Cleveland Cavaliers Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Groups Set For 2025 NBA Cup

July 9th, 2025 at 1:44pm CST by Luke Adams

The NBA has officially announced the six groups of five teams apiece for the 2025 Emirates NBA Cup, also known as the in-season tournament (Twitter link).

In order to set the groups, the league splits the Western and Eastern Conferences into five three-team tiers based on last season’s regular season standings, with one club from each tier randomly drawn into each of the conference’s three groups.

For instance, the top three teams from the West will all be in separate groups, with each of those three groups also featuring one team in the 4-6 range, one in the 7-9 range, and so on.

Here are the groups for the 2025 NBA Cup:

West Group A: Oklahoma City Thunder (1), Minnesota Timberwolves (6), Sacramento Kings (9), Phoenix Suns (11), Utah Jazz (15)
West Group B: Los Angeles Lakers (3), Los Angeles Clippers (5), Memphis Grizzlies (8), Dallas Mavericks (10), New Orleans Pelicans (14)
West Group C: Houston Rockets (2), Denver Nuggets (4), Golden State Warriors (7), Portland Trail Blazers (12), San Antonio Spurs (13)
East Group A: Cleveland Cavaliers (1), Indiana Pacers (4), Atlanta Hawks (8), Toronto Raptors (11), Washington Wizards (15)
East Group B: Boston Celtics (2), Detroit Pistons (6), Orlando Magic (7), Brooklyn Nets (12), Philadelphia 76ers (13)
East Group C: New York Knicks (3), Milwaukee Bucks (5), Chicago Bulls (9), Miami Heat (10), Charlotte Hornets (14)

The round-robin group play games will be starting a little earlier than usual this season and will run from October 31 to November 28. Each team will face the other four clubs in its group once, with the winners of each group and one wild card team from each conference advancing to the eight-team, single-elimination knockout round.

The full schedule of group play games can be viewed right here.

The quarterfinals will be played on December 9-10, with the semifinals and final to follow on Dec. 13 and Dec. 16, respectively, in Las Vegas. The knockout round games will all be aired by one of the NBA’s new broadcasting partners, Amazon Prime.

The Bucks won last season’s NBA Cup, with star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo earning MVP honors after leading Milwaukee to a victory over the Thunder in the championship game.

Central Notes: Pistons, Ivey, Nance, Nesmith, Mathurin

July 8th, 2025 at 7:51pm CST by Luke Adams

Speaking on Tuesday to reporters, including Keith Langlois of Pistons.com, Pistons president of basketball operations Trajan Langdon spoke about the size and shooting that Duncan Robinson will bring to the team and lauded Caris LeVert for his defensive versatility, ball-handling, and “unselfish brand of basketball.” He also pointed out that both newcomers have plenty of postseason experience.

However, Langdon also made it clear that the additions of Robinson and LeVert aren’t the only reasons why he’s enthusiastic about his team’s potential in 2025/26.

“I think the one thing that does get lost in all of this, to be honest with you, is (Jaden Ivey‘s) return,” Langdon said. “A lot of people are saying, who are you filling with these guys that are exiting. I say, well, we have a pretty good free agent pickup in J.I., so I think he’s going to fill a lot of those point guard roles and play-making roles.”

In addition to getting Ivey back, the Pistons also expect young cornerstones like Cade Cunningham and Jalen Duren to continue improving.

“We have a chance to compete next year,” Langdon said. “The main thing for us is continuing to let these young guys develop and they’re in the gym working their butt off. Like I said from initially in the summer, if they get better, we’re going to be better. So it was finding pieces to complement our young players and their growth and ability to reach their potential. I think with our two additions, we got bigger and we want to continue to put them around guys who can play-make. That’s going to continue to help Cade grow and develop.”

Here’s more from around the Central:

After the Pistons generated a $14.1MM traded player exception in their sign-and-trade deal sending Dennis Schröder to Sacramento, Hunter Patterson of The Athletic considers what sort of players it might make sense to target using that TPE. Herb Jones, Goga Bitadze, and Brandon Clarke are among the names he suggests.
A member of the Cavaliers from 2018-21, Larry Nance Jr. has remained close with the organization since then and spent his summers in Cleveland in the years, writes Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com (subscription required). That’s one reason why it came as no surprise that the Ohio native signed a deal to return to the Cavs this offseason. “It just made too much sense, you know? I knew I would (be back one day). I didn’t know when,” Nance said. “… This is a team that’s really got a chance to win it all. And that’s the goal. That’s why I came back, and that’s what we’re going to do this year.”
Aaron Nesmith and Bennedict Mathurin will be extension-eligible ahead of the start of the 2025/26 regular season and the Pacers plan to discuss new deals for them, but president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard is preaching patience, per Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star. “Can I just have like 24 hours please?” Pritchard said when asked on Monday about potential Mathurin and Nesmith extensions. “Literally, guys, we went straight from the Finals to the draft to free agency to Summer League. … We’ll look at all those kinds of things. But I think that’s a little premature. We have all summer and up until next year to do those.” Dopirak views Nesmith (who will be extension-eligible starting in October) as a no-brainer candidate for a new contract but acknowledges that Mathurin’s situation is a little more complicated.

Scouts, Execs View Cavs As Favorites To Win East Next Season

July 5th, 2025 at 8:36am CST by Rory Maher

The Cavaliers claimed the top seed in the Eastern Conference last season by going 64-18. In part due to injuries, Cleveland had a rocky playoff showing, losing its second-round series vs. Indiana in five games.

Due to the Achilles tears of Jayson Tatum (Celtics) and Tyrese Haliburton (Pacers), the East is viewed as being up for grabs in 2025/26. But in an anonymous poll of eight NBA scouts and executives, seven selected the Cavaliers to win the conference (one picked them to finish second), according to Tim Bontemps and Brian Windhorst of ESPN.

The Knicks were the only other team to receive a first-place vote and appear on all eight ballots. They finished second in the poll, with the Hawks and Magic rounding out the top four.

Thus far this offseason, the Cavs agreed to a trade with the Bulls that will send Lonzo Ball to Cleveland and Isaac Okoro to Chicago. On his What An Experience podcast (YouTube link), Ball said he’s excited to be joining a contending team.

“Just playing, competing for a ring. I feel like that should be the goal, I feel like that is the goal,” said Ball (hat tip to Benedetto Vitale of Clutch Points). “So, happy to get over there and get started. To meet everybody, get familiar with everything, and take it as far as we can.

“I feel like it’s just a blessing, bro. To be honest, I mean, everybody keeps asking me how I feel about the trade. I’m like, s—, I’m happy to still be playing anywhere, let alone a team that has a real chance to win a ring. My whole life, I feel like I’ve been playing the right brand of basketball, and that’s to win games, so I feel like I’m going to a great situation and I just want to play my role and do what I can to help.”

In other offseason moves, Cleveland lost Sixth Man of the Year finalist Ty Jerome to the Grizzlies in free agency, declined its team option on Chuma Okeke, agreed to re-sign sharpshooter Sam Merrill and bring back former big man Larry Nance Jr., and signed second-round pick Tyrese Proctor to a standard contract. The Cavs’ other second-rounder, Saliou Niang, will reportedly play for EuroLeague club Virtus Bologna next season.

The Cavaliers seem prepared to bring back their “core four” of Darius Garland, Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen, though Garland’s name has popped up in some trade talks. All four players have All-Star nods on their résumés and are on lucrative long-term contracts.

Cleveland will be operating over the second tax apron next season, limiting the team’s roster-building flexibility.

Free Agent Rumors: Kuminga, CP3, Horford, Westbrook, Lillard

July 2nd, 2025 at 11:30pm CST by Luke Adams

The Kings are “very engaged” on Warriors restricted free agent forward Jonathan Kuminga, according to Matt George of ABC 10 in Sacramento (Twitter links).

While the Kings have seemingly been extremely willing to discuss Malik Monk in trade scenarios, Monk likely wouldn’t be involved in any deal for Kuminga, says George, noting that Golden State doesn’t appear to have much interest in the veteran guard.

George has heard that the Kings have explored sending out guard Devin Carter, forward Dario Saric, and draft compensation as part of a deal to acquire Kuminga via sign-and-trade (Twitter link). If a deal along those lines came to fruition, it would likely be combined with Sacramento’s Saric/Jonas Valanciunas swap with Denver in order to maximize the Kings’ outgoing salary, which would allow them to give Kuminga a more lucrative deal.

However, according to Anthony Slater of The Athletic (Twitter link), there’s no agreement imminent at this point. Conversations on the Kuminga front with the Warriors and “several” teams are ongoing, Slater adds.

Here are a few more items of interest on some of the top free agents still on the board:

After starting all 82 games for San Antonio this past season, veteran point guard Chris Paul is hoping to be a starter again in 2025/26, per Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press (Twitter link), which is one reason why he’s still weighing his options in free agency. Reynolds says the Clippers are hoping Paul will join them, while Ramona Shelburne of ESPN (Twitter video link) views the Suns as his most likely landing spot. John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 (Twitter link) believes Paul would like to return to Phoenix, but thinks there would be a very limited role for him with the Suns, so he considered a reunion unlikely.
The Warriors have been “very aggressive” in trying to recruit Al Horford to Golden State, per ESPN’s Brian Windhorst (Twitter video link). Windhorst believes Horford could end up in the West Coast if he continues his career, noting that the Lakers are among the other teams pursuing him. Windhorst’s report came before the Lakers reached an agreement with Deandre Ayton, but Los Angeles could still use frontcourt depth and still has its $5.1MM bi-annual exception available.
Russell Westbrook, an L.A. native, would like to “be closer to home,” according to Marc J. Spears of Andscape (Twitter video link). Multiple reports this week have linked Westbrook to the Kings, but it sounds like that would only become a viable option if Sacramento ends up trading Monk.
In ranking what he believes are the top five best landing spots for Damian Lillard once he becomes a free agent, Spears places the Timberwolves atop his list (Twitter video link). Mike Conley is still penciled in as Minnesota’s starting point guard, but he’ll be 38 in October and struggled in the postseason, and the Wolves don’t have much reliable depth at the position behind him. Lillard could be a perfect fit, though he’ll miss most or all of the 2025/26 season while recovering from his Achilles tear.
In addition to previously reported suitors like Milwaukee and Indiana, the Knicks, Clippers, Cavaliers, and Nuggets also expressed some level of interest in Ayton before he agreed to join the Lakers, Shams Charania of ESPN said on SportsCenter (Twitter video link). Charania added that several suitors reached out to Trail Blazers general manager Joe Cronin to ask about Ayton and got “rave reviews of him as a teammate.”

Cavs Re-Sign Luke Travers On Two-Way Contract

July 1st, 2025 at 9:55pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Cavaliers have re-signed forward Luke Travers on a two-way contract, according to the NBA transactions log.

Travers received a qualifying offer and apparently accepted that offer to remain on a two-way deal. The qualifying offer is equivalent to another one-year, two-way deal, with a portion (approximately $85K) guaranteed.

Drafted 56th overall in 2022, Travers played 12 games with the NBA club this past season, averaging 1.0 points and 1.7 rebounds in 7.3 minutes. Travers was an Australian draft-and-stash prospect and joined the Cavs on a two-way deal last offseason, though he has been part of their Summer League team for three seasons.

Travers appeared in 21 regular season games with the G League’s Cleveland Charge, averaging 17.0 points, 9.9. rebounds, 7.0 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.2 blocks in 34 minutes per game.

The Cavs now have a pair of players on two-way contracts, with Travers joining Nae’Qwan Tomlin.

Jaxson Robinson To Sign Exhibit 10 Deal With Cavs

July 1st, 2025 at 7:53pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Undrafted rookie Jaxson Robinson has agreed to an Exhibit 10 contract with the Cavaliers, Jon Chepkevich of Draft Express tweets.

The well-traveled Robinson played for four Division I teams during his college career. He suited up for Texas A&M, Arkansas and BYU before winding up at Kentucky last season.

He started 24 games for the Wildcats, averaging 13 points, 3.5 rebounds and 1.7 assists in 28 minutes per game. He shot 43.2 percent from the field and 37.6 percent on 3-point tries.

Robinson’s season was cut short by an injury. He suffered a torn ECU tendon in his right wrist during a practice collision in February and underwent surgery in early March.

Exhibit 10 contracts are non-guaranteed but include bonuses of up to $85K if the player is waived and then spends at least 60 days with his team’s G League affiliate. In Robinson’s case, that G League team would be the Cleveland Charge. Exhibit 10 contracts can also be converted into two-way deals, so Davis will try to make his case for a promotion during Summer League and training camp.

Larry Nance Jr. Returns To Cavaliers

July 1st, 2025 at 4:26pm CST by Dana Gauruder

July 6: Nance has officially finalized his new deal with the Cavaliers, per a press release from the team.

July 1: Veteran forward Larry Nance Jr., who finished the season with the Hawks, is signing a free agent contract with the Cavaliers, Marc Stein of The Stein Line tweets.

It’s a one-year agreement, per ESPN. As a second-apron team, the Cavaliers can only offer Nance a veteran’s minimum deal.

The journeyman, an Ohio native, will enter his second stint with Cleveland. He played for the Cavaliers from 2017-21.

Nance, 32, appeared in just 24 games in his lone season with Atlanta after two-plus years with New Orleans. The big man underwent surgery for a broken bone in his right hand in January and had his season cut short by a knee ailment. He averaged 8.5 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.6 assists in 19.3 minutes per game.

Nance has long been valued for his toughness, rebounding and locker room leadership. He could see action at both power positions behind starters Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen.

Nance is taking a significant pay cut, as he made $11.2MM last season.

He had been the No. 44 free agent on our top-50 list.

Cavaliers Sign Tyrese Proctor

July 1st, 2025 at 2:22pm CST by Arthur Hill

Second-round pick Tyrese Proctor has signed with the Cavaliers, according to NBA.com’s transactions log.

It’s a four-year, $8.69MM contract with full guarantees for the first two seasons, a partial guarantee for the third and a team option in the final year, sources tell Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link).

Proctor was a third-team All-ACC selection this year at Duke, where he averaged 12.4 points, 3.0 rebounds and 2.2 assists in 38 games. The native of New South Wales is a product of the NBA Global Academy, which he attended in 2021, and a member of the Australian national team.

Proctor, who was selected at No. 49, is Cleveland’s highest draft pick this season. Having him fill a standard roster spot on a rookie contract rather than giving him a two-way deal will provide financial benefits for a Cavs team that is hovering near the second apron.

Free Agent Rumors: Kings, Schröder, Horford, More

June 30th, 2025 at 8:52pm CST by Eli Cohen

Finding a point guard was a top priority for the Kings when free agency opened on Monday. According to NBA insider Chris Haynes (Twitter link), the team arranged meetings via Zoom with both Dennis Schröder and Russell Westbrook.

Sacramento was also planning to meet with Malcolm Brogdon, sources tell Jake Fischer of The Stein Line (Twitter link), who notes that the Wizards would be willing to accommodate a sign-and-trade deal involving Brogdon.

The Kings may end up adding more than one point guard, with Schröder looking like a lock to be one of them. Reports leading up to free agency indicated the two sides would likely agree to a two-year deal worth the full non-taxpayer mid-level exception, and Fred Katz of The Athletic (Twitter link) has since reported that Schröder will reach an agreement to sign with Sacramento.

Here are a few more free agent rumors from around the NBA:

Al Horford is commanding a lot of attention, reports HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto (via Twitter). Scotto says that the Warriors, Knicks, Nuggets, Lakers, and Cavaliers have all expressed interest in luring Horford away from the Celtics since free agency opened, but Boston is also interested in retaining him, especially after losing Luke Kornet earlier in the day to the Spurs.
After agreeing to sign Tyus Jones to be the team’s backup point guard, Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press hears that reserve big man Moritz Wagner is expected to return to the Magic (Twitter link). Orlando declined its team option on Wagner over the weekend, but retained his Bird rights. Jason Beede of the Orlando Sentinel echoes Reynolds’ report (via Twitter), saying that expects Wagner to re-sign with the Magic.
The Warriors feel good about their chances of re-signing restricted free agent forward Jonathan Kuminga, according to ESPN’s Marc Spears (Twitter video link). Spears says the money Kuminga and his representatives are looking for does not seem to be on the market this summer, which could result in him remaining in Golden State.

Rival Teams Surprised By Statement From LeBron James’ Agent

June 30th, 2025 at 9:54am CST by Arthur Hill

LeBron James‘ decision to remain with the Lakers was expected, but the announcement that accompanied it has raised eyebrows around the league. James confirmed on Sunday that he’s picking up $52.6MM option to play a record-setting 23rd NBA season. The news came with a statement from agent Rich Paul indicating that James will be monitoring the team’s offseason moves to determine if it can be a title contender.

On this morning’s Hoop Collective podcast (YouTube link), ESPN’s Brian Windhorst said Paul gave advance notice about the statement to the Lakers and to Luka Doncic and his representatives. However, the rest of the league was caught off guard by what could be a veiled threat that James will ask for a trade if he’s not confident in the team’s direction.

“When this statement came out, I began to call teams,” Windhorst said (hat tip to RealGM). “And I don’t want to get into the who and what and who I talked to, but let’s just say I identified the handful of teams that I could see LeBron trying to be traded to. I’m not going to talk about which teams I talked to, but I did not find a team who was prepared for this. In other words, all of them that I talked to, I didn’t talk to 29 teams, I talked to a handful of teams and they were all caught flat-footed by this.”

Windhorst cites the Cavaliers as an example. There’s been speculation for years that James might want to finish his career close to home and return to the franchise that he led to its only NBA title in 2016. However, Cleveland agreed to trade for Lonzo Ball on Saturday and reached a new four-year contract with Sam Merrill. As Windhorst points out, those moves don’t indicate that the Cavs have any plans to bring back James.

The mechanics of a James deal would be complex due to his no-trade clause and his salary, even in the offseason when teams have more financial flexibility. Windhorst doesn’t believe the uproar over Paul’s statement will ultimately lead to a trade.

“There’s a few players in the league you can trade LeBron for in a one-on-one scenario,” he adds, “and I’ve talked to some of those agents and they in some cases talked to the teams of their players’ teams and I’ve found nothing indicating there was anything afoot here. In terms of a transaction, in terms of a trade.”

At age 40, James doesn’t have the influence that he once did, so the Lakers responded to Sunday’s declaration with the “equivalent of a shrug emoji,” according to Sam Amick of The Athletic. Even if it signifies that this will be James’ final season in L.A. — whether he retires or not — Amick believes the organization is more focused on keeping Luka Doncic happy.

Amick adds that Doncic is expected to sign a long-term extension when he becomes eligible on August 2, whereas the Lakers seem warier about continuing to a commit a max-level salary to James beyond the coming season.

Team sources tell Amick that James and the front office didn’t discuss any deals that would have locked him up beyond 2025/26. He adds that LeBron and his representatives made it clear months ago that he wouldn’t accept a discount just to stay in L.A.

Because James signed his current contract in July 2024, he won’t become extension-eligible before he reaches free agency in 2026.

Amick states that the Lakers need to be focused on their future, which means building the team around Doncic. Amick believes L.A. is monitoring Giannis Antetokounmpo to see if he eventually asks the Bucks for a trade and notes that Nuggets executive Josh Kroenke recently considered the possibility that he might one day have to part with Nikola Jokic, though Kroenke was referencing a hypothetical “nightmare scenario.”

Austin Reaves, who recently declined a four-year, $89MM extension offer in hopes of landing a larger contract next year, appears to be another key part of the Lakers’ future, so the team will have to prepare to give him a significant raise starting next season, Amick notes.