams.
Christmas Day Schedule Includes Thunder-Spurs, Rockets-Lakers
The NBA’s highly anticipated Christmas Day schedule has been revealed, courtesy of ESPN’s Shams Charania (via Twitter). The five-game slate is heavy on Western Conference powerhouses, with just one game coming from the Eastern Conference, in a matchup of what is expected to be the top two teams in the Cavaliers and Knicks.
This will be the first Christmas Day game for the Cavaliers in the post-LeBron James era, writes Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. Their last December 25 game came in 2017.
Following the Eastern Conference matchup, the Spurs will travel to Oklahoma City to face the Thunder, as Victor Wembanyama squares off against Chet Holmgren, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and Jalen Williams.
Kevin Durant and the Rockets will then duel LeBron James, Luka Doncic, and the Lakers in a clash of teams balancing championship aspirations with their Hall-of-Fame veterans and younger future-facing casts. The Rockets last played a Christmas Day game in 2019, writes Danielle Lerner of the Houston Chronicle.
The final two matchups of the night will see the Mavericks face off against the Warriors, and finally, the Timberwolves going up against the retooled Nuggets in a battle of Northwest Division powerhouses.
As Marc Stein notes (via Twitter), between the Christmas Day schedule and the reported opening night schedule, the league has chosen not to highlight a Mavericks-Lakers matchup on either of these two anticipated dates. Instead, Stein reports (via Twitter), the battle of Doncic’s current and former teams will likely occur at the end of November during the NBA Cup.
As Law Murray of the Athletic notes (via Twitter), only three teams that won at least 49 games last season aren’t featured on the Christmas Day slate. Those teams are the Celtics and Pacers, who are expected to take a step back as their stars (Jayson Tatum and Tyrese Haliburton) recover from Achilles tears, and the Clippers, who will not play on Christmas for the fifth year in a row.
Rockets/Thunder, Warriors/Lakers To Play On Opening Night
The 2025/26 NBA season will tip off on October 21 with a pair of Western Conference matchups, reports ESPN’s Shams Charania (via Twitter).
The Rockets will go up against the 2024 title-winning Thunder to open the evening, followed by the Warriors at the Lakers.
This means Kevin Durant, on the new-look Rockets, will be heading to Oklahoma City on the night the Thunder receive their championship rings. Meanwhile, Stephen Curry will go up against LeBron James for the 57th time in their careers.
While the Mavericks were not tapped with an opening night game, Marc Stein of the Stein Line reports (via Twitter) that their season will start on October 22 against the Spurs in what is sure to be a much-anticipated showdown between this year’s No. 1 pick, Cooper Flagg and 2023’s top pick Victor Wembanyama, as well as this year’s No. 2 selection Dylan Harper.
Stein also notes (via Twitter) that the league has announced that group play for the NBA Cup will take place between October 31 and November 28 this season.
Two NBA Players Among France’s Pre-EuroBasket Cuts
The French national team announced today (via Twitter) that it has trimmed its preliminary EuroBasket roster to 14 players by making three cuts. Two NBA players – Thunder forward Ousmane Dieng and Hornets big man Moussa Diabate – were among those cut, along with former lottery pick Frank Ntilikina.
Dieng and Diabate both have big seasons on tap in 2025/26. Dieng, the No. 11 overall pick in 2022, is currently eligible for a contract extension as he enters the fourth and final year of his rookie scale deal, which will pay him $6.67MM.
However, unlike fellow ’22 lottery picks Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren, who received maximum-salary extensions from the Thunder this summer, Dieng isn’t considered likely to get a new deal at this time and is probably more focused on simply hanging onto his roster spot on a deep OKC squad. He’s the only player on the 15-man roster whose contract is fully expiring (with no option for 2026/27).
Diabate, meanwhile, will be looking to parlay a career year in Charlotte into a guaranteed contract and a more significant role. His $2.27MM salary for ’25/26 is currently non-guaranteed and the Hornets, who are currently carrying 18 players on standard contracts (16 guaranteed), could be facing a roster crunch this fall. However, the team is somewhat thin in the frontcourt and Diabate may well be part of the rotation again after averaging 5.7 points and 6.2 rebounds in 17.5 minutes per contest (71 games) last season.
France still has plenty of current and former NBA players on its roster after parting with three of them. Wizards youngsters Alex Sarr and Bilal Coulibaly, 2024’s No. 1 overall pick Zaccharie Risacher, and ex-NBAers like Theo Maledon, Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot, and Elie Okobo are among those still on the squad, per Eurohoops.
The French team will have to make two more cuts before EuroBasket tips off later this month in order to set its 12-man roster.
Russell Westbrook Isn't Expected To Return To OKC
- Russell Westbrook remains on the free agent market, but a reunion with the Thunder is unlikely, according to Rylan Stiles of Sports Illustrated. He points out that even though Westbrook is still a beloved figure in Oklahoma City, the team already has a full roster with 15 guaranteed contracts and the former MVP doesn’t fit the Thunder’s current style of play.
Blazers’ Camara, Thunder’s Mitchell Won’t Play In EuroBasket
Toumani Camara and Ajay Mitchell won’t participate in EuroBasket for the Belgian national team, according to Eurohoops.net.
An announcement from the Belgium Basketball Federation provided more clarity on their decisions:
“Ajay Mitchell will not participate in the European Championship with the Belgian Lions. After a long and demanding season and a foot injury, he has decided to rest and recover for the new NBA season. He remains motivated to play for Belgium and looks forward to the opportunities that will arise in the coming years.
“Toumani Camara is also eager to play for the national team. However, this summer is not the ideal time to join the Belgian Lions, as he is focused on taking an important next step in his NBA career.”
Camara could be motivated by his NBA contract status. He’s one of the biggest bargains in the league. The Trail Blazers’ forward will make $2,221,677 in the upcoming season and the club holds an option for the 2026/27 season.
Camara is a prime candidate for a lucrative extension to wipe out the final year of that contract. He started 78 games last season, averaging 11.3 points, 5.8 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game. Camara’s defensive versatility is his biggest strength. He was named to All-Defensive Second Team.
Mitchell earned All-Rookie Second Team honors for the league champion Thunder despite appearing in only 36 games. He missed 46 contests due to toe surgery. The 6’5″ shooting guard averaged 6.5 PPG, 1.9 RPG, 1.8 APG and 0.7 SPG across 16.6 MPG.
Their absences will leave Belgium without a current NBA player for the upcoming tournament.
And-Ones: Hollis-Jefferson, LeBron, Sophomores, G. Arenas
After recently going viral on NBA Twitter for a tweet in which he made his case for an NBA roster spot, veteran forward Rondae Hollis-Jefferson spoke to Cyro Asseo of HoopsHype about his quest to get back into the league.
“I feel like, given the time I was in the NBA, I think it was very important for me to self-reflect and think about all the things that I could have done differently that kind of shaped me into the person I am today,” Hollis-Jefferson said. “I was just sitting there the other day thinking about it. I was thinking about it all, man. Just where I’m at, how far I’ve come, the growth, the experiences, everything that I’ve been through.
“… It was one of those days where your wheels are turning. And I said, man, I should be in the NBA, dude. I know everyone knows how hard I work, how much I care about basketball, but that’s really where it stemmed from.”
A first-round pick in 2015, Hollis-Jefferson appeared in 305 regular season games for three teams from 2015-21. While he has been out of the NBA for four years, he has continued to compete in professional leagues around the world, spending time in Turkey, Puerto Rico, South Korea, the Philippines, and Lebanon.
Still just 30 years old, Hollis-Jefferson says a desire to be closer to home is a big part of the reason why he’d love to make it back to the NBA.
“Just wanting to be on that big stage and really, really wanting to be closer to home, to be closest to my kids,” he said. “It’s one thing for them to take a max five-hour flight to, say, California, versus a 20-hour travel day to Asia or somewhere else.”
Here are more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- Despite some speculation that a recent meeting between LeBron James, his business partner Maverick Carter, and Nikola Jokic‘s agent Misko Raznatovic was a recruiting trip, they were actually discussing plans for an international basketball league that is being spearheaded by Carter, multiple sources tell Ben Horney, Daniel Roberts, and Alex Schiffer of Front Office Sports.
- Jeremy Woo of ESPN.com identifies the 10 most interesting second-year NBA players he’ll be watching in 2025/26. Woo’s list includes first-year standouts, like reigning Rookie of the Year Stephon Castle, players recovering from major injuries, such as Thunder guard Nikola Topic and Sixers guard Jared McCain, and youngsters who will be in line for major role increases as sophomores, including Rockets guard Reed Sheppard.
- Former NBA All-Star Gilbert Arenas was among six people arrested on Wednesday on suspicion of hosting illegal high-stakes poker games at a mansion in Los Angeles owned by Arenas, according to a report from The Associated Press. The press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office detailing the specifics of the case can be found right here.
- A man has been found guilty for second-degree murder in the killing of former NBA forward Adreian Payne, per Silas Morgan and Cristobal Reyes of The Orlando Sentinel (susbcription required). Lawrence Alexander Dority, who shot and killed Payne in May 2022, claimed that he thought the 31-year-old was reaching for a gun and cited self-defense, but Orange County Sheriff’s Office investigators concluded Payne didn’t have a weapon on him and that he didn’t pose a threat to Dority, who is scheduled to be sentenced on August 29.