Northwest Notes: Williams, Sharpe, Nuggets, Bailey
Thunder forward Jalen Williams, who is making his way back from surgery to address a torn scapholunate ligament in his right wrist, still isn’t shooting jumpers with that right hand, according to ESPN’s Tim MacMahon (Twitter link).
The Thunder have been cagey about Williams’ recovery timeline and haven’t indicated whether or not they expect him to available when their regular season begins later this month. Asked about Williams’ status on Thursday, head coach Mark Daigneault declined to offer any specifics.
“He’s progressing on a normal timeline,” Daigneault said (YouTube link). “… He’s where he should be.”
We have more from around the Northwest:
- Amid rumors that he could command a rookie scale extension worth north of $100MM over four years, Trail Blazers guard Shaedon Sharpe kicked off the preseason in impressive fashion on Wednesday, scoring 22 points on 9-of-15 shooting and grabbing six rebounds in just 23 minutes of action. “He just looked very under control at all times,” head coach Chauncey Billups said of Sharpe, per Sean Highkin of Rose Garden Report (Substack link). “Got to where he wanted to get to. I thought defensively, he was good. He went in and got some really good rebounds for us. I think Shaedon can be an exceptional rebounder with his physical gifts. He played a good game.”
- Nuggets newcomer Cameron Johnson has played a pretty modest offensive role in his first two preseason games with the team, scoring just 13 points on nine total shot attempts. Head coach David Adelman isn’t worried about that, as Bennett Durando of The Denver Post relays. “We’re just getting him comfortable,” Adelman said on Thursday. “And Cam is one of those guys that plays for his teammates sometimes instead of force-feeding himself into the action. … We’ve gotta get him to his right hand more. I haven’t put in pet plays for him yet. But we’ll get there for sure. He’s a really special player in that you can plug and play him in a lot of ways.”
- In a separate story for The Denver Post, Durando spoke to some of Bruce Brown‘s former coaches to get a sense of why he and the Nuggets have been such a perfect match for one another. Durando also reports within the story that Brown drew interest this offseason from the Lakers and Suns, among other teams, before agreeing to return to Denver.
- The Jazz lost to Houston in their preseason opener on Wednesday, but rookie forward Ace Bailey poured in 25 points on 11-of-16 shooting while also chipping in six rebounds, three assists, and a pair of steals. Rockets forward Kevin Durant was among those who came away impressed by the No. 5 overall pick, per Andy Larsen of The Salt Lake Tribune. “Dynamic player. I think he’s going to be a hell of a player,” Durant said. “I love the coaching staff that he’s with. I love that he got drafted to Utah; they’ve got a good development program over there that I’m looking forward to seeing how he progresses. I’m expecting a big year from him and a big career.”
Thunder Granted Disabled Player Exception
The Thunder have been awarded a disabled player exception as a result of Thomas Sorber‘s season-ending knee surgery, according to Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report (Twitter link).
An NBA team becomes eligible for a disabled player exception when one of its players sustains an injury that is considered more likely than not to sideline him through June 15 of that league year. It doesn’t grant the team an extra roster spot, but generates some additional cap flexibility. The exception can be used to acquire a player on an expiring contract via trade or waiver claim, or to sign a free agent to a one-year contract.
The value of the disabled player exception is equivalent to either the non-taxpayer mid-level exception or half of the injured player’s salary, whichever is lesser. In this case, Sorber’s cap hit is a relatively modest $4,655,040, so the DPE is worth $2,327,520.
Teams will have until March 10 to use their disabled player exceptions, and most of them expire without being used. That’s especially true when they’re worth as little as the Thunder’s new one and when a team has more versatile exceptions like the mid-level on hand.
Still, there are certain scenarios in which that small DPE could come in handy, such as signing a player to a rest-of-season contract worth more than the minimum later in the season, or trading for a player with a low cap hit who can’t be acquired using the minimum salary exception.
Sorber, the 15th overall pick in the 2025 draft, tore his ACL during a workout last month. It will be the second year in a row that a Thunder first-round pick has missed his rookie season due to an ACL tear — Nikola Topic did the same thing in 2024/25, though Oklahoma City knew about that injury before drafting him.
NBA GMs Expect Thunder To Repeat, Jokic To Win Fourth MVP
NBA general managers view the Thunder as the overwhelming favorite to repeat as champions this season, according to the 24th annual GM survey conducted by John Schuhmann of NBA.com. GMs were not allowed to vote for their own team or personnel.
Eighty percent of general managers predicted Oklahoma City to win the 2026 NBA Finals, with the Cavaliers and Nuggets tied for second at 7% each. The Rockets and Knicks were the only other teams to receive votes.
If the Thunder do go back-to-back, they would be the first repeat champions since Golden State in 2018.
Still, it’s worth noting that 83% of GMs thought Boston would win its second consecutive title in 2025 during last year’s edition of the survey, and the Celtics wound up being eliminated in the second round of the playoffs.
Three-time MVP Nikola Jokic is heavily favored to win his fourth award in 2025/26. The Nuggets superstar received 67% of the vote and was also tabbed as the league’s best center (maximum possible 97%), best international player (93%), best passer (80%), the player with the best basketball IQ (80%), and the player who forces opposing coaches to make the most adjustments (57%).
NBA GMs view Rockets guard/forward Amen Thompson as the league’s most athletic player (58%) and most versatile defender (18%), as well as the player most likely to have a breakout season (30%).
For the second straight year, Spurs center Victor Wembanyama was tabbed as the best player to build a franchise around, receiving 83% of the vote. The French center was also voted the league’s best defender (80%) and tied with Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo for the league’s most versatile player (30% apiece).
Unsurprisingly, Mavericks forward Cooper Flagg is the runaway favorite to win Rookie of the Year, claiming the maximum 97% of the vote. General managers also think he’s the rookie who will be the best player five years from now (93%).
Fifty-three percent of GMs surveyed think the Hawks made the best offseason moves, while 47% believe the Magic will be the most improved team this season.
According to general managers, Milwaukee made by far the two most surprising offseason moves: waiving and stretching Damian Lillard (43%), and subsequently signing Myles Turner in free agency (30%).
Schuhmann’s survey is worth checking out in full and can be found right here.
And-Ones: Westbrook, Durant, WNBA Coaches, Caboclo, Fournier, More
Russell Westbrook remains an unsigned free agent and Rockets forward Kevin Durant wouldn’t mind a reunion with his former teammate, he said on the “Up & Adams” show (video link).
“Russ is a legend. He deserves to be in the NBA right now,” Durant said. “I think he deserves to walk out of the NBA on his terms. That would be dope.”
If Westbrook is signed in the short term, it won’t be with the Rockets. They’re hard-capped and can’t sign a veteran right now, even if it’s a minimum contract.
Here’s more from around the basketball world:
- There are five current openings for WNBA head coaches. Jake Fischer of The Stein Line (Substack link) hears that several of those teams are considering NBA assistant coaches with G League head coaching experience for those positions. Fischer notes that Nate Tibbets had that type of background and is the head coach of the Phoenix Mercury, who are currently in the WNBA Finals. Former Clippers assistant Natalie Nakase guided Golden State’s WNBA franchise to a winning record in the team’s inaugural season, earning Coach of the Year honors.
- Hapoel Tel Aviv’s Bruno Caboclo will miss several months of action after undergoing back surgery, Johnny Askounis of Eurohoops.net reports. The NBA veteran big man joined the Reds ahead of last season and appeared in 23 games, including three starts, averaging 7.4 points and 3.7 rebounds per contest. Caboclo, 30, appeared in 105 NBA games, mostly recently a six-game stint with Houston during the 2020/21 season.
- Longtime NBA forward Evan Fournier would like to finish his career with Olympiacos, he said in a recent TV interview as relayed by Askounis. “I feel very good here and I want to finish my career here,” he said, “I don’t know if that’s going to happen, but for me that’s the goal.” Fournier signed a three-year extension in July. Fournier appeared in 704 regular season games throughout his NBA career, making 504 starts and averaging 13.6 points, 2.7 rebounds and 2.5 assists in 27.7 minutes per night.
- ESPN’s Kevin Pelton has unveiled his win total projections for each NBA team, from the Thunder (59.2) at the top to the Wizards (14.2) at the bottom.
And-Ones: Delfino, Positional Rankings, Top Storylines, More
Appearing on the “Doble Doble” podcast this week, former NBA forward Carlos Delfino confirmed that he is retiring as a player, as Johnny Askounis of Eurohoops writes.
Delfino, who turned 43 in August, was the 25th overall pick in the 2003 NBA draft and spent nine years in the league from 2004-08 and 2009-14 (he played in Russia in 2008/09). The Argentinian wing averaged 8.1 points, 3.6 rebounds, and 1.7 assists in 22.8 minutes per game across 507 regular season outings for the Pistons, Raptors, Bucks, and Rockets before injuries derailed his career.
Delfino eventually returned to action in Europe in 2017 and spent the next several seasons playing for non-NBA teams. A longtime international standout, he won an Olympic gold medal in Athens in 2004 as a member of the Argentina national team that upset Team USA in the semifinals, then took home a bronze medal at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
We have several more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- Law Murray of The Athletic ranked all 30 NBA teams based on their depth charts at each position, with the Thunder (Shai Gilgeous-Alexander; Cason Wallace) taking the No. 1 spot at point guard while the Timberwolves (Anthony Edwards; Terrence Shannon Jr.) sit atop the shooting guard list. The Rockets (Kevin Durant; Tari Eason), Bucks (Giannis Antetokounmpo; Bobby Portis), and Nuggets (Nikola Jokic; Jonas Valanciunas) ranked first at small forward, power forward, and center, respectively.
- What storylines will be the biggest of the 2025/26 season? Chris Mannix of SI.com makes his predictions, including whether or not Antetokounmpo will finish the season with the Bucks, how much better the Magic will be with Desmond Bane, and whether the concept of playoff reseeding will gain any momentum based on the relative strength of the Western Conference.
- An international basketball league that has been in the works for the past couple years still plans to launch in 2026, but LeBron James‘ business partner Maverick Carter is no longer involved in the venture, according to Ben Horney and Daniel Roberts of Front Office Sports. The report from Horney and Roberts provides some details on the big names who are investing in the league, including tennis star Novak Djokovic and former WNBA star Candace Parker.
- John Hollinger of The Athletic‘s projections for the bottom half of the Eastern Conference in 2025/26 include the Sixers, Celtics, and Pacers finishing 10th through 12th with 37, 36, and 31 wins, respectively. However, he acknowledges that Philadelphia might have a wider range of potential outcomes than any other team in the NBA.
Thunder’s Nikola Topic To Miss At Least 4-6 Weeks
After missing his entire rookie season due to an ACL tear, Thunder guard Nikola Topic won’t be available when his second NBA season tips off either.
The team has announced that Topic underwent a testicular procedure on Monday and will be reevaluated in four-to-six weeks. That means his regular season NBA debut won’t happen until sometime in November, at the earliest.
The 12th overall pick in the 2024 draft, Topic essentially had a redshirt year during the Thunder’s championship season and had been gearing up to compete for rotation minutes this season. He played 31 minutes in Oklahoma City’s preseason opener on Sunday against Charlotte, registering 10 points, seven assists, and four rebounds while making 4-of-9 shots from the floor.
The Thunder have plenty of backcourt depth, with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Alex Caruso, Cason Wallace, Isaiah Joe, Aaron Wiggins, and Ajay Mitchell among the guards available to head coach Mark Daigneault, so Topic’s injury shouldn’t have a major impact on the rotation to open the season.
Still, it’s an unfortunate setback for a player who has been on an NBA roster for the last 15 months and has yet to see any regular season game action.
The Thunder will also be without Thomas Sorber (ACL tear) and Kenrich Williams (knee surgery) when their season gets underway later this month.
Western Notes: Topic, Rockets, Podziemski, Suns
The rotation the Thunder use this fall will look awfully similar to the one that won a championship earlier in the year, but there could be one notable new addition. Nikola Topic, the 2024 lottery pick who missed his entire rookie season due to a torn ACL, has impressed his teammates in training camp as he makes a bid for regular playing time, writes Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman (subscription required).
“It really stands out the way he sees the game,” Chet Holmgren said of the Serbian point guard. “Even without the ball in his hands, the way he cuts and finds open space. Sees plays up ahead of him and gets the ball out of his hands early. It’s impressive for a young guy, but that’s what got him noticed in the first place is his ability to see and read the game.”
Teammate Jaylin Williams also expressed admiration for Topic’s court vision and awareness: “You can see he really reads the game. Great passer, great facilitator out there.”
All 12 players who averaged at least 16 minutes per game for the Thunder last season are still on the roster, and all 12 except for Kenrich Williams (knee surgery) are healthy, so it remains to be seen whether Topic will be able to crack the regular season rotation.
However, he should get plenty of opportunities to show what he can do during Oklahoma City’s preseason schedule, which tips off on Sunday, Mussatto notes. According to head coach Mark Daigneault (Twitter video link via Rod Boone of The Charlotte Observer), several of the Thunder’s top players didn’t travel to South Carolina for Sunday’s preseason opener, the first game in a back-to-back set.
We have more from around the Western Conference:
- The Rockets will likely deploy different starting lineups during the preseason as head coach Ime Udoka gets a feel for how certain groups look in game settings, according to Danielle Lerner of The Houston Chronicle (subscription required). Udoka also said that forward Tari Eason and center Steven Adams will sit out Wednesday’s game vs. Utah after playing on Monday vs. Atlanta for precautionary reasons. Both players returned last season from major injuries.
- Warriors guard Brandin Podziemski spoke to Mark Medina of Sportskeeda about a variety of topics, including how he’d evaluate his 2024/25 season, what he focused on this offseason, and why he thinks incorporating newcomers like Al Horford will make for a “seamless transition.”
- Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic shares his key takeaways from the Suns‘ victory over the Lakers in their preseason opener on Friday, including the fact that second-year wing Ryan Dunn started as the team’s de facto power forward.
Seven NBA Two-Way Contract Slots Currently Open
While most of the NBA’s 30 teams filled all three of their two-way contract slots before training camps tipped off, there are still seven teams carrying just a pair of players on two-way deals, leaving one two-way slot open on their respective rosters, as our tracker shows.
Those teams are as follows:
- Brooklyn Nets
- Cleveland Cavaliers
- Dallas Mavericks
- Miami Heat
- Oklahoma City Thunder
- Orlando Magic
- Portland Trail Blazers
The majority of the players around the league who are in camp with teams on Exhibit 10 deals will ultimately end up with those clubs’ G League affiliates, but there’s an opportunity for the Exhibit 10 signees on those seven teams listed above to earn an 18-man roster spot entering the regular season.
Exhibit 10 contracts can be converted into two-way deals before the season begins, so several of those clubs are in the process of essentially holding an open competition for that last two-way slot. Besides the Nets (Fanbo Zeng) and Mavericks (Moussa Cisse; Matthew Cleveland), the rest of those teams have at least four players in camp on Exhibit 10 deals.
Not every player who is on an Exhibit 10 contract can have it converted to a two-way deal in the next couple weeks. For instance, while the Cavaliers have Killian Hayes, Chaney Johnson, Miller Kopp, Norchad Omier, and Tristan Enaruna in camp on Exhibit 10 deals, only the latter four are candidates for two-way conversions — Hayes already has five years of NBA service and is ineligible to have his contract converted. A player is only eligible to receive a two-way contract if this would be his first, second, third, or fourth NBA season.
[RELATED: 2025/26 Non-Guaranteed Contracts By Team]
Although many of these seven teams will likely reward one of their standout camp invitees with a promotion to a two-way contracts, that’s not necessarily how all of them will fill their remaining opening. When teams make roster cuts later in the preseason, some intriguing two-way targets will shake loose on waivers and in free agency, so these clubs could turn to the open market to address their third two-way slot.
Even teams that already have their three two-way slots filled could end up making changes between now and opening night, which would result in some current two-way players being waived, creating more potential targets for the teams with open slots.
A player on a two-way contract is eligible to be active for up to 50 NBA regular season games and can earn up to $636,435 (half the rookie minimum) if he remains under contract through at least January 7. Teams can continue swapping players on and off on two-way contracts until March 4. You can learn more about two-way deals in our glossary entry.
Kenrich Williams Undergoes Arthroscopic Procedure On Knee
September 30: Williams will be reevaluated in approximately six-to-eight weeks, according to the Thunder (Twitter link via Derek Parker of Thunder On SI).
September 29: Thunder forward Kenrich Williams will undergo an arthroscopic procedure on his left knee today, according to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link).
The team will provide a timeline for his recovery after the surgery is complete, Scotto adds.
Williams was an important reserve for Oklahoma City during its run to the NBA title last season. He appeared in 69 games, making seven starts and averaging 6.3 points, 3.5 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 16.4 minutes per night with .483/.386/.718 shooting numbers.
Williams, 30, has been a mainstay in OKC since being acquired from New Orleans in 2020 in a four-team deal. Nicknamed “Kenny Hustle,” he’s a fan favorite for his aggressive style of play. He will make $7.163MM this season, and the team holds an option for the same amount in 2026/27.
The Thunder may have the deepest roster in the league, so there should be no concerns about surviving while Williams heals up. Still, it’s the second bit of bad injury news for the defending champs, who lost rookie center Thomas Sorber to a season-ending ACL tear earlier this month.
Thunder Sign Jazian Gortman, Zack Austin, Chris Youngblood
The Thunder have signed free agents Jazian Gortman, Zack Austin and Chris Youngblood, the team announced today.
Oklahoma City’s three additions, all of whom played for the Thunder during Summer League action, will put the team at the offseason limit of 21 players under contract.
While the terms of the deals were not disclosed, reporting back in June indicated that Austin and Youngblood would be signing Exhibit 10 contracts for training camp. It seems pretty safe to assume that Gortman received the same.
Gortman, who went undrafted out of Overtime Elite in 2023, spent his first pro season in the G League with the Wisconsin Herd and the Rip City Remix, the affiliate teams of the Bucks and Trail Blazers, respectively.
The 6’2″ point guard caught on with the Mavericks last summer, initially signing an Exhibit 10 deal. Gortman impressed Dallas during training camp and preseason, having been promoted to a two-way contract shortly before the 2024/25 season began.
Gortman made 16 garbage-time appearances with the Mavs, playing 53 total minutes, before being released in late January. He also played 34 G League games (34.5 MPG) with the Texas Legends last season, averaging 20.0 points, 6.5 assists, 3.9 rebounds and 1.5 steals on .450/.272/.813 shooting.
Both Austin and Youngblood went undrafted in 2025.
As a senior for Pitt last season, Austin was named to the ACC’s All-Defensive team after averaging 4.7 rebounds, 1.1 steals and 1.6 blocks in 32 games (32.1 MPG). He also averaged 9.2 PPG while shooting 38.1% from three-point range.
Youngblood spent ’24/25 — his “super senior” campaign — with Alabama after previously playing for Kennesaw State and South Florida. He averaged 10.3 PPG and 2.3 RPG in 28 appearances (25.3 MPG) for the Crimson Tide, posting a shooting line of .447/.388/.804
It’s worth noting that the Thunder currently have an open two-way spot, and, as previously mentioned, Exhibit 10 deals can be converted into two-way pacts. Malevy Leons is also on an Exhibit 10 contract with OKC.