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Grizzlies Extend Qualifying Offer To Santi Aldama

June 29th, 2025 at 5:36pm CST by Eli Cohen

The Grizzlies have issued a qualifying offer to impending free agent forward Santi Aldama, making him a restricted free agent, reports Michael Scotto for HoopsHype (via Twitter).

Aldama has become a crucial part of the Grizzlies’ big-man rotation, starting 71 games over the last three years for Memphis. In 2024/25, he averaged 12.5 points, 6.4 points, and 2.9 assists per game while shooting 36.8% from three, all career-high numbers. He also averaged 13.0 PPG and 6.0 RPG while shooting 41.7% from three in the Grizzlies’ four playoff games this spring.

His size at 6’11” and versatile skill set have allowed Aldama to play with equal comfort alongside star big man Jaren Jackso n Jr., Zach Edey, or Brandon Clarke, and even occasionally play in three-big lineups as the small forward.

It has been reported that Aldama may have his share of suitors willing to offer the full mid-level of $14.1MM annually, with the Pistons being a team that has been heavily linked to the Spanish big man. By extending the qualifying offer, the Grizzlies have ensured that they can match any offer another team makes.

The Grizzlies also tendered a two-way qualifying offer to Cam Spencer, making him a restricted free agent, tweets Chris Herrington of The Daily Memphian. The 25-year-old averaged 4.2 PPG, 1.4 APG, and 1.2 RPG in 25 games (10.1 MPG) for Memphis as a rookie after being drafted 53rd overall a year ago.

Cavaliers Decline Team Option On Chuma Okeke

June 29th, 2025 at 5:09pm CST by Eli Cohen

The Cavaliers are declining their team option on forward Chuma Okeke, reports Michael Scotto for HoopsHype (via Twitter). Okeke will now become an unrestricted free agent.

The 6’6″ forward, who spent the first four years of his career with the Magic, spent a majority of last season with the Knicks’ G League affiliate team, where he averaged 17.4 points, 8.1 rebounds, 4.9 assists, 1.4 steals, and 1.4 blocks while shooting 35.9% from three.

He then played seven games for the Sixers, averaging 24.4 minutes per game for the much-injured Philadelphia team, before being picked up by the Cavaliers.

Okeke appeared in two regular season games and three playoff contest for the Cavaliers, but only saw 38 total minutes of action. The 26-year-old will now explore his options in unrestricted free agency.

Pelicans To Decline Team Option For Brandon Boston Jr.

June 29th, 2025 at 4:44pm CST by Eli Cohen

The Pelicans are declining Brandon Bost on Jr.‘s team option, reports Keith Smith for Spotrac (via Twitter). The 23-year-old wing will become an unrestricted free agent.

Boston, who spent three years with the Clippers before playing last season in New Orleans, averaged 10.7 points, 3.2 rebounds, 2.2 assists, and 1.3 steals for the Pelicans in 23.6 minutes a night, while also shooting 35% from three. He started 10 games for the injury-riddled Pelicans, in which time he averaged 13.4 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 4.6 assists.

The 6’7″ shooting guard/small forward was a highly-touted high school prospect, but struggled in his lone year at Kentucky and has since been unable to carve out a consistent role in the league. Ironing out some consistency in the three-point shooting will be key for Boston as he looks for a new home in unrestricted free agency.

Pacers Issue QOs To I. Jackson, Q. Jackson, Freeman

June 29th, 2025 at 4:38pm CST by Rory Maher

The Pacers have tendered qualifying offers to Isaiah Jackson, Quenton Jackson and Enrique Freeman, making all three players restricted free agents, a league source tells Tony East of Forbes (Twitter link).

Isaiah Jackson was a semi-regular rotation player for Indiana over the course of his first three NBA seasons after being selected No. 22 overall in the 2021 draft. Unfortunately, the 23-year-old center sustained a torn Achilles tendon in the Pacers’ sixth game of 2024/25 and missed the rest of the season, including the team’s run to the NBA Finals.

The decision to give Isaiah Jackson a qualifying offer is an interesting one. The Pacers are clearly confident that he’s recovering well after the major injury, but the amount of the QO — $6,422,432 — isn’t insignificant, especially with Indiana trying to re-sign starting center Myles Turner in free agency.

Perhaps the Pacers have an idea of what it will take to bring back Jackson on a team-friendly multiyear deal and issued the qualifying offer as a precaution so he remains restricted. But he could also choose to accept the QO — essentially a guaranteed one-year contract — and become an unrestricted free agent in 2026. Either scenario would push Indiana closer to the luxury tax in 2025/26, which ownership has historically been reluctant to avoid.

As for Quenton Jackson, the former undrafted free agent averaged 5.8 PPG, 1.9 APG and 1.6 RPG on .475/.375/.775 shooting in 28 games (13.6 MPG) last season while on a two-way contract with Indiana. The third-year guard’s QO is a one-year deal for his minimum-salary ($2,378,870) and has a small partial guarantee ($102K).

Freeman, meanwhile, was a rookie last season after being selected 50th overall in 2024 out of Akron. The 6’8″ forward made 22 appearances with the Pacers, averaging 2.1 PPG and 1.4 RPG in 8.2 MPG. His QO is for another two-way deal and also features a modest partial guarantee ($85K) that won’t impact Indiana’s salary cap situation.

Wizards Waive Anthony Gill

June 29th, 2025 at 4:31pm CST by Eli Cohen

The Wizards have requested waivers on 32-year-old forward Anthony Gill, the team announced (via Twitter).

The Athletic’s David Aldridge, who first reported the news, notes that today was the deadline for the team to either guarantee Gill’s $2.5MM salary or waive him.

Gill has spent five years in Washington, averaging 3.4 points and 1.7 rebounds in 230 career games. According to Aldridge, the veteran is held in high esteem both among players and the front office.

Josh Robbins of The Athletic (Twitter link) confirms Aldridge’s assessment of the team’s appreciation of Gill and adds that it’s very likely that the two sides will be motivated to find a deal that brings the veteran back to the team, assuming there’s room on the roster. The Wizards have made a clear effort to prioritize adding experience and leadership to aid in the development of their young nucleus.

Magic Decline Team Options On Moe Wagner, Caleb Houstan

June 29th, 2025 at 4:22pm CST by Eli Cohen

The Magic are declining the team options for Moritz Wagner and Caleb Houstan, reports ESPN’s Shams Charania (via Twitter), making the two players unrestricted free agents.

Wagner’s team option was for $11MM while Houstan’s was for $2.1MM. Turning down both will allow the Magic to retain some financial flexibility after they traded for Desmond Bane. Charania notes that the team retains both players’ Bird rights, meaning that a reunion remains possible for either or both of them.

Wagner has been with the Magic for over five seasons, and has averaged 10.5 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 1.3 assists while shooting 32.9% from three over the last four years as a reserve center. His 2024/25 season was cut short in December by a torn ACL, which he is still recovering from.

Wagner appeared well on his way to a career year in 2024/25, as he had averaged 12.9 points and 4.9 rebounds per game with a .360 3PT% through his first 30 contests. According to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link), the Magic have interest in bringing him back.

Houstan, the former 32nd pick in the 2022 draft, has been in and out of the rotation over his three seasons in Orlando, but has become a strong shooter at 6’8″ and is still only 22 years old. He converted a career-best 40.0% of his three-point tries in 2024/25.

Hawks To Decline Option On Dominick Barlow

June 29th, 2025 at 4:13pm CST by Eli Cohen

The Hawks are declining their team option on center Dominick Barlow, ESPN’s Shams Charania reports (via Twitter).

Barlow’s option was for $2.2MM. The 22-year-old 6’9″ big man will become an unrestricted free agent with the move.

Barlow played 35 games with the Hawks this season after spending his first two years with the Spurs. He averaged 4.2 points and 2.4 rebounds for the Hawks in 10.7 minutes a night, numbers that are basically in line with his career averages, but he failed to carve out a real role for himself.

The Overtime Elite alumnus has performed well in the G League, but is still searching for a long-term NBA spot after the Spurs opted not to keep him last summer.

Bucks Re-Sign Bobby Portis To Three-Year Deal

June 29th, 2025 at 4:10pm CST by Luke Adams

July 7: The Bucks have put out a press release officially confirming that Portis is back under contract.

June 29: The Bucks and forward/center Bobby Portis have worked out a multiyear contract agreement, according to Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link), who reports that Portis intends to sign a three-year, $44MM pact that includes a third-year player option.

The contract will replace Portis’ $13.4MM player option for 2025/26, which he declined today in order to sign his new deal.

A reliable part of the Bucks’ frontcourt for the last five seasons, Portis earned Sixth Man of the Year votes in three of those years — he started too many games to qualify in one of the other two seasons, then only suited up a total of 49 times last season due to a 25-game suspension that cost him much of the second half.

In the suspension-shortened season, Portis averaged 13.9 points, 8.4 rebounds, and 2.1 assists in 25.4 minutes per game, with a .466/.365/.836 shooting line.

Portis recently spoke about a desire to be “compensated fairly” after accepting what he views as team-friendly contracts in recent years. While his new contract won’t give him a huge raise, it will pay him a higher annual salary than the four-year, $48.6MM deal he signed with Milwaukee in 2022.

Portis was one of two key members of the Bucks’ frontcourt eligible for free agency and had been considered more likely than fellow big man Brook Lopez to return to the team.

While Giannis Antetokounmpo trade speculation has run rampant since Milwaukee’s season ended, the two-time MVP hasn’t requested a change of scenery, so the Bucks are reportedly approaching their offseason as if he’s staying and are looking to make moves to complement him.

The terms of Portis’ contract suggest it could be finalized an extension in June rather than as a free agent deal in July. If that happens, he would remain trade-eligible rather than becoming ineligible to be dealt until December.

James Harden Declines Option, Signs New Two-Year Deal With Clippers

June 29th, 2025 at 4:04pm CST by Rory Maher

July 6: Harden’s new contract with the Clippers is official, per a team press release.

“James takes on a tremendous workload for our team, as a play-maker and a scorer, and he does it with consistency and dependability,” president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank said in a statement. “The NBA season is grueling, and James has proven he is built for it, in a way few are.

“He loves to play. He works on his game. He positions his teammates to succeed and his team to win. He’s a true partner, as shown by this agreement, which allows us to reward James and continue building in the present and future.”

The partial guarantee on Harden’s second-year player option is worth $13.3MM, tweets Michael Scotto of HoopsHype.

June 29: Clippers guard James Harden will turn down his $36.3MM player option for the 2025/26 season in order to sign a new two-year, $81.5MM contract with the team, reports Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter links).

According to Charania, the second year will be a player option and will be partially guaranteed if Harden opts in.

Dating back to 2022 free agency, this is the third consecutive time that Harden has inked a one-plus-one contract (two-year deal with a player option). The value of his cap hit for ’25/26 will determine how much financial flexibility the Clippers will have as they look to upgrade their roster this offseason.

Harden, who turns 36 years old at the end of August, appeared in 79 games last season, averaging 22.8 points, 8.7 assists, 5.8 rebounds and 1.5 steals on .410/.352/.872 shooting in 35.3 minutes per contest. The former NBA MVP was selected to his 11th All-Star team in 2024/25 and was also named to the All-NBA Third Team, marking the eighth time he’s been an all-league performer.

With Kawhi Leonard out for the first half of the season, Harden was the primary offensive engine for a Clippers team that performed better than expected after losing Paul George. He also had impressive chemistry with starting center Ivica Zubac, who had a career year with Harden orchestrating pick-and-rolls.

The Clippers went 50-32 last season, good for the No. 5 seed in the West, but lost their first-round playoff series against Denver in seven games.

Harden, a native of Los Angeles, was widely expected to return to the Clips in some fashion, whether by exercising his option or declining it and re-signing on a new deal. He opted for the latter route this summer, and could be a free agent again in 2026.

The move makes sense for both sides. The Nets are the only team projected to have a significant amount of cap room this offseason, and they were never going to be interested in a reunion with Harden at back end of his career, reducing his negotiating leverage.

But the Clippers also had no viable way to replace Harden’s scoring and play-making, and he has been pretty durable during his 16-year career. His contract for 2026/27 being partially guaranteed gives L.A. a little protection in the event of an injury or a decline in Harden’s play.

Harden was ranked No. 3 on on our list of this year’s top 50 free agents.

Thunder Re-Sign Ajay Mitchell To Three-Year Deal

June 29th, 2025 at 3:53pm CST by Luke Adams

July 6: Mitchell has officially re-signed with the Thunder, per NBA.com’s transaction log.

June 29: The Thunder will decline their 2025/26 team option on Ajay Mitchell, opting instead to sign the guard to a three-year contract worth $9MM, sources tell Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).

The new deal will start in ’25/26, replacing the $3MM option.

The 38th overall pick in the 2024 draft, Mitchell initially signed a two-way contract with Oklahoma City, but earned rotation minutes during the first half of the season, averaging 6.5 points, 1.9 rebounds, and 1.8 assists in 16.6 minutes per game on a strong shooting line of .495/.383/.829 across 36 appearances.

However, Mitchell’s promising rookie season was derailed in January by a turf toe injury that kept him on the shelf for more than three months. He returned in the final week of the regular season, then played a limited role during the team’s title run, mostly playing in garbage time.

Having finalized a three-year extension with Jaylin Williams as well, the Thunder will have 14 of the 15 players from their championship team back under contract for next season once Mitchell’s deal is official. While it’s still early in the offseason and more moves are possible, it looks like replacing Dillon Jones with 2025 first-rounder Thomas Sorber may be the only real change Oklahoma City makes to its roster this summer.