Thunder Sign Thomas Sorber, Brooks Barnhinzer
The Thunder have signed first-round pick Thomas Sorber to his rookie scale contract, the team announced today in a press release.
Sorber, who stands 6’9″ with an impressive 7’6″ wingspan, was selected 15th overall last Wednesday by Oklahoma City a strong freshman year for Georgetown in 2024/25. He served as the team’s starting center and filled up the stat sheet with 14.5 points, 8.5 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 2.0 blocks, and 1.5 steals per game in 24 outings (31.3 MPG) before his season ended early due to a toe injury.
As this year’s No. 15 pick, Sorber is expected to earn $4.66MM in the first year of his contract and a four-year total of $22.51MM. His deal will be guaranteed for the first two seasons, with team options on years three and four.
The Thunder also issued a separate press release confirming that they’ve signed Northwestern’s Brooks Barnhizer to a two-way contract. That had been the anticipated move, since Oklahoma City doesn’t have room on its standard 15-man roster for the No. 44 overall pick.
Barnhizer became automatically draft-eligible this spring after spending his full four-year college career playing for the Wildcats. He put up his best numbers as a senior in 2024/25, averaging 17.1 points, 8.8 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 2.3 steals, and 1.1 blocks in 36.9 minutes per contest across 17 starts. However, he didn’t play after January 29 as a result of a foot injury.
Jase Richardson Signs Rookie Scale Contract With Magic
Former Michigan State guard Jase Richardson has officially signed his rookie scale contract with the Magic, the team announced on Thursday.
Richardson had a strong freshman year for the Spartans, coming off the bench in his first 21 games before claiming a spot in the starting lineup starting in early February. In 36 total contests, he averaged 12.1 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 1.9 assists in 25.3 minutes per game, with an excellent .493/.412/.836 shooting line.
If the 19-year-old signs for 120% of the rookie scale amount, which almost all first-rounders do, he will earn approximately $2.98MM next season and a total of $15.31MM over the course of his four-year deal.
Richardson was selected 25th overall in the 2025 draft.
Nets Sign Demin, Saraf, Wolf To Rookie Scale Contracts
The Nets have officially signed No. 8 overall pick Egor Demin, No. 26 pick Ben Saraf, and No. 27 pick Danny Wolf, the team announced in a press release.
Assuming each player signs for 120% of the rookie scale amount, which virtually every first-rounder does, former BYU guard Demin will earn $6.89MM in 2025/26 and a total of $31.34MM over the course of his four-year contract; Israeli guard Saraf will make about $2.89MM next season and $14.81MM across his four-year deal; and ex-Michigan big man Wolf’s salary for next season will be $2.8MM ($14.34 over four years).
The Nets actually controlled five first-round picks in the 2025 draft, with Drake Powell (No. 22) and Nolan Traore (No. 19) being the others. Typically, an NBA team announces all its first-round signings at once, but Powell won’t officially become a Net for a few more days, when the trade sending him to Brooklyn becomes official.
As for Traore, Brian Lewis of The New York Post (Twitter links) confirms that his signing is being delayed for clearance-related issues following his exit from Saint-Quentin in France. The Nets paid the maximum buyout ($875K) to the French team in order to free him from his contract — once FIBA formally approves the move, the 19-year-old will be able to complete his deal with Brooklyn.
Spurs’ Dylan Harper, Carter Bryant Sign Rookie Contracts
The Spurs have officially signed lottery picks Dylan Harper and Carter Bryant, the team announced today in a pair of press releases.
Former Rutgers star Harper was the No. 2 overall pick of last month’s draft. Assuming he signs for the maximum allowable 120% of his rookie scale amount, which nearly every first-rounder does, the 19-year-old will earn $12.37MM in his first NBA season and a total of $56.14MM over the course of his four-year contract.
Harper averaged 19.4 points, 4.6 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 1.4 steals in 29 games (32.6 minutes per contest) last season for the Scarlet Knights. He is widely considered the second-best prospect in this year’s class.
Bryant, also 19, spent his first and only college season at Arizona. San Antonio selected him 14th overall in the 2025 draft, and assuming he gets 120% of his rookie scale amount, he’ll earn $4.9MM in 2025/26 and $23.42MM in total over his four-year deal.
A 6’7″ combo forward, Bryant averaged 6.5 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 1.0 block in 37 appearances for the Wildcats in ’24/25 (19.3 minutes per game). He didn’t play a starring role as a freshman, but Bryant was a reliable outside shooter (.371 3PT%) and showed off intriguing defensive versatility.
Rockets Waiving Jock Landale
The Rockets will waive center Jock Landale before his $8MM salary for the 2025/26 season becomes guaranteed, according to Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).
Charania adds that Landale will sign with his “preferred destination” after clearing waivers, while Kelly Iko of The Athletic says (via Twitter) a number of teams have expressed interest in him.
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, 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 averaged 4.8 points and 3.3 rebounds in 11.9 minutes per game across 42 outings (three starts) this past season.
With Sengun and Adams returning and Clint Capela joining the frontcourt mix, there was no place in the rotation going forward for Landale, and his $8MM annual salary is no longer palatable for the Rockets to carry with the roster getting more expensive. His release had been expected, even after he and the team reached an agreement over the weekend to push his salary guarantee date back to July 7.
Summer League Notes: Bulls, Kawamura, Kings, Brink, Jent
The Bulls officially announced their 2025 summer league roster on Thursday afternoon (via Twitter). The group is headlined by recent lottery picks Matas Buzelis and Noa Essengue, plus two-way players Jahmir Young and Emanuel Miller and No. 55 overall pick Lachlan Olbrich, who is expected to sign a two-way deal with Chicago.
The Bulls’ summer league squad also features a handful of unrestricted free agents who have NBA experience. Japanese point guard Yuki Kawamura, who spent 2024/25 (his rookie campaign) on a two-way deal with the Grizzlies, is part of the team, as is ex-Grizzlies forward Maozinha Pereira. Former lottery pick Joshua Primo and guard Javon Freeman-Liberty are on the 14-man roster as well.
Windy City Bulls head coach Billy Donovan III will lead the summer league team for the second consecutive year, tweets K.C. Johnson of Chicago Sports Network.
Here are few more notes related to summer league:
- Both of the Kings‘ draft picks — first-rounder Nique Clifford and second-rounder Maxime Raynaud — will compete in summer league action, GM Scott Perry said today at a press conference (Twitter link via Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee). Kings head coach Doug Christie said assistant Dipesh Mistry will be the summer league team’s top coach, as Anderson relays (via Twitter).
- Jordan Brink, an assistant on former head coach Tom Thibodeau‘s staff, will be head coach of the Knicks‘ summer league team, reports James L. Edwards III of The Athletic (Twitter link). According to Edwards, Brink was “largely responsible” for New York’s impressive success rate on challenges last season. Given that he’s leading the summer league squad, it seems pretty likely that Brink will be a member of new coach Mike Brown‘s staff, though that’s just informed speculation and hasn’t been confirmed.
- Assistant Chris Jent will serve as head coach of the Hornets‘ summer league club, per Rod Boone of The Charlotte Observer (Twitter video link). Jent is a longtime NBA assistant and former player who joined Charles Lee‘s staff last year.
Magic Withdraw Mac McClung’s Qualifying Offer
The Magic have withdrawn their two-way qualifying offer to guard Mac McClung, making him an unrestricted free agent, per Keith Smith of Spotrac (Twitter links).
According to Smith, Orlando pulled McClung’s QO to give him a chance to pursue other opportunities without being a RFA. The Magic have a crowded backcourt and McClung didn’t have an obvious path to playing time, Smith adds.
Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel confirms the news (via Twitter).
McClung spent all of last season on a two-way deal with Orlando but only made two brief NBA appearances. In 44 combined appearances with the NBA G League’s Osceola Magic, he averaged 23.0 points, 5.4 assists and 3.9 rebounds in 32.4 minutes per game, with a shooting line of .481/.344/.828.
The 26-year-old guard was named first-team All-NBAGL in 2024/25 after winning G League MVP in ’23/24. McClung is most well known for winning the past three NBA dunk contests.
Even though he has only played in six games, McClung has three years of NBA experience, having made previous stops with the Bulls, Lakers and Sixers. He is eligible for a two-way deal for one more season.
Ethan Thompson is currently the only player on a two-way deal with Orlando, so the team has a pair of two-way openings.
Hoops Rumors Chat Transcript: 7/3/2025
We hosted a live chat today at 1:00 pm Central time (2:00 pm Eastern) to discuss free agency so far and what’s still to come.
Kings’ Nique Clifford Signs Rookie Contract
Former Colorado State guard Nique Clifford, the No. 24 pick in this year’s draft, has signed his rookie scale contract with the Kings, per the official transaction log at NBA.com.
Assuming he gets the maximum allowable 120% of the rookie scale, which is typical, Clifford will earn a salary of $3.11MM as a rookie and will make $15.77MM across his first four NBA seasons as long as his third- and fourth-year team options are eventually exercised.
The Kings didn’t enter draft day with a first-round pick, but made a deal last Wednesday night to acquire the 24th overall selection from Oklahoma City, sending a protected 2027 Spurs first-rounder to the Thunder in the trade. They used it to draft Clifford, one of the most NBA-ready players in the first round.
While he didn’t post big numbers earlier in his five-year college career, Clifford came on strong over the past couple seasons. In 2024/25, he nearly averaged a double-double, with 18.9 points, 9.6 rebounds, 4.4 assists, and 1.2 steals in 35.4 minutes per game across 36 starts, with a .496/.377/.777 shooting line.
The 6’5″ swingman had one of the best rebounding seasons for a wing in NCAA history for the Rams, according to Jonathan Givony of ESPN, and has earned comparisons to Knicks forward Josh Hart due to his versatility.
Nuggets To Hire Jared Dudley As Top Assistant Coach
Former NBA forward Jared Dudley has agreed to a contract with the Nuggets that will make him the top assistant coach on David Adelman‘s staff, agent Andy Miller tells ESPN’s Shams Charania (Twitter link).
Marc Stein of The Stein Line first reported that Dudley was drawing interest from Memphis, Cleveland and Denver, and also reported over the weekend that the Nuggets were granted permission to Dudley.
A 14-year veteran as a player who won a title with the Lakers in 2020, Dudley has been an assistant with the Mavericks for the past four seasons, including acting in a front-of-bench role in 2024/25.
As Stein notes (via Twitter), all three of Dallas’ top assistants from last season have found new jobs in recent months, with Sean Sweeney joining the division-rival Spurs as associate head coach, Alex Jensen becoming the head coach at the University of Utah, and Dudley heading to Denver. Player development assistant God Shammgod, who has been with the Mavs since 2019, was also hired away by the Magic.
The Mavericks replaced Sweeney with new associate head coach Frank Vogel, a longtime former head coach, while ex-Raptors and Suns coach Jay Triano is the new No. 2 assistant. Stein reported that Dallas is eyeing veteran assistants Phil Handy and Mike Penberthy to join Jason Kidd‘s staff, though Handy is also drawing interest from New York.
According to Adam Mares of ALLCITY (Twitter link), Dudley is well liked and respected by coaches and players around the NBA, including several of the league’s top stars. The former first-round pick turns 40 years old next week.