Category: Basketball

This is a nice bit of work by the Boston Celtics to upgrade while saving money, and the Jazz get a little bonus for helping out.

First, the Celtics are trading veteran Georges Niang and two second-round picks as a sweetener to the Utah Jazz for RJ Luis Jr., a story broken by Shams Charania of ESPN. This was a salary dump move by the Celtics that gives them more room below the second apron of the luxury tax and saves them more than $40 million in salary and tax (due to the repeater tax), and it sends Niang back to the team he played four seasons with from 2018 through 2021.

Then the Celtics used that freed-up cap space to sign veteran big man Chris Boucher for the veteran minimum, a story also broken by ESPN’s Charania. This was an upgrade for Boston — Boucher was one of the best free agents still available. He is a veteran, rotation-level stretch four who averaged 10 points and 4.5 rebounds a game last season for Toronto, while shooting 36.3% on nearly four 3-pointers a game. On a Boston team that is a little thin across the front line, Boucher becomes a valuable player for them. Also, Boucher and Payton Pritchard were teammates for a season at Oregon.

Luis Jr. is on a two-way contract and will fill the Celtics' final open two-way slot. Last season, he played at St. John's, where he averaged 18.2 points and 7.2 rebounds per game.

Utah gets two second-round picks and brings in Niang using the John Collins trade exception they had. Niang is an expiring $8.

Niang, who is on an expiring $8.2 million contract, averaged 9.9 points a game last season between Cleveland and Atlanta, averaging 21 minutes a night off the bench (Niang ended up in Boston as part of the Kristap Porzingis to the Hawks trade). "The Minivan" is the kind of reliable veteran stretch four a playoff team likely will want to add to the roster, so look for the Jazz to flip him somewhere before the trade deadline.

How much of a statement their play will make next season is up for debate, but the Chicago Bulls' statement uniforms are winners.

The Bulls are bringing back the pinstripes.

This design is inspired by the jerseys worn by the team during the Jordan comeback championship era from 1995-97, as well as in 2007-08 and 2012-13.

Chicago brought back Dennis Rodman to show off the vintage look jerseys.

The team will wear the jersey on select Statement Edition game nights, which will be announced at a later date (after the NBA releases the upcoming league schedule in the next few weeks).

I'll tune into those games just to see the jerseys back on the court.

"I feel great. The recovery process is going well."

That is all Darius Garland would say to Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com about surgery on his big toe back in June after that injury severely limited him in the playoffs, a key reason for the Cavaliers' early second-round exit. Fedor next asked Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson about Garland's recovery and learned the All-Star point guard may not be ready for the start of training camp. Here is what Fedor said on the Wine and Gold podcast about talking to Atkinson.

And I asked him, I said, "You know, as a coach, you lost Ty Jerome and Darius Garland is obviously recovering from toe surgery. Are you anticipating Darius being ready for training?" And he said, "No, I don't decide these things. It's going to be up to Darius and the training staff led by Steve Spiro." But he said, "I don't expect him to, and I want him to take his time with this, and we're not going to push it. We're not going to rush it...

"We have Don (Donovan Mitchell). We have Lonzo (Ball). We have CP (Craig Porter Jr.). We are kind of covered. We also have Evan (Mobley), where we can throw it to him in a trail position and have him be a play-maker."

The Cavaliers should not rush it. How important Garland is to the Cavaliers' success was clearly evident in the playoffs — they need him fully healthy. Last season, Garland averaged 20.6 points and 6.7 assists per game, shooting 40.1% from 3. In the playoffs that fell off to 18 points and 5.2 assists a game, but he played in just five postseason games because of the turf toe injury and was far less efficient, shooting just 28.6% from 3.

Cleveland enters the season as the clear favorite to grab the No. 1 seed in the East this coming season, but they need to prove they can carry that over to the playoffs this time. Coming off a 64-win season and with a very deep team, Atkinson can afford to monitor and rest players more while still racking up plenty of wins to get the top seed. What matters more is a rested and healthy Cavaliers team heading into the playoffs, because that team has a legitimate chance to make the Finals. What matters is the big picture.

And if that means Garland misses some of training camp, that's just fine.

When the basketball gods handed San Antonio the No. 2 pick and the chance to draft highly-touted point guard Dylan Harper, there were questions in other front offices if the Spurs might play hardball in negotiations with De'Aaron Fox and not give him the max that was expected after a mid-season trade for the former All-Star.

No, they paid him the max. The Spurs and Fox agreed to a four-year max contract that could be worth up to $229 million, his agent Rich Paul told ESPN's Shams Charania. (The actual total will likely be closer to $22.4 million, the $229 million figure is based on the salary cap going up 10% next year, while the NBA projects it will rise by 7%.) This is a straight four, with no options for the player or team, and kicks in for the 2026-27 season, keeping Fox under contract until the summer of 2030.

The Spurs traded for Fox at the deadline in a massive three-team deal (which included Zach LaVine to the Kings) after Fox's representatives reportedly told Sacramento management he would not sign an extension with the team. Fox had previously questioned if the Kings were committed to "competing at a high level." San Antonio was Fox's preferred landing spot, giving him the chance to pair up with Victor Wembanyama on a team building a contender.

However, Wembanyama and Fox only played five games together before the French center was out for the season due to blood clots in his shoulder. Fox averaged 19.7 points per game shooting 27.4% on 3-pointers — both numbers well below his career averages — in 17 games before ending his season in March to undergo finger surgery.

San Antonio is a patient organization and coach Mitch Johnson is expected to spend this season figuring out how Fox, Harper and reigning Rookie of the Year Stephon Castle fit together — and especially how they mesh with Victor Wembanyama. The expectation around the league has been that the Spurs will eventually have to move on from at least one of their guard trio, although this Fox contract ends right when Harper's second contract would kick in, so the timing may work out. Fox, especially if his numbers dip, will be challenging to trade on this new contract. Wembanyama can sign an extension after next season, and it would kick in for the 2027-28 season.

So far the trade from Sacramento to San Antonio has worked out as well as Fox wanted. Now he needs to earn that money on the court.

As the offseason has marched on, the chances of a Jonathan Kuminga sign-and-trade — giving him the fresh start he seeks — seemed to fade. There were talks with the Suns (Royce O'Neale, Nick Richards and three second-round picks is the reported offer) that went nowhere. There were talks with the Kings, where the offer reportedly was Malik Monk, another player (maybe Dario Saric) and a lottery-protected first-round pick, but the Warriors rejected it, saying they want the pick to be unprotected. Talks died there.

Now, the Warriors are done with trade talks and are going to bring Kuminga into camp, one way or another, reports veteran Bay Area journalist Tim Kawakami of the San Francisco Standard.

The word I got when I checked in with a Warriors source on Sunday: Kuminga won't be traded this summer. He'll be back on the Warriors' roster to start the season. And it'll either come when he signs the Warriors' offer or accepts the $7.9 million one-year qualifying offer...

But several sources have indicated that the Warriors have been unenthusiastic about the general idea of a Kuminga sign-and-trade from the outset. The broad context is that Joe Lacob remains a fan of Kuminga's and is determined to either keep the 22-year-old on the roster or get real value in return. And he's willing to wait it out.

As Kawakami admits, this sounds a lot like a negotiating tactic — this is what you leak to put pressure on the Kings to take the protections off their pick and get a deal done. If we can all see that, so can the Kings, and they can afford to be patient and wait this out. Golden State is patient as well, despite having as many as six roster spots to fill (it currently has just nine players under contract) and with reported deals hanging out there with Al Horford and De'Anthony Melton just waiting on the Kuminga situation to resolve.

The Warriors' standing offer to Kuminga is reportedly two years, $45 million with a team option on the second year, but they want Kuminga to waive the no-trade clause that would automatically come with this contract. Kuminga has no plans to do that, why would he give up the leverage he has in this situation? For his part, Kuminga has postured that he would sign the qualifying offer and bet on himself (a move neither side prefers but remains an option).

Kawakami made a reasonable compromise suggestion: Golden State partially guarantees the second year of that contract, say for $15 million (give or take). That bumps Kuminga's guaranteed money up so he gets some added security, that guarantee isn't enough to scare off a team trading for Kuminga that wants to retain him, but it also eliminates the no-trade clause (which is tied to Bird rights, which would be lost if Kuminga were traded then waived for nothing).

However, there is little pressure on either side to compromise right now, the drop-dead date for Kuminga to accept the qualifying offer is Oct. 1, close to when training camps start. Until then, expect a lot more posturing.

The Falcons have agreed to terms with offensive tackle Kaleb McGary on an extension, the team announced. The deal is for two years and $30 million, per multiple reports, locking in McGary through 2027.

He was entering the final year of his contract, scheduled to make $14.5 million in base salary this season.

McGary, Chris Lindstrom, Jake Matthews and Matthew Bergeron have spent three seasons together with more to come. Ryan Neuzil will take over full time at center this season, replacing Drew Dalman.

McGary has served as the team's starting right tackle since the Falcons drafted him in 2019. He will protect Michael Penix's blindside, with the quarterback being a lefty.

McGary has appeared in 93 games, with 92 starts in his career.

"I think he’s a special player," Matthews said of McGary, via Tori McElhaney of the team website. "[I] just respect him. Going into seven years with him, I really think he's really improved a lot, and I'm expecting him to be solid and one of the staple guys on this offensive line."

Until Giannis Antetokounmpo clearly, definitively says, "I will be a Milwaukee Buck next season," the speculation about his future will not stop. The Knicks’ decision to extend Mikal Bridges — making him unavailable for trade for six months, something they would not have done if they believed Antetokounmpo would be available this summer — has not slowed the rumors. Even if the Greek Freak came out today and said he was staying put on social media, the rumors would not stop.

That speculation continued on Monday when Shams Charania appeared on ESPN's Get Up.

"Sources tell me there's still nothing set in stone about whether Giannis Antetokounmpo will stay in Milwaukee or whether he will be leaving. And so, he's going to continue to evaluate his future...There's been some very real conversations over the past week or so. The constant question that Giannis has though is, 'Can I win a championship with this roster? Is this roster going to be one for this upcoming year and 2026-2027?' He wants to win a second championship... "This is a very tough decision for him. This is 12 years he's spent there. There's a lot of equity there."

Antetokounmpo's only public comments on the situation had him suggesting he is likely to stay: "Probably. Probably, we'll see. Probably, I love Milwaukee."

Those comments came after the Bucks made a bold move to show Antetokounmpo how committed they are to winning, stretching-and-waiving the injured Damian Lillard to get an upgrade at center in Myles Turner.

While the Bucks still seem one player away (unless Khris Middleton can regain his All-Star/Olympian form), Antetokounmpo has to ask himself if the other teams he might jump to really get him closer to a ring? If he moves to a team in the West such as Golden State (a team rumored to have interest), he will have to run a gauntlet of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the defending champion Thunder (bringing everyone back from a 68-win team), Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets, Kevin Durant and the Rockets, Anthony Edwards and the Mavericks, LeBron James and Luka Doncic with the Lakers, and the list goes on and on. Jumping to a team in the East creates its own problems. Go to New York and the cost of adding Antetokounmpo would gut the roster of the depth that makes them a contender (again, Mikal Bridges is off the table until at least the trade deadline, plus the Knicks don't have nearly enough remaining draft picks to entice Milwaukee). A trade to Miami would create the same depth issue, plus the Heat also do not have enough draft picks. Cleveland is over the second apron and doesn't have the needed massive salary to make an Antetokounmpo trade.

The list goes on and on. Whatever Antetokounmpo thinks of the Bucks roster and chances, it may be the best of his options, and it remains a place where he has strong ties to the community, where his family is established and happy. There are good reasons for Antetokounmpo to say he "probably" will be back in Milwaukee.

But until he takes the qualifying "probably" out of his statement, the speculation will continue.

Last week, Marcus Morris Sr. was arrested in Florida. He made a court appearance concerning a case where prosecutors alleged he owed $265,000 to two Las Vegas casinos after bouncing checks to pay off those markers. While the official charges are for fraud, Morris has steadfastly denied that there was any malice or fraud involved, that this was more of a misunderstanding.

Morris reiterated that talking with his twin brother Markieff Morris on their YouTube channel.

"Don't ever put my name with nothing but fraud. This is not fraud activity. I have never wrote a check to no casinos in exchange for money that I can put in my pocket. I wrote exchange for credit thinking that you know the source of the income and you know what I've done in the past years to pay it back plus put the money back that I chose to take from y'all to gamble with. So you know I want to just clear that up and then you could take it how you want."

Morris also talked about spending a few days in a Broward County jail.

"You could think about think about me this way. But I know what my loved ones and the people that surround us and the people we surround ourselves with really feel about us. But listen, jail, don't f*** with it. Don't f*** with it. That's why we had to do this s*** outside cuz I couldn't sit in no small ass room. I came home, I think I slept outside."

This entire situation and the criminal case will go away if the bill is paid, which appears to be the case with Morris and these charges.

The Miami Heat upgraded this summer, moving on from Kevin Love and Duncan Robinson but adding a borderline All-Star last season in Norman Powell. That's a positive for Miami, but how much does it move the needle for a 37-win team?

Bam Adebayo is optimistic about this team. Here is what he said to Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald, speaking at his annual youth basketball clinic at SLAM! Miami charter school.

"It's a very good shake up for our team and now there's a different dynamic to it...

"I feel like Norman is one of those guys that floats under the radar. But as you saw this year, he's really shown that he can be an All-Star caliber player. You've seen what he's done and you've seen him grow in this league. And, obviously, he wants to take the next challenge. Obviously, the next challenge is being with the Miami Heat. So I'm happy to have him."

Miami has a chance to make some noise in what is projected to be a down Eastern Conference, but it needs to find some more consistent offense this season. Powell helps with that, but the Heat need more: Adebayo and Tyler Herro need to stay healthy and play 65+ games, Andrew Wiggins needs play at his All-Star form from Golden State, Kel'el Ware needs to take a step forward (likely with Erik Spoelstra prodding him), and Davion Mitchell needs to show that how he played in the 30 games after being traded to the Heat were not a fluke, when he averaged 10.3 points and 5.3 assists per game. The Heat bet on Mitchell, signing him to a two-year, $24 million contract.

"Davion being back, obviously, we've been missing somebody that can really play on-ball defense," Adebayo said. "And having him come in and be that guy and understand his role, I'm looking forward to him being here for a full year and all of us being together and getting to know one another and turning this into more of a brotherhood. We were kind of disconnected a little bit trying to figure out everybody's role and trying to figure out everybody's style of play. But now we're going to have a good training camp and then we go from there."

A return to the playoffs — and hopefully a better result than a 0-4 sweep exit in the first round (at the hands of the Cavaliers) — seems distinctly possible for the Heat, who should be improved over a season ago.

That's enough to have Adebayo optimistic.