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Rockets Re-Signing Fred VanVleet On Two-Year Deal

June 25th, 2025 at 11:16am CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

The Rockets are declining Fred VanVleet‘s $44.9MM team option and will instead re-sign him on a two-year, $50MM deal, reports Shams Charania of ESPN. The second season will be a player option, Charania adds.

According to Kelly Iko of The Athletic (Twitter link), VanVleet’s new deal will have a flat structure, paying him $25MM next season, with his option also worth $25MM.

During his 60 healthy games for Houston in 2024/25, the Wichita State alum averaged 14.1 PPG, 5.6 APG, and 3.7 RPG, with a .378/.345/.810 shooting line that was well below his career average.

The 2023 offseason veteran additions of VanVleet, Dillon Brooks, Jeff Green and head coach Ime Udoka proved to be the kind of steadying forces needed to take a talented young team to the next level. During VanVleet’s first season in town, Houston finished with a solid 41-41 season and barely missed the postseason in a deep Western Conference.

Last year, the Rockets’ youth movement exploded. Houston finished with the West’s No. 2 record, 52-30, and almost outlasted the Warriors in a hard-fought first round playoff loss.

Houston has now reconfigured its core by bringing in 15-time All-Star forward Kevin Durant in a blockbuster pre-draft trade, which cost the team Brooks, the No. 10 pick in this year’s draft, young guard Jalen Green, and five second-round picks.

Retaining VanVleet on a cheaper deal with give the Rockets more room to maneuver this summer, as the club hopes to become a true title contender in 2025/26.

To wit, cap expert Yossi Gozlan of Third Apron tweets that Houston now projects to be comfortably below the league’s first tax apron and luxury tax line. Keith Smith of Spotrac reports (via Twitter) that the new agreement will give the Rockets access to the $14.1MM non-taxpayer’s mid-level exception this year, though using all of the MLE would push the team back above the tax threshold.

While VanVleet’s new contract is a short-term agreement, Charania hears from sources that both sides would like their partnership to ultimately last longer than just the next two years.

Kyrie Irving To Decline Option, Re-Sign With Mavs On Three-Year Deal

June 24th, 2025 at 8:17pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Mavericks star guard Kyrie Irving is declining his $43MM player option and intends to sign a three-year, $119MM contract with the team as a free agent in July, ESPN’s Shams Charania reports (Twitter link). The deal, which is nearly identical to the one he signed in 2023, will include a player option for the 2027/28 season.

The nine-time All-Star is recovering from a torn ACL in his left knee, which he injured in early March.

Irving was enjoying a typically strong season prior to the injury. He averaged 24.7 points, 4.8 rebounds, 4.6 assists and 1.3 steals in 50 starts. Most of the outings came with Luka Doncic alongside him in the backcourt, so his assist totals could spike when he returns as the team’s primary ball-handler.

The deadline for Irving to opt in was today and it wasn’t surprising that the option was declined for more long-term security. As far back as April, it was reported that Dallas preferred to re-sign the 33-year-old to a three-year deal.

Irving’s first-year salary on his new contract will be lower than the option he declined, reducing the Mavs’ team salary and moving them below the second tax apron. That will enable Dallas to use the $5.7MM taxpayer mid-level exception to pursue a lead guard in free agency to run the team while Irving recovers, according to Marc Stein (Twitter link).

The Mavericks are optimistic that Irving can return to action sometime in the middle of next season. The Mavericks were hopeful that the combination of Irving and Anthony Davis would produce a championship in the short run. The unexpected addition of Cooper Flagg via winning the lottery will make them even more dangerous in the coming years.

Irving was the No. 2 free agent on our top-50 rankings and becomes the first player on that list to reach a contract agreement with his current team.

Celtics To Trade Porzingis To Hawks In Three-Team Deal

June 24th, 2025 at 6:07pm CST by Dana Gauruder

One day after agreeing to trade Jrue Holiday, the Celtics are moving another starter. Kristaps Porzingis is headed to the Hawks in a three-team trade, ESPN’s Shams Charania reports (Twitter link).

Atlanta will acquire Porzingis and a second-round pick in the deal; Terance Mann and Atlanta’s No. 22 pick in Wednesday’s draft are headed to the Nets; and the Celtics are acquiring Georges Niang and a second-round pick.

That second-round pick headed to Boston is coming from Atlanta and is the Cavaliers’ 2031 second-rounder, per Jake Fischer of The Stein Line (Twitter link). In exchange, the Celtics are sending a 2026 second-rounder with “least favorable” language to the Hawks, tweets Michael Scotto of HoopsHype.

The trade, coupled with the agreed-upon Holiday deal with Portland, will allow the Celtics to drop below the second tax apron by $4.5MM, Spotrac contributor Keith Smith tweets. The two deals will reduce their projected luxury tax penalty by nearly $210MM, estimates cap expert Yossi Gozlan (Twitter link).

Porzingis has an expiring $30.7MM contract, while Niang’s expiring deal totals just $8.5MM. Shedding salary has been a goal this offseason for the Celtics, who were facing second-apron restrictions and substantial repeater taxpayer penalties with Jayson Tatum expected to miss most or all of next season while he recovers from a torn Achilles.

A 6’7″ marksman with a career average of 39.9% from beyond the arc, Niang will fit right in as the newest member of the NBA’s leading three-point shooting team in his hometown of Boston. The 32-year-old forward played some of the best basketball of his career after being traded from Cleveland to Atlanta in February, averaging 12.1 points and posting a 41.3% mark on 6.6 threes per game in 28 games for the Hawks.

While the deal gives the Celtics another shooter and creates substantial tax savings, it depletes their depth in the frontcourt, where Al Horford and Luke Kornet are eligible for free agency. Re-signing one or both of those players while potentially adding another big man figures to be a top priority for Boston this summer.

Meanwhile, with Clint Capela headed to free agency, it appears Porzingis will slot in as the Hawks’ starting center ahead of Onyeka Okongwu. He’ll give Atlanta a quality pick-and-pop partner to team up with franchise player Trae Young and will become extension-eligible in July, though it’s unclear whether his new team will look to extend him right away.

Porzingis has an extensive injury history and was hampered this past season by a lingering illness that affected him during the second half and into the postseason, but the expectation is that he’ll be fully recovered by the fall. The veteran big man continues to produce at a high level when he’s available, having averaged 19.5 points, 6.8 rebounds, 2.1 assists, and 1.5 blocks in 28.8 minutes per game across 42 starts for the Celtics in 2024/25, with a shooting line of .483/.412/.809.

The Hawks were rumored to have interest in free agent big man Myles Turner, another rim-protecting, floor-stretching center. Their acquisition of Porzingis will presumably take them out of the mix for Turner, but they’re still well below the projected tax line and continue to explore opportunities to use a trade exception worth $25MM+, either on the trade market or in free agency (via sign-and-trade), tweets Fischer.

Atlanta made “a lot of calls” about Mann this week, according to Fischer (Twitter link), before eventually finding a taker for the 6’5″ swingman.

Mann, a Brooklyn native, has three years and $47MM remaining on his contract. Acquired from the Clippers at this year’s trade deadline, he had a solid finish to the season on Atlanta’s second unit alongside Niang, averaging 9.8 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 2.1 assists in 22.7 minutes per game across 30 outings. He posted a shooting line of .541/.386/.667 as a Hawk.

Accounting for Mann’s $15.5MM salary and the $3.4MM cap hold for the No. 22 overall pick, the Nets will use up roughly $19MM in cap space to make the deal, which can’t be completed until July 6, after the new league year begins and the July moratorium lifts.

Brooklyn still projects to have substantial cap room and now controls an amazing five first-rounders in this week’s draft — Nos. 8, 19, 22, 26, 27 — which undoubtedly will lead to more deals.

Luke Adams contributed to this story.

Heat Pick Up Johnson’s Option; Give QOs To Mitchell, Smith

June 24th, 2025 at 3:39pm CST by Luke Adams

The Heat have completed a series of roster moves, according to reports from Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald and Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel. Those moves are as follows:

Exercised their team option on Keshad Johnson ($1,955,377).
Issued a qualifying offer to Davion Mitchell ($8,741,210), making him a restricted free agent.
Issued a qualifying offer to Dru Smith (two-way), making him a restricted free agent.

Johnson, who celebrated his 24th birthday on Monday, played a limited role for the Heat as a rookie, appearing in just 16 games and logging 98 total minutes at the NBA level. However, he impressed in the G League, with averages of 17.6 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 2.3 assists in 35.1 minutes per game across 32 appearances for the Sioux Falls Skyforce. The undrafted rookie earned a promotion from his two-way contract to the standard roster in December.

While some team options remain non-guaranteed after they’re exercised, that’s not the case for Johnson, whose $1.96MM salary for 2025/26 is now fully guaranteed. He’s on track to be eligible for restricted free agency during the summer of 2026.

Mitchell, a former ninth overall pick who has always had a reputation as a tenacious defender, earned his qualifying offer by emerging as an offensive weapon during the second half of the ’24/25 season.

After being traded from Toronto to Houston, the 26-year-old averaged 10.3 points and 5.3 assists per game with a .504/.447/.702 shooting line in 30 regular season outings 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, who ranks 28th on our top-50 free agent list, will have the option of accepting his $8.7MM qualifying offer, which would set him up to become an unrestricted free agent in 2026. However, he’ll likely explore a multiyear deal with the Heat or another team. If he signs an offer sheet with a rival suitor, Miami would have the opportunity to match it.

Smith had his 2024/25 cut short due to a torn Achilles, but has always been a Heat favorite and will apparently have the opportunity to return on another two-way contract. He was the only one of three Miami two-way players to receive a qualifying offer — it doesn’t appear Isaiah Stevens will get one, while Josh Christopher was ineligible for a QO.

Pelicans Trading McCollum, Olynyk To Wizards For Poole, Bey

June 24th, 2025 at 2:15pm CST by Luke Adams

The Pelicans and Wizards have agreed to a four-player trade, according to Shams Charania of ESPN, who reports (via Twitter) that guard CJ McCollum, forward/center Kelly Olynyk, and a future second-round pick are headed to Washington in exchange for guard Jordan Poole, forward Saddiq Bey, and the No. 40 overall pick in this year’s draft.

Both McCollum ($30.7MM) and Olynyk ($13.4MM) will be on expiring contracts in 2025/26, so this move will significantly increase the Wizards’ projected 2026 cap room. They were already going to have a lot of money coming off their books next summer, with Khris Middleton ($33.3MM), Marcus Smart ($21.6MM), and potentially Richaun Holmes ($13.3MM; mostly non-guaranteed) also on expiring deals.

Corey Kispert‘s $14MM is now the only fully guaranteed salary on Washington’s cap for 2026/27, though a handful of players on rookie scale contracts will join him once the Wizards officially pick up their ’26/27 options later this year. The team currently projects to have more than $80MM in cap room next summer, per Yossi Gozlan of The Third Apron (Twitter link), and possibly up to $100MM, according to Charania.

In addition to generating future cap flexibility, the Wizards will add a pair of respected veterans who are still playing pretty good basketball.

While McCollum is an undersized shooting guard who isn’t a great defender, he put up 21.1 points and 4.1 assists per game this past season on .444/.373/.717 shooting in 56 contests (all starts). Olynyk, who was traded from Toronto to New Orleans in February, battled injuries that limited him to 44 appearances, but posted respectable averages of 8.7 PPG, 4.7 RPG, and 2.9 APG in 20.3 MPG and made 41.8% of his three-point tries.

Although neither player has substantial trade value, both should be movable later this offseason or during the season if the Wizards aren’t committed to keeping them for the entire 2025/26 campaign.

According to Josh Robbins of The Athletic (Twitter link), the second-round pick going to Washington in the deal is Chicago’s 2027 second-rounder. The Wizards were actually already going to receive that pick if it were to land in the top 50, but now they’ll get it no matter where it ends up, rather than the Pelicans receiving it if it’s between 51 and 60.

As for the Pelicans, they’re sacrificing some 2026 cap flexibility in the trade, but will move a little further below next season’s luxury tax line and get younger by acquiring Poole and Bey.

Poole, who turned 26 last Thursday, had a strong bounce-back year in D.C. in 2024/25 after a shaky first season with the Wizards. He averaged 20.5 points, 4.5 assists, and 3.0 rebounds in 29.4 minutes per game, with a shooting line of .432/.378/.883.

Like McCollum, Poole isn’t exactly a lock-down defender, but the former Warrior been pretty effective with the ball in his hands and should help New Orleans replace some of the play-making the team lost when Dejounte Murray tore his Achilles midway through the ’24/25 season — Murray’s recovery process is expected to extend into next season.

Poole is owed roughly $65.9MM over the next two years, with $4.25MM in annual incentives ($8.5MM in total) that count toward the tax apron, but not the cap. Bey has two seasons and $12.6MM left on his contract, with $333K in unlikely incentives each year.

Acquiring the duo in exchange for McCollum and Olynyk will reduce New Orleans’ team salary by about $6MM for cap/tax purposes, giving the club some extra breathing room to make additional moves.

Bey showed some real promise as a three-and-D wing in Detroit and Atlanta earlier in his career, but struggled with his outside shot for the Hawks in 2023/24 and tore his ACL near the end of that season, which cost him the entire ’24/25 campaign. He’ll be looking to make his comeback to the court this fall at age 26.

The trade is the second one the Pelicans have made within the last week to add 2025 draft capital. The club previously acquired a first-round pick from the Pacers in exchange for a 2026 first-rounder and now has the seventh, 23rd, and 40th overall picks entering this week’s draft.

The deal won’t become official until July due to Washington’s position relative to the first tax apron, notes ESPN’s Bobby Marks (via Twitter). That means there’s still a possibility it could expand to include more teams and pieces before it’s finalized.

If it’s completed as currently constructed, the Wizards would be hard-capped at the first apron for the 2025/26 season as a result of taking back more salary than they send out.

Blazers’ Matisse Thybulle Opting In For 2025/26

June 24th, 2025 at 2:09pm CST by Luke Adams

Trail Blazers wing Matisse Thybulle is opting into the final year of his contract by exercising his player option for 2025/26, reports NBA insider Chris Haynes (Twitter link).

Thybulle signed a three-year, $33MM deal with Portland during the summer of 2023 that included a third-year player option worth $11.55MM. By picking up that option, the 28-year-old will guarantee his salary for ’25/26. His decision had been due by the end of the day on Tuesday, so this news was expected.

A defensive ace who earned a spot on the All-Defensive second team in both 2021 and 2022 as a member of the Sixers, Thybulle was dealt from Philadelphia to Portland at the 2023 trade deadline and has been a Blazer since then.

While his offensive production has always lagged well behind his contributions on defense, the former 20th overall pick has been a little more productive in Portland, bumping his three-point percentage to 36.8% after hitting just 32.5% of his attempts from beyond the arc with the 76ers. He has averaged 6.2 points, 2.6 rebounds, and 1.8 steals in 23.6 minutes per game across 102 appearances in Portland.

Thybulle was limited to 15 outings in 2024/25 for health reasons. He underwent a procedure in October, just before the start of the regular season, to address inflammation in his right knee. Although it wasn’t supposed to sideline him for a significant period, he sustained a bad right ankle sprain in late November during his ramp-up process, which set back his recovery and meant he didn’t make his season debut until March 16.

Even after agreeing to trade Anfernee Simons to Boston in a deal for Jrue Holiday, the Blazers will have a significant amount of expiring money on their 2025/26 cap, with Thybulle joining Deandre Ayton ($35.6MM) and Robert Williams ($13.3MM). We’ll see if the front office attempts to turn any more of those expiring deals into a player with multiple years of team control, like it did with Simons.

Celtics To Trade Holiday To Blazers For Simons, Second-Round Picks

June 23rd, 2025 at 10:38pm CST by Luke Adams

The Celtics and Trail Blazers have agreed to a trade that will send Jrue Holiday to Portland in exchange for Anfernee Simons and a pair of second-round picks, reports Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).

The second-rounders going to Boston will be the Knicks’ 2030 pick and the Trail Blazers’ own 2031 selection, according to Jake Fischer of The Stein Line (Twitter link).

The move comes less than two years after the teams got together to make a trade sending Holiday from Portland to Boston in October 2023. In that deal, the Blazers – who had just acquired Holiday from the Bucks in the Damian Lillard blockbuster, acquired Malcolm Brogdon, Robert Williams, and two future first-round picks from the Celtics.

Holiday helped the Celtics win a championship in 2024, but had seen his role dialed back significantly since arriving in Boston, having taken a back seat offensively to higher scorers like Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Derrick White, Kristaps Porzingis, and even Sixth Man of the Year Payton Pritchard.

In 2024/25, Holiday averaged just 11.1 points per game, his lowest mark since his rookie year in 2009/10. He also contributed 4.3 rebounds, 3.9 assists, and 1.1 steals in 30.6 minutes per night, along with a .443/.353/.909 shooting line in 62 outings (all starts).

Given Holiday’s relatively modest role in Boston and a contract that will pay him $32.4MM next season and $104.4MM in total over the next three years, he was considered a strong trade candidate this summer for a Celtics team looking to reduce its payroll.

Boston will do just that in this deal, as Simons is on track to earn approximately $27.7MM in 2025/26, which is the final year of his contract. Although that’s only about $4.7MM less than what Holiday will make, the swap will generate a projected $40MM+ in tax savings for the Celtics, tweets ESPN’s Bobby Marks. Boston is deep in luxury-tax territory and will face more punitive “repeater” taxpayer penalties next season.

The Celtics are still projected to be about $18MM above the second tax apron for ’25/26, per Marks, but they continue to engage in trade discussions involving other players on their roster, sources tell Charania (Twitter link), so more cost-cutting moves are likely coming.

Besides saving some money in the trade, Boston will add a talented 26-year-old guard in Simons, who has averaged 19.9 points and 4.5 assists per game with a .436/.381/.901 shooting line over the past four seasons in Portland since taking on a featured role with the club. Simons should help make up some of the offense the Celtics lost when Tatum went down this spring with an Achilles tear that is expected to sideline him for most or all of next season. Simons will also be eligible to sign a contract extension with the C’s beginning in July.

The Trail Blazers, meanwhile, will bring in a defensive-minded veteran who will help shore up the team’s perimeter defense while serving as a veteran mentor for Scoot Henderson and Shaedon Sharpe, two young guards still on their rookie scale contracts. Holiday turned 35 earlier this month and the back end of his contract could become cumbersome, but Portland presumably believes he can help the team take another step forward after it improved from 21 wins in 2023/24 to 36 victories this past season.

Although Simons was the Blazers’ leading scorer last season, the team had a better net rating when he was off the court (-0.2) than when he was on it (-4.6) and went 8-4 in games he didn’t play.

Assuming the trade doesn’t expand to include additional pieces, the Blazers will become hard-capped at the first tax apron for the 2025/26 league year as a result of taking back more salary than they send out in this deal. The team projects to be roughly $6.6MM below the luxury tax line and $14.7MM below the first apron once the move is finalized, notes Keith Smith of Spotrac (Twitter link).

The Kings, Raptors, and Mavericks were among the other teams who had interest in Holiday, tweets Jared Weiss of The Athletic. They’ll have to look elsewhere for point guard help now, as the Blazers intend to hang onto Holiday in the hopes of making a push for a playoff spot next season, per Fischer (Twitter link).

Mavericks, Daniel Gafford Agree To Three-Year Extension

June 23rd, 2025 at 6:49pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Mavericks center Daniel Gafford intends to sign a three-year contract extension, ESPN’s Shams Charania reports. The contract is worth approximately $54MM, Marc Stein tweets.

The extension, which will become official in July, does not include an option in the final year, Grant Afseth of the Dallas Hoops Journal tweets. It’s fully guaranteed and will feature a 5% trade kicker, adds Kelly Iko of The Athletic (Twitter link).

Gafford has one year and $14,386,320 remaining on the three-year contract he signed while a member of the Wizards. His new extension will run through the 2028/29 season.

Gafford appeared in 57 games this season, including 31 starts. He averaged a career-best 12.3 points, 6.8 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per contest. Gafford is a bit undersized at center, listed at 6’10”, but has consistently been one of the NBA’s top shot-blockers since he entered the league in 2019.

Most of the shots that Gafford takes on offense are off lob passes or offensive rebounds. He has a career 70.9% field goal percentage.

The reasonably priced extension could make Gafford a trade chip if Dallas feels the need to trade a big man to balance its roster. As cap expert Yossi Gozlan tweets, Gafford should remain trade-eligible after signing the extension, since his new contract won’t exceed the extend-and-trade limits (20% first-year raise; 5% subsequent raises; four total years, including the current contract). If he were to receive more than $54.3MM on the three-year deal, he would be ineligible to be dealt for six months.

If Gafford remains with the Mavericks, he should be one of the team’s top frontcourt reserves off the bench along with P.J. Washington, presuming that Dereck Lively, Anthony Davis and top pick Cooper Flagg will start.

Bulls’ Jevon Carter Picking Up 2025/26 Option

June 23rd, 2025 at 2:25pm CST by Luke Adams

Bulls point guard Jevon Carter is exercising his player option for the 2025/26 season, according to Jake Fischer of The Stein Line (Twitter link). The move will lock in a salary worth $6,809,524.

Carter, who signed a three-year, $19.5MM contract with the Bulls after enjoying a career year in Milwaukee in 2022/23, hasn’t played a major role during his first two seasons in Chicago, having had a hard time earning consistent minutes in a crowded backcourt. Josh Giddey, Coby White, Ayo Dosunmu, Lonzo Ball, and Tre Jones were all ahead of him on the depth chart this past season.

Carter has averaged 4.7 points, 1.2 assists, and 0.9 rebounds in 12.3 minutes per game in total 108 outings since becoming a Bull, with a subpar shooting line of .378/.330/.706. He posted averages of 8.0 PPG, 2.4 APG, and 2.5 RPG in 22.3 MPG on .423/.421/.816 shooting in his final season with the Bucks.

While Carter doesn’t project to have a clearer path to playing time in Chicago in 2025/26, there’s some uncertainty surrounding a few of the Bulls’ guards. Giddey will be a restricted free agent, Jones will be an unrestricted free agent, and White, Dosunmu, and Ball will also be on expiring or pseudo-expiring contracts. One or two of those players could emerge as trade candidates, though Carter figures to be on the trade block himself, since his $6.8MM cap hit could help grease the wheels on a deal.

As our tracker shows, Carter is the only Bull who had a player option decision to make this month.

Wizards’ Khris Middleton Opts In For 2025/26

June 23rd, 2025 at 2:08pm CST by Luke Adams

Wizards forward Khris Middleton has exercised his player option for the 2025/26 season, postponing his free agency until next summer, sources tell ESPN’s Shams Charania (Twitter link).

Middleton, who will turn 34 in August, was always expected to take this route, since his option will pay him $33,345,679 next season. That’s significantly more than he would’ve earned next season if he had opted for free agency, given his health issues in recent years.

A three-time All-Star between 2019 and 2022 and a key member of the Bucks team that won a title in 2021, Middleton has been slowed by wrist, knee, and ankle injuries over the past three seasons, having appeared in just 125 total regular season games since the fall of 2022. He has averaged 14.1 points, 4.8 assists, and 4.3 rebounds in 25.0 minutes per game with a .472/.356/.863 shooting line during that stretch.

Middleton showed during the 2023 and 2024 playoffs that he can still be dangerous when he’s at full health, having averaged 24.3 PPG, 7.9 RPG, and 5.4 APG on .475/.381/.883 shooting in 11 games across those two brief postseason runs. However, his inability to stay healthy and perform at that level consistently – combined with his sizable contract – prompted the Bucks to trade him to Washington at the 2025 trade deadline in February.

While Middleton is a Wizard for now, the odds are probably against him spending the full 2025/26 season in D.C. with a rebuilding team. His big expiring contract could come in handy for salary-matching purposes in a trade, either this summer or during the season, if Washington hangs onto him into the fall in the hopes of rebuilding his value. If the forward has another down year and is still on the Wizards’ roster after the trade deadline, a buyout could be in play at that point.

Even with Middleton’s $33MM+ salary locked in, the Wizards project to operate comfortably below the luxury tax line this season.

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