Bucks Trade Connaughton, Picks To Hornets For Micic
July 6: The Hornets have officially acquired Connaughton and the Bucks’ 2031 and 2032 second-round picks in exchange for Micic, the team confirmed today in a press release.
July 1: The Bucks have agreed to trade veteran forward Pat Connaughton and two second-round picks to the Hornets for guard Vasilije Micic, according to Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).
The second-rounders heading to Charlotte will be Milwaukee’s own in 2031 and 2032, Charania adds.
As Yossi Gozlan of The Third Apron tweets, Micic ($8.1MM) only makes about $1.3MM less than Connaughton ($9.4MM) next season, but the Serbian has been repeatedly rumored to be seeking a return to Europe this summer, and could give up a significant portion of his salary in a buyout. Assuming that comes to fruition, it should give the Bucks enough cap room to sign Myles Turner after waiving and stretching Damian Lillard.
Connaughton, 32, was an important reserve for the Bucks when they won the title in 2021 and has been with the team for the past seven years. However, in part due to injuries, he hasn’t looked like the same player in recent years, having been out of Milwaukee’s rotation for much of 2024/25.
Connaughton averaged 5.2 points, 2.7 rebounds and 1.7 assists on .469/.321/.774 shooting in 41 regular season games last season (14.7 minutes per contest). He only played 14 minutes over three appearances during the Bucks’ first-round playoff series vs. Indiana, which Milwaukee lost in five games.
Charlotte will acquire a couple of second-round picks for taking on Connaughton’s expiring contract. The Hornets just reacquired Micic yesterday when the Mark Williams trade with Phoenix became official.
Giannis ‘Not Pleased’ With Bucks’ Decision To Waive Lillard?
Superstar Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo is “not pleased” with the team’s decision to waive Damian Lillard, league sources tell NBA insider Chris Haynes (Twitter link).
In a shocking pair of moves, the Bucks will waive Lillard and stretch the $112MM+ remaining on his contract after the star point guard suffered an Achilles tear in April, and will sign standout free agent center Myles Turner to a four-year, $107MM deal using the newly created cap room.
The Bucks’ aggressive approach to the offseason was certainly fueled by a desire to stay in contention in the short term and take advantage of Antetokounmpo’s prime years, with Lillard likely to miss most or all of 2025/26. So if Giannis isn’t happy about any of their moves, that’s problematic.
Still, it’s worth noting that ESPN’s Shams Charania has indicated Antetokounmpo was on board with the acquisition of Turner. Within his story on the Bucks’ moves, Charania writes that Antetokounmpo and Turner “both valued the opportunity to partner on the court.”
During an appearance on NBA TV (Twitter video link), Haynes suggested that Antetokounmpo may simply be reacting to the coldness of waiving Lillard – an accomplished and respected veteran star – shortly after he suffered such a major injury.
“He just didn’t like how it was handled,” Haynes said.
For what it’s worth, Lillard might view the situation as a win-win, Marc J. Spears of Andscape tweets, since adjusting to Milwaukee away from his family after spending the first 11 years of his NBA career in Portland had been a challenge for him. Now, he’ll still be paid in full by the Bucks while getting to become an unrestricted free agent, which will give him the ability to pick his own situation.
Lillard is expected to take some time to decide whether he wants to sit out this season or sign a multiyear contract and spend the season rehabbing with a team, tweets Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. The Heat are among the teams expected to have interest, per Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press (Twitter link), though Jackson says the Oakland native will be “open to considering everything presented.”
As for Antetokounmpo, we’ll see whether he comes around on viewing the Lillard release as a necessary evil to land a player like Turner or whether the situation escalates from here. During his NBA TV spot, Haynes referred to it as “one more thing added to the equation” for Giannis as he considers whether he wants his future to be in Milwaukee or elsewhere.
Bucks Sign Gary Harris To Two-Year Deal
July 8: The Bucks’ deal with Harris is official, the team announced in a press release.
“We are excited to welcome Gary to Milwaukee,” general manager Jon Horst said in a statement. “Gary’s leadership and experience will provide further depth and stability to our backcourt, and his extensive playoff background will be instrumental during the postseason. We are thrilled for Gary to be a Buck.”
July 1: After making a pair of huge moves earlier on Tuesday morning, the Bucks have resumed filling out the edges of their roster. According to Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link), the team has reached an agreement on a two-year deal with free agent swingman Gary Harris.
While Charania doesn’t specify the financial details, it will likely be a minimum-salary contract for Harris. It will also include a second-year player option, Charania notes.
Harris, 30, saw his playing time decline in recent years in Orlando. He averaged just 14.8 minutes per game in 48 appearances in 2024/25, with averages of 3.0 points and 1.3 rebounds per night.
However, Harris has a long history of playing rotation minutes for both the Nuggets (2014-21) and Magic (2021-25) as a three-and-D wing. He has attempted 4.0 three-pointers per game over the course of his 11-year career and has knocked down 36.9% of them, including 38.8% since he arrived in Orlando as part of the Aaron Gordon trade in 2021. The veteran also earned praise from his Magic teammates this season for his play on defense, even in his limited role.
It has been a busy week so far for the Bucks. In addition to agreeing to terms to Harris, they’ve also struck deals to re-sign Bobby Portis, Kevin Porter Jr., Taurean Prince, and Gary Trent Jr. while unexpectedly landing a four-year commitment from Myles Turner and even more unexpectedly deciding to waive Damian Lillard and stretch his remaining salary to create short-term cap flexibility.
Kings Trading Valanciunas To Nuggets For Saric
The Kings have agreed to trade center Jonas Valanciunas to the Nuggets in exchange for forward/center Dario Saric, sources tell Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).
Valanciunas will earn about $10.4MM in 2025/26, with a non-guaranteed $10MM salary for ’26/27. Saric is entering the final year of his contract, which will pay him approximately $5.4MM next season.
The Nuggets are able to take on Valanciunas’ higher salary due to the newfound roster-building flexibility they created as a result of the agreed upon trade that will send Michael Porter Jr. and a 2032 first-round pick to Brooklyn for Cameron Johnson.
Valanciunas spent his first six-plus NBA seasons with Toronto, the team that selected him No. 5 overall in the 2011 draft. He also played for Memphis and New Orleans prior to becoming a free agent last year.
The 33-year-old landed with the Wizards via sign-and-trade last summer, then was traded to Sacramento in February. The durable big man made 81 combined appearances last season, averaging 10.4 points, 7.7 rebounds and 2.0 assists in 18.8 minutes per contest.
While he’s a very limited defensive player, Valanciunas is a bruising low-post scorer and rebounder with a soft touch and should be a productive backup for three-time MVP Nikola Jokic.
As for the Kings, they were likely motivated to make the deal for financial reasons. As Yossi Gozlan of The Third Apron tweets, Sacramento will save about $5MM in the trade, which will give the team the flexibility to complete its reported deal with veteran guard Dennis Schröder without going into the tax.
Saric signed a two-year, $10.6MM deal with Denver last summer, but it didn’t work out the way either party had hoped. The 31-year-old only played in 16 games last season, averaging 3.5 PPG and 3.1 RPG in 13.1 MPG.
Hoops Rumors Front Office Subscriber Chat Transcript: 7/1/2025
Hoops Rumors’ Arthur Hill held a live chat today exclusively for Trade Rumors Front Office subscribers. Topics included the Lakers’ remaining options at center, the Celtics’ dwindling roster, Damian Lillard‘s chances of playing in 2025/26, the Nuggets’ flurry of moves and more!
Hoops Rumors’ Arthur Hill held a live chat today exclusively for Trade Rumors Front Office subscribers. Topics included the Lakers' remaining options at center, the Celtics' dwindling roster, Damian Lillard's chances of playing in 2025/26, the Nuggets' flurry of moves and more!
Click here to access the chat.
Bucks To Waive Damian Lillard, Stretch Remaining Salary
The Bucks are waiving injured point guard Damian Lillard and stretching the $112.6MM owed to him over the next two years across five seasons, reports ESPN’s Shams Charania (Twitter link).
The move will help create the cap room necessary in order for the Bucks to complete their four-year, $107MM deal with free agent center Myles Turner.
It’s a shocking development, but Milwaukee was expected to aggressive this offseason in its efforts to upgrade the roster and convince superstar forward Giannis Antetokounmpo that he can still contend for a championship with the Bucks. And Lillard, who sustained a torn Achilles during the first round of the playoffs this spring, wasn’t going to be able to contribute to a title chase in 2025/26, as he’ll almost certainly miss most or all of the season.
As we explain in our glossary entry, the stretch provision allows teams to spread out a player’s remaining guaranteed salary across twice the remaining years left on his contract, plus one. That means the Bucks will now carry cap hits of $22,516,603 for the next five seasons for Lillard, instead of paying him $54,126,450 in 2025/26 and $58,456,566 in ’26/27.
The move creates more than $30MM in extra spending flexibility for Milwaukee this season.
As Bobby Marks of ESPN notes (via Twitter), teams aren’t permitted to waive and stretch a player if the move would result in waived-and-stretched salary taking up more than 15% of a season’s cap. But 15% of this season’s cap works out to about $23.2MM, so Lillard’s figure sneaks in below that threshold.
This is the largest waive-and-stretch in NBA history, Marks adds (via Twitter).
A team that waives a player and stretches his salary isn’t permitted to sign him until after the original end date of his contract, so the Bucks wouldn’t be able to bring back Lillard this season or next season once he’s healthy.
Lillard, who will turn 35 this month, averaged 24.9 points, 7.1 assists, and 4.7 rebounds per game in 58 starts for the Bucks this season, posting a shooting line of .448/.376/.921. He missed time near the end of the season after being diagnosed with a blood clot in his calf. Although the star guard was able to return during the playoffs, he suited up in just three games before tearing his Achilles.
Bucks, Myles Turner Finalize Four-Year Deal
July 7: Turner is officially a Buck, per a press release from the team.
“We are thrilled that Myles chose our team and city!” general manager Jon Horst said in a statement. “He’s a winner and a dynamic player who fits us on both ends of the court. This is a big day for the Bucks and the Milwaukee community, and we are excited to welcome Myles and his family.”
July 1: Myles Turner is leaving Indiana after spending his entire 10-year career with the Pacers, according to Shams Charania of ESPN, who reports (via Twitter) that the veteran center has reached an agreement on a four-year, $107MM deal with the division-rival Bucks.
The contract will include a fourth-year player option and a 15% trade kicker, Charania adds.
According to Charania (Twitter links), Turner made it clear that he wanted to re-sign with the Pacers and tried to get a deal done with Indiana. However, ownership was reluctant to pay the luxury tax in 2025/26, particularly in the wake of Tyrese Haliburton‘s torn Achilles tendon.
Jake Fischer of The Stein Line also says (via Twitter) Turner wanted to remain with the Pacers, but hears they never offered him more than $60MM over three years.
Bucks GM Jon Horst worked with agent Austin Brown to secure Turner a nine-figure payday in a market with little cap space available, per Charania.
Turner’s floor-spacing and rim-protecting is somewhat similar to Brook Lopez, whom the Bucks lost to the Clippers in free agency. The big difference is Turner is 29, eight years younger than Lopez, and better fits Giannis Antetokounmpo‘s contention timeline.
Stunningly, the Bucks are waiving and stretching Damian Lillard — who also suffered a torn Achilles in the playoffs — to create the cap room necessary to sign Turner.
Turner helped the Pacers reach the NBA Finals for the second time in franchise history in 2024/25, pushing the heavily-favored Thunder to seven games before Haliburton’s untimely injury in the first quarter of the finale.
A former lottery pick (No. 11 overall in 2015), Turner averaged 15.6 points, 6.5 rebounds and 2.0 blocks on .481/.396/.773 shooting in 72 regular season games last season (30.2 MPG). In 23 playoff contests (29.3 MPG), Indiana’s longtime starting center averaged 13.8 PPG, 4.8 RPG and 2.0 BPG on .484/.344/.771 shooting.
This is just our speculation, but it’s possible that Indiana might pursue center Deandre Ayton in the wake of Turner’s departure. The Pacers are the team that signed him to a maximum-salary offer sheet three years ago and he’ll be a free agent soon after reaching a buyout with the Trail Blazers.
Knicks Sign Guerschon Yabusele To Two-Year Deal
July 6: Yabusele’s deal with the Knicks is now official, per NBA.com’s transaction log.
As we previously relayed, Yabusele is expected to take a little less than the full taxpayer mid-level exception in order to create some extra breathing room below the Knicks’ hard cap.
According to Fred Katz of The Athletic (Twitter link), Yabusele’s deal will be worth $5.5MM in year one and $5.775MM in year two.
July 1: The Knicks are in agreement on a two-year, $12MM deal with free agent forward/center Guerschon Yabusele, according to Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link), who reports that the new contract will include a second-year player option.
Based on their cap situation, the Knicks appear set to use their full taxpayer mid-level exception on Yabusele. That would work out to approximately $11.7MM over two seasons.
So far, Yabusele’s second stint in the NBA has gone much better than his first one. The Frenchman struggled to carve out rotation minutes when he became a Celtic at age 22 in 2017 after being drafted 16th overall a year earlier.
However, he was a revelation on a minimum-salary contract with the Sixers in 2024/25, averaging 11.0 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 2.1 assists in 27.1 minutes per game, with a .501/.380/.725 shooting line.
Yabusele has the size to match up with big men in the post and the athleticism to switch onto perimeter players, making him a valuable member of any frontcourt rotation. He’ll give the Knicks another option up front to supplement Karl-Anthony Towns and Mitchell Robinson, likely sliding into the spot previously held by Precious Achiuwa, who is currently a free agent.
According to Jake Fischer of The Stein Line (Twitter link), the Nuggets were New York’s top competition for Yabusele, with San Antonio and Milwaukee among the other clubs who expressed interest. The 29-year-old was the No. 22 free agent on our top-50 list.
Now that they’ve committed their taxpayer mid-level exception to Yabusele, the Knicks will be limited to minimum-salary signings (or trades) to fill out their roster.
Thunder, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Complete Four-Year Super-Max Extension
July 8: Gilgeous-Alexander’s lucrative new four-year mega-deal is now official, the Thunder confirmed in a press release.
July 1: The Thunder and reigning Most Valuable Player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander have agreed to a four-year, super-max contract extension, reports Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).
The contract will begin in 2027/28, adding four years to the two left on Gilgeous-Alexander’s current deal and locking him up through at least the ’29/30 season, with a player option for ’30/31, per Charania (Twitter video link).
While Charania refers to it as a $285MM payday for the Thunder star, the exact value of the contract will depend on where the 2027/28 salary cap ends up — Gilgeous-Alexander’s super-max extension will start at 35% of that season’s cap, with 8% annual increases from there. Charania’s projection assumes a 7% cap increase for next year, as projected by the NBA on Monday, followed by a 10% increase in 2027.
Gilgeous-Alexander, who will turn 27 later this month, is coming off one of the most successful seasons in NBA history. He racked up 32.7 points per game on a shooting line of .519/.375/.898 while also contributing 6.4 assists, 5.0 rebounds, 1.7 steals, and 1.0 block per contest.
He followed up that regular season performance this spring by averaging 29.9 PPG during the postseason and leading the Thunder to their first title in Oklahoma City.
Those performances earned Gilgeous-Alexander MVP honors in both the regular season and the NBA Finals, making him the 16th player in league history to win both awards in the same year. It hadn’t happened since LeBron James pulled off the feat during the 2012/13 season.
Gilgeous-Alexander actually met the performance criteria for a super-max contract (also known as a “designated veteran” deal) in 2024 by making an All-NBA team for a second straight season, but wasn’t permitted to sign his extension until this summer because he hadn’t yet met the service-time criteria.
A player with between seven and nine years of experience typically has a maximum salary of 30% of the cap, but can qualify for 35% by being named MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, or All-NBA in the most recent season or in two of the previous three seasons.
Gilgeous-Alexander had the option of waiting another year to sign his super-max extension — at that time, he could’ve added a fifth year, increasing the total projected value to nearly $370MM. However, it doesn’t come as a surprise that he opted not to leave this sort of payday on the table for another year.
The Thunder will now shift their focus to two other key extension candidates, as both Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren are eligible this offseason for rookie scale extensions as they prepare to enter their fourth year in the NBA.
Nuggets To Hire J.J. Barea As Assistant Coach
The Nuggets are adding former NBA guard J.J. Barea to their coaching staff as an assistant under new head coach David Adelman, reports Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link). Barea will be a front-of-bench assistant in Denver, Charania adds.
Marc Stein first reported the Nuggets’ interest in Barea, who had been coaching the Guaynabo Mets in his native Puerto Rico over the past couple years before being let go in May.
Barea, who turned 41 last week, played in the NBA from 2005-19, spending the majority of those 14 years in Dallas and winning a title with the Mavericks in 2011. Following his retirement, he spent a year as a player development coach for the Mavs in 2021/22.
As Tim MacMahon of ESPN notes (via Twitter), Adelman was an assistant coach in Minnesota when Barea played for the Timberwolves during the only non-Mavs stint of his career from 2011-14. Adelman reached out to Barea to recruit him for the role, MacMahon reports.
The Nuggets have also reached an agreement to hire Rodney Billups, the younger brother of Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups, as an assistant, agent Andy Miller tells Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link). Rodney worked on his brother’s staff in Portland from 2022-24 before spending this past season as a Nets scout.
Denver is also said to have interest in Mavericks assistant Jared Dudley for a role on Adelman’s staff. While the Nuggets were granted permission to speak to Dudley, there has been no word yet on whether or not he’ll leave Dallas for Denver.