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Free Agent Notes: Giddey, Clippers, Knicks, Metu, Moore

July 10th, 2025 at 8:02am CST by Luke Adams

Reports since last October have suggested that a salary of $30MM per year is a target for Josh Giddey and his representatives in their contract talks with the Bulls, and that number continues to be mentioned this summer. However, K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Sports Network (YouTube link) isn’t convinced that’s what it’ll take for the Bulls to get a deal done with the restricted free agent guard.

“Both the Bulls and Giddey want to get a deal done,” Johnson said (hat tip to Benedetto Vitale of Clutch Points). “The Bulls, knowing that the market is scarce and the restricted free agency market has very little movement…are playing the slow game here.

“I don’t have particular numbers, other than to say that Josh Giddey’s $30MM per year price tag – that’s been well documented in media and out there since last fall when the rookie contract extension was discussed – has not ever crossed my radar. I’ve never heard the Bulls mention that number. So I would not expect Josh Giddey to sign a $30MM (per year) deal.”

While Johnson refers to the situation as a “stalemate” for the time being, he stresses that negotiations haven’t been acrimonious and says he fully expects Giddey to be wearing a Bulls uniform next season.

Here’s more on free agency:

The Clippers continue to be linked to guards Bradley Beal and Chris Paul and haven’t ruled out the possibility of adding both players, per NBA insider Marc Stein (Twitter link). While Paul is currently a free agent, Beal will need to finalize a buyout with Phoenix before reaching the open market.
The Knicks have one roster spot open for a veteran free agent and will likely target a guard, ideally one who can handle the ball, per Stefan Bondy of The New York Post (subscriber link). Breaking down a few possible targets who might make sense for the Knicks, Bondy notes that the team has kept an eye on Marcus Smart in case he and the Wizards work out a buyout agreement.
Former NBA big man Chimezie Metu is nearing a deal with the Turkish team Fenerbahce, according to Donatas Urbonas of BasketNews.com, who says the plan is to finalize a one-year agreement if Metu’s medicals check out. The 28-year-old, who appeared in 260 NBA regular season games from 2018-24, tore his Achilles in March, so Fenerbahce wants to make sure his recovery is progressing as planned. Sources tell Urbonas that Metu is targeting a return to the court before the end of the year.
After playing for the Spurs during the California Classic Summer League this past week, free agent guard Omari Moore has reached a contract agreement with Valencia, the Spanish team announced in a press release. According to Urbonas (Twitter link), Moore had received NBA interest but has decided to make the move to Spain rather than accepting a two-way contract offer.

Eastern Notes: White, Langdon, Beasley, Johnson, Jakucionis

July 9th, 2025 at 1:59pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Celtics traded away two starters this offseason and Derrick White‘s four-year, $118MM extension has kicked in for 2025/26. But he was reasonably sure he wouldn’t be dealt, he told Chris Forsberg of the Celtics Talk Podcast (hat tip to Brian Robb of Masslive.com).

“I think every summer is pretty crazy, especially nowadays,” White said. “But I didn’t feel too worried about anything. My agent and Brad (Stevens) had been talking and all the other rumors and stuff, I wasn’t really too worried about. I mean, I feel like it’s cool to be wanted by other teams, but I wanted to stay in Boston, and I was glad they wanted to keep me.”

Here’s more from the Eastern Conference:

Pistons top exec Trajan Langdon admitted that the gambling investigation involving Malik Beasley news left them “not much time” to pivot,” Omari Sankofa II of the Detroit Free Press tweets. The Pistons pulled their three-year, $42MM offer to Beasley, an unrestricted free agent, when the news broke. “I was able to communicate with Malik and his agent Saturday, which was obviously right before we could start talking to free agents on Sunday,” Langdon said. “It was disappointing for us, because we were excited to get him back.”
Lottery pick Tre Johnson strives for greatness, which is one big reason why the Wizards are excited about his future, Josh Robbins of The Athletic writes. “I really don’t have too much of a life outside of basketball, and that was literally a choice up to me because of just how good I wanted to be,” Johnson said.
Kasparas Jakucionis, the Heat‘s first-round pick, had a rough time at the California Classic Summer League, Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald writes. He score just 12 points on 1-of-15 (6.7%) shooting from the field, including 0-of-11 from three-point range, in his first three summer league games. However, he’s not panicking over his showing. “I think I need to just settle in more, play at my own pace, don’t get sped up too much as I was these three games,” Jakucionis said. “I didn’t feel myself in those games. But I think that’s normal. It’s a process, so I’m just happy to be here, happy to be able to learn from coaches, from other guys by working out, watching film and just understanding the game.”

Groups Set For 2025 NBA Cup

July 9th, 2025 at 1:44pm CST by Luke Adams

The NBA has officially announced the six groups of five teams apiece for the 2025 Emirates NBA Cup, also known as the in-season tournament (Twitter link).

In order to set the groups, the league splits the Western and Eastern Conferences into five three-team tiers based on last season’s regular season standings, with one club from each tier randomly drawn into each of the conference’s three groups.

For instance, the top three teams from the West will all be in separate groups, with each of those three groups also featuring one team in the 4-6 range, one in the 7-9 range, and so on.

Here are the groups for the 2025 NBA Cup:

West Group A: Oklahoma City Thunder (1), Minnesota Timberwolves (6), Sacramento Kings (9), Phoenix Suns (11), Utah Jazz (15)
West Group B: Los Angeles Lakers (3), Los Angeles Clippers (5), Memphis Grizzlies (8), Dallas Mavericks (10), New Orleans Pelicans (14)
West Group C: Houston Rockets (2), Denver Nuggets (4), Golden State Warriors (7), Portland Trail Blazers (12), San Antonio Spurs (13)
East Group A: Cleveland Cavaliers (1), Indiana Pacers (4), Atlanta Hawks (8), Toronto Raptors (11), Washington Wizards (15)
East Group B: Boston Celtics (2), Detroit Pistons (6), Orlando Magic (7), Brooklyn Nets (12), Philadelphia 76ers (13)
East Group C: New York Knicks (3), Milwaukee Bucks (5), Chicago Bulls (9), Miami Heat (10), Charlotte Hornets (14)

The round-robin group play games will be starting a little earlier than usual this season and will run from October 31 to November 28. Each team will face the other four clubs in its group once, with the winners of each group and one wild card team from each conference advancing to the eight-team, single-elimination knockout round.

The full schedule of group play games can be viewed right here.

The quarterfinals will be played on December 9-10, with the semifinals and final to follow on Dec. 13 and Dec. 16, respectively, in Las Vegas. The knockout round games will all be aired by one of the NBA’s new broadcasting partners, Amazon Prime.

The Bucks won last season’s NBA Cup, with star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo earning MVP honors after leading Milwaukee to a victory over the Thunder in the championship game.

Wizards Trade Kelly Olynyk To Spurs

July 9th, 2025 at 10:49am CST by Luke Adams

July 9: The trade is official, according to announcements from the Spurs and Wizards (Twitter link).

July 8: The Wizards and Spurs have agreed to a trade that will send big man Kelly Olynyk to San Antonio, sources tell Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).

According to Charania, in return for Olynyk, Washington will acquire former first-rounders Malaki Branham and Blake Wesley, along with a 2026 second-round pick. That pick will be the last favorable of Dallas’, Philadelphia’s, and Oklahoma City’s second-rounders.

Olynyk, 34, spent last season with the Raptors and Pelicans. He was limited to 44 games (22 starts) for health reasons, but was solid when he played, averaging 8.7 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 2.9 assists in 20.3 minutes per game, with a strong shooting line of .500/.418/.769.

A forward/center who can stretch the floor (.371 career 3PT%), Olynyk will become part of a Spurs frontcourt led by Victor Wembanyama. San Antonio will also be incorporating another new center, Luke Kornet, who finalized a four-year, $40.7MM deal with the team earlier this week.

Olynyk was just traded two days ago from New Orleans to Washington in the three-team deal that included CJ McCollum and Jordan Poole, but he clearly wasn’t part of the Wizards’ long-term plans. He can be flipped immediately because his salary isn’t being aggregated with another player’s salary as part of this trade.

Branham and Wesley – who were drafted 20th and 25th, respectively, in 2022 – didn’t establish themselves as reliable rotation players during their three years in San Antonio, as their playing time declined each season. Still, they’re both just 22 years old, and Branham has shown some promise as a shooter (.405 3PT% last season), while Wesley has shown he’s a stout on-ball defender.

It’s unclear whether the duo will get a shot to make the team and earn rotation spots in Washington or whether the Wizards made the deal primarily for the second-round pick and the cap savings.

Olynyk is on an expiring $13.45MM contract in 2025/26, while Branham ($4.96MM) and Wesley ($4.72MM) will earn less than $10MM total in the final year of their rookie deals. By taking Branham and Wesley into an existing trade exception, Washington will also be able to create a trade exception worth Olynyk’s $13.45MM salary.

The Wizards have a growing roster crunch they’ll have to address at some point in the coming weeks or months. As a result of this trade, they’ll have 15 players on guaranteed salaries, and that total doesn’t include Richaun Holmes (small partial guarantee), Justin Champagnie (non-guaranteed), or Anthony Gill, who is considered a strong candidate to re-sign with the club.

The Spurs, conversely, will have just 12 players under contract once the trade is official and will have plenty of flexibility below the luxury tax line to fill out the three openings on the standard 15-man roster.

Where Things Stand In NBA Free Agency

July 8th, 2025 at 9:24am CST by Luke Adams

We’re now into the second week of the NBA’s 2025/26 league year, and while free agency has been resolved for many top players, there are still a number of intriguing names who don’t yet have new contract agreements in place.

Let’s check in on where things stand for some of those players…

The restricted free agents

While they’re not the only four restricted free agents still on the board, there are four names who make up the top tier of notable unsigned RFAs, with each of them ranking among our top 10 free agents as of June 30. Those four players are Josh Giddey (Bulls), Jonathan Kuminga (Warriors), Quentin Grimes (Sixers), and Cam Thomas (Nets).

The restricted free agent market will likely play out very slowly this summer, given that there are essentially no teams (with the possible exception of Brooklyn) in position to sign any one of those players to the kind of offer sheet that would give the player’s current team pause. Here’s what we know about each of those four RFAs:

Josh Giddey (Bulls)
The expectation is that Giddey will remain in Chicago, so it’ll just be a matter of figuring out exactly what his next contract looks like. His camp is reportedly hoping to match (or, presumably, exceed) the five-year, $150MM extension that Jalen Suggs signed with Orlando last fall. Whether the Bulls are willing to go that high in terms of annual salary and/or years remains to be seen.

Jonathan Kuminga (Warriors)
The Kings, Wizards, Heat, Bulls, Bucks, and Nets were among the teams said last week to have expressed varying level of interest in a sign-and-trade deal for Kuminga. However, some of those teams have since made moves that will make Kuminga a less appealing – or practical – fit.

Sacramento has reportedly been the most aggressive suitor for Kuminga so far, having “floated” the idea a package that included 2024 first-rounder Devin Carter and two second-round picks.

But with no deal imminent, the expectation is that the 22-year-old and his camp will meet at the Las Vegas Summer League with interested teams, including the Warriors. A return to Golden State remains very much in play despite Kuminga’s up-and-down tenure in Golden State so far.

Quentin Grimes (Sixers)
The Sixers remain very confident that they’ll re-sign Grimes sooner or later and have “splashed cold water” on possible sign-and-trade scenarios, league sources tell Tony Jones of The Athletic. As with Giddey, it seems like the main question with Grimes isn’t where he’ll end up, but what his new contract with his current team will look like.

Cam Thomas (Nets)
We’ve heard very little since free agency opened about Thomas. In a Bleacher Report stream last Thursday (YouTube link), NBA insider Jake Fischer said the Nets guard “does not really have a market, to my understanding.”

Brooklyn is the only team in the league operating below the minimum salary floor, so it’s not as if the Nets are going to be outbid by a rival suitor — it certainly seems as if the only way Thomas ends up on a new team this offseason is if Brooklyn doesn’t want to bring him back.

The veteran unrestricted free agents

The next four highest-ranked unsigned players from our top-50 list after those four restricted free agents are long-tenured veterans. Here’s what we know about those players:

Chris Paul
The Clippers, Suns, and Bucks have been the teams most frequently linked to Paul in recent days. Milwaukee probably offers the best path to a starting role, which is something that’s reportedly important to the longtime NBA point guard, but he also wants to be close to his family in Los Angeles, which could give an edge to those two Western Conference teams.

Russell Westbrook
Another L.A. native who would reportedly like to play closer to home, Westbrook was said to be drawing legitimate interest from the Kings, but that was when it looked like Sacramento was going to trade Malik Monk. If that doesn’t happen, there may not be a spot on the Kings’ backcourt (or on the team’s cap) for Westbrook.

Al Horford
While Horford has been linked to several teams in the last week or two, the one constant has been the Warriors, who continue to look like the frontrunner to land the big man if he doesn’t retire. Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe (Twitter link) reported on Monday that Horford continued to mull his options, with no deal imminent.

I suspect Golden State wants to resolve its Kuminga situation before officially committing its taxpayer mid-level exception to Horford, since doing so would hard-cap the team at the second tax apron and potentially complicate its ability to match an aggressive offer sheet for Kuminga.

Malcolm Brogdon
Reporting on Monday indicated that the Clippers, Suns, Lakers, Warriors, Timberwolves, Bucks, Pelicans, and Kings have all conveyed at least some level of interest in Brogdon. With some other higher-profile guards still out there, Brogdon may be the Plan B for some teams, which would mean he’d have to wait for some of those other players to commit before his options really crystalize.

The two veteran guards who aren’t yet free agents

Damian Lillard is currently on waivers and Bradley Beal is still working on a buyout with the Suns, but the expectation is that both players will reach unrestricted free agency pretty soon.

Lillard is a bit of a wild card, since he’s likely to miss the 2025/26 season due to an Achilles tear. He hasn’t ruled out the possibility of signing with a team sooner rather than later, and there will certainly be no shortage of clubs who would welcome the opportunity to help him with his rehab process and get a leg up on retaining him for ’26/27. But he’s not the type of player who will help a team win in the short term.

Beal, on the other hand, is coming off a pretty solid offensive season and would become a much more valuable investment if he’s on a contract that’s closer to his minimum salary than his maximum. The Clippers, Lakers, Bucks, Timberwolves, and Warriors are among the teams believed to have interest in signing Beal.

With many of those clubs also eyeing Paul, Brogdon, or other guards, Beal may be the first domino to fall — if and when he finds a new team, the ones that miss out can shift their focus elsewhere in earnest. The Clippers are rumored to the favorites for Beal, per Kurt Helin of NBC Sports.

The trades that aren’t yet official

As our full breakdown of this offseason’s trades shows, there are only two agreed-upon deals that aren’t yet official: Denver’s acquisition of Cameron Johnson from the Nets, plus the Jonas Valanciunas/Dario Saric swap between the Nuggets and Kings.

There has been speculation that the Nuggets will combine both of those agreements into a single transaction to avoid creating a hard cap at the first tax apron. At the very least, as NBA insider Marc Stein tweets, Denver needs to get the Johnson/Michael Porter Jr. trade done before the deal with the Kings in order to be able to get below the first apron. That will allow the Nuggets to take back more salary than they send out for Saric.

The Nets may be thoroughly exploring scenarios for how to take full advantage of their current cap room before they finalize that trade with the Nuggets, since it will cut into their space significantly — swapping Johnson for Porter will use up $17MM+ of their room.

The delay on these deals is not an indication that the Valanciunas/Saric deal won’t eventually be finalized. Multiple reports have indicated it remains on track, despite Valanciunas’ reported desire to get out of his NBA contract and sign with the Greek team Panathinaikos. Multiple reports, including another one from Stein on Monday night (Twitter link), have also indicated that the Nuggets have told the veteran center they intend to keep him and want him to honor his contract.

For what it’s worth, a report from SDNA in Greece indicates that Panathinaikos was assured by Valanciunas’ representation that the Nuggets would let him out of his NBA deal and was surprised to find out that Denver hadn’t signed off on that plan at all.

Although those two Denver deals are the only ones we know about that aren’t official, that doesn’t mean there won’t be more trades still to come — the Clippers, Heat, and Jazz, for instance, agreed to a three-team trade on Monday and finalized it later in the day. It’s possible that more deals could be around the corner as teams and executives congregate for Summer League action.

Jamir Watkins Signs Two-Way Deal With Wizards

July 6th, 2025 at 6:00pm CST by Eli Cohen

Jamir Watkins has signed a two-way contract with the Wizards, per NBA.com’s transaction log.

Watkins was drafted 43rd overall by the Jazz last month as part of a deal that sent him to Washington along with Will Riley and two future second-round picks in exchange for the ability for the Jazz to draft Walter Clayton Jr.

Watkins played two years at VCU before transferring to Florida State for his final two seasons. In his time with the Seminoles, Watkins averaged 17.0 points, 5.9 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 1.6 steals per game and shot 33% from three.

Between his defensive production in college and his size at 6’6″ with a 6’11” wingspan, Watkins has the chance to be an impactful defender with enough scoring and ball-handling to offer interesting upside on a two-way deal.

The Wizards had previously announced the signings of No. 6 overall pick Tre Johnson and No. 21 overall pick Riley. Now all three of the team’s draft-day selections are officially under contract for next season.

As for the team’s two-way slots, Watkins and Jaylen Martin occupy two of them, with a two-way qualifying offer still on the table for Tristan Vukcevic.

Wizards’ Will Riley Signs Rookie Scale Contract

July 6th, 2025 at 5:23pm CST by Eli Cohen

Will Riley has signed his rookie scale contract with the Wizards, according to NBA.com’s transaction log.

Riley was selected 21st in the 2025 draft by the Jazz as part of a deal that sent him to the Wizards along with the second-round pick that became Jamir Watkins and two future second-rounders.

A 6’8″ forward, Riley averaged 12.6 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 2.2 assists while posting .432/.326/.724 shooting splits to claim the honor of Big Ten Sixth Man of the Year for Illinois.

After impressing out of the gate, Riley slowed down in the middle of the season before putting together a strong close to the year. He averaged 16.3 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 3.3 assists in his final 13 games, including conference tournaments, before posting 22 points and four rebounds in Illinois’ March Madness opening win against Xavier, though he struggled in the Round of 32 loss to Kentucky.

Tre Johnson, the team’s No. 6 overall pick, also signed his rookie scale contract earlier this weekend, so this deal locks up both of the Wizards’ first-round picks ahead of Summer League.

As our breakdown of this year’s rookie scale shows, Riley is expected to earn $3.5MM in the first year of his deal and $17.2MM total over the course of his rookie deal.

Wizards, Pelicans, Rockets Compete Three-Team Trade

July 6th, 2025 at 1:57pm CST by Luke Adams

As expected, the Wizards have rolled a pair of trade agreements with the Pelicans and Rockets into the same deal, officially completing the two deals as a single three-team transaction, per a press release from New Orleans.

The terms of the trade are as follows:

Wizards acquire CJ McCollum, Kelly Olynyk, Cam Whitmore, and the Bulls’ 2027 second-round pick (from Pelicans).
Pelicans acquire Jordan Poole, Saddiq Bey, and the draft rights to Micah Peavy (No. 40 pick).
Rockets acquire the draft rights to Mojave King, the Bulls’ 2026 second-round pick (from Wizards) and the Kings’ 2029 second-round pick (from Wizards).

The original trade agreement between Washington and New Orleans was reached on June 24, a day before the first round of the draft, with the Whitmore deal between Houston and Washington just agreed upon yesterday.

It was beneficial for the Wizards to combine the two deals into a single trade because they were sending out any matching salary to the Rockets for Whitmore. While they could have used one of several cap exceptions they had on hand to take on Whitmore’s $3.54MM salary for 2025/26, including him in this deal allows them to use their 125% allowance for Poole’s and Bey’s outgoing salary to acquire him, McCollum, and Olynyk.

The only new part of this deal is the Rockets acquiring the draft rights to King from New Orleans, which was necessary to ensure that Houston and New Orleans were “touching” as part of the three-team deal.

You can read our original story on the Wizards/Pelicans deal headlined by McCollum and Poole here, while our report on the Wizards’ deal for Whitmore is here.

Wizards’ Tre Johnson Signs Rookie Scale Contract

July 6th, 2025 at 8:38am CST by Rory Maher

The Wizards have officially signed No. 6 overall pick Tre Johnson to a rookie scale contract, the team announced in a press release (Twitter link).

A 6’6″ shooting guard with a 6’10” wingspan, Johnson averaged 19.9 points, 3.1 rebounds and 2.7 assists on .427/.397/.871 shooting in 33 games (34.7 MPG) as a freshman for Texas in 2024/25.

The 19-year-old was named the SEC Freshman of the Year and made the All-SEC second team in his lone college season. While there have been some questions about Johnson’s inconsistent engagement level on defense, per Jonathan Givony of ESPN, the Dallas native is one of the best shooters and scorers in this year’s draft class.

As our breakdown of this year’s rookie scale shows, Johnson will likely earn $8.2MM as a rookie and $37.4MM over the course of his four-year rookie contract, with the final two seasons being team options.

Washington has yet to sign No. 21 overall pick Will Riley, but that transaction should be completed in the coming days.

Wizards Notes: Whitmore, Gill, Centers, Outlaw

July 5th, 2025 at 7:16pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Wizards‘ acquisition of Cam Whitmore from the Rockets will be folded into a four-player trade with the Pelicans that was reported last month, a source tells Varun Shankar of The Washington Post (subscriber link). That deal sends Jordan Poole, Saddiq Bey and the 40th pick in this year’s draft (Micah Peavy) to New Orleans in exchange for CJ McCollum, Kelly Olynyk and a future second-round selection.

Combining the two trades into one will allow the Wizards to acquire Whitmore without using a separate trade exception or a portion of their mid-level or bi-annual exception.

Houston is trading Whitmore to a rebuilding team to give him a shot at increased playing time, but Shankar points out that it might be just as difficult for Whitmore to get on the court in Washington as it was during his two seasons with the Rockets. He views Bilal Coulibaly, Alex Sarr, Bub Carrington, Kyshawn George and lottery pick Tre Johnson as locks to be in the rotation.

Whitmore will have to compete with young prospects Will Riley, AJ Johnson, Justin Champagnie and Dillon Jones, along with McCollum and fellow veterans Khris Middleton, Marcus Smart, Corey Kispert and Richaun Holmes.

Shankar also points out that Whitmore and Coulibaly were part of the same draft class in 2023, which means they’ll both be eligible for rookie scale extensions next summer.

There’s more from Washington:

The Wizards waived Anthony Gill last weekend to avoid paying his $2.5MM salary for the upcoming season, but he’s likely to be brought back as the team’s 15th man, Josh Robbins of The Athletic states in a mailbag column. A new deal will be a win for both sides, Robbins explains, as the 32-year-old forward will earn about $121K more on a veteran’s minimum contract and the league’s reimbursement policy will cause Gill to have a smaller salary cap hit. Washington has a minor roster crunch as a result of its moves so far, so the team would have to make additional trades or cuts to make room on the regular season roster for Gill.
The Wizards aren’t likely to pursue another center to join Sarr, Olynyk and Holmes, Robbins states in the same piece. Even though Washington ranked near the bottom of the league in defensive rebounding percentage, Robbins notes that there’s not a strong incentive to win this season because the team’s first-round draft pick will convey to New York if it falls out of the top eight. Robbins adds that the Wizards didn’t try to sign any big men when free agency began, and he doesn’t expect that stance to change unless Olynyk or Holmes gets traded.
Assistant J.J. Outlaw will serve as the Wizards’ Summer League coach, team sources tell Robbins (Twitter link). Outlaw joined Brian Keefe’s coaching staff last July after five seasons in Cleveland.