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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).

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.

Rockets Trading For Suns’ Kevin Durant

June 22nd, 2025 at 12:30pm CST by Rory Maher

The Rockets are acquiring Kevin Durant from the Suns in exchange for Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks, the 10th pick in the 2025 draft, and five second-rounders, reports Shams Charania of ESPN.

The Heat were the other finalist for Durant, sources tell Charania.

According to John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 (Twitter link), who reported this morning that Phoenix was “very close” to trading Durant, the second-round selections the Suns will receive are the 59th pick in this year’s draft, two picks in 2026, Boston’s selection in 2030, and Houston’s pick in 2032.

As ESPN’s Bobby Marks tweets, the blockbuster trade cannot be formally completed until July 6 due to the poison pill provision affecting Green’s rookie scale extension.

Durant, who turns 37 years old in September, has been on the trade block for months after Phoenix nearly sent him to Golden State prior to the February deadline, a move that reportedly fell apart after the former NBA MVP didn’t want to return to the Warriors, especially during the season. Four months later, he’ll be heading to Houston, one of three teams said to be on his wish list, along with San Antonio and Miami.

Although Durant will be entering his 19th NBA season this fall, he continues to perform at an All-NBA level. In 62 games for the Suns this past season, he averaged 26.6 points, 6.0 rebounds, 4.2 assists, and 1.2 blocks in 36.5 minutes per game, with an impressive shooting line of .527/.430/.839.

In Durant, Houston now has a star capable of creating his own shot and generating half-court offense, which was an issue for the team during its first-round playoff loss to Golden State this spring. While Green was Houston’s leading scorer during the regular season, he struggled in his first appearance on the postseason stage — he poured in 38 points in Game 2 but failed to score more than 12 points in any of the series’ other six games.

Still, Green is just 23 years old, so he has the potential to continue improving and expanding his game after averaging 20.1 points per contest on .422/.342/.799 shooting in his first four NBA seasons.

According to Marc Stein of The Stein Line (Twitter link), although Jabari Smith Jr. was among the young Rockets players the Suns were reportedly interested in, Houston was insistent on only doing a Durant trade if Green was the only member of its young core it gave up.

Phoenix now has a crowded shooting guard depth chart, with Green joining Devin Booker and Bradley Beal on the roster, but Gambadoro tweets that there are no plans to flip Green to another team and that he’ll play alongside Booker in the Suns’ backcourt. There has been an expectation that Beal won’t return to the club next season, though his contract (which includes a no-trade clause) will make him difficult to move.

Besides Green, the Suns are also adding a solid defensive wing in Brooks and a lottery pick in this week’s draft, which will put them in position to add another promising young prospect to their core.

Durant will be on an expiring $54.7MM contract, so the Rockets will likely make an effort to extend his deal beyond 2025/26. As Marks tweets, the star forward will be eligible for a two-year extension worth roughly $122MM as of July 6. If he were to wait six months, his maximum extension would be worth a little more, though the difference would be minimal (approximately $2MM).

Green’s three-year, $105.3MM rookie scale extension will go into effect this July. That deal includes a third-year player option and a 10% trade kicker, though that bonus will likely have to be eliminated or amended in order to make this trade work, Marks notes.

Brooks, who is on a descending contract, is owed about $41.1MM in base salary over the next two seasons, with an additional $2MM in incentives ($1MM per year) for making the first round of the playoffs.

Because Houston achieved that feat this season and Phoenix didn’t, that bonus will change from “likely to be earned” to “unlikely” as a result of the trade, reducing Brooks’ 2025/26 cap hit by $1MM. That will be a key to making the trade legal for the Suns, who can’t take back more salary than they send out as long as they continue to operate over the second tax apron, Marks adds (via Twitter).

According to Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald (Twitter links), the Heat improved their offer for Durant in recent days and received consideration from the Suns, but their offer ultimately couldn’t compete with Houston’s. Jackson suggests Miami was unwilling to include multiple first-round picks and young players in its package, while Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald (Twitter link) hears that the Heat’s unwillingness to include center Kel’el Ware was among the sticking points that led to Phoenix going in a different direction.

The Timberwolves were also involved in the Durant sweepstakes, but with no assurances from Durant that he actually wanted to be in Minnesota, they seemingly didn’t get all that close to making a deal, tweets Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic.

The Spurs, Raptors, and Clippers were among the other teams who were said to have interest in Durant before the Suns reached an agreement with the Rockets.

Luke Adams contributed to this story.

Nuggets’ Dario Saric Picks Up Player Option

June 22nd, 2025 at 12:19pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Nuggets reserve big man Dario Saric has picked up his $5.4MM player option for the 2025/26 season, sources inform Marc Stein of The Stein Line (Twitter link).

Saric was inked to a two-year, $10.6MM deal last summer via Denver’s taxpayer mid-level exception. He was a relative disappointment, and quickly fell out of the team’s rotation.

The 31-year-old played just 16 regular season contests, averaging 3.5 PPG, 3.1 RPG, and 1.4 APG in 13.1 MPG. He was out of David Adelman‘s playoff lineups entirely. Instead, power forward Aaron Gordon was often used as a small-ball center to back up three-time MVP starting five Nikola Jokic in the postseason.

Saric’s deadline to make a decision on the contract was June 29. Denver’s new-look front office, led by interim general manager Ben Tenzer, presumably isn’t surprised that he opted to lock in the security of the deal, since he would’ve been unlikely to earn more than the veteran’s minimum in free agency this summer.

For his career, the 6’10” big man boasts averages of 10.4 PPG and 5.3 RPG, and is a 36% three-point shooter on 3.6 triple tries a night. He could have some intriguing upside to another team, if Denver can find a destination to reroute his salary this offseason, but he’ll have negative value on the trade market.

Bucks’ Pat Connaughton Opts In For 2025/26

June 21st, 2025 at 3:12pm CST by Luke Adams

Bucks guard/forward Pat Connaughton has picked up his 2025/26 player option, reports Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link). The move locks in Connaughton’s salary of $9,423,869 for next season and puts him on track to reach unrestricted free agency in 2026.

Connaughton’s option decision comes as no surprise. He played a key role on Milwaukee’s championship team in 2020/21 and had a career year in ’21/22, when he averaged 9.9 points per game on .458/.395/.833 shooting, but his playing time and his production have dropped off significantly since then.

This past season, the 32-year-old wing averaged just 5.3 points, 2.7 rebounds, and 1.7 assists in 14.7 minutes per game across 41 outings. His 32.1% three-point percentage was his worst mark since his rookie year in 2015/16.

Since Connaughton wasn’t going to receive a starting salary of $9.4MM if he had become a free agent, it makes sense for him to take the guaranteed money by exercising his option.

Now, the decision on Connaughton’s future is back in the Bucks’ hands. He’ll likely be a trade candidate on that $9.4MM expiring contract as Milwaukee looks to reshape its roster and remain in the playoff picture while Damian Lillard recovers from an Achilles tear. Given his drop-off in minutes and effectiveness, Connaughton won’t have any trade value on his own, but his deal could be used for salary-matching purposes.

As our player option tracker shows, Connaughton is one of three Bucks players with an option decision to make this month. Bobby Portis ($13.45MM) and Kevin Porter Jr. ($2.55MM) are viewed as good bets to opt out in search of more lucrative multiyear deals.

Mavs’ Dwight Powell Picks Up Player Option

June 21st, 2025 at 2:26pm CST by Eli Cohen

June 21: Powell has officially exercised his option, according to Jake Fischer of The Stein Line (Twitter link).

June 20: Mavericks center Dwight Powell is exercising his player option for the 2025/26 season, reports Mark Stein of The Stein Line (via Twitter). Powell had until Tuesday to make a decision on the option, which will pay him $4MM next season.

Powell, Dallas’ longest-tenured player, appeared in 55 games for head coach Jason Kidd last season, averaging 2.1 points, 2.1 rebounds, and 1.0 assist per game in 10.0 minutes per night.

Powell has been with the Mavericks since the 2014/15 season, when he was traded from Boston to Dallas in a mid-season deal. He was a regular starter for the club as recently as the 2022/23 season, but has seen his playing time decline within the last couple years.

The Mavericks have Anthony Davis, Dereck Lively II, and Daniel Gafford all currently under contract at the center position and are on track to draft Cooper Flagg, who is expected to play minutes at power forward.

Powell’s return will give the Mavericks some depth in case of injury, as well as a veteran who can help instill Kidd’s schemes, assuming he remains on the roster. The big man, who will turn 34 next month, could also end up becoming a trade candidate if the team faces a cap or roster crunch this summer.

If he plays out his contract, Powell will be extension-eligible during the 2025/26 season and would become an unrestricted free agent next summer.

Powell is one of two Mavs who holds a player option for ’25/26. Teammate Kyrie Irving also has a decision due by Tuesday.

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