Utah Jazz Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Celtics Trade Georges Niang, Two Picks To Jazz

August 6th, 2025 at 5:08pm CST by Dana Gauruder

August 6: The move is now official, per the Celtics (via Twitter).

The second-rounders headed to the Jazz in the deal are either the Celtics’ or Magic’s 2027 pick (whichever is most favorable) and either the Celtics’ or Cavaliers’ 2031 pick (whichever is most favorable), per Jake Fischer (Twitter link).

August 5: The Celtics are trading Georges Niang and two future second-round picks to the Jazz for rookie RJ Luis Jr., ESPN’s Shams Charania tweets.

Utah is utilizing part of the $26.6MM trade exception created in last month’s three-team trade in which Utah dealt John Collins to the Clippers, Bobby Marks of ESPN tweets.

It’s another salary dump for the Celtics, allowing them to move well below the second tax apron.

Niang was acquired by Boston from the Hawks in the three-team Kristaps Porzingis blockbuster this offseason. The 6’7″ forward has an expiring $8.2MM contract for next season.

Niang has been on the move quite a bit this year. He began last season with Cleveland and played 51 games for the Cavaliers, all but one off the bench, before getting dealt to Atlanta in February. Niang appeared in 28 games with the Hawks, including two starts. Overall, he averaged 9.9 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 21.5 minutes per night last season.

Niang will provide Utah with another floor-stretching big off the bench. He’s a career 39.9% shooter on three-point tries.

It will be his second stint with the Jazz, whom he played with from 2017-21. They’re looking at him as someone who can play a rotation role and bring veteran leadership to their young core, Tony Jones of The Athletic tweets. The two sides have spoken, according to Jones, and Niang is happy and excited to be back in Utah.

Luis, an undrafted rookie out of St. John’s, was signed to a two-way contract, so he’ll fill the Celtics’ open two-way slot. Boston reached an agreement with free agent forward Chris Boucher to take Niang’s spot on the 15-man roster.

According to cap expert Yossi Gozlan (Twitter link), the Celtics shed approximately $5oMM off their luxury tax bill with the Niang trade. They’re now just $1.7MM above the first apron and $9.4MM above the luxury tax line. They also created a $8.2MM trade exception.

International Notes: Napier, Markkanen, Williams, Birch

August 3rd, 2025 at 9:58pm CST by Eli Cohen

After winning a championship and being named 2025 Finals MVP of the German Bundesliga for Bayern Munich, Shabazz Napier is hitting free agency, writes Dario Skerletic of Sportando.

The 34-year-old point guard averaged 10.3 points, 3.2 assists, and 1.1 steals per game while shooting 41.1% on three-pointers during EuroLeague play.

Napier was the 24th pick in the 2014 draft and averaged 7.1 points and 2.5 assists during his six-year NBA career. He split time between the G League and EuroLeague throughout the 2022/23 season, playing 10 games for the Mexico City Capitanes and averaging 22.3 points, 4.7 assists, and 1.9 steals while shooting 47.1% from three before joining Olimpia Milano, where he averaged 15.0 points and 3.9 assists and knocked down 45.6% of his threes.

Since then, he has bounced between Olimpia Milano and Crvena Zvezda before heading to Bayern this past season.

We have more from the world of international hoops:

Lauri Markkanen will lead Team Finland in EuroBasket as the lone NBA player on the roster, as the team at Eurohoops.net notes. He’s not the only NBA personnel, though, as Jazz assistant Sean Sheldon will serve as an assistant coach. The Finnish team will play Sweden, Great Britain, Montenegro, Lithuania, and Germany in the group stage, which starts on August 27.
Johnathan Williams III has signed a one-year deal with the London Lions, reports Johnny Askounis of Eurohoops. Williams spent two seasons in the NBA, from 2018-2020, splitting time between the Lakers and Wizards. He spent the previous three years in the Japanese league, playing last year for the Chiba Jets, for whom he averaged 11.8 points, 9.1 rebounds, and 3.1 assists in 17 games.
In case you missed it, Khem Birch has finalized his contract extension with Fenerbahce. The new deal is for one year as the Turkish powerhouse looks to defend its title. The 32-year-old center was named Finals MVP of the Basketball Super League playoffs last season.

Stein’s Latest: Kuminga, Doncic, Vucevic, Fox, Love

August 3rd, 2025 at 5:00pm CST by Eli Cohen

Jonathan Kuminga‘s restricted free agent negotiations with the Warriors continue to be one of the top lingering storylines of the NBA offseason. Following up on recent reports indicating that Kuminga has turned down a two-year, $45MM offer with a team option on the second year, Marc Stein of The Stein Line (Substack link) notes that the team’s request for the forward to waive his implicit no-trade clause is part of the holdup.

A player who re-signs with his previous team on a one-year contract or a two-year deal with a second-year option gets the right to veto trades for the rest of the season, but that right can be waived as part of the contract agreement. Jaxson Hayes, Taurean Prince, and Jeff Green are among several players who have waived their veto rights when re-signing with their respective teams this summer.

A player in that position who consents to a trade – either by waiving his veto rights when he signs or by eventually approving an in-season trade – would lose any form of Bird rights as part of the deal and would have Non-Bird rights at the end of the season.

Aside from the contract negotiations, Stein writes that while Kuminga has returned to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, he is still not expected to play in FIBA’s AfroBasket tournament this summer. No official decision has been announced yet, but it’s unlikely that Kuminga would suit up for the Congolese team if his contract situation remains unresolved.

Here’s more from Stein:

Much has been made about Luka Doncic‘s three-year max extension with the Lakers and what it means for him and the team’s future, but Stein points out an important detail regarding the timeline of the deal. The contract would allow Doncic to become an unrestricted free agent in 2028 when he has more than eight years of NBA service and four seasons with his current team, which means he would be eligible for a no-trade clause if he were to wait until ’28 free agency to sign a new contract with the Lakers. Stein writes that while Doncic will have technically played three-and-a-half years with the Lakers, he’d still meet the no-trade criteria because he would have finished four seasons with the Lakers, even if he started the first one in Dallas.
While the offseason buyout market has been particularly active this offseason, Stein cautions fans not to expect Bulls center Nikola Vucevic to join the likes of Bradley Beal and Damian Lillard this summer. He writes that unless a trade materializes in the next couple of months, Vucevic will very likely begin next season in Chicago. There has been speculation that the veteran big man could be a prime mid-season buyout candidate if no deal occurs by February’s trade deadline.
Spurs guard De’Aaron Fox became eligible on Sunday for a three- or four-year extension that would look like the one Doncic signed in L.A. However, Stein notes that with the rise of reigning Rookie of the Year Stephon Castle and the addition of Dylan Harper with the No. 2 overall pick, there are questions league-wide about whether such a max deal is an automatic decision for San Antonio.
Kevin Love is actively exploring landing spots in the case of a potential buyout from the Jazz after landing in Utah as a part of the Heat’s trade for Norman Powell, though Stein doesn’t name any possible suitors.

Free Agent Notes: Thomas, Jazz, Kings, Westbrook, Boston

July 28th, 2025 at 1:42pm CST by Rory Maher

Reports have indicated there’s a significant gap in contract negotiations between restricted free agent guard Cam Thomas and the Nets, his incumbent team. As Grant Afseth of FastbreakJournal.com writes, Thomas doesn’t appear to have much leverage, with so few teams having the ability to sign him to an offer sheet that might give Brooklyn pause.

“He’s a talented scorer, but he’s kind of stuck in the middle right now. He wants star money, but a lot of teams see him more like a microwave scorer off the bench,” a veteran scout for a team who made last year’s playoffs told FastbreakJournal.com. “That disparity is what’s keeping him on the market.”

Echoing reporting from Jake Fischer, Afseth also states that Thomas seems “increasingly likely” to sign his $6MM qualifying offer, which would give him an implied no-trade clause and a chance to hit unrestricted free agency in 2026.

Here are a few more free agent items of interest:

League sources tell Afseth that the Jazz, who could theoretically make a run at a top restricted free agent using their $26.6MM trade exception, don’t appear to be interested in Thomas. However, rival teams believe Utah might be intrigued by another RFA who offers more versatility and defense. “If Utah uses that cap space, it’ll be for someone like Quentin Grimes, someone who can knock down threes and guard multiple positions, but still can create off the dribble,” an Eastern Conference executive told FastbreakJournal.com. “He’s also shown flashes as a scorer and play-maker in Philly. He’s shown he can grow into a more complete player in the right system. That’s a different type of bet than what you’re making on Thomas.” The Jazz wouldn’t be able to complete an offer sheet using a trade exception, but could make a sign-and-trade deal.
According to Matt George of ABC 10 Sacramento (Twitter link), the Kings and veteran guard Russell Westbrook continue to have mutual interest. However, George has heard that Sacramento would probably need to trade either Devin Carter or Malik Monk to make room in the backcourt for Westbrook, who remains an unrestricted free agent after declining his 2025/26 player option in June. The nine-time All-Star suited up for Denver last season.
Free agent wing Brandon Boston Jr. is in “advanced talks” with Greek EuroLeague club Panathinaikos, per Spurs reporter Dusty Garza (Twitter link; hat tip to Sportando). The 23-year-old guard/forward is coming off a solid season with New Orleans in which he averaged 10.7 points, 3.2 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.3 steals in 23.6 minutes per contest, with all of those figures representing career highs. However, Boston was limited to just 42 games due to an ankle injury, which required surgery in April, and the Pelicans declined their team option on his contract for ’25/26, making him unrestricted.

Summer League Notes: Rookie Standouts, Maluach, Fears

July 27th, 2025 at 6:02pm CST by Eli Cohen

The 2025 Summer League gave fans and teams first impressions of most of this year’s incoming rookies, as well as serving as a showcase for several sophomores and younger veterans. In the wake of the event, Law Murray of the Athletic breaks down each rookie’s performance with an eye for what it could mean for the coming season.

Cooper Flagg (Mavericks), Dylan Harper (Spurs), and VJ Edgecombe (Sixers) were arguably the biggest names who participated in the Summer Leagues – headlined by the Las Vegas event – and despite some shooting efficiency concerns, all three gave their fans plenty of reason for excitement.

Flagg displayed a well-rounded on-ball skill set, Harper came up clutch in his last game to force overtime, and Edgecombe lived at the free throw line while displaying some advanced ball-screen offensive game, Murray observes.

The next three picks in the draft, Kon Knueppel (Hornets), Ace Bailey (Jazz), and Tre Johnson (Wizards), all showed off their shot-making capabilities, which will likely be what earns them regular playing time as rookies. Knueppel was rewarded for his play with the only All-Summer League Second Team selection among rookies, while Nique Clifford (Kings) was the lone rookie to make the First Team, thanks to his stellar all-around play.

Other rookies, such as Collin Murray-Boyles (Raptors), Carter Bryant (Spurs), Joan Beringer (Timberwolves), and Brooks Barnhizer (Thunder) flashed tantalizing defensive capabilities, though Murray-Boyles and Bryant were inconsistent offensively, Murray notes.

Here are a few more leftover Summer League notes:

John Hollinger of the Athletic takes a look at some of the low points of Summer League, including the worst ejection of the tournament, awarded to the Celtics‘ Jordan Walsh for not only having an excessive foul on the Heat’s Pelle Larsson, but for accidentally throwing him into Walsh’s own front office executives courtside.
In terms of players who struggled, Hollinger mentions Khaman Maluach (Suns), who had difficulty catching lobs and other passes, Jeremiah Fears (Pelicans), who was unable to spearhead an offense and create for others, and the limitations of the four Nets rookies who suited up, among others.
On the non-player side, Hollinger points to an abundance of turnovers caused by stepping out of bounds, as well as the prevalence of split-screen interviews that made following the games an exercise in patience and eagle-eyed vision.

NBA Insiders Talk 2025, 2026 Drafts

July 25th, 2025 at 6:04pm CST by Eli Cohen

Now that the 2025 Summer League has wrapped up, scouts and evaluators around the NBA are looking ahead to the 2026 draft and considering how this year’s draft class might perform as rookies.

Among league personnel, there’s a near-consensus that the Mavericks‘ Cooper Flagg will win Rookie of the Year, according to ESPN’s annual survey of NBA executives and scouts conducted this year by Jeremy Woo. Flagg was the overwhelming favorite, with 17 votes, followed by the Spurs‘ Dylan Harper, who picked up two votes. The Wizards’ Tre Johnson also received a vote.

Those polled speculated that while some rookies, like Johnson or Ace Bailey of the Jazz, may get a chance to shoot and score more points, Flagg’s overall contributions to a team that will likely be fighting for a play-in spot will push him over the edge.

While he didn’t receive a vote for Rookie of the Year, the Sixers‘ VJ Edgecombe was the top vote-getter for those asked who would end up the best non-Flagg pick in the draft.

“VJ might be Philly’s second-best player by the end of the season, factoring in [Joel] Embiid‘s uncertain health,” one general manager said.

When Woo’s poll respondents weighed in on the biggest draft steal, the Spurs’ Carter Bryant led the way, followed by Joan Beringer (Timberwolves) and Kasparas Jakucionis (Heat), though this question proved to be the most wide-ranging in terms of responses.

Executives also discussed the 2026 draft, which is widely anticipated to be a star-studded draft class. When asked about who the top pick would be, Kansas’ Darryn Peterson led the way with 12 votes, while BYU’s A.J. Dybantsa was a close second with eight.

Peterson is described in the article as “one of the best lead guard prospects in recent memory,” though Woo writes that given the high level of competition for the No. 1 spot, the race for the top spot is unlikely to be as open-and-shut as it was in 2025, when Flagg remained relatively unchallenged throughout the draft cycle.

“It’s a total toss-up right now — by no means is [there a] consensus yet,” one executive said.

While only Peterson and Dybantsa received votes as the probable No. 1 pick for 2026, Duke’s Cameron Boozer, Nate Ament (Tennessee), and Mikel Brown (Louisville) are also considered top prospects who could be in the mix for a top spot.

While it’s never easy to predict the future when it comes to the NBA draft, last year’s executive survey had Flagg as the top vote-getter for the number one pick, far ahead of Harper’s second-best vote tally, with Bailey and Edgecombe coming in third and fourth.

In that same poll last year, Reed Sheppard and Zach Edey were forecasted as the top candidates for Rookie of the Year, though eventual winner Stephon Castle came in a close third.

International Notes: Sanogo, Procida, Mirotic, Beverley

July 25th, 2025 at 4:00pm CST by Luke Adams

Former UConn star Adama Sanogo spent most of his first two professional seasons on two-way contracts with the Bulls after going undrafted in 2023. Now, the 6’9″ forward is set to continue his career overseas.

Sanogo has reached an agreement to sign with Trapani Shark, the Italian team announced in a press release on Friday. Club president Valerio Antonini first announced the deal on social media (Twitter link).

Sanogo was the leading scorer and rebounder for the national champion Huskies in 2022/23 before going pro. The 23-year-old only appeared in 13 NBA games across two seasons for Chicago, but played a significant role for the Windy City Bulls, averaging a double-double (19.2 PPG, 11.6 RPG) across 67 games and earning a spot on both the NBAGL All-Rookie Team and the All-NBAGL Third Team in 2024.

Sanogo was waived by the Bulls in February.

We have a few more updates from around the international basketball world:

Italian wing Gabriele Procida, the No. 36 overall pick in the 2022 draft whose NBA rights are held by the Jazz, has officially signed a three-year contract with Real Madrid, the Spanish club announced in a press release. Procida is still just 23 years old and remains a candidate to come stateside at some point, so it’s worth noting that his new deal includes NBA outs in both 2026 and 2027, as Donatas Urbonas of BasketNews.com reports.
After spending the past two seasons with Olimpia Milano, former NBA forward Nikola Mirotic has left the Italian club to sign with AS Monaco Basket, according to a press release from the team. Mirotic, who averaged 12.3 points and 5.9 rebounds per game in 319 NBA outings from 2014-19, unexpectedly turned down a lucrative NBA contract offer in 2019 to return to Europe and has been playing overseas since then.
Former NBA guard Patrick Beverley is weighing the possibility of investing in Hapoel Tel Aviv after playing for the Israeli club last season, team owner Ofer Yannay said during an appearance on The Baseline Podcast (YouTube link). “Patrick is now considering becoming a shareholder of Hapoel, to invest money in Hapoel,” Yannay said, per BasketNews.com. “This is something that we are negotiating on.” Beverley started last season with Hapoel Tel Aviv before leaving the team in February following a suspension.

Jazz Waive Guard Jaden Springer

July 24th, 2025 at 3:49pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Jazz have waived guard Jaden Springer, the team announced in a press release.

Utah had a Friday deadline to decide whether to give Springer a $400K partial guarantee to his $2,349,578 non-guaranteed contract. Springer will now look for another NBA opportunity, unless a team claims him.

After a 10-day contract with the Jazz expired, Springer signed a three-year contract with the club in March but the last two years were not guaranteed. Springer made 17 appearances for Utah, including two starts, and averaged 3.8 points, 2.0 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 13.2 minutes.

Boston traded the 6’4″ combo guard and a future second-round pick to Houston at February’s trade deadline. The Rockets soon waived Springer and he joined Utah after clearing waivers. Springer came off the bench in 26 games for the Celtics last season.

He was a late first-rounder pick by the Sixers in 2021 but struggled to establish a rotation role. Overall, he’s appeared in 110 NBA games, averaging 2.9 points in 8.8 minutes. He’s made just 23.8 percent of his 3-point attempts.

By releasing Springer, the Jazz now have 15 players on standard contracts.

And-Ones: Biggest Mistakes, Summer League Standouts, More

July 24th, 2025 at 10:03am CST by Luke Adams

As effectively managed as some NBA teams have been in recent years, all 30 clubs have made at least a few moves they regret, according to Zach Kram of ESPN.com, who runs through some of the biggest missteps of the 2020s and names the most glaring mistake each team has made this decade.

Kram’s list begins with “small-scale problems,” like the Cavaliers not giving Isaiah Hartenstein a qualifying offer in 2021 and the Knicks signing Evan Fournier to a $73MM contract in 2021, before advancing to “draft disasters” – such as the Celtics trading the draft rights to No. 30 pick Desmond Bane – and miscellaneous midtier mistakes,” including the Pistons giving Monty Williams the largest head coaching contract in league history.

Kram’s final two categories are “too high a cost for too little reward” and “franchise-altering terrible trades.” The top two mistakes on his list are the Mavericks moving Luka Doncic and the Suns giving up the assets they did to land Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal.

Here are more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

John Hollinger of The Athletic shares his biggest takeaways from this month’s Summer League games, including identifying Tolu Smith of the Pistons, Nae’Qwan Tomlin of the Cavaliers, and Drew Timme of the Nets as players to watch going forward. Hollinger also mentions Jazz big man Kyle Filipowski, Timberwolves guard Terrence Shannon Jr., Pistons forward Ron Holland, Thunder guard Ajay Mitchell, and Cavaliers wing Jaylon Tyson as the players who showed they were “too good for summer league.”
While Summer League success doesn’t always carry over to the subsequent regular season, scouts around the NBA find July’s games “extremely valuable” for evaluating players, as Tobias Bass of The Athletic writes. “Before the draft, no matter what your opinion is about a player or how analytics project him to be, it’s always interesting to see how competitive they are once they get to summer league,” one Western Conference scout told Bass. “How quickly they pick up terminology, are they culture fits and can they keep the main thing the main thing? Can they be attentive, on time and professional, especially with all the distractions in Vegas?”
Keith Smith of Spotrac empties out his notebook after traveling to Las Vegas for Summer League, sharing quotes from coaches, scouts, and executives about each of the NBA’s Eastern Conference and Western Conference teams.

NBA Names Kyle Filipowski Summer League MVP, Announces All-SL Teams

July 22nd, 2025 at 3:24pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Jazz forward/center Kyle Filipowski has officially been named the Summer League Most Valuable Player for 2025, the NBA announced today (via Twitter). Filipowski is also one of five players who earned a spot on the All-Summer League first team.

Here are the full All-Summer League teams, per the league (Twitter links):

First Team

Kyle Filipowski (Jazz)
Nique Clifford (Kings)
David Jones-Garcia (Spurs)
Jordan Miller (Clippers)
Terrence Shannon Jr. (Timberwolves)

Second Team

Ron Holland (Pistons)
Isaac Jones (Kings)
Kon Knueppel (Hornets)
Ajay Mitchell (Thunder)
KJ Simpson (Hornets)

Filipowski, who is entering his second NBA season after playing 72 games as a rookie, appeared in a total of six Summer League contests (Salt Lake City and Las Vegas). He averaged 23.2 points, 9.5 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.0 blocks in 27.6 minutes per game. He especially excelled in Las Vegas, averaging 29.3 PPG and 7.7 RPG in three outings.

Clifford, a rookie drafted with the No. 24 pick last month, posted averages of 15.2 points, 6.5 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 1.2 steals in six contests. Jones-Garcia, who is seeking a contract, finished an eight-game summer campaign with averages of 22 points, 5.9 rebounds and 3.4 assists. He posted averages of 21.6 points, 6.2 rebounds and 3.8 assists in a handful of games in Vegas.

Miller (22.0, 7.8 rebounds and 2.6 assists) racked up impressive number in five summer games after being waived earlier this month by the Clippers. Entering his second season with Minnesota, Shannon (22.7 points, 6.0 rebounds, 5.0 assists) excelled in three contests.

After competing in the Summer League championship game on Sunday, both the Hornets (Knueppel and Simpson) and Kings (Clifford and Jones) had multiple players recognized for their play in Las Vegas. Knueppel was named the MVP of the championship game.