- The Suns, who claimed Jordan Goodwin off waivers earlier today, knew there was at least one other team planning to submit a claim for the former Lakers guard and weren’t sure they’d land him, according to John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 (Twitter link). Waiver priority is determined by last season’s record, with the worst teams getting first dibs.
Former Rockets guard Jalen Green reflected on his time in Houston, along with the trade that sent him to the Suns, in a lengthy post on The Players Tribune. Green was part of the price the Rockets paid, along with Dillon Brooks and the 10th pick in this year’s draft, to acquire Kevin Durant. Although he’s sad to leave the city, Green said he understands the reasoning behind the deal.
“Listen, nobody likes to get traded. But I can honestly say that I get it, bro,” he wrote. “This is a business, and if I was up there in the executive chair, I probably would’ve made the deal, too. I think it’s a better situation for both sides, and I’m just excited to get it popping with Book (Devin Booker), and to create that winning culture that we figured out down here in Houston.”
Selected with the second pick in the 2021 draft, Green represented the first step in the Rockets’ rebuilding process after trading James Harden. He went through a lot of losing during his first two years in Houston, but things turned around in 2023 when Ime Udoka was hired as head coach and Brooks and Fred VanVleet were brought in to change the culture. Green reflected on the growing process that led to a 52-win season and the second seed in the West.
“My rookie year, we won 20 games. Twen-tee, bro,” he added. “Within three years, we had the Toyota Center packed out for a home playoff game. I’ll always be proud of that. To flip it around like that, it’s about culture. We had our young core, but we also had vets like Fred VanVleet — guys who had really won in this league — showing us the way.”
There’s more from Houston:
- Dorian Finney-Smith talked about his decision to sign with the Rockets as a free agent in an interview with WAVY-TV during a recent visit to his hometown of Portsmouth, Virginia (hat tip to Ben DuBose of Rockets Wire). “I already know who they are. They play hard,” Finney-Smith said. “Coach Ime is one of the toughest coaches in the league. I’ve never seen him smile much when you’re playing against him. The first time I’ve ever seen him smile was when we had dinner, like two weeks ago. I like that, because I’m a competitor.” Finney-Smith added that he was planning to remain with the Lakers when the offseason began, but he was swayed by the opportunity in Houston.
- Durant hasn’t arrived in Houston yet even though it’s been more than a month since the trade was agreed to, Michael Shapiro of Chron.com writes in a story charting the offseason workouts of Rockets players. Durant has been seen at Fanatics Fest in New York City and the Wireless Festival in London, according to Shapiro, who adds that VanVleet recently made a visit to Turkey to train with Alperen Sengun.
- The Rockets’ decision to sign free agent wing Josh Okogie rather than another guard is a sign of confidence in their current backcourt players, especially Reed Sheppard, who will be counted on for a larger role after playing sparingly as a rookie, observes Danielle Lerner of The Houston Chronicle.
JULY 24: The Suns issued a press release confirming they’ve claimed Goodwin, Gerald Bourguet of PHNX Sports tweets.
JULY 23: The Suns have claimed former Lakers guard Jordan Goodwin off waivers, sources tell Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).
Goodwin, 26, was released over the weekend so L.A. could create room below the first apron to sign Marcus Smart with its bi-annual exception. In late June, the Lakers picked up their team option on Goodwin’s $2.35MM contract for the upcoming season, which carries just a $25K guarantee.
Phoenix inherits Goodwin’s full contract via the waiver claim, so L.A. will have the $25K come off its books.
Goodwin joined the Lakers on a two-way contract in early February and was converted to a standard deal in late March. He appeared in 29 games, making five starts and averaging 5.6 points, 3.9 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 18.7 minutes per night. He also posted .438/.382/.818 shooting numbers.
The move marks a return to Phoenix for Goodwin, who was acquired from Washington two summers ago as part of the Bradley Beal trade. He appeared in 40 games with the Suns during the 2023/24 season before being dealt to Memphis.
Goodwin began his career on a 10-day deal with the Wizards in 2021 and signed a two-way contract the following season.
The addition of Goodwin will give the Suns 14 standard contracts, along with three two-way deals. His contract will remain non-guaranteed, apart from the $25K, until the league-wide guarantee date in January, and he will become an unrestricted free agent next summer.
The Suns are comfortable with their current roster, Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic reports, though they must make at least one more move.
Aided in large part by the Kevin Durant trade and the buyout of Bradley Beal‘s contract, the Suns have dropped under the tax aprons and can now aggregate contracts in a trade, do a sign-and-trade and use mid-level exceptions. However, it’s unlikely they’ll make another significant move.
While Rankin confirms the Suns have some interest in restricted free agent Jonathan Kuminga, they likely lack the draft capital and assets to pique the Warriors’ interest. Veteran free agents Russell Westbrook and Al Horford are not on their radar, Rankin adds.
Phoenix will have to add another player to the standard roster by the fall to meet the minimum of 14.
Here’s more from the Pacific Division:
- What does the Suns‘ starting lineup look like after all the roster additions and subtractions? Rankin predicts Devin Booker, Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks, Ryan Dunn and Mark Williams will claim those spots. Collin Gillespie, Grayson Allen, Royce O’Neale, Oso Ighodaro and lottery pick Khaman Maluach project as the top reserve candidates.
- Beal, who joined the Clippers on a two-year, $11MM contract, has a 15 percent trade kicker as part of his new deal, Michael Scotto of HoopsHype tweets. Beal officially signed with L.A. on Friday after clearing waivers.
- There’s no lingering friction between Chris Paul, who signed with the Clippers on Monday, and his former Rockets teammate James Harden, according to Law Murray of The Athletic. In fact, president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank declared that Paul will back up Harden next season. Frank was intent this offseason on getting quality depth, considering his aging roster and the proliferation of injuries throughout the league. “I’ll knock on wood, but the reality is for any NBA team, the amount of times you have your top 10 all available is usually 21 to 25 times throughout the course of a year. So, you literally need everyone on your roster to be able to contribute,” Frank said.
After his Stein Line teammate Jake Fischer reported that the Kings and Knicks look like the top candidates to land Ben Simmons, NBA insider Marc Stein suggests within his latest Substack article that at least a couple more clubs are in the mix for the former No. 1 overall pick.
According to Stein, Simmons has drawn interest from the Celtics since free agency began and has also had some recent conversations with the Suns.
While a couple of those teams could offer Simmons a portion of their mid-level exception, most of them have tax- or apron-related concerns that would make a minimum-salary offer more likely for the former 76er, who celebrated his 29th birthday on Sunday. Phoenix would cross the tax line with even a veteran-minimum signing, New York has used its full taxpayer mid-level exception, and Boston is currently operating slightly above the second tax apron.
Simmons is a three-time All-Star who has made a pair of All-Defensive first teams and was the Defensive Player of the Year runner-up in 2021, but he has battled back issues in recent years and has been a tricky fit in lineups that feature any other non-shooters. In 51 total appearances for the Nets and Clippers last season, he averaged 5.0 points, 5.6 assists, and 4.7 rebounds in 22.0 minutes per game.
Here’s more from Stein:
- Following up on Lawrence Frank‘s comments on Saturday about the Clippers “strongly, strongly considering” Chris Paul, Stein suggests that most rival front offices view the veteran point guard as “the Clippers’ signee to lose.”
- With Jared Dudley and J.J. Barea set to occupy the top two spots on David Adelman‘s bench in Denver, the Nuggets don’t intend to hire an assistant specifically for their third front-of-bench position. Instead, the plan is to rotate assistants in and out of that role depending on game-to-game scouting responsibilities, Stein explains. Ognjen Stojakovic, a holdover from Michael Malone‘s staff who is close with Nikola Jokic, is one coach expected to be in the rotation for that third assistant slot, Stein adds.
- League sources confirm to Stein that the Celtics are continuing to explore the trade market for recently acquired guard Anfernee Simons.
- The Mavericks will congregate in Canada this fall, according to Stein, who says the team’s training camp will be held in Vancouver, B.C.
“External fretting” about whether or not Luka Doncic will make a long-term commitment to the Lakers has subsided significantly in recent weeks, according to Marc Stein of The Stein Line (Substack link), who says the star guard and his camp have worked closely with the front office this summer as it has bolstered the roster in free agency.
As previously reported, Doncic played a major role in the Lakers’ efforts to recruit both center Deandre Ayton and guard Marcus Smart to Los Angeles. According to Stein, Doncic’s pitch to Smart “particularly resonated” with the former Defensive Player of the Year, who ultimately chose the Lakers despite the division-rival Suns making a “determined push” to land him.
As of August 2, Doncic will be eligible to sign an extension that could be worth up to a projected $222.4MM over four years. While there’s no guarantee he’ll sign for the maximum four years or that he’ll get a deal done immediately on Aug. 2, it seems increasingly likely that the five-time All-Star will have a new extension in hand before the 2025/26 season begins, as reporting over the weekend indicated.
Here’s more on the Lakers:
- Like Doncic, Smart has been working hard this offseason on his body and his conditioning, according to Stein, who writes that the Lakers are optimistic about getting a “sleeker” version of the 31-year-old next season after he battled health issues over the past couple years.
- Stein has also heard that forward Jarred Vanderbilt is healthier now than he was at any point during the 2024/25 season. Although both players were on last season’s roster, healthy versions of Vanderbilt and big man Maxi Kleber could feel sort of like offseason additions for the Lakers, Stein writes. Vanderbilt played a very limited role in 36 regular season outings last season, while Kleber didn’t make his debut as a Laker until the playoffs — both of them missed time while recovering from foot surgery.
- People around the league believe Trail Blazers veterans Jrue Holiday and Robert Williams are potential trade targets to watch for the Lakers this season, according to Grant Afseth of Fast Break Journal. I’m skeptical of the Holiday fit, given that Los Angeles has shown no interest in taking on long-term money (Holiday is still owed $104.4MM over three years) and Portland was prepared to give up a pair of draft picks along with Anfernee Simons to acquire him (those two second-rounders ultimately weren’t included due to minor concerns about Holiday’s physical). However, if he proves he’s healthy, Williams might make some sense for the Lakers due to their limited depth behind Ayton in the middle.
- In case you missed it, the Lakers waived both Jordan Goodwin and Shake Milton on Sunday in order to create the cap flexibility necessary to sign Smart using their bi-annual exception.
July 20: Smart has officially reached a buyout agreement with the Wizards and been placed on waivers, the team announced (via Twitter).
July 19: Marcus Smart has reached an agreement on a buyout with the Wizards and plans to join the Lakers once he clears waivers, according to Shams Charania of ESPN. Smart’s new contract will be worth $11MM over two years and will contain a player option for the second season.
Sources tell Charania that Luka Doncic played a large role in recruiting Smart to L.A. He adds that the Lakers, Suns and Bucks all received permission from Washington to contact Smart, and he had “positive conversations” with all three teams.
The Lakers can use their full bi-annual exception to add Smart, according to cap expert Yossi Gozlan (Twitter link). They’ll have to clear about $4.2MM in salary to have access to the full amount, which may mean parting with Shake Milton, who has a $3MM non-guaranteed salary, and Jordan Goodwin, who only has a $25K guarantee on his $2.35MM salary.
If that happens, L.A. wouldn’t have enough available apron space to sign a 15th man before the start of the season, as Gozlan notes (Twitter link).
Milton’s salary for 2025/26 will become fully guaranteed after Sunday, so the Lakers will have to act fast if they plan to waive him.
If Smart gives back the equivalent of the bi-annual exception in his buyout, the Wizards will be more than $30MM below the luxury tax, Gozlan adds. Washington has its full $14.1MM non-taxpayer mid-level exception remaining, along with $13.4MM and $9.9MM trade exceptions.
Smart, 31, was named Defensive Player of the Year with Boston in 2022, but his career took a downturn after a trade to Memphis in the summer of 2023. Injuries limited him to 39 total games in a year and a half with the Grizzlies before he was sent to Washington in a three-team deal at this year’s trade deadline.
If Smart can stay healthy, he’ll bring much-needed defensive help to the Lakers’ backcourt. He appeared in 19 games with Memphis and 15 games with the Wizards last season, averaging 9.0 points, 2.1 rebounds and 3.2 assists in 20 minutes per night with .393/.348/.761 shooting numbers.
The Wizards have added numerous young players to their roster this summer, so there likely wouldn’t have been regular playing time for Smart, who had a $21.6MM expiring contract. There were rumors last month that Smart was on the trade market, but the Wizards evidently couldn’t find a team willing to take on his salary.
- Owner Mat Ishbia had visions of a dream team when he united Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal, but the Suns turned into a cautionary tale about the dangers of free spending in the apron era, observes Zach Kram of ESPN. Second apron restrictions forced Ishbia to break up his ‘big three” this summer by trading Durant to Houston and negotiating a buyout with Beal, who will sign with the Clippers. Kram goes through the reasons behind Phoenix’s demise, including the incompatibility of its stars, unwise spending and poor trade decisions.
- John Little, who served as head coach of the Suns‘ G League affiliate last season, will join new head coach Jordan Ott’s staff, according to Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic. Little is currently serving as an assistant to Summer League head coach DeMarre Carroll.
The Suns are embracing a new identity, writes Gerald Bourguet for Go PHNX. With Bradley Beal and Kevin Durant gone and Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks, Mark Williams, Khaman Maluach, and Rasheer Fleming in, the team has pivoted towards a younger, more athletic team construction around the recently extended Devin Booker.
The Suns now enter into a phase they will find unprecedented during the brief tenure of Mat Ishbia‘s ownership: one of patience. However, Bourguet writes that Ishbia’s own words make the concept of following through on a more long-term team build a question mark.
“When I make a mistake or things don’t go well, I change fast,” Ishbia said during exit interviews this spring. “We make quick moves, and I’m not afraid to do that… Patience isn’t gonna be my strongest suit, okay? We’re gonna try to compete and win, and we’re gonna get better.”
However, Ishbia did give reason to hope.
“I’m very patient if I think we’re on the right path and plan,” Ishbia said. “So, say it again, I expect us to win more games next year. But let’s just say we lost more games next year, but it was aligned, the vision and the tone that I’m gonna set, and we’re on a path, then we’re gonna go that way.”
We have more from the Pacific division:
- Kevon Looney‘s departure from the Warriors was facilitated in part by his lack of playing time, especially in the playoffs, as Tristi Rodriguez of NBC Sports Bay Area relays. “It was anybody but me it seemed like at this point. It wasn’t no one moment,” he explained during an appearance on the Warriors Plus/Minus podcast. “Even this year, probably the playoffs. We going up against Steven Adams. This is what I do. They’re not really giving me the chance to really let me do what I do.” Looney added that after 10 seasons in Golden State, he didn’t feel like he should still have to prove himself or his worth. “When you prove yourself the first four, five years, all right, cool. But after 10 years of it, it’s like, all right. You either trust me or you don’t.” He added that he knows the coaching decisions from Steve Kerr weren’t personal, but he still felt that he drew the short end of the stick in Kerr’s quest to win.
- After the rumored Kings sign-and-trade of Malik Monk to bring in Dennis Schröder never took place, Monk is ready to do what’s needed to win, writes Will Zimmerle for SI.com. The Kings now have Schröder and Zach LaVine as their presumed starting backcourt, and despite Monk expressing a desire to be a starter in the league in the past, he’s reportedly willing to go to the bench if that’s what coach Doug Christie needs. “Malik has told Doug Christie, ‘I will do whatever you need, even if that includes coming off the bench,'” Matt George of ABC10 said on a recent ESPN radio show. “I don’t think he’s going to pout or throw a fit about it.” Monk was runner-up for Sixth Man of the Year in 2023/24, but split time as a starter last year and put up career-highs in points (17.2) and assists (5.6) per game.
- The Clippers‘ first-round pick, Yanic Konan Niederhauser, showed different skills in each of his first three Summer League games, writes Broderick Turner of the LA Times. While defense is his primary selling point, he was able to display some of the offensive package that intrigued the Clippers enough to select him with the No. 30 pick in the 2025 draft. “That’s the guard skills I was talking about,” Niederhauser said of a high-energy dunk he was able to throw down over a defender on a fast break. Those guard skills come from when he was a 6’5″ 16-year-old, before the growth spurt that shot him up to 6’11” and cemented his future as a center. “For a guy that’s his age, he’s still learning and growing into his frame that he hasn’t really had his whole life,” said general manager Trent Redden. “We just haven’t had a guy that size at that position in a backup role that’s young that we can feed into and give to our developmental staff.” Niederhauser enters a developmental situation where he can learn from two high-level defensive bigs in Brook Lopez and Ivica Zubac.
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.”