International Rumors | Hoops Rumors

And-Ones: Anthony, Curry, Ionescu, Thornwell, Cook

February 13th, 2025 at 1:48pm CST by Rory Maher

NBC Sports is hiring former NBA star Carmelo Anthony to be one of the network’s top studio analysts when it starts broadcasting games again next season, reports Andrew Marchand of The Athletic.

According to Marchand, NBC recently had discussions with Charles Barkley, but those talks have ended. Barkley, a Hall-of-Famer and longtime analyst for TNT, will continue his role on “Inside the NBA” as part of an agreement with ABC/ESPN, even though TNT lost its broadcast rights for 2025/26.

Marchand also hears that current ESPN analyst Richard Jefferson has drawn interest from Amazon for next season. ’25/26 will be the first season in which Amazon has the broadcast rights for NBA games.

Here’s more from around the basketball world:

Warriors guard Stephen Curry and New York Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu were expected to have a rematch after last year’s well-received three-point shootout at All-Star weekend. However, that won’t take place this weekend in San Francisco after all, according to Joe Vardon and Anthony Slater of The Athletic. “We weren’t able to land on a plan we thought would raise the bar off of last year’s special moment,” NBA spokesman Mike Bass said in a statement. “We all agreed not to proceed and will instead keep the focus on All-Star Sunday’s new format.” Vardon and Slater hear that Curry and Ionescu were only interested in holding the event if it was expanded to feature more NBA and WNBA players; those plans essentially fell through when Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark announced that she wanted to focus on the WNBA’s three-point contest in Indianapolis later this year.
Former NBA guard/forward Sindarius Thornwell has left Zastal Zielona Góra to join the Xinjiang Flying Tigers of the Chinese Basketball Association, the Polish team announced (via Twitter). According to Zastal, Thornwell was technically bought out of his contract after a lucrative offer from the Flying Tigers (hat tip to Sportando). A former second-round pick, the 30-year-old wing spent four seasons in the NBA, last suiting up for Orlando during the ’20/21 campaign.
Thornwell isn’t the only former NBA player heading to China, as veteran guard Quinn Cook has agreed to a rest-of-season deal with the Fujian Sturgeons, agent Zac Benalloul tells Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link). Cook, 31, won a pair of championships with the Warriors and Lakers over the course of his five years in the league (from 2016-21). The former Duke Blue Devil played in Puerto Rico and Taiwan last season. This will be his second stint in the CBA.

Lakers Expected To Add Center Soon

February 11th, 2025 at 3:54pm CST by Luke Adams

After having backed out of a trade-deadline deal for Mark Williams due to concerns about his physical, the Lakers find themselves shorthanded at the five. Jaxson Hayes is the only healthy center on the 15-man roster, with Christian Wood still recovering from knee surgery and two-way players Christian Koloko and Trey Jemison ineligible to play in the postseason.

According to Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter video link), the Lakers are expected to make a move soon to add more depth in their frontcourt.

“I’m told the Lakers are pursuing multiple big men in the marketplace right now,” Charania said during an appearance on ESPN’s NBA Today on Tuesday. “They know they need some size. … I would expect the Lakers to move on a potential big man in the next 24 to 48 hours. They are working. Rob Pelinka and that front office are trying to acquire a center.”

The current list of free agent centers isn’t particularly inspiring, but there are a few veteran options who might make sense for Los Angeles, including Daniel Theis, Alex Len, Mohamed Bamba, and Moses Brown.

Theis is reportedly on the verge of signing with AS Monaco in Europe, but the others figure to be on the Lakers’ radar. Len was reportedly on track to sign with the Pacers over the weekend, but that deal fell through, fueling speculation that he might be pivoting to L.A. — Marc Stein reports (via Twitter) that the Lakers are “prominent” among the teams with interest in the Ukranian big man.

Within a discussion about possible frontcourt targets for the Lakers, Sam Vecenie of The Athletic suggests it’s worth keeping an eye on the international market too. According to Vecenie, Australian center Will Magnay, who is currently playing for the Tasmania JackJumpers, has an NBA out clause in his deal and has recently drawn interest from NBA teams.

If and when the Lakers do sign a free agent center, they’ll have to waive a player to do so, since their 15-man roster is currently full. Reporting on Monday indicated that Wood and Cam Reddish are among the team’s top release candidates. Neither one is owed any guaranteed money beyond this season.

While it sounds like the Lakers will likely add a center sooner rather than later, it’s worth noting that the club has just one more game before the All-Star break – on Wednesday vs. Utah – so if a signing hasn’t been finalized by that point, it could wait until next week.

And-Ones: Trade Disputes, S. Johnson, Two-Ways, More

February 11th, 2025 at 9:14am CST by Luke Adams

In the wake of the Lakers‘ decision to recind their Mark Williams trade with the Hornets, teams around the NBA are discussing whether the league should introduce new measures designed to reduce the likelihood of similar situations in the future, says ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link).

According to Marks, those clubs are wondering whether it should be solely at the discretion of a team and its medical staff to decide what constitutes a failed physical and whether a third-party mediator might be necessary to resolve disputes.

Those clubs have also asked whether there should be a window for teams to explore amending the terms of a deal after the trade deadline has passed if there are a concerns about a player’s physical. In that hypothetical situation, Marks notes, the amended terms would have to involve only draft compensation, not new players.

The Hornets have reportedly been in touch with the NBA to discuss whether they have an avenue to dispute the Lakers’ decision to void the Williams trade between the two teams.

Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

Former NBA lottery pick Stanley Johnson has parted ways with Anadolu Efes for family reasons, the Turkish club announced (via Twitter). Johnson, a 6’6″ forward who appeared in 449 regular season NBA games from 2015-23 after being drafted eighth overall in 2015, is joining the South Bay Lakers. The Lakers‘ G League affiliate confirmed in a press release that it has acquired Johnson’s returning rights in a trade with the Rip City Remix.
Five players, including Warriors big man Quinten Post and Sixers forward Justin Edwards, have been converted from two-way contracts to standard deals in the days since the trade deadline. There are several more two-way players around the league who could follow suit, according to John Hollinger of The Athletic, who identifies seven more candidates for promotions, including Wizards forward Justin Champagnie, Sixers guard Jared Butler, Timberwolves guard Jaylen Clark, and Pelicans wing Brandon Boston.
Although the NBA pays a team a fee when it loses a home game in order to play overseas, that payment typically doesn’t cover the full cost of the lost revenue, writes Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic. So what’s in it for teams who choose to take part in those international games? Vorkunov explores that subject, detailing the brand-building calculus at play for those clubs.

And-Ones: Podziemski, Wallace, Australia, Buyouts, Etienne

February 8th, 2025 at 2:52pm CST by Luke Adams

Warriors guard Brandin Podziemski has been named an injury replacement for next Friday’s Rising Stars event at All-Star weekend in San Francisco, the NBA announced today (via Twitter).

Podziemski will be replacing Thunder guard Cason Wallace, who is currently dealing with a shoulder strain. Wallace had been drafted onto honorary head coach Tim Hardaway Sr.‘s squad for the four-team event, so Podziemski will slot into Hardaway’s roster.

After a promising rookie season, Podziemski got off to a slow start in this season’s first half, but he has picked up his play since returning last month from an abdominal injury. In his first eight games back, he has averaged 14.6 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 4.0 assists per game on .494/.396/.759 shooting.

Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

The NBA has reached an agreement with Australia’s National Basketball League and the Victorian Government to play a pair of exhibition games in Melbourne during the 2025 preseason, according to Olgun Uluc of ESPN. The plan is for a single NBA team to travel to Australia to play an NBL squad, says Uluc, noting that it will be the first time the NBA has played a game in the country.
John Hollinger of The Athletic takes a look at 35 players who have already hit the buyout market or whom he considers candidates to do so. In Hollinger’s view, there are three players – Bruce Brown, Malcolm Brogdon, and D’Angelo Russell – who could be real difference-makers, though Brown and Brogdon reportedly aren’t likely to be bought out. Hollinger also considers Chris Boucher, Tre Jones, and Larry Nance Jr. to be players who could play rotation roles for playoff teams if they’re bought out by their current clubs.
Guard Tyson Etienne has been shooting the lights out for the Long Island Nets (48.9% on three-pointers during the NBAGL regular season) and is drawing interest from NBA teams, according to Keith Smith of Spotrac (Twitter link), who says Etienne looks like a candidate to get a two-way deal before the March 4 deadline.

Vasilije Micic Eyeing Return To Europe This Summer?

February 7th, 2025 at 12:00pm CST by Rory Maher

Much like fellow former EuroLeague Most Valuable Player Sasha Vezenkov, Vasilije Micic‘s career hasn’t gone the way he was hoping for since he decided to sign his first NBA contract in the summer of 2023.

After a long and highly successful career in Europe, Micic was ineffective in a limited role with Oklahoma City last season, and wound up being traded to Charlotte last February.

While the 31-year-old guard had some positive moments for the Hornets to conclude 2023/24, he was largely outside of their rotation to open ’24/25 before injuries gave him an opportunity for playing time.

He hasn’t played particularly well this season either though, averaging just 7.5 points, 3.5 assists (vs. 2.1 turnovers) and 2.4 rebounds on .348/.360/.829 shooting in 36 games (21.2 minutes per contest).

In addition to his inefficient and underwhelming offensive numbers, Micic often looks like the least athletic player on an NBA court — he has recorded zero blocks and only 15 steals in 764 minutes this season, per Basketball-Reference.

Charlotte ended up trading Micic to the Suns prior to yesterday’s deadline. He’s expected to be the third-string point guard in Phoenix, behind Tyus Jones and Monte Morris.

Micic is earning $7.72MM in ’24/25. The Suns hold a $8.81MM team option on his contract for ’25/26, but unless they use it for trade purposes, it seems very unlikely to be exercised.

With his NBA future seemingly up in the air, the Serbian guard has already contacted Anadolu Efes (Turkey) and Panathinaikos (Greece) about a potential return to Europe, according to Aris Barkas of Eurohoops.net.

Barkas clarifies that Micic has not begun formal contract negotiations, but he has made it clear that if he does return overseas, he wants to become the highest-paid player in Europe — that title currently belongs to Vezenkov.

There have been rumors that Micic has also contacted Crvena Zvezda of his native Serbia, but Barkas could not corroborate those reports. Still, he expects Micic to be highly in-demand amongst EuroLeague clubs if he becomes a free agent this offseason.

And-Ones: Fernandez, Kerr, NBA Europe, Rising Stars, Shumate

February 6th, 2025 at 8:42am CST by Dana Gauruder

Nets head coach Jordi Fernandez is stepping down from his post as head coach of the Canadian senior men’s national basketball team, Sportsnet’s Michael Grange reports.

Fernandez replaced Sixers coach Nick Nurse as Canada’s head coach in 2023 and led the team to a bronze medal in the 2023 FIBA World Cup. Canada was knocked out of the Paris Olympic tournament in the quarterfinals.

Fernandez had indicated as recently as last month that he planned to remain Canada’s head coach. When asked about his status, Fernandez replied, “In fairness to Canada Basketball, I want them to make the announcement. And then once they do, I’ll be able to answer all your questions.”

Canada Basketball confirmed the news on Thursday morning, announcing that Fernandez is stepping away to focus on his job with the Nets and to spend more time with his family.

We have more from the around the international basketball world:

With the Warriors finalizing a trade for Jimmy Butler on Wednesday, they had to deal with the consequences as they prepared to face Utah. Coach Steve Kerr had to scrap his gameplan, since Andrew Wiggins and Dennis Schröder are part of the multi-team trade. Kerr suggested that the trade deadline should be pushed to the All-Star break, so that type of uneasy situation might not occur. “I think the league should consider making the trade deadline at the All-Star break just so you don’t have to face these games where guys are getting traded half an hour before a game and you’re trying to process the emotions and trying to win a game,” Kerr said, per Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press. “I don’t know if it’s possible.” It should be noted the trade deadline used to occur during the All-Star break and sometimes overshadowed the All-Star festivities, plus trades can happen any time before the deadline.
The NBA plans to create a new league in Europe would have to overcome major obstacles and The Athletic’s Joe Vardon details one of them. Paris, one of the prime spots for an NBA Europe team, might be off-limits because Paris Basketball has exclusive rights for play in both of the major arenas in the city.
Tim Hardaway Sr., Jeremy Lin, Chris Mullin and Mitch Richmond were named the honorary coaches for the All-Star Rising Stars event, the NBA announced (Twitter link). The quartet all played for the host Warriors. Hardaway, Mullin, and Richmond drafted their seven-player teams for the competition, while Lin will coach a group of G League standouts. The rosters can be found here. The winner of the Rising Stars event on Feb. 14 will compete in a four-team tournament against the NBA All-Star teams two days later.
Former Suns player John Shumate passed away this week at the age of 72, John Gambadoro of 98.7 Phoenix tweets. He was the No. 4 overall pick in the 1974 draft by Phoenix and worked for the Suns organization for 25 years.

And-Ones: All-Star Snubs, WNBA, Clark, Europe, Canales

January 31st, 2025 at 10:38pm CST by Luke Adams

There weren’t enough backcourt spots to go around on this year’s All-Star teams, in the view of Marc J. Spears of Andscape, whose annual eight-man “All-Snub” team is made up of seven guards and one center.

Outside of big man Domantas Sabonis, the most glaring omissions from this year’s All-Star rosters were all guards, Spears writes, identifying Trae Young, LaMelo Ball, Zach LaVine, and Tyrese Maxey as four worthy All-Star candidates who didn’t make the cut in the Eastern Conference despite the fact that both Eastern wild card spots went to backcourt players.

Over in the West, Kyrie Irving, Devin Booker, and Norman Powell joined Sabonis as the players most deserving of All-Star recognition who weren’t among the 12 Western players chosen to participate in the game, according to Spears.

Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

Several NBA team owners submitted bids for expansion WNBA franchises ahead of this week’s deadline. Vince Goodwill of Yahoo Sports says Pistons owner Tom Gores was among the owners to put in a bid, while Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today (Twitter links) reports that the Sixers‘, Cavaliers‘, and Rockets‘ ownership groups also put forth formal bids. The new teams approved by the WNBA as a result of this round of bidding would begin play in 2028.
In other WNBA-related news, Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark has decided not to take part in a special three-point shooting challenge at the NBA’s All-Star weekend in February, per an ESPN report. There had been speculation that Clark could take part in a contest similar to last year’s Stephen Curry vs. Sabrina Ionescu shootout, but she wants to compete in her first three-point contest at the WNBA’s All-Star weekend in Indianapolis later this year, according to her representatives at Excel Sports.
If the NBA moves forward with its plan to launch a new professional league in Europe, what will it look like? ESPN’s Brian Windhorst has published an informative primer, while Donatas Urbonas of BasketNews has shared his latest reporting on the subject. Interestingly, Windhorst notes that commissioner Adam Silver and his top lieutenants are “deeply involved” in the European endeavor and wonders if the league’s focus on “NBA Europe” might further delay the timeline for expansion stateside.
Veteran NBA assistant and current Texas Legends associate head coach Kaleb Canales will be named head coach of the Calgary Surge in the Canadian Elite Basketball League, reports NBA insider Chris Haynes (Twitter link). The CEBL season takes place during the NBA offseason, so Canales could rejoin an NBA staff for the 2025/26 season, Haynes notes.

JaVale McGee Joining Team In Puerto Rico

January 31st, 2025 at 7:44pm CST by Luke Adams

Veteran NBA center JaVale McGee is joining Vaqueros de Bayamón, the Puerto Rican team announced today on social media (Instagram links; hat tip to Sportando).

McGee, who turned 37 earlier this month, appeared in 909 NBA regular season games from 2008-24, spending time with nine different teams across 16 seasons in the league. He’s a three-time NBA champion, having won titles with the Warriors in 2017 and 2018 and the Lakers in 2020, and also won gold with Team USA at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.

McGee spent last season with the Kings, averaging 4.0 points and 2.7 rebounds in 7.4 minutes per game across 46 appearances off the bench. However, he didn’t catch on with an NBA team for the 2024/25 season and has been a free agent since his deal with Sacramento expired at the end of June.

McGee is the second longtime NBA contributor to reach a deal with Vaqueros de Bayamón in recent weeks. The team also agreed to terms with forward Danilo Gallinari earlier in January. It will be a reunion for McGee and Gallinari, who were teammates in Denver from 2012-15.

Gallinari’s deal with the Puerto Rican club reportedly includes the ability to opt out in the event that he gets another NBA opportunity this season — it’s unclear if McGee’s agreement will include the same language.

And-Ones: Dybantsa, Holiday, LeBron, Bronny, TNT, Carmelo

January 25th, 2025 at 4:04pm CST by Luke Adams

A.J. Dybantsa, who is widely considered the favorite to be the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NBA draft, was in Paris this week for the NBA’s Global Games and got a first-hand look at 2023’s top pick, Victor Wembanyama. According to Brian Windhorst of ESPN, Dybantsa expressed a desire to team up with Wembanyama with the Spurs when he reaches the NBA.

“I think Victor is just ridiculous; the things he does are just crazy,” said Dybantsa, who has committed to play his college ball next season at BYU. “I just think we would’ve been a crazy duo. Now the odds of that happening are very slim. But I mean, it was just a thought that came up in my mind when he got drafted. But you never know.”

As Dybantsa acknowledges, the odds are against him ending up in San Antonio. The Spurs control their own first-round pick in 2026 and have the right to swap first-rounders with the Hawks, so they technically have two shots at the No. 1 overall pick. But both San Antonio and Atlanta appear to be on an upward trajectory and seem unlikely to be among the NBA’s very worst teams in 2025/26.

Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

Veteran NBA wing Justin Holiday will audition for the Italian club Virtus Bologna over the next several days, head coach Duško Ivanović confirmed (story via Eurohoops). The expectation is that Virtus Bologna will decide next week whether or not to sign Holiday to a contract. The 35-year-old swingman, who has appeared in 680 career regular season games in the NBA, spend last season with the Nuggets but has been a free agent since July.
LeBron James and Bronny James of the Lakers turned down an invitation from the NBA to take part in the skills challenge at All-Star weekend as a father/son duo, according to NBA insider Chris Haynes (Twitter video link). Haynes adds that Bronny also declined an opportunity to be among the G League players competing in the Rising Stars event.
Alexander Sherman of CNBC checks in on the NBA’s media landscape, writing that Kenny Smith and Shaquille O’Neal are on the verge of signing new multiyear contracts with TNT Sports, while both Amazon and NBC have spoken to Carmelo Anthony about the possibility of having him join their studio shows for the 2025/26 season.

Latest On Potential NBA-Run European League

January 24th, 2025 at 10:52pm CST by Luke Adams

Speaking this week to reporters in Paris, commissioner Adam Silver confirmed that the NBA continues to explore the idea of launching a league in Europe. Reporting in December indicated that the NBA and FIBA were discussing the concept, and Silver addressed those talks earlier this month in an appearance on Shaquille O’Neal’s podcast.

As Brian Windhorst of ESPN writes, Silver’s comments this week were his most expansive on the subject, as well as his most intriguing. The NBA commissioner suggested that he believes the EuroLeague – Europe’s current top basketball league – is leaving money on the table, Windhorst notes.

“While Europe continues to develop some of the very best players in the world — many of our most recent MVPs, of course, are European — we think that the commercial opportunity has not kept pace with the growth of the game,” Silver said. “And what we do at the NBA is we run leagues.

“We, of course, run the WNBA, we have the [Basketball Africa League], we have the G League, we have a 2K video league. So we operate five different leagues and we think it’s an expertise we have. And so we are looking very closely to see if there’s an opportunity to professionalize the game to another level here to create a larger commercial opportunity.”

According to Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic, the NBA is considering various models for its league — it could include new teams, existing clubs, or a combination of the two. Vorkunov says sources in Europe have continuously mentioned Real Madrid as a club that might be interested in leaving the EuroLeague for the NBA’s new venture.

While other EuroLeague teams could also be candidates to defect, the NBA has also reached out to some major European soccer clubs to see if they would have interest in creating new basketball teams, sources tell Windhorst. Both Windhorst and Vorkunov mention Manchester and Berlin as markets the NBA is looking at, with Vorkunov also listing London, Paris, and Munich as a few more possibilities.

The league may schedule NBA regular season games in one or more of those markets within the next couple seasons, per Windhorst and Vorkunov.

“Everything is on the table,” Silver responded when asked by BasketNews whether the NBA’s European league could feature EuroLeague teams. “So, [the] potential to include existing clubs? Absolutely there should be interest. The opportunity to create sustainable competition? Yes. Would we want to have a broad base of countries represented? Absolutely.

“I mean, that’s the benefit we have now by coming in and looking at this from a blank canvas. Incidentally, I recognize there’s enormous history and tradition here in European basketball, and we want to respect those traditions.”

Here’s more on the NBA’s potential foray into Europe:

In order to move forward with a European league, the NBA would need to get the support of its Board of Governors. Windhorst, citing ownership sources, says there are still plenty of questions about the league’s plans, especially since some of the other leagues the NBA operates haven’t been consistently profitable. According to Windhorst, Silver suggested this week that a decision on whether or not to continue moving forward on a European league could be made following a Board of Governors meeting in a couple months. “We have an NBA board meeting in late March,” Silver said. “We’ll be giving an update to our bosses, in essence.”
Of course, March’s meeting won’t be the first time that the league shares its plans with NBA team owners. As Windhorst writes, FIBA secretary general Andreas Zagklis made a presentation to team owners in New York in the fall about a potential European league, while George Aivazoglou, the NBA’s managing director of Europe and the Middle East, met with a committee of owners in November and spoke about which cities the league would target.
League officials from the NBA and EuroLeague met last year as the NBA looked to partner with the established league on its new venture, says Vorkunov. The EuroLeague rejected the NBA’s proposal, since it didn’t want to give up control of its operations. “They wanted the heart and the head,” a EuroLeague executive told The Athletic.
Vorkunov describes “dissent” among prominent European basketball figures about the impact of the NBA’s entry into the market. “I think the NBA walks into the European business and revenues go up a whole bunch,” one EuroLeague club owner said. “I don’t know how they do that, but they’re experts at it.” Others aren’t so sure, Vorkunov explains, noting that another club owner doesn’t believe there’s room for both the EuroLeague and an NBA league to succeed in Europe.