Category: Sports News

The Dallas Mavericks added Morez Johnson, Jr., Sergio DeLarrea, Tobi Lawal and Vsevolod Ischenko to their roster via the 2026 NBA Draft. With that behind them, the Mavs now need to reshape their roster in other ways, including determining which of their own free agents they wish to retain, and how much they are willing to spend on them.

Dallas has a pair in Marvin Bagley and Brandon Williams that are unrestricted free agents this offseason. The former was considered a throw-in on the Anthony Davis trade by some; not much more than an expiring contract that would give Dallas flexibility. The latter has been with Dallas for the past three seasons and has contributed well off the bench, with plenty of starting gigs thrown in.

Preliminary reports are surfacing from Kevin Gray, Jr. that other teams have interest in both players. Candidly, the Bagley report is light on details, suggesting no specific teams, though indicating an expected salary range of the taxpayer mid-level exception (roughly $5.6M).

Williams on the other hand, expects to have interest from the Phoenix Suns, Boston Celtics and Golden State Warriors in addition to the Mavericks, with no real insight on a price tag.

“Free agents drawing interest from teams” is hardly news. Neither of these players are about to wash out of the league, so it is hardly surprising that both will garner interest. The real question is what the Mavericks want to do here.

Picking up Johnson, Jr. in the draft may make it difficult to find a spot for Bagley, though some of the other front court veterans could be moved as the roster takes shape. In the case of Williams, does Dallas perhaps have an eye on retaining him to maintain their guard ranks? With Brayden Burries still on the board, Dallas opted instead for Johnson, Jr., so whereas Williams may not be the guard of the future, he is likely of relatively high interest to the Mavs as Kyrie Irving works his way back from injury.

Dallas would be wise to consider Bagley, especially if trade rumors surrounding Daniel Gafford are true. While not a true center, Bagley can certainly provide minutes at the position, and with Dereck Lively still an unknown quantity, another big body would be a boon to Dallas’ frontcourt. Bagley had himself a number of double-doubles on efficient shooting in his short time with the Mavs and showed he fit well alongside Cooper Flagg. His tenacity on the boards was something sorely lacking on the team prior to his arrival as well. Even with the potential redundancy caused by Johnson, Jr., Bagley could be a nice player to retain unless Dallas otherwise shores up their center rotation – especially at $5.6M; a relative steal.

Williams may be a player the Mavs are more willing to say goodbye to. Williams is not the guard solution for the future and they still have Ryan Nembhard under contract. For now, he will be behind Irving and splitting time with Nembhard, which may make him less of a factor overall, especially if Irving can spool up to meaningful minutes quickly. While Dallas does need to bolster its guard rotation, it seems more plausible they could do so with a replacement. It should be noted however, that Mavs’ GM Mike Schmitz was in Portland when Williams entered the league there, and that could impact the team’s motivation.

Free agency season is just days away, so it won’t be long until we see how things begin to shake out.

I invite you to follow me @_80MPH on X, and check back often at Mavs Moneyball for all the latest on the Dallas Mavericks.

Just three days after shipping LaMelo Ball to the Minnesota Timberwolves, Charlotte has reportedly traded Miles Bridges to the Phoenix Suns in another franchise-altering move. The reported deal sends Bridges, a 2029 first-round pick, and a 2027 second-round pick to Phoenix in exchange for Grayson Allen, Royce O’Neale, and an unprotected 2033 first-round pick.

Charlotte has now moved on from the two faces of its franchise in the span of a week. Instead of chasing the Play-In Tournament, the Hornets are stockpiling long-term assets around a younger core led by Brandon Miller, rookie Kon Knueppel, and recently acquired Naz Reid. Sure, Allen and O’Neale are capable veterans, but the real prize is future flexibility and another first-round pick.

The Hornets looked like a club trying to climb into the middle of the East after last season, posting a 33-16 record after January 1, 2026 and finishing the regular season at 44-38. They were competitive and could have tried to build around Ball/Bridges/Miller for a higher ceiling. Instead, Jeff Peterson has decided to clean house. Bridges is 28, coming off a solid season (around 17/6/3), and still on a relatively team-friendly contract. Phoenix has reportedly targeted him for years and was willing to give up a future first plus two rotation wings. That’s a nice return for a good-but-not-elite player on a non-contender.

The deal reportedly saves Phoenix luxury tax money. For Charlotte it also opens up minutes, cap space, and developmental reps. Allen and O’Neale are plug-and-play veterans who shoot well and know winning basketball. They help the young players learn without the pressure of carrying a playoff push that maybe wasn’t realistic.

It seems that several Eastern teams are choosing patience rather than trying to keep pace with New York, Detroit, Cleveland, and the upper crust of the conference. That’s cool with us. Every rival that decides the future matters more than the present makes the road back to the Finals a little cleaner.

Go Knicks.

Around and around and around it goes. Darryn Peterson’s prophesied selection with the second overall NBA Draft pick brought about a struggle that has spanned through generations — his preferred jersey number had already been claimed.

For NBA basketball players, a jersey number is much more than an arbitrary digit (unless you’re Dwight Howard, I suppose); it’s an identity synonymous with one’s own name. When you see the number 23, your mind likely flips to one of Michael Jordan, LeBron James, or Lauri Markkanen — three players of equal legacy and impact on the history of professional hoops. This is what stood at stake for Utah’s newest budding star: the difference between maintaining your identity and crafting one anew.

And that identity had already been claimed by one Kyle Filipowski.

“I’m going to have to see what he’s willing to do to give that up,” Peterson pondered in the wake of his draft results.

This could have been a threat to Filipowski’s manhood. A direct attempt to revoke a man’s pride while staring him directly in the eyes. It’s humiliating; it’s emasculating. One would leave this empasse as top dog, the other with his tail between his legs.

“…but if not, I might try to rock, 8,” conceded the newest member of the Utah Jazz, fully unaware of Isaiah Collier, who was already quite comfortable in that chair, having already changed his number once before from 13.

Ultimately, the rookie won out. Darryn Peterson maintains his brand and recaptures his pride at the expense of Filipowski. Apologies, owners of the now-outdated 22 uniforms — your asset’s value has depreciated faster than a timeshare on Alderaan.

So, what comes next for Filipowski? Well, the answer is simple, of course. Just peel the second digit from the uniform, and the former Blue Devil converts to the number 2.

Oh, but what about Blake Hinson? You remember. Blake Hinson, the late two-way addition the Jazz brought on last season. He was pretty good! …He also wore the number 2 and is still signed with Utah through the offseason. His number has been taken, so who’s up next?

Not to worry — Mo Bamba will totally be cool about this.

With the 2026 NBA Draft in the rearview, the Dallas Mavericks are shifting focus to free agency and trades to refurbish their roster around Cooper Flagg. A number of sources are now reporting that Dallas has not only inquired about the availability of Los Angeles Clippers star Kawhi Leonard, but that the two teams have had discussions about an actual framework for a trade.

The rumored transaction would be Dallas sending out P.J. Washington, Klay Thompson and draft capital in exchange for Leonard. Despite Leonard’s age and injury history, and subject to the actual draft capital in question, this is arguably a no-brainer for the Mavericks.

Thompson is 36-years old and came to the team with a desire to play alongside Luka Doncic and to be the finishing piece on a championship contender. Then Nico Harrison happened. Thompson no longer fits the timeline of Flagg and newly drafted rookie Morez Johnson, Jr. as the Mavericks shift to a future-focused approach, as per President Masai Ujiri in his introductory press conference.

Washington is a 27-year old in his prime and is just about to kick off a team-friendly contract extension. He was an integral part of the Mavericks’ run to the NBA Finals in 2024, but was well-served playing alongside Doncic. With all due respect to Washington, he is not the caliber of player Leonard is, and if the team is going to remain wing-heavy, upgrading from Washington to Leonard is a clear benefit from the talent and production standpoints.

The knocks on Leonard are his age (35 years old on Monday) and injury history. While there is simply no sugar-coating the injuries and time missed, Leonard actually played nine more games last year than Washington did. With the exception of 2024-2025, Leonard has played no fewer than 52 games in the past five seasons, including outings of 65 games and 68 games. Leonard would also be a rental. He is an unrestricted free agent following this season, which may be a good thing depending on how you look at it – he could make the Mavs competitive next year, then clear a massive ($50M) contract off the books for next offseason.

There are two major points of curiosity here, however. Ujiri proclaimed the Mavs were thinking about the future and a move like this runs completely contrary to that notion. Leonard, Kyrie Irving and Flagg would be a formidable three-headed monster right now. Further, Dallas has very limited draft capital. They only have a first-round pick in 2027 if it falls into the top two slots (otherwise it goes to the Charlotte Hornets), a 2028 pick swap with the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Los Angeles Lakers 2029 pick. Unless the Clippers are desperate to move off Leonard’s sizable contract and are not demanding much in the way of first round picks, the draft capital part of the equation here is puzzling.

If Dallas and Los Angeles make this move, it adds a brand new and wholly unexpected wrinkle to the Mavericks’ plans. Everyone believed the team would be rebuilding over the next few years, but this move is for right now. It would leave Dallas as an “if” team – that is, if Irving returns to form and Leonard stays healthy, they could be legitimate contenders for the next couple of years.

Check back often as we continue to follow this story here at Mavs Moneyball.

I invite you to follow me @_80MPH on X, and check back often at Mavs Moneyball for all the latest on the Dallas Mavericks.

Kawhi Leonard remains a name to watch in the hours leading up to the start of the NBA free agency period on June 30.

The Toronto Raptors and the Dallas Mavericks appear interested in exploring a trade with the Los Angeles Clippers, if they are willing to move on from Leonard.

Leonard has just one year left on his current contract and would make $50.3 million next season. If he does not sign an extension, he will become a free agent in 2027. The 7-time All-Star played in 65 games last season, averaging 27.9 points, 6.4 rebounds and 3.6 assists.

Toronto would serve as familiar territory for Leonard, as he helped lead the franchise to its NBA championship in 2019.

The Raptors would rather trade Brandon Ingram in the potential deal for Leonard rather than including RJ Barrett, according to NBA insider Jake Fischer.

HORNETS STRIKE AGAIN: Trade Miles Bridges to Suns for Grayson Allen, Royce O'Neale

Everyone in life is under some sort of pressure.

Whether it’s a massive responsibility in your job, your family, or your education, there’s always something riding on your decisions. That’s a fact of life.

Pressure can be a good thing, it can get the most out of you. As the old saying goes, pressure creates diamond.

But it can also create rubble. Too much pressure and you and everything around you will crumble. It takes a certain type of person to overcome such pressure.

Now imagine the weight of tens of millions of people on your shoulders. A type of pressure only similarly faced by presidents of entire nations. There’s a reason those guys seem to age decades in four to eight years.

When Mikal Bridges was traded to the Knicks for one of the largest draft pick packages in the history of the sport, he became the most intensely-watched non-All-Star in the history of professional sports. For the rest of his career, he’d be tasked with making himself worth all those picks that were given to Brooklyn.

If the Knicks never accomplished their ultimate goals, their failure would forever be linked, fair or not, to giving a king’s ransom for a complimentary starter.

Would he be remembered in Knicks history the same way Eddy Curry, Jerome James, and Andrea Bargnani were if they never got over the hump? I guess we’ll never know.

Bridges was born on August 30, 1996, in Philadelphia. He grew up in the city, but moved out to the suburbs in Chester County in middle school, eventually attending Great Valley High School in Malvern. A sophomore year growth spurt saw his basketball future come into clearer focus, eventually becoming one of the best players in Southeast Pennsylvania.

As a four-star recruit and a top-100 player in the nation, he chose Villanova over Penn State and Florida. There were three other players in Pennsylvania ranked over him in the Class of 2014; none of them reached the NBA.

At Nova, he did what many players did under Jay Wright; he paid his dues. He redshirted in 2014-15 and emerged as a key bench piece for the eventual national champions the following year, pouring in 11 points to their utter decimation of Oklahoma in the Final Four before logging 15 minutes in the thrilling final against UNC.

As a sophomore, he overhauled his jumpshot and raised his three-point percentage from 30% to 39.5%, joining the starting lineup for good by mid-November due to an injury to Phil Booth. It ultimately led to him winning Big East Defensive Player of the Year. Side-by-side with the likes of Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, Donte DiVincenzo, and more, the Wildcats were once again contenders to win the whole thing, but were shocked by Wisconsin in the Round of 32. Bridges failed to make a single shot in that game.

Entering his redshirt junior season, he made even more strides as a scorer, serving as a perfect Robin to Brunson’s Batman, averaging 17 points on 43% from behind the arc and being named a Consensus All-American. His best games would come in the biggest moments, dropping 28 on Gonzaga in a neutral-site tournament, 25 in the Big East Championship Game, and 19 in the national championship game, going out as a two-time national champion.

Declaring for the 2018 NBA Draft, Bridges was the top NBA prospect on the team. DiVincenzo snuck into the lottery, and Brunson was reduced to a second-round pick, but Bridges was picked No. 10 overall by his hometown Sixers. His mom still worked for the team. It was the dream of all dream scenarios.

And then he was traded.

After all the emotions poured out with the possibility of staying home, Brett Brown traded him 25 minutes later for Zhaire Smith and a first-round pick. The pick would go on to be part of the Tobias Harris package a year later.

Putting aside how cruel that is from a front office to pull on a city and family’s heartstrings like that after making the pick, it shows the hubris and self-inflicted nature of the Sixers’ failure to build a winner around Joel Embiid. They’ve had so many talented players in their organization and decided to punt all of them for pennies on the dollar.

Jared McCain for scraps because your owner is cheap. Julian Champagnie, so you could have Mac McClung wear a Sixers jersey at the dunk contest. Bridges for a dude who’d be out of the league in three years and an overpaid wing that the city would despise. Oh yeah, they also let Jimmy Butler walk to give that same guy $150 million.

This is a franchise that deserved what they got.

But that’s a story for later. Bridges was now in Phoenix, where he’d soon be groomed as a quality 3-and-D starter around a core of Devin Booker and, soon, Chris Paul. He started out pretty innocently as a low-usage starter/sixth-man who would be the team’s defensive backbone.

The Suns weren’t playing many meaningful games, but it was clear Mikal was a winning player. He was a deflection machine on defense, and his jumper translated in his second season. In the bubble, he was a big part of the Suns’ 8-0 run that put them on the cusp of the postseason.

Bridges took on more responsibility in 2020-21 as a valuable third option behind Paul and Booker, benefitting beautifully from the Point God’s playmaking while being one of the best shooters in basketball. As the Suns evolved into one of the best teams in basketball, he was their heart and soul on both ends.

The Suns ripped through the postseason, with Bridges being tasked with guarding the likes of LeBron James and Paul George on their road to the NBA Finals. With Giannis Antetokounmpo and a determined Bucks team on the other side, Phoenix built a 2-0 lead, with Bridges himself scoring 27 points in one of the best games of his entire career. They could taste it.

But their hubris got the best of them. They got too confident, and the Bucks won the next four games to snatch the championship away from them. Utter heartbreak, but you had confidence they’d be back.

They wouldn’t.

Bridges stagnated offensively in 2021-22, but got to another level defensively. After never making an All-Defensive Team in his career, he took advantage of a weak field to grab second in Defensive Player of the Year voting behind Marcus Smart, but come playoff time, the Suns fell well short of expectations as a 64-win team.

Pressure got to the Suns’ front office midway through the following season. Their core was good, but they felt the desperation. The pressure was on them to get over the hump, so they decided to swing a trade for Kevin Durant at the deadline, shipping Bridges out in a massive package to a suddenly rebuilding Brooklyn.

But instead of falling into a malaise like many who go to a bad situation, Bridges played the best basketball of his career there, averaging 21.2 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 3.4 assists in 109 games across 1.5 seasons for a miserable Nets team, playing every single game to continue his Ironman streak.

Rumors circulated his entire time there of him reuniting with his Nova Brothers in New York. Hart, Brunson, and DiVincenzo had formed a compelling trio on the other side of the city and Bridges separately played with Hart and Brunson separately at the 2023 FIBA World Cup, where he made a tremendous highlight play.

The long-anticipated trade talks soon commenced after the 2023-24 season and culminated while I was on vacation in Italy. I woke up to one of the most stunning trades of my life.

Leon Rose had gone all-in. Bridges was expected to be a supercharged version of what he was in Phoenix. His defense slipped in Brooklyn at the expense of high offensive usage, but the Knicks hoped to find a balance to make him a dangerous two-way option.

With Karl-Anthony Towns suddenly joining the equation in late September, his importance was even larger to cover up for multiple defensive liabilities.

The pressure on him to live up to everything was immediate, which might’ve been why he looked to rework his jumpshot to become the dead-eye shooter he was during the 2021 NBA Finals run. It didn’t work… at all.

He was miserable from three in the preseason and to start the 2024-25 season. Through 17 games, he was shooting a flat 30% on 6.5 attempts a game. You could already hear the whispers behind the scenes as the Knicks struggled with the Celtics and Cavaliers to open the season.

Bridges was able to silence the doubters in late December, with a multi-game stretch of sharp shooting that peaked with a 40-point masterpiece on Christmas against Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs.

But he had a slow January after that and never quite got into a groove offensively. Outside of some massive individual moments to steal two crucial wins late in the season, you never got the game-breaking ability he was once capable of.

His mid-range was as automatic as it gets, and he was one of the best finishers in basketball, but he was constantly underwhelming. Any time you looked around on social media or watched sports programming, it was:

“We traded five first-round picks for this?”

Through the first five games of the Detroit series, the murmurs grew louder. He missed a potential game-tying shot in Game 2, and his inconsistent offense wasn’t helping. But as he has consistently done, he responded with a massive Game 6 to help them move on.

Then, against the Celtics, he had two of the most legendary defensive plays in franchise history to stonewall the defending champions and grab control of the series by the neck. In the same arena, he had a tumultuous team debut, and he had a huge fourth quarter in Game 2 after a terrible start to the game.

It can be argued that Bridges was the MVP of that series, and it temporarily changed the narrative surrounding him. After all, we got him because he’s a 16-game player, not an 82-game player. He didn’t play badly against Indiana in the Eastern Conference Finals, but struggled to contain Tyrese Haliburton after putting Jaylen Brown in a box against Boston.

As the Knicks decided to run back the same core in 2025-26, sans Tom Thibodeau, the pressure only grew stronger. Add some Giannis rumors into the mix, the pressure on Bridges became unfathomable.

“We seriously traded those picks for him when we could’ve waited for Giannis?”
“We’re going to waste the entire Brunson era because we traded all our assets for a role player.”

His play in the regular season was just as uneven as it was the previous year. This time, he came out with a rejuvenated jumpshot and was the league’s best corner 3 shooter for several months. He’d have flashes of brilliance, including a 35-point game in a six-point loss to Boston and a hyper-efficient 30-ball in Toronto in January.

But the lows were excruciating. After a strong start to March, he averaged just 10.6 points per game on mediocre shooting in the final 20 games of the regular season. The shouts got louder.

“How much of a sell low would it be if we traded him?”
“Could we send him and KAT to Milwaukee for Giannis?”

It didn’t get any better to start the playoffs. Bridges scored 36 points total across the first five games. He once again missed a game-winner in Game 2. When the Knicks fell behind 1-2, the pressure reached an all-time high. He was reportedly in tears after Game 3. It reached a breaking point.

Pressure was creating rubble.

Until Game 6. A nifty 24 points on 12 shots contributed to the historic beatdown in Atlanta and springboarded his dominant run through the rest of the Eastern Conference playoffs.

From Game 6 against Atlanta to Game 3 against Cleveland, he averaged 19.1 points on 69.1/47.6/100 shooting. He was shooting an unfathomable 75% from inside the arc. No matter what, he made big play after big play on both ends of the floor.

Even when he struggled in the closeout game against Cleveland, he made a big shot late in the first half to snatch whatever was left of their souls.

In the NBA Finals, he was fairly quiet for much of the series, but showed up in a big way in Game 2 with an efficient 20-6-6 as Brunson struggled, similar to the 2018 NCAA Final.

As the series went on, his defense on Stephon Castle got better and better. In Game 5, he was quite literally the only person other than Brunson who could make a shot. When the captain sat, his longtime friend kept the game from getting out of hand.

By the time the buzzer sounded, all the emotions flooded out. You want to know what it looks like when a lifetime of pressure condensed into two years finally gets released from your shoulders? When the disappointment of the past culminates in the ultimate glory? It looks like this:

In the end, all that pressure created a diamond. It created an NBA champion, freed from the shackles of a trade that would’ve defined him and his career until the day he died if they didn’t ever get it done.

It’s no coincidence that, not long after the buzzer sounded, the usually reserved and PR-trained Bridges went absolutely wild on Instagram Live and at the parade. He reached basketball nirvana. Nothing could bother him now.

As he begins a four-year extension next year, he can do so knowing that his contributions to a champion has forever made that trade worth it and that it’ll no longer define him. Maybe it’ll make the modern-day Ironman play looser and we’ll see another level from him next season.

But that’s for October. Enjoy it, Mikal, you’re an NBA champion.

–

(P&T will be doing player-by-player article tributes over the next few weeks to commemorate the special team that ended our long, half-century nightmare)

NBA teams can officially start negotiating with free agents beginning at 3 p.m. Tuesday.

The Warriors are “expected to top out at” around $15 million for LeBron James and are reportedly interested in acquiring Collin Sexton and Anfernee Simons.

Since the offseason began, there has been plenty of speculation that the Warriors want to pair James with Steph Curry, Draymond Green and Jimmy Butler.

On June 18, ESPN NBA insider Anthony Slater revealed the Warriors are willing to offer James a non-taxpayer, mid-level, team-friendly deal of $15.1 million this offseason, and it appears that number will remain the same.

The Warriors’ reported offer would be the lowest offer James has received in free agency and would be the lowest annual salary he’s had since he signed a four-year, $60 million extension with the Cavaliers in 2007.

James is set to enter his 24th NBA season and will turn 42 in late December. Last season, James averaged 20.9 points, 6.1 rebounds and 7.2 assists for the Lakers, who reportedly have not made an offer to the unrestricted free agent.

The Warriors and James have a long history. He played Golden State in four consecutive NBA Finals with the Cavaliers beginning in 2015. The Warriors got the better of James by winning those matchups in 2015, 2017 and 2018.

If the Warriors don’t end up landing James and decide to go after Simons or Sexton, it would likely be a battle between the two guards, who became teammates in the middle of last season.

Last season, Simons started with the Celtics but was traded at the NBA deadline to the Bulls. He played a pivotal part in the Celtics’ offense while Boston was without Jayson Tatum for most of the season.

Simons averaged 14.2 points and 2.4 assists per game last season.

Sexton started the season with the Hornets after he was traded by the Jazz.

Sexton saw increased minutes when he landed in Chicago and started averaging more points per game (17.5) and rebounds (2.9).