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.
Thunder Sign Malevy Leons To Exhibit 10 Deal
The Thunder have signed free agent forward Malevy Leons, the team announced in a press release.
While the terms of the deal were not disclosed, Rylan Stiles of SI.com says Leons signed an Exhibit 10 contract.
After going undrafted out of Bradley in 2024, Leons signed an Exhibit 10 deal with the Thunder last September and was waived before the 2024/25 season began.
At that point, it seemed like Leons would be headed to the G League to start his first professional season, but he was actually re-signed to a standard contract and spent two-plus weeks with the Thunder last fall, earning $126,356 on a minimum-salary deal before being cut in mid-November.
Leons’ NBA contributions were modest. He played 21 total minutes over six appearances and recorded two points, three rebounds and one assist. The 6’9″ Dutch forward was a regular contributor at the NBAGL level with the Oklahoma City Blue though, averaging 10.5 points, 7.6 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 1.4 steals and 1.0 block on .489/.353/.773 shooting in 47 games (26.9 minutes per contest).
The Thunder now have 17 players under contract, plus a reported two-way agreement with Branden Carlson.
An Exhibit 10 is a non-guaranteed training camp contract and is typically designed to ensure a player can receive a bonus worth up to $85,300 if they’re waived before the season begins and spend at least 60 days with their club’s affiliate. Exhibit 10 contracts can also be converted into two-way deals, and Oklahoma City will have one open two-way spot after Carlson signs.
Mavs Notes: Davis, Lineups, Arena Site, Casson, Preseason
Injuries prevented the Mavericks from taking a long look at double-big lineups last season. They plan to utilize their size next season in the hopes of making a deep playoff run, Christian Clark of The Athletic writes.
Clark notes that Anthony Davis logged only 95 minutes with either Dereck Lively II or Daniel Gafford in the middle. Davis is expected to play the bulk of his minutes at power forward next season.
“That’s something we have a huge advantage (with) going forward: our size,” Mavericks assistant coach Josh Broghame said. “The talent with that size, that’s something we put on a premium here, and it’s been really, really good for us so far.”
Here’s more on the Mavs:
- In the same story, Clark projects the opening night lineup, with Davis and Lively joined by top pick Cooper Flagg in the frontcourt and D’Angelo Russell and Klay Thompson starting in the backcourt. P.J. Washington, Gafford, Caleb Martin, Naji Marshall and Dante Exum or Max Christie are projected to fill out the rotation.
- Mavericks CEO Rick Welts said that multiple sites for a new arena are being considered and the process is in the early stages. “We have been presented several sites by the city and we are doing a deeper dive on two of them currently to see how viable they are,” he told Brad Townsend of the Dallas Morning News. “Neither may work and we may refocus on others.” Welts has set a goal of choosing a site by the end of the year or early next year. “The process is going to go on, I would guess, for months. But, no, we’re not like on the 10-yard line,” he added.
- Ethan Casson has been named president of business operations for the franchise, Townsend reports in a separate story. Casson announced last month he would step down after nine years as the Timberwolves’ CEO after the sale of the franchise was finalized. He will report to Welts once his new job officially begins on Aug. 11.
- The Mavs will play an Oct. 6 preseason game against the Thunder in Fort Worth, according to Grant Afseth of the Dallas Hoops Journal, as well as a neutral site preseason contest in Las Vegas against the Lakers on Oct. 15. The remainder of the preseason slate has yet to be revealed.
Northwest Notes: Caruso, Hartenstein, Nuggets, Hansen
Alex Caruso‘s regular season impact for the Thunder was fairly modest, as he made just 54 appearances while ranking just ninth on the team in minutes per game (19.3). That turned out to be by design — Caruso appeared in all 23 games during the team’s title run and ranked fifth on the team in MPG (24.4), writes Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman (subscriber link).
As Mussatto details, Caruso didn’t score 20 points a single time during the regular season but recorded three such games in the playoffs. The 31-year-old significantly boosted his three-point percentage as well, going from 35.3% during the season to 41.1% in the playoffs.
Defense and outside shooting were the main weaknesses of Josh Giddey, the player Oklahoma City traded to acquire Caruso, who excelled in both of those areas during the postseason. In Mussatto’s view, Caruso was the Thunder’s third-most important player in the playoffs (behind Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams), which is why he earned an A-plus for his 2024/25 performance.
Here’s more from around the Northwest:
- In another story for The Oklahoman, Mussatto commends the fit and play of center Isaiah Hartenstein, the Thunder‘s big free agent addition last summer, giving him a grade of A-minus. Unlike Caruso, Hartenstein had an excellent regular season but didn’t have the same level of impact during the playoffs. Still, the 27-year-old was vitally important in the second-round matchup against Denver, Mussatto notes, and provided the size and rebounding the team lacked in 2023/24.
- The Nuggets have had a busy offseason, trading Michael Porter Jr. and a 2032 first-round pick to acquire Cameron Johnson (and roster-building flexibility); trading Dario Saric for Jonas Valanciunas; and adding Bruce Brown and Tim Hardaway Jr. in free agency. Longtime analyst and former NBA star Charles Barkley is a fan of the moves they made, he told Sean Keeler of The Denver Post. “I think (the Nuggets) and the Houston Rockets have probably had the best summers (in the NBA),” Barkley said. “And (the Nuggets), they’ve got the best player in the world (in Nikola Jokic). They just needed some more depth. They kind of broke the team up after they won the first championship (2023), and that’s really unfortunate. (They’ve) still got the best player. You want to give them as many opportunities as possible. But I thought they had a great summer.”
- The Chinese Basketball Association recently announced that Trail Blazers first-round pick Yang Hansen will miss the 2025 Asia Cup in order to prepare for his rookie season, tweets Sean Highkin of RoseGardenReport.com. Hansen received permission from the Chinese national team to skip the event due to scheduling conflicts with Blazers mini-camps in August. He will instead stay in Portland this offseason.
Nikola Jokic Headlines Serbia’s Preliminary EuroBasket Roster
As expected, Nuggets center Nikola Jokic is among the 17 players listed on Serbia’s preliminary roster for this year’s EuroBasket tournament, the Basketball Federation of Serbia announced in a press release (hat tip to BasketNews.com).
Jokic is one of a handful of NBA players on the Serbian roster, along with Clippers guard Bogdan Bogdanovic, Thunder guard Nikola Topic, Heat forward Nikola Jovic, and Wizards center Tristan Vukcevic.
There are also several other players in the group who have previous NBA experience, such as Vasilije Micic, Marko Guduric, Filip Petrusev, and Alen Smailagic.
The Serbian national team is convening on Monday to begin training for EuroBasket and will play a series of exhibition games in August leading up to the event, which tips off on August 27.
The Serbians will face Estonia, Portugal, Latvia, the Czech Republic, and Turkey in the EuroBasket’s group phase. The field is made up of four groups of six teams apiece, with 16 of the 24 total clubs advancing to the knockout round of the tournament.
It will be the second straight summer in which Jokic has represented Serbia in an international competition — he led the team to a bronze medal finish at the Olympics in Paris in 2024. However, the Serbians were eliminated in the round of 16 by Italy in the most recent EuroBasket tournament in 2022, despite 32 point and 13 rebounds from Jokic in that game.
Summer League Notes: Rookie Standouts, Maluach, Fears
The 2025 Summer League gave fans and teams first impressions of most of this year’s incoming rookies, as well as serving as a showcase for several sophomores and younger veterans. In the wake of the event, Law Murray of the Athletic breaks down each rookie’s performance with an eye for what it could mean for the coming season.
Cooper Flagg (Mavericks), Dylan Harper (Spurs), and VJ Edgecombe (Sixers) were arguably the biggest names who participated in the Summer Leagues – headlined by the Las Vegas event – and despite some shooting efficiency concerns, all three gave their fans plenty of reason for excitement.
Flagg displayed a well-rounded on-ball skill set, Harper came up clutch in his last game to force overtime, and Edgecombe lived at the free throw line while displaying some advanced ball-screen offensive game, Murray observes.
The next three picks in the draft, Kon Knueppel (Hornets), Ace Bailey (Jazz), and Tre Johnson (Wizards), all showed off their shot-making capabilities, which will likely be what earns them regular playing time as rookies. Knueppel was rewarded for his play with the only All-Summer League Second Team selection among rookies, while Nique Clifford (Kings) was the lone rookie to make the First Team, thanks to his stellar all-around play.
Other rookies, such as Collin Murray-Boyles (Raptors), Carter Bryant (Spurs), Joan Beringer (Timberwolves), and Brooks Barnhizer (Thunder) flashed tantalizing defensive capabilities, though Murray-Boyles and Bryant were inconsistent offensively, Murray notes.
Here are a few more leftover Summer League notes:
- John Hollinger of the Athletic takes a look at some of the low points of Summer League, including the worst ejection of the tournament, awarded to the Celtics‘ Jordan Walsh for not only having an excessive foul on the Heat’s Pelle Larsson, but for accidentally throwing him into Walsh’s own front office executives courtside.
- In terms of players who struggled, Hollinger mentions Khaman Maluach (Suns), who had difficulty catching lobs and other passes, Jeremiah Fears (Pelicans), who was unable to spearhead an offense and create for others, and the limitations of the four Nets rookies who suited up, among others.
- On the non-player side, Hollinger points to an abundance of turnovers caused by stepping out of bounds, as well as the prevalence of split-screen interviews that made following the games an exercise in patience and eagle-eyed vision.
And-Ones: Biggest Mistakes, Summer League Standouts, More
As effectively managed as some NBA teams have been in recent years, all 30 clubs have made at least a few moves they regret, according to Zach Kram of ESPN.com, who runs through some of the biggest missteps of the 2020s and names the most glaring mistake each team has made this decade.
Kram’s list begins with “small-scale problems,” like the Cavaliers not giving Isaiah Hartenstein a qualifying offer in 2021 and the Knicks signing Evan Fournier to a $73MM contract in 2021, before advancing to “draft disasters” – such as the Celtics trading the draft rights to No. 30 pick Desmond Bane – and miscellaneous midtier mistakes,” including the Pistons giving Monty Williams the largest head coaching contract in league history.
Kram’s final two categories are “too high a cost for too little reward” and “franchise-altering terrible trades.” The top two mistakes on his list are the Mavericks moving Luka Doncic and the Suns giving up the assets they did to land Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal.
Here are more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- John Hollinger of The Athletic shares his biggest takeaways from this month’s Summer League games, including identifying Tolu Smith of the Pistons, Nae’Qwan Tomlin of the Cavaliers, and Drew Timme of the Nets as players to watch going forward. Hollinger also mentions Jazz big man Kyle Filipowski, Timberwolves guard Terrence Shannon Jr., Pistons forward Ron Holland, Thunder guard Ajay Mitchell, and Cavaliers wing Jaylon Tyson as the players who showed they were “too good for summer league.”
- While Summer League success doesn’t always carry over to the subsequent regular season, scouts around the NBA find July’s games “extremely valuable” for evaluating players, as Tobias Bass of The Athletic writes. “Before the draft, no matter what your opinion is about a player or how analytics project him to be, it’s always interesting to see how competitive they are once they get to summer league,” one Western Conference scout told Bass. “How quickly they pick up terminology, are they culture fits and can they keep the main thing the main thing? Can they be attentive, on time and professional, especially with all the distractions in Vegas?”
- Keith Smith of Spotrac empties out his notebook after traveling to Las Vegas for Summer League, sharing quotes from coaches, scouts, and executives about each of the NBA’s Eastern Conference and Western Conference teams.