Category: Basketball

Steve Kerr will have a former Arizona guard under his tutelage this NBA season.

Brandon Williams has signed a one-year, $2.6 million contract with the Golden State Warriors, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported Tuesday.

Free agent guard Brandon Williams has agreed to a one-year, $2.6 million deal to sign with the Golden State Warriors, agents Derek Lafayette and Curtis Lawrence tell ESPN. Williams averaged 13 points, 3.9 assists and 22.2 minutes per night across 66 games for Dallas last season. pic.twitter.com/VcDytjCDKe

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) August 25, 2026

The former Wildcats point guard is coming off a career-best season with Dallas Mavericks in which he averaged 13 points and 3.9 assists in 22 minutes per game. Williams appeared in 66 games with Dallas after spending the previous two seasons on two-way deals.

The 26-year-old debuted with Portland in 2021 after going undrafted out of college. Williams missed his sophomore season at Arizona due to a knee injury and spent the following year preparing for a professional career.

Williams, a Los Angeles native, is heading back to his home state to play for a Warriors franchise that has fallen on hard times in recent years. Williams will compete with De’Anthony Melton for the backup point guard role behind Stephen Curry.

Williams is the third former Wildcat to play under Kerr in Golden State, joining Andre Iguodala and Nico Mannion.

The Golden State Warriors have had a rather quiet offseason that returned many familiar faces from last season's roster. Now, they have added two newcomers at the guard and forward positions.

The Warriors agreed to sign 6-foot-1 point guard Brandon Williams to a one-year, $2.6 million deal, according to ESPN NBA insider Shams Charania. Golden State also agreed to sign free agent forward Georges Niang to a one-year, $3.9 million deal, Charania reported.

Williams spent the 2025-26 season with the Dallas Mavericks, where he averaged career highs with 13 points and 3.9 assists in 66 games. Williams averaged 22.2 minutes per night, the most playing time he's seen since joining the NBA as an undrafted rookie signing in 2021.

Williams was on the Mavericks' roster the previous three seasons. He first entered the league playing for the Portland Trail Blazers, where he averaged 12.9 points in 24 games in 2021-22.

The veteran Niang has averaged 7.4 points per game across 544 NBA games, but did not play in 2025-26 due to injury.

How Brandon Williams fits with Warriors

The fifth-year NBA player joins a guard-heavy team already featuring the likes of Stephen Curry, Brandin Podziemski, Moses Moody, Will Richard, LJ Cryer, Gary Payton II and De'Anthony Melton.

Williams will seemingly be a spark off the bench for Golden State. It's a role Williams is familiar with and the Warriors know how dynamic he can be torching other second units − they got a taste of that work last season.

Williams had one of his best games against the Warriors on Christmas Day 2025, while with the Mavericks. Williams seemingly couldn't miss that day. He tallied 26 points on 9-for-12 shooting from the field.

He scored a career-high against the Memphis Grizzlies on March 7, 2025 when he went off for 31 points on 10-for-15 shooting, including 4-of-8 on 3-point field goals. He added six assists, five rebounds and a steal to his stat line. Williams showcased his ability to get to the rim and draw contact that game, getting to the free throw line eight times, making seven.

How Georges Niang fits with Warriors

If healthy, Niang brings another 3-point shooting threat to the Warriors roster. He fits in all too well.

After a decade in the NBA, Niang has proved to be a reliable role player and credible 3-point shooter who connects from deep at a 40% clip for his career.

Niang missed the 2025-26 season due to a foot injury. The Warriors were all too familiar with injuries last season, with Curry, Moody, Jimmy Butler III and Al Horford among the big names impacted.

Niang has played for the Indiana Pacers, Utah Jazz, Philadelphia 76ers, Cleveland Cavaliers and Atlanta Hawks. He was going to return to the Jazz after a trade last offseason because the team felt his veteran presence would benefit their young core. Niang joining the Warriors' mix of veteran leadership and young reserves should be the perfect storm.

Plus, Niang should be somewhat familiar with the Warriors' organization and development system having played for their G-League affiliate, the Santa Cruz Warriors, during the 2017-18 season.

Reuniting old teammates

Williams won't have too much of a time getting acclimated with the Warriors and how they operate. He is already familiar with a member of the team.

Williams is a 26-year-old guard from Los Angeles. He attended Crespi Carmelite High School in Encino, California, where he was teammates with Melton. They dominated the floor when they shared the space. Melton averaged 20 points and Williams averaged 15.8 points as they led the Celts to a 33-5 record and won the CIF Division I state championship.

The two celebrated Williams' signing, posting a screen grab from their FaceTime video call showing both smiling as Williams quoted the tagline for hip-hop producer Chandler "Turbo" Durham.

"RUN IT BACK TURBOOOO @DeAnthonyMelton," Williams posted on X, formerly Twitter, with blue and yellow hearts symbolizing the Warriors' color-scheme.

Although not Southern California, Williams is back on the West Coast, so that has to be a breath of fresh air for him. His familiarity with Melton should help make for a smooth transition to the Bay Area.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Warriors signing Georges Niang, Brandon Williams: How they fit with Golden State

I didn’t think we’d need a second one of these so soon, but I also don’t think any Lakers fan expected the chaos of the last two weeks.

After having just enough time to catch our collective breath from free agency, Mark Walter and the Buss family chose chaos for the rest of the summer. Now, the rest of the offseason will be spent wondering what the future of the franchise is even going to look like.

Naturally, lots of questions will come with that uncertainty. Plus, on top of that, there’s still a team that just finished touring Slovenia and is getting ready for a season. So, fire away with any questions, whether on the team, owners, the NBA, the WNBA or whatever else.

Lastly, keep things friendly along the way!

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At long last, Penn State has announced that it will stage its annual "white out" spectacle Oct. 10 against USC.

NBC will broadcast the matchup at 7:30 p.m. from Beaver Stadium, where fans will be asked to dress in as much white clothing as possible and turn the venue's typically raucous home environment up a notch.

Fans have long had the game circled as the likely choice to be the next installment of one of the most visually striking traditions in the sport. The Trojans are the highest-ranked opponent on the Nittany Lions' home slate at No. 14 in the LBM Coaches Poll, so it made sense the leverage the environment against them.

Required reading: The view from Penn State's renovated Beaver Stadium is stunning - and dizzying

However, the TV networks waited until this week to confirm the game's network and - most importantly - the time. Fox gets the first pick of Big Ten games weekly for its "Big Noon Saturday" package. Penn State has historically bristled at the notion of staging the white out in the early afternoon, preferring the contrast of the dark night sky with the sea of white for what's become its principal marketing event as a school.

Had Fox chosen the game, Penn State was leaving the option open to pivot the white out to a different opponent. Now, however, it appears they won't have to use that contingency plan and will instead get its biggest home game in primetime as desired.

This will mark the first white out game for the renovated west side of the stadium, which will debut alongside new coach Matt Campbell on Sept. 5 for the season opener against Marshall. Penn State has not yet announced the stadium's new capacity, but athletic director Pat Kraft has said in interviews that it could surpass 108,000 or 109,000 to become the largest stadium in college football.

If that happens, the USC game could set a new attendance record for the building and flirt with some of the largest on-campus crowds ever on a national level.

The Lions beat the Trojans, 33-30, in their most recent matchup two years ago in Los Angeles. Ryan Barker's 36-yard field goal in overtime completed a comeback from a 20-6 halftime deficit.

Also Monday, Penn State announced it will stage its annual homecoming weekend Sept. 26 against Wisconsin.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Penn State announces USC as white out opponent after long delay

The Los Angeles Lakers have returned from their four-day minicamp in Slovenia, hosted by superstar Luka Doncic.

Their trip to Doncic’s home country — which featured working out, playing pick-up games, golfing and exploring Ljubljana — was evidently a fun time. So much so, that Jarred Vanderbilt is considering getting a Slovenian passport.

“The trip was great,” Vanderbilt said. “Not gonna lie, didn’t know much about [Slovenia] before I came here, but it’s definitely a spot I will revisit.

“I’m looking to get Slovenian passport. We’ll see. Might be part Slovenian.”

Jarred Vanderbilt:

“I'm looking to get a Slovenian passport. We'll see. Might be part Slovenian.”

(via @kurooscoffee, h/t @LukaUpdates) pic.twitter.com/COR7tEbBSN

— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) August 24, 2026

The minicamp was an opportunity for the new-look Lakers to get a chance to build a rapport with one another, on and off the court. Chemistry is an important aspect of any championship team and the Lakers will have a different feel after LeBron James left for the 76ers in free agency.

The Lakers also added star center Walker Kessler, swing man Quentin Grimes and forward Sandro Mamukelashvili.

The Lakers’ overseas trip came also as the franchise was sold by Mark Walter for $12.5 billion to Bob Iger and Josh Kushner.

The Lakers are looking for Doncic to lead the team to glory, a tall task for any player under the bright lights of Hollywood.

But the 27-year-old’s leadership is already on display with the four-day minicamp in Slovenia and it’ll have to continue at training camp next month.

We’ve finally, mercifully reached the quiet part of the NBA calendar, James Harden’s latest eye-popping contract notwithstanding. That triggered a fresh batch of power rankings and standings projections across the basketball internet in recent days.

On Monday, Law Murray of The Athletic put the Sixers fourth in his latest power rankings, trailing only the reigning champion New York Knicks, San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder. Right after LeBron James signed with the Sixers, he had them fifth, behind those three teams and the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Although I anticipate a slow start for the 76ers, like all LeBron James teams, I am already doing what I said I would not do last month: raising expectations for Philly. Why? If nothing else, because they have their team in place.

While James was the player the broadcast partners wanted, Brown was an All-NBA selection last season. It’s Brown replacing George in the salary bracket, and it’s Brown who must show he can defend at the level that helped him earn the 2024 NBA Finals MVP. James should be the kind of connector who makes Philadelphia’s offense easy for everyone else, especially Tyrese Maxey. More succinctly, James replaces Kelly Oubre Jr.

The bench ensures Philadelphia’s depth will be strong. Wade replaces Watford, Simons supplants Grimes, Caldwell-Pope is in for Terry and Philon is an upgrade for the recently retired Lowry. Philadelphia still has significant vulnerabilities, and many of them trace back to whether Joel Embiid is playing and how often he is available. Head coach Nick Nurse has some things to figure out. But the 76ers have more talent, and that’s after being good enough to win a playoff series last spring.

SB Nation’s Ricky O’Donnell is similarly bullish on the Sixers’ prospects this year. He put them fifth in his latest power rankings, trailing the Thunder, Spurs, Knicks and Minnesota Timberwolves.

I’m favoring the Timberwolves here because of their playoff upside. I don’t expect them to be the NBA’s fourth-best regular season team this season, but I like their ability to advance in the postseason more than some of the other contenders for that spot. I’m always been a bit LaMelo Ball guy, and he’s quietly turned into a borderline top-20 player when he’s healthy. Obviously LaMelo’s health is a big if, but you can same thing for Aaron Gordon in Denver and Joel Embiid in Philadelphia. Ball is at least the youngest of that trio.

Notably, Ricky has the Cavaliers at 11th even after their acquisition of Peyton Watson. On a related note, Ricky knows ball.

You know who doesn’t know ball? ESPN, apparently. Their “NBA insiders” joined together to project the full Eastern Conference standings on Monday, and they had the Sixers finishing fourth in the East at 50-32. That’s just behind the Knicks (53-29), Detroit Pistons (53-29) and Cavaliers (51-31), although they’re notably ahead of the Boston Celtics (48-34), whose roster is “s–t,” according to none other than Jayson Tatum’s father. (Did that playoff series create a rift in the space-time continuum? That is the only logical explanation for what’s happened over the ensuing three months.)

ESPN noted “health and cohesion will be among Philly’s biggest concerns”—you think?—but added that “the 76ers have by far the biggest upside of any team in the East.”

In the immortal words of Walter White: You’re goddamn right.

All jokes aside, the Sixers’ placement in these latest power rankings and standings projections feel relatively fair. The youth of the Spurs and Thunder should propel them to a better regular-season record than the Sixers, who will need time to gel, especially early on. The Knicks are getting the defending-champion bump because apparently everyone memory-holed how up-and-down their regular season was before they touched God in the playoffs, but that’s beside the point.

The Sixers didn’t assemble this roster to win 60-plus regular-season games, though. They have their eyes on April, May and June. And as ESPN noted, if everything breaks right for the Sixers, no team in the East has more upside than them.

They just need to make it there in one piece first, preferably sans egos.

Unless otherwise noted, all stats via NBA.com, PBPStats, Cleaning the Glass or Basketball Reference. All salary information via Spotrac and salary-cap information via RealGM.

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Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the NBA. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Rockets fans and fans across the country.

Russell Westbrook recently retired. He spent a season as a Houston Rocket, where he averaged 27.2 points, 7 rebounds, and 7.2 assists per game on 47.2 percent from the field and 25.8 percent from deep. The Rockets finished 44-28 and lost to the Los Angeles Lakers in the West Semis of the bubble playoffs. The Rockets then collapsed into a rebuild the following season. The Rockets have dealt with the fallout from that lopsided trade since then.

The Rockets initially sent Chris Paul, two first-round picks and two first-round pick swaps to the Thunder, then dealt him away the following season for John Wall.

What we want to know is, do you consider the Westbrook deal the worst in Rockets history? The numbers look good, but Russ was a terrible fit for Houston’s system because he couldn’t shoot.

Some other bad deals were Charles Barkley being sent to Houston from Phoenix for fan favorites Sam Cassell, Robery Horry, and Chucky Brown. The Rockets then lost all their depth and never made it back to the Finals.

Reigning MVP Moses Malone was sent from Houston to Philly for a first-round pick and center Caldwell Jones in 1982. Jones averaged 9 points per night the following season, while Malone won another MVP and led Philly to a title.

There was also the Ty Lawson deal in 2015 where the Rockets sent four bench players and first round pick to Denver, only to have Lawson wash out immediately.

There are others, but we want you to decide. Was Russ the worst or someone else?

Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys:

Cast your vote, tell us in the comments, and we’ll be back soon with the results!

Lonzo Ball has played seven seasons in the NBA, but his career hasn’t panned out how the second overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft likely envisioned it.

Ball, currently an unsigned free agent, regrets how much control his father, Lavar, had early in his career.

Ball was an All-American out of UCLA, and his bombastic father publicly declared that he would be a Laker prior to the draft. The Lakers then selected him No. 2 overall in 2017.

“I think he had a huge influence on it, bro,” Ball said of Lavar’s involvement on the “Curious Mike” podcast with Michael Porter Jr. “To be honest… I think he damn near made it to where they had to pick me. Really, to a point, I really do feel like that.”

The Lakers passed on drafting Jayson Tatum, who went No. 3 to the Boston Celtics that year. Fans have not forgotten the Lakers missing out on Tatum, but the team eventually used Ball along with Brandon Ingram as key assets in the trade that brought Anthony Davis to LA.

Ball’s two seasons with the Lakers were tainted by Lavar’s antics, including public criticism of then-head coach Luke Walton.

The guard — older brother to LiAngelo and recently traded All-Star point guard LaMelo — was also forced to wear basketball shoes from Lavar’s Big Baller Brand’s, which Lonzo felt were not ready to be used for competitive play.

“It wasn’t a basketball shoe, bro. It wasn’t ready to be used. So I tried to play in it, but they would rip and pop out like every quarter,” Ball said on Porter’s podcast.

“DMo [Darren Moore, Ball’s manager] had backup shoes in his backpack that he would give me right over the bench if they would blow out. I’m like, ‘I can’t play like this, bro.’ And right when I changed my shoes, I started playing great again.

“I didn’t like the shoes. I addressed it. I didn’t like the shoes. But then we would get into an argument and it would be like, damn, if you don’t wear the shoes, then you going against the family type s–t.”

Ball suggested the shoes might have played a role in his early knee injuries, which have been irreversible setbacks throughout his NBA career.

“I literally was just hooping and following my pops, listening to my pops…I was just doing what I was told really,” Ball said. “I guess that would be my one regret, like taking control of my career earlier.

“The way I was raised was like a blessing and a curse.”

The Golden State Warriors signed free agent guard Brandon Williams to a one-year, $2.6 million deal.

The contract marks Golden State’s first outside acquisition in what has been a relatively quiet offseason for the team.

Williams averaged a career-high 13 points, 3.9 assists and 22.2 minutes across 66 games for the Dallas Mavericks last season. He shot 47.2% from the field and 23.2% from 3-point range.

The Warriors needed perimeter bench scoring as well as speed. Williams fits the bill.

Throughout his four-year NBA career, Williams has averaged 10.7 points in 19.3 minutes across 140 games (34 starts).

He began his career with the Portland Trail Blazers after going undrafted in 2021. The 26-year-old signed a two-way deal with the Mavericks in December 2023. Williams has gotten most of his exposure to the NBA with Dallas after the deal was converted to a standard NBA contract in April 2025.

The Warriors will be without starting guard Moses Moody for the beginning of the 2026-27 season after he suffered a torn left patellar tendon last March.

There were reports earlier this month the Warriors were interested in adding Williams to their roster in an effort to add depth following an injury-plagued season last year.

Golden State has done just that as it rounds out the rest of the roster ahead of training camp in September.