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Warriors Made New Offer To Jonathan Kuminga, But Stalemate Continues

September 15th, 2025 at 9:10am CST by Arthur Hill

The Warriors made a new contract offer to restricted free agent Jonathan Kuminga last week, hoping to end the standoff that has prevented them from completing other offseason moves, sources tell Anthony Slater and Shams Charania of ESPN.

Golden State’s latest proposal is a three-year, $75.2MM deal with a team option in the third season, according to the authors’ sources. It includes $48.3MM in guaranteed money over the first two years, which Slater and Charania point out is nearly equal to the annual salary that restricted free agent Josh Giddey received last week in his new contract with Chicago. They add that the major difference is that Giddey received four guaranteed years with no options on either side, while Kuminga would most likely be a trade asset under his next contract rather than part of the team’s long-term future.

The offer is an increase from the two-year, $45MM contract that was presented to Kuminga and his representatives earlier this summer. That deal also included a team option on the final season and a demand that Kuminga waive his inherent no-trade clause.

The authors describe the Warriors’ insistence on those provisions, even in the new proposal, as a “major part” of the prolonged standoff. Their sources say Golden State’s only offer without a team option was for $54MM over three years, which brings the annual salary down to $18MM.

Kuminga has been requesting a player option to give him more control over his future, sources tell Slater and Charania. He and agent Aaron Turner have been willing to accept a yearly salary in the $20MM range as a tradeoff, but they believe agreeing to a team option should bring Kuminga’s salary up to about $30MM per year. The Warriors consider a player option to be a “nonstarter,” according to the authors.

The latest proposal from Kuminga and his agent is described as a “souped-up version” of Golden State’s qualifying offer, which is also still on the table. Kuminga would receive more money than the $8MM QO that was tendered in late June, but it would be a one-year deal that makes him an unrestricted free agent next summer and allows the Warriors to shop him as an expiring contract heading into the trade deadline. It also creates the possibility that Kuminga could spend another full season with the team and start negotiations fresh next offseason.

General manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. turned down that idea, the authors state, as owner Joe Lacob is reportedly unwilling to accept any deal that puts the Warriors at risk of losing Kuminga next summer while getting nothing in return.

Lacob has been a strong believer in Kuminga ever since he advocated drafting him ahead of Franz Wagner in 2021, according to the authors. Sources tell them that Lacob refused to part with Kuminga in a proposed trade with Chicago for Alex Caruso two years ago, and he remained a vocal supporter even when the forward was removed from Steve Kerr‘s rotation last season. But sources tell the authors that Lacob has never intervened with Kerr on Kuminga’s behalf and has allowed the coach to make his own decisions about who gets on the court.

Kerr has indicated that Kuminga would see ample playing time this season if he opts to re-sign, according to Slater and Charania’s sources. However, Kuminga’s camp has pointed to comments that Kerr made during the playoffs — stating that Kuminga isn’t a natural fit alongside Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and Jimmy Butler — and they suggest that staying with Golden State might not be the best move for Kuminga’s career.

Before the Warriors shut down the idea of a sign-and-trade, they received offers from the Suns (who intended to pay Kuminga about $80-88MM over four years) and Kings (three years at $63-66MM), who were both willing to give him a player option and make him their starting power forward.

However, the Warriors weren’t satisfied with the return in the proposed deals, which reportedly would have brought Royce O’Neale and second-round draft compensation from Phoenix or Malik Monk and a protected first-rounder from Sacramento.

With training camp starting in two weeks, the authors state that Kuminga’s best hope is for Lacob to intervene, either to give him the financial compensation that he wants or ease his pathway to another team. The Warriors have several moves on hold that can’t be completed until the Kuminga situation is resolved, so a final decision will have to be made soon.

Kai Jones Signs With Anadolu Efes

September 15th, 2025 at 7:15am CST by Dana Gauruder

SEPTEMBER 15: Jones’ new contract with Anadolu Efes is official, according to Eurohoops.

SEPTEMBER 11: Free agent big man Kai Jones is close to signing with Turkey’s Anadolu Efes, BasketNews’ Donatas Urbonas reports.

Jones worked out for the Heat last month but his chances of getting a contract with Miami waned after the team decided to ink Dru Smith. Prior to his workout, Jones was reportedly close to signing with Italy’s Virtus Bologna.

Jones played 40 games for the Clippers and Mavericks in ’24/25, averaging 5.0 PPG and 3.1 RPG while shooting 79.8% from the field in 11.7 MPG.

Jones began last season on a two-way contract with the Clippers, then was waived on March 1 so the team could bring in a couple of new two-way players. He caught on immediately with the injury-plagued Mavericks, who were desperately seeking frontcourt depth as they pushed for a play-in spot.

The 24-year-old center was the 19th pick of the 2021 draft. He spent his first two seasons in the league with the Hornets.

Jones’ contract with Anadolu Efes in expected to include an exit clause in January, Urbonas adds.

Malik Beasley Remains Interested In Pistons Reunion

September 14th, 2025 at 9:03pm CST by Eli Cohen

Malik Beasley‘s status for next season is still very much up in the air, but there’s still interest in a potential reunion with the Pistons, at least from the player’s side, writes Omari Sankofa II of the Detroit Free Press.

“It’s definitely a place I want to be,” Beasley said following the Pistons’ playoff elimination at the hands of the Knicks. “To be here, my mom’s hometown, I grew up here a lot in the summertime. To be able to perform in front of this city is huge and I’m glad I got a chance to do that.”

Beasley became just the fifth player in NBA history to hit 300 three-pointers in a season, Sankofa notes, and was the runner-up for Sixth Man of the Year during his lone season in Detroit. He also became a valuable locker room presence for the young up-and-coming team.

Thanks to his and the team’s success, the Pistons entered the summer with the intention of signing the veteran guard to a three-year, $42MM deal, but the reports of Beasley’s status at the center of a federal gambling investigation threw his playing status into doubt and caused the team to pursue other options: notably, signing Caris LeVert and executing a sign-and-trade for Duncan Robinson.

Beasley’s lawyer, Steve Haney, confirmed that despite still being under a league investigation, Beasley is looking forward to next season — and remains interested in a reunion with the Pistons.

“I do know that Malik, if there’s a pathway, would like to look at being considered to play for Detroit again next season,” Haney said. “I’m not his agent, though, so I don’t know if there’s still interest there, I don’t know if there’s still money there, what the mutual level of interest there is in him returning to Detroit. I know that he’s got a lot of love for Detroit and would like to, if possible, look at maybe coming back.”

The Pistons currently have 13 fully guaranteed contracts, plus Javonte Green‘s partially guaranteed minimum deal. The team holds Beasley’s Non-Bird rights, meaning it could offer him a multi-year deal with an initial annual salary worth up to $7.2MM. If Detroit were to sign him to a four-year deal, it would likely come to around $31MM in totality, marking at least an $11MM drop from the contract Beasley entered the summer expecting to land.

The Cavaliers, Knicks, and Timberwolves had previously expressed interest in Beasley, though the Knicks have began filling out their training camp roster with veterans that have a similar skill set in Landry Shamet, Malcolm Brogdon, and Garrison Mathews, and are reportedly interested in keeping at least two of the three.

Germany Defeats Turkey For EuroBasket Gold; Schröder Named MVP

September 14th, 2025 at 3:16pm CST by Luke Adams

A back-and-forth battle between a pair of 8-0 teams went down to the wire in Sunday’s EuroBasket championship game, with Kings point guard Dennis Schröder helping to secure a gold medal for Germany by scoring the final six points and turning an 83-82 deficit into an 88-83 victory over Turkey.

Schöder (16 points, 12 assists), former NBA wing Isaac Bonga (20 points, 4-of-4 three-pointers), and Magic forward Franz Wagner (18 points, eight rebounds) were the standout performers for Germany, which has won two of the past three major international basketball competitions.

Although the Germans didn’t make the podium at the Paris Olympics last summer, the country is now the defending FIBA World Cup (2023) and EuroBasket (2025) champion and has posted a 21-2 record in those three tournaments, per HoopsHype (Twitter link).

Germany outlasted a Turkish national team that was led by Rockets center Alperen Sengun (28 points), former NBA forward Cedi Osman (23 points, 6-of-9 on three-pointers), former NBA guard Shane Larkin (13 points, nine assists, six rebounds), and Sixers big man Adem Bona (12 points, 5-of-5 shooting).

While they weren’t able to claim their first EuroBasket championship, Turkey matched their best-ever result by taking silver. The Turkish team lost to Yugoslavia in the 2001 final, which was the only other time the country made the championship game.

Schröder was named the EuroBasket Most Valuable Player after leading the Germans to their first title in the event since 1993. He scored at least 16 points in all nine games, averaging 20.3 points and 7.2 assists per contest.

The 2025 EuroBasket All-Star Five was made up entirely of NBA players, with Lakers guard Luka Doncic (Slovenia) and Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo (Greece) joining Schröder, Wagner, and Sengun (Twitter link).

Antetokounmpo and the Greek national team beat Finland in the third-place game earlier on Sunday.

Aspiration Co-Founder Issues Statement On Kawhi Leonard Controversy

September 13th, 2025 at 6:29pm CST by Arthur Hill

Andrei Cherny, who co-founded Aspiration and served as its CEO until 2022, has provided his perspective on the nature of the company’s relationship with Clippers star Kawhi Leonard. In a Twitter post relaying comments he made to Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic, Cherny claims Leonard’s responsibilities with Aspiration have been incorrectly portrayed.

“The claim that the contract with Kawhi Leonard was a ‘no show’ contract is false,” Cherny wrote. “The contract contained three pages of extensive obligations that Leonard had to perform. And the contract clearly said that if Leonard did not meet those obligations, Aspiration could terminate the contract.

“The ‘beliefs’ provision is not unusual in celebrity endorsements and merely means we can’t do something like make a vegetarian eat meat as a way of forcing them to break the contract. It doesn’t mean you can have a ‘belief’ of not talking to the camera.”

Aspiration, a now-bankrupt “green bank” company, has been at the center of controversy since Pablo Torre’s September 3 report that Leonard had a $28MM endorsement deal, but didn’t perform any work to earn the money. The Clippers are accused of trying to circumvent the salary cap by using one of their sponsors to funnel extra cash to Leonard and his representatives.

The NBA recently hired a law firm to conduct a thorough investigation of the case. At a news conference this week, commissioner Adam Silver said the burden of proof will be on the league to prove that something improper was done before any disciplinary action can be taken.

“In the months of discussion among our executives before signing the sponsorship, I don’t remember conversations about the NBA salary cap,” Cherny continues. “I signed the contract shortly before I submitted my resignation, but before I left there were numerous internal conversations about the various things Aspiration was planning to do with Leonard once the 2022-23 season began, including emails from the marketing team about their plans in just the week before my last day. I can’t speak to what was done or not done after I left — or why.”

Cherny blames the company’s failure on fellow co-founder Joe Sanberg, who was arrested in March on charges of defrauding investors of $145MM. He claims Sanberg’s actions were the reason he decided to leave in 2022.

In response to Cherny’s statement, Torre received a letter from three former top Aspiration executives, who claim the endorsement deal with Leonard “was presented to the company as a completed arrangement” and was executed by Cherney “despite significant objections from members of the senior management team.”

“The team expressed concerns at the time regarding the high cost of the agreement and its lack of alignment with Aspiration’s brand and business strategy,” the letter states. “While subsequent marketing efforts were undertaken, they were ultimately discontinued and should not be interpreted as support for the deal itself. In our judgment, the Leonard Deal was not in the company’s best interest. It was strategically difficult to justify then, and it remains so today.”

Latest On Clippers, Kawhi Leonard

September 13th, 2025 at 9:54am CST by Rory Maher

Clippers owner Steve Ballmer made a second investment worth nearly $10MM in the now-bankrupt “green bank” company Aspiration, according to legal filings reviewed by Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic.

The previously unreported investment, which occurred in March 2023 when the company was “hemorrhaging cash, laying off employees and struggling to raise funds,” was corroborated by a former Aspiration executive, Vorkunov reports.

On September 3, Pablo Torre reported on his “Pablo Torre Finds Out” podcast that Ballmer agreed to invest $50MM in Aspiration in September 2021 (the actual payment occurred in December 2021). Multiple sources tell Vorkunov the Clippers also made a separate $50MM+ investment in Aspiration for “carbon offsetting toward the goal of becoming carbon neutral.”

In April 2022, Kawhi Leonard signed a four-year, $28MM endorsement deal with Aspiration but there’s no evidence he ever performed any work for it.

A subsequent report from Boston Sports Journal, which was confirmed by Torre, indicated that Leonard made a separate side deal with Aspiration to receive an additional $20MM in company stock. That $20MM came directly from co-founder Joe Sanberg.

“I am personally contributing stock to Kawhi to make this partnership possible,” Sanberg wrote members of his leadership team in a May 2022 email obtained by The Athletic. “Aspiration’s CEO judged the deal to be not worth doing. For avoidance of doubt, any and all benefit to Aspiration from the Kawhi deal is being subsidized by my contributing my equity to make this happen.”

Sanberg pled guilty last month to two counts of wire fraud for defrauding investors and lenders of more than $248MM.

Bruce Arthur of The Toronto Star also reported that Leonard’s camp was seeking essentially the same deal he got with Aspiration when he was a free agent in 2019.

Ballmer’s second investment in Aspiration came three months after his college roommate and the Clippers’ lone minority owner, Dennis Wong, invested approximately $2MM in the company after it failed to make a $1.75MM quarterly payment to Leonard, as reported by Torre. Leonard was paid nine days later, on the same day Aspiration laid off 20% of its workforce.

The NBA is investigating whether the Clippers and Leonard circumvented the salary cap through their deals with Aspiration.

Leonard’s contract had certain obligations he was supposed to meet but it also permitted him to refuse to do anything “not consistent with his beliefs,” according to Vorkunov. Former CEO and co-founder Andrei Cherny disputed that Leonard had a “no-show” deal,” Vorkunov adds.

However, Leonard’s contract drew “confusion and frustration” within the company, with one former top executive telling Vorkunov the deal “materialized essentially out of the ether.”

Another former Aspiration executive told Vorkunov that celebrity endorsers Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert Downey Jr. both received less than $2MM in their deals.

Tom Dundon Signs Agreement To Buy Trail Blazers

September 12th, 2025 at 1:43pm CST by Luke Adams

Nearly a month after reaching a tentative deal to buy the Trail Blazers, prospective owner Tom Dundon has formally signed a purchase agreement, according to reports from Bill Oram of The Oregonian and Eben Novy-Williams of Sportico.

Oram adds that the sale, which still requires NBA approval, is expected to formally close before the end of the 2025/26 season. A prior report indicated that a target date of March 31 had been set.

Blue Owl Capital co-president Marc Zahr and co-CEO of Collective Global Sheel Tyle are among the other investors who are part of Dundon’s group, which intends to keep the team in Portland. A statement on Friday indicated that the Cherng Family Trust – the family trust of Panda Express co-founders Andrew Cherng and Peggy Tsiang Cherng – has signed on as an investor as well.

As Sportico reported in August, Dundon’s group is expected to submit two separate payments as part of its purchase — one when the sale closes and one at a later date. The “blended” valuation of the franchise via those two payments will reportedly be about $4.25 billion.

According to Oram, Dundon and his group beat out a bid from RAJ Sports and the Bhathal family, which controls the Portland Thorns in the NWSL and the Portland Fire, the WNBA expansion team that will make its debut next season.

The Trail Blazers announced their plans to sell the franchise back in May. Paul Allen, the longtime Blazers owner who purchased the franchise for $70MM in 1988, passed away on October 15, 2018, resulting in control of the team being transferred to his sister Jody Allen, the trustee and executor of his estate.

The plan following Paul Allen’s death was for ownership of the Blazers to eventually change hands as part of an estate sale, which is the process that’s playing out now. All estate proceeds as a result of the Blazers sale will be directed toward philanthropy, per the late Allen’s wishes.

Wizards’ Coulibaly Undergoes Thumb Surgery

September 12th, 2025 at 12:06pm CST by Luke Adams

Wizards forward Bilal Coulibaly underwent surgery on Friday in order to repair a torn ligament in his right thumb, reports Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).

According to Charania, Coulibaly – who sustained the injury while playing for the French national team at EuroBasket 2025 – will likely miss some time at the start of the regular season.

The Wizards have formally confirmed that Coulibaly underwent thumb surgery, but didn’t provide any sort of recovery timeline, simply stating that the 21-year-old’s status will be updated as appropriate (Twitter link).

The seventh overall pick in the 2023 draft, Coulibaly was a full-time starter for the Wizards last season, averaging 12.3 points, 5.0 rebounds, 3.4 assists, and 1.3 steals in 33.0 minutes per game across 59 outings. Although his shooting percentages slipped to 42.1% from the field and 28.1% on three-point attempts, the Frenchman has shown real promise as a two-way wing and just turned 21 in July.

Coulibaly averaged 6.3 points and 4.3 rebounds in 18.8 minutes per contest in six games for France at EuroBasket. The team was eliminated in the round of 16 by Georgia, with the Wizards forward going scoreless in that game.

While Coulibaly’s injury is an unfortunate setback for a player seeking a breakout year ahead of his rookie scale extension eligibility in 2026, it will open the door for some of Washington’s other young wings to make a case for playing time during training camp and the preseason. That group includes Cam Whitmore, Will Riley, AJ Johnson, Dillon Jones, and Malaki Branham.

Knicks Exploring Move To Shed Salary?

September 12th, 2025 at 11:41am CST by Luke Adams

Within the past 24 hours, the Knicks have reached contract agreements with Malcolm Brogdon, Landry Shamet, and Garrison Mathews, but they only have enough cap flexibility below the second tax apron to keep one of those three players on their regular season roster.

Shedding a little salary from the current roster would allow New York to retain more than one of those players for opening night, and multiple reports suggest the team is exploring that path.

Stefan Bondy of The New York Post (Twitter link) says people around the NBA expect the Knicks to make a move that would allow them to keep Brogdon and one of Shamet or Mathews. Jake Fischer of The Stein Line (Substack link), meanwhile, cites league sources who says the Knicks are weighing various trade scenarios to create extra cap flexibility.

While Bondy doesn’t single out a specific trade candidate, Fischer points to 2024 first-round pick Pacome Dadiet as one player who could be moved for cap reasons. Dadiet played sparingly in 18 games during his first NBA season and will make $2.85MM in 2025/26. His rookie scale contract includes team options for the following two years.

Second-year point guard Tyler Kolek could be another player to watch, especially if the Knicks are prioritizing keeping a veteran point guard like Brogdon. Like Dadiet, Kolek had a limited role as a rookie, logging 296 total minutes in 41 outings last season. He’s owed a guaranteed $2.19MM in 2025/26 and $2.3MM in ’26/27, with a team option for ’27/28.

Moving either Dadiet or Kolek without taking any salary back would allow New York to retain two veteran minimum-salary camp invitees instead of just one. However, because neither 2024 draftee has a significant cap hit, the Knicks would still have to sign a draft-rights-held rookie as their 14th man and wouldn’t have enough room under their hard cap to add a 15th man until much later in the season.

It’s worth noting that while the gap in salaries between Dadiet and Kolek isn’t massive, it figures to be an important consideration for the Knicks’ front office as the team weighs its options — trading Kolek, retaining two veteran free agent camp invitees, and signing a 14th man to a rookie minimum would leave New York a mere $44K below its hard cap.

Knicks To Sign Malcolm Brogdon

September 12th, 2025 at 8:04am CST by Luke Adams

The Knicks and free agent guard Malcolm Brogdon have reached an agreement on a one-year contract, agent Sam Permut tells Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).

While Charania doesn’t provide any additional details on the deal, Ian Begley of SNY.tv (Twitter link) confirms it’s non-guaranteed, giving Brogdon the opportunity to compete with Landry Shamet and Garrison Mathews for a regular season roster spot.

Due to limited flexibility below a second-apron hard cap, New York only has the ability to carry one of those minimum-salary veterans into the regular season unless the team sheds salary with a buyout or trade.

Brogdon, who will turn 33 in December, has been a reliable rotation guard since entering the NBA as a second-round pick in 2016. He won Rookie of the Year honors during his first of three seasons in Milwaukee (2016-19), spent three years with the Pacers (2019-22), then was named Sixth Man of the Year with Boston in 2023.

Brogdon was traded from the Celtics to the Trail Blazers in the Jrue Holiday blockbuster prior to the 2023/24 season and spent one year in Portland before being dealt to Washington during the 2024/25 offseason. He appeared in 24 games for the Wizards last season, averaging 12.7 points, 4.1 assists, and 3.8 rebounds in 23.5 minutes per contest.

Although he has solid career averages of 15.3 PPG, 4.7 APG, and 4.1 RPG on .463/.388/.874 shooting, Brogdon also an extensive injury history. Since seeing action in 75 games as a rookie, he has been sidelined for 249 of 637 regular season contests, appearing in more than 56 games in a season just twice in eight years. The former Virginia standout didn’t play after the All-Star break last season due to an ankle sprain.

The Knicks are currently carrying 12 players on guaranteed standard contracts. They have enough room below the second apron to carry one more player on a veteran’s minimum contract and one on a rookie minimum contract into the regular season. Both Brogdon and Shamet are expected to receive “strong” consideration for that veteran slot, per Begley, with Mathews also in the mix.

Brogdon, Shamet, and Mathews will all likely have Exhibit 9 language in their contracts, meaning they won’t count against the cap unless they make the regular season roster and the team will have protection in the event of a preseason injury.

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