NBA News
LeBron James reportedly leaving Lakers, will play elsewhere in 2026-27 season originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
It’s the end of an era for LeBron James.
The 22-time NBA All-Star will continue his career next season and has informed the Los Angeles Lakers that the franchise can move on without him because he will play elsewhere, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported Tuesday, citing James’ Klutch Sports agent Rich Paul.
This story will be updated …
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Just when you thought Giannis moving to South Beach was the biggest story of the Summer… LeBron James reminds everyone who the biggest star in the NBA really is.
We have officially reached the ultimate flashpoint of the summer, and Kalshi's LeBron James Next Team odds are responding to a full-blown tectonic shift in player movement with the news that James will be moving to pastures new for the 2026-27 season.
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| Team |  | Buy 'Yes' | Buy 'No' |
|---|---|---|---|
 Cleveland Cavaliers | +163 | 38¢ | 63¢ |
 Golden State Warriors | +213 | 32¢ | 69¢ |
 Miami Heat | +488 | 17¢ | 84¢ |
 Philadelphia 76ers | +1567 | 6¢ | 95¢ |
 Denver Nuggets | +2400 | 4¢ | 97¢ |
 Minnesota Timberwolves | +2400 | 4¢ | 97¢ |
 New York Knicks | +4900 | 2¢ | 99¢ |
 San Antonio Spurs | +4900 | 2¢ | 99¢ |
 Washington Wizards | +4900 | 2¢ | 99¢ |
 Stays with LA Lakers or Retires | +4900 | 3¢ | 98¢ |
Pricing provided by Kalshi - accurate as of July 2
The platform’s real-time prices are currently accounting for massive leverage plays, front-office panic, and a potential roster reconstruction that could permanently rewrite the balance of power in professional basketball. Traders are moving at breakneck speed to separate genuine transactional smoke from typical agent-driven leverage plays.
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The breaking news has fundamentally inverted the Kalshi board. Prior to the announcement, the incumbent Lakers held a fragile 46% favorite status, with Golden State trailing closely at 37%. In the hours after the tweet was released, the market volume swelled from $5.5mil to 20.5mil in small trades, now reaching $35.2mil in volume.
With the Lakers now officially out of the running per Klutch Sports, the board is consolidating around specific landing spots that possess the unique salary cap mechanics required to absorb a 41-year-old superstar chasing his final ring.
Sharp predictive traders understand that elite value isn't found by simply backing the current favorite. It’s found by exploiting localized inefficiencies where the trading public has overreacted to a single headline or entirely underpriced a highly realistic luxury tax constraint.
Cleveland Cavaliers | ‘Yes’ 38¢ | 38% ChanceIf the hyper-complex multi-team financial trade architecture required to bring Anthony Davis to the Bay Area hits a structural snag under the new CBA luxury tax rules, the market will experience an instant, violent secondary correction.
That makes the Cavaliers at 31¢ a high-utility hedge asset. While Yahoo Sports notes the Warriors' pitch is to "reunite with AD, team up with Steph Curry and Draymond Green", any failure to land Davis voids the deal entirely. If that superteam floor collapses, a sentimental return to Northeast Ohio instantly becomes the ultimate default narrative for the entire sports media apparatus.
Golden State Warriors | ‘Yes’ 38¢ | 32%When the layout of a superteam blueprint becomes this obvious, you don't overthink the entry price.
The Warriors are pitching an absurd, legacy-defining "Big 4" designed to unite LeBron James with Steph Curry, Draymond Green, and Anthony Davis. As Shams Charania previously reported, “Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green is declining his $27.7 million player option to become a free agent... This move gives the Warriors flexibility to pursue LeBron James in free agency.” While the market has already factored in much of this smoke, the elimination of LA means Golden State is the only logical destination positioned for an immediate title run. Buying in before the contract becomes official still offers immense leverage against the final confirmation.
Miami Heat | ‘Yes’ 16¢ | 16% ChanceNot long after LeBron's announcement, the Heat were quietly available at a low price of 8¢, the Heat represent a low-cost lottery ticket for extreme portfolio diversification. Bleacher Report previously ranked Miami among LeBron's top potential landing spots, and Erik Spoelstra's institutional stability remains highly attractive to an ageing icon.
With the Lakers verified as out of the picture, Miami's baseline probability is technically higher than a simple 16% flyer. Risking pennies here protects your capital if the primary Western Conference options unexpectedly descend into a financial stalemate.
Stays with Los Angeles Lakers or Retires | ‘No’ Estimated 98¢ And Locking InEarly on June 30, paying 55¢ for a 'No' ticket on the incumbent favorite was a sharp contrarian play. Now, following the announcement that LeBron "will play elsewhere", it has become an absolute mathematical certainty.
For traders holding stale 'Yes' positions at 46¢, the panic spiral is absolute. If you can still scrape any remaining liquidity on the 'No' side before the market formally resolves or completely locks down, you are essentially picking up free yield on an outcome that has been explicitly ruled out.
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The structural engine driving this historic market realignment is a corporate ambush masterfully timed right before the free-agency gates open. The entire sequence of events is highly dependent on a high-wire transactional cascade across multiple teams.
The initial piece of the puzzle fell into place when Draymond Green declined his massive player option to give Golden State the immediate breathing room to facilitate a max slot.
However, as Shams Charania strictly specified, “LeBron James will ONLY sign with the Warriors if they land Anthony Davis in a trade.” Kevin O’Connor of Yahoo Sports provided the precise corporate roadmap, revealing that “The Warriors are attempting to trade with the Wizards for Anthony Davis and then sign free agent LeBron James.”
To satisfy the brutal salary cap matching requirements of the modern CBA, Golden State is aggressively leveraging Jimmy Butler’s expiring contract alongside an absolute haul of future draft assets to pry Davis loose from Washington. Rich Paul's sudden public statement that the Lakers can "move on without him" is the definitive proof that this multi-team framework is moving well past the conceptual stage.
LeBron is actively forcing the leverage window, giving the Warriors a clear ultimatum to finalize the Davis acquisition tonight or risk watching him survey the secondary market.
Trade the Cascade, Avoid the Resolution: You do not need to hold your contracts until an official contract ink dries. The second a credible insider tweets that the Wizards and Warriors have agreed on the Anthony Davis trade framework, Golden State's contract will instantly clear 85¢—that is your optimal window to sell your "Yes" shares for a massive, clean profit.
Arb the Stale Contracts: Look across alternative trading pools for participants who haven't updated their portfolios in light of the Klutch Sports declaration. Buying up mispriced "No" shares on the Lakers remains a pure execution victory.
Monitor the Hard-Cap Aprons: Building a Big 4 under modern NBA collective bargaining guidelines is a financial nightmare. Watch closely for any leaks suggesting Washington is demanding additional young assets that would trigger an un-tradeable hard-cap restriction for Golden State.
Trading high-volume NBA futures on a designated contract exchange like Kalshi offers a highly responsive, data-backed alternative to traditional, static sportsbooks.
The radioactive fallout from LeBron's verified Lakers departure is already bleeding directly into broader NBA future contracts. The second Rich Paul's statement cleared the wires, Los Angeles' 2027 NBA Championship futures experienced a catastrophic downward drift.
Concurrently, if Golden State successfully checks the final box on the Anthony Davis acquisition cascade, expect their Western Conference title odds to compress dramatically. Smart macro-traders are already shorting the Lakers' regular-season win total market on secondary boards, capitalizing on the vacancy of a historic superstar asset before the casual betting public can adjust their baselines.
This article originally appeared on Covers.com, read the full article here and view our best betting sites or check out our top sportsbook promos.
From afar, Robert Parish has taken notice of the Jaylen Brown trade speculation dominating the offseason discourse, and The Chief has taken his stance.
Parish is firmly against the idea of trading Brown, as the four-time champion adamantly expressed during an appearance Monday on SiriusXM NBA Radio. In explaining his position on the matter, Parish called out the Celtics, and specifically team president of basketball operations Brad Stevens, for what he deems a “serious miscalculation” by the organization following their pursuit of Giannis Antetokounmpo.
“First of all, you don’t get rid of a talent like Jaylen Brown unless he asked to be moved, not to mention the backcourt with he and (Jayson) Tatum is a proven formula. So why would you wanna make that move?,” Parish said. “I find it disturbing, and it’s uncomfortable, and not to mention I don’t understand — never have, never will — why ownership and management want respect and loyalty from players, but they only give you loyalty and respect when it’s in their best interest.”
Brown was the reported centerpiece, attached to two future first-round picks, offered to the Milwaukee Bucks in exchange for Antetokounmpo before the Miami Heat finalized an agreement last Monday.
The rumors have only picked up steam since then, as Brown remains one of the biggest names on the reported trade block with an uncertain future in Boston.
During his press conference after the first round of last week’s 2026 NBA Draft, Stevens sidestepped all questions regarding the Brown trade topic. Stevens described Brown as “a big part of us,” while also unwilling to dive into the specifics of their offseason discussions after revealing he and Brown have met to speak.
Brown has yet to comment on the trade rumors specifically, but has been outspoken ever since Boston’s early postseason exit against the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round. He’s utilized his FCHWPO Twitch channel and X account to keep his voice heard throughout the offseason, whether it’s challenging ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith or basketball analytics to debunk narratives he considers disingenuous or “clickbait.”
Back in March, Parish returned to TD Garden and briefly met with Brown pregame, ahead of his historic performance against the Golden State Warriors in which Brown surpassed Dave Cowens to crack the franchise’s top-10 scoring list.
Parish praised the entire team amid its underdog run without Jayson Tatum.
Brown, in response, praised Parish right back.
“Obviously Parish is a legend, so it’s good to see him out there,” Brown told reporters, per CLNS Media. “He looked good — looks in great shape — so it’s great to have him around. I haven’t gotten to meet him or talk to him, so hopefully next time he comes back, I’ll make it an emphasis to go say hello.”
Parish’s perspective is one Celtics fans likely share after a decade of watching Brown grow from a second-unit contributor to a champion and MVP candidate who’s given Boston everything it’s needed and more.
‘Kyrie guy' Yaxel Lendeborg recalls wild celebration after Cavs' 2016 Finals win originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
Yaxel Lendeborg is not shy about the fact that he’s a big Kyrie Irving fan, and while bringing up the 2016 NBA Finals might offend Warriors fans, it’s a point of pride for the 23-year-old.
“I’m a Kyrie guy, so I go wherever he goes,” Lendeborg told NBC Sports Bay Area’s Bonta Hill and Monte Poole. “I’m a Cavaliers fan at that time. We played [the Warriors] in the Finals like three years in a row. I’m like, ‘Man, I hate these guys, I’m so tired of them.’ “
While the Warriors got the better of the Cavaliers in 2015, a go-ahead 3-pointer from Irving helped seal Cleveland’s first franchise title and gave a young Lendeborg plenty to cheer about.
“That Game 7 when Kyrie hit that shot, I was in New York at our cousin’s house,” Lendeborg recalled to Hill and Poole. “He hit that shot, I ran down the hallway like 10 times screaming, ‘Let’s Go! Go Cavs!’ all this other stuff. It’s so ironic that I’m here now.”
Lendeborg is now teammates with a pair of Warriors who went through that devastating defeat – Draymond Green and Steph Curry – but says he hopes there’s no hard feelings. Lendeborg admitted he used to “hate” Curry in his post-2026 NBA Draft press conference, to which the Warriors superstar replied, “I’m going to work hard to be your new favorite player,” on social media.
“I was a teenager, I was in high school, come on, man,” Lendeborg said. “[Steph] commented on my post on Instagram. I haven’t really said nothing else about it. I just told him we’re all good, tried to leave it at that.”
Now 10 years removed and all in on playing for Golden State, Lendeborg and the rest of the squad will try to bring another title to the Bay Area.
Never say never. Back in March, WSOC-TV asked Steph Curry the question he’s been fielding for years, and instead of the usual diplomatic deflection, Steph grinned and said it outright: you always keep your options open. The question was: will he leave the Warriors to join his hometown Charlotte Hornets? Dell Curry’s number 30 went up into the rafters at Spectrum Center that same week, and Steph had already asked his dad, half-joking but clearly not entirely, whether an exception could be made if it ever came to that. Dell didn’t even blink. Quick yeah, he said. We’d take it down for that, no doubt.
That wasn’t a one-off answer, either. He’s repeated some version of that ever since, always with the same grin, like he knows exactly how much weight the words carry and enjoys carrying them anyway. Since 2022, the Warriors front office has dealt primarily with one question: does this move give Steph another real chance? They traded for Jimmy Butler mid-season because the timeline mattered more than the asset cost. They abandoned the two-timeline philosophy once it became clear that developing tomorrow’s core was costing today’s championship window.
The Hornets just acted like time is their greatest asset. Charlotte had a young, exciting core that played its way to the edge of the playoffs, the kind of team that makes a building loud again, and the front office looked at it and decided the ceiling wasn’t high enough.
Over the span of three days, the Hornets traded away both LaMelo Ball and Miles Bridges, the two most talented players on a roster that had just spent a full season looking like the most fun, most dangerous version of itself in over a decade. LaMelo and Josh Green went to Minnesota for Naz Reid, an unprotected 2033 first-round pick, three first-round pick swaps, and three second-round picks. Bridges went to Phoenix days later in a separate deal. By the time the dust settled, Charlotte had also added Grayson Allen and Royce O’Neale, restocking the roster with exactly the kind of high-IQ, hard-working, three-point-shooting professionals Charlotte has been hunting for.
Buried in that swap is the actual headline. Kon Knueppel just led all rookies in made threes, breaking the rookie record outright with 273 of them, and he did it while deferring to Ball and Brandon Miller most of the season. Charlotte didn’t wait around to see whether handing him the keys later would work out. They moved the timeline up on purpose, while his stock was rising and before Ball’s injury history or trade value had the chance to slide the other way.
Warriors fans know exactly what that feeling is like from the other side of it. Dub Nation spent years watching their own front office wrestle with the same question Charlotte just answered: what do you do with young, talented, occasionally electric pieces who don’t quite fit the timeline you’re trying to win on right now?
Golden State’s version of that question has played out in real time for half a decade, and it hasn’t always ended cleanly. There’s a particular kind of grief in watching a player who made the building louder, who gave you reasons to stay up late checking League Pass, get treated as a trade chip instead of a building block because the front office decided the fun wasn’t the same thing as the path to a banner. Charlotte fans are living that grief right now, watching LaMelo Ball, the most purely entertaining player that organization has had in a decade, get reduced to draft compensation.
The Hornets’ front office looked at a fun, playoff-adjacent roster and decided the version built with picks and cap flexibility gave Charlotte a better chance to become a contender.
The two franchises are solving the exact same problem from opposite directions. Golden State is potentially sacrificing tomorrow for one last run with Steph while Charlotte just sacrificed today for a better tomorrow. That’s probably the right basketball decision, by the way. But if you’ve spent years imagining Steph one day finishing his career where it started for his family, Charlotte just made that ending dramatically harder to picture.
Steph has never closed the door. That’s what has made the fantasy endure for so long. Every few years he smiles, says you always keep your options open, and Hornets fans let themselves dream again.
Warriors risk overpaying with reported two-year Kristaps Porziņģis deal originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
The Warriors on Monday slid toward Phase II of their planned summer refresh. Unless there is an encouraging medical update they haven’t shared, they run the risk of overpaying.
Golden State reached agreement on a two-year contract with Kristaps Porziņģis worth a reported $40 million. It could be responsible for every dollar, as the second year includes a player option.
Though the Warriors beat the free-agency clock, which starts at 3 p.m. Tuesday, their haste comes with a generous dollop of generosity. They’re waving their wallet at a wish. It’s unlikely that many other NBA teams were preparing to pull up to the free agency bazaar to dig into their pockets and offer Porziņģis $20 million per year.
Even $15 million per year would be easier to understand, especially if it came with a team option. As is, it’s a lot of cash for a part-time player, even one as talented as Porziņģis.
The Warriors know what KP can do. They closely observed his audition last season, when he appeared in 15 of their 31 remaining games after acquiring him from the Atlanta Hawks in February in exchange for Jonathan Kuminga.
During those 15 games, Porziņģis showcased his unique set of skills. At 7-foot-3, he was a defensive presence in the paint and a fabulous floor spacer on offense. He’s a good passer with a knack for getting to the free-throw line. He comes closer than anyone in the NBA to replicating San Antonio Spurs wunderkind Victor Wembanyama.
But KP’s marvelous gifts too often come wrapped in medical supplies. From the mysterious ailment that results in fatigue – mysterious because the cause has been debated – to back, knee and ankle issues, Porziņģis spent more time watching the Warriors, sometimes from a distance, than working up a sweat on the court.
This is not a case of bad luck, bad breaks or freak injury. This is Porziņģis’ history. He averaged 49 games per season over the last four, with five different teams. The Mavericks traded him to the Wizards, who traded him to the Celtics, who traded him to the Hawks, who five months ago traded him to the Warriors.
Porziņģis, 31, is the latest project for Rick Celebrini, the man responsible for devising plans to maximize the health of everyone on Golden State’s roster. It’s a massive task, but KP is a believer. Porziņģis needed less than two months to proclaim Celebrini as “the GOAT” of his profession.
Given his journey, Porziņģis has had copious experiences with dozens of doctors, surgeons, and trainers. He should know what makes a good practitioner.
If Porziņģis appears in more than 60 games, the risk the Warriors are taking could be lavishly rewarded. He could regain All-Star status, and Celebrini would deserve an handsome bonus.
But if KP spends the season limping back and forth between the court and the trainer’s room, it will look like the Warriors bought too high.
On the eve of free agency, the rumors have not slowed down. The Lakers are remaining active, most notably setting up a call with restricted free agent Jalen Duren once free agency starts on Tuesday.
However, that certainly isn’t the only pot on the stove for the Lakers, who have been busy in the hours and days leading up to free agency.
Here’s the latest rumors involving the Lakers before things really heat up on Tuesday.
Duren isn’t the only restricted free agent center the Lakers have their eyes on. The team remains linked to Walker Kessler, including a likely meeting with the big man on Tuesday.
On Monday night, NBA beat writer Jake Fischer reported that the purple and gold are believed to be one of three meetings Kessler has scheduled for Tuesday.
Utah restricted free agent center Walker Kessler has meetings lined up with three teams Tuesday night after 6 PM ET at the Los Angeles offices of his CAA representatives.
The Lakers, of course, are strongly believed to be one of those three teams given their considerable interest in trying to swipe Kessler from the Jazz.
Similar to Duren and the Pistons, Kessler and the Jazz are at odds heading into free agency. Unlike Detroit, though, Utah has a whole bunch of other center options, which could make them more open to the idea of moving on from Kessler.
The Lakers have an extremely long history of targeting Kessler and could finally make good on that interest this summer.
A complete new name has emerged leading up to free agency as a potential back-up big man option in Sandro Mamukelashvili, or Mamu, for short.
The big man opted out of his $2.8 million contract next season and is set for quite a bit more this year with the Lakers as one of the suitors for him in free agency.
Dan Woike of The Athletic first reported the interest in Mamu late on Tuesday.
But people around the NBA, tasked with trying to make sense of the evolving free-agency landscape, started to link the Lakers to a wide range of players throughout Monday. One name has come up from multiple league sources: Toronto forward/center Sandro Mamukelashvili.
Minutes later, Fischer backed up that reporting with some of his own, connecting the Lakers to Mamu.
Sources say Mamukelashvili is likely to generate multiple offers north of $10 million in average annual value after declining a paltry player option in Toronto worth less than $3 million. And we’re told that the Lakers, who have obviously been connected to various big men, have emerged as a notable Mamu suitor.
Mamu had a breakout season with the Raptors last year, averaging 11.2 points per game while shooting 52.3% from the field and 38.9% from three on 3.7 attempts per game. For his career, Mamu is a 36.6% shooter from range, but has been north of 37% in each of his last two seasons.
As a stretch big, Mamu would offer a different look for the Lakers than a lob-catching center. He would also not come at a cheap price and would not be a starter, which could throw off the Lakers depending on how quickly they can fill their hole in the starting lineup at center.
The Lakers have loved trying to find a reclamation project under President of Basketball Operations Rob Pelinka. From Malik Monk to Lonnie Walker to Cam Reddish, LA has targeted a wing whose value is low and tried to hit on them.
The next version of that could be Nets wing Ziaire Williams. The Nets declined his team option for next season, setting him up for unrestricted free agency. According to Woike, he could be someone the team goes after as a buy-low candidate.
According to a league source, one player the Lakers could take a look at in free agency is Brooklyn small forward Zaire Williams, who had his team option declined by the Nets on Sunday. The Lakers have desires to get younger and more athletic on the wing, and Williams is coming off back-to-back seasons in Brooklyn where he averaged more than 10 points and shot better than 34 percent from 3-point range.
Last season, Williams averaged 10.2 points and shot 34.3% from beyond the arc. He’s only a 42.5% shooter overall, but did grab 4.6 rebounds per game in 2024-25.
Interestingly, he was also a teammate with Bronny James at Sierra Canyon, adding another connection to the Lakers.
You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude or on Bluesky at @jacobrude.bsky.social.
Oakland, June 2015. The Warriors finally break through, Steph Curry is the engine of it, and the Bay Area loses its mind in a way it had been waiting four decades to lose it. People were crying in bars. Strangers were hugging on BART. Nobody at that parade was thinking about an expiration date, they were just thinking about how good it felt to finally have this.
Eleven years later, Steph is still here. Still in the same uniform he won that first one in, still the engine, still hunting ring number five. The same number as Kobe Bryant, Magic Johnson, and Tim Duncan. Sit with that for a second, because that sentence isn’t supposed to include a guy who just turned 38 and still has a real argument for another one.
Now think about how geeked Bucks fans were in 2021. Giannis drops 50 in Game 6, hoists the trophy, and Milwaukee gets its first title in 50 years. Grown men were openly sobbing in the streets. That city felt like it had arrived, like this was the beginning of a run, not the peak of one.
Five years later, with that single championship still the only one on the shelf, Giannis is a Miami Heat player. That’s the entire gap between euphoria and an exit. Every parade feels like it’ll last forever. Almost none of them do. Giannis isn’t in Miami because he stopped being great. He’s in Miami because organizations can fail great players, even the ones who already delivered them a parade.
The deal that got him there is enormous. The Bucks sent Antetokounmpo and Bobby Portis to Miami for Tyler Herro, Kel’el Ware, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Kasparas Jakucionis, three first-round picks, a pick swap, and a second-rounder. That’s a franchise hitting the eject button and hoping the parachute opens before the ground does. And it didn’t happen overnight. The Bucks finally accepted their fate only after a 32-win season, a league investigation, and missing the play-in tournament entirely. Rather than mortgage what little future they had left trying to convince Giannis to stay, they pivoted toward maximizing the return. He was a two-time MVP with a championship already on his résumé, and it still took total organizational collapse to get everyone on the same page.
What got Milwaukee here wasn’t one decision. It was years of them. The locker room reportedly slid into chaos, with center Myles Turner later describing a level of dysfunction around accountability that stunned him once he saw it up close. Antetokounmpo’s frustration with roster construction dated back to the 2023 Jrue Holiday trade, a move one Bucks source openly admitted gutted the team’s defensive identity in exchange for offense they didn’t end up needing.
That’s the part that should scare every fanbase with a generational talent, even the ones holding a trophy. It’s never the trade demand that kills you. It’s the accumulation of small organizational failures that eventually convince a superstar the climb isn’t worth it anymore. The Warriors have made mistakes, plenty of them, but they’ve never let Steph reach the point where the relationship felt like it was quietly eroding underneath him the way Antetokounmpo’s did in Milwaukee. They kept showing him they were still trying, even when the results didn’t always cooperate.
Greatness alone doesn’t keep a superstar in your building, and apparently neither does a championship. Commitment does. Communication does. A front office willing to keep adjusting instead of asking the player to absorb every shortfall does.
Antetokounmpo gave Milwaukee a championship and over a decade of his prime, and five years after the parade, Milwaukee gave him back two fired coaches in three years and a roster that never replaced what it traded away. Of course that ends in Miami.
Steph Curry gave the Warriors four championships, the first arriving eleven years ago, and reshaped a generation’s basketball identity along the way. The Warriors responded by continuing to build around him through every phase of the dynasty instead of treating contention as optional.
Same parade energy. Same euphoria in the streets. One franchise spent the next decade giving its superstar reasons to stay. The other spent five years giving him reasons to leave. That’s how quickly confetti becomes a “For Sale” sign in today’s NBA. Dynasties don’t end because stars suddenly forget how to play basketball. More often, they end because organizations slowly stop earning the trust of the player who built them. Milwaukee found that out five years after the confetti fell. What the Warriors have managed to hold onto might be the rarest accomplishment in the league right now.
The Knicks are allowing one of their young developmental projects to test unrestricted free agency, while potentially leaving themselves thinner at center.
According to ESPN’s Vince Goodwill, New York will not extend a qualifying offer to center Ariel Hukporti, making the 7-footer an unrestricted free agent when free agency opens. The 24-year-old German appeared in 79 games across two seasons with the Knicks after arriving as the 58th pick in the 2024 Draft.
The decision might make you scratch your head, given the rumors swirling around Mitchell Robinson and how the Knicks handled Hukporti a year ago. After converting him from a two-way contract to a standard NBA deal during his rookie season, the club exercised its team option and appeared committed to his long-term development. As a third-stringer, his salary for the 2025-26 campaign was $1,955,377.
Instead, New York has elected not to retain matching rights. By declining the qualifying offer, the Knicks surrendered the ability to match outside offers, allowing Hukporti to sign with any team without restriction. For a front office that has typically valued inexpensive depth, it seems to be another indication that roster flexibility is taking priority entering free agency.
Hukporti flashed intriguing potential in limited opportunities. The athletic rim protector earned starts when injuries ravaged New York’s frontcourt and showed enough mobility, length, and shot-blocking ability to make us wonder if he could eventually develop into a reliable backup center. His progress, however, was interrupted by injuries, including the torn meniscus he suffered in February of 2025 (in his first NBA start, no less).
With Robinson’s future still unresolved and the team expected to continue exploring veteran frontcourt options, center depth remains one of the biggest questions on the roster heading into free agency.
Ariel Hukporti’s most memorable contribution came during the 2026 NBA Finals, when foul trouble forced him into brief but meaningful minutes against the Spurs. He first made an impact in Game Four, helping stabilize the defense after Karl-Anthony Towns picked up early fouls and blocking a Dylan Harper layup during New York’s historic 29-point comeback. He followed that with a highlight in the championship-clinching Game Five, sprinting to emphatically reject a Luke Kornet alley-oop attempt at the rim.
Whether this marks the end of Hukporti’s Knicks tenure remains to be seen. Because he is now unrestricted, New York could still bring him back on a new contract if mutual interest remains. But by declining the qualifying offer, the front office has made it clear it is unwilling to tie up cap flexibility or matching rights to do so.
Go Knicks.
Per Yahoo Sports’ Kelly Iko, the Bucks are adding T.J. Ford to Taylor Jenkins’ coaching staff. Of course, Ford was drafted eighth overall by the Bucks and played for the franchise from 2003 to 2007. In the three seasons that he was on the court in Milwaukee (he missed his second year due to injury), Ford averaged 11.5 PPG, 7.0 APG, 3.6 RPG, and 1.3 steals. Following stops in Toronto, Indiana, and San Antonio, he retired from the NBA in 2012 due to a back injury.
As far as NBA coaching experience goes, Ford has none; as far as I can gather, this will be his first NBA gig. He has, however, spent a long time coaching youth, AAU, and high school hoops. I’ll hazard a guess that Ford will specialise in player development with the Bucks—which the org at large will be placing a massive emphasis on, given their new outlook—because this seems to have been his MO at prior stops.
Welcome back, T.J. Ford!
The Memphis Grizzlies had been looking to move on from Ja Morant for the better part of a year. They had already traded away Desmond Bane (to Orlando) and Jaren Jackson Jr. (to Utah), but the market for Morant — the guy who would have brought in a massive haul just a handful of years before — was virtually nonexistent.
Memphis eventually found the best offer it could and made a trade with the Portland Trail Blazers, sending Morant to the Pacific Northwest. Who were the winners and losers in this deal? Let's break it down, but first, a reminder of who is in the trade:
Portland receives: Ja Morant
Memphis receives: Jerami Grant, Kris Murray
Morant needs a fresh start, a second chance. The opportunity to rehab his image, to go somewhere with a blank slate and write his own story. Again.
He gets that with this trade — and is outside the brightest of NBA media spotlights. Morant will get some space to breathe. He gets to be in a locker room with two of the best leaders in the sport, Damian Lillard and Jrue Holiday. He will get the ball in his hands and an opportunity.
2x All-Star
— Memphis Grizzlies (@memgrizz) June 30, 2026
All-NBA Second Team
Rookie of the Year
All-Rookie First Team
Most Improved Player
Franchise record for points in a single game (52)
12, thank you for every highlight, every memory, every unforgettable moment and for all you've given this team, this… pic.twitter.com/1RscVZdelL
Morant could not have asked for more. Now it's up to him. What does he do with it?
New owner Tom Durdon has come down with a serious case of New Owner Syndrome — he is sure he knows best and wants to put his mark on everything — but despite all his PR mistakes, he has given Trail Blazers fans a team they can really rally behind.
It's unclear — and maybe unlikely — that Ja Morant can ever return to his peak All-Star form. Scouts speaking to NBC Sports have said he looks like he lost a little of his burst. Even if that is true, he walks in the door as the best passer on the roster, and he knows how to get downhill and make plays.
It's a huge, home run swing by the Trail Blazers — but those are fun to watch. Trail Blazers fans will go to games, tune into broadcasts and know they will be entertained. Maybe key guys stay healthy, new coach Micah Nori pushes all the right buttons — there is a good chance of that, he's a great hire, even if he had to take an owner-friendly contract — and Portland is better than the 42-win team from a season ago. A starting/closing five of Morant, Lillard, Holiday, Deni Avdija and Donovan Clingan is a group I will tune in to watch.
This trade is a win for Portland fans. Whether it's a win for the Trail Blazers' organization is TBD, but the fans get the W.
Notice when I listed all the guards the Trail Blazers had above, Scoot Henderson was not on the list. The fact that Portland made a trade for Morant essentially tells you what you need to know about how they view Henderson long term.
Portland will deny that and say all the right things about loving Henderson, and this was just too good an opportunity to pass up, but actions matter, not words. Henderson did take a step forward last season when healthy and averaged 14.2 points a game (that's across the 30 games he played, he missed the start of the season with a left hamstring injury).
You can be sure other teams are calling Portland right now to check on Henderson's availability, thinking they can give him a chance and minutes he won't get in Portland this season. We'll see if anything comes of it, but this was not a trade that signaled confidence in Henderson.
This was not a good trade for Memphis. The Grizzlies traded a popular player and two-time All-Star for a player in Grant they don't need — the Memphis front court is already stacked — and it's just pennies on the dollar of return. A few years ago, Morant would have brought in a massive haul of picks and players, now it's basically just matching salary.
This isn't a bad trade, either. For Memphis, this trade is about moving on. The Grizzlies have now fully pivoted away from the Morant, Jackson Jr. and Bane as the big three plan. They have Cameron Boozer and the chance to start fresh. It was a trade Memphis had to make even if the return wasn't what they hoped.
Not good, not bad, but a clean slate for the Grizzlies as they head into next season. That's about as good as they were going to do.
Earlier this week, Net Income defined Brooklyn’s decision to select Mikel Brown Jr. at No. 6 overall as the franchise’s “biggest decision since John Calipari muffed 1996 Draft and wimped out by deciding against taking Kobe Bryant.”
Debate the particulars if you want, but the point is clear: Mikel Brown Jr. has the weight of a franchise on his shoulders. Egor Dëmin had a promising rookie season, particularly shooting the ball, and profiles (potentially) as a nice contributor to winning teams for seasons to come. If that turns out to be the case, that’s a successful pick at #8 overall.
But Brown Jr. is really who Brooklyn’s rebuild rests upon. There are other avenues to improvement; Brian Lewis of New York Post reported on Monday evening that the Nets have shown interest in Trey Murphy II and Cason Wallace in the trade market. Mitchell Robinson, Keon Ellis, and Rui Hachimura are free agents that have been linked to Brooklyn (perhaps simply because the Nets have cap space), but general consensus around the league is that the Nets are more active on the trade block.
Regardless, Brooklyn is not locked into this roster, but they are locked into Mikel Brown Jr.. He is either the 20-year-old star guard of the future or the representative of an outright tank failure (or, more likely, somewhere in the middle). And he is one heck of a fascinating prospect to tote such responsibility.
Obviously, there’s the pure talent gleaming off him, the logo-threes, the handles, the dunks … we’re all familiar by now. And he is now officially a Brooklyn Net; the team introduced him at the Brooklyn Basketball Training Center on Monday afternoon, along with fellow draft picks Joshua Jefferson and Tyler Bilodeau…
Brown Jr. touts many qualities other recent Nets’ picks have. He is incredibly polite, a bit soft-spoken, eager to talk about the good of the team rather than his own career. The 6’4″ guard is also undeniably, overwhelmingly confident in his abilities.
Given that he met with the Nets three times before the draft, I asked Brown Jr. how deep certain X’s and O’s conversations went; he did not hesitate to call himself a “savant” in his answer: “They were pretty deep, but it’s nothing that I haven’t already learned and understood. That kind of made it, also, easier on them. You know, their player development could be more advanced, because I’m already a student of the game, I’m a savant when it comes to this stuff. So every type of action or terminology that they throw on me, I kind of already know. Just how they say it — you might call one action something else, but I’ve been known to call it something else, but we’re talking about the same thing. So it’s very easy. That was very easy.”
The Louisville product also shared his confidence level with the 85 children that attended his introduction. Before leading them through drills, he let the crowd know he had spoken with Julius Randle (though not officially a Net just yet), and that the conversation was simple: “We’re gonna shock the world.”
Sean Marks also spoke on Monday afternoon: “I don’t think anybody’s ever questioned the confidence that [Brown] has had, right? And these guys, they’ve got to this level by — as you heard them before — not believing in the doubters. And I think they’ve got something to prove, they’ve all got a chip on their shoulder, which I think you hear us talk about a lot with wanting guys that are self-motivated.”
That piece of it is not new for the Brooklyn Nets. Over the past few seasons, we’ve heard players yearn for “second-chances” or simply an opportunity to prove themselves, whether that be Keon Johnson or Josh Minott or Ziaire Williams or Dennis Schröder. This is not Mikel Brown Jr. who (understandably, justifiably) thinks, or rather knows he is that guy. He is the man.
“When we interviewed him at the combine in Chicago, you know, he spent a lot of time interviewing us, which I love,” said Marks. “I love the interaction. Going back and forth, how would he fit in Brooklyn, how we see him and so forth, it was — it was great banter, going back and forth with him.”
Brown Jr., as he will tell you, is a coach’s son. You can tell. He speaks with great reverence of a point guard’s duty, and said he’s been studying game tape of Joshua Jefferson and Tyler Bilodeau to see how they can fit together once Summer League rolls around.
Both he and Joshua Jefferson smiled when talking about recent practice days at HSS Training Facility, admitting that they are both real happy to get back in the gym after a tiring draft process.
Jefferson, the #28 pick, says that working on his outside shooting is his main focus right now but that he is indeed as versatile as they come, adding: “I think my defensive ability at the high level can be undersold a little bit. I think I can move my feet pretty well, guard one-through-five, so that’s what I’m going to try to prove on day one.”
Jefferson was not listed on Brooklyn’s initial Summer League squad…
…but only because the Minnesota-Brooklyn trade cannot be finalized until July 6th at the earliest. Therefore, Jefferson will not be able to play in the California Classic, which ends on the 6th. He is expected to play in Las Vegas Summer League though. However, Nolan Traore and Grant Nelson are not. Both players are rehabbing injury.
Marks did clarify that Nolan is “expected to be full return for training camp in early September, so he won’t miss much time,” after a scope on his right knee. He also clarified that the issue cropped up during the season. Nelson had a leg procedure after the season.
Other than Traore, the Nets other four first rounders last year will be on the court, with each of them having put on ten to 15 pounds and at least one, Drake Powell, adding an inch to his height, jumping from 6’5″ to 6’6″ in barefeet. While some have speculated that Demin too has added height, the Nets said he’s been measured recently is just where he was last season: 6’8.5″ in barefeet.
Following Brooklyn’s presser, Mike Scotto of HoopsHype reported that Ochai Agbaji and Jalen Wilson were not tendered qualifying offers, making them unrestricted free agents…
However, the Nets did exercise their team option on Malachi Smith, though it is a non-guaranteed contract…
It is unlikely Smith makes the team out of training camp, but you never know. Though not official yet, it seems likely that Brooklyn’s two-way contracts will belong to Tyler Bilodeau, Chaney Johnson, and Grant Nelson, with the latter once again joining the Nets for Summer League ball.
Brooklyn tips off Summer League play at 5:00 p.m. ET on Saturday, July 4th, playing against the Sacramento Kings in SacTown. That’s right. Darius Acuff Jr. vs. Mikel Brown Jr.
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The Lakers declined Nick Smith Jr.’s $2.5 million team option for the 2026-27 season, making the guard an unrestricted free agent.
The decision, which was first reported by ESPN, will help give the Lakers over $50 million in cap space entering free agency on Tuesday.
Free agency officially starts at 3 p.m. on Tuesday.
Smith signed a two-way contract with the Lakers on Sept. 29 after being waived by the Hornets earlier in September 2025 after two seasons with the Hornets.
He averaged 6.2 points and shot 39.5% on 3-pointers in 30 regular games with the Lakers before being converted to a standard NBA contract in April ahead of the playoffs.
Smith was the No. 27 pick in the 2023 NBA Draft.
NBA Free Agency opens up on Tuesday as teams across the league are looking to find their missing pieces to make a run in the league next season.
With plenty of former Kentucky Wildcats scattered across the NBA, it is one former No. 1 overall pick that could make some noise in free agency this season. That would be none other than Anthony Davis.
Shams Charania brought the scoop on Monday as the first piece of a very intricate puzzle fell into place. That was none other than Draymond Green declining his player option for this coming season.
What did it open up? A potential trade for Anthony Davis and a potential free agent signing of LeBron James.
This would already add to a wild offseason that has seen star players like LaMelo Ball and Ja Morant get traded, but it is definitely one that I would wait until it actually gets some more legs.
After adding AJ Dybantsa and re-signing Trae Young, it feels like the Wizards are ready to make a playoff push now. Could the Warriors sweeten the pot for a deal that would send AD to the Bay Area? It sounds like they could trade Jimmy Butler, who may miss the entire 2026-27 season due to ACL surgery, to Washington for AD, as the two players have nearly identical cap hits.
A lot has to happen for this potential dream team to come to fruition, but if it does, a Steph Curry, LeBron, and AD team sounds like a lot of fun.