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Nets Pick Up Team Options On Four Players

June 28th, 2025 at 2:09pm CST by Luke Adams

The Nets have exercised their team options for 2025/26 on four players, the team announced today (Twitter link via Michael Scotto of HoopsHype). Those players, along with their option salaries, are as follows:

Keon Johnson ($2,349,578)
Jalen Wilson ($2,221,677)
Tyrese Martin ($2,191,897)
Drew Timme ($1,955,377)

Crucially, Brooklyn’s decision to pick up these options does not mean that all four players now have fully guaranteed salaries.

As outlined on our team option decision tracker, Johnson will receive a partial guarantee worth about $272K, while Wilson will receive on worth roughly $88K. Martin’s and Timme’s salaries remain entirely non-guaranteed.

Johnson and Wilson will see their partial guarantees increase if they make the regular season roster, but Martin and Timme will remain non-guaranteed until January, so exercising these options doesn’t really affect the Nets’ cap flexibility at all. They could always waive one or more of these players down the road while retaining little to no salary on their cap.

Johnson, Wilson, and Martin each earned regular minutes in 2024/25 for a rebuilding Nets team. Johnson, a 6’5″ shooting guard, emerged as a starter in December after Cam Thomas went down with a hamstring injury, averaging 10.6 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 2.2 assists in 24.4 minutes per game across 79 appearances (56 starts) on the season.

Wilson, a 6’8″ forward, put up 9.5 PPG, 3.4 RPG, and 1.8 APG in 25.7 MPG, starting 22 of his 79 outings. Martin, a 6’6″ wing, averaged 8.7 PPG, 3.7 RPG, and 2.0 APG in 21.9 MPG across 60 games (11 starts).

Timme, a former Gonzaga big man, earned a late-season promotion from the G League and saw plenty of action down the stretch, registering averages of 12.1 PPG, 7.2 RPG, and 2.2 APG in nine games (28.2 MPG).

Counting their four players on guaranteed contracts, their five first-round picks, incoming trade acquisition Terance Mann, and these four players with options, the Nets already have 14 players on their books for 2025/26. That list doesn’t include restricted free agents Thomas, Day’Ron Sharpe, and Ziaire Williams, or anyone else the Nets might add using their significant cap room in the coming days or weeks.

In other words, there likely won’t be enough spots to go around for everyone, so I wouldn’t count on all four of these players opening the season on Brooklyn’s 15-man roster.

Cavs, Sam Merrill Agree To Four-Year Deal

June 28th, 2025 at 1:20pm CST by Luke Adams

The Cavaliers and free agent guard Sam Merrill have agreed to a four-year, $38MM contract that will keep him in Cleveland, sources tell Shams Charania of ESPN.

After spending some time in Milwaukee and Memphis at the beginning of his NBA career, Merrill has been with the Cavs for the past two-plus seasons. He initially signing a 10-day contract in March 2023 before receiving a multiyear minimum-salary commitment that has turned into a bargain for Cleveland.

Merrill, 29, established himself as a regular rotation player in 2023/24 and continued to play consistent minutes for the Cavs in ’24/25 as they racked up 64 regular season wins. Across those two years, he averaged 7.5 points, 2.1 rebounds, and 1.6 assists in 18.7 minutes per game, with a 38.8% mark on 5.5 three-point attempts per night.

In addition to providing important floor spacing for the Cavs, Merrill took a step forward as a defender this past season, earning kudos from coaches and teammates for his effort on that side of the ball. He ranked 35th in our list of 2025’s top 50 free agents.

There was some uncertainty about whether Cleveland would be able to re-sign Merrill due to the team’s rising payroll. Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com (subscriber link) wrote this morning that there had been a “pessimistic tone coming from the organization” about its odds of retaining Merrill and/or his fellow free agent Ty Jerome, though Fedor did say that re-signing one of the two remained in play.

Given that the Cavs reached a trade agreement for a point guard (Lonzo Ball) earlier in the day and has now struck a deal with Merrill, the odds of Jerome re-signing look increasingly slim. He’s believed to be seeking a contract that starts at or around the $14.1MM non-taxpayer mid-level exception, according to Jake Fischer of The Stein Line (Substack link).

Already projected to operate over the second tax apron next season, Cleveland will now move even further above that threshold. Cap expert Yossi Gozlan (Twitter link) estimates that re-signing Merrill will increase the Cavs’ tax penalty next season by about $50MM, to nearly $143MM, though that number is just a projection and could increase or decrease depending on what other moves the teams make.

Davion Mitchell To Re-Sign With Heat On Two-Year Deal

June 28th, 2025 at 12:53pm CST by Luke Adams

Free agent guard Davion Mitchell intends to re-sign with the Heat, according to Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link), who hears from sources that Mitchell has agreed to a two-year, $24MM contract. The deal will be fully guaranteed, Charania adds.

The ninth overall pick in the 2021 NBA draft, Mitchell spent his first three seasons in Sacramento, where he earned a reputation as a tenacious perimeter defender but struggled to provide value on offense, averaging 7.4 points and 2.8 assists in 20.4 minutes per game across 227 outings, with a .434/.327/.703 shooting line.

However, Mitchell had a solid first half in 2024/25 after being traded from Sacramento to Toronto last summer, then took his game to another level down the stretch following another trade that sent him from the Raptors to the Heat.

The 26-year-old emerged as a full-time starter in Miami, averaging 10.3 points and 5.3 assists per game with a .504/.447/.702 shooting line in 30 regular season contests for the Heat. He was even better in the postseason, making 59.3% of his field goal attempts and 52.0% of his three-pointers with averages of 15.2 PPG and 6.5 APG in six play-in and playoff outings.

Mitchell also played his usual strong defense in 2024/25. As Charania notes (via Twitter), among players to contest at least 500 shots, Mitchell ranked in the top five in opposing field goal percentage as the contesting defender, per ESPN Research.

The Heat issued an $8.74MM qualifying offer to Mitchell earlier this week, making him a restricted free agent. The Heat would have had the right to match any offer sheet he signed with a rival team, but he directly negotiated with Miami instead, opting not to test the market.

Mitchell’s new contract means the Heat will likely have to waive Duncan Robinson or negotiate a new contract with him in order to avoid crossing the luxury tax line, tweets Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald.

Robinson has until Sunday to make a decision on an early termination option worth $19.9MM. If he opts in for 2025/26, his salary would be guaranteed for $9.9MM, so Miami could create $10MM in cap savings by waiving him (or more than that waiving him and using the stretch provision on his partial guarantee).

Mitchell was ranked 27th on our list of this year’s top 50 free agents.

Bulls Trading Lonzo Ball To Cavaliers For Isaac Okoro

June 28th, 2025 at 10:08am CST by Earnest Marshall

The Bulls are trading point guard Lonzo Ball to the Cavaliers in exchange for forward Isaac Okoro, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania (Twitter link).

Ball, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft, has played for Chicago since 2021. However, due to multiple knee injuries, he spent the better part of those four years recovering. He missed the entirety of the 2022/23 and ’23/24 seasons before returning to the lineup this past year.

While his playing time was down from his career averages this season, he still recorded 7.6 points, 3.4 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.3 steals per night and had positive on/off-court numbers.

The Bulls signed Ball to a two-year, $20MM extension in February despite trade interest at the time. He’s on the books for $10MM this coming season and has a team option for 2026/27.

Acquiring Ball gives Cleveland a versatile guard to add to its lineup. The 27-year-old has proven to be an effective defender, shooter and facilitator when healthy. The Cavs’ decision to acquire a point guard could also point to pessimism in their ability to re-sign impending free agent Ty Jerome.

Meanwhile, the Bulls are taking a flier of their own in obtaining former No. 5 overall pick Okoro. The Cavaliers didn’t re-sign Okoro to a multi-year contract until September of last year after he became a restricted free agent following the 2023/24 season.

Okoro’s playing time decreased in new head coach Kenny Atkinson‘s system, and he averaged career lows of 6.1 points and 19.1 minutes per game. In the playoffs, Okoro’s averages shrunk to 4.6 PPG across 14.2 MPG.

He’ll be in the second year of the three-year, $33MM deal he inked with Cleveland last year. He’ll count for $11MM against the cap in 2025/26 before his salary rises to a guaranteed $11.8MM next season.

Ball drew interest on the trade market prior to February’s deadline, with the Grizzlies, Pistons, and Timberwolves said to be among the teams to register interest at that time. The Bulls were reportedly offered draft capital in February, but didn’t want to take on a sizable multiyear contract.

Assuming the Ball/Okoro swap is completed as reported, it will hard-cap the Bulls at the first tax apron for the rest of the 2025/26 league year, since they’ll be taking in more salary than they’re sending out. The trade will become official in July, after the players’ new cap hits take effect.

Chase Hunter To Sign Exhibit 10 Contract With Pelicans

June 27th, 2025 at 10:09pm CST by Luke Adams

After going undrafted this week, former Clemson guard Chase Hunter has reached an agreement to sign an Exhibit 10 contract with the Pelicans, he announced on his Instagram account.

Hunter had a lengthy college career with the Tigers, which spanned six years from 2019-25. He was awarded a medical redshirt after a foot injury limited him to nine appearances in his freshman year, then was granted another extra year of extra eligibility due to COVID-19.

Hunter ended up appearing in 167 games across those six years, making 123 starts. As a super-senior in 2024/25, he averaged a career-best 16.5 points per game on .470/.407/.866 shooting while also contributing 3.0 rebounds, 2.5 assists, and 1.4 steals in 33.5 minutes per contest. The 24-year-old earned first-team All-ACC honors this year and left Clemson as the school’s third all-time leading scorer.

An Exhibit 10 contract can be converted into a two-way deal prior to the start of the regular season. It can also put a player in line to earn a bonus worth up to $85K if he’s waived and then spends at least 60 days with his team’s G League affiliate. It remains to be seen exactly what New Orleans’ plan is for Hunter.

Pistons To Sign Dawson Garcia

June 27th, 2025 at 9:18pm CST by Eli Cohen

The Pistons have agreed to sign undrafted free agent Dawson Garcia, reports Darren Wolfson of SKOR North and KSTP (via Twitter).

The details of the deal are unspecified, but it’s likely a non-guaranteed Exhibit 10 contract. An Exhibit 10 could be converted to a two-way deal before the season or would put Garcia in line for a bonus worth up to $85K if he’s waived and then spends at least 60 days with the Motor City Cruise, Detroit’s G League affiliate.

Garcia is a 6’11” lefty forward who spent the last three seasons for the University of Minnesota after playing for Marquette as a freshman and UNC as a sophomore.

The 23-year-old averaged 19.2 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 2.0 assists per game this past season while shooting 37.3% on 4.2 three-point attempts per contest — the points, rebounds, and three-point tries were all career highs. Over his five collegiate seasons, Garcia made 35.3% of 417 shots from beyond the arc.

Wolfson adds that Garcia had a strong pre-draft workout and visit with the Pistons, one of several NBA teams he met with this spring.

Timberwolves, Naz Reid Agree To Five-Year Deal

June 27th, 2025 at 7:57pm CST by Luke Adams

The Timberwolves and Naz Reid are in agreement on a new contract, according to Shams Charania of ESPN, who reports that the reserve forward/center intends to sign a five-year, $125MM contract to remain in Minnesota.

Reid held a player option worth approximately $15MM for the 2025/26 season, but will turn down that option in advance of Sunday’s deadline in order to finalize his new deal with the Wolves in July. According to Charania, the new contract will also feature a player option on the final year.

After winning the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year award in 2023/24, Reid had another strong showing for the Timberwolves in ’24/25, matching or exceeding his stats from the previous season in several key categories. The 25-year-old averaged 14.2 points, 6.0 rebounds, and 2.3 assists in 27.5 minutes per game across 80 outings (17 starts).

Reid has knocked down 39.5% of 5.4 three-point attempts per game over the past two seasons, making him a valuable floor-spacer in Minnesota’s frontcourt alongside center Rudy Gobert. Lineups featuring Reid and Gobert outscored opponents by 11.8 points per 100 possessions last season, the best mark of any of the team’s 25 most frequently used duos.

According to Charania, there was a “vibrant market developing” in free agency for Reid, with teams prepared to offer similar money and potentially a starting role. While Brooklyn is the only club currently projected to have enough cap room to have offered Reid a starting salary in the range of $20-25MM, there are other clubs that probably had the ability to get there.

The Pistons, for instance, were known to be interested in adding a stretch big man, and were cited as a team with interest in Reid. Detroit has the ability to create roughly $17MM in cap room and could have attempted to move off one more contract to create additional spending flexibility.

But the Timberwolves spoke both publicly and privately since their season ended about their desire to retain Reid, and showed with their five-year offer that they were serious about holding off rival suitors.

The next orders of business for the Wolves will be figuring out what happens with starting power forward Julius Randle and guard Nickeil Alexander-Walker. Randle holds a $30.9MM player option that he must decide on by Sunday, while Alexander-Walker will be an unrestricted free agent.

Although Minnesota has expressed a desire to keep all three players, retaining both Randle and Alexander-Walker would almost certainly push team salary well over the second tax apron for a second straight year, as cap expert Yossi Gozlan outlines (via Twitter). That may not appeal to the front office (or team ownership).

There has been some skepticism about the Wolves’ ability to keep all three players, with Alexander-Walker viewed as the most likely odd man out. Accounting for Randle’s option and no new deal for Alexander-Walker, the Wolves currently project to operate just below the second apron, tweets ESPN Bobby Marks.

Thunder To Sign Zack Austin, Chris Youngblood

June 27th, 2025 at 6:38pm CST by Eli Cohen

The 2025 champion Thunder have agreed to an Exhibit 10 deal with Pitt forward Zack Austin, reports Jon Chepkevich of DraftExpress (Twitter link). They will also sign Alabama guard Chris Youngblood to an Exhibit 10 deal, Blake Byler writes for BamaOnLine.

An Exhibit 10 contract is a non-guaranteed agreement that could be converted to a two-way deal before the season or puts the player in line for a bonus worth up to $85K if he’s waived and then spends at least 60 days with his team’s G League affiliate.

Austin is a 6’7″ forward who played the last two seasons for Pitt after transferring from High Point University in North Carolina. He was named to the ACC All-Defensive team this season after averaging 1.1 steals and 1.6 blocks per game. He also contributed 9.2 points and 4.7 rebounds per contest while making 38.1% of his three-point attempts and 90.2% of his free throws. Those numbers were significantly up from his career averages of 33.5% from three and 78.2% from the line.

A high-level athlete with a great motor, Austin’s block percentage of 6.1% ranked 7th in the ACC, and was first among players shorter than 6’10”.

Youngblood is a 6’4″ fifth-year senior who is a career 39.3% three-point shooter with Kennesaw State, South Florida, and Alabama. He averaged 10.3 points per game for the Crimson Tide after starting slow due to an ankle injury. His defining performance for Alabama came in the Round of 16 against BYU, where he scored 19 points and made five three-pointers, helping the team advance to the Elite Eight.

The Thunder previously agreed to a deal with Iowa shooting wing Payton Sandfort.

Sixers, Justin Edwards Agree To Three-Year Deal

June 27th, 2025 at 5:34pm CST by Luke Adams

The Sixers will decline their minimum-salary team option on forward Justin Edwards in order to sign him to a new three-year contract, sources tell Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).

According to Charania, the new deal will pay Edwards roughly $2MM in 2025/26 and will be fully guaranteed for the first two years.

Edwards, who will turn 22 this December, joined the Sixers last summer as an undrafted free agent out of Kentucky. He opened the season on a two-way deal before being promoted to the standard roster after the trade deadline in February.

The 6’7″ forward had an impressive rookie year in Philadelphia, averaging 10.1 points, 3.4 rebounds, 1.6 assists, and 1.0 steal in 26.3 minutes per game across 44 outings (26 starts). He registered a shooting line of .455/.363/.696.

The Sixers will have the ability to complete this deal with Edwards using his Non-Bird rights. While it sounds like it might be worth the veteran’s minimum (which is projected to start at $2,048,494 for a second-year player in ’25/26), the minimum salary exception can only be used for deals of up to two years.

It wouldn’t be a surprise if Edwards’ deal includes a team option in year three, since that would give the Sixers the ability to make him a restricted free agent in 2027 instead of having to take him to unrestricted free agency in 2028.

Hawks To Sign Kobe Johnson

June 27th, 2025 at 5:05pm CST by Eli Cohen

The Hawks have agreed to a deal with UCLA forward Kobe Johnson, Jonathon Givony reports for ESPN (via Twitter).

Johnson played for three years at USC, emerging as a starter and a defensive force after averaging just 7.5 minutes per game as a freshman. He subsequently transferred to UCLA for his senior year.

In his lone year as a Bruin, Johnson averaged 7.9 points, 5.9 rebounds, 2.9 assists, and 1.6 steals while shooting 36.2% from three and earning a spot on the Big Ten All-Defensive team, his third consecutive selection to his conference’s All-Defensive team. While his three-point shot has been up-and-down, Johnson is a career 76.7% free-throw shooter, which offers some hope for him finding eventual shooting consistency.

While Givony doesn’t specify the terms of the agreement, it will likely be a non-guaranteed Exhibit 10 contract for Johnson. Exhibit 10 deals can be converted into two-way contracts, though the Hawks have already reached two-way agreements with Eli John Ndiaye and Kentucky’s Lamont Butler to two-way contracts.

An Exhibit 10 deal would also put Johnson on track to join the College Park Skyhawks, the Hawks’ G League team, as an affiliate player once the season begins.