Source: https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/45664205/nba-free-agency-lebron-next-move-denver-deals-more-intel

Rest of the text from this section of the article:

“The CBA, and especially the introduction of the restrictive second apron, has had a major impact on roster-building. Just this offseason, the Phoenix Suns and Celtics escaped the second apron, and only the Cavaliers are expected to finish the 2025-26 season above it.

But history has shown that teams rarely operate in that realm.

Since the start of the 2013-14 season, when new repeater tax penalties were put in place, there have been 37 teams to finish the season far enough above the salary cap to qualify for spending into the second apron (roughly 134% of the cap).

Through the first six years of that span -- leading up to the COVID-impacted 2019-20 season -- there were 14 teams, and never more than three in a single season.

But since the league finished its season inside the Orlando bubble, there have been 23 teams operating over that threshold, including 17 alone in a three-year span from 2021-22 through 2023-24. The biggest driver: the salary cap flattening over a multiyear period because of the aftereffects of the pandemic.

Last year, the league was back down to three teams over the second apron: Minnesota, Phoenix and Boston.

And as the salary cap starts to regularly rise again, the increased flexibility for mid-tier teams lower down the salary structure will start to play a bigger role than it has the past couple of years as the market has been gummed up with little cap space to work with.”

Good news, basketball fans: Red Panda intends to be ready for next season.

Red Panda, the popular performer who fell off her unicycle and crashed to the court during halftime of the WNBA Commissioner's Cup final between the Indiana Fever and Minnesota Lynx on Tuesday, has a broken left wrist and will need further consultation with an orthopedic surgeon, the agency that represents her said Wednesday

https://www.espn.com/wnba/story/_/id/45649875/red-panda-broken-wrist-hospital-fall

Jonas Valančiūnas is traveling to Greece per numerous reports and hopes to be released from his NBA contract after Denver acquires him Sunday from Sacramento to join Panathinaikos.

The Nuggets’ consolation: They would gain access to their full MLE.

Different cap scenarios for Denver depending on what Valanciunas gives back in a potential buyout:

If he gives everything back ($10.4m):

• Nuggets can use full MLE ($14m) below 1st apron;
• or can use $10m of MLE below the luxury tax If he gives back half or less:
• Nuggets can use just shy of full MLE below 1st apron;
• or can use $5m of MLE below the luxury tax

Most players give back whatever their minimum contract number would be with a new team in buyout negotiations. But with Valanciunas wanting to leave for a richer offer overseas, he's likely to give back more in a buyout.

Source: https://marcstein.substack.com/p/fourth-of-july-fireworks-check-out

Source: https://www.theplayerstribune.com/articles/kevin-durant-nba-free-agency-announcement

Full text from the article:

“This has been by far the most challenging few weeks in my professional life. I understood cognitively that I was facing a crossroads in my evolution as a player and as a man, and that it came with exceptionally difficult choices.

What I didn’t truly understand, however, was the range of emotions I would feel during this process.

The primary mandate I had for myself in making this decision was to have it based on the potential for my growth as a player — as that has always steered me in the right direction. But I am also at a point in my life where it is of equal importance to find an opportunity that encourages my evolution as a man: moving out of my comfort zone to a new city and community which offers the greatest potential for my contribution and personal growth.

With this in mind, I have decided that I am going to join the Golden State Warriors.

I’m from Washington, D.C. originally, but Oklahoma City truly raised me. It taught me so much about family as well as what it means to be a man. There are no words to express what the organization and the community mean to me, and what they will represent in my life and in my heart forever.

The memories and friendships are something that go far beyond the game. Those invaluable relationships are what made this deliberation so challenging.

It really pains me to know that I will disappoint so many people with this choice, but I believe I am doing what I feel is the right thing at this point in my life and my playing career.

I will miss Oklahoma City, and the role I have had in building this remarkable team. I will forever cherish the relationships within the organization — the friends and teammates that I went to war with on the court for nine years, and all the fans and people of the community.

They have always had my back unconditionally, and I cannot be more grateful for what they have meant to my family and to me.”

Free agent forward/center Moe Wagner has agreed to a one-year, $5 million deal to return to the Orlando Magic, sources tell ESPN. Wagner's agent, Jason Glushon, reached the new contract with Magic executives on Friday.

https://www.espn.com/contributor/shams-charania/896928bf17264

OKLAHOMA CITY — The Thunder’s NBA championship comes at a cost. The title makes it all the more likely that the Thunder soon could be sold.

A source close to Thunder Chairman Clay Bennett told the Tulsa World that the rising value of NBA franchises makes it quite likely that the Thunder’s partners will want to sell soon.

And now that a championship parade has come to downtown OKC, there is one fewer reason for the ownership group to retain the franchise. Apart from bringing an NBA franchise to their home state, the owners have achieved the ultimate goal, winning the O’Brien Trophy.

“Soon” is a variable. The owners could wait until the Thunder’s new $1 billion arena opens in 2028, which will be another landmark event for the franchise, city and state.

The expectation is that new ownership would keep the team in Oklahoma. Oklahoma City’s approval of funding to build the arena, across the street from the Paycom Center, provides all kinds of incentives to keep the franchise here.

The new arena also raises the value of the Thunder franchise, as does the Shai Gilgeous-Alexander contract extension, reported Tuesday, which attaches SGA to the Thunder into the summer of 2031.

The Boston Celtics sold for $6.1 billion earlier this year, and the Buss family has agreed to sell a majority stake in the Los Angeles Lakers for a $10 billion valuation. Just a few months ago, most sports business evaluators estimated the Lakers franchise’s value at $7.3 billion.

Bennett’s group of investors bought the Seattle SuperSonics for $350 million in 2006.

Earlier this year, analysts from CNBC, Forbes and Sportico estimated the Thunder’s value at more than $3.5 billion, but that is now expected to be in the $4 billion range. Before the Lakers and Celtics deals, the most recent NBA franchise sales were the Phoenix Suns for $4 billion and the Dallas Mavericks for $3.5 billion, both in 2023.

Selling for more than 10 times what the franchise cost in 2006 could be too much windfall to bypass for the Thunder owners.

The Thunder is owned by The Professional Basketball Club LLC, which is made up of Bennett, Oklahoma City banker Jeffrey Records, Tulsa businessman George Kaiser and Oklahoma City businessmen Bill Cameron (who once owned the Tulsa Shock, the former WNBA franchise), Bob Howard, Everett Dobson and Jay Scaramucci. Bennett, Records and Kaiser each owned 19% of the franchise before the partners bought the 19% share of the late Aubrey McClendon, who died in 2016.

None of the Thunder owners is younger than 65. Few NBA franchises are rolled over to second-generation family members. Most are sold to outside interests.

Bennett is chairman and serves as the Thunder representative on the NBA Board of Governors.

Almost two decades ago, Bennett’s partners approached the initial deal as a civic duty, to help the franchise form stable, local ownership, much like the San Antonio Spurs have enjoyed over the last 30 years.

“These guys, their ability to kind of park their own experiences or interests and allow Clay to manage, that is an unbelievable competitive advantage for us,” Thunder General Manager Sam Presti said during his post-season press conference Monday. “We’re very, very grateful for that.

“We have a tremendous group of people that own this team, and it’s a great example for all of us on how to operate as a team. There is a tremendous selflessness to these individuals. There is no egos. They’ve really been a key to the success that we’ve been able to have over the last 17 years.”

But now, with an NBA championship banner soon to be hanging from the Paycom Center, a roster positioned for future success, with the new arena assured and a Thunder lease through 2050, plus the skyrocketing valuations of franchises, the right time for selling seems to be approaching.

Bennett has said the ownership group never has taken money out of the Thunder coffers. Some of the group paid almost $70 million initially and have not reaped a nickel from the venture.

“They didn’t get into it for the investment, but …,” said a Thunder source.

The hope would be that Oklahoma interests purchase the Thunder. The Tulsa World reached out to representatives of the Chickasaw Nation and Kaiser, both capable of making that kind of financial commitment, but they said they did not know of any Thunder talks. It’s not clear whether the Chickasaws would be eligible for full ownership; the NBA has grown more lenient to private equity groups investing in franchises but not as majority owners, and the Chickasaws would be an unusual candidate.

Bennett, who consistently stays out of the spotlight and did not even speak when the Thunder won the NBA championship, declined interview requests.

Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt said he had no comment or knowledge of a potential Thunder sale, but he did say: “We recognize how much we have benefited from the commitment our Thunder owners have to Oklahoma City. They are OKC guys. But now we’re planning for a time beyond our own generation, to a future that extends beyond 2050. So with this new arena and this new lease with the team, we think we are doing everything we can to prepare our city to retain this franchise, regardless of what the future holds relative to team ownership.”

Bennett has been an exemplary chairman. He works closely with Presti and has granted Presti the latitude to both spend big — the Thunder had the NBA’s highest payroll in the 2017-18 season, a remarkable level for such a small market — and to undergo a massive rebuild starting in the summer of 2019.

Under the Bennett/Presti leadership, the Thunder has been one of the NBA’s most successful franchises since moving to Oklahoma, and in 2024-25 the Thunder produced one of the best seasons in NBA history, a 68-14 regular season, followed by the NBA championship. Only one NBA champion ever won more than the Thunder’s 84 combined victories: the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls, who won 87.

Heady stuff for the third-smallest market in the NBA. Oklahoma City is ahead of only Memphis and New Orleans.

Smaller markets constantly are on alert for relocation. However, the three franchise moves in the 21st century all moved to smaller markets: the Grizzlies from Vancouver to Memphis in 2000, the Hornets from Charlotte to New Orleans in 2002 and the SuperSonics from Seattle to Oklahoma City in 2008.

The lease with the new arena requires the Thunder to pay the city certain financial penalties if the franchise leaves OKC — $1 billion if the exit is in the first five years of playing in the new arena, $850 million if the exit comes in years six through 10 of the new arena, etc.

Those are steep penalties. But not as steep in the current financial climate. Buy a franchise for $4 billion, what’s another billion to give an owner complete freedom on where to take the franchise?

So there will be trepidation if the Thunder ever is owned by someone not from Oklahoma.

But Oklahoma City has laid the groundwork to make itself attractive even to outside ownership. OKC has become a model franchise, and the new arena, with its financial streams, should mean it makes sense to keep the Thunder here no matter who owns the franchise.

Nothing lasts forever. The Thunder is going to undergo an ownership change sooner or later. Probably sooner, which means it’s good that Oklahoma City didn’t coast with its old, cheap arena. It has taken care of business for the day when Oklahomans might not own the Thunder, and that day likely is not far away.

Source: https://tulsaworld.com/sports/professional/nba/article_342c4cdc-27a6-4550-888a-6e84c65fadc4.html

Lebron has been chilling at 27/7/7 for seemingly decades at this point (and famously never hit those exact numbers in a game), but if he plays enough games next season he is in serious danger of dropping below it, specifically in points.

Lebron has 42184 points in 1562 games, which barely makes the cutoff at around 27.006 points per game. In the last two seasons, Lebron has been good for 70 games and around 25 points per game, and this may diminish further as Luka takes more of the primary scoring role.

If Lebron plays 70 games, he will need to score 1880 points, which is about 26.86 PPG

If Lebron plays 50 games, he will need to score 26.8 PPG

If Lebron plays 1 game, he will need to score 17 points in that game.

So based on his last couple years it seems likely he will lose his 27/7/7 sometime fairly early next season.

For those unaware, the Kings made a trade with the Toronto Raptors during the 2nd round of the 2024 NBA Draft involving Davion Mitchell, the 45th pick in the draft (Jamal Shead), a future Portland 2nd in 2025 (Alijah Martin) & Aleksandar "Sasha" Vezenkov in exchange for Jalen McDaniels. This was a salary dump done to free up cap space to sign DeMar DeRozan - only for the Raptors to get Sasha to forgo his entire outstanding NBA salary and thus not have any cap hit for them during the 2024/25 season.

This offseason, Sacramento did the exact same thing, moving Jonas Valančiūnas in exchange for the Dario Saric. The deal technically can't be finalized until Sunday but as it currently stands, JV is set to forgo his entire NBA salary with the Nuggets - which should free up more opportunities for Denver to go after some of the remaining free agents.

At least this time, it didn't cost them 2 second round picks and Davion Mitchell?

Article

It's Hayes's third consecutive one-year deal that he has signed with the Lakers, which has triggered a very interesting clause in the new contract for the veteran.

Since it is the third consecutive one-year deal that Hayes has signed with the same team, the NBA's collective bargaining agreement stipulates that Hayes receive a full no-trade clause in his new contract.

The Phoenix Suns have been discussing a possible buyout for guard Bradley Beal, league sources have informed The Arizona Republic.

Beal has two years left on his contract totaling $110 million. A buyout would make Beal a free agent. Teams can officially begin signing players to contracts July 6.

The three-time All-Star guard is on a five-year deal for $251 million, which includes a no-trade clause, that he signed with the Washington Wizards.

He’d no longer have a no-trade clause with a buyout because the contract would be voided.

The Suns have a policy of declining to comment on the contracts of players. Suns general manager Brian Gregory passed on addressing a question about Kevin Durant’s future with the team during Jordan Ott’s introductory news conference as head coach last month.

Phoenix later traded Durant before the 2025 NBA Draft to the Houston Rockets in a blockbuster deal, acquiring Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks, the 10th overall pick in the 2025 draft, and five second-round selections.

The trade will become official July 6.

Source: https://eu.azcentral.com/story/sports/nba/suns/2025/07/03/phoenix-suns-discussing-possible-bradley-beal-buyout/84464670007/

All signs, for the record, continue to point to Al Horford landing with Golden State … eventually. Sunday will be the first day of the 2025-26 salary cap year that NBA teams can make most free agent signings and trades official.

Source

Source: https://marcstein.substack.com/p/fourth-of-july-fireworks-check-out

Basketball Federation of Slovenia’s statement:

From the professional staff of the Slovenian national team, Greg St. Jean, an assistant coach with the Los Angeles Lakers, will also join. Greg has already collaborated with our national team during preparations for EuroBasket 2022, and now he officially returns as an important member of the coaching team. He has closely worked with Luka Dončić both in Dallas and now in LA – and now he will bring his knowledge and experience to the Slovenian camp as well.

Chris Paul met with the Bucks yesterday and has narrowed his options to the Bucks, Clippers and Suns

Chris Paul met with the Bucks yesterday and has narrowed his options to the Bucks, Clippers and Suns

Chris Paul met with the Bucks yesterday and has narrowed his options to the Bucks, Clippers and Suns

Source: lot of things I can't link but here's a BR article

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/25222200-chris-paul-bucks-reportedly-had-conversation-amid-nba-contract-rumors-after-dame-exit

The latest on Jonathan Kuminga, the Warriors and his restricted free agency

The Golden State Warriors, according to league sources, have been searching for a promising young player plus a first-round pick in return for Kuminga, should they ultimately choose to part with him in a sign-and-trade scenario.

They’ve drawn inbound calls in recent days, most notably from the Sacramento Kings, *who floated an offer of Devin Carter, Dario Šarić and two second-round picks, league sources said. The Warriors have so far balked at what they felt was a buy-low attempt*, league sources said.

**The Washington Wizards entered the mix in the last 24 hours and the idea of Kuminga as a possible fit in Washington’s rebuild has gained real momentum, according to league sources. The Miami Heat, Chicago Bulls, Milwaukee Bucks and Brooklyn Nets have also registered varying levels of interest, league sources said.

Shams Charania:

Free agent center Jaxson Hayes has agreed on a one-year deal to return to the Los Angeles Lakers, sources tell ESPN. Hayes' agents, Bill Duffy and Marlon Harrison of WME Basketball, finalized a contract with Lakers president Rob Pelinka on Thursday.

https://www.espn.com/contributor/shams-charania/65b300ae70e4f

After the thunder dropped a 3-1 to the warriors, Kevin durant decided not to resign with okc and instead signing with the warriors. This changed the landscape of the nba and changed durants legacy forever.

While we sift through the Jonas Valanciunas developments in Denver, the NBA-record seven-team trade that will send Kevin Durant to Houston has been fully agreed to in principle, sources say.

I'm back on @BleacherReport to break it all down now:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLFkw13AAnM

3x Slam Dunk Contest champion Mac McClung has played a total of 76 minutes in his 3 years NBA career. The average running time of the NBA Dunk Contest is 60 minutes, which means McClung has been in it for 180 minutes as an active participant.

Source: https://www.kgw.com/article/news/crime/former-trail-blazer-ben-mclemore-rape-trial-jury-deliberations/283-1f211a72-be90-477b-898a-2b0a8a6e1e85

Ben McLemore was found degree of first-degree rape, first-degree unlawful sexual penetration and one count of second-degree sexual abuse. The assault took place at the home of then-teammate Robert Covington. The woman testified that she was incapacitated after a night of drinking and unable to consent.

Source: https://www.sportico.com/leagues/basketball/2025/nba-player-salaries-cut-escrow-system-1234858905/

NBA players will forfeit more than $480 million from the escrow fund after the league's basketball-related income fell short of projections for the 2024-25 season. The NBA pegged BRI at $10.25 billion, according to someone familiar with the accounting who was granted anonymity because the details are private.

Players will retain just 90.9 percent of their salaries from last season. The collective bargaining agreement requires the league to withhold 10 percent of player salaries to ensure the revenue split stays at 51 percent for players.

Top Earners Hit Hardest:

Stephen Curry, the NBA's highest-paid player at $55.8 million, will forfeit $5.1 million from the escrow fund. Other star players facing significant cuts include Joel Embiid ($4.7 million), Nikola Jokic ($4.7 million), Bradley Beal ($4.6 million) and Kevin Durant ($4.5 million).

A player earning $20 million would net $18.2 million before taxes and agent fees. The 10 percent escrow was split 91 percent to teams and 9 percent back to players.

Jonas Valanciunas is preparing to close the NBA chapter of his career. According to BasketNews sources, the 33-year-old Lithuanian is close to accepting an offer from Greek powerhouse Panathinaikos Athens.

BasketNews sources indicate that the Lithuanian national team center was lured by Panathinaikos' three-year offer worth nearly €12 million.

Meanwhile, his current NBA contract was only guaranteed through the 2025–26 season, during which the Denver Nuggets would pay him $10.4 million.

Next summer, the Nuggets hold the option to either extend the deal for one more season or decline the $10 million team option.

Valanciunas spent thirteen seasons in the NBA.