Category: NBA

Retired NBA forward Blake Griffin and swimwear designer Francesca Aiello are married, a representative for Griffin confirmed to People.

The pair, who reportedly got engaged in late 2024, have yet to share details of their wedding.

Griffin made waves when he was spotted wearing his gold wedding band while promoting Season 2 of NBA on Prime, as well as his new weekly talk show, “The Stepback,” last week.

The six-time NBA All-Star put his wedding ring on display while posing with Aiello, who founded the lifestyle brand Frankies Bikinis, on the red carpet at the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show in Los Angeles on Sunday night.

Before that, he donned it at an exclusive screening of “The Stepback with Blake Griffin,” on Wednesday, and the NBA on Prime Season 2 Launch Event “The Art of Basketball” on Tuesday.

Griffin and Aiello never announced an engagement.

He reportedly proposed to Aiello around the holidays in 2024.

The model, a Malibu native, stirred buzz when she showed off her massive engagement ring in various Instagram posts in early 2025.

Griffin and Aiello first started dating in June 2018 and briefly split before they reconnected in August 2023.

Griffin is a father to son Ford, 13, and daughter Finley, 10, from his previous relationship with ex-girlfriend, Brynn Cameron.

He spent eight seasons with the Clippers after being selected with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2009 NBA Draft.

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The 2011 Rookie of the Year also played for the Detroit Pistons, Brooklyn Nets and Boston Celtics.

Griffin’s new weekly late-night sports talk and comedy show, “The Stepback with Blake Griffin,” premieres Tuesday, Oct. 20 with Amazon Studios, YouTube and Wondery.

The 2026-27 NBA season tips off next Tuesday, but the basketball card market is already in midseason form. 

Since the Knicks’ dramatic NBA Finals victory in June, NBA fans have largely been focused on LeBron’s move to the 76ers, because it wouldn’t be an offseason without The King commanding the vast majority of the attention. However, when it comes to cards, Michael Jordan inserts and Cooper Flagg’s Rookie Debut Patch stole the show this summer. 

As the world prepares for the NBA’s opening night tripleheader, which features the Knicks’ banner-raising, LeBron’s 76ers debut, Wemby vs. Shai round 2, and a matinee Pistons-Celtics clash, digital collectibles platform Courtyard, released an interesting take on their platform’s data with the introduction of a unique NBA tier list. 

Unlike most player rankings floating around social media around ahead of a new season, this list isn’t based on on-court performance. Instead, Courtyard’s used data to showcase the players basketball collectors are most likely to hold—or sell—after they’re pulled from one of Courtyard’s basketball packs.

The Keep, Flip, Ship Hierarchy

On Courtyard, collectors who rip one of the company’s many digital basketball packs can take an instant buyback offer (flip) on their new, graded card, keep the card vaulted for free, or redeem it and have the physical version of the card shipped to them. Courtyard’s tier list ranks players by how collectors treated their pulls, with the S-Tier representing the players that collectors held onto the most, while the F-Tier represented the players that were most frequently flipped.

A few placements stand out. Tyrese Maxey ranks above Flagg, the reigning Rookie of the Year. Donovan Clingan, who averaged a double-double last season and Pistons guard Ausar Thompson, who might find his shot one day, share a tier with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Chet Holmgren, an All-Star and All-Defensive First Team selection last season, landed in the D-Tier, alongside Mikal Bridges, who helped the Knicks win their first title since 1973. Needless to say, collectors will have plenty of opinions about who is where on this list.

Does this mean that Donovan Clingan is a better buy than say, Nikola Jokic who is on the B-tier? Definitely not, at least in my opinion. It’s more a reflection of where the market has him currently priced (low) versus his overall potential. Conversely, Cooper Flagg is still high on the list but not at the top, likely because his market is currently reaching new market highs each day, which leads to collectors selling quickly. In that regard, the list is very interesting.

“Keeping a card is about the most honest thing a collector does. A sale tells you what the market thinks a card is worth. Holding onto it tells you what it’s worth to you,” said Nico le Jeune, co-founder and CEO of Courtyard. “That’s why this list doesn’t look much like an MVP ballot. Collectors hold onto Tyrese Maxey more than Cooper Flagg, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander lands in the same tier as Donovan Clingan. Fans have their own idea of who matters.”

Key Offseason Moves

The Knicks might have won the NBA Finals, but Mavs’ rising sophomore forward holds the title for the biggest NBA card of a single player sold since June. Others haven’t played a game in decades.

• Cooper Flagg: His 1-of-1 Topps rookie debut patch autograph sold for $8.04 million at Fanatics Collect on September 25th. It’s the highest price paid for any single NBA player’s card, and the third-highest NBA card sale overall, behind only a Michael Jordan/Kobe Bryant Dual Logoman Auto 1/1 ($12.93 million) , and a Jordan/LeBron Dual Logoman Auto 1/1 ($10 million). Flagg’s previous record was $366,000.
• Kobe Bryant/LeBron James: A 1-of-1 2007-08 Exquisite Dual Logoman Autograph sold for $6,501,840 through Alt on September 24th, the most expensive sale in the marketplace’s history. It also marked what might’ve been the high point of the recent Jordan boom, which has captivated The Hobby for what seems like forever at this point—leading to rising prices for other vintage cards from players like Shaq, when the cost of Jordan inserts started to price people out.
• The Knicks starting five: A 1-of-1 Topps Now quintuple autograph featuring Brunson, Josh Hart, OG Anunoby, Bridges, and Karl-Anthony Towns sold for $317,200. Credit where it’s due. It’s nice to see something other than RCs and vintage, for once. 

The 2026 Rookie Class Gets Its Debut

Last week, the preorder for Topps Flagship Basketball crashed Topps’ website. We all know rookies drive demand, but the class of 2026 has a wider breadth of potential than collectors are used to. 

Washington selected former BYU star AJ Dybantsa first overall, followed by Darryn Peterson (Utah Jazz), Cameron Boozer (Memphis Grizzlies), Caleb Wilson (Chicago Bulls), and Keaton Wagler (Los Angeles Clippers). Their first Topps rookie cards will arrive… sometime soon, as the initial launch date during the NBA’s opening week (October 23rd) has since been pushed back to November 5th. 

Who will you be chasing in NBA packs this season?

Let us know over on Mantel.

When JJ Redick took over as the Lakers’ head coach in June 2024, he and Rob Pelinka, the franchise’s general manager and now president of basketball operations, laid out many emphases that fit into their vision of the franchise.

Among them was player development – with the exact phrase being mentioned by Redick and Pelinka at least 13 times during Redick’s introductory press conference on June 24, 2024.

Nearly 2 ½ years later, the Lakers’ player development system is coming back into focus after they waived 2024 first-round pick Dalton Knecht Monday to become compliant with the league’s rules, trimming their roster from 16 to 15 players signed to standard NBA deals.

The decision highlighted the Lakers’ struggles with maximizing younger players over the last few years.

If they are going to compete with the best of the Western Conference, led by the Spurs and Thunder, they must make a drastic improvement in this area.

And soon. 

Lakers inability to develop

Knecht, along with second-round pick Bronny James, who Redick once referred to as “case study one” for the franchise’s player development program after the team drafted the son of LeBron James with the No. 55 pick in the 2024 draft, made up the Lakers’ first draft class after Redick was hired.

The Lakers also had 2023 first-round pick Jalen Hood-Schifino and second-round pick Maxwell Lewis entering their second NBA seasons as Redick was brought on board. 

But the Lakers have very little to show from the players in those draft classes.

Hood-Schifino? Traded to the Jazz, and immediately waived by Utah, as part of the three-team trade that brought superstar guard Luka Doncic to Los Angeles after an unremarkable 1 ½ seasons with the Lakers.

Lewis? Currently playing overseas after playing just 41 games for the Lakers, and two seasons in the NBA. 

With Knecht now gone, Bronny is the Lakers’ lone draft pick from 2023 and 2024 still on the roster. 

Even though he’s made significant strides in his development, to the point of being a positive contributor in the rotation toward the end of 2025-26 after regular-season, the younger James’ play during the preseason has made it clear he isn’t ready to be a regular contributor to this Lakers’ team.

There’s a good chance Reaves will not only be the lone player in the Lakers’ starting lineup on Wednesday who started his career with the franchise, but also the only player in the rotation who was at least on a rookie contract with the Lakers.

By comparison, the Thunder drafted three players projected to start this season (Jalen Williams, Chet Holmgren and Cason Wallace) and traded for another (Shai Gilgeous-Alexander) while he was still on his rookie deal.

Even as those former young players sign more expensive veteran contracts, they have multiple young players on less expensive deals that will provide depth behind their higher-paid rotation players. 

The Spurs are in a similar boat as the Thunder.

With the constraints on roster building under the first and second aprons, more attention and investments are being paid to identifying and developing younger players.

Even by the league’s best teams. 

Pelinka spoke about this trend over two years. 

“Part of the road to a really, really good team,” he said in June 2024, “and you can look around the landscape of the league right now with many young teams doing really, really well, is going to lean hard into that player development piece.”

It’s time for the Lakers to catch up in this department.

They must if they want to compete for a title while Doncic is in his prime. 

The Thunder and Spurs, with their young stars and younger rosters, aren’t going anywhere. 

Redick acknowledged developing second-year forward Adou Thiero and rookie wing Cameron Carr into “functional rotation NBA players over the next 12 to 24 months” would change the Lakers’ ceiling. 

And he’s absolutely right.

The Lakers know firsthand how much quality development can change the direction of a franchise. 

It’s why they’ve made hires and internal changes to ramp up their player development program over the last couple of years.

They developed Alex Caruso, who went undrafted in 2016 and joined the Lakers in 2017, into a rotation player for the 2020 title team before he departed the franchise in 2021.

Reaves developed from an undrafted player into a star guard who received a four-year, $180 million contract this past summer and is the unquestioned No. 2 option behind Doncic in this new era. He was also an essential part of the Lakers making the 2023 Western Conference finals.

Max Christie, the Lakers’ 2022 second-round pick, developed into a starting-level 3-and-D wing before being traded to the Mavericks as part of the Doncic acquisition. 

But since then, the success stories haven’t come as often. 

This needs to change if the Lakers want to have any shot at catching up with the best of the West over the next couple of years.

By mid-August, Josh Hart was already tired of the perpetual congratulations. In September, it felt like “a burden.”

As great as winning a championship was for the Knicks — and many of the players celebrated wildly and extensively, to be clear — Hart wanted to focus on progress, not history. 

“You’re fully into the swing of working out in the summer and it’s tough to turn the page,” Hart said. “Because you’re sitting there, you turn the page, you’re like ‘I got to work and then somebody says, ‘Congrats, we did this, my family did this, we watched it together,’ and you just keep getting brought back to the championship. 

“You move on, you get brought back. That’s also why I can’t wait for that opening night tip, to really put all that stuff behind us.”

Hart’s conundrum is at the center of Tuesday’s season opener against the 76ers, a night at MSG meant to celebrate the feelings and accomplishments he’s been trying to avoid. It will be a test of focus from the Knicks, who will go from accepting rings to raising a banner to trying to beat LeBron James. 

All within minutes. 

It probably helps that New York’s head coach, Mike Brown, has participated in four ring nights with the Spurs and Warriors. There’s a voice of experience in a high position. 

“It is a little tough even for me as a coach,” Brown said. “People are patting you on the back, telling how good you are and it’s good and you want people to be able to do that with you and for you and all that stuff, but in the same breath there always has to be a part of you — and I know this from experience that says — don’t listen to this, don’t read this, don’t watch this. Because it’s hard to stay even-keeled in situations like that. You got to embrace it, you got to enjoy it with others, especially your family, but try to come back down to earth as soon as possible. … We have a pretty sharp group. But if they don’t know, we’ll definitely help by reminding them, ‘This is not last year. This is a new season and we can’t just think we’re going to switch that light on and get after it.’ ”

History suggests the Knicks will beat the Sixers. The defending champions are 64-15 in their home openers, according to The Elias Sports Bureau, which isn’t surprising because defending champs tend to be good. Not all of those games were ‘ring night,’ but most were and the recent examples hold firm:

The last loser of their own ring night was the 2020 Lakers, who fell to the Clippers in an empty arena because of the pandemic. James, who will be at ring night Tuesday with the 76ers, was on those Lakers. Two years ago, the Knicks were shellacked by the Celtics on ring night in Boston. 

OG Anunoby won his ring night with the Raptors in 2019, but it required overtime to topple the Pelicans. Anunoby finished with 11 points, seven rebounds and two blocks in 36 minutes. 

“You celebrate with the ring, take pictures, then the game started. It was kind of weird,” Anunoby said. “Then the game goes on, first quarter and second quarter, it gets back to normal. You get used to it. But initially, yeah, it was kind of weird.”

For Hart, Jalen Brunson and Mikal Bridges, this will be their first game as champs on ring night. They were the defending NCAA titlists with Villanova in 2016, but the banner was raised at a students-only pep rally called Hoops Mania — not before a game. 

Brunson, nonetheless, understands the assignment. 

“It’s about how quickly you turn a page and how quickly you understand that the egos have to be checked at the door,” he said.

The Knicks will get their first glimpse of life without Mitchell Robinson. 

After eight years with Robinson on the roster — though not always on the active list — New York faces the Sixers in Tuesday’s opener with Andre Drummond as the backup center. 

It is by far the biggest change from last season’s championship-winning roster and therefore will be under the microscope when Drummond faces his former team from Philly. 

“Mitch [who signed with the Celtics in free agency] is a great player. We’re not bringing Andre in here to quote-unquote be Mitch,” coach Mike Brown told The Post’s Steve Serby. “Andre’s going to be Andre, but that means everybody else has to give a little bit more defensively, and has to give a little bit more when it comes to offensive and defensive rebounding.”

Drummond’s greatest strength, throughout a lengthy career, was rebounding. But he’s now past his prime at 33 years old and replacing the NBA’s best offensive rebounder in Robinson.

The Knicks entered camp without a third center after Karl-Anthony Towns and Drummond, opening up a competition that ended with James Wiseman as the winner.

Wiseman is a former No. 2 pick and draft bust with the Golden State Warriors, but a superb athlete who always had a fan in Mike Brown. 

Brown was the lead assistant at Golden State when Wiseman was drafted there. 

“It was a different situation with the Knicks,” Brown said. “You come in as No. 2 pick in the draft with Golden State and you’re talented and skilled as he is and it can be tough on you because of expectations. Not just from the media and fans but sometimes your teammates and coaches and rest of the organization and if it’s hard for certain individuals to live up to. … With this situation, it’s — OK, he’s been around the block, he’s experienced adversity. We’re not looking for him to start or fight for a starting position. We’re not necessarily looking for him to come in and be a backup. He has the luxury of growing at his own pace without much pressure.”

The Sixers also have frontcourt questions after their backup, Ariel Hukporti, tore his Achilles in the preseason opener. Hukporti was the Knicks third-string center last season but left in free agency. 

Joel Embiid’s backup is Adem Bona, who will have to deal with Drummond, his teammate last season. 

Collin Sexton participated in his first full Lakers practice on Monday and and is considered day-to-day for Wednesday’s season opener against the Warriors.

Sexton said he’s dealing with a “lower leg injury,” adding that he has been experiencing “tightness.” He said that “nothing in particular” brought it on.

“We’ll be taking it day by day,” Sexton said. “At the end of the day, I had a really good practice [Monday], felt good. Super excited to be back out there with the guys, so I look forward to it.”

Sexton, who signed a two-year, $19 million contract with the Lakers this offseason, missed all five preseason games.

The 27-year-old guard will bolster the Lakers’ second-unit scoring and give them another ball-handler when he returns. He has career averages of 18.3 points on 47.2% shooting (38.9% from beyond the arc), 2.7 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game over his eight seasons in the league with the Cavaliers, Jazz, Hornets and Bulls.

After watching the Lakers’ exhibition games, Sexton said he sees where he could slot in alongside his new teammates as another ball-handler.

“I’m super excited to get out there, and I can see where I can fit in pretty easily,” he said. “I think even just on the defensive side, bringing that energy, bringing that juice, and, and trying to disrupt, not always turning the ball over and get someone to turn it over for just disrupt and bring the clock down. And then offensively, getting to the paint. I think that’s something that I’ve done really well in my career.

“And then spacing, making sure I’m spacing for the guys like Luka [Doncic], AR [Austin Reaves], even just when Walker [Kessler] gets in the pocket, being ready to shoot on the back side. So, just finding ways that I can help the team.”

A final look at the Knicks’ magical playoff run by the numbers:

16-3

The Knicks’ playoff record, by far the greatest in their history, surpassing the 12-7 mark in 1969-70 and the 12-5 record in 1972-73

13

Consecutive Knicks playoff wins, just two shy of the NBA record. The streak consisted of three wins against the Hawks, four versus the 76ers, four over the Cavs and two more wins against the Spurs.

45

Points Jalen Brunson scored in the NBA Finals Game 5 championship clincher. It was 47.8 percent of the Knicks’ total.

33

Where Brunson was selected in the 2018 NBA Draft (third pick of the second round)

3.4, 7.7, 10.3

OG Anunoby’s scoring jump (16.7 ppg to 20.1 ppg), field goal percentage jump (48.4 to 56.1) and 3-point percentage jump (38.6 to 48.9) from the regular season to the playoffs

2

Karl-Anthony Towns’ triple-doubles in the Hawks series (Game 4 and Game 6), the first Knick to ever have two triple-doubles in the same playoff series

53

The Knicks lead over the Hawks after three quarters of Game 6 (117-64) — the biggest after three quarters in playoff history. At one point the lead was 61.

67.6

Landry Shamet’s 3-point percentage (23 of 34) across eight games, from Game 3 of the 76ers series, through the entire Cavs series and Game 2 of the NBA Finals.

25

Three-pointers the Knicks hit in the clinching Game 4 against the 76ers, tying an NBA playoff record. Miles McBride (7), Brunson (6), Josh Hart (4) and Shamet (4) led the way.

68.2

Mikal Bridges’ outrageous field goal percentage across 10 straight playoff games. He shot 73-for-107 during that span.

26

Josh Hart’s playoff career-high point total in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals against the Cavs. Hart sank five 3-pointers.

29

The deficit the Knicks faced during their miracle Game 4 Finals comeback against the Spurs, the largest comeback in NBA Finals history.

1.2

Seconds remaining when Anunoby’s Flying Tip-In in Game 4 of the Finals stamped him as the owner of arguably the most important shot in Knicks history and one of the most significant plays in New York sports history

5

NBA Finals games — out of five — in which the Knicks trailed by double digits against the Spurs. They won four of them.

20.6 million

The average number of viewers for the five-game Finals series, the highest total in 28 years since Michael Jordan’s 1998 Bulls.

53

The gap in years between championships for the Knicks now that they’ve ended the five-decade-plus gap since the 1972-73 winners.

Minutes before the 4:00 p.m. deadline to finalize their regular-season roster, the Milwaukee Bucks announced they waived Kevin Porter Jr. This brings the final roster to 15 after the weekend saw the Bucks waive several other players, including Pete Nance. The 26-year-old’s waiving comes after a snake-bitten year; in the 2025-2026 campaign, KPJ suited up for only 36 games, but he started all 36, averaging 17.4 PPG, 5.2 RPG, and 7.4 APG.

An unfortunate outcome, this is another turn in the road for KPJ. In 2019, the Bucks traded their first-round pick (30th) and Tony Snell to the Detroit Pistons for Jon Leuer, and the following night Detroit flipped that pick to the Cleveland Cavaliers for four future second-round picks. Despite a solid rookie season, Porter was traded the following season after returning from a leave of absence and getting into a locker-room fight upon his return. Houston sent a protected second-round pick for him, and the new franchise seemed like a better fit, as Porter showed major growth over the next few seasons.

Then, in 2022, Porter signed a four-year extension worth up to $82.5m, but only guaranteed for one year, $15.9m, due to ongoing concerns about volatility. Before the start of the 2023 season, Porter was arrested in New York and charged with felony assault following a domestic abuse altercation. The Rockets then traded him to the Oklahoma City Thunder, who absorbed his contract and waived him immediately. Porter then spent a year playing in Greece, pleading guilty to misdemeanor assault. After his overseas stint, Porter signed a two-year veteran minimum deal with the LA Clippers, where he played the season before the Bucks traded him.

After opting into his player option this year, Porter will earn $5.39m before he becomes a free agent, despite being waived. While unfortunate, the guard-room logjam was well documented, and with the additions of Tyler Herro, Brayden Burries, and Kasparas Jakucionis—plus Ryan Rollins’s emergence last year as a Most Improved Player candidate—Porter likely would have seen fewer minutes this season. Despite the summer debate over who should start, Bucks fans would agree that wherever he lands, he will likely provide a strong offensive punch for his new team.

All the best, KPJ!

SAN FRANCISCO ― The Golden State Warriors can't afford any additional injuries while awaiting thew return of Jimmy Butler III and Moses Moody, especially with uncertainty about center Kristaps Porzingis.

So when Stephen Curry, their 38-year-old superstar, suffered a non-contact lower leg injury during an open practice Sunday, Oct. 18, there was a deep gasp from nearly everyone in attendance at the Chase Center. Curry limped off the court and went back into the locker room after tweaking his ankle.

With the NBA regular season just about ready to tip off, the Warriors will hit the road for their season opener, traveling to Los Angeles to face the Lakers on Wednesday, Oct. 21 (10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT on ESPN).

Ahead of their season-opening contest, the Warriors shared the latest on Curry and whether or not he'll be available to go against the Lakers:

The Mavericks chose not to extend Dereck Lively II before the rookie-scale extension deadline, meaning he will enter restricted free agency after the 2026-27 season if Dallas does not work out a new deal beforehand.

On the surface, that may look surprising.

Lively was awesome as a rookie. He immediately looked like the kind of center Dallas could build around long term, finishing lobs, protecting the rim, and becoming a massive part of a team that eventually went to the NBA Finals. He made the All-Rookie team and looked like one of the best picks of the 2023 draft.

The problem is that he has barely been available since.

Lively played 36 games in 2024-25 and only seven last season before undergoing season-ending foot surgery. He is entering this season still working his way back and remains out at the start of the year.

That is really what this decision comes down to.

The Mavericks know how good Lively can be when he is healthy. We have already seen it. But giving a player a three-, four-, or five-year contract after so little basketball over the last two seasons is a completely different bet.

There is also a risk on the other side.

If Lively gets healthy, plays 65 games, and looks like the guy Dallas thought it drafted, the Mavericks may regret not locking him up now. A healthy 22-year-old center who protects the rim, finishes everything around the basket, and has already proven he can play in the Finals will have a market. Dallas could have bought him low before his value rebounds.

Instead, they are essentially betting that waiting is worth the risk.

The good news is that Lively will be a restricted free agent, not unrestricted. Dallas can match an outside offer and retain him even if another team comes with a large contract. That doesn’t mean it will be cheap, but it means the Mavericks aren’t risking losing him for nothing.

I understand the decision.

I also understand why it could look bad eventually.

Lively has already shown what he can be when healthy. The problem is that “when healthy” has become the most important part of every conversation about him.

For now, Dallas is making him prove it again before committing to him long term.

The deadline has passed for the Washington Wizards and Bilal Coulibaly to reach a rookie-scale contract extension, which means the 22-year-old wing will enter restricted free agency this summer.

Washington selected Coulibaly with the No. 7 pick in the 2023 NBA Draft. He was the first selection made by Will Dawkins, who traded up one slot to secure the high-upside wing.

Dawkins had previously extended Deni Avdija in October 2023 and Corey Kispert in 2024. It appears he won’t do the same for Coulibaly.

Coulibaly averaged 11.7 points and 4.3 rebounds last season. His 86.5-inch wingspan, which ranks in the 99th percentile among NBA guards, allows him to disrupt passing lanes and deny shots. His 1.3 steals, 1.0 blocks and 3.1 deflections per game all ranked in the 90th percentile or better at his position last season.

Coulibaly’s ability to defend the opponent’s top offensive threat propelled him to a starting role during his second and third NBA seasons.

In two games against the Milwaukee Bucks last season, Coulibaly held Giannis Antetokounmpo to just 13 points on 5-13 FG. Antetokounmpo scored 46 points on 17-25 FG against all other Wizards defenders.

“[Bilal] is super valuable to our team. Starting with the defensive presence that he brings to our team, that’s a really unique skill,” Keefe said. “He has been a game changer for us. He embraces that role, and then he has the ability to put pressure on the rim in a lot of different ways: cutting, offensive rebounding, attacking the basket. He brings something that we need on our roster, and that’s someone we can play on the other team’s best players. And that is a super valuable guy to have. We’re thrilled that he’s here.”

The Wizards open the 2026-27 season at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Capital One Arena against the Milwaukee Bucks.

You thought the Phoenix Suns were done making moves? You thought wrong! After waiving both Kobe Brea and CJ Huntley earlier today, the Suns have claimed former Gonzaga standout Drew Timme off waivers.

Timme is entering his third year in the league, having previously spent time with the Brooklyn Nets and, most recently, the Los Angeles Lakers. In nine games with Brooklyn during the 2024–25 season, he averaged 12.1 points and 7.2 rebounds. Last season with the Lakers, he appeared in 27 games, averaging 3.4 points and 1.2 rebounds in 8.7 minutes per contest. He was on an Exhibit 10 contract with the Timberwolves this preseason. The team waived him.

For his NBA career, Timme is shooting 49.4% from the field and 33.3% from beyond the arc.

He spent four seasons at Gonzaga, playing alongside the likes of Chet Holmgren, Andrew Nembhard, Corey Kispert, and Jalen Suggs. While he developed into one of the more recognizable players in college basketball, perimeter shooting was never a significant part of his game; he connected on just 25% of his three-point attempts during his collegiate career. After going undrafted in 2023, Timme spent much of the past two seasons bouncing around the G League, earning All-NBA G League Second Team honors twice.

He’s a highly skilled power forward who brings passing ability, a capable defensive presence, and a nice shooting touch around the basket. His perimeter shooting remains a work in progress, but there’s enough versatility in his offensive game to make him an intriguing addition.

According to Arizona Sports’ John Gambadoro, it appears Timme will occupy the final two-way contract slot that became available following the departures of Huntley and Brea.

Timme is a 6’9” power forward who recently turned 26 and carries the nickname “Union President.” From a two-way contract perspective, it’s clear that the Phoenix Suns are prioritizing skill and size over shooting, as both Brea and Huntley possess the ability to stretch the floor.

And that’s what makes this move interesting. The Suns are using their final two-way spot on a player who offers size, passing, and interior scoring rather than another perimeter shooter. Timme still has plenty to prove at the NBA level, but his G League production and offensive skill set give Phoenix another developmental option worth exploring. With the regular season approaching, the Suns are making their final adjustments, and Timme now has an opportunity to show he belongs in the organization’s plans.