Transactions Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Pelicans, Pacers Complete Draft-Pick Swap

June 17th, 2025 at 2:23pm CST by Luke Adams

2:23 pm: The trade is official, the Pelicans confirmed in a press release.

12:51 pm: The Pelicans and Pacers have agreed to a trade, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania, who reports (via Twitter) that Indiana is sending the No. 23 overall pick in this year’s draft to New Orleans, along with the draft rights to 2023 second-round pick Mojave King.

In exchange, the Pelicans will trade Indiana’s 2026 first-round pick back to the Pacers. That pick, which was originally sent to Toronto with top-four protection as part of the Pascal Siakam blockbuster at the 2024 deadline, was flipped to New Orleans at the 2025 deadline in the Brandon Ingram deal.

The deal will give the Pelicans some extra ammunition in this year’s draft. New Orleans also controls the No. 7 overall pick but previously traded away its second-rounder. The Pelicans will now have an opportunity to add two of the top 23 players from the 2025 draft pool, assuming the front office hangs onto both picks.

King, who was the 47th overall pick in the 2023 draft, has played in the G League, New Zealand, and Puerto Rico in the past two years. Although he’s not considered an elite draft-and-stash prospect, the 6’5″ guard is still just 23 years old, so it’s not out of the question that he’ll sign an NBA contract at some point.

As for the Pacers, the deal accomplishing two things. For one, it will remove a cap hold of roughly $3.24MM from their books for 2025/26, tweets ESPN’s Bobby Marks. That will give the team slightly more cap flexibility as it looks to re-sign Myles Turner without going too deep into luxury-tax territory.

Additionally, as Kevin O’Connor of Yahoo Sports tweets, the move will free up more of the Pacers’ future first-rounders for trade purposes. Previously, due to the Stepien rule that prevents teams from leaving themselves without a pick in the first round of consecutive future drafts, the Pacers wouldn’t have been able to offer more than two first-rounders unconditionally in any trade package. Now they could offer up to four (2026, 2028, 2030, and 2032).

While teams typically aren’t permitted to make trades between the in-season trade deadline and the end of their season, the Pacers can make this deal while they remain alive in the NBA Finals because it doesn’t involve any players on their 15-man roster.

Magic Declining Options On Gary Harris, Cory Joseph

June 16th, 2025 at 9:08pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Magic are declining their options on the contracts of guards Gary Harris and Cory Joseph for next season, Michael Scotto of HoopsHype tweets. Harris’ team option is worth $7.5MM, while Joseph’s is equivalent to his minimum salary ($3.47MM).

Neither move comes as a surprise. Harris, 30, had a limited role this season and once again battled injuries. He saw action in just 48 games this season, averaging just 3.0 points in 14.8 minutes.

In previous seasons, Harris was at least a part-time starter. He recently expressed a desire to stay in Orlando, but if he does, it’ll come at a reduced salary.

“I love Orlando,” Harris said earlier in the spring. “My kids love it here. It’s been great to be a part of what we’ve been building here in this city, but you know how the league is. There’s a lot uncertain. You never know what’s going to happen. So all I can do is control what I can, continue to put the work in [and] stay ready for whatever the future may hold. But I definitely love my time here in Orlando, so we’ll see if it continues.”

Joseph, 33, received some unexpected playing time due to injuries. He averaged 3.5 points and 1.4 assists in 12.2 minutes per game, appearing in 50 contests (16 starts).

These moves are a byproduct of the Desmond Bane blockbuster trade with the Grizzlies. Orlando will presumably be looking to stay below the luxury tax line and avoid operating in apron territory — declining these options will assist that cause. Bane has a $36.7MM salary for next season.

Magic Acquire Desmond Bane From Grizzlies In Three-Player Deal

June 15th, 2025 at 4:02pm CST by Arthur Hill

4:02 pm: The trade is now official, per a Magic press release (Twitter link).

10:14 am: The Grizzlies will trade Desmond Bane to the Magic in exchange for Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Cole Anthony, four unprotected first-round picks and one first-round pick swap, according to Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).

Memphis will receive the 16th selection in this year’s draft, along with a “most favorable” 2026 first-round pick that will likely be Phoenix’s and unprotected first-rounders from Orlando in 2028 and 2030, Charania adds, noting that there’s light protection on the pick swap in 2029 (Twitter link).

Bane provides a potent offensive weapon for a Magic team that often struggled to score. He averaged 19.2 points, 6.1 rebounds and 5.3 assists in 69 games this season with a .484/.392/.894 shooting line. He’ll be another scoring threat to team with Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner and should be a good complement to defensive specialist Jalen Suggs in the backcourt as Orlando looks to become a contender in what should be a weakened Eastern Conference.

The 27-year-old guard just completed the first season of a five-year, $197.2MM extension, so Orlando will be getting the security of a long-term contract. Bane will make $36.7MM next season, with that number rising to $44.9MM in the final year of his deal in 2028/29.

Caldwell-Pope wasn’t able to provide the Magic with consistent backcourt scoring after being signed away from Denver last offseason, but Charania notes that he’s a strong defensive wing who’ll bring championship experience to Memphis. Caldwell-Pope, 32, appeared in 77 games this season, averaging 8.7 PPG, his lowest scoring average since his rookie season. He shot 43.9% from the field and 34.2% from three-point range, significantly below the numbers he posted during his two years in Denver.

Caldwell-Pope has two years left on the deal he signed last summer and will earn $21,621,500 in each of the next two seasons.

Anthony has been a productive scorer during his five years in Orlando, but his playing time (18.4 minutes per game) and scoring average (9.4 PPG) both hit career lows this season. The 25-year-old guard will provide Memphis with instant offense off the bench and will make $13.1MM next season with a $13.1 team option for 2026/27.

Cap expert Yossi Gozlan tweets that the trade can be processed right away rather than waiting for the moratorium to be lifted on July 6. He adds that the Magic are required to do a 100% salary match because they project to be above the $195.9MM first apron next season. As a result of aggregating salaries, they will be hard-capped at the $207.8MM second apron in 2025/26, but can escape the luxury tax by declining team options on Moritz Wagner ($11MM) and Gary Harris ($7.5MM).

Gozlan also states that Orlando’s combined salary and tax bill could top $350MM in 2026/27 once Banchero’s expected max extension kicks in (Twitter link).

In addition, Gozlan notes that the deal will impact a possible renegotiation and extension for Jaren Jackson Jr. by decreasing the Grizzlies’ available cap space from $6.9MM to $4.5MM. Additional trades may be necessary to free up more money for Jackson.

ESPN’s Bobby Marks points out (via Twitter) that Bane has a 15% trade bonus in his contract, but it will be voided because it would push his salary over the maximum.

Steven Adams Signs Three-Year Extension With Rockets

June 14th, 2025 at 10:00pm CST by Rory Maher

10:00 pm: The extension is official, according to NBA.com’s transaction log.

1:35 pm: The Rockets and Steven Adams have agreed to a contract extension, according to Shams Charania of ESPN, who reports that the veteran center will receive a three-year, $39MM deal.

Adams’ extension is fully guaranteed, sources tell Charania, and does not feature a player or team option, per Kelly Iko of The Athletic (Twitter link). The big man from New Zealand earned $12.6MM this past season.

As ESPN’s Bobby Marks notes (Twitter link), Adams was extension-eligible until June 30, the last day of the current league year.

Adams, who turns 32 years old next month, missed about half of the 2022/23 season with a knee injury. That same injury, which eventually required surgery, kept him on the shelf for the entire ’23/24 campaign. After a 21-month absence, he returned to action in late October.

The Rockets brought Adams along slowly to open ’24/25, frequently giving him extra rest days and limiting his playing time. He wound up making 58 regular season appearances and averaging a career-low 13.7 minutes per game.

While his production looked fairly modest on the surface — he averaged 3.9 points and 5.6 rebounds — Adams quietly posted the best offensive rebounding percentage of his career. His +9.4 net rating during the regular season and +14.1 mark in the postseason were both team highs, making him a key reserve for Houston.

GM Rafael Stone said retaining Adams would be a high priority this offseason, and subsequent reporting confirmed as much. Instead of becoming an unrestricted free agent, he opted to remain with the Rockets.

While there has been no indication that Houston is interested in trading Adams, it’s worth noting that, depending on the structure of the deal, he may remain trade-eligible after signing his new extension (assuming his annual raises don’t exceed 5%). Had he re-signed with the team as a free agent, he would not have been trade-eligible until December 15.

Nuggets’ Russell Westbrook To Opt Out Of Contract

June 13th, 2025 at 8:38am CST by Luke Adams

Nuggets point guard Russell Westbrook won’t exercise his $3.47MM player option for the 2025/26 season, league sources tell Marc Stein of The Stein Line (Twitter link).

Declining that option will put Westbrook on track to become an unrestricted free agent this summer. He would have the opportunity at that time to either re-sign with Denver or join a new team.

Westbrook, 36, played a significant role for the Nuggets after signing with the team as a free agent during the 2024 offseason. He averaged 13.3 points, 6.1 assists, 4.9 rebounds, and 1.4 steals in 27.9 minutes per game across 75 appearances (36 starts) during the regular season, with a .449/.323/.661 shooting line. He also contributed 11.7 PPG, 2.6 APG, and 3.7 RPG in 13 playoff contests (24.1 MPG).

A former MVP and a nine-time All-Star, Westbrook is a polarizing player for a future Hall of Famer. He was lauded by coaches and teammates in Denver this past season for his energy, competitiveness, and leadership, and remains an excellent play-maker and an elite rebounder at his position. However, he’s also an inefficient scorer whose high-energy style often results in out-of-control plays and a high turnover rate.

Despite his flaws, Westbrook has been a great value on minimum-salary contracts in recent years after earning the maximum for much of his playing career. Since being bought out by the Jazz in 2023, he has opted for situations with the Clippers and Nuggets where he can play a major role on a team with championship aspirations. If money were more of a priority, Westbrook could likely have done better than the veteran’s minimum on the open market over the last couple seasons.

His decision to decline his option doesn’t come as a major surprise, since his $3,468,960 option was based on a 5% raise on this past season’s minimum salary. With the salary cap expected to rise by 10%, Westbrook’s new minimum projects to be $3,634,153, so even if he wants to remain with the Nuggets, opting out to sign a new contract makes sense.

It’s also worth noting that if Westbrook signs a one-year minimum-salary deal with Denver or another team, his cap hit for 2025/26 would be just $2,296,274. If he signs another one-plus-one contract that includes a second-year option, his cap charge would be equivalent to his actual salary, whether or not he earns the minimum.

Westbrook is currently recovering from a procedure to repair multiple ligament tears in his right hand.

Pelicans Re-Sign Kylor Kelley

April 13th, 2025 at 2:07pm CST by Luke Adams

The Pelicans have brought back center Kylor Kelley for the final day of the 2024/25 season, signing him to a new contract via the hardship exception, the team announced in a press release.

Kelley signed a 10-day hardship contract with the Pelicans on April 3. Over the course of that deal, which expired on Saturday night, he appeared in two games, averaging 3.5 points and 6.5 rebounds in 22.0 minutes per contest.

Kelley, who went undrafted out of Oregon State in 2020, made his NBA debut earlier this season while on a two-way deal with the Mavericks. He has also played in the G League and a handful of other non-NBA leagues – including in England and Denmark – since going pro.

While Kelley’s latest contract is referred to as a “10-day” deal because it’s signed using the hardship exception, it’ll only actually cover one day, paying him $66,503, before it expires. As of Monday, the 27-year-old big man will once again be a free agent, with New Orleans not holding any form of Bird rights on him entering the offseason.

The Pelicans qualify for a hardship exception, which allows them to exceed the usual 15-man standard roster limit, because they have at least four players affected by long-term injury absences.

Celtics Convert JD Davison To Standard Contract

April 13th, 2025 at 11:05am CST by Earnest Marshall

April 13: Davison’s promotion is now official, according to the Celtics.

April 12: The Celtics are converting two-way guard JD Davison to a two-year standard contract, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania (Twitter link). Boston had an open spot on its 15-man roster, so no corresponding move is necessary.

Boston drafted Davison in the second round of the 2022 draft. In his three years on two-way deals, the 22-year-old has appeared in total 35 games with the Celtics, averaging 1.7 points in 5.2 minutes per contest.

Davison has seen much more playing time at the G League level, averaging 20.1 points, 4.9 rebounds and 8.0 assists across 133 regular season games. He was named the Most Valuable Player of the NBAGL this season after averaging 25.6 PPG in the regular season.

Being converted to the standard roster will make Davison eligible for the playoffs.

It’s unclear what the specifics are on his deal at this time, but it may feature little to no guaranteed money for next season. Conversions around this time of year help give contending teams longer looks at developmental players into the offseason and gives them the flexibility to decide whether to keep them around. Davison would have been eligible for restricted free agency this offseason had he not been converted.

Because the deadline for signing players to two-way contracts passed in March, the Celtics are not eligible to sign another player to fill Davison’s slot. Drew Peterson and Miles Norris occupy Boston’s other two-way slots, with Norris on a two-year deal that runs through 2025/26.

Raptors Sign Colin Castleton To Two-Year Deal

April 13th, 2025 at 10:28am CST by Luke Adams

April 13: Castleton’s contract with Toronto is now official, the team confirmed in a press release.

April 11: Second-year center Colin Castleton will be leaving the Sixers and returning to the Raptors on the final weekend of the regular season, reports Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer (Twitter link).

Castleton, who was on a two-way contract with the Grizzlies earlier this season, was waived by Memphis in January, then inked a pair of 10-day deals with Toronto in March before joining the 76ers on a 10-day pact last Thursday.

In 24 total outings for those three teams in 2024/25, Castleton has averaged 4.0 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 1.2 assists in 15.8 minutes per game. He played his best basketball this season with the Raptors, putting up 6.9 PPG, 7.4 RPG, and 1.8 APG in 10 games (four starts) over the course of his 20 days with Toronto.

Because a player can’t sign more than two 10-day contracts with a team in a season, the big man was only able to return to the Raptors if he and the team agreed to a standard contract.

They’ve done just that, according to Blake Murphy of Sportsnet.ca, who tweets that Castleton and two-way player A.J. Lawson are getting essentially the same deal — a two-year contract that isn’t guaranteed beyond this season. That will allow the Raptors to take a longer look at the duo this offseason, including in Summer League.

Toronto waived Orlando Robinson and Cole Swider on Thursday, opening up a pair of spots on the 15-man roster. At the time, reports indicated that Robinson, Swider, Lawson, and Castleton were among the candidates to fill those openings on new multiyear deals. It appears Lawson and Castleton will be the ones filling out the roster, with Robinson and Swider the odd men out.

Castleton’s 10-day contract with Philadelphia technically runs through Saturday, but with the Sixers not in action again until Sunday, it’s possible they’ll terminate his deal a day early in order to free him up to sign with Toronto.

Warriors Convert Braxton Key To Standard Contract

April 13th, 2025 at 10:01am CST by Rory Maher

The Warriors have converted forward Braxton Key‘s two-way deal to a standard contract, according to the NBA’s official transactions log.

The wording in the NBA’s log indicates it was a straight conversion of Key’s one-year contract rather than a brand-new multiyear deal, so he remains on track to be a free agent this summer, when his new contract expires.

As our Luke Adams wrote yesterday, the Warriors had an opening on their standard roster ahead of Sunday’s regular season finale. They have filled it by promoting Key, who is now eligible to appear in the postseason.

A four-year veteran, Key has played a total of 37 NBA games with Philadelphia, Detroit, Denver and Golden State since he went undrafted out of Virginia in 2020. He spent most of 2024/25 in the NBA G League with the San Diego Clippers before signing a two-way contract with the Warriors at the beginning of March.

Key excelled at the NBGL level this season, filling the stat sheet with averages of 16.5 points, 8.9 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 2.6 steals and 1.1 blocks on .506/.282/.670 shooting in 49 total games with San Diego and the Santa Cruz Warriors (31.7 minutes per contest). He was named the G League’s Defensive Player of the Year earlier this month.

Hornets Re-Sign Jaylen Sims

April 13th, 2025 at 9:28am CST by Rory Maher

The Hornets have re-signed Jaylen Sims for Sunday’s regular season finale after his 10-day contract expired overnight, per a team press release.

As our tracker shows, the Hornets currently have a full 15-man standard roster. However, they were able to sign Sims using a hardship exception, as the team has multiple players dealing with significant injuries.

Hardship contracts typically cover 10 days, but Charlotte’s season concludes today. He will earn $6,650 for one day of work with his hometown team, and the Hornets will carry an identical cap hit on their books.

A 6’6″ shooting guard, Sims went undrafted out of UNC Wilmington in 2022 and has spent the past three seasons suiting up for the Greensboro Swarm, Charlotte’s NBA G League affiliate.

Sims made 49 combined appearances for the Swarm in 2024/25, averaging 19.1 points, 5.3 rebounds and 2.7 assists in 32.9 minutes per contest, with a shooting line of .442/.375/.837. The 26-year-old also played in five games (18.2 MPG) for the Hornets this month, averaging 6.0 PPG and 2.0 APG on .421/.400/.833 shooting.