Numerous NBA Owners Don’t Want Expansion In Near Future
Expansion might not be coming soon after all, if certain NBA owners get their wish. There is not overwhelming momentum to immediately expand beyond the current 30 teams, Mike Vorkunov and David Aldridge of The Athletic report.
The league’s Board of Governors are meeting on Tuesday and expansion is one of the topics anticipated to be discussed.
As one might expect, the lack of enthusiasm among some owners regarding expansion is due to money. The league’s new 11-year, $76 billion media rights deal begins next season and several owners would rather begin collecting and splitting that new revenue among the existing teams, rather than giving a share or shares to incoming franchises.
Each current team is set to collect hundreds of millions of dollars over the life of the new rights deal, which will be a boon to franchises who have lost many millions in revenue due to the collapse of the regional sports networks. Adding two new teams within the next year or two would dilute the potential revenue from the national TV networks over the next decade, The Athletic duo notes.
However, there is some incentive for the current teams to bring in new teams. With valuations of current franchises continuing to rise, expansion fees are certain to go well beyond the previous projections of at least $5 billion per new franchise.
Seattle, which lost its franchise to Oklahoma City, remains a top candidate for a new or potentially relocated team. Las Vegas has also been prominently mentioned as a prime candidate to get a franchise.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver indicated last month that expansion may not be as much of a priority for the league as some fans are hoping, saying that it’s not “automatic” that the league will decide to add more teams. Silver cautioned at the time that there are concerns among the current owners about bringing in more partners to divide up revenues.
Hornets Waive Josh Okogie
The Hornets have waived Josh Okogie, Rod Boone of the Charlotte Observer reports. Okogie’s $7.7MM salary for next season would have been guaranteed if he had remained on the roster beyond Tuesday.
Charlotte had looked to trade the wing but couldn’t find a partner, Boone writes. The two sides agreed to push back Okogie’s guarantee date beyond the original June 30 deadline to give the front office more time to seek a trade involving the 27-year-old wing.
Okogie appeared in a total of 40 games last season (15.6 minutes per contest), averaging 7.1 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.2 steals on .448/.348/.741 shooting. Okogie was acquired by the Hornets, along with three second-round picks, from Phoenix for Nick Richards in January. He appeared in 16 games (six starts) with Charlotte, averaging 8.9 PPG and 2.7 RPG.
Charlotte has to make several more moves to ease its roster crunch. The Hornets will still have 18 players on standard contracts and all three of their two-way spots are filled once Drew Peterson‘s two-way deal is official.
DaQuan Jeffries, who also doesn’t have a guaranteed contract, and Nick Smith Jr. are among the players who could lose their spots if the Hornets don’t make more trades.
International Notes: Brissett, Valanciunas, Bamba, Micic, Cordinier
Former NBA forward Oshae Brissett has signed with Maccabi Tel Aviv, the Israeli team announced on Tuesday in a press release.
Brissett, who went undrafted out of Syracuse in 2019, has since appeared in 233 NBA regular season games for Toronto, Indiana, Boston, and Philadelphia. His best years came with the Pacers, with whom he averaged 8.1 points and 4.5 rebounds in 20.7 minutes per game across 153 contests from 2020-23.
The 6’7″ forward was a member of the Celtics team that won a championship in 2024, but turned down a minimum-salary player option with Boston last June and had trouble finding an NBA home after that. He spent part of the 2024/25 season in the G League and appeared in just six NBA games, when he signed a 10-day contract with Philadelphia in March.
“It’s great to bring a former NBA champion to Tel Aviv,” Maccabi Tel Aviv general manager Claudio Coldebella said in a statement. “From the beginning he was our first choice. He’s a player who fits our system and his teammates, who can play in various positions, and who, thanks to his athleticism, energy, and desire to compete, is always very useful in many aspects of the game. We can’t wait to welcome Oshae to the Maccabi family.”
Here are more items of interest from around the international basketball world:
- There’s no indication that a buyout is around the corner for Jonas Valanciunas, whose new team in Denver has made it clear it wants to keep him for the 2025/26 season, writes Donatas Urbonas of BasketNews.com. With Valanciunas appearing increasingly likely to stick with the Nuggets, Panathinaikos is considering alternatives as it looks to upgrade its frontcourt, according to reporting from SDNA (hat tip to Sportando). The Greek team had hoped to sign Valanciunas to a new three-year deal, but that won’t be possible as long as he remains under contract in the NBA.
- Another one of Greece’s top basketball teams, Olympiacos, is also scouring the market for frontcourt help and is reportedly eyeing former NBA lottery pick Mohamed Bamba, per a Gazzetta.gr report (hat tip to Sportando). The sixth overall pick in 2018, Bamba spent the first half of last season with the Clippers before being traded and waived in early February. He later signed a 10-day deal with New Orleans in March.
- After being formally bought out by Milwaukee earlier this month, Vasilije Micic is now officially a free agent, but his plans for next season still haven’t come into focus. Alessandro Maggi of Sportando hears that Micic is leaning toward an offer from Olympiacos over a lucrative bid from Hapoel Tel Aviv, but Aris Barkas of Eurohoops reports that Real Madrid is still in the mix for the former EuroLeague MVP too.
- French wing Isaia Cordinier is parting ways with Virtus Bologna, but the 28-year-old’s next move is unclear, according to Maggi of Sportando. As Maggi explains, the Turkish team Anadolu Efes is a strong contender for Cordinier, but his reps are also waiting to see whether an NBA opportunity materializes. Cordinier was the 44th overall pick in the 2016 draft and his NBA rights were previously held by the Nets before being renounced in 2021, freeing him up to sign with any NBA team.
Pelicans To Guarantee Zion Williamson’s 2025/26 Salary
Zion Williamson‘s salary for the 2025/26 season will become fully guaranteed if he remains under contract with the Pelicans through Tuesday, and – unsurprisingly – that’s the plan, league sources tell Shamit Dua of In The NO.
If Williamson were placed on waivers today, the Pelicans would be on the hook for just $7,889,218 of his $39,446,090 salary for the coming season and would wipe his ’26/27 and ’27/28 salaries off their books entirely. But there’s no indication that the team has ever given real consideration to taking that route with the 25-year-old, who has two All-Star berths on his résumé despite battling injury issues since entering the NBA.
After Williamson appeared in a career-high 70 games in 2023/24, he was limited to just 30 appearances in ’24/25 due to hamstring and back issues. It was the fourth time in the six years since he was drafted first overall that he failed to play more than 30 games in a season. As usual, the former Duke star put up superlative numbers when healthy, including 24.6 points, 7.2 rebounds, 5.3 assists, and 1.2 steals in 28.6 minutes per game.
Even outside of Williamson’s injury woes, it was a tumultuous year for the Pelicans, who won just 21 games and then underwent a front office overhaul this spring. Williamson, meanwhile, was suspended for one game in January after being late to a team flight and faced allegations of rape and abuse in the spring, raising questions about his future in New Orleans.
However, new executive vice president of basketball operations Joe Dumars stated last month that Williamson is still considered a franchise cornerstone, suggesting at the time that there were no plans to trade (or waive) him this summer.
[RELATED: Early NBA Salary Guarantee Dates For 2025/26]
Williamson’s contract includes pathways for him to “re-guarantee” his future salary each season. He could guarantee 40% of his 2026/27 salary by playing at least 41 games next season; another 20% by reaching 51 games; and another 20% by appearing in at least 61 games. The final 20% would be guaranteed if he meets certain weigh-in benchmarks — that was the only requirement he met this past season, which is why only 20% of his $39.4MM salary was guaranteed until today.
July 15 is the annual decision date on Williamson, so if he doesn’t re-guarantee 100% of his 2026/27 salary based on those games-played and weigh-in requirements this coming season, he would have to remain under contract through July 15, 2026 to lock in his full $42,166,510 for ’26/27.
Mavs’ Dereck Lively Undergoes Right Foot Procedure
Mavericks center Dereck Lively recently underwent surgery to clean up bone spurs in his right foot, according to reports from Marc Stein of The Stein Line and Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter links).
Lively was in a walking boot following the procedure, but has since gotten out of that boot, tweets Stein. According to Charania, the expectation is that the big man will be healthy for training camp this fall.
The right foot is the same one that Lively injured earlier this year. He was diagnosed in January with a small fracture in his foot/ankle area, which sidelined him until April and limited him to 36 total games in 2024/25. He averaged 8.7 points, 7.5 rebounds, 2.4 assists, and 1.6 blocks in 23.1 minutes per night in those 36 appearances.
Reporting in the spring indicated that a disagreement over how to treat Lively’s foot injury resulted in a “loud, heated confrontation” between Mavericks director of player health and performance Johann Bilsborough and athletic performance director Keith Belton, which led to an HR investigation. Belton has since been let go by the team.
As Stein points out, Lively’s surgery means that three important Mavericks players are now recovering from surgeries. Kyrie Irving, of course, is making his way back from an ACL tear, while Anthony Davis recently underwent a procedure to repair a detached retina.
Grizzlies, Santi Aldama Finalize Three-Year Deal
July 15: Aldama’s three-year contract with the Grizzlies is now official, according to a press release from the team (Twitter link).
June 30: The Grizzlies have taken care of their two big pieces of offseason business within the first half-hour of free agency. After striking a deal to renegotiate and extend Jaren Jackson Jr.‘s contract, the club has reached a three-year, $52.5MM contract agreement with restricted free agent forward Santi Aldama, reports ESPN’s Shams Charania (Twitter link).
Even with a limited number of teams able to open up enough cap space to make a competitive offer beyond the $14.1MM non-taxpayer mid-level exception, Aldama was expected to attract interest on the market. The Pistons, in particular, were heavily linked to the Spanish big man. He’ll now stick around in Memphis after a breakout season.
While the full terms of the agreement haven’t been reported yet, it’s quite possible the contract will be heavily frontloaded, cap expert Yossi Gozlan tweets. The Grizzlies could start it as high as $19MM since they have so much luxury tax flexibility. They’ll go over the cap to re-sign Aldama after using their cap space on Jackson’s renegotiation.
Aldama became an RFA when the Grizzlies extended a qualifying offer to him on Sunday.
In 2024/25, he averaged 12.5 points, 6.4 points, and 2.9 assists per game while shooting 36.8% from three, all career-high numbers. He also averaged 13.0 PPG and 6.0 RPG while shooting 41.7% from three in the Grizzlies’ four playoff games this spring.
Jackson, Aldama and 2024 lottery pick Zach Edey — currently recuperating from ankle surgery — now figure to be the key big men in Memphis for years to come.
Pacific Notes: Lakers, Wiggins, Bazley, Kings, Carter, Livers
Heat forward Andrew Wiggins was linked to the Lakers earlier in the offseason as a potential trade candidate, but Dan Woike of The Athletic suggested during an appearance on The Zach Lowe Show podcast (YouTube link) that he’s not anticipating Wiggins to be sent to Los Angeles.
“(The Lakers) are not interested in Andrew Wiggins,” Woike said when Lowe brought up the subject (hat tip to HoopsHype). “I think I can put that to bed. I’m pretty confident on that front.”
Those aforementioned reports on the Lakers’ apparent interest in Wiggins suggested that the Heat would be seeking Dalton Knecht or a first-round pick in addition to Rui Hachimura‘s expiring contract. As Lowe observes, the idea that L.A. would entertain that asking price never made all that much sense, given that Wiggins is coming off an up-and-down season in which both his teams (Golden State and Miami) were better when he was off the court than when he was on it.
“I didn’t understand those rumors,” Lowe said. “They were suddenly giving up a lot of s–t for Andrew Wiggins. Like, is Rui Hachimura just as good as Andrew Wiggins? Why am I adding a lot more to that?”
Here’s more from around the Pacific:
- Former first-round pick Darius Bazley spoke to Matthew Valento of Lakers Nation about playing for the Lakers‘ Summer League team in an effort to “revamp” his career. The 25-year-old forward/center averaged 17.7 points and 8.7 rebounds per game in three California Classic outings and averaged a double-double (10.0 PPG, 10.5 RPG) through his first two games in Las Vegas before struggling on Monday, with just one point and four rebounds in 22 minutes.
- Kings star Zach LaVine is enthusiastic about what newly signed point guard Dennis Schröder will bring to the team next season, as Chris Biderman of The Sacramento Bee relays. “Me and DeMar (DeRozan) have a track record for being able to put the ball in the basket and do the things on the court that we need to,” LaVine said. “But I think we need an overall team concept to where everything’s working the right way. Sometimes roster construction helps out a lot with that. So having Dennis, a veteran point guard who’s been in a lot of places, can come off the bench, has started. He can calm things down. He’s been in pressure situations. I think it’s going to help a lot.”
- After making just 2-of-14 shots in his first Las Vegas Summer League game on Thursday, second-year Kings guard Devin Carter has bounced back admirably in what could be a trade showcase. As Jason Anderson details in a pair of stories for The Sacramento Bee, Carter led the Kings to a victory over Chicago on Saturday with 30 points on 10-of-13 shooting, then racked up another 17 points and three steals in a Monday win over Phoenix.
- New Suns two-way player Isaiah Livers spoke on Sunday about his long journey back to the NBA following a reshaping procedure on his right hip, per Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic. “They said I was probably playing on it for about a year, straight bone on bone,” Livers said of his hip injury. “It just kept getting worse and worse. I tried to go to L.A. last summer and do conservative rehab. We found out we got to do this special surgery. I was very upset. … (But now) I kind of feel like a whole new player, to be honest.”
Grizzlies Officially Sign Jock Landale
The Grizzlies have officially completed their reported deal with center Jock Landale, announcing the signing on Tuesday in a press release (Twitter link).
Word broke on July 5 that Landale had agreed to a one-year, minimum-salary contract with Memphis after being waived by the division-rival Rockets. The Grizzlies reached a deal with the free agent big man right around the same time they agreed to trade another center Jay Huff, to Indiana.
Landale was signed by Houston in 2023 to a four-year, $32MM contract that included just one fully guaranteed season. However, the Rockets – who were operating well below the luxury tax line last season, hung onto him for the second year of the deal in 2024/25, even though he played a limited role for the team behind Alperen Sengun and Steven Adams in the frontcourt.
The 29-year-old Australian averaged 4.8 points and 3.3 rebounds in 11.9 minutes per game across 42 outings (three starts) in ’24/25. He had played a similar role a year earlier, with averages of 4.9 PPG and 3.1 RPG in 13.6 MPG (56 appearances).
Landale will provide depth in a Grizzlies frontcourt that could be missing both Jaren Jackson Jr. (turf toe surgery) and Zach Edey (ankle surgery) when training camps open in the fall. Brandon Clarke and Santi Aldama are among the club’s other options up front.
Landale’s minimum-salary contract will pay him $2,461,463, while Memphis carries a cap hit of $2,296,274.
Hoops Rumors Front Office Subscriber Chat Transcript: 7/15/2025
Hoops Rumors’ Arthur Hill held a live chat today exclusively for Trade Rumors Front Office subscribers. Topics included whether LeBron James will stay with the Lakers, potential challengers to Cooper Flagg for Rookie of the Year honors, Bradley Beal's post-buyout options, what Paul George's surgery means for the Sixers and more!
Contract Details: Anthony, JJJ, Holmgren, J. Williams, Gafford
Cole Anthony, whose previous cap hit had been $13.1MM, gave up exactly $2MM as part of his buyout agreement with the Grizzlies, tweets Keith Smith of Spotrac. Memphis subsequently used the stretch provision to spread the $11.1MM still owed to Anthony across three seasons, resulting in annual cap hits of $3.7MM through 2027/28.
The move reduced Anthony’s 2025/26 cap charge by $9.4MM, generating the cap room necessary to renegotiate Jaren Jackson Jr.‘s ’25/26 salary from roughly $23.4MM up to $35MM, as Yossi Gozlan of The Third Apron tweets. That allowed the Grizzlies to give Jackson a $49MM salary (ie. a 40% raise) in the first year of his new extension, which increases to $50.5MM in 2027/28 and $52MM in ’28/29, with a $53.5MM player option for ’29/30.
Jackson is now owed exactly $240MM over the next five seasons, having received approximately $216.6MM in new money in his agreement with Memphis.
Here are a few more details on contracts from around the NBA:
- Chet Holmgren‘s new five-year, maximum-salary rookie scale extension with the Thunder doesn’t include Rose Rule language, but Jalen Williams‘ five-year max extension does, per ESPN’s Bobby Marks at Sports Business Classroom. According to Marks, Williams’ deal will start at 30% of the 2026/27 salary cap if he wins MVP, is named Defensive Player of the Year, or makes the All-NBA first team next season. If he makes the All-NBA second team, it would start at 27% of the cap, while a spot on the All-NBA third team would result in a starting salary at 26%. No All-NBA berth, MVP, or DPOY for Williams would result in a salary worth 25% of next year’s cap, matching Holmgren’s deal.
- As expected, the terms of Daniel Gafford‘s new three-year veteran extension with the Mavericks are the maximum the team could have given the big man while maintaining his trade eligibility, tweets Marc Stein. Gafford got a 20% raise for 2026/27 to $17,263,584, with 5% annual raises for the next two seasons. The new three-year contract is worth a total of $54.38MM, on top of the $14.39MM he’ll make in 2025/26.
- Rockets forward Jeff Green, Spurs guard Jordan McLaughlin, and Bucks wing Gary Trent Jr. have joined the list of players who waived their right to veto a trade in 2025/26 when they re-signed with their respective teams, Hoops Rumors has learned. A player who signs a new one-year deal (or two-year deal with a second-year option) with his previous team typically gets trade veto rights for that season, but those can be forfeited as part of the contract agreement.