Bilal Coulibaly Expected To Miss 6-8 Weeks
It was recently announced that Wizards‘ wing Bilal Coulibaly underwent surgery to repair a torn ligament in his right thumb that he suffered during his time with the French national team competing at EuroBasket. Grant Afseth of RG has now provided an update on the timeline of Coulibaly’s recovery process.
According to Afseth, the 21-year-old is expected to miss six-to-eight weeks, which means he’ll likely be sidelined for at least the first week of the season, which tips off on October 21. Afseth notes that even if Coulibaly were to get back to full health on the earlier side of that timeline, he would still have to undergo a full return-to-competition ramp-up.
“Usually, you’re not touching a basketball, unless it’s just to do off-hand work, until that six-week mark,” a source told Afseth. “Then he’d have to do contact work before playing.”
Coulibaly averaged 12.3 points, 3.4 assists, and 1.3 steals per game for the Wizards last season before missing the final 23 games of the season with a hamstring injury. He saw his three-point shooting numbers drop from 34.6% as a rookie to 28.1% as a sophomore while shouldering a larger offensive workload.
Afseth notes that once Coulibaly returns, he’s expected to resume his place as a key member of the Wizards’ rebuild. A strong defender and open-court player, he projects to fit well alongside 2025 first-round pick Tre Johnson on the wing.
Afseth notes that Coulibaly’s teammate on both the French national team and Wizards, Alex Sarr, was also injured in competition, suffering a calf injury that caused him to pull out of the tournament.
EuroBasket Standouts For NBA Teams To Monitor
The 2025 EuroBasket tournament has officially concluded, with Germany taking home the gold medal after defeating Turkey 88-83. Soon, the NBA players involved in the competition will rejoin their teams as they gear up for training camp, while EuroLeague players get ready for the September 30 season tip-off.
While the competition was a great way for teammates like Franz Wagner and Tristan Da Silva of the Magic to further build chemistry and for international stars like Dennis Schröder and Giannis Antetokounmpo to continue to shape their FIBA legacies, it was also a chance for less-heralded players to gain the eye of NBA executives and scouts, write Cyro Asseo and Sam Yip of HoopsHype.
Asseo and Yip break down eight players who proved during competition that they are worth NBA teams’ attention. They start with Isaac Bonga, who was named MVP of the EuroBasket Final after scoring 20 points and making 4-of-4 three-pointers.
Bonga played four seasons in the NBA from 2018-22, and averaged 3.1 points, 2.2 rebounds, and 0.8 assists in 13.1 minutes per night. Since leaving the league, the 6’8″ forward has become one of Europe’s premier defenders while shooting over 37% from three each of the last three seasons.
Asseo and Yip referred to him as “by far the best defender in this year’s Eurobasket” and “perhaps the best perimeter defender outside the NBA.” Bonga, who signed an extension with Partizan Belgrade that runs through 2026/27, is only 25 years old.
Next, HoopsHype’s duo turned to Bonga’s German teammate Oscar Da Silva, brother of Tristan, whom they describe as a 6’9″ versatile defender capable of doing the dirty work that NBA teams value. However, Da Silva’s contract with Bayern Munich extends through 2027 and doesn’t contain a buyout clause.
Finnish high school phenom Miika Muurinen was one of the breakout stars of the tournament, catapulting to international acclaim with high-flying dunks and an intriguing shooting stroke. Asseo and Yip write that Muurinen plans to choose a college sometime this winter and that he is expected to be a high-level prospect in the 2027 draft class.
Tyler Dorsey, a strong shooter and capable ball-handler who helped Antetokounmpo lead Greece to the bronze medal, has been in and out of the NBA since 2017, most recently playing three games with the Mavericks during the 2022/23 season. HoopsHype’s writers say they wouldn’t be shocked if the Bucks moved to bring him in alongside the star forward he has already shown he can succeed alongside.
Andreas Obst, Sylvain Francisco, Mikael Jantunen, and Ercan Osmani are names fans may be less familiar with, but all gave good reason for NBA teams to be intrigued if they decide to bring a player in from overseas.
Obst is considered perhaps the best shooter outside of the United States, Asseo and Yip write, as evidenced by his 43.8% three-point mark over his eight games. At only 6’3″, he may struggle with NBA defensive assignments, but could carve out a role as a shooting specialist.
Francisco has flirted with the NBA, but has never been able to make the leap. However, the writers note that the French guard, who went to high school in Florida, has the same agent that represents European NBA players such as Nikola Jovic and Nikola Topic, while also holding a buyout clause for 2026.
Jantunen had a strong performance for Finland, displaying a high-level shooting stroke for a 6’8″ 25-year-old. He shot 44.1% from three and 91.7% from the free throw line while scoring 12 points per game. Jantunen played two years for the Utes in college.
Finally, the seven-foot Osmani displayed a real ability to stretch the floor, knocking down 56.7% of his threes and submnitting a 28-point performance against Greece that saw the Turkish big man hit six shots from beyond the arc.
Giannis Antetokounmpo Calls EuroBasket Medal His ‘Greatest Accomplishment’
Giannis Antetokounmpo has achieved almost every NBA accolade possible with the Bucks: an NBA championship, Finals MVP, regular season MVP (twice), Defensive Player of the Year, Most Improved Player, and All-Star MVP. However, he believes that leading the Greek national team to its first international medal since 2009 could be his greatest feat as an athlete, as FIBA.com relays.
Greece won the bronze medal by defeating Lauri Markkanen and the Finnish team 92-89. Antetokounmpo amassed 30 points, 17 rebounds, six assists, and two steals while shooting 9-11 from the field and 12-16 from the free throw line. Markannen, for his part, had 19 points and 10 rebounds.
“This is probably the greatest accomplishment I have ever accomplished as an athlete,” Antetokounmpo said after the game.
He went on to clarify the meaning of what might seem to some an unusual claim, and to ensure fans in Wisconsin don’t take his words the wrong way.
“This is not better than the championship I won with the Bucks. Winning a championship for an NBA club is a huge accomplishment and Milwaukee is a great city. But it is 500 or 600 thousand people,” he said. “But when you are able to make 12 million Greeks happy, and you are able to inspire the next generation – like (the 2005 EuroBasket winners) inspired us from the previous generation in 1987 that inspired them. This is the biggest thing ever.”
Antetokounmpo believes there’s something special about international competition, saying that every time he plays with the national team, he falls in love with the game more, a feeling likely aided by the fact that he was able to achieve this success while playing alongside two of his brothers, Kostas Antetokounmpo and Thanasis Antetokounmpo. He’s hoping that by seeing his and the team’s success, more young players will be inspired to chase that feeling.
“There’s a kid right now watching this on TV who is going to be very very happy that maybe one day that he can win a medal with the national team,” Antetokounmpo said.
NBA 2025 Offseason Check-In: Miami Heat
Hoops Rumors is checking in on the 2025 offseason for all 30 NBA teams, recapping the summer’s free agent signings, trades, draft picks, departures, and more. We’ll take a look at each team’s offseason moves and consider what might still be coming before the regular season begins. Today, we’re focusing on the Miami Heat.
Free agent signings
Davion Mitchell: Two years, $24,000,000. Re-signed using Bird rights.- Dru Smith: Three years, $7,898,151. Second year non-guaranteed. Third-year team option. Re-signed using Early Bird rights.
- Dain Dainja: One year, minimum salary. Non-guaranteed (Exhibit 9). Signed using minimum salary exception.
- Trevor Keels: One year, minimum salary. Non-guaranteed (Exhibit 9). Signed using minimum salary exception.
- Gabe Madsen: One year, minimum salary. Non-guaranteed (Exhibit 9). Signed using minimum salary exception.
- Ethan Thompson: One year, minimum salary. Non-guaranteed (Exhibit 9). Signed using minimum salary exception.
- Jahmir Young: One year, minimum salary. Non-guaranteed (Exhibit 9). Signed using minimum salary exception.
Trades
- Acquired Simone Fontecchio from the Pistons in exchange for Duncan Robinson (sign-and-trade).
- Acquired Norman Powell (from Clippers) in a three-team trade in exchange for Kyle Anderson (to Jazz) and Kevin Love (to Jazz).
- Acquired the Nets’ 2026 second-round pick (top-55 protected) from the Nets in exchange for Haywood Highsmith and the Heat’s 2032 second-round pick.
Draft picks
- 1-20: Kasparas Jakucionis
- Signed to rookie scale contract (four years, $17,730,606).
Two-way signings
- Myron Gardner
- Two years, $85,300 partial guarantee; second year non-guaranteed.
- Vladislav Goldin
- One year, $85,300 partial guarantee.
Departed/unsigned free agents
- Alec Burks (unsigned)
- Josh Christopher (unsigned)
- Duncan Robinson (Pistons)
- Isaiah Stevens (Kings)
Other roster moves
- Exercised team option on Keshad Johnson ($1,955,377).
Salary cap situation
- Operating over the cap ($154.6MM) and below the luxury tax line ($187.9MM).
- Carrying approximately $186.1MM in salary.
- Hard-capped at $195,945,000.
- Full non-taxpayer mid-level exception ($14,104,000) available.
- Full bi-annual exception ($5,134,000) available.
- Five traded player exceptions available (largest worth $16,834,692).
The offseason so far
It was a forgettable season in 2024/25 for the Heat, who engaged in a lengthy standoff with disgruntled star Jimmy Butler that culminated in a deadline trade sending him to Golden State, then wrapped up the year with an underwhelming 12-21 post-deadline performance that dropped the team to the No. 10 spot in the Eastern Conference standings.
The club showed some signs of life in the play-in tournament by becoming the first No. 10 seed to win consecutive play-in games to make the playoffs, but once they got there, the Heat were on the wrong end of a historic beat-down by the top-seeded Cavaliers, who outscored Miami by a whopping 122 points in a four-game sweep.
As ugly as both the second half of the season and that first-round playoff series were, there were at least a couple positive takeaways that stemmed from the Heat’s trade deadline activity. The most obvious one was the play of Davion Mitchell, who was sent from Toronto to Miami as part of the five-team Butler blockbuster.
A defensive specialist who struggled offensively for most of his first three-and-a-half NBA seasons, Mitchell emerged as a starter and averaged 10.3 points and 5.3 assists per game with a .504/.447/.702 shooting line in 30 regular season games for the Heat. He was even better in the postseason, making 59.3% of his field goal attempts and 52.0% of his three-pointers with averages of 15.2 PPG and 6.5 APG in six play-in and playoff outings.
Mitchell’s excellent second half earned him a fully guaranteed two-year, $24MM commitment from the Heat. It was easily the most lucrative contract Miami handed out this offseason – the team’s other free agent signings will all earn the minimum in 2025/26 – and it should be a pretty safe investment as long as the offensive strides made last season by the former lottery pick weren’t a one-off.
At $12MM per year, Mitchell doesn’t necessarily need to replicate those strong second-half numbers in order to return positive value — as long as he produces enough to make opposing teams take him seriously as an offensive threat, his play on defense will keep him in the rotation on a consistent basis.
The other notable offseason move the Heat made as a result of their Butler trade was using the No. 20 overall pick in the draft on Kasparas Jakucionis. Having won both of their play-in games, the Heat were forced to sent their own lottery-protected pick (No. 15 overall) to Oklahoma City, but they received the Warriors’ first-rounder as part of the return for Butler, then used it to draft a one-and-done point guard out of Illinois.
Jakucionis didn’t get off to a great start at the California Classic Summer League, where he made just 1-of-15 field goals and had as many turnovers and personal fouls as points (12) in three games. But he was better in Las Vegas, and – as Jared McCain can attest – there’s certainly no guarantee a poor Summer League showing will carry over to the regular season. The Heat are optimistic about the long-term potential of Jakucionis within their developmental system.
Outside of the Mitchell signing and the Jakucionis pick, all of the Heat’s major offseason moves occurred on the trade market, including a sign-and-trade sending Duncan Robinson to Detroit in exchange for Simone Fontecchio and a three-team deal that saw Norman Powell land in Miami in exchange for Kyle Anderson and Kevin Love.
The Robinson transaction was an interesting one. It came as a bit of a surprise in June when the veteran sharpshooter opted out of $19.9MM contract that would have been partially guaranteed for $9.9MM. After all, if he had opted in, Robinson would have been guaranteed at least $9.9MM, with the opportunity to either reach the free agent market anyway (if Miami had waived him) or to make another $10MM (if Miami had kept him).
But the decision to opt out seemingly came with an understanding that the Heat would help Robinson get to a preferred destination. It ended up working out for both sides — Robinson got roughly $18.8MM in guaranteed money on his deal with the Pistons, right around what he would’ve gotten on his full Heat deal, while Miami acquired Fontecchio, whose $8.3MM cap hit will fit into the team’s budget much better than Robinson’s $19.9MM would have.
With the help of savings created by swapping out Robinson for Fontecchio, the Heat were able to take in Powell and his $20.5MM expiring deal in exchange for Anderson and Love, who will earn a combined $13.4MM in 2025/26. While Anderson is a solid role player and Love is a respected locker-room leader, neither player is as valuable as Powell, who is coming off a career year in which he scored 21.8 points per game and made 41.8% of his three-point tries.
The Heat were still operating below the first apron after their trade for Powell, but it left them about $1.6MM above the luxury tax line with 14 players under contract. To address the issue, they attached a 2032 second-round pick to Haywood Highsmith in a trade to Brooklyn, then replaced him by re-signing Dru Smith to a standard multiyear contract that includes one guaranteed season.
Highsmith is in the process of recovering from knee surgery and wasn’t an integral part of the Heat’s roster, but he’s a pretty dependable rotation player who could easily rebuild positive value by the trade deadline if he plays well in Brooklyn. Still, getting out of the tax was an important consideration for a Heat team that had been a taxpayer for the past two seasons and was wary of facing repeater penalties in future seasons.
Up next
The Heat don’t have enough room to add a 15th man to their standard roster without surpassing the luxury tax line. However, the tax line isn’t a hard cap — the team could go into the tax if it wants to, then make an effort to duck below it again later in the season.
The other option for the Heat if they want to bring in one more free agent would be to waive Terry Rozier, whose $26.6MM salary is only partially guaranteed for $24.9MM. Waiving Rozier and signing a newcomer on a minimum-salary deal would keep Miami out of tax territory, though the team still wouldn’t have enough room to add a 15th man while surpassing that threshold. Taking that route would also mean giving up a big expiring contract that could be used in a mid-season trade.
If the Heat do decide to bring in one more player for their regular season roster, it will likely be someone in the frontcourt, since the team is a little thin in the middle — especially if Bam Adebayo resists spending much time at the five. Precious Achiuwa is among the free agents who have been linked to the Heat, while former Miami center Thomas Bryant also remains unsigned for now.
The Heat have one two-way contract slot open alongside Vladislav Goldin and Myron Gardner, and it sounds like that spot will be up for grabs in training camp. Trevor Keels, Jahmir Young, Ethan Thompson, Gabe Madsen, and Dain Dainja are all on Exhibit 10 contracts that can be converted into two-way deals, so they all could be involved in that competition.
The front office will have a major decision to make next month on Tyler Herro, who becomes extension-eligible as of October 1. Owed $64MM over the next two seasons, Herro could sign for as much as $149.7MM over three seasons (beginning in 2027/28). He certainly made a case for a lucrative new deal with his performance last season — he set career highs in points (23.9) and assists (5.5) per game, as well as field goal percentage (47.2%), and made an All-Star team for the first time.
Still, Herro isn’t really a true point guard, has repeatedly battled injuries, and is hardly a lock-down defender. The Heat will be wary of making a massive investment in the 25-year-old, especially since he still has two guaranteed years left on his current contract and doesn’t necessarily have to be extended quite this early. If the two sides don’t agree to terms before the coming season, they could revisit talks next summer.
The Heat have no shortage of additional extension candidates, with Powell, Andrew Wiggins, and Nikola Jovic also eligible to sign new contracts. Of the three, only Jovic has a preseason deadline, meaning those negotiations may be prioritized. But Jovic’s role and availability have been inconsistent through three NBA seasons, so unless Miami can get a pretty team-friendly rate (ie. no more than $10-12MM per year), I’d be somewhat surprised if the two sides work something out this fall.
Powell and Wiggins, meanwhile, will remain extension-eligible into the season, and it sounds like the Heat will wait on Powell to get a better sense of his fit on the roster. It might make sense to take the same path with Wiggins, whose first couple months with the Heat last season were frequently interrupted by health issues, which prevented him really getting into a rhythm with his new team.
Germany Defeats Turkey For EuroBasket Gold; Schröder Named MVP
A back-and-forth battle between a pair of 8-0 teams went down to the wire in Sunday’s EuroBasket championship game, with Kings point guard Dennis Schröder helping to secure a gold medal for Germany by scoring the final six points and turning an 83-82 deficit into an 88-83 victory over Turkey.
Schöder (16 points, 12 assists), former NBA wing Isaac Bonga (20 points, 4-of-4 three-pointers), and Magic forward Franz Wagner (18 points, eight rebounds) were the standout performers for Germany, which has won two of the past three major international basketball competitions.
Although the Germans didn’t make the podium at the Paris Olympics last summer, the country is now the defending FIBA World Cup (2023) and EuroBasket (2025) champion and has posted a 21-2 record in those three tournaments, per HoopsHype (Twitter link).
Germany outlasted a Turkish national team that was led by Rockets center Alperen Sengun (28 points), former NBA forward Cedi Osman (23 points, 6-of-9 on three-pointers), former NBA guard Shane Larkin (13 points, nine assists, six rebounds), and Sixers big man Adem Bona (12 points, 5-of-5 shooting).
While they weren’t able to claim their first EuroBasket championship, Turkey matched their best-ever result by taking silver. The Turkish team lost to Yugoslavia in the 2001 final, which was the only other time the country made the championship game.
Schröder was named the EuroBasket Most Valuable Player after leading the Germans to their first title in the event since 1993. He scored at least 16 points in all nine games, averaging 20.3 points and 7.2 assists per contest.
The 2025 EuroBasket All-Star Five was made up entirely of NBA players, with Lakers guard Luka Doncic (Slovenia) and Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo (Greece) joining Schröder, Wagner, and Sengun (Twitter link).
Antetokounmpo and the Greek national team beat Finland in the third-place game earlier on Sunday.
Free Agents Who Sign After Monday Won’t Be Trade-Eligible On December 15
Unless he’s part of a sign-and-trade deal, an NBA free agent who signs a new contract can’t be traded immediately. The Collective Bargaining Agreement states that a newly signed free agent is ineligible to be traded until December 15 or until he’s been under contract for three months, whichever comes later.
Based on that rule, the majority of the free agents who signed new contracts in July, August, and the first half of September will become trade-eligible on December 15 (a smaller group of free agents who met certain specific criteria won’t become trade-eligible until January 15).
By our count, at least 81 players are currently on track to become eligible to be moved on December 15. That doesn’t take into account any players signed to Exhibit 9 or Exhibit 10 contracts who might earn regular season roster spots, since they’re not included on our list (they’ll be added if they haven’t been waived by opening night).
However, with the exception of camp invitees who unexpectedly stick around for the regular season, that list won’t continue to expand to include any additional names after Monday, which will be exactly three months away from December 15. A free agent who signs a new contract after September 15 will remain trade-eligible for a full three months rather than becoming trade-eligible on December 15.
For instance, a player who signs on September 22 would become eligible to be dealt on December 22; one who signs on October 4 would become trade-eligible on January 4, and so on.
For most players, there will be no meaningful difference between becoming trade-eligible on December 15 or a few weeks later, since the majority of deals get done in the days leading up to February’s deadline anyway. But a pair of trades were completed on December 15 last season, as soon as certain players’ restrictions lifted. That sort of Dec. 15 trade won’t be possible this season for any free agent who signs after Monday.
It’s also worth noting that a player who is traded after December 16 can’t have his salary aggregated with another player’s salary in a separate deal prior to the trade deadline. That rule will further limit teams’ flexibility to make moves this winter involving late-September or October signees.
Finally, we should mention that November 5 is an important date in this discussion, since this season’s trade deadline will land on February 5. A player who signs a free agent contract on November 6 or later will be ineligible to be dealt during the 2025/26 season.
Once the season begins next month and we have a better sense of which players signed after Sept. 15 have earned spots on regular season rosters, we’ll publish a new list of those players’ trade eligibility dates to complement our December 15 and January 15 round-ups.
Early Look At Hornets’ Potential Roster Crunch
Barring a trade (or two), Charlotte will be facing a roster crunch this fall.
As our tracker shows, the Hornets currently have a full offseason roster, with 18 players on standard contracts (16 guaranteed) and all three two-way spots filled. They need to trim their standard roster down to 15 players before the regular season begins.
None of the players on standard deals are signed to training camp contracts, and until the Hornets free up roster spots, they will be unable to finalize Exhibit 10 deals with players who will be headed to their G League affiliate, the Greensboro Swarm, to open the 2025/26 season. That likely won’t play a factor in the roster battle, but it’s worth mentioning nonetheless.
Here’s the list of players currently on standard contracts, sorted by how much money they make:
- LaMelo Ball
- Miles Bridges
- Collin Sexton
- Josh Green
- Grant Williams
- Brandon Miller
- Kon Knueppel
- Pat Connaughton
- Tre Mann
- Tidjane Salaun
- Liam McNeeley
- DaQuan Jeffries *
- Nick Smith Jr.
- Sion James
- Ryan Kalkbrenner
- Spencer Dinwiddie
- Mason Plumlee
- Moussa Diabate *
* Denotes non-guaranteed contract.
Outside of maybe Miller and Knueppel, it wouldn’t totally surprise me if Charlotte decided to eventually trade virtually anyone on the roster. But for the sake of this exercise, we’ll assume that Ball, Bridges, Sexton, Green, Williams, Salaun, McNeeley, James and Kalkbrenner won’t be on the move in the next five-plus weeks.
The Hornets re-signed Mann to a guaranteed three-year, $24MM contract in free agency and he can’t be traded until January 15. It’s safe to say he won’t be waived before the season begins.
Dinwiddie and Plumlee were also free agent additions and neither can be dealt until Dec. 15. Although they both received guaranteed contracts, they’re only earning the veteran’s minimum in 2025/26.
Either Dinwiddie or Plumlee could theoretically be cut this fall, but it would be a little strange to sign a player to a guaranteed deal only to release him before he suits up for a regular season contest. It’s certainly an option, especially if one gets hurt, but it seems fairly unlikely right now.
By process of elimination, that likely leaves four players — Connaughton, Smith, Jeffries and Diabate — essentially vying for the 15th and final roster spot.
Of the four, Jeffries seems like the most obvious candidate to be waived. He was sent to Charlotte last October as part of the Karl-Anthony Towns trade, and while he appeared in 47 games last season, he wasn’t a major contributor. The five-year veteran is on a fully non-guaranteed contract, so the Hornets won’t incur a cap hit if they release him.
Despite earning $9.42MM in 2025/26, Connaughton also seems pretty likely to be cut. Perhaps I’m wrong and Charlotte will keep his expiring contract to use for salary-matching purposes in a future trade, but he has negative value on that deal after his career was derailed by injuries the past few years. When they sent Vasilije Micic to the Bucks for Connaughton in July, the Hornets acquired two second-round picks in the deal — it seems safe to assume they made the trade for the draft assets, not for Connaughton himself.
That leaves Smith and Diabate. Smith is just two years removed from being selected in the first round of the 2023 draft, but he hasn’t taken a major step forward since entering the NBA, having made exactly 39.1% of his field goal attempts in both of his professional seasons. He played a more significant role last season, but the Hornets were outscored by 14.3 points per 100 possessions when he was on the court, compared to 6.3 points per 100 possessions when he wasn’t playing.
Smith also has a backcourt logjam working against him, while Diabate should benefit from the fact that the Hornets don’t have many viable options in the middle — Plumlee and Kalkbrenner are the only other centers on the roster, so Diabate could actually play rotation minutes this fall, as he did last season, whereas the path to regular playing time for Smith would be more crowded with Miller and Mann back from injuries and Dinwiddie and Sexton now in the mix as well.
It’s worth reiterating that Smith’s salary for 2025/26 is guaranteed, but neither he nor Diabate is owed any guaranteed money beyond the coming season and Charlotte is operating way below the luxury tax line this season. In other words, eating some guaranteed money shouldn’t really affect the team’s flexibility.
Still, even if Jeffries, Connaughton, and Smith look like the most logical odd men out, it’s possible this situation won’t end up being quite that straightforward, so it’ll be worth keeping an eye on this fall.
Luke Adams contributed to this story.
Greece Defeats Finland For EuroBasket Bronze Medal
Greece survived a late rally by Finland in the third-place game of EuroBasket 2025, winning by a final score of 92-89 to claim the tournament’s bronze medal.
Greece led for nearly 38 minutes of the 40-minute contest and never trailed. While they were up by double-digits for the majority of the game, including a 17-point lead with four minutes left, Finland nearly pulled off a dramatic comeback, getting to within one possession in the closing seconds before coming up short.
The Greek national team was led by Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo, who finished with 30 points, 17 rebounds, six assists (seven turnovers), one steal and two blocks in just under 31 minutes. He converted two free throws in the clutch to help seal the victory.
Ex-NBA guard Tyler Dorsey, a Greek nationalized citizen, also had a big game, going 5-of-9 from three-point range en route to 20 points. Guard Vasileios Toliopoulos, who went scoreless in Greece’s semifinal loss to Turkey, had 15 points.
It’s the first time Antetokounmpo has won a medal with Greece and the first time the country has finished in the top three at EuroBasket since 2009, when it also won bronze.
Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen had team highs of 19 points and 10 rebounds for Finland, which also received strong contributions from Elias Valtonen (18 points, five rebounds, three steals), Mikael Jantunen (13 points, six rebounds, seven assists) and Olivier Nkamhoua (15 points, five rebounds).
Despite the loss, the Finnish national team had an excellent run in the tournament, including knocking off medal favorite Serbia in the round of 16. Finland, which finished in fourth place, had already secured its best result in EuroBasket history by making the semifinals.
The final between Germany and Turkey will take place later on Sunday.
International Notes: Loyd, Larkin, NBA Europe, Athens
Veteran guard Jordan Loyd, who starred for Poland during EuroBasket 2025, is close to signing a contract with Turkish powerhouse Anadolu Efes, reports Marc Stein of The Stein Line (via Twitter).
Loyd, who had a brief stint with Toronto during the team’s title-winning season in 2019, averaged a team-high 22.4 points, 3.3 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.3 steals on .490/.422/.875 shooting in seven games (32.0 MPG) for Poland.
Stein previously reported that Real Madrid was the most prominent suitor for Loyd, but evidently team was unable to sign him away from AS Monaco because his Spanish league rights are held by Valencia, among other complicating factors.
Loyd, 32, helped Monaco reach the EuroLeague final for the first time in franchise history last season. In 27 EuroLeague contests, he averaged 10.7 PPG, 3.3 RPG and 1.9 APG on .468/.392/.892 shooting (22.7 MPG).
Anadolu Efes, meanwhile, won the EuroLeague in both 2021 and 2022. Last season, it was eliminated in the quarterfinals of the playoffs by Panathinaikos, the 2024 champs. Efes also competes domestically in Turkey’s Basketball Super League.
Here are a few more international notes:
- In an extensive — and exclusive — interview with Cyro Asseo de Choch of HoopsHype, former first-round pick Shane Larkin discussed becoming a Turkish nationalized citizen, his journey to becoming a star in Europe, battling OCD, and Turkish teammate Alperen Sengun, among other topics. “I had a few incredible seasons over here and I had opportunities to go back to the (NBA) and I was like, “Nah I’m cool, like I’m good where I am”… and when people hear that, they don’t understand what it is like to be one of the better star players in Europe. You have to really experience it to fully understand it,” Larkin said as part of a larger quote. The 5’11” point guard, who plays for Anadolu Efes, will compete in the final of EuroBasket on Sunday with Turkey, which faces Germany.
- Speaking to the media on Saturday, FIBA Europe president Jorge Garbajosa said he has “no doubt” that the NBA’s European league will come to fruition at some point, though the details are still being worked out. “There’s a long way to work from today until whenever we start,” Garbajosa said, per Cesare Milanti of Eurohoops. “This is going to happen. It’s very clear. Mr. [Adam] Silver announced it publicly, and so did Mr. [Andreas] Zagklis. I did it also. It is not easy to create this competition in Europe, so it’s going to take a while. But this is going to happen. How and when? Let’s see. Some prospects talked about 2027. I think it’s a good year. But obviously NBA is working on it. We are their partners, we want to be their partners, we want to be together with them.”
- The 2026 EuroLeague Final Four will be played at the Telekom Center in Athens, Greece, the league announced in a press release. Athens also hosted the 2007 edition of the EuroLeague Final Four.
Nuggets Sign Moses Brown
September 14: Brown’s deal with the Nuggets is official, per RealGM’s transactions log.
September 12: The Nuggets have agreed to a deal with Moses Brown, reports Michael Scotto for HoopsHype (via Twitter).
The terms of the contract were undisclosed, but it is expected to be an Exhibit 10 training camp deal, given that the Grand Rapids Gold – Denver’s G League affiliate – recently acquired Brown’s returning rights in a three-team trade.
Brown has played six years in the NBA and holds career averages of 5.3 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 0.5 blocks in 11.7 minutes per night.
He spent the majority of last season with the Westchester Knicks, averaging 17.9 points and 15.7 rebounds per game across 35 G League outings. He also played four games for the Mavericks, with whom he averaged 11.8 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 0.8 blocks in 18.3 minutes per contest.
The Nuggets added Jonas Valanciunas this summer, as well as getting sophomore big man DaRon Holmes II back from the Achilles tear that caused him to miss his rookie season. They currently have one spot available on their projected 15-man regular season roster, but may not fill it right away due to their proximity to the luxury tax line.