Luka Doncic Posts Triple-Double In EuroBasket
Lakers superstar Luka Doncic notched a rare triple-double in the EuroBasket tournament on Sunday. He scored 26 points, had 11 assists and grabbed 10 rebounds in Slovenia’s 86-69 victory over Belgium in Poland. According to The Associated Press, the triple-double was the fourth in EuroBasket history since 1995 and fifth overall.
Doncic also became the youngest player to reach 400 career EuroBasket points since Tony Parker in 2007.
“This is a normal day at the office for him,” Slovenia small forward Edo Muric said of Doncic. “I’m even more glad that today we showed we can play good defense. And that we won.”
The Slovenian team lost to Poland and France in their first two tournament games.
“For me, I’d prefer he score 50,” Belgium coach Dario Gjergja said, per Dan Woike of The Athletic. “To be honest, I’d prefer he score 50 but the others don’t execute … because he’s capable to make everybody better, never mind about quality around him. And this is why he’s a superstar.”
Doncic scored a combined 73 points in Slovenia’s first two games.
“It’s not about me being perfect. I think everybody, you know, we lose as a team, we win as a team,” he said.
Slovenia’s tournament schedule continues Tuesday against Iceland before the group stage concludes Thursday against Israel. The top four teams from each six-team group advance to the single-elimination portion of the tournament in Latvia.
USA Team Squanders Big Lead In AmeriCup Semifinals
Team USA squandered a 20-point second-half lead in the semifinals of the FIBA AmeriCup in Nicaragua, according to a FIBA press release.
The Brazilian team outscored the USA squad 34-9 in the last 10 minutes of a 92-77 win and avenged their prior loss in the Group Phase. With Saturday’s win, Brazil picked up its fourth victory in 11 AmeriCup matchups against the United States. The Brazilians will play in a second consecutive final.
Brazil will face Argentina for the championship on Sunday. Argentina defeated Canada in the other semifinal matchup, 83-73. The United States and Canada will square off for third-place honors.
Bruno Caboclo, who played 105 games during his NBA career, sparked the Brazilian comeback, finishing with 20 points (11 in the fourth quarter), nine rebounds, and two blocks. He was limited to 24 minutes due to foul trouble.
Crvena Zvezda guard Yago Santos finished with game highs of 25 points and 12 assists, while Lucas Dias played all 40 minutes and had a double-double (18 points, 13 rebounds).
Former NBA guards Langston Galloway (22 points) and Javonte Smart (13 points, five assists) led the way for Team USA in the loss.
Giannis To Start Season With Bucks After Team Re-Signs Brother Thanasis
In a move to solidify Giannis Antetokounmpo‘s desire to stay with the Bucks, the franchise is re-signing his brother, Thanasis Antetokounmpo, on a guaranteed one-year, $2.9MM (minimum-salary) contract, ESPN’s Shams Charania reports (Twitter link).
The signing is official, according to a team press release relayed by The Athletic’s Eric Nehm (Twitter link).
According to Charania, after a summer of exploring options, Giannis Antetokounmpo — who is currently playing for Greece in the EuroBasket tournament — is staying in Milwaukee to start the season. This will quell speculation that the superstar might request a trade this offseason.
Naturally, if things don’t go well for the Bucks as the season progresses, that could always change. But having his brother back in the fold gives Giannis some added incentive to stay put.
Thanasis is also playing for Greece in the tournament. He was medically cleared to play again this spring after recovering from an Achilles tendon injury.
The 32-year-old underwent surgery in early May of 2024 after tearing his Achilles. He was a free agent this past season after signing mainly minimum contracts to play with his brother in Milwaukee.
Thanasis, who made two appearances with the Knicks in 2015/16, saw action in 196 Bucks games from 2019-24. He played 34 games during the 2023/24 season and has posted averages of 2.4 points and 1.6 rebounds in 7.7 minutes per contest over the course of his NBA career.
The Bucks will now have 15 players on guaranteed contracts, ESPN’s Bobby Marks tweets. This could put Andre Jackson Jr.‘s roster status in jeopardy — the former UConn guard has an $800K guarantee on his $2,221,677 contract. It becomes fully guaranteed if he makes the opening night roster.
Hoops Rumors’ Lists, Trackers, Features
In addition to passing along news, rumors, and analysis on a daily basis, Hoops Rumors provides a number of additional features and resources that can be found anytime on the right-hand sidebar of our desktop site under “Hoops Rumors Features,” or on the “Features” page in our mobile menu.
Since those links are easy to overlook and aren’t readily accessible to our app users, we want to periodically highlight a number of our lists, trackers, and other features.
For instance, our lists of current free agents by position/type and by team are constantly updated, as are our lists of 2026 free agents by position/type and by team.
We have a number of features related to NBA trades, including a roundup of this offseason’s deals, a recap of the trade exceptions currently available to teams, lists of the players who can’t be traded until December 15 or January 15, and details on which players can veto trades in 2025/26 and which players have trade kickers.
We have info on how teams are using mid-level and bi-annual exceptions in 2025/26, as well as which clubs are hard-capped and which have open roster spots. Our free agent tracker, two-way contract tracker and contract extension tracker provide information on most of the deals signed this summer, while our list of non-guaranteed contracts by team helps provide a more complete picture of each team’s roster.
We’ve got details on how much this season’s maximum salaries, minimum salaries, and mid-level/bi-annual exceptions are worth, as well as more details on the key cap figures for the 2025/26 season. We’ve also shared early projections for maximum salaries, minimum salaries, and mid-level/bi-annual figures for 2026/27.
The Hoops Rumors Glossary provides in-depth explanations on many concepts related to the salary cap and Collective Bargaining Agreement, presented in the simplest possible terms. We’ve updated the majority of our entries to reflect the changes made in the most recent CBA.
Finally, we’re in the process of breaking down all 30 teams’ summer moves in our Offseason Check-In series.
Many of our features and trackers are cyclical and will be reintroduced as the year goes on. For example, during draft season next spring, we’ll be keeping tabs on all the early entrants for the 2026 NBA draft.
Be sure to check out the sidebar on our desktop site or our Features page for all of our current resources.
Bogdan Bogdanovic Ruled Out Of EuroBasket With Hamstring Injury
Bogdan Bogdanovic has been ruled out of the EuroBasket due to a ruptured hamstring muscle, according to reports from Eurohoops.net and BasketNews.com.
The Serbian Federation released a statement regarding Bogdanovic’s injury, which also revealed that the Clippers wing will return to the United States to receive treatment.
“Bogdanovic has been diagnosed with a ruptured hamstring muscle, which will prevent him from playing in the remainder of the European Championship. In agreement with Bogdan’s club, the Los Angeles Clippers, the captain will undergo intensive therapy in the United States in the coming period to recover as quickly as possible,” the statement read.
Bogdanovic, the captain of the Serbian national team, was injured on a drive to the basket late in the second quarter against Portugal on Friday. Bogdanovic was examined by the Serbian and Clippers medical teams, which determined the extent of his injury.
In two EuroBasket 2025 appearances, the 33-year-old averaged 9.0 points, 3.5 rebounds and 4.0 assists in 20 minutes per contest. Serbia has a 3-0 record in Group A and will now try to win the tournament without him.
The overriding concern for Bogdanovic now is whether his injury will linger into the NBA season. The veteran guard dealt with hamstring injuries early in the 2024/25 season, but played 30 games during the second half of the season for the Clippers, averaging 11.4 points and 3.2 assists in 25.0 minutes per game. He began the season with the Hawks, who dealt him to the Pacific Division club at the trade deadline.
Bogdanovic is set to make just over $16MM during the upcoming season and the Clippers hold a $16MM club option for the final year of his contract in 2026/27.
17 Players Remain Eligible For Rookie Scale Extensions
Players who are entering the fourth and final year of their rookie scale contracts were permitted to sign rookie scale extensions as of early July. Those players, who were all 2022 first-round selections, will have until the day before the 2025/26 regular season starts (October 20) to finalize long-term agreements with their current teams.
Players eligible for rookie scale extensions can sign new deals that run for up to five years, with those contracts taking effect beginning in 2026/27. If they don’t sign extensions during the offseason, those players will be eligible for restricted free agency in the summer of 2026.
As our tracker shows, four players — Paolo Banchero, Jabari Smith Jr., Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams — have already signed rookie scale extensions with their respective teams this offseason. A fifth — Blake Wesley — is no longer eligible after reaching a buyout agreement with Washington and subsequently signing a one-year deal with Portland.
Eight other 2022 first-round picks are ineligible rookie scale deals for various reasons.
That leaves 17 players — including Defensive Player of the Year runner-up Dyson Daniels — who remain eligible for rookie scale extensions this offseason:
Ochai Agbaji (Raptors)- Malaki Branham (Wizards)
- Christian Braun (Nuggets)
- Dyson Daniels (Hawks)
- Ousmane Dieng (Thunder)
- Jalen Duren (Pistons)
- Tari Eason (Rockets)
- Jaden Ivey (Pistons)
- Nikola Jovic (Heat)
- Walker Kessler (Jazz)
- Bennedict Mathurin (Pacers)
- Keegan Murray (Kings)
- Shaedon Sharpe (Trail Blazers)
- Jeremy Sochan (Spurs)
- Dalen Terry (Bulls)
- Peyton Watson (Nuggets)
- Mark Williams (Suns)
While some of these players almost certainly won’t sign new deals, we should still see several more extensions signed before the October 20 deadline. There has been an uptick in rookie extensions over the past several offseasons as more teams look to lock up their promising young players in advance of free agency. Since 2020, at least 10 players have signed rookie extensions every year, topping out at a record-setting 14 in 2023.
Jeremy Lin Announces Retirement
Former NBA guard Jeremy Lin announced today on Instagram that he’s retiring as a basketball player following a lengthy professional career (hat tip to RealGM).
“As athletes, we are always aware that the possibility of retirement is never far away,” Lin wrote as part of a longer statement. “I’ve spent my 15-year career knowing that one day I would have to walk away, and yet actually saying goodbye to basketball today has been the hardest decision I’ve ever made.
“It’s been the honor of a lifetime to compete against the fiercest competitors under the brightest lights and to challenge what the world thought was possible for someone who looks like me. I’ve lived out my wildest childhood dreams to play in front of fans all around the world. I will forever be the kid who felt fully alive every time I touched a basketball.”
After starring in college at Harvard, Lin went undrafted in 2010 but quickly caught on with Golden State. He didn’t play much as a rookie, only making 28 NBA appearances for the Warriors (9.8 minutes per game) and spending a good chunk of 2010/11 in the G League (then known as the D-League).
Lin, now 37, was cut by both Golden State and Houston (which claimed him off waivers) before the lockout-shortened 2011/12 season began. A couple days after being released by Houston, he was claimed again, this time by the Knicks.
While his time with New York was relatively brief, he was a major contributor during a 26-game stretch from February-March 2012, memorably averaging 18.5 points, 7.7 assists, 3.7 rebounds and 2.0 steals in 34.2 minutes per contest and helping the team turn its season around.
As a restricted free agent in the 2012 offseason, Lin signed a lucrative Arenas provision contract with the Rockets, which New York declined to match. Lin spent two seasons in Houston but bounced around the league over the following five years, playing for the Lakers, Hornets, Nets, Hawks and Raptors, winning an NBA title as a role player with Toronto in 2019.
Overall, Lin appeared in 480 NBA regular season games — including 221 starts — from 2010-19. He held career averages of 11.6 PPG, 4.3 APG, 2.8 RPG and 1.1 SPG in 25.3 MPG, with a shooting slash line of .433/.342/.809.
Lin has mostly played in China and Taiwan over the past six years, though he did attempt an NBA comeback during the ’20/21 campaign with the G League’s Santa Cruz Warriors.
Four Countries Advance To EuroBasket Round Of 16
There are still five days left of group phase play at EuroBasket 2025, but four countries — Finland, Germany, Serbia and Turkey — have already advanced to the round of 16, according to FIBA.
As the group phase standings show, both Finland and Germany have 3-0 records in Group B, while Serbia and Turkey are each 3-0 in Group A.
None of the other 20 national teams have been officially eliminated, though Czechia (Group A), Great Britain (Group B) and Montenegro (Group B) aren’t in a great position after starting 0-3 in their respective groups.
A handful of additional teams could advance to the knockout round on Sunday, with Greece (2-0 in Group C), France (2-0 in Group D) and Poland (2-0 in Group D) off to solid starts.
The top four teams from each six-team group qualify for the round of 16, which is the start of a single-elimination tournament.
Germany, which won the 2023 World Cup and finished fourth at the 2024 Olympics, defeated Lithuania on Saturday. The Germans had a balanced attack, spearheaded by Dennis Schröder (26 points, six assists, four steals), Franz Wagner (24 points, seven rebounds, four assists) and Daniel Theis (23 points, six rebounds), notes Eurohoops.
Unfortunately, German captain Schröder was subjected to racial abuse while walking to the locker room at halftime, per The Associated Press.
“Making monkey noises, that’s something I don’t respect,” Schröder told reporters in German after the game. “No matter what status, insults, that’s all fine. But racism simply doesn’t belong in this sport. That’s something that’s not OK.”
FIBA announced in a statement that one spectator has been banned from attending the rest of the tournament after being identified by video. The group also said it would meet with the Lithuanian delegation to discuss the incident and try to prevent it from occurring again in the future.
“FIBA unequivocally condemns hate speech, discriminatory conduct, and racist language in any form. Creating an inclusive, respectful, and safe environment for players, teams, and fans remains a fundamental priority of our sport. FIBA has provided the relevant footage and information to local law enforcement authorities, who are continuing to investigate the matter.”
Yongxi “Jacky” Cui Signs With Chinese Team
Yongxi Cui, also known as Jacky Cui, has signed with the Guangdong Southern Tigers of the Chinese Basketball Association, according to Zhang Duo (Twitter link).
Cui announced the news on his Weibo channel, notes NetsDaily (via Twitter). The 22-year-old’s deal with the Tigers will reportedly cover the 2025/26 season, per Albert De Roa of HoopsHype.
A 6’6″ guard/forward, Cui suffered a torn ACL last December while playing for the Nets‘ G League affiliate in Long Island. He had been on a two-way contract with Brooklyn but was released a couple days after the unfortunate injury.
Cui, who went undrafted in 2024, made five NBA appearances as rookie for the Nets in ’24/25, playing just 10 total minutes. He also played in five games for Long Island, averaging 6.2 PPG, 2.6 RPG and 1.2 APG in 16.9 MPG.
Cui graduated from the NBA Global Academy and spent a couple of seasons with the CBA’s Guangzhou Loong Lions before catching on with the Nets.
Brian Lewis of The New York Post provided an update on Cui’s recovery progress a few days ago, stating that the young wing had been working out at the Nets’ practice facility but was recently playing 5-on-5 in Los Angeles. Now the Chinese national team member will be heading back to his home country for the upcoming season.
EuroBasket Notes: Sengun, Markkanen, Jokic, Poland
All-Star Rockets big man Alperen Sengun nearly notched a triple-double during Turkey’s 92–78 win over Czechia on Friday, writes Edvinas Jablonskis of BasketNews. Sengun finished with 23 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists.
Turkey head coach Ergin Ataman, who previously expressed a belief that there’s not a significant difference in the levels of play in the NBA and EuroLeague, doubled down on that assertion after Sengun’s big game.
“I saw on social media, both in the United States and in Europe, people writing about my statement on the difference between the EuroLeague and the NBA,” Ataman said post-game, per Jablonskis. “Give me Alperen Sengun at Panathinaikos and we will beat the Houston Rockets.”
Sengun followed up that Herculean effort with a 20-point, seven-rebound, five-assist showing in a 95-54 blowout of Portugal Saturday, per Sportando’s Alessandro Maggi. Turkey will now square off against Serbia for their group’s top spot in the Round of 16.
There’s more out of EuroBasket:
- Jazz star forward Lauri Markkanen has been in the midst of a superlative tear throughout EuroBasket and in the tournament’s warm-up games so far. The seven-footer notched 43 points in just 23 minutes for his native Finland in a 109-79 blowout of Great Britain, per Eurohoops. He followed that up with a double-double in an 85-65 victory against Bulls center Nikola Vucevic‘s Montenegro on Saturday, reports Maggi.
- Three-time MVP Nuggets center Nikola Jokic helped propel Serbia to an 80-69 win against Portugal with a 23-point, 10-rebound double-double, writes Semih Tuna of Eurohoops. Heat forward Nikola Jovic chipped in 18 points of his own. Serbia followed that up by beating Kristaps Porzingis‘ Latvia on Saturday, 84-80, and clinching its place in the round of 16, tweets Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel. Jokic logged a 39-point, 10-board effort.
- Home team Poland vanquished Israel, led by Trail Blazers forward Deni Avdija, 66-64, maintaining its perfect record in EuroBasket competition on Saturday, writes Maggi.