Just in: Minnesota is sending Julius Randle and the No. 28 pick in the NBA Draft to the Brooklyn Nets in a three-team trade that sends Nic Claxton to the Chicago Bulls, sources tell ESPN. The Timberwolves will acquire Brooklyn’s No. 33 pick for Randle and No. 28.
Just in: Minnesota is sending Julius Randle and the No. 28 pick in the NBA Draft to the Brooklyn Nets in a three-team trade that sends Nic Claxton to the Chicago Bulls, sources tell ESPN. The Timberwolves will acquire Brooklyn’s No. 33 pick for Randle and No. 28. https://www.espn.com/contributor/shams-charania
Front offices originally worked under the assumption that the NBA salary cap would rise the max 10% each season to $228 million in 2029-30.
Now they’re projected to have $35m less than expected that season.
Production per dollar has become one of the most important stats in the league.
Source: https://bsky.app/profile/hoopinformatics.bsky.social/post/3mpyj6riio222
Celtics owner Bill Chisholm on Jaylen Brown trade: "[This is] not about the money at all. This was trying to put together the right players and assets to win... I know people feel like there must be a smoking gun somewhere around the money. That is just not what this is about."
Beyond the fact that ESPN has not critically covered the Aspiration scandal at all beyond the first week (where their primary contribution was giving Clippers’ owner Steve Ballmer a softball interview and repeatedly saying he deserves the benefit of any doubt), there has been no mention of this obvious conflict of interest either.
The NBA has also, more predictably, not acknowledged it at all.
Larry Tanenbaum, the Raptors’ outgoing owner, is the current chairman of the NBA Board of Governors.
https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/toronto-raptors-owner-set-play-085301437.html
We’ve reached a point where corruption and bad actors are so routine that it no longer feels at all noteworthy.
Looks like Nikola Jokic will be hitting unrestricted free agency next Summer
Here is the raw text:
> My idea is to sign next summer and stay in Denver for the rest of my life (career)
Here is the translated text:
> My idea is to sign next summer and stay in Denver for the rest of my life (career)
Here is the raw video
Here is the Stein post
Your Miami HEAT announced today that they have acquired NBA Champion, Two-Time NBA MVP and 10-time NBA All-Star Giannis Antetokounmpo and NBA Champion Bobby Portis Jr. from the Milwaukee Bucks in exchange for Tyler Herro, Kasparas Jakučionis, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Kel’el Ware, three first round picks (2026, 2031 & 2033), a 2030 first round pick swap and a 2033 second round pick.
“The announcement of today’s trade for Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bobby Portis Jr. is one of the great trades in HEAT history,” said HEAT President Pat Riley. “In my opinion, Giannis is one of the top five players in the league and Bobby is one of the best power forwards. The difficult part is trading Tyler, Kasparas, Jaime and Kel’el who have given so much to this organization, we wish them nothing but the best. I also want to thank the Arison’s for their continued pursuit towards winning a championship and we feel this gives us a better opportunity moving forward. I want to welcome Giannis and Bobby to the Miami HEAT family.”
Giannis Antetokounmpo will wear number 34 and Portis Jr. will wear number 95.
Knicks are the favorite to come out of the east. Followed by Celtics, Raptors, Sixers, Pistons, Cavs, and then Heat.
Is the east getting better or is it that people don't think that Giannis is as good as before? Did the Heat trade their future to be a play-in team?
Fascinating piece from MacMahon. It really seems like the media MVP voters got it very wrong:
> "The stats guys in every room don't see him close to that -- probably the widest gap in the league," the second general manager said. "They're certainly telling you they don't think he's the sixth-best player in the league. Then the contract is really f---ing big, and the expectation to [extend] that is really big."
> Notably, the Celtics have had a better net rating with Brown off the floor than on it in each of the past four seasons and six of the past eight. Teams use different analytical models, but the consensus is that Brown's impact isn't as impressive as his media-voted accolades or the supermax contract that will pay him $183 million over the next three seasons.
> "The credit goes to guys who score, but they're not always driving team success," a third general manager said. "There's guys like this all over the league -- Brandon Ingram, DeMar DeRozan, etc. The difference is he's not at $40 million [salary] -- he's at $60 million!
> "It's really hard to tie up that much of your salary cap in one player unless they're truly generational. And he's not even close to that. If you supermax Shai [Gilgeous-Alexander] or Joker, it makes sense. That's probably the list. The league is getting smarter now. And here's the thing: The dumb teams are also the cheap teams, so the Celtics couldn't take advantage of one of them."
I was curious about “unbeatable stats” and had a look at the current holders of the 5 major stats in points, assists, rebounds, steals and blocks and each one of them seem unbreakable.
Points: LeBron 43440 and counting
Assists: John Stockton 15806
Rebounds: Wilt Chamberlain 23924
Steals: John Stockton 3265
Blocks: Hakeem 3820
I wanna show how much a player would have to consistently average over a 20 year career assuming they play 70 games a year on average
Points:
A player would have to average 31 points for 20 years straight if they wanted to break Lebron’s record.
Assists:
A player would have to average 11.30 assists for 20 years straight if they wanted to break Stockton’s record.
Rebounds:
This one is the craziest one. A player would have to average 17.1 rebounds for 20 years straight to break Wilt’s record!
Steals:
A player would have to average 2.33 steals for 20 years straight to break Stockton’s record.
Blocks:
This one is the most “feasible” thanks to a current alien, but still very far fetched. A player would have to average 2.7 blocks a year for 20 years straight to break Hakeem’s record.
Each of these are extremely unfeasible to even attempt to break. Cp3 got the closest to both of Stockton’s assist and steal numbers but even he with a 20 year career didn’t even come close.
In order of least to most likely to break I’d say
Rebound>Assist>Points>Steals>Blocks
Wemby is technically “on trajectory” to break Hakeem’s block record, but it’s hard to say cause of his health concerns. I’d say Flagg is the most “likely” to break the points record but it really depends on his year 2 leap.
Overall, what do yall think? Who’s the most likely for assists steals and rebounds cause each of those seem equally unbeatable to me.
Source: https://open.substack.com/pub/marcstein/p/july-fourth-nba-trade-free-agency?r=nuq3a&utm\_medium=ios
Valančiūnas and Zeke Nnaji are the Nuggets' only veteran names of late circulating as certain trade candidates. For all the expectation this spring that Denver was determined to shed salary to make it easier to match offers on restricted free agent swingman Peyton Watson, this is not a team that has been operating in recent days with a determination to stay below the second apron like James Dolan's Knicks.
Watson, meanwhile, is said to be seeking a deal north of the $25 million in average annual value that Christian Braun secured from Denver in October. How feasible that is in this marketplace remains to be seen.
Most notably in Denver ...
We're told that the Nuggets have rebuffed several trade offers from teams attempting to pry away Cam Johnson.
Some rival teams projected the Nuggets to prioritize trying to trade Braun in the wake of a first-round exit, but the timing was clearly suboptimal given Braun's injuries last season and the fact that his five-year deal is only just beginning in 2026-27.
Source is Bill Simmons’s podcast linked here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4EkmyNC3V1VxcWDtABZDO7?si=96ksYcKjQuOHyG-NgGYkkw
Unlike a Luka Doncic or Prime James Harden, Brown’s own playmaking capabilities are very lackluster meaning he cannot make up (and significantly outpace) his league leading turnovers like they can. It also doesn’t help that he scores less on much worse efficiency than other players who usually lead the league in TOs
JB was 2nd in the league in usage and doesn’t have anywhere near the passing chops to justify it, leading to lackluster advanced statistics
Source: https://bsky.app/profile/lawmurraythenu.bsky.social/post/3mpygzsfxtk2e
I'm told that Rui Hachimura was on the Luka Doncic preferred return list
Lakers wanted more defenders.
Clippers had the cap space Lakers didn't have
Rui Hachimura wanted to stay in Ohtani's town
Matchmaker made a match
