NBA free agency 2025 tracker, live updates: Bucks waiving Damian Lillard, will sign Myles Turner
Nets execute ideal rebuilding trade
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This is how you use your cap space in today’s NBA. The Nets having Michael Porter Jr. on their rebuilding roster is a perfect fit. He’s going to be a scorer to help dazzle fans on nights of bad team play. This Nets team is not trying to win basketball games. Brooklyn is just accumulating assets and trying to maximize its best chance at getting a superstar via the NBA draft lottery in the next two years. Now, the Nets will also have a unprotected 2032 first-round pick from Denver thanks to this trade.
The Nets don’t add any future money from this deal beyond how Cam Johnson’s contract impacted them, so they’re just eating up some of their existing cap space. And they’re hoping that another pick in their treasure chest of draft assets will yield players or leverage in a future trade.
Read more on why I gave the Nets an A for this trade.
GO FURTHER
Trade grades: Can Michael Porter Jr. help Nets’ rebuilding efforts?
It appears forward Guerschon Yabusele will not return to the Philadelphia 76ers next season, league sources tell The Athletic.
Yabusele, 29, averaged 11 points per game last season.
Jordan Clarkson isn’t a perfect player, but the Knicks getting a microwave scorer of his level off waivers is a home run.
Clarkson is a low-risk, high upside addition for a bench that doesn’t have much shot creation.
76ers to sign Watford
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The Philadelphia 76ers are signing Trendon Watford to a 2 year deal worth 5.3 million, league sources tell The Athletic. ESPN was first to report a deal.
Watford, 24, is a real versatile piece for the Sixers. The Swiss Army knife-type averaged 10.2 points per game for the Nets last season.
Jordan Clarkson will join Knicks
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Jordan Clarkson intends to sign with the New York Knicks once he clears waivers, a league source said. The Utah Jazz bought out his contract earlier today.
Clarkson, 33, has long held an interest in living in New York and playing at the Garden, with his buzzy, boundary-pushing style sense (think Willis Reed in a fur coat).
The former Sixth Man of the Year award winner averaged 16.2 points per game for the Jazz last season. He must clear waivers before the Knicks can sign him.
Cam Johnson fits Nuggets’ roster perfectly
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The Cam Johnson-Michael Porter Jr. trade is a massive win for the Nuggets from a roster-building standpoint. Porter was owed $78 million over the next two seasons, and Johnson is due $44 million in that same timeframe. For $17 million less per season, Johnson is a similar on-court fit to Porter. This deal takes the Nuggets far away from the dreaded second apron and now gives them a lot of breathing room for fleshing out what was a top-heavy roster in the last two seasons.
Johnson is one of the NBA’s best 3-point shooters and gives the Nuggets plenty of versatility at either forward position. He’s a career 39.2-percent 3-point shooter on more than 2,000 attempts. The 29-year-old is as consistent and reliable as it gets when it comes to being an effective off-ball shooter.
He’s been this kind of shooter playing on a Brooklyn team that didn’t have stars to create gravity for him, leaving him to provide that gravity for the team.
That won’t be the case with Denver. Why? He’s on Nikola Jokić’s team now.
Read more on why I gave Denver an A- for this deal.
GO FURTHER
Trade grades: Can Michael Porter Jr. help Nets’ rebuilding efforts?
Taurean Prince spent much of last season in the Bucks’ starting lineup. He averaged 8.2 points, 3.6 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1 steal in 27.1 minutes per game and knocked down 43.9 percent from behind the 3-point line on 4.2 attempts per game. After the All-Star break, Bucks head coach Doc Rivers assigned him the toughest defensive assignments, and Prince did his best to make it work.
He was durable and dependable for the Bucks this past season, but saw his time on the floor shrink during the postseason, never seeing above 20 minutes in any of the Bucks’ five first-round games against the Indiana Pacers and playing less than five minutes in two of the three games.
He will return to the Bucks.
Taurean Prince will re-sign with Bucks
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Taurean Prince will return to the Milwaukee Bucks on a two-year, $7.1 million contract, a league source said. The second year is a player option.
Prince, 31, averaged 8.2 points per game while making nearly 44 percent of his 3s.
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The Cavaliers’ original offseason plan had them re-signing Sam Merrill AND Ty Jerome, to similar contracts, two league sources said. While Merrill was thrilled to accept a four-year, $38 million deal, those sources said, Jerome sought more.
The Cavs, already with one of the most expensive rosters in the league, chose to trade for Lonzo Ball instead of paying Jerome above market value — and they were right about that. Jerome ended up with a three-year, $28 million deal with the Grizzlies, a difference of about $200,000.
The Charlotte Hornets will sign Mason Plumlee to a one-year minimum deal, league sources told The Athletic.
Why Portland moved on from Deandre Ayton
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PORTLAND, Ore. — Inside the office of Chauncey Billups, in bold letters, reads a saying the Portland coach holds dear, an adage that he wants to be at the root of the Trail Blazers’ rebuild.
“You can have bad plays,’’ the maxim reads, “but not bad ways.”
The quote is from Hall of Fame coach Larry Brown, whom Billups played for in Detroit and now considers a mentor. It’s a quote that goes a long way in explaining why the Trail Blazers parted ways with center Deandre Ayton, whom they waived after negotiating a contract buyout, this week.
Read more on how Ayton wore out his welcome in Portland.
GO FURTHER
Deandre Ayton accepts Trail Blazers contract buyout, will become free agent: Sources
Luke Kennard to sign with Hawks
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Free agent guard Luke Kennard will sign a one-year, $11 million deal with the Atlanta Hawks, a league source confirmed.
He will join Nickeil Alexander-Walker as a new acquisition in Atlanta’s backcourt.
Signing American players from overseas leagues has really dried up as an acquisition mechanism over the past decade, since virtually everyone who is any good will stick around in the G League now.
However, Phoenix signee Nigel Hayes-Davis, 30, could be an exception. He wasn’t an NBA player when he came out of Wisconsin, but the combo forward has dramatically improved his shooting since then and become arguably the best expat player in Europe.
The Suns have him on a low-risk minimum deal and he might be an immediate rotation player.
Suns to sign Euroleague star Hayes-Davis
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The Phoenix Suns and Nigel Hayes-Davis are in agreement on a guaranteed one-year deal, a league source confirms.
A former Wisconsin standout, Hayes-Davis, 30, returns to NBA after a successful run in Europe, where he was a 2025 Euroleague champion and Finals MVP.
Brook Lopez to the Clippers is a big get. Last year was a mess in Milwaukee because a lot of their perimeter players struggled to contain dribble penetration or execute the drop scheme in how they fought over screens.
Pair Lopez’s minutes with Kris Dunn/Derrick Jones Jr, and you got a stew going.
The Celtics have long been fans of Luka Garza. They made inquiries with the Wolves before.
Luka Garza to sign with Celtics
The Boston Celtics intend to sign center Luka Garza to a two-year, $5.5 million contract, a league source said.
Garza has been productive during limited minutes early in his career, though he’s been more of a 3-point taker than a 3-point maker so far. He’s not necessarily known for his defense, but has put in a lot of work on his body since entering the NBA and can really hit the offensive glass