Heat Notes: Spoelstra, Roster Spots, Smith, Jakucionis
Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra doesn’t put much stock in the idea of the Eastern Conference being wide open, according to Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald.
“You can’t think that just because there have been some changes in rosters or some injuries that, ‘Oh, now we have a chance,’” Spoestra said. “That’s kind of a loser’s mentality. We want to compete at the highest level regardless of who’s out there.”
Instead, Spoelstra and the Heat staff are focused on figuring out what went wrong last season, including the team’s 8-17 record in close games, the third-worst mark in the league. The Heat also led the league with 22 blown double-digit leads and 21 blown fourth-quarter leads.
“Those close games are something that we’ve really analyzed,” he said. “That can change the trajectory of your season if you handle those moments of truth better, if you have a few more wins out of those groupings of games that were very winnable with fourth-quarter leads and that kind of stuff.”
Spoelstra feels that the team is heading into the coming season with a renewed focus and commitment to figuring out how to succeed.
“You can feel the energy, you can feel the excitement building,” he said. “It doesn’t have to be all there right now. But look, it’s happening organically. I feel it myself, the staff feels it, the players feel it.”
We have more from Miami:
- The Heat have an open roster spot, but that doesn’t mean that they’re going to fill it, Chiang writes in a mailbag for the Miami Herald. Miami is currently around $1.3MM over the luxury tax line and approximately $4.2MM below the first apron. Chiang writes that the goal for this season is to finish below the tax line, thereby dodging the repeater tax after spending the last two seasons as a taxpaying team. Chiang believes that Miami making a trade to cut salary sometime before the trade deadline is more likely than the team filling the 15th roster spot heading into the regular season. The Heat have until the end of the season to get below the luxury tax if they want to avoid the repeater tax.
- Not only do the Heat have an open standard roster spot, but they also have a pair of two-way openings. Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel writes that after a disappointing Summer League showing, they may have to wait to add another prospect to the roster alongside Vladislav Goldin, who is currently the only player on a two-way deal for Miami. Winderman notes that one spot is expected to go to Dru Smith, who has a qualifying offer, once he recovers from his Achilles tear.
- Speaking to Mark Medina of Sportskeeda, Heat rookie Kasparas Jakucionis called his play at the Las Vegas Summer League a work in progress. “I’m adapting to the game. It’s a little bit different,” he said. “I’m just trying to control what I can control to give my 100% and work on the defensive end. I’m trying to get the rhythm back.” One thing that’s important for the rookie is not overindexing or getting too high or low based on whether shots fall: “It’s basketball. One day, you miss. Another day, you make. I’m working on that.”
Bradley Beal Signs With Clippers
Bradley Beal has officially signed with the Clippers, reports Law Murray of The Athletic (via Twitter). Beal cleared waivers at 4:00 pm Central time on Friday after having been officially waived by the Suns on Wednesday.
As previously reported, Beal’s deal with L.A. uses the remainder of the team’s mid-level exception. It’s worth $5,354,000 in year one, followed by a $5,621,700 player option for 2026/27.
“Players of this caliber are very rare, and they’re hard to come by,” Clippers coach Ty Lue said in a press release announcing the deal. “You can put him in so many different spots and he’ll find ways to score: out of pick-and-roll, coming off screens, catch-and-shoot. He can create his own or he can play off the ball. He’s a great cutter. He’s also a great playmaker who is going to make everybody else better. I’m excited he’s with us.”
In a conversation with Mark Medina of Sportskeeda, Beal’s agent Mark Bartelstein said, “The Clippers want the most aggressive and dynamic version of Brad. That’s music to his ears.”
Beal averaged 17.0 points and 3.7 assists per game last season for the Suns while splitting time between the starting lineup and a reserve role. The career 37.6% three-point shooter will join a Clippers team that has loaded up its bench with accomplished veterans like John Collins and Brook Lopez as they look to cement themselves as a contender around star Kawhi Leonard.
Chuma Okeke Expected To Sign With Real Madrid
Chuma Okeke is finalizing a deal to join Real Madrid, according to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (via Twitter).
Okeke, a former Auburn standout who spent the first five seasons of his career with the Magic after being drafted with the No. 16 pick in 2019, appeared in seven games with the Sixers last season and five with the Cavaliers, including three in the playoffs.
The 26-year-old spent the majority of the year with the Knicks’ G League affiliate in Westchester, where he averaged 17.4 points, 8.1 rebounds, and 4.9 assists per contest.
Orazio Cauchi of Basket News, who first reported that Okeke and Real Madrid were in advanced talks, says the 6’6″ wing is expected to primarily helm the power forward spot for the Spanish club.
Assuming a deal is finalized, Okeke would join former NBA players Facundo Campazzo, Theo Maledon, Mario Hezonja, Edy Tavares, Usman Garuba, Bruno Fernando, and Xavier Rathan-Mayes on Madrid’s roster.
Timberwolves’ New Owners Prepared To Continue Paying Tax
After paying a franchise-record $90.4MM in luxury tax penalties last season, the Timberwolves are now under new ownership. But the transfer from Glen Taylor to Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez won’t make the team any less inclined to pay a tax bill, according to Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic.
As Vorkunov relays, Lore said this week that he and Rodriguez are prepared to continue being taxpayers as long as they think it benefits the franchise in both the short and long term.
“We think about it like we do a startup, where startups lose money, but they’re investing because it’s creating enterprise value over the long term,” Lore said. “And I think that’s the way we think about. It is investing in the team, in winning, creates long-term franchise value. That’s not over the next three to five years, but 10 to 20, the next 50 years, even.
“So, we’re prepared to invest, we’re prepared to lose money to create a winning culture. But a sustainable winning culture, not just a one year — you’re not going to see us do what maybe people might expect us to do, which is come in as owners and make some big flashy move. We’re being very methodical about the decisions we make, and we’re thinking in every decision what’s in the best interest of building a long-term, sustainable culture of winning.”
While the Timberwolves have fallen short of a championship, they’ve appeared in the Western Conference Finals in back-to-back seasons and were able to re-sign forwards Julius Randle and Naz Reid to new deals in free agency this month. Those signings pushed Minnesota’s team salary well above the tax line again in 2025/26.
However, because the Wolves aren’t as far above the tax line this season, don’t qualify as a repeater taxpayer, and will benefit from reduced penalties for the first two tax brackets, their year-end tax bill should come in significantly lower than last season’s $90MM+. Their projected bill will depend on how they fill out their roster — they currently have 13 players on guaranteed standard contracts.
Nuggets’ Tenzer: ‘No Concerns’ About Valanciunas Reporting To Camp
Speaking to reporters at a press conference on Friday, Nuggets general manager Ben Tenzer said the team has “no concerns” about the possibility of newly added center Jonas Valanciunas not showing up for training camp this fall, per Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter video link).
“We’ve had great conversations with him,” Tenzer said. “There’s been nothing but healthy conversations in terms of him honoring his contract and him excited to be a Nugget.”
Two days after the Nuggets reached a trade agreement with the Kings early in free agency to acquire Valanciunas in exchange for Dario Saric, the Lithuanian big man’s future became a hot topic of discussion, as word broke that he was close to accepting a three-year contract offer from the Greek team Panathinaikos.
There’s some precedent for a European-born player giving up his entire guaranteed NBA salary in order to secure his release and get FIBA clearance to play for a non-NBA team — Sasha Vezenkov did it just last year. However, the Nuggets were never motivated to let Valanciunas out of his contract, even if he were willing to forfeit his full $10.4MM salary, since they’ve long had their eye on him and view him as an ideal backup for star center Nikola Jokic.
As rumors about Panathianikos continued to swirl, reports indicated that the Nuggets had told Valanciunas’ camp they expected him to honor his contract, and the trade was officially completed this past Sunday. Since then, head coach David Adelman has spoken about how he envisions using Valanciunas, and now Tenzer has publicly confirmed that there are no plans for a buyout.
For his part, Valanciunas hasn’t publicly said he intends to report to the Nuggets and play out the 2025/26 season in the NBA, so it’s possible he could still look to press the issue. But for the time being, all signs are pointing to him being in Denver this fall.
Valanciunas’ contract features a non-guaranteed $10MM salary for 2026/27 in addition to his $10.4MM guaranteed salary for the coming season.
Derik Queen Undergoes Wrist Surgery, Will Be Reevaluated In 12 Weeks
Pelicans rookie Derik Queen has undergone surgery to address a torn scapholunate ligament in his left wrist, the team announced today in a press release.
Queen sustained the injury in Tuesday’s Summer League game vs. Portland in Las Vegas and underwent the procedure days later in Los Angeles. He’s expected to be reevaluated in approximately 12 weeks, according to the Pelicans. Training camp is scheduled to get underway in about 10-and-a-half weeks.
Queen was selected with the 13th overall pick last month after the Pelicans sent Atlanta this year’s No. 23 selection and an unprotected 2026 first-rounder (the most favorable of New Orleans’ and Milwaukee’s picks) for the right to draft the Maryland big man, who was highly productive in his freshman season with the Terrapins. He averaged 16.5 points, 9.0 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 1.1 steals and 1.1 blocks in 30.4 minutes per contest across 36 total games, helping guide Maryland to a 27-9 record and a spot in the Sweet 16.
In three Summer League appearances for the Pelicans this month, Queen averaged 14.0 points per game and ranked first among players in Vegas in both rebounds (11.0) and turnovers (5.7) per contest.
A torn scapholunate ligament isn’t an uncommon injury among NBA players, with Thunder forward Jalen Williams the latest player to undergo surgery to address the issue. The timeline the Pelicans provided for their next update on Queen also doesn’t come as a surprise, since the ailment generally requires a few months to come back from — when Hornets forward Brandon Miller underwent surgery on January 23 of this year to repair the torn scapholunate ligament in his wrist, for instance, he was ruled out for the rest of the season.
Still, it’s a disappointing setback for New Orleans and for Queen, who won’t be ready for the start of training camp and whose availability for the start of the regular season is also very much up in the air.
Queen is one of several key Pelicans players who is now in the process of recovering from a major surgery. Dejounte Murray is coming off an Achilles tear, while Herbert Jones and Trey Murphy underwent procedures to repair labrum/rotator cuff tears during the second half of the 2024/25 season.
Suns’ Ishbia Talks Offseason, Beal, Ott, Maluach, Green, Brooks
In the wake of the Suns‘ trade of Kevin Durant and buyout agreement with Bradley Beal, team owner Mat Ishbia admitted that he may have taken the wrong approach when he took control of the franchise two years ago and immediately began throwing draft picks and money around to build an expensive, top-heavy roster.
“The big thing I learned is you got to start and have the vision and identity from day one and I did not do that with the Phoenix Suns,” Ishbia said during a Thursday interview on SiriusXM NBA Radio, per Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic. “I thought, ‘Hey, let’s add some money. They’ve already got a good thing going. Let’s untap some resources and it will only get better,’ and that’s not how it works.
“… Everybody has got to have an alignment of what we’re about here in Phoenix and we didn’t do a good enough job of that. That’s on me. I’ll take the blame.”
“Alignment” has been a recurring talking point for Ishbia and the Suns this summer as they made changes to their front office and brought in a new head coach for the third consecutive offseason.
Ishbia said during his SiriusXM NBA Radio appearance that he and new general manager Brian Gregory are “completely aligned with what we’re trying to do,” and brought up “alignment” again when he explained why he doesn’t feel pressure to make sure star guard Devin Booker stays happy in the coming years.
“Devin’s going to be happy because we’re going to try to win,” the Suns owner said, per Rankin. “We’re going to do things that will be aligned with the vision and the identity that he agrees with 1000% and I agree with 1000% along with our GM (Gregory) and our coach (Jordan Ott). The alignment from owner to GM to coach to star/franchise player was never there before, to be clear. It is now and it’s crystal clear.”
According to Ishbia, the Suns are now committed to building “the right way” over the long term, and made it a priority this summer to add “younger, up-and-coming” talent while creating more salary cap flexibility going forward.
Here are a few more highlights from Ishbia, via Rankin:
On parting with Beal:
“He’s a great guy. Just not a fit with Phoenix Suns going forward. We told him that. We made that decision. We let them know wanted to move forward without him. It doesn’t mean he’s a bad guy. It doesn’t mean he’s a bad player. … He’s a great player, but for Phoenix and what we’re doing, it wasn’t a fit and we had to move on and make those decisions.”
On why the Suns hired Ott as their head coach:
“We had to get a coach that’s thinking forward and not looking back. Not looking at what worked in 2020, but what’s going to work in 2030. What’s the future and Jordan Ott is an unbelievable basketball mind. Praised by everybody we reached out to, every reference possible and we’ve been really happy with him so far. He’s young, he’s going to build with our team and he hopefully can be a great coach for the Phoenix Suns for the future.”
On No. 10 overall pick Khaman Maluach:
“We’re excited about Malauch. He’s 18, though. People have unreal (expectations). He’s 18. I have a son that’s 14. He’s four years older. He’s still a kid and he’s going to develop. It’s going to take a little bit of time, but we really love what he’s got and think he can be a real impact player.”
On the return in the Durant blockbuster:
“We wanted Jalen Green, to be clear. We like Jalen. He’s 23 years old, the leading scorer for the two seed in the West and Dillon Brooks, he’s a straight dog. He’s the type of guy we want here in Phoenix. He’s not on your team, you probably don’t like him, but I’m telling you. … He plays defense against the best player. He’s great around Booker. You put him around Booker, you put Jalen Green with Booker, we feel good about that.”
And-Ones: Summer League, Clifford, Barton, Apron Teams
The Kings and Raptors will square off in one of the semifinal matchups at the Las Vegas Summer League on Saturday, while the Thunder and Hornets will match up in the other semifinal, according to an announcement from the NBA (Twitter link).
Those clubs are four of the six who have gone undefeated in Vegas and earned spots in the final four due to their point differential edge over the 4-0 Timberwolves and Hawks. The winners of Saturday’s semifinals will play in the Summer League championship game on Sunday night before the event wraps up.
Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- As impressive as No. 1 overall pick Cooper Flagg was during his brief stint with the Mavericks‘ Summer League team, Kings guard Nique Clifford beat Flagg out as the best rookie in Las Vegas, according to ESPN’s Kevin Pelton. Pelton also names Trail Blazers big man Yang Hansen the “most intriguing” rookie in Summer League, Pelicans guard Jeremiah Fears as the slowest-starting rookie, and Jazz big man Kyle Filipowski as the best second-year performer.
- Veteran guard Will Barton, who spent 11 seasons in the NBA from 2012-23, is joining the DMV Trilogy in the BIG3 and will make his debut for the 3×3 team this Sunday, according to a report from Chris Haynes (Twitter link). Barton hasn’t been on an NBA roster since finishing a rest-of-season contract with Toronto in 2023. The 34-year-old has played in Spain, Puerto Rico, and China since then.
- In an in-depth story for ESPN.com, Bobby Marks takes a look at which teams are members of the NBA’s “apron club” this season and which clubs are positioned to cross that threshold within the next year or two if they don’t end up shedding salary.
- The Pistons‘ acquisition of sharpshooter Duncan Robinson, the Heat‘s trade for swingman Norman Powell, and the Pacers‘ addition of big man Jay Huff are a few of the top “under-the-radar” moves that have been made so far this offseason, says Fred Katz of The Athletic.
Cap Notes: Bulls, Nuggets, Harden, Minott, MLEs
When the Bulls traded Lonzo Ball for Isaac Okoro earlier this month, they had to use a portion of their existing Zach LaVine traded player exception worth $17MM+ to absorb Okoro’s $11MM salary, tweets Keith Smith of Spotrac. Chicago couldn’t simply use Ball’s $10MM outgoing salary for matching purposes due to an injury protection clause in his contract, Smith notes.
The $10MM owed to Ball for the 2025/26 season would be fully guaranteed if he were waived today, but his contract includes an Exhibit 3 (“prior injury exclusion”) clause which would let the team off the hook for the full amount if he suffers a specific injury — presumably, a major one related to his surgically repaired knee.
It sounds as if the NBA required the Bulls to treat Ball’s salary as non-guaranteed due to that Exhibit 3 clause, which means it wouldn’t count for $10MM for outgoing purposes, as we explain in our glossary entry on the trade rules for non-guaranteed salary. That meant another exception had to be used to take on Okoro’s incoming $11MM.
The move will still hard-cap the Bulls at the first tax apron for the 2025/26 league year — instead of using the expanded traded player exception (taking back more than 100% of Ball’s salary), they used a trade exception generated during the previous season. Either move creates a hard cap at the first apron.
Here are a few more cap-related housekeeping notes worth passing along:
- The Nuggets used a portion of the traded player exception generated in their Michael Porter Jr./Cameron Johnson swap to acquire Jonas Valanciunas‘ $10.4MM salary from Sacramento, creating a new TPE worth Dario Saric‘s outgoing $5.4MM salary in the process, ESPN’s Bobby Marks reports for Sports Business Classroom. Denver could’ve used Saric’s outgoing salary to legally match Valanciunas’ incoming amount without touching the Porter TPE, but doing so would’ve created a first-apron hard cap. Because the Porter TPE was created after the regular season ended, using it doesn’t result in a hard cap for Denver.
- The 2025/26 salaries for Clippers guard James Harden and Celtics guard Josh Minott are now fully guaranteed. Neither Harden nor Minott received a fully guaranteed first-year salary at the time they signed earlier this month, but that was just a technicality so that the Clippers and Celtics could avoid guaranteeing their second-year options for 2026/27. Harden’s $39.2MM salary for ’25/26 became guaranteed after July 11, while Minott’s $2.4MM salary was guaranteed after July 15.
- Once Damian Lillard officially signs with Portland, there will be just four NBA teams who still have their entire $14.1MM non-taxpayer mid-level exception available and remain far enough below the first tax apron that they could use the entire thing. Those teams are the Wizards, Hornets, Bulls, and Warriors. However, Chicago and Golden State still have to resolve restricted free agency for Josh Giddey and Jonathan Kuminga, respectively, so there’s no guarantee they’ll remain on that list. That will make Washington and Charlotte two teams to watch closely for the rest of the offseason and perhaps into the season, since that MLE flexibility makes them candidates to take on unwanted salary in trades.
International Notes: Bacon, Anderson, Hall, Gobert
Ahead of the team’s first season in the EuroLeague, Dubai Basketball is loading up on former NBA players. The team announced this week in a pair of press releases that it has signed free agent shooting guard Dwayne Bacon and wing Justin Anderson.
Bacon, who will turn 30 next month, hasn’t been on an NBA roster since being waived by the Lakers in October 2022, but the former No. 40 overall pick out of Florida State appeared in 207 regular season games for Charlotte and Orlando from 2017-21. He averaged 7.3 points, 2.6 rebounds, and 1.1 assists in 19.4 minutes per game – with a shooting line of .402/.314/.780 – during that time and has since played in Monaco, Greece, China, Puerto Rico, and Russia.
Anderson, meanwhile, is a 2015 first-round pick who made 242 NBA regular season appearances for six teams from 2015-22. The 31-year-old, who averaged 5.3 points and 2.6 rebounds per game on .410/.292/.775 shooting in the NBA, has played for three separate clubs in Spain since 2023.
In addition to Bacon and Anderson, Dubai recently added former Brooklyn swingman Dzanan Musa and former Dallas guard McKinley Wright. The roster also features longtime NBA big man Davis Bertans, who played for Dubai last season.
Here are a few more notes from around the international basketball world:
- Big man Donta Hall, who suited up for three NBA teams from 2020-21, has agreed to a three-year deal with the Greek team Olympiacos, reports Donatas Urbonas of BasketNews.com. Hall also drew interest from Panathinaikos, tweets Marc Stein, while his former team in Spain (Baskonia) will receive a buyout payment, as Aris Barkas of Eurohoops details.
- Speaking to the French outlet L’Aisne Nouvelle, Timberwolves big man Rudy Gobert explained why he won’t be suiting up for France at this year’s EuroBasket tournament. “I’ve had busy summers in recent years, and it’s taken a toll,” Gobert said (hat tip to Eurohoops). “People don’t always realize how intense the EuroBasket is. It finishes just before the NBA resumes, and it’s a big responsibility. I had said I’d wait until the end of the season to decide, and now I have. This summer, I’m focusing on myself, my family and my son.”
- We’ve passed along several international basketball updates over the course of this week, including updates on Nassir Little‘s new team overseas, a Cavaliers second-round pick signing in Italy, and former NBA guard Vasilije Micic ending up in Israel. Our full archive of international basketball stories can be found right here.