Toronto Raptors Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Atlantic Notes: Walker, Pettiford, Nets, Raptors

May 26th, 2025 at 5:30pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Sixers hold a $2.94MM club option on Lonnie Walker‘s contract for next season. Will they exercise it? Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer believes they will, contingent on where the team stands financially after the draft and which players they’ll target in free agency.

After signing with the Sixers, Walker appeared in 20 games and averaged 12.4 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.5 assists for the depleted club in the second half of the season. Pompey anticipates Walker can serve as a backup guard and take on a bigger role when injuries strike.

We have more from the Atlantic Division:

The Nets hosted Tahaad Pettiford for a workout last week, NJ.com contributor Adam Zagoria tweets. Pettiford appeared in 38 games for Auburn as a freshman last season, all but one off the bench, and posted averages of 11.6 points and 3.0 assists in 22.9 minutes per game. Pettiford is currently ranked No. 38 overall on ESPN’s Best Available list.
The Nets will have more cap space than any other team this offseason. How should they spend their money? Yossi Gozlan of ThirdApron.com (subscription required) breaks down their cap space projection, how they could utilize it, and how their restricted free agents factor into the economic equation.
How can the Raptors become a contender again? Along with offensive improvement from Scottie Barnes, the most likely path to contention is via a trade, Eric Koreen of The Athletic writes in his latest mailbag. They will have movable contracts for salary-matching purposes, Koreen notes. They also need at least two of their young players to establish themselves as rotation-quality performers or better.

Cade Cunningham Earns Salary Bump With All-NBA Nod

May 23rd, 2025 at 6:20pm CST by Luke Adams

As a result of earning a spot on the All-NBA Third Team on Friday, Pistons guard Cade Cunningham will see the value of the five-year, maximum-salary rookie scale extension he signed last summer increase by a projected total of nearly $45MM.

Cunningham’s contract included Rose Rule language. The Rose Rule allow players coming off their rookie scale contracts to receive salaries worth more than 25% of the cap in year five if they make an All-NBA team during the season (or two of the three seasons) before their extension goes into effect. Players can also qualify by being named Most Valuable Player or Defensive Player of the Year.

Cunningham’s 2025/26 salary will now be worth 30% of the cap instead of 25%. Based on the NBA’s latest cap projections, that means his five-year deal will be worth $269,085,780 instead of $224,238,150.

Cunningham was one of four players to sign a rookie scale extension that included Rose Rule language last summer. Cavaliers big man Evan Mobley, who was named to the All-NBA Second Team on Friday, had already earned a bump to 30% as a result of winning the Defensive Player of the Year award. His five-year deal will look identical to Cunningham’s.

The other two players who signed Rose Rule rookie scale extensions – Magic forward Franz Wagner and Raptors forward Scottie Barnes – didn’t receive any end-of-season awards, so their new contracts will begin at 25% of the cap and will be worth $224,238,150 across the next five seasons.

Meanwhile, Grizzlies big man Jaren Jackson Jr. would have qualified for a designated veteran extension – also known as a super-max contract – if he had earned a spot on any of this year’s three All-NBA teams. However, he finished 17th in total voting, with 55 points, falling a little short of the required threshold. Clippers guard James Harden beat him out for the final Third Team spot with 68 points (Twitter link).

As a result, Jackson won’t be super-max eligible this offseason. That means in order to extend him, Memphis will likely need to give him a raise on his 2025/26 salary of $23,413,395 via renegotiation.

Without a pay bump, Jackson’s maximum extension would be worth $146,848,813 over four years, which may not be enough to convince him to sign. If the Grizzlies renegotiate next season’s salary to give him a raise, they would be able to offer up to 140% of his new ’25/26 salary in that first year of an extension.

Lakers Notes: Okongwu, Center Targets, Finney-Smith

May 23rd, 2025 at 1:58pm CST by Luke Adams

Asked during an appearance on the Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre podcast whether he has heard any buzz linking the Lakers to Onyeka Okongwu, ESPN’s Dave McMenamin said Los Angeles inquired with the Hawks about the big man earlier this year. McMenamin believes Okongwu was one of the centers Lakers president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka asked Luka Doncic about before the team reached an agreement to acquire Mark Williams.

“I do know that the Lakers made a call to the Hawks around the trade deadline about Okongwu,” McMenamin said (52:38 mark; hat tip to Ron Gutterman of Lakers Nation). “I think lob threat, athleticism, absolutely. In terms of being a perfect fit, maybe not. They might not get a perfect fit though. Clint Capela of ’17/18 probably was a perfect fit, but we’re in ’25/26 now. So that is kind of the spot they’re gonna be in.”

After voiding their deal with Charlotte for Williams in February due to concerns about his physical, the Lakers figure to make it a priority this summer to add a center in free agency or via trade. While there has been speculation about more ambitious trade targets like Nets big man Nic Claxton, McMenamin wonders if it would be in L.A.’s best interest to take a more conservative approach this offseason.

“I am of the opinion to not go all-in on someone like a Claxton, etc. making $20-30 million (per year),” he told McIntyre. “… They’re going to have the taxpayer mid-level available to them, so I’d try to go and get a guy at that level and if he doesn’t prove to be the best fit, make sure you’re holding on to one of your picks and then you can try to pursue something come February.”

Here’s more on the Lakers:

Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report takes a closer look at how the Lakers might address their hole in the middle this season. Pincus suggests that Daniel Gafford would be an ideal trade target, though he wonders if the Mavericks would be reluctant to make another deal with L.A. so soon after the Doncic blockbuster. Pincus also mentions the Raptors‘ Jakob Poeltl and the Magic‘s Goga Bitadze as possibilities, but acknowledges that Toronto will likely be reluctant to part with Poeltl and that Bitadze is more of a backup than a starter.
Dorian Finney-Smith‘s contract situation is up in the air heading into the summer, since it’s unclear whether he plans to pick up the $15.4MM player option on his current contract or opt out in search of a new deal. However, as Khobi Price of The Orange County Register writes in a subscriber-only story, it sounds like the veteran forward wants to stick with the Lakers — during his exit interview, he referred to his half-season with the team as “amazing.”
Assuming Finney-Smith remains with the Lakers, McMenamin expects him to be a valuable part of next season’s roster, as he said on his aforementioned podcast appearance with McIntyre. “I think Dorian Finney-Smith will be a major contributor on this year’s Lakers team,” McMenamin said. “He did not come in healthy and it took him some time to get some rhythm. With him having the comfort factor, the health factor on his side, I think he’ll be right there with being considered the (Lakers’) third-best player along with Austin Reaves.”

Atlantic Notes: Nets, Knueppel, Raptors, Sixers, Porzingis

May 22nd, 2025 at 8:01am CST by Luke Adams

The Nets control a league-high five picks (all in the top 36) in the 2025 NBA draft, and general manager Sean Marks has an extensive history of making trades during or right around the draft. Those factors point toward Brooklyn being a team to watch on the trade market next month, says Brian Lewis of The New York Post (subscriber link).

According to Lewis, Marks has made a trade within two days of the draft in eight of the last nine years, and the “feeling in league circles” is that he’ll do so again this spring.

Assuming the Nets stay at No. 8, could Kon Knueppel be the choice in that spot? As Lewis writes in another subscriber-only story, Brooklyn is being connected to the Duke sharpshooter by many mock drafters, and some scouts view him as a strong value pick at that spot if he’s still available.

“Is he a really good player, and are you excited to have him on your squad? Yeah,” former Sixers scout Mike VandeGarde told Lewis. “But is he Luke Kennard? Is he Kyle Korver? Is he Gradey Dick? … Knueppel to me isn’t the best player on a playoff team, but I really like his game. And if I’m at eight, I’m looking at him.”

Here’s more from around the Atlantic:

With Pascal Siakam and T.J. McConnell playing important roles for Indiana in the Eastern Conference Finals and OG Anunoby logging big minutes for New York, Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca revisits the Raptors‘ decision to trade away Siakam and Anunoby during the 2023/24 season, while Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer considers whether the Sixers should regret letting McConnell get away in 2019.
Exploring potential options for the Sixers‘ No. 3 overall pick, Adam Aaronson of PhillyVoice enlists a series of fellow NBA reporters to help him evaluate hypothetical trades. Aaronson offers up proposals involving the Rockets, Hawks, Nets, Bulls, and Wizards and goes back and forth with writers who cover those teams to figure out if there’s a viable deal to be made.
After Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens said in his end-of-season media session that big man Kristaps Porzingis is dealing with post-viral syndrome, Tess DeMeyer of The Athletic takes a closer look at what exactly that means. As DeMeyer explains, post-viral syndrome can make person feel drained and weak for days or months after experiencing a viral illness, and even someone in peak health can have a hard time moving past the symptoms. Stevens expressed optimism on Monday that Porzingis will be back to 100% by the start of next season.

2025 NBA Draft Picks By Team

May 16th, 2025 at 1:19pm CST by Luke Adams

The Nets and Jazz were among the teams who left Monday’s draft lottery disappointed, as Brooklyn slipped two spots to No. 8 while Utah, the NBA’s worst team during the 2024/25 season, ended up at No. 6.

Still, while they won’t be picking as high in the lottery as they might like, the Nets and Jazz will enter this year’s draft armed with plenty of ammunition. Brooklyn controls a league-high five 2025 draft picks, including four first-rounders and an early second-rounder. Utah, meanwhile, is one of just two teams (along with the Magic) controlling four picks in this year’s draft, including a pair of first-rounders.

Four other clubs – the Spurs, Hornets, Wizards, and Thunder – own three picks apiece, so those seven teams combine to control 25 of the 59 selections in the 2025 draft.

In addition to those teams with three or more picks, 12 more clubs own a pair of 2025 draft selections, while another 10 control one apiece. That latter group includes the Mavericks, whose No. 1 overall pick is their only selection in this year’s draft.

That leaves just a single NBA team without a draft pick this year: the Nuggets. Denver traded its 2025 first-rounder to Orlando back in 2021 as part of a package for Aaron Gordon in a deal that has worked out exceedingly well for the 2023 champions and sent out its 2025 second-rounder last offseason in a Reggie Jackson salary-dump. The Nuggets could still trade into this draft, but for now they’re the only team on track to sit it out.

To present a clearer picture of which teams are most – and least – stocked with picks for the 2025 NBA draft, we’ve rounded up all 59 selections by team in the space below. Let’s dive in…

Teams with more than two picks:

Brooklyn Nets (5): 8, 19, 26, 27, 36
Utah Jazz (4): 5, 21, 43, 53
Orlando Magic (4): 16, 25, 46, 57
San Antonio Spurs (3): 2, 14, 38
Charlotte Hornets (3): 4, 33, 34
Washington Wizards (3): 6, 18, 40
Oklahoma City Thunder (3): 15, 24, 44

Teams with two picks:

Philadelphia 76ers: 3, 35
Toronto Raptors: 9, 39
Houston Rockets: 10, 59
Chicago Bulls: 12, 45
Atlanta Hawks: 13, 22
Minnesota Timberwolves: 17, 31
Indiana Pacers: 23, 54
Boston Celtics: 28, 32
Phoenix Suns: 29, 52
Los Angeles Clippers: 30, 51
Memphis Grizzlies: 48, 56
Cleveland Cavaliers: 49, 58

Teams with one pick:

Dallas Mavericks: 1
New Orleans Pelicans: 7
Portland Trail Blazers: 11
Miami Heat: 20
Detroit Pistons: 37
Golden State Warriors: 41
Sacramento Kings: 42
Milwaukee Bucks: 47
New York Knicks: 50
Los Angeles Lakers: 55

Teams with no picks:

Denver Nuggets

2025 NBA Offseason Preview: Toronto Raptors

May 15th, 2025 at 7:44pm CST by Luke Adams

It was an injury-plagued season in 2024/25 for the Raptors, who only had one player - rookie Jamal Shead - appear in more than 65 games. Regulars like RJ Barrett (58 games), Jakob Poeltl (57), Gradey Dick (54), and Immanuel Quickley (33) all missed significant time, while Brandon Ingram didn't play at all after a trade-deadline deal in February sent him from New Orleans to Toronto.

The Raptors seemed to be playing it safe with Ingram and a few other veterans down the stretch after falling out of playoff contention. But injuries were a legitimate issue during the first half of the season, preventing the front office and coaching staff from getting a consistent look at their core players - led by forward Scottie Barnes (65 games) - on the court together for any extended period.

Toronto's presumed opening-night starting lineup of Barnes, Quickley, Barrett, Poeltl, and Dick appeared in just eight games together over the course of the season, logging 107 total minutes.

Those injuries, along with a challenging early schedule, resulted in an extremely poor first half for the Raptors, who lost 31 of their first 39 games and had the third-worst record in the NBA in mid-January. Recognizing at that point that it made more sense to pursue a high lottery pick than an outside chance at a play-in spot, Toronto went into tank mode in the second half of the season and began resting regulars while leaning more heavily on two-way and 10-day players.

Paradoxically though, with the help of one of the league's softest second-half schedules and the ongoing development of a few young prospects, the Raptors played their best basketball of the season in March (10-5). After spending the first half of the year losing games they were trying to win, the Raptors finished out the season by winning games management would've preferred to lose, going 22-21 after their 8-31 start and ending up with the No. 9 overall pick after dropping a couple spots on lottery night.

While it was a disappointing lottery outcome for fans in Toronto hoping to add one more blue-chip prospect to the team's core after a lost season, there are already several foundational pieces in place here, and the strides made down the stretch by second-year head coach Darko Rajakovic and youngsters like Shead, Ja'Kobe Walter, Jamison Battle, and Jonathan Mogbo made for an encouraging trade-off.

Unlock Subscriber-Exclusive Articles Like This One With a Trade Rumors Front Office Subscription

BENEFITS

Access weekly subscriber-only articles by Luke Adams
Join exclusive weekly live chats with Arthur Hill
Remove ads and support our writers.

Atlantic Notes: Raptors, Maluach, Sixers, Bailey, Nets, Fears

May 15th, 2025 at 9:02am CST by Luke Adams

While they didn’t fall as far as teams like Utah or Washington, the Raptors were among the clubs to slide multiple spots in Monday’s draft lottery. They entered the night with the seventh-best odds, but will be picking ninth overall in this year’s draft.

As Eric Koreen of The Athletic writes, that lack of lottery luck diminishes the odds of Toronto adding a difference-maker in this year’s draft after the team spent much of the season angling for a better draft position. While that will raise the level of difficulty as Masai Ujiri looks to build another title-contending team, the Raptors president indicated on lottery night that he wasn’t fazed by the results, pointing to the organization’s positive history with the No. 9 overall pick.

“Tracy McGrady. DeMar DeRozan. Jakob Poeltl,” Ujiri said. “We’ll be fine. I guarantee you we’ll be fine. … We have all our picks going forward. I think we continue this rebuild and grow as a team. And honestly, I’m as optimistic as I was (before the lottery).

“I believe that the NBA has become (about) movement, movement, movement. You just wait for your turn (for a big transaction that makes sense). It will come: patience and (we will) see if that’s the way. But I think for this team, we’re just going to keep growing. And (we have) young players. We’ll be fine adding another one.”

As for which prospects the Raptors might target at No. 9, Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca points to Duke big man Khaman Maluach as one possible fit, noting that the club will be seeking center depth behind Poeltl. According to Grange, some league sources have told him Maluach is high on Toronto’s radar, while other sources with knowledge of the team’s thinking have pushed back on that notion.

The Raptors, who also hold 39th overall pick in this year’s draft, have a workout scheduled with Australian forward Alex Toohey, tweets Grange. Toohey is the No. 39 prospect on ESPN’s big board.

Here’s more from around the Atlantic:

Confirming a report from Michael Scotto of HoopsHype, Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer writes that assistant coach Coby Karl has been let go by the Sixers. Karl is one of several staffers the team is parting ways with, according to Pompey, who identifies associate player development coach Terrel Harris, senior physical therapist and assistant athletic trainer John Tooher, and director of coaching operations Michelle Bell as a few of the others exiting the organization.
In a column for The Philadelphia Inquirer, Pompey makes the case that the Sixers should use the No. 3 overall pick on Rutgers’ Ace Bailey, assuming Cooper Flagg and Dylan Harper are off the board. However, if they do select Bailey, the 76ers will need to make sure they “focus on making him a real contributor from day one,” Pompey contends, rather than possibly stunting his growth by making him a fourth option or role player.
Could Oklahoma guard Jeremiah Fears be the right fit for the Nets at No. 8 in this year’s draft? Noting that Fears shows up at that spot in multiple mock drafts, Brian Lewis of The New York Post writes that the lottery prospect has worked out for Brooklyn and the Wizards so far and received some positive feedback from the Nets. “Yes, I met with Brooklyn. I worked out for Brooklyn as well,” Fears said. “The conversations were great. They were just telling me how they think I could fit within their system and be an overall good piece for them.”

Hawks Interested In Masai Ujiri To Run Front Office

May 14th, 2025 at 9:53pm CST by Arthur Hill

Raptors executive Masai Ujiri has emerged as a target for the Hawks as they search for a new president of basketball operations, Marc Stein reports in his latest Substack article (subscription required).

Sources tell Stein that it’s unclear if Atlanta has a legitimate chance to lure Ujiri, who has been with Toronto for the past 12 years. Ujiri’s contract status hasn’t been made public, but Stein hears that he’s believed to be entering the final season of his current deal.

After starting his career as a scout, Ujiri worked his way up to assistant general manager with the Raptors in 2008 before leaving to become the GM in Denver in 2010. He was named Executive of the Year with the Nuggets in 2013, then returned to Toronto as executive vice president.

Ujiri bolstered his reputation as one of the NBA’s top executives when he built the Raptors team that captured the franchise’s first-ever NBA title in 2019. The final piece of the puzzle was a bold move to trade for San Antonio’s Kawhi Leonard, who was entering the final year of his contract and only spent one season with the team.

Ujiri, who has since been promoted to president and vice chairman, is still recognized as a master team builder, even though Toronto has fallen on hard times in recent years, missing the playoffs in four of the past five seasons. Stein notes that after finishing 30-52 this year, Ujiri promised at an April press conference to bring another championship to Toronto.

The Hawks shook up their front office after being eliminated in the play-in tournament, firing general manager Landry Fields on April 21. Assistant GM Onsi Saleh was promoted to interim GM and is currently handling the day-to-day operations, but the new hire is expected to run the organization.

A Stein Line report last week indicated that owner Tony Ressler was exploring the idea of having a player agent take over the job, with Trae Young‘s agent, Austin Brown of CAA, among the top candidates. League sources confirm to Stein that Octagon’s Alex Saratsis, who represents Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bam Adebayo, has also moved into the picture, as previously reported by Grant Afseth.

Mavericks Win 2025 NBA Draft Lottery; Spurs, Sixers, Hornets In Top 4

May 12th, 2025 at 6:26pm CST by Luke Adams

The Mavericks have won the 2025 NBA draft lottery, jumping all the way from No. 11 in the lottery standings to No. 1 in the draft.

Dallas had just a 1.8% chance of claiming this year’s top pick. Those are the longest odds for any team that has won the lottery since the NBA revamped the format prior to the 2019 draft.

The Mavs’ unlikely lottery victory puts them in position to select consensus top prospect Cooper Flagg, the Duke star who led the Blue Devils to the Final Four as a freshman and was named the ACC Player of the Year, as well as the Naismith College Player of the Year.

The full lottery order for the 2025 draft is as follows:

Dallas Mavericks
San Antonio Spurs
Philadelphia 76ers
Charlotte Hornets
Utah Jazz
Washington Wizards
New Orleans Pelicans
Brooklyn Nets
Toronto Raptors
Houston Rockets (from Suns)
Portland Trail Blazers
Chicago Bulls
Atlanta Hawks (from Kings)
San Antonio Spurs (from Hawks)

It’s an incredible turn of events in Dallas, where general manager Nico Harrison and his front office have been hammered by fans and pundits alike for the last three-plus months for their decision to trade franchise player Luka Doncic to the Lakers at February’s deadline. Now the Mavs are poised to add another cornerstone and a potential All-Star in Flagg, who will join Anthony Davis and Kyrie Irving on the new-look roster.

As Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News tweets, this is the first time in 17 lottery appearances that the Mavs ended up with a better pick than their odds dictated.

The lottery results feature plenty of fascinating stories beyond Dallas’ win, starting with the Spurs‘ pick moving up from No. 8 in the pre-lottery order to No. 2 in the draft. Dylan Harper of Rutgers is widely viewed as the second-best prospect in this year’s class behind Flagg and will be the frontrunner to join an up-and-coming San Antonio roster that already features Victor Wembanyama, De’Aaron Fox, and Rookie of the Year Stephon Castle.

When it was revealed on ESPN’s broadcast that the Mavericks and Spurs had moved into the top four, it momentarily looked as if the Sixers would lose their top-six protected pick, which appeared poised to slide to No. 7 and be sent to the Thunder. However, Philadelphia was among the lucky clubs to move up, claiming the No. 3 pick and hanging onto the selection for at least one more year. The 76ers will now owe their 2026 first-rounder, with top-four protection, to Oklahoma City.

The Hornets, who entered the lottery as one of three teams tied for the best odds at the first overall pick (14%), moved down one spot from No. 3 to No. 4. The Jazz and Wizards, who posted the NBA’s two worst records during the regular season, were even less fortunate, falling four spots each and coming in at No. 5 and No. 6.

That’s a worst-case scenario for those two clubs, who came into the night hoping to add a centerpiece like Flagg or Harper for their rebuild and instead dropped as far as they could have. There was a 47.9% chance Utah would end up at No. 5, but just a 20% chance Washington would slide all the way to No. 6.

The Pelicans were among the night’s biggest losers as well, slipping from No. 4 in the pre-lottery order to No. 7 when three teams leapfrogged them. The Nets and Raptors each dropped two spots to No. 8 and No. 9, respectively, while the Rockets (No. 10, via the Suns) and Trail Blazers (No. 11) slid one spot.

Although the Bulls didn’t move from their pre-lottery slot of No. 12, they had one of the biggest heartbreaks of the night — they finished with the same regular season record as the Mavericks and lost a coin flip last month for the No. 11 spot in the lottery. If they had won that tiebreaker, it would be the Bulls, not the Mavs, whose ping-pong ball combination was drawn for the top pick on Monday.

The lack of movement at the very back of the lottery means the Kings‘ pick, which came in at No. 13, will be sent to the Hawks, as expected. That selection – from the 2022 Kevin Huerter trade – was top-12 protected, so Sacramento only would have kept it if it had jumped into the top four.

The Spurs’ second pick of the lottery, courtesy of the Hawks, didn’t move from No. 14.

The NBA has posted a 13-minute video of the lottery drawing on social media.

Draft Notes: Flagg, NIL, Combine, Lakhin, International Prospects

May 12th, 2025 at 3:01pm CST by Eli Cohen

Cooper Flagg is as close to a lock to go number one in the 2025 draft as any non-Victor Wembanyama prospect can be, writes Sam Vecenie for The Athletic. In breaking down Flagg’s potential fit with all of this year’s lottery teams, Vecenie illustrates how the 18-year-old’s well-rounded skill set on both sides of the ball will allow him to slot in seamlessly with just about every team construction.

In his breakdown, Vecenie writes that the Pelicans and Raptors are the only rosters in the lottery that could make for a questionable fit, given that the two teams are already primarily built around a plethora of wings and forwards.

Still, Vecenie emphasizes that questions around fit are secondary to adding the level of talent Flagg promises, so even those two teams shouldn’t hesitate to take the 6’8″ forward if the opportunity presents itself. However, that scenario might necessitate a trade involving one or more of the incumbent forwards already rostered.