Latest On Kawhi Leonard, Clippers
Bruce Arthur of The Toronto Star (subscription required) has added another fascinating detail to the Kawhi Leonard/Clippers saga, reporting that when the Raptors were negotiating with Leonard in 2019’s free agent period, his camp asked the team for an arrangement that lines up with the deal the star forward eventually got with the company Aspiration. According to Arthur, the demands made by Leonard’s uncle and representative, Dennis Robertson, included $10MM per year in extra sponsorship income.
The Raptors weren’t permitted to negotiate or have any involvement in those off-court sponsorship deals, but suggested there would be corporate sponsors eager to have Leonard as a promoter. However, they were told by Leonard’s camp that he didn’t want to have to do anything for that extra money, such as filming advertisements or making promotional appearances.
“That’s when the Raptors realized Leonard wasn’t asking to be introduced to Toronto’s lucrative corporate community,” Arthur writes. “They were being asked to arrange no-show jobs, and arrange no-investment investments. (They) rejected both proposals.”
Arthur previously reported that Leonard’s camp asked for a stake in the NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs, who share an ownership group with the Raptors.
Leonard and the Clippers are being investigated by the NBA after reports indicated that Aspiration – a Clippers sponsor that received a $50MM investment from team owner Steve Ballmer – agreed to pay the two-time Finals MVP $28MM, plus an additional $20MM in company stock.
While it was ostensibly an endorsement deal, Leonard wasn’t contractually obligated to actually do anything to earn that $28MM, which represented an unusually high amount for any sort of off-court sponsorship agreement. The league is looking into whether the Clippers were essentially funneling money to Leonard via Aspiration in order to circumvent the salary cap.
Here are a few more notes on the subject:
- Appearing on NBA Today on Monday (Twitter video link), ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne reported that Aspiration offered almost double the $550MM that Intuit did for the naming rights to the Clippers’ arena, but the Clippers opted to go with the more well-established brand. “That gives you an indication of the kind of money that (Aspiration) was throwing around back in those days,” Shelburne said.
- During that same NBA Today segment (Twitter video link), ESPN’s Dave McMenamin said that a Clippers source likened a tampering violation to a speeding ticket and salary cap circumvention as a “murder charge,” the implication being that the team knows not to cross that red line. The team has conveyed that it is “welcoming” the NBA’s investigation into the matter, McMenamin adds.
- Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report explores three potential outcomes of the NBA’s investigation into the Clippers and Leonard, ranging from the Clippers getting off scot-free to the organization (and Leonard) facing a Timberwolves/Joe Smith-style punishment. When the NBA learned in 2000 that the Timberwolves had entered into an illegal contract with Smith to circumvent the cap, it fined the organization $3.5MM, took away five first-round picks (two were later returned), and voided Smith’s contract.
Nets Notes: Cap Room, Council, Zeng, Sharpe, Williams
A league source who spoke to Brian Lewis of The New York Post (subscription required) observed that the Nets‘ decision to officially finalize deals with Day’Ron Sharpe and Ziaire Williams suggests there are no more major trades on tap for Brooklyn this offseason.
“There’s no big move coming,” the source said.
As Lewis writes, while a “big” deal (ie. one that lands the Nets a first-round pick, like the Michael Porter Jr./Cameron Johnson trade) may not be coming, that doesn’t mean a smaller salary-dump isn’t in the works. As we detailed earlier today, Brooklyn is still operating below the minimum salary floor, so the team has plenty of incentive to take on some additional salary before the regular season tips off.
While the Nets are currently only $649K below the minimum floor, that number could increase to $7MMish if the team waives three players on non-guaranteed minimum-salary contracts in order to set its 15-man regular season roster. After reaching the salary floor, Brooklyn would still have roughly $15.5MM in cap room left over.
“They need to spend about $7 million before the start of the season,” one league source told Lewis. “They’re going to get to the floor and roll over the rest (of their cap room) into the season.”
Here’s more on the Nets:
- Within that same story, Lewis says that Ricky Council IV‘s contract with Brooklyn – which is not yet official – will be partially guaranteed. While player agents sometimes refer to Exhibit 10 contracts that include $85,300 bonuses as “partially guaranteed,” it doesn’t sound like that’s what Lewis means in this case. He adds that Council seems “highly unlikely” to be waived before the start of the season.
- Lewis views Chinese forward Fanbo Zeng as the top candidate to fill the Nets’ final two-way contract slot alongside Tyson Etienne and E.J. Liddell.
- The slight pay bumps that Sharpe and Williams received from the Nets represent a “gesture of goodwill after they waited for their deals to be finalized,” writes C.J. Holmes for The New York Daily News (subscription required). Both Sharpe and Williams agreed to two-year, $12MM deals with Brooklyn at the end of June; after waiting more than two months to officially sign, each player instead received $12.5MM. Only the first year of each deal is guaranteed, so Sharpe and Williams will earn an extra $250K apiece in 2025/26, with the opportunity to earn an extra $250K apiece if their $6.25MM team options for ’27/28 are exercised.
Heat Open To Exploring Norman Powell Extension
Norman Powell will likely open the 2025/26 season on an expiring contract, but the Heat are open to the idea of extending the veteran wing if the start of the season goes well, a source tells Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald.
The Heat acquired Powell in July from the Clippers in a three-team trade that sent Kyle Anderson and Kevin Love from Miami to Utah. While the move helped push the Heat into luxury tax territory (they later got out of the tax by trading Haywood Highsmith), the outgoing package was a modest price to pay for a talented offensive player coming off arguably the best season of his career.
In 60 games (all starts) for the Clippers in 2024/25, Powell averaged 21.8 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 2.1 assists in 32.6 minutes per night, with a shooting line of .484/.418/.804. He set career highs in points and minutes per contest, as well as three-pointers made (3.0 per game; 179 in total).
Powell, 32, will make about $20.5MM this season in the final season of the five-year, $90MM contract he signed with Portland as a free agent during the summer of 2021. He’s eligible to sign an extension at any point between now and June 30 — if he doesn’t complete a new deal by that time, he’ll reach unrestricted free agency next offseason.
The Heat’s salary cap situation going forward isn’t too bad, with nearly $35MM for Terry Rozier and Simone Fontecchio set to come off the books at the end of the 2025/26 season. However, Miami will also need to figure out whether Tyler Herro (UFA in 2027) and Andrew Wiggins (player option for 2026/27) are part of the long-term plans — and if so, at what price.
Given that Powell has yet to suit up for the Heat, it makes sense that the front office would prefer to wait until after the season begins to assess his fit and perhaps to get a clearer sense of what the team’s future cap situation will look like (Herro will be able to sign an extension between October 1 and the start of the regular season).
And-Ones: Top Newcomers, Realignment, McGrady, St. Bonnie’s
With most of the NBA’s offseason action now in the books, Chris Herring and Kevin Pelton of ESPN identify the 14 NBA “newcomers” whose changes of scenery will have the greatest impact in 2025/26.
There are no surprises at the top of the list, which features new Rockets forward Kevin Durant at No. 1, Magic guard Desmond Bane at No. 2, and Nuggets forward Cameron Johnson at No. 3. However, Herring and Pelton deviate a little from expectations at No. 4 by including a head coach: Mike Brown of the Knicks. As Herring writes, it’s possible no coach in the league will face more “title-or-bust pressure” than Brown in his first year on the job.
Lakers center Deandre Ayton rounds out the top five on the 14-man list, which – outside of Brown – is made up exclusively of players.
We have more from around the basketball world:
- What might NBA realignment look like if the league were to expand to Las Vegas and Seattle? Zach Harper of The Athletic takes a closer look at that topic, exploring scenarios in which either the Timberwolves, Pelicans, or Grizzlies move to the Eastern Conference and considering how the league might shuffle its divisions around in each hypothetical case.
- Former NBA star Tracy McGrady has signed a new endorsement deal to reunite with Adidas, according to Shams Charania of ESPN, who reports (via Twitter) that the two parties are expected to work with longtime sports marketing executive Sonny Vaccaro to revive the ABCD (Academic Betterment and Career Development) Camp. As Charania explains in a follow-up tweet, the ABCD Camp was a youth basketball camp that ran for over two decades from 1984-2006 and featured several future stars, including McGrady himself.
- The St. Bonaventure men’s basketball program will host its first ever pro day on Saturday, October 11 at the NBPA training facility in Manhattan, according to a press release from the school. “The first Bonnies Pro Day is a tremendous opportunity for NBA and G League front office executives to scout our players in a competitive practice and workout environment,” former ESPN reporter and current St. Bonnie’s general manager Adrian Wojnarowski said in a statement.
Alperen Sengun Leads Turkey Into EuroBasket Semifinals
Turkey advanced to the EuroBasket semifinals on Tuesday by defeating Poland by a score of 91-77 in the tournament’s first quarterfinal matchup.
Rockets center Alperen Sengun, who entered the day as Turkey’s top scorer, once again led the way for the team by putting up 19 points, 12 rebounds, and 10 assists in just under 31 minutes of action. It was the first EuroBasket triple-double for Sengun after he came within one assist of achieving the feat during group play vs. Czechia — he’s the youngest player to ever register a triple-double in a EuroBasket game, per FIBA.
With 151 points, 76 rebounds, and 50 assists through seven games, Sengun is the first player in the last 30 years to compile at least 150 points, 50 rebounds, and 50 assists in a single EuroBasket tournament, tweets Armando Caporaso of Sportando.
Cedi Osman, (10 points and a team-best +18 on/off mark), Shane Larkin (13 points, five assists), and Furkan Korkmaz (10 points) are among the former NBA players who also played key roles in Tuesday’s victory for the Turkish national team. Osman sustained an ankle injury in the third quarter, but head coach Ergin Ataman said after the game that he hopes the forward will be able to play on Friday, as Edvinas Jablonskis of BasketNews.com relays.
Veteran guard/forward Mateusz Ponitka and former Raptor Jordan Loyd were Poland’s leading scorers, with 19 points apiece.
The Turkish team is now 7-0 at EuroBasket 2025 and is on track for its best result since 2001 — and maybe ever. Turkey, which hosted the 2001 tournament, won silver that year, but hasn’t finished higher than eighth since then and has only ever made the top four of the European championships one other time (fourth place in 1949).
Turkey will face the winner of today’s Lithuania vs. Greece game in the semifinals on Friday.
Hoops Rumors Front Office Subscriber Chat Transcript: 9/9/2025
Hoops Rumors’ Arthur Hill held a live chat today exclusively for Trade Rumors Front Office subscribers. Topics included the Pistons' roster needs, Ben Simmons' future, the Bulls' plans for the trade deadline, how long Devin Booker will remain in Phoenix and more!
NBA’s Top 50 Highest-Paid Players For 2025/26
Many of the NBA’s highest-paid players are on contracts considered maximum-salary deals, but the 2025/26 salaries for those players vary significantly depending on when the player signed his contract and how much NBA experience he has. That’s why a player like Stephen Curry will earn nearly $22MM more than LaMelo Ball in ’25/26 despite both players technically being on max deals.
When a player signs a maximum-salary contract, he doesn’t necessarily earn the NBA max for each season of that contract — he earns the max in year one, then gets a series of identical annual raises. In Curry’s case, his 2025/26 salary actually exceeds this year’s maximum, since the annual cap increases since he began earning the max haven’t kept pace with his annual 8% raises.
Listed below are the top 50 highest-paid NBA players for the 2025/26 season. The players on this list don’t necessarily have the contracts with the largest overall value. This top 50 only considers the current league year, with the player’s ’25/26 base salary listed.
Additionally, we’ve noted players who could potentially increase their earnings via incentives or trade bonuses. We didn’t add those notes for players like Curry or Anthony Edwards, who have trade bonuses but are already earning their maximum — their salaries for this season can’t increase beyond their max.
Here are the NBA’s 50 highest-paid players for the 2025/26 season:
- Stephen Curry, Warriors: $59,606,817
- Joel Embiid, Sixers: $55,224,526
Nikola Jokic, Nuggets: $55,224,526 - Giannis Antetokounmpo, Bucks: $54,126,450
Jimmy Butler, Warriors: $54,126,450
Anthony Davis, Mavericks: $54,126,450
Jayson Tatum, Celtics: $54,126,450 - Kevin Durant, Rockets: $53,282,608
- Durant can earn another $1,426,001 in likely incentives.
- Devin Booker, Suns: $53,142,264 (10% trade kicker)
Jaylen Brown, Celtics: $53,142,264
Karl-Anthony Towns, Knicks: $53,142,264 - LeBron James, Lakers: $52,627,153 (15% trade kicker)
- Paul George, Sixers: $51,666,090 (15% trade kicker)
- Kawhi Leonard, Clippers: $50,000,000 (15% trade kicker)
- Zach LaVine, Kings: $47,499,660
- Cade Cunningham, Pistons: $46,394,100
Lauri Markkanen, Jazz: $46,394,100
Donovan Mitchell, Cavaliers: $46,394,100
Evan Mobley, Cavaliers: $46,394,100
Jamal Murray, Nuggets: $46,394,100 - Luka Doncic, Lakers: $45,999,660
Trae Young, Hawks: $45,999,660 (15% trade kicker) - Anthony Edwards, Timberwolves: $45,550,512
Tyrese Haliburton, Pacers: $45,550,512
Pascal Siakam, Pacers: $45,550,512 - Domantas Sabonis, Kings: $42,336,000
- Sabonis can earn another $2,600,000 in unlikely incentives.
- OG Anunoby, Knicks: $39,568,966 (15% trade kicker)
- Darius Garland, Cavaliers: $39,446,090 (15% trade kicker)
Ja Morant, Grizzlies: $39,446,090 (15% trade kicker)
Zion Williamson, Pelicans: $39,446,090 - James Harden, Clippers: $39,182,693 (15% trade kicker)
- Scottie Barnes, Raptors: $38,661,750
Franz Wagner, Magic: $38,661,750 - Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Thunder: $38,333,050 (15% trade kicker)
Michael Porter Jr., Nets: $38,333,050 - Brandon Ingram, Raptors: $38,095,238
- LaMelo Ball, Hornets: $37,958,760 (15% trade kicker)
Tyrese Maxey, Sixers: $37,958,760 - Bam Adebayo, Heat: $37,096,620
De’Aaron Fox, Spurs: $37,096,620 - Desmond Bane, Magic: $36,725,670
- Bane can earn another $1,233,090 in unlikely incentives.
- Kyrie Irving, Mavericks: $36,566,002 (15% trade kicker)
- Rudy Gobert, Timberwolves: $35,000,000 (7.5% trade kicker)
Jaren Jackson Jr., Grizzlies: $35,000,000
Jalen Suggs, Magic: $35,000,000 - Jalen Brunson, Knicks: $34,944,001 (15% trade kicker)
- Alperen Sengun, Rockets: $33,944,954
- Jalen Green, Suns: $33,584,499
- Khris Middleton, Wizards: $33,296,296
- Middleton can earn another $3,222,221 in unlikely incentives.
- Immanuel Quickley, Raptors: $32,500,000
- Quickley can earn another $2,500,000 in unlikely incentives.
For the first time in NBA history, a base salary above $30MM is required to earn a spot on the league’s list of the top 50 highest-paid players, and even that isn’t quite enough for a few players. A pair of Trail Blazers veterans – Jrue Holiday at $32.4MM and Jerami Grant at $32MM – are the top two highest-paid players who didn’t make the cut.
It’s also worth noting that a small handful of players who just missed the top 50 have the ability to earn more than Quickley’s $32.5MM base salary if they achieve certain performance incentives during the coming season. Those players are as follows:
- Jordan Poole, Pelicans: $31,848,215
- Poole can earn another $3,750,000 in unlikely incentives.
- Tyler Herro, Heat: $31,000,000
- Herro can earn another $2,500,000 in unlikely incentives.
- Dejounte Murray, Pelicans: $26,783,568
- Murray earned an additional $4,017,535 for 2025/26 via a trade bonus on top of his base salary; he can also earn another $2,267,997 in unlikely incentives.
Nets Still Operating Below Minimum Salary Floor
Even after officially re-signing Cam Thomas, Day’Ron Sharpe, and Ziaire Williams, the Nets are still operating slightly below the minimum salary floor, as Bobby Marks of ESPN tweets.
While the exact terms of Williams’ new deal haven’t been confirmed, it sounds like it will be identical to Sharpe’s contract, which includes a cap hit of $6.25MM for 2025/26. That would increase Brooklyn’s team salary to about $138.53MM — this season’s minimum salary floor is $139.18MM, and Marks confirms that the Nets are roughly $649K below the floor.
As we detail in our glossary entry, the minimum salary floor comes in each season at 90% of the salary cap. In the past, a team was required to reach that threshold by the end of the regular season — if it didn’t get there, it was simply required to make up the shortfall by paying the difference to its players.
However, under the current Collective Bargaining Agreement, teams must reach the minimum salary floor by the start of the regular season. A team whose salary is below the minimum floor at the start of the season won’t receive a share of the end-of-season luxury tax payouts and will have a portion of its cap room (the amount between its team salary and the minimum floor) frozen.
Last season’s end-of-season payout to non-taxpayers was approximately $11.5MM per team. While there’s no guarantee the 2025/26 payout will be quite that high, it’s safe to assume the Nets won’t simply give up that money, so we can count on them making a move to reach the salary floor by the start of the season.
However, it won’t necessarily be as simple as signing a player to a minimum-salary contract. Four of the 18 players on Brooklyn’s current roster are either on non-guaranteed deals or have small partial guarantees — the Nets will have to set a 15-man roster for the regular season, and if they end up waiving two or three of those players on non-guaranteed contracts, it would further reduce their overall salary, moving the club further away from the minimum floor.
For instance, if the Nets were to cut Tyrese Martin, Drew Timme, and Keon Johnson, it would remove approximately $6.23MM from their books, moving the team about $6.87MM below the minimum salary floor.
If the Nets opt to waive a player or two with a guaranteed salary and keep more of their non-guaranteed contracts, the gap between their team salary and the minimum floor wouldn’t be as significant, but it still may require a free agent signing above the minimum to reach the floor.
While a free agent signing is a possibility, it’s probably more of a last resort, since it would make more sense for Brooklyn to continue using its leftover cap room on the trade market to take on unwanted salary attached to draft assets. The Nets have already taken that route this offseason in deals for Michael Porter Jr. (who was sent to Brooklyn with an unprotected 2032 first-round pick), Terance Mann (with this year’s No. 22 overall pick), and Haywood Highsmith (with a 2032 second-rounder).
The Nets still have $16.1MM in cap room remaining and could further increase that figure by waiving one or more of their players on non-guaranteed salaries.
Contract Details: Sharpe, Liddell, Prosper, Brooks, Schumacher
As part of his two-year contract agreement with the Nets, Day’Ron Sharpe waived his right to veto a trade during the 2025/26 season, Hoops Rumors has learned.
A player who re-signs with his previous team on a one-year deal or a two-year deal that includes a second-year option is typically given an implicit no-trade clause, but a team can ask the player to give up that no-trade clause upon signing. Because Sharpe agreed to do so, he would lose his Bird rights if he’s traded ahead of February’s deadline.
[RELATED: NBA Players Who Can Veto Trades In 2025/26]
Even though he re-signed with his previous team, got a raise exceeding 20%, and signed for more than the minimum, Sharpe will become trade-eligible on December 15 instead of January 15 because the Nets were still operating below the cap upon completing his deal.
Here are more details on a few recently signed contracts from around the NBA:
- E.J. Liddell‘s new two-way contract with the Nets will cover just one season, Hoops Rumors has learned. The former Ohio State forward received a partial guarantee of $85,300 on that deal.
- Olivier-Maxence Prosper, who signed a two-way contract with the Grizzlies, also agreed to a one-year deal that includes a partial guarantee worth $85,300, but his partial guarantee would increase to $318,218 if he remains on the roster through opening night — that’s 50% of his full two-way salary ($636,435).
- As expected, the contract that Garrison Brooks signed with the Pelicans last week is a non-guaranteed Exhibit 10 deal, Hoops Rumors has confirmed. He’ll earn a bonus worth $85,300 if he’s waived by New Orleans and then spends at least 60 days with the Birmingham Squadron, the Pelicans’ G League affiliate.
- While most Exhibit 10 contracts include that maximum bonus of $85,300, that’s not the case for every E10 deal. For instance, Alex Schumacher – who was signed and waived by the Suns last week – will earn an Exhibit 10 bonus worth $20K if he spends 60 or more days with the Valley Suns in the G League.
Western Notes: Reid, Suns, LeBron, Grizzlies
Tragedy has struck Timberwolves big man Naz Reid and his family. His sister, Toraya Reid, was shot and killed Saturday in New Jersey, Eva Herscowitz of the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports. A New Jersey prosecutor charged Shaquille Green, whom the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office said was in a relationship with Toraya Reid, with her murder.
Reid’s former teammate, Knicks star Karl-Anthony Towns, was devastated by the news.
“Heartbroken. No words can ever take away the pain for my brother,” Towns tweeted. “Holding everyone close in prayer today.”
- The Suns have some things to sort out during training camp under their new coaching staff, including who should run the point and which player should grab the fifth starting spot. The Arizona Republic’s Duane Rankin breaks down the issues that could arise in a Devin Booker–Jalen Green backcourt, neither of whom is a true point man. The fifth starting spot is up for grabs with top candidates Ryan Dunn and Royce O’Neale bringing different skill sets to the table.
- Lakers star LeBron James hasn’t become any more enthusiastic about the idea of taking on a coaching career after his playing days are over. “I was inspired by the game. I love the game. But I don’t have coaching in my future,” James said in a video clip posted by CGTN Sports Scene. James made an even more emphatic statement on that subject in an episode of the Mind The Game podcast earlier this year (Twitter video link).
- The Grizzlies can be “sneaky dangerous” this season, according to Michael Wallace of GrindCityMedia.com. Their star players need to avoid extended injuries and the dynamic between Ja Morant and center Zach Edey must continue to grow, particularly in the pick-and-roll game. There are also evaluations of other Southwest Division teams within Wallace’s preview.