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The Spurs have wasted no time with the negotiation period for their own free agents. After agreeing to new three-year deal with Julian Champagnie, ESPN’s Shams Charania is reporting that Harrison Barnes will return to the Spurs on a one-year, $8 million deal. He reports that the Spurs valued “his leadership and production” when negotiating the new deal.

Free agent forward Harrison Barnes intends to sign a one-year, $8 million deal to stay with the San Antonio Spurs, sources tell ESPN. The Spurs valued Barnes' leadership and production as he enters a third season in San Antonio, finalizing a new deal with agent Jeff Schwartz of… pic.twitter.com/FzPv5mqoHm

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 29, 2026

The move will ensure Barnes returns to the Spurs for a third season. He was acquired via trade in 2024 as part of a three-way trade that sent DeMar DeRozan from the Bulls to the Kings. Barnes started in all 82 games in the 2024-25 season for the Spurs to continue a streak of three straight iron man seasons. He started this season as their starting power forward and looked on track to continue that trend. He was red hot from three through the first third of the regular season, living up to his nickname of “Mr. 100%” before his shooting fell off, and he was eventually benched in favor of Champagnie as the Spurs looked for answers during a tough January stretch. Barnes would eventually miss five games with an ankle injury to end his streak of 82-game seasons.

He eventually fell out of the main rotation all together as Mitch Johnson seemed to value Carter Bryant getting more developmental time, even in the playoffs. As a result, it wouldn’t have been a surprise to see Barnes test the free agency market, but it’s quite possible that at 34 years old, there may not have been a huge market out there, and he very well may value the Spurs as much as they do him, as well as the possibility of winning another ring.

With these two moves, it’s quite possible the Spurs are aware that the power forward market is a bit dry or outside of their price range. While this doesn’t mean they won’t make any major moves or trades in free agency, the fact that they’re bringing back last season’s rotation shows that they’re prepared to run it back as a worst-case scenario, and provided Bryant continues to improve, bringing back a rotation that went to the finals and was a few blown leads from winning it all isn’t a bad thing.

Welcome back to San Antonio, Harrison!

Free agent center Kristaps Porziņģis has accepted a two-year, $40 million contract to remain with the Golden State Warriors, per ESPN’s Shams Charania. This will see him potentially stay with the Warriors through the 2027-28 season, with the second year of the extension being a player option.

Free agent center Kristaps Porzingis has agreed to a two-year, $40 million contract extension to return to the Golden State Warriors through 2027-28, with a player option in the second season, agent Jeff Schwartz of Excel Sports Management tells ESPN. pic.twitter.com/NZngN3Qv7x

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 29, 2026

In 15 games with the Warriors, Porziņģis averaged 16.1 points, 5.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists, and 1.1 blocks. He provided a dynamic element for the Warriors as a 7-foot-3 stretch five, albeit limited by lack of availability due to illness. The Warriors are hoping that Porziņģis — under the care of Rick Celebrini — will be more available next season.

According to HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto, the Milwaukee Bucks have pulled their qualifying offer for former first-round pick Ousmane Dieng. Per Salary Swish, Dieng’s qualifying offer would’ve paid him $9.6 million for one season.

After being acquired at the trade deadline in a three-team deal, Dieng played in 30 games in Milwaukee (starting in 20 of them), averaging 26.8 MPG, 11.0 PPG, 4.6 RPG, 3.6 APG, shooting 42.3% from the field and 33.1% from beyond the arc.

This was the first time in his career that Dieng had any extended playing time in meaningful minutes. During his days with the Oklahoma City Thunder, his highest average minutes were 19.3 MPG. The young Frenchman showed flashes of his potential as an offensive creator with the Bucks, scoring a career-high 36 points and adding 10 assists in a close loss to the Houston Rockets on April 1. It wasn’t always pretty for Dieng, though, as he had seven games with four or more turnovers, including a seven-turnover game against the Brooklyn Nets.

While Dieng will hit the open market as an unrestricted free agent (UFA), that doesn’t rule out a return to Cream City, as the Bucks own his bird rights and can give him any amount of money they would like. Considering the Bucks weren’t willing to give him the qualifying offer outright, I imagine it will be less than that $9.6m figure. With Giannis gone and the Bucks headed towards a youth movement, I would hazard that Dieng is back in Milwaukee, as he’ll have a much bigger role than on some other teams.

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Brew Hoop community, how do you feel about Dieng becoming an UFA? Let us know in the comments section below.

The Detroit Pistons are apparently on the verge of losing All-NBA center Jalen Duren as negotiations on a new contract have apparently reached a breaking point. It’s progressed to Duren planning to meet with the Sacramento Kings when free agency officially begins on Tuesday. That report comes from Chris Haynes. Earlier reports from The Athletic said Duren and the Pistons were far apart in negotiations and that Duren would look to engineer a sign-and-trade to secure a big payday outside Detroit.

“Due to sizable distance apart in negotiations, Detroit Pistons restricted free agent center Jalen Duren will meet with the Sacramento Kings at the start of free agency with the intentions of structuring a sign-&-trade out of Detroit,” Haynes reported on social media.

BREAKING: Due to sizable distance apart in negotiations, Detroit Pistons restricted free agent center Jalen Duren will meet with the Sacramento Kings at the start of free agency with the intentions of structuring a sign-&-trade out of Detroit. pic.twitter.com/rzUZWy2iJF

— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) June 29, 2026

Still just 22 years old, Duren averaged 19.5 points and 10.5 rebounds while shooting 65% from the floor in his All-Star season with the Pistons. Because Duren made an All-NBA team, he is eligible for a supermax extension while it was reported the Pistons were angling to sign him for less than max with number floated at between $35-$40 million per year.

It’s important to note that the Pistons would need to find a deal construction that they are amenable to because the Kings don’t have the money to sign Duren in free agency. They are over the cap, so if Duren wants to sign with the Kings and the Kings want to sign Duren, they need to send assets back to Detroit.

While that gives Detroit considerable leverage, the Kings will be operating on the premise that a reunion between the Pistons and Duren would be untenable.

It’s also important to note that Duren only counts for half his new salary in a sign-and-trade deal, and that makes salary matching more complicated.

If the Kings sign Duren for $45 million, they will want to send $45 million back to Detroit, but only $22.5 million of that number would be applied to Duren. That would mean Detroit would attach more assets to send Sacramento’s way. I would imagine Caris LeVert would be a likely candidate.

So what assets do the Kings have to offer? They are awash in funky players and contracts. The conversation begins with Domantas Sabonis, Sacramento’s offensively gifted, defensively challenged center. He has two years of $45 million and $48 million remaining.

With the trade of Isaiah Stewart already locked in, losing Duren would mean Detroit would be looking at starting Paul Reed if they don’t make an addition at the big man spot. Sabonis

They also have DeMar DeRozan, an undersized veteran who could play power forward and handle some of the scoring and ball-handling load. He makes $25 million and only $10 million is guaranteed. Zach LaVine is an expiring $48 million deal and is yet another offensively gifted, defensively challenged player (to put it mildly).

Keegan Murray is a young piece that might provide some actual value, and he runs between $24 million and $31 million each of the next five seasons.

There is also nothing saying that this can’t be expanded to include multiple teams if a player like Murray or Sabonis isn’t what Detroit would be looking for. This also might be a bit of last-minute posturing as Detroit and Duren make their final plays before settling into a new long-term pact.

This is a developing story that has the potential to significantly alter the makeup of the Pistons. Stay tuned.

Dang I wonder what the LA Clippers are up to after the Golden State Warriors buried their season last year! Continuing our Rival Report series, we’re getting you up to speed on Pacific Division foes’ moves in the draft so you can know who the heck they’re loading up with for the future.

It’s time to check out the fascinating situation with the Clips.

First, some necessary context. Yes, the Warriors sent the Clippers home in the play-in tournament last April. We remember. More importantly, so do they. But knocking a team out of a play-in game also means they weren’t good enough to avoid one. The Clippers finished 42-40, started the season 6-21, and mounted a genuinely impressive second-half run that ended the moment real stakes arrived. They showed you something; but was nowhere near enough.

That tension is what the entire offseason is built around. Seems like we’re pretty close to the end of the Kawhi Leonard-era in LA. Kawhi is entering the final year of his deal at $50.3 million, coming off a career-high 27.9 points per game season, and the exit signs are everywhere.

This is what a franchise transition looks like when nobody wants to say it out loud yet. Which brings us to Keaton Wagler. A 19-year-old guard from Shawnee, Kansas who entered college ranked 261st in his recruiting class. That kind of rise doesn’t happen by accident. One season at Illinois later, he’s the fifth pick in the country, the Jerry West Award winner, the Big Ten Freshman of the Year, and the author of a 46-point game against Purdue where he went 9-for-11 from three. He led the Illini to their first Final Four since 2005 while averaging 17.9 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 4.2 assists on 44.5% shooting from the field and 39.7% from beyond the arc. This is the franchise’s highest selection since Blake Griffin went first overall in 2009.

Keaton Wagler is a 6’6” point guard who is a triple-double threat and possibly the best shooter in the class

His incredible shooting, court vision, and rebounding has landed him 5th overall to the Los Angeles Clippers pic.twitter.com/sj33Ct7qYC

— clippa twitta (@clipfullyloaded) June 24, 2026

Every evaluator comes back to the same point. He already plays like an NBA guard. The vision is real. The handle is tight. He drills pull-up threes, makes the right read under pressure, and does it all while playing off the ball, which matters enormously next to Darius Garland. The concerns are legitimate too. He weighed 188 pounds at the combine. He barely ran a fast break all season. The floor will get faster and the bodies will get bigger and strength is the work that’s ahead of him. But the floor is high because the tools are real.

The second round added frontcourt depth in Baba Miller and Nick Martinelli, a direct acknowledgment that the center position is where this roster breaks down most visibly. The draft-and-stash of French center Narcisse Ngoy, who heads to Auburn next season before his NBA rights ever get exercised, is the kind of patient asset management you do when you’re thinking in years, not months.

The honest counterpoint is that losing Kawhi might actually accelerate the thing they’re already building. And even the people who cover this team closest seem to understand that. Robert Flom at 213hoops, one of the sharpest Clippers-specific voices in the game, laid out the offseason roster picture plainly after the draft concluded:

Considering Wagler will play a lot of shooting guard next to Garland, and Sanders, Christie, and Miller can play up or down, the Clippers are relatively set at wing, even if they probably would prefer to bring Dunn off the bench. Garland and Wagler together also make the Clippers ready to go at point guard, though they could probably use a third-string veteran in case of injury.

The obvious areas of need are in the frontcourt, especially considering Yanic’s injury and Baba Miller probably not being ready for NBA rotation minutes. Bringing back John Collins and Brook Lopez would pretty much round out the roster, but that would mean running back the same team from last year, more or less, with only the draft picks being new pieces of note. I can’t see the Clippers going in that direction based on how they’ve talked about their roster and pivoting towards more of a Garland-centric timeline.

The Clippers are molting as the Kawhi-era begins to evaporate dramatically. It’s being replaced, piece by piece, with something younger and leaner and less certain. Wagler and Garland are a real backcourt and the draft capital is stacking. The plan is visible if you squint at it right.

Keep your friends close. Keep the Clippers close enough to know that the most dangerous version of this team isn’t the one saying goodbye to Kawhi Leonard. It’s the one that’s already moved on without admitting it. In the NBA, “not yet” has a funny way of becoming “right now.”