Wembanyama, Castle Return To Spurs Practice
Star center Victor Wembanyama and 2025 Rookie of the Year Stephon Castle were full participants in the Spurs‘ practice on Sunday, according to Jeff McDonald of The San Antonio Express-News, who reports that backup guard Jordan McLaughlin participated as well.
“It’s definitely amazing to see everyone back working,” guard Dylan Harper said. “We did well without those guys. Now when they come back, you’ll see a whole other team.”
Wembanyama has missed the past 10 games with a left calf strain he sustained on November 15. He is not expected to play in Monday’s game vs. New Orleans and is considered “iffy” for Wednesday’s NBA Cup quarterfinal at the Lakers, McDonald writes.
Castle, who has been out for the last nine games due to a left hip flexor strain, is likely to return to action tomorrow against the Pelicans, per Michael C. Wright of ESPN (Twitter link).
Veteran point guard McLaughlin will at least be out again Monday, says McDonald. He has been dealing with a right hamstring strain.
Obviously, the injury updates are welcome news for the Spurs, who will soon be getting two of their top players back. San Antonio is currently 15-7, the No. 5 seed in the Western Conference.
Spurs’ Castle Out At Least 1-2 Weeks With Hip Injury
After undergoing an MRI on Monday, Spurs guard Stephon Castle has been diagnosed with a left hip flexor strain, the team announced today in a press release. The injury occurred during Sunday’s game against Sacramento.
The Spurs’ announcement simply states that updates on Castle will be provided “as appropriate,” but ESPN’s Shams Charania reports (via Twitter) that the reigning Rookie of the Year will be reevaluated in one-to-two weeks. That means Castle will be sidelined for upcoming matchups with Memphis (Tuesday), Atlanta (Thursday), and Phoenix (Sunday) and could miss additional time beyond that.
Castle, 21, had gotten off to a strong start this fall in his second NBA season, averaging 18.4 points, 7.8 assists, 6.3 rebounds, and 1.8 steals per game on 50.3% shooting in his first 12 games before getting injured in his 13th outing.
The Spurs will now be without three of their top four scorers, as Castle joins Victor Wembanyama (calf strain) and Dylan Harper (calf strain) on the inactive list. According to the team, point guard Jordan McLaughlin is also expected to miss some time, having been diagnosed with a right hamstring strain after undergoing an MRI on Monday. He sustained the injury during a workout.
While there were questions in the offseason about the Spurs’ logjam at point guard, the team’s depth will come in handy in the near future. Even with Castle, Harper, and McLaughlin on the shelf, San Antonio should get star-level production at the position as long as De’Aaron Fox stays healthy.
Fox’s season debut was delayed due to a hamstring injury, but he has started each of the club’s past five contests and appears to be rounding into form — he has averaged 26.0 points and 10.5 assists in his past two games.
Spurs Notes: Castle, McLaughlin, Wembanyama, Champagnie, Harper
Stephon Castle was happy to win Rookie of the Year honors last season, but he told Marc J. Spears of Andscape that it doesn’t change anything about his approach to the game. Castle was selected for the award by a wide margin, getting 92 of 100 first-place votes, but now he wants to focus on other goals, like getting the Spurs into the playoffs for the first time since 2019.
“I feel like once you get it, your name is installed in history,” Castle said of the ROY trophy. “And then you have to go make your career after that. I’m not going out there saying, ‘I’m the Rookie of the Year and give me a vet (officiating) call, respect me.’ You got to go out there and play. I’m not really thinking about that (award) when I’m playing in the game. I’m just trying to improve every year.”
Castle is off to an even better start to his second NBA season — averaging 18.8 points, 6.0 rebounds and 6.6 assists through eight games — and he’s been handling the starting point guard duties while De’Aaron Fox was sidelined. He’s also San Antonio’s best perimeter defender and routinely gets assigned to handle the opponent’s top scorer.
“He can impact winning whether he is on the ball, off the ball, defensively,” coach Mitch Johnson said. “He is going to guard a ton of different profiles in terms of premier players on teams. He has an opportunity to affect the game as much as anybody.”
There’s more from San Antonio:
- Reserve guard Jordan McLaughlin scored nine points in nine minutes on Friday night as the Spurs opened NBA Cup play with a win over Houston, writes Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio Express-News (subscription required). McLaughlin saw limited action last season after being acquired from Sacramento in February, but management liked him enough to re-sign him to a one-year, $3MM deal. “That’s why we brought him back,” Johnson said after Friday’s game. “He’s a professional, a mature adult, a great teammate who’s a really cerebral, skilled basketball player.”
- Victor Wembanyama was impressed by former WWE star Mark Henry, who chatted with players during a visit to Frost Bank Center on Friday, per Mike Finger of The San Antonio Express-News (subscription required). Billed as “the world’s strongest man,” Henry passed along a few weightlifting tips to Wembanyama, who Finger notes still frequently finds himself outmuscled by opponents. “Kevin (Durant) was in the same boat early,” Rockets coach Ime Udoka said. “Until you get that strength, the first thing that everybody’s going to try to do is be physical with you.”
- Fox’s return to action means Julian Champagnie is coming off the bench for the first time this season, tweets Jeff McDonald of The San Antonio Express-News. Champagnie was averaging a career-high 30 minutes per night and scoring 10.1 PPG through the season’s first eight games.
- Prior to tonight’s contest, Johnson told reporters that Dylan Harper, who’s sidelined with a left calf strain, hasn’t resumed physical activity yet, relays Jared Weiss of The Athletic (Twitter link).
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.
Jordan McLaughlin Re-Signs With Spurs
July 12: McLaughlin has officially re-signed with the Spurs, the team announced today in a press release.
July 9: Jordan McLaughlin will return to the Spurs on a one-year, $3MM contract, sources tell Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).
It will likely be a veteran’s minimum deal for McLaughlin, whose minimum salary this season based on his six years of NBA service would be $2,874,436.
The 29-year-old point guard was acquired from Sacramento in February as part of the De’Aaron Fox deal. He saw limited playing time in 18 games after the trade, averaging 2.5 points and 1.5 assists in 6.9 minutes per night with .536/.450/1.000 shooting numbers.
McLaughlin spent his first five NBA seasons with Minnesota after signing a two-way contract in the summer of 2019. He moved on to the Kings as a free agent last July, but didn’t see consistent playing time with them either before being traded.
McLaughlin will be the 13th standard contract for San Antonio, which opened an extra roster spot earlier today by sending Malaki Branham and Blake Wesley to Washington in exchange for Kelly Olynyk.
Spurs Notes: Paul, Vassell, McLaughlin, King, Ingram
When a player signs a contract that includes unlikely incentives, those incentives can be worth up to 15% of the player’s base salary. The Spurs took full advantage of that rule last summer when they signed Chris Paul, making the most of their cap room by agreeing to a one-year deal with a base salary of $10.46MM and another $1.569MM in achievable unlikely incentives that wouldn’t count against the cap.
Paul began cashing in on those incentives on Wednesday, according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link), when the Spurs registered their 32nd win of the season, beating the Nuggets in Denver. The veteran point guard earned a $262K bonus as a result of the team reaching that win total, Marks reports.
Paul is on track to earn another $523K before the end of the season by meeting two more individual performance benchmarks, Marks tweets. As Marks previously wrote for ESPN.com, those bonuses are related to Paul’s net rating and true shooting percentage.
Here’s more on the Spurs:
- Spurs wing Devin Vassell was held out of Wednesday’s win for left ankle injury management, missing a game for the first time since December 6. Acting head coach Mitch Johnson explained that the team decided to rest Vassell because he was “getting a little bit too much in the danger zone” after having been playing through an ankle injury, writes Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio Express-News. “It’s being mindful of the big picture, keeping him healthy, and so we made the call,” Johnson said.
- A throw-in piece in the De’Aaron Fox blockbuster in February, guard Jordan McLaughlin has barely played for the Spurs since being dealt from Sacramento to San Antonio. But he was a +8 in 17 minutes of action in Denver on Wednesday and made a crucial three-point shot in the fourth quarter. With just nine Spurs players active for the game, McLaughlin said the reserves’ attitude was to “go out there and have fun,” as Orsborn relays. “We all work really hard behind the scenes even when we’re not playing, so it was just a great opportunity for us to go out there and play basketball,” the veteran guard said.
- Scott King, the head coach of the Austin Spurs, San Antonio’s G League affiliate, has been named the NBAGL’s Coach of the Year, the league announced on Wednesday (Twitter link). A former Knicks player development coach, King led Austin to a 22-12 record and the No. 2 seed in the G League’s Western Conference in his first year at the helm, finishing ahead of runners-up DeSagana Diop (Westchester Knicks) and Quinton Crawford (Stockton Kings) in a vote conducted by the league’s 31 head coaches and GMs. At the time of his hiring, one report indicated that King was viewed as a future NBA head coach — he likely bolstered his case with his performance this season.
- Speaking to Grant Afseth of RG.org, Spurs two-way forward Harrison Ingram said his goal is to earn a standard contract. The 48th overall pick in the 2024 draft, Ingram has appeared in just three games for San Antonio this season, having spent most of the year in Austin, an experience he discussed with Afseth. He’ll be eligible for restricted free agency this summer.
Spurs Acquire Fox, Kings Land LaVine In Three-Team Trade
FEBRUARY 3: The trade is official, according to press releases from the Bulls, Spurs, and Kings. Chicago waived Torrey Craig and Chris Duarte to make room for the incoming players, as we detailed in a separate story.
FEBRUARY 2: The Spurs are finalizing a three-team trade in which they’ll acquire Kings star guard De’Aaron Fox, while Bulls high-scoring wing Zach LaVine will be moved to Sacramento, ESPN’s Shams Charania reports (via Twitter).
Kevin Huerter, Zach Collins and Tre Jones are being sent the Bulls, while Jordan McLaughlin will join Fox in San Antonio, The Athletic’s Sam Amick tweets.
The Bulls will reacquire the top-10 protected 2025 first-round pick they owed the Spurs, K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Sports Network tweets. San Antonio will also send out three more first-rounders to the Kings.
Here’s the full breakdown, according to Charania:
- Spurs to acquire Fox and McLaughlin.
- Kings to acquire LaVine, Sidy Cissoko, the Hornets’ 2025 first-round pick (top-14 protected; from Spurs), the Spurs’ 2027 first-round pick, the Timberwolves’ 2031 first-round pick, the Bulls’ 2025 second-round pick (from Spurs), the Nuggets’ 2028 second-round pick (top-33 protected; from Spurs), and their own 2028 second-round pick (from Bulls).
- Bulls to acquire Collins, Jones, Huerter, and their own 2025 first-round pick (from Spurs).
Note: If the Hornets’ 2025 first-rounder falls within its protected range, as expected, Charlotte will instead convey its 2026 second-round pick and 2027 second-round draft pick to Sacramento.
This is the ideal outcome for Fox, who reportedly had the Spurs at the top of his wish list after news was leaked that the Kings would entertain offers for their leading scorer and floor leader. Fox and budding superstar Victor Wembanyama will now become the Spurs’ pick-and-roll partnership for years to come, with San Antonio also able to keep promising rookie Stephon Castle out of the deal.
Fox turned down a three-year, maximum-salary extension offer during the 2024 offseason and had shown a lack of interest in signing an extension, prompting Sacramento’s front office to field trade offers.
Fox will be eligible to renegotiate and extend his contract with the Spurs in August, ESPN’s Bobby Marks notes (Twitter link). The 2023 All-Star, who is averaging 25.0 points, 6.1 assists and 5.0 assists per game this season, will no longer have the opportunity to become super-max eligible by making an All-NBA team in 2025, but he’ll be able to sign an extension in the offseason that begins in 2026/27, starts at 30% of that season’s cap, and covers up to four years.
The Spurs, meanwhile, still control six first-round picks over the next seven seasons, starting with two in 2025 (their own and Atlanta’s pick), and could use those draft assets to continue pursuing roster upgrades around Fox and Wembanyama.
LaVine, of course, has been the subject of trade rumors for years. He’ll finally be on the move and will ironically rejoin forces with his former Bulls teammate DeMar DeRozan. LaVine, who has battled knee issues in recent years, has averaged 24.0 points, 4.8 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game with outstanding shooting numbers (.511/.446/.797) in an impressive bounce-back season in Chicago.
While the Kings will collect a handful of draft assets in this deal, the acquisition of LaVine reflects their desire to remain in win-now mode and push for a playoff spot this season. They’re currently 24-24 and hold the No. 10 seed in the Western Conference.
LaVine’s move to Sacramento comes approximately six-and-a-half years after he signed a four-year, $78MM offer sheet with the Kings as a restricted free agent. The Bulls, of course, matched that offer sheet back in July 2018, keeping the former UCLA standout in Chicago.
In addition to shedding LaVine’s contract and creating significant short- and long-term cap flexibility, the Bulls will get their very valuable first-rounder back — even if that pick had landed in its protected range this season, Chicago would still have owed a top-eight protected first-rounder to San Antonio in 2026. By reacquiring that pick, the Bulls will regain full control of their first-rounders going forward.
The Bulls will have to waive two players from their roster to make the deal official, since they’re already at the 15-man limit.
Fox is making $34.85MM this season and $37MM next season in the final year of his deal. Huerter also has one year remaining on his contract. He’s earning $16.8MM this season and $18MM next season.
LaVine, who has a $43MM salary this season, has two years remaining after this season. He’ll bring in $46MM next season and has a player option worth nearly $49MM for 2026/27. He also has a 15% trade kicker, though he could choose to waive that.
Along with Huerter, the Bulls are acquiring the salaries of Collins ($16.7MM this season; $18.1MM next season) and Jones ($9.1MM expiring contract).
McLaughlin is making $2.1MM and will be an unrestricted free agent after the season. Cissoko is making $1.9MM this season and has a non-guaranteed $2.22MM cap hit for next season.
Luke Adams contributed to this story.
Pacific Notes: Kings, DeRozan, James, Beal
Kings sixth man Malik Monk is out at least two weeks due to a right ankle sprain. Who will fill his role? It’ll be a collective effort, according to Kings head coach Mike Brown.
Sacramento lost by 20 points to the Spurs on Monday and the reserves were outscored 37-21.
“We’re definitely going to have to collectively step up,” Brown told Jason Anderson of the Sacramento Bee. “There’s not one guy that can do it.”
Keon Ellis, Jordan McLaughlin, Doug McDermott, Trey Lyles and Alex Len are the reserves that Sacramento will rely on with Monk on the shelf. The backups accounted for 46 points in a 23-point win over Phoenix on Wednesday.
We have more from the Pacific Division:
- Kings swingman DeMar DeRozan departed Wednesday’s game with lower back tightness, Anderson tweets. Acquired by Sacramento in a sign-and-trade, DeRozan is averaging 22.9 points, 4.1 rebounds and 4.1 assists in 12 starts. DeRozan, 35, played 79 games for Chicago last season.
- LeBron James continues to pile up records and milestones. The Lakers superstar reached another one on Wednesday, becoming the oldest player in NBA history to record three straight triple-doubles. James, who will turn 40 next month, had 35 points, 14 assists and 12 rebounds in a win over Memphis. “Just being very patient and taking what the defense gives me,” James said, per ESPN’s Dave McMenamin. “I’ve been doing it for a while. So, I understand time and score. I understand the waves and the swings of the game. So, it’s nothing new to me.”
- Bradley Beal‘s first season with the Suns was marred by injuries and under-performance. He admitted to The Athletic’s Fred Katz that it took a mental toll on him. “I was in a funk (last season),” Beal said. “Not gonna lie. I was in a funk.” Part of the reason was the lack of a true point guard. “We didn’t love it as a team (last season),” Beal said. “The dynamic we had — we didn’t have a (point guard), which everybody crucified us on. It was tough. It was very tough. Everybody was kinda out of position last year, not necessarily what made them who they are.” Beal had 28 points in an overtime loss to Sacramento on Sunday and 24 points in a win over Utah on Tuesday but didn’t play against Sacramento on Wednesday due to a calf injury.
Pacific Notes: Olivari, Bronny, Warriors, McLaughlin
Before his new two-way contract with the Lakers became official, rookie point guard Quincy Olivari got to play in front of his childhood basketball hero Friday night, writes Dave McMenamin of ESPN. Warriors star Stephen Curry, who sat out due to a sprained finger, talked to Olivari after the game and presented him with autographed sneakers.
“I used to sleep under that jersey,” Olivari told reporters. “I just wanted to be like him so bad. So just to be able to meet him, him be able to have some respect for me and for us to talk in the back — he gave me a pair of his shoes and signed them. Like, that meant the world to me.”
The 23-year-old Olivari has been a pleasant surprise in training camp after going undrafted out of Xavier. He shot 57.1% from the floor during the preseason and capped it off with a 22-point performance Friday night.
“I just want a job in the NBA,” he said. “Like, it’s the only thing I’ve wanted since I was like 5 years old, and my dad always said my biggest gift is my energy. Energy can never be created or destroyed, only transferred. So I bring energy to whatever team wants me, and I bring every group up.”
There’s more from the Pacific Division:
- Friday also marked the best preseason showing for second-round pick Bronny James, who posted 17 points, four rebounds, three steals and a block, McMenamin adds. He points out that James also got off to a slow start in Summer League, but improved as he saw more game action. “[It gives me] just a little bit of confidence going into the season even though I might not be in that rotation, might not be playing, but just going into practice, maybe G League games with that confidence in myself to go out there and play my game,” James said.
- At Thursday’s practice, Curry aggravated a finger injury he suffered last week, but he’s expected to be ready when the Warriors begin their season Wednesday at Portland, per Sam Gordon of The San Francisco Chronicle. Coach Steve Kerr had hoped to get some clarity about his starting and closing lineups on Friday, but he suggested he may try several combinations early in the season. “I suppose both could change. I suppose both could change from one night to the next,” Kerr said. “I’d like to get a consistent starting five — and a consistent closing five. But it has to reveal itself.”
- There’s some concern in Sacramento after the Kings wrapped up their first winless preseason in 33 years, observes Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee. One positive is Jordan McLaughlin, who seems to be fully recovered from an ankle sprain earlier in the preseason. “I feel solid,” said McLaughlin, who joined the team in free agency this summer after five years in Minnesota. “I’m still getting my legs back and getting my wind back from being hurt, but so far, so good, and I’m just looking forward to growing in this system.”
Kings Notes: Ellis, Huerter, Injuries, Jones, Brown, Murray, DeRozan
There’s no question that Domantas Sabonis, De’Aaron Fox, DeMar DeRozan, and Keegan Murray will be part of the Kings‘ starting lineup this fall, but the fifth member of that group has yet to be locked in, as James Ham of The Kings Beat and Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee write.
Malik Monk, Kevin Huerter, and Keon Ellis are all realistic candidates to start at shooting guard for Sacramento. However, it seems likely that Monk will reprise the sixth-man role he thrived in last season. Huerter, meanwhile, hasn’t yet been cleared for full-contact work after undergoing surgery in late March to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder.
That may make Ellis the frontrunner to start alongside Fox in Sacramento’s backcourt. As Anderson writes, Ellis’ ability to play good defense and to operate on offense without the ball in his hands also makes him a good fit in the team’s starting group, whereas Monk and Huerter could handle a larger offensive load with the second unit.
“If you think about it, Keon, out of all three of those guys, is probably the one who will command the least amount of shots and/or the time the ball is in his hands,” head coach Mike Brown said last week. “He’s shown the last two years that he’s a capable catch-and-shoot shooter, and if you leave him open, he’ll make you pay on the catch-and-shoot shot from the three-point line. He shot 40-something percent from three in both years, so for us that is a little bit of a factor, making sure we put the right combinations on the floor that fit instead of just trying to throw guys out there because we think those guys can all score the best.”
Here’s more on the Kings:
- Huerter, who was cleared for on-court workouts near the end of August, said he’s feeling good about the progress he’s made and is eager to advance to the final stage of his rehab process, per Anderson. “The last step for me is really just getting 5-on-5 full contact,” Huerter said. “I haven’t gone contact against a player yet. I haven’t been cleared to do that, but everything else. I’ve been 1-on-0 for four months now. … Itching to get back and go against somebody else.”
- The Kings are battling the injury bug this fall, with Huerter and Devin Carter recovering from shoulder surgeries and Trey Lyles (groin), Jordan McLaughlin (ankle), and Orlando Robinson (knee) all dealing with health issues of their own. According to Ham, McLaughlin is expected to be back within the next few days and Huerter should be cleared for contact around the middle of the month, while Lyles will probably be sidelined until the end of the preseason schedule. Robinson and Carter will remain out for the start of the season.
- As Anderson details in a separate story for The Sacramento Bee, Brown delivered a profanity-laced tirade near the end of a Saturday scrimmage. As the Kings’ head coach later explained, two-way player Mason Jones capped off a “really, really good day” by turning the ball over and giving up on the last couple plays of the day. Brown responded by calling out Jones and several of his vets. “I got on Foxy and Domas and DeMar a little bit because those three guys can’t let that slide,” he said. “I shouldn’t have to be the one saying that we all have to hold each other accountable. … We all have to hold each other accountable all the time, and if our vets see something like that from a young guy in Mason, then you’ve got to let him know, ‘Hey, Mace, you had a good day, but we can’t finish like that.'”
- In another story for The Sacramento Bee, Anderson explores how Murray can continue to grow as a player as the former No. 4 overall pick enters his third NBA season.
- A Los Angeles native, DeRozan hasn’t played for one of his hometown teams since entering the NBA in 2009, but he’s thrilled to be living in California again as a member of the Kings, so close to his family in L.A., he recently told Marc J. Spears of Andscape. “It means so much,” DeRozan said. “Even one of my daughters, she is asking every day when she can come up — even a day where she could just come up for a day, spend time with me and go back. Her knowing that gives her excitement. That makes me extremely happy.”