Suns Rumors

Suns Discussing Possible Bradley Beal Buyout

The Suns have been discussing a potential buyout of the two years left on Bradley Beal‘s contract, reports Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic.

Beal was the subject of trade rumors throughout the 2024/25 season and those rumors have carried over to the offseason. However, the $110.8MM he’s owed over the next two years have made it extremely difficult to find a trade partner, and the no-trade clause Beal holds further limits the Suns’ leverage, since he would need to approve any move.

As a result, a buyout has been viewed as the most likely path to a split between Beal and the Suns this summer.

If Beal is willing to give back some of that $110.8MM, it could also open the door for Phoenix to use the stretch provision to spread his remaining cap hits over the next five years instead of two, like Milwaukee is doing with Damian Lillard. That would create significant short-term savings for the Suns – an estimated $230MM, per cap expert Yossi Gozalan (Twitter link) – by taking their team salary from above the second tax apron to all the way under the luxury tax line.

NBA rules prohibit a team from carrying waived-and-stretch salary that exceeds 15% of a season’s salary cap. Since the cap for 2025/26 was set at $154,647,000, that means no club can have more than $23,197,050 in stretched dead money on its books. Stretching the $110,794,880 owed to Beal across five seasons would result in cap hits of $22,158,976 annually, but Phoenix already has $3,814,041 in stretched salary on its books related to last year’s cuts of Nassir Little and E.J. Liddell.

In order to legally stretch Beal’s contract, the team would need him to give up at least $13,879,835. For the 32-year-old to consider that, he’d probably have to feel comfortable about making up most or all of that money on a deal with a new team.

If Beal were bought out, any of the NBA’s other 29 teams could legally sign him. The Collective Bargaining Agreement prevent teams operating over the tax aprons from signing a waived player if his pre-waiver salary exceeds the value of the non-taxpayer mid-level exception ($14.1MM this year), but that rule only applies to players waived and signed during the regular season.

If the Suns were to use the stretch provision on Beal’s salary, they would be ineligible to re-sign him until July 2027, after his contract would have expired.

Free Agent Rumors: Kuminga, CP3, Horford, Westbrook, Lillard

The Kings are “very engaged” on Warriors restricted free agent forward Jonathan Kuminga, according to Matt George of ABC 10 in Sacramento (Twitter links).

While the Kings have seemingly been extremely willing to discuss Malik Monk in trade scenarios, Monk likely wouldn’t be involved in any deal for Kuminga, says George, noting that Golden State doesn’t appear to have much interest in the veteran guard.

George has heard that the Kings have explored sending out guard Devin Carter, forward Dario Saric, and draft compensation as part of a deal to acquire Kuminga via sign-and-trade (Twitter link). If a deal along those lines came to fruition, it would likely be combined with Sacramento’s Saric/Jonas Valanciunas swap with Denver in order to maximize the Kings’ outgoing salary, which would allow them to give Kuminga a more lucrative deal.

However, according to Anthony Slater of The Athletic (Twitter link), there’s no agreement imminent at this point. Conversations on the Kuminga front with the Warriors and “several” teams are ongoing, Slater adds.

Here are a few more items of interest on some of the top free agents still on the board:

  • After starting all 82 games for San Antonio this past season, veteran point guard Chris Paul is hoping to be a starter again in 2025/26, per Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press (Twitter link), which is one reason why he’s still weighing his options in free agency. Reynolds says the Clippers are hoping Paul will join them, while Ramona Shelburne of ESPN (Twitter video link) views the Suns as his most likely landing spot. John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 (Twitter link) believes Paul would like to return to Phoenix, but thinks there would be a very limited role for him with the Suns, so he considered a reunion unlikely.
  • The Warriors have been “very aggressive” in trying to recruit Al Horford to Golden State, per ESPN’s Brian Windhorst (Twitter video link). Windhorst believes Horford could end up in the West Coast if he continues his career, noting that the Lakers are among the other teams pursuing him. Windhorst’s report came before the Lakers reached an agreement with Deandre Ayton, but Los Angeles could still use frontcourt depth and still has its $5.1MM bi-annual exception available.
  • Russell Westbrook, an L.A. native, would like to “be closer to home,” according to Marc J. Spears of Andscape (Twitter video link). Multiple reports this week have linked Westbrook to the Kings, but it sounds like that would only become a viable option if Sacramento ends up trading Monk.
  • In ranking what he believes are the top five best landing spots for Damian Lillard once he becomes a free agent, Spears places the Timberwolves atop his list (Twitter video link). Mike Conley is still penciled in as Minnesota’s starting point guard, but he’ll be 38 in October and struggled in the postseason, and the Wolves don’t have much reliable depth at the position behind him. Lillard could be a perfect fit, though he’ll miss most or all of the 2025/26 season while recovering from his Achilles tear.
  • In addition to previously reported suitors like Milwaukee and Indiana, the Knicks, Clippers, Cavaliers, and Nuggets also expressed some level of interest in Ayton before he agreed to join the Lakers, Shams Charania of ESPN said on SportsCenter (Twitter video link). Charania added that several suitors reached out to Trail Blazers general manager Joe Cronin to ask about Ayton and got “rave reviews of him as a teammate.”

Durant Trade Expected To Be Completed As Seven-Team Deal

When the Suns and Rockets agreed a week-and-a-half ago to a deal that will send Kevin Durant to Houston, they negotiated it as a two-team trade. However, after the July moratorium lifts on Sunday and that trade can be officially completed, it’s expected to be finalized as a seven-team mega-deal, according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks (YouTube link).

Marks specifically mentions the Hawks, Timberwolves, and Nets as teams who will be involved, referencing the Rockets’ sign-and-trade deal for Clint Capela and Atlanta’s sign-and-trade for Nickeil Alexander-Walker as agreements that may be looped into this trade. Brooklyn made a minor draft-night deal with the Suns that includes a couple picks Phoenix is acquiring from Houston as part of the package for Durant.

While Marks didn’t name all seven teams, Fred Katz of The Athletic says the Warriors and Lakers are expected to play a part in the deal too.

The No. 59 overall pick (Jahmai Mashack) that was originally sent from Houston to Phoenix in the Durant agreement got rerouted by Phoenix to Golden State (who later sent it to Memphis), while No. 36 pick Adou Thiero will end up with the Lakers following a series of swaps involving the Nets, Suns, and Timberwolves.

There may also be a pathway to turning Dorian Finney-Smith‘s four-year, $53MM agreement with Houston into a sign-and-trade from the Lakers, though Katz’s report suggests Finney-Smith (and Alexander-Walker) aren’t being discussed in the current framework.

Theoretically, other previous trade agreements involving some of these teams could be roped in to expand the deal even further if it proves advantageous (or if it just streamlines the process of finalizing trades). We also still have more than 72 hours before the moratorium lifts on Sunday at 11:00 am Central time, so if more deals are reached in the coming days, it’s possible they could be attached to this one too.

To be clear, while putting together these swaps as a single mega-trade could result in minor additional pieces such as cash, a draft-rights player, or a two-way player (Katz mentions Daeqwon Plowden of the Hawks) being involved, it won’t meaningfully alter the players and picks changing hands.

It simply means that several trade agreements previously reported separately will be combined into one move to get them all done at once. That should make life easier for the league, which won’t have to process a bunch of separate trades that include certain players or draft picks.

It also means the trade will likely set a new NBA record for most teams involved in a single deal. That record was last set a year ago when six teams got together to complete the transaction that sent Klay Thompson to Dallas, Kyle Anderson and Buddy Hield to Golden State, and Josh Green to Charlotte.

Our breakdown of 2025 offseason trades can be found right here if you want to try to figure out how to get eight, nine, 10, or all 30 teams somehow involved in this deal.

Free Agent Notes: Simmons, Knicks, Shamet, Ayton, Bonga, More

The Knicks have “checked in” on former No. 1 overall pick Ben Simmons, reports Ian Begley of SNY.tv. Simmons has also met with three other teams and is expected to make a decision on his next destination soon, sources familiar with the situation tell Begley.

Simmons is a three-time All-Star who has made a pair of All-Defensive first teams, but has battled injuries in recent years, having appeared in just 108 regular season games since the start of 2021/22.

Begley adds in the same story that the Knicks maintain interest in re-signing free agent wing Landry Shamet, but have competition from teams in both conferences for the 28-year-old. Shamet made 50 appearances for New York last season, averaging 5.7 points per game on .461/.397/.667 shooting.

Given how close the Knicks are to the second tax apron, it would probably be a case of signing Simmons or Shamet (or another veteran free agent), rather than adding both, unless they create a little more spending flexibility via trade.

Given their roster situation

  • After Jake Fischer reported that the Pacers have some interest in center Deandre Ayton, David Aldridge of The Athletic suggests that interest will be reciprocated. According to Aldridge, a source close to Ayton said Indiana will be considered as a possible landing spot for the former No. 1 overall pick. The big man will clear waivers later today.
  • The Serbian club KK Partizan recently announced (via Twitter) a contract extension through 2027 for former NBA forward Isaac Bonga, who appeared in 143 regular season games for three teams from 2018-22. However, Bonga remains on NBA radars, according to Donatas Urbonas of BasketNews.com, who notes that the 25-year-old’s new deal includes an out clause that would give him the ability to return stateside later this summer if he gets an opportunity he likes.
  • Another former NBA forward is headed to Belgrade, with the Serbian club Crvena Zvezda announcing (via Twitter) that it has signed Semi Ojeleye. The 2017 second-round pick made 284 NBA appearances for three teams across five seasons, but hasn’t been in the league since 2022.
  • In accepting a one-year, minimum-salary offer from the Suns, veteran forward Nigel Hayes-Davis turned down a lucrative offer from Fenerbahce, his team in Turkey, that would have had made him one of the highest-paid players in the EuroLeague, Urbonas reports. While Hayes-Davis won’t earn as much in Phoenix, the 30-year-old will be back in the NBA for the first time since a brief stint in 2017/18.

Lakers Rumors: LeBron, Kessler, Richards

Although ESPN’s Brian Windhorst still isn’t expecting the Lakers to trade LeBron James, he said on Wednesday’s episode of First Take (YouTube link) that he doesn’t consider it quite as unlikely as he did a few days ago when reports of the star forward opting in for 2025/26 were accompanied by a “nebulous” statement from agent Rich Paul.

“When the idea of a trade came up, I slammed the door on it,” Windhorst said (hat tip to RealGM). “I said, first off, LeBron wants to be a Laker. If he didn’t want to be a Laker, he could have opted out. He has a no-trade clause. Over the last three days, I have unlocked the door. I wouldn’t say that I’m opening the door. I would just say I’ve unlocked the door. The door I slammed and locked on Sunday, I’m not 100 percent sure.

“That is because my conversations over the last three days have crystalized that the Lakers are essentially viewing LeBron as an expiring contract. And that may sound like a toss-off statement, but that’s not insignificant. LeBron has never been an expiring contract. Quite literally. Never in his 23-year career, over the nine contracts he has signed, over all the different teams he has been on, he has never been on the last year of his contract. He has never been 40 years old. He has never not been the franchise player on his team.”

As has been previously reported, James and the Lakers didn’t have any serious discussions about a new contract that would extend beyond 2025/26. That may signal that LeBron isn’t sure whether he’ll continue playing beyond 2026 — either way, it means he’ll become an unrestricted free agent next summer, since his contract can’t be extended before then.

“What happens to expiring contracts in the NBA? They are viewed as trade pieces,” Windhorst said. “For all those reasons (a trade still seems unlikely)—the money, the fact that LeBron and Luka (Doncic) are still a very formidable duo. The fact that the Lakers are not done with their offseason. The fact that trading him is crazy. The fact that this is being built around Luka and they have to maintain their cap sheet and all of those things. Everything in that makes sense. I’m just unlocking the door because I’m not as convinced as before of it’s impossibility.”

We have more on the Lakers:

  • If James did want to be traded, there are teams “who would step up and make offers,” Windhorst said during an ESPN segment on Tuesday evening (YouTube link). With that in mind, Fred Katz of The Athletic considers what it might look like if teams like the Cavaliers, Mavericks, Warriors, Knicks, and Clippers were to try to make a play for the four-time MVP. Cleveland looks like the longest shot out of that group, since the Cavs are operating far above the second tax apron and would have to gut their roster to aggregate contracts and shed enough salary to make a legal trade.
  • Addressing the idea of the Lakers trading for Jazz center Walker Kessler, Jovan Buha (YouTube link) reiterates that Utah’s asking price would have to come down for it to be a viable possibility for Los Angeles. “I’ve just heard nothing but they want two picks plus a young player for Kessler,” Buha said. “So the Lakers cannot do that trade. They can give one pick and one young player and a swap. You could throw in a couple swaps. … Take off the protections on the top-four pick in 2027. But I just don’t know if that’s going to be enough for Utah.” Because they’ve traded away their 2027 and 2029 first-round picks already, the Lakers can’t put more than one first-rounder (2031 or 2032) in a trade offer due to the Stepien rule.
  • Phoenix big man Nick Richards is reportedly among the veteran centers the Lakers have expressed some level of interest in. The Suns have gotten inquiries from a few teams about Richards, according to John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 (Twitter link), but it’s unclear if they’ll actually move him. As Gambadoro explains, they like Richards as a player and like the idea of having a reliable insurance policy behind Mark Williams, who has battled injuries in recent years.
  • In case you missed it, our check-in on the top remaining free agents this morning included Lakers-related items on Deandre Ayton and Damian Lillard.

And-Ones: Kokoskov, Luxury Tax Payments, 2026 Mock, Injuries, NBA TV

Hawks assistant Igor Kokoskov is leaving his position to become head coach of Turkish League team Anadolu Efes, according to Eurohoops.net. Kokoskov has signed a three-year contract.

Kokoskov has been an assistant in the NBA for 19 years, along with a stint as the head coach of the Suns during the 2018/19 season. He was also a head coach in the EuroLeague with Fenerbahce during the 2020/21 season.

Here’s more from around the international basketball world:

  • How much did NBA teams who stayed below the luxury tax get rewarded for keeping their salaries below the line? Non-tax teams collected $11,530,235 from the taxpaying clubs, Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report tweets.
  • Is it too early to talk about the 2026 draft class? Not for draft experts like The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie. He’s posted his first 2026 mock with Kansas guard Darryn Peterson, Duke forward Cameron Boozer and BYU wing A.J. Dybantsa occupying the top three spots.
  • Thunder executive Sam Presti believes there’s a direct correlation between the number of games played and injuries. Presti mentioned the NBA’s 65-game rule to qualify for certain awards, the condensed schedule due to the in-season tournament and the recent uptick in physicality allowed by the league, according to an ESPN story.“I think the one thing we have to do is get away from the defensive nature of trying to convince people, players and teams that there’s no connection between the loads and the injuries,” Presti said. “I think it’s — we’re kind of bordering on a level of like, it’s almost insulting.”
  • TNT Sports will cease production efforts on NBA TV at the end of the league’s calendar year in September, according to the Sports Business Journal’s Austin Karp.  The league will begin operating the network starting Oct. 1. It will continue to carry some regular-season games during the 2025/26 season, plus WNBA, G League and other games from international leagues. One key element is that there will be far fewer live games on NBA TV once the new media-rights deal kicks in this fall with ESPN/ABC, NBC Sports and Prime Video, Karp adds.

Checking In On Top Remaining NBA Free Agents

The NBA’s free agent period officially opened less than 40 hours ago, but the list of this year’s top available players has already been pretty picked clean, with 35 of the players from our list of 2025’s top 50 free agents having already agreed to terms with a team.

Here are the players from our list remain available:

  1. Josh Giddey, G, (Bulls RFA)
  2. Jonathan Kuminga, F, (Warriors RFA)
  3. Cam Thomas, G, (Nets RFA)
  4. Quentin Grimes, G, (Sixers RFA)
  5. Deandre Ayton, C (waivers)
  6. Chris Paul, G
  7. Russell Westbrook, G
  8. Al Horford, C
  9. Malcolm Brogdon, G
  10. Moritz Wagner, F/C
  11. Chris Boucher, F/C
  12. De’Anthony Melton, G
  13. Amir Coffey, G/F
  14. Precious Achiuwa, F/C
  15. Ryan Rollins, G

While four of our top 10 free agents are still on the board, all four are restricted, which means it may take some time for their situations to play out. Sign-and-trades are always a possibility, but few clubs are in position to make an aggressive play for any of these restricted free agents, as Brian Windhorst of ESPN pointed out during a TV appearance on Tuesday evening (Twitter video link).

“If this isn’t the worst market for restricted free agents in the last generation, I don’t want to see it,” Windhorst said. “There’s just no money out there for cap space, and sign-and-trades are very tough to pull off…with restricted free agents, because the team that has the rights isn’t motivated to play ball.”

There have essentially been no rumors linking Giddey, Thomas, or Grimes to any rival suitors since free agency began, so there’s still a widespread expectation that those three players will ultimately end up returning to their current teams.

That may happen with Kuminga too, but there has certainly been more chatter about alternative landing spots for the Warriors forward. Jake Fischer of The Stein Line (Substack link) checked in on Kuminga’s market late on Tuesday night, suggesting that the Heat, Bulls, Pelicans, and Kings are still being monitored as teams to watch for the 22-year-old, despite an apparent absence of traction on any of those fronts so far.

According to Fischer, Miami has also been linked to potential forward trade targets like DeMar DeRozan and John Collins; Chicago still has Giddey’s own restricted free agency to resolve, and Golden State appears to have “moved away” from past trade interest in Nikola Vucevic; New Orleans doesn’t have an obvious path to make a realistic offer for Kuminga; and while Sacramento would have interest in sending out Malik Monk as part of a sign-and-trade, no momentum has developed there.

With those top four RFAs in limbo for the time being, Ayton – who will clear waivers at 4:00 pm Central time on Wednesday – may be the most intriguing option on the board. According to Fischer, a number of front offices around the NBA expect the former No. 1 overall pick to end up with the Lakers, but the Pacers have also shown interest, as did the Bucks before they agreed to a surprising deal with Myles Turner. Indiana, notably, is the team that signed Ayton to a maximum-salary offer sheet in free agency three years ago, and the same decision-makers are still running that front office.

Paul and Westbrook are two of the most accomplished NBA point guards of the last two decades. Paul is known to want to play close to his home in Los Angeles, so while the Bucks are among the teams that have expressed interest in him, per Chris Haynes on NBA TV (Twitter video link), a team like the Clippers or Suns may be a more realistic landing spot. Haynes adds that he thought Westbrook would land with the Kings, but as long as Monk remains on Sacramento’s roster, that looks like a long shot.

It’s worth noting there’s one big name who was not on our pre-free-agency top 50 because he has only become available since then: Damian Lillard.

The Bucks haven’t officially waived Lillard yet, but he’s expected to reach the open market in the near future, and according to Eric Nehm, Sam Amick, and Joe Vardon of The Athletic, many teams – including the Lakers, Celtics, and Warriors – have reached out and registered interest in signing him even while he recovers from his Achilles tear.

Still, Jamal Collier of ESPN hears that there’s no guarantee that Lillard will sign anywhere for the 2025/26 season, which he’ll likely miss most or all of. He’s reportedly expected to remain based in Portland while doing his rehab work.

Among the other names in the back half of our top 50, Horford is the most intriguing. He has been linked to several teams, including – most consistently – Golden State. The Warriors are still a leading contender to land the veteran big man, per Fischer.

Finally, we should mention Malik Beasley, who ranked 15th on our initial top-50 list before word broke that he was under investigation for gambling allegations. Beasley was reportedly discussing a three-year, $42MM deal with Detroit prior to that news, but it’s hard to imagine any team signing him until that legal situation is resolved, which is why we took him off our list entirely. Since that investigation was reported, a pair of follow-up reports have detailed Beasley’s financial issues, though it’s crucial to note that he doesn’t currently face any charges.

All of the free agent deals agreed upon so far can be found within our 2025 free agent tracker. The full list of free agents still available can be found right here (or here, if you prefer to sort by team rather than by position/type).

Suns Notes: Booker, Green, Beal, Hayes-Davis

The Suns and Devin Booker are discussing a contract extension, according to NBA insider Chris Haynes, who notes (via Twitter) that the star guard will soon be eligible to add two years and $150MM onto his current deal.

Marc Stein and Brian Windhorst both reported last month that Phoenix was likely to offer Booker a maximum-salary extension once he’s eligible on July 6 and the 28-year-old was expected to accept it, so Haynes’ report doesn’t come as a surprise.

Here are few more notes and rumors out of Phoenix:

  • Doug Haller of The Athletic spoke to a handful of Jalen Green‘s former coaches to get a better idea of how he and Booker will be able to coexist in the Suns’ backcourt. Green, a former No. 2 overall pick, will be sent to Phoenix from Houston as part of the Kevin Durant trade. “First off, they’re really good guys,” former Rockets head coach Stephen Silas said of Green and Booker. “They’re both selfless. They both want to win. They both have seen the goods and the bads and have a really good feel for team basketball and what it takes to help you get over the top and win. It remains to be seen, but I think when you start with the base that those two guys have, it could work.”
  • Arizona Sports 98.7’s John Gambadoro has predicted that Phoenix will either trade or buyout Bradley Beal, who still has two years left on his maximum-salary contract, which features a full no-trade clause. While Beal would be open to certain trade scenarios, his preference is to stay with the Suns, as he doesn’t want to uproot his family or move away from them, a source close to the three-time All-Star tells Fred Katz of The Athletic.
  • Katz also takes a look at why using the waive-and-stretch provision on Beal isn’t possible unless he gives up at least $13.8MM in a buyout and spoke to some NBA executives about what type of contract the veteran shooting guard might be able to get if he were a free agent (in the range of the non-taxpayer mid-level exception).
  • Nigel Hayes-Davis‘ contract with Fenerbahce included a €1 million NBA buyout clause, notes Donatas Urbonas of BasketNews.com. The NBA’s “excluded international player payment amount” for 2025/26 is $875K, which means the Suns could pay up to that portion of Hayes-Davis’ buyout — the rest would come out of his NBA salary, unless Fenerbahce agrees to lower the amount of the buyout. The veteran forward agreed to a guaranteed one-year deal with Phoenix on Monday.

Luke Adams contributed to this article.

Suns To Sign Nigel Hayes-Davis To One-Year Deal

The Suns have agreed to a one-year deal with free agent forward Nigel Hayes-Davis, reports ESPN’s Shams Charania (via Twitter). The deal is fully guaranteed.

Hayes-Davis is coming off being named Final Four MVP as he helped Turkish club Fenerbahce win the 2025 EuroLeague championship. He averaged 16.8 points and 5.2 rebounds while shooting 42.3% from three-point range in 34 EuroLeague contests in 2024/25 (31.1 MPG).

After starring at Wisconsin in college, Hayes-Davis played nine total NBA games during the 2017/18 season, bouncing between the Lakers, Raptors, and Kings. He has been out of the league ever since.

While the 6’7″ forward’s first NBA stint was brief, he has been one of the top players in the EuroLeague over the past three seasons with Fenerbahce. With the Suns loaded with shooting guards and centers, the 30-year-old will provide forward depth alongside Royce O’Neale.

Fenerbahce’s GM said Hayes-Davis was drawing serious NBA interest shortly after the team won the title and was preparing for his potential departure.

Stein/Fischer’s Latest: Jerome, Kennard, Capela, Lakers, Bulls, More

In their latest round-up of scuttlebutt ahead of the start of free agency on Monday, Marc Stein and Jake Fischer of The Stein Line (Substack link) reiterate or confirm a few of the rumors that have been percolating in recent days, writing that Dennis Schröder appears to be on track to join the Kings on a two-year deal worth the non-taxpayer mid-level exception, while D’Angelo Russell is widely expected to join the Mavericks on a two-year deal that utilizes the taxpayer mid-level.

Stein and Fischer also stress that the Grizzlies are increasingly regarded as the favorites to land free agent guard Ty Jerome, with rival teams expecting him to sign for a deal in the neighborhood of $9-10MM annually (Twitter link).

Additionally, Stein and Fischer confirm that the Rockets are now eyeing Luke Kennard in addition to Dorian Finney-Smith. Besides Houston, the Hawks and Nuggets are considered potential suitors for Kennard, one of the league’s best outside shooters, according to The Stein Line duo.

Here are a few more fresh pieces of intel from Stein and Fischer:

  • The Clippers are viewed as a viable candidate to land free agent center Clint Capela. Los Angeles is known to be in the market for an Ivica Zubac backup, with Drew Eubanks not expected to return.
  • If the Lakers end up losing Finney-Smith in free agency, they’re expected to express interest in another talented perimeter defender, De’Anthony Melton, Stein and Fischer report. Dan Woike of The Athletic (Twitter link) has also heard that there’s mutual interest between Melton and the Lakers. The veteran guard signed for the full non-taxpayer mid-level a year ago, but seems unlikely to land another deal in that range after missing nearly the entire season with a torn ACL.
  • There’s a “strong expectation” that free agent point guard Tre Jones will remain with the Bulls, Stein and Fischer say. K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Sports Network previously reported that the odds of a reunion between the two sides were rising following the team’s Lonzo Ball trade.
  • The Bucks are working on potential Pat Connaughton trade scenarios and have a couple possible pathways to a deal, per Stein and Fischer. Milwaukee would likely have to attach a sweetener to move Connaughton, but perhaps could acquire a player in return who would upgrade the rotation.
  • The Wizards have been gauging the trade market for a pair of veterans on expiring contracts, guard Marcus Smart and big man Kelly Olynyk, Stein and Fischer write. Olynyk technically isn’t even a Wizard yet, as the deal sending him from New Orleans to Washington will become official after the July moratorium — it sounds like there’s a chance he’s flipped to another team.
  • DeMarre Carroll and former Wizards assistant Brian Randle are expected to have two of the front-of-bench spots on Jordan Ott‘s coaching staff, but the new Suns coach is still seeking a lead assistant who has previous head coaching experience, according to Stein and Fischer.