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Show of hands, who wants Trey Murphy III?

Yeah?

Me, too!

We all need a pick-me-up right now. Trading Jaylen Brown hurt, no doubt. Sending him to the Philadelphia 76ers, to form what is essentially a Big Three-and-a-half, well, that was borderline treasonous. Murphy would be the ideal mea culpa from Brad Stevens. He’s young, talented, and would complement Jayson Tatum’s game perfectly.

There’s a catch, though. The Boston Celtics are now operating under the hard cap of the first apron, courtesy of using the full non-taxpayer mid-level exception to sign Mitchell Robinson on Wednesday.

As things stand, the Celtics are approximately $3.5 million over the tax, and $5.1 million under the first apron.

After putting in so much work to duck the tax last season, it’s likely Stevens will ensure the Celtics complete their goal of avoiding the repeater tax this season, meaning some money must be shed before or at the 2027 trade deadline.

Unfortunately, it’s that first-apron hard cap that’s going to make life tough for Boston in any potential Murphy pursuit.

Sure, when looking at Murphy’s $27 million salary for next season, and then remembering Boston boasts a $27.1 million traded player exception (TPE), it feels like the stars are aligned. I mean, how often does your primary target fit perfectly into an exception you just have lying around?

However, using a TPE doesn’t exempt a team from eating the cap hit. The exception removes the need to match salaries, but the incoming cost still counts against the cap sheet. So, the brutal truth of the situation is that the math isn’t going to math.

With just $5.1 million between the Celtics’ current standing in the tax and their hard stop at the first apron, there isn’t enough room to lean on the TPE as a vehicle to acquire Murphy outright. Instead, the Celtics will need to send a sizeable amount of salary back to the New Orleans Pelicans.

That’s where things get tough.

Right now, the only two players who make enough to be a viable trade chip are Derrick White and Paul George. Sam Hauser is making around $10 million next season, Payton Pritchard is in the $7 million range, and everyone else is on a downward sliding scale. Of course, I’m excluding Tatum.

Unless another guard is coming back as part of a trade, I struggle to envision Stevens parting with White in a Murphy deal. After all, the Celtics’ guard rotation was already threadbare before they added Mike Conley Jr., so I doubt they take a step backward there.

That leaves George.

As things stand, Brown’s trade to the Sixers is yet to be made official. Deals won’t be confirmed until Monday. Therefore, Stevens could still look to expand the trade, with George then being rerouted elsewhere, along with some of the picks Boston stands to receive. In return, the Celtics could add a younger, more athletic player or two to the rotation.

I took the liberty of throwing together a potentially expanded trade, just to see how things could look if the Celtics opted to go down this route. The deal would look like this:

Boston Gets: Dejounte Murray and Trey Murphy

Sixers Get: Jaylen Brown

Pelicans Get: Paul George

I’ll leave it up to you to decide where the draft picks would end up, and whether the Celtics would have to throw any additional picks into the deal to effectively avoid a partnership with George.

The downside of a deal like this is that it would further push the Celtics toward the hard cap, thus making it harder for Stevens to duck under the tax later this season. Yet, it would ensure Murphy landed with the Celtics while reuniting the backcourt pairing of Murray and White from their time together with the San Antonio Spurs.

Granted, this trade idea is far from perfect, and it isn’t supposed to be. It’s just an exercise to illustrate the challenge Boston will face in trying to acquire Murphy, assuming that is legitimately something they’re interested in doing, and the reporting isn’t just noise.

My bigger point here is that, even armed with a large TPE, the Celtics are in a position where they’re going to need to match salaries in any sizeable trade both now and at the deadline — it kind of defeats the point of having a trade exception in the first place, doesn’t it?

That’s why I’ve become open-minded to what a George and Tatum wing duo will look like this season. It would be far easier to run with George and Tatum this year, and then, assuming George picks up his player option (which I would imagine he does), look to flip him and his expiring deal next season.

So, back to that show of hands. Keep yours up if you still want Murphy. And now keep it up if you think a deal actually gets done. Yeah, my hand went down, too.

Mitchell Robinson’s departure from the Knicks to the Celtics caused a lot of head-scratching around the league, and he’s hinting at there being more to the story.

NBA Finals hero OG Anunoby commented on a post about his now ex-center joining Boston with a cold sweat emoji, resulting in Robinson’s surprising reaction.

“I tried brother I didn’t want this to happen,” Robinson replied to Anunoby. “Hopefully the truth comes out at some point.”

It’s unclear what Robinson is referring to at this point, but the Knicks’ interest in retaining him in free agency was a big to-do after they won the NBA Finals, with owner James Dolan explaining his reluctance to go into the second apron of the salary cap.

“There’s certain things in the NBA that you’d have to be suicidal to do. One of them is the second apron. Cannot go into the second apron,” Dolan said in an appearance on WFAN’s “The Carton Show” last month. “I’ll write as big of a check as possible, but I can’t write a check that goes into the second apron.”

The second apron is set at around $222 million, and surpassing the threshold comes with punitive measures including a much higher tax and trade restrictions.

The Knicks currently have at least $211 million committed to their 2026-27 roster.

With the Knicks keeping Landry Shamet (4 years, $24 million), Jose Alvarado (3 year, $14.6 million) and Mohamed Diawara (4 year, $10 million), there was only about $10 million to give to Robinson — who agreed to a three-year, $47.4 million contract with the Celtics that is set to pay him $15.8 million for 2026-27.

The Knicks could have matched that offer if they were willing to enter the second apron, but they held fast to Dolan’s edict.

If other machinations existed, it doesn’t seem Robinson is going to be the one to spill the beans.

Robinson was drafted by the Knicks in 2018 and played eight seasons with the team before his departure.

He bid farewell to his former teammate Anunoby in the Instagram message.

“I’m gonna miss you, big dawg,” Robinson said. “Keep doing great things.”

Madison Square Garden Corp. Executive Chairman and CEO James L. Dolan announced Friday that he has named his son, Quentin Dolan, the new president, chief operating officer, and alternate governor of the Rangers.

Quentin Dolan, 32, previously served as MSG Sports' senior vice president, player performance, and science leader. He will now assume the day-to-day ownership responsibilities of the Rangers and AHL affiliate Hartford Wolf Pack.

James L. Dolan had held control of both the Rangers and Knicks since 1999, but is now "stepping back from day-to-day responsibilities with the Rangers." He will continue his executive chairman role with the Knicks, per the NY Post.

The team's press release says that Quentin Dolan will report to his father and that Rangers president and general manager Chris Drury will now report to Quentin Dolan.

Below are statements from James L. Dolan, Quentin Dolan, and Drury on the organizational changes:

"Since his arrival overseeing our Player Performance and Science department, Quentin has made a strong impact on the Rangers and Knicks organizations, and we are pleased that he will step into this elevated position,” said James L. Dolan. “Quentin has quickly become an incredibly valued member of the Rangers franchise and played a key role behind the scenes with the Knicks during their championship run this past season. I look forward to seeing the positive influence he can make in this expanded and critical role."

"I’ve always had a tremendous respect and admiration for the New York Rangers organization, it’s been a part of my life for as long as I can remember,” said Quentin Dolan. "I’m honored to have this opportunity to ensure our hockey operations staff, coaches, and players have all the support they need to provide our fans a product they can be proud of. I’m looking forward to immediately getting to work with Chris Drury, Mike Sullivan, and the entire staff."

"Quentin and I have worked together for several years, and I believe him taking on this role will only make the Rangers organization stronger," said Chris Drury. "The front office and coaching staff will be working in unison with Quentin in all key areas of our team in an effort to put this franchise in the best position possible to compete for a Stanley Cup."

Summer League is upon us, folks. As Deolu wrote about back in early May, the Milwaukee Bucks will take part in the California Classic Summer League in addition to the standard NBA Summer League this year. Being a younger team now, this should 1) give players more opportunities to develop and 2) give coaches and front office members more chances to evaluate.

Schedule

The dates for each of the three California Classic Summer League games are as follows:

• July 4, 2:00 p.m. CDT vs. Golden State Warriors
• July 5, 2:00 p.m. CDT vs. Brooklyn Nets
• July 6, 9:00 p.m. CDT vs. Sacramento Kings

The Bucks will then get a few days off before they travel to Vegas for NBA Summer League. The schedule for that is as follows:

• July 10, 3:00 p.m. CDT vs. Miami Heat (did someone say grudge match!?)
• July 12, 8:00 p.m. CDT vs. San Antonio Spurs
• July 13, 9:00 p.m. CDT vs. Phoenix Suns
• July 15, 6:30 p.m. CDT vs. Charlotte Hornets

From there, Milwaukee will play at least one more game, which will be announced at a later date based on seeding.

Roster

The Bucks announced the following roster for the California Classic Summer League:

• Zack Austin
• Brandon Boston Jr.
• Brayden Burries
• John Butler Jr.
• Rafael Castro
• Jesse Edwards
• Kuany Kuany
• Kira Lewis Jr.
• Malique Lewis
• Bogoljub Markovic
• Kevin ‘Boopie’ Miller Jr.
• Pete Nance
• Cormac Ryan
• Kobe Stewart
• Earl Timberlake Jr.
• Luke Travers
• Aaron Williams

Note: Nate Ament and Kasparas Jakucionis are presumably not playing in the California Classic due to the Giannis trade not being able to be finalised until July 6; expect both to play in Vegas. We will provide further updates on any other roster changes as they occur.

The Brew Hoop team should have rapid recaps up following each game. Go Bucks!

Much like city of Los Angeles it resides in, at its essence, the Lakers organization has long been built on the idea of superstardom.

Whether that’s on the big screen, the soundstage or, in the Lakers’ case, someone who can not only be a tentpole performer whose production drives winning on the court, but also possesses the personality and gravitas to draw eyeballs and attract fans off it.

From the days of George Mikan when the team was still in Minneapolis to Luka Dončić today, the ethos of the franchise has almost always been about acquiring not just the best players, but the biggest stars who could propel the team forward and compete for championships.

This will never change, either. It is embedded into the fabric of what makes up the Lakers as a brand as much as a sports team.

That said, when it comes to team building, I would argue that the Lakers, particularly under Rob Pelinka’s stewardship, have applied this same approach of pedigree and name value to the role players it’s acquired as they have with the superstars those secondary talents are supposed to support.

Said another way, setting aside the true “face of the franchise” players the Lakers are always trying to get their hands on, this front office has typically chased role players who fall into two categories:

1. Former lottery/high draft picks whose original (and sometimes second) teams moved on from them. These are the “second draft” players we are all familiar with: Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Malik Monk, Rui Hachimura, Cam Reddish, Jaxson Hayes, and Deandre Ayton. These are pure talent and upside plays; the sorts of players you sign in an attempt to capture the talent that got them drafted so high in the first place.
2. The “name brand” role players who have either been stars in their roles at the highest level on previous teams or themselves former superstars who have since transitioned to a different phase in their career, but whose original talent makes them attractive as higher level contributors than what their new roles might ask of them initially: Rajon Rondo, Dwight Howard (the secoand and third stint), Danny Green, Trevor Ariza (second stint), Marc Gasol, and Carmelo Anthony.

If you weren’t drafted by the team, signed as an undrafted free agent, or mined out of the G-League, you most likely fell into one of these categories. Are there exceptions? Sure, but look through the team’s rosters under Pelinka and you’ll find way more examples from those two buckets above than ones who do not neatly fit into either.

That is, until this offseason.

The Lakers made waves early on day two of free agency when they sent a haul of draft picks and used a huge chunk of their cap space to acquire Walker Kessler from the Jazz to be their new starting center. Shortly after, and in rapid succession, the Lakers signed Quentin Grimes, Sandro Mamukelashvili, and Collin Sexton to multi-year contracts, using up the rest of their cap space.

As much as this quartet represents a roster overhaul for an organization going through a sea change after losing LeBron James the day before, they are also a shift from the aforementioned two-pronged approach they’d often taken when chasing complementary players.

Instead, in Kessler, Grimes, Mamu, and Sexton, the Lakers targeted three lesser-known — but in their prime — veterans and one promising, but fairly unproven early 20-something, who are not the sort of prestige-based pedigree plays or name-brand, win-the-press-conference signings we’re used to this front office making.

What this also signals is a shift away from what I consider a more draft-based approach to player evaluation toward a purer version of pro-personnel scouting.

To dig deeper here, in many signings over the years, I’ve felt the Lakers had leaned more on their likes and preferences stemming from evaluations made when players were drafted, rather than on how they’d played as professionals. A common refrain I was used to hearing is that the Lakers “liked this player in the draft when they came out” or “they’ve been interested in them for years, since they were drafted”, rather than how that player might fit into their system or how they complemented the players already on the roster.

Pro-personnel scouting, however, leans more into those latter ideas of how to evaluate what a player has done in the pros and how their skill sets — even if they didn’t quite fit on their previous team — could not only be easily integrated into what your team does but also allow them to thrive. This is a more targeted approach tailored to the specifics of your team, your coach and the systems and schemes.

And this is what I believe the Lakers have done with this group. Sure, there is some previous history with some of these players — Sexton and Kessler played together in Utah, Grimes played with Luka in Dallas — but I would argue that more than any of that familiarity, what the Lakers have really done with these signings is target players who fit into what JJ Redick has said he wants in his players and what has, in the past, proven to be supportive of Dončić’s success.

It would be easy to point to Kessler here as the prime example, but I’d actually look at Mamu as a great representation of this idea.

At the Lakers’ season-end press conference, Redick spoke extensively about wanting to improve the team’s athleticism while also getting more players who have “dribble, pass, and shoot” skill sets. Mamu checks all of these boxes and does it from a man position that allows the team to be bigger on the court without a drop-off in skill.

This sort of big not only fits into how Redick wants to play, but it’s also the sort of archetype that Luka has thrived with in the past. While we often think of Dončić needing a rim-running lob threat, his history with Maxi Kleber also tells the story of a stretch big who can space the floor and give Luka driving lanes as being meaningful to his success.

Similar explanations could be provided for Grimes as a spot-up shooter who can attack closeouts and Sexton as a secondary shot creator who can push Luka off the ball for some possessions and allow him to either be a spot-up option or just allow him to decoy and occupy defenders while allowing his teammate to operate with more freedom.

How successful any of these moves will be remains to be seen. I am hopeful and optimistic, but until the team is fully complete and gets real reps together, no one can know for sure. But what seems clear right now is that these signings do represent a shift in the types of players the team has targeted with what feels like a greater emphasis on a different part of the scouting department.

You can follow Darius on BlueSky at @forumbluegoldand find more of his Lakers coverage on the Laker Film Room Podcast.

Woo is coming back to Detroit. Javonte Green, the final player signed before the start of the season last year, again takes the 15th roster spot for the Detroit Pistons, assuming Jalen Duren comes back and no other moves. We’ll get to that last bit again soon.

Green is signing a one-year, $3.95 million deal with the Pistons, according to Shams Charania of ESPN.

JB Bickerstaff liked the 18-game stint he had with the Cavs when he coached there in 2024-25 and brought him along to Detroit, where both Green and the Pistons had massive success. He signed for a veteran minimum deal last year and surpassed all expectations.

Green played in all 82 regular-season games for the Pistons, shooting a career high from three while averaging 6.9 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 1.2 steals in 17.6 minutes per game. Not bad for an undrafted player who left Radford in 2015, spent years overseas before garnering NBA interest in 2019.

Green spent last season at various backcourt positions, primarily shooting guard and with a healthy mix of small forward. The Pistons aren’t exactly hurting for bodies at those positions with their current roster makeup.

The Pistons return last year’s starting backcourt of Cade Cunningham and Duncan Robinson. They drafted Eubuka Okorie in the first round, have Daniss Jenkins back for another full season, added Isaiah Joe to play a major role, have Caris LeVert to do LeVert things, brought back last year’s second-rounder Chaz Lanier, and re-signed Kevin Huerter. That doesn’t even account for the fact that the team is slotting in Ausar Thompson as the starting small forward with an eye toward major minutes.

That is quite a roster glut, even if you’re factoring in the likely trade of Marcus Sasser to the Mavericks once all of Detroit’s moves can be made official.

The big man rotation is not quite so robust. Pencil in Duren for major minutes at center. His backup is Paul Reed, and Detroit will likely look to Tolu Smith as an insurance big. The power forward spot is just John Collins and Ron Holland as it stands today. Holland can certainly play the power forward spot, but he’s listed at just 208 pounds. There were reports late last season that the Pistons had already made arrangements to add Isaac Bonga, a 6-foot-8 forward. We will see if that rumored deal comes to fruition, but it is important to note that he weighs even less than Holland, and there isn’t currently a roster spot available for him.

It all begs the question. Is a consolidation trade coming? There are still murmurs of the Pistons being in on a Trey Murphy deal if the price ever comes down. There were sketchier reports that Detroit almost landed Kevin Durant in a three-way trade involving Jaylen Brown and Alperen Sengun.

Trajan Langdon has certainly been active this offseason. We will see if the Green signing is the capper to his offseason or the final move before a major deal emerges.

Ahead of NBA free agency, the Indiana Pacers elected to pick up former Wisconsin Badgers forward Micah Potter’s team option for the 2025-26 season, keeping him in town as Ivica Zubac’s backup.

Potter, 28, enjoyed a career year in Indiana, where he averaged 9.7 points and 5.0 rebounds across 47 appearances with the Pacers. He made seven starts, playinh 19.7 minutes per game, which was also a career high.

Not only did Potter see more minutes and average more points and rebounds, but he did so in a highly efficient manner. The big man shot 51.5 percent from the field and 42.3 percent from three on a career high 3.6 attempts per game.

The Pacers had to make a decision on Potter’s option by June 29th ahead of free agency, and it was an easy one for the team. Potter’s contract is non-guaranteed for next year, so there still is a ton of flexibility for the Pacers, but he should have a great chance at sticking around after a quality year.

Back in May, President of Basketball Operations Kevin Pritchard did note his expectation for Potter and Jay Huff to battle for the backup center spot. So far, Indiana’s offseason moves have made it look like that remains the plan for the 2026-27 season.

Potter signed with the Pacers back in December on a two-year, $4.33 million dead that included a club option for the 2026-27 season. That came after he was waived by the San Antonio Spurs back in October. Potter had signed an Exhibit 10 deal with the Spurs heading into the season after becoming a free agent, then found his way to Indiana, where he received the opportunity for regular playing time with the NBA team.

Now, he’s set for his biggest contract yet and a chance for a big opportunity in 2026-27.