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Kyrie Irving Undergoes Surgery For Broken Hand

Mavericks star gaurd Kyrie Irving underwent surgery to repair a broken left hand, according to a team press release. He sustained the injury earlier this month while training.

Irving was coming off a stellar postseason in which he averaged 22.1 points, 5.1 assists and 3.7 rebounds per game as he and backcourt partner Luka Doncic lifted Dallas to the NBA Finals.

He averaged 25.6 points, 5.2 assists and 5.0 rebounds during the regular season while appearing in 58 games. He missed time in December and late January due to heel and thumb injuries.

With training camps opening in two-and-a-half months, it stands to reason Irving should be healed by that time. To that end, a team source expressed optimism to ESPN’s Tim MacMahon that Irving will be able to participate in camp (Twitter link).

Still, the injury will disrupt his usual offseason regimen.

Irving will make $41MM next season and has a $43.96MM player option next offseason on the final year of his current contract.

Patrick Beverley Plans To Sign With Hapoel Tel Aviv

Veteran NBA guard Patrick Beverley is headed back overseas, announcing via his podcast’s Twitter account that he intends to sign with Hapoel Tel Aviv in Israel.

“They gave me everything I asked for,” Beverley said of the Israeli team. “… I couldn’t refuse.”

Beverley, who turned 36 last Friday, began his professional career by playing in Ukraine, Greece, and Russia from 2008-12, so he’s no stranger to international basketball. However, he has been in the NBA for the past 12 seasons, appearing in 666 total regular season games with the Rockets, Clippers, Timberwolves, Lakers, Bulls, Sixers, and Bucks during that time.

Known for his defensive tenacity, Beverley holds career averages of 8.3 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 3.4 assists in 26.6 minutes per game, with a shooting line of .413/.371/.760.

While his fiery personality can sometimes be an asset, Beverley’s 2023/24 season ended on a sour note due to a sideline outburst — he repeatedly threw a basketball at Pacers fans in Indiana during the waning moments of the Bucks’ season, at one point hitting an unsuspecting female fan in the side of the head.

The incident resulted in a police investigation and a four-game suspension, which Beverley would have had to serve at the start of the 2024/25 season if he had signed with an NBA team this summer.

Instead, the former Arkansas standout will cross the Atlantic, joining a Hapoel Tel Aviv squad that also recently signed NBA veteran Ish Wainright. The team finished second in the Israeli Basketball Premier League standings in 2023/24 with a 21-8 record, losing the best-of-three championship series to Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Knicks’ Dolan Rips NBA’s Media Deal, Revenue Sharing Policies

Knicks owner James Dolan sent a letter to the NBA’s Board of Governors blasting the league’s new $74.6 billion media rights deal and renewing his criticisms of the league’s revenue sharing policies, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

The new media rights deal has expanded to include three national partners instead of two and is expected to significantly increase the number of nationally televised games, reducing the number of available games for regional sports networks and cutting into the revenue generated by those local broadcasts.

“The increased number of exclusive and non-exclusive games means that national partners would have the ability to air nearly half of the regular season and all postseason games,” Dolan wrote in his letter, per Wojnarowski. “This reduction in available games for RSNs risks rendering the entire RSN model unviable. The inclusion of streaming partners in the proposal (e.g., Amazon Prime Video, Peacock) allows fans in all NBA markets to bypass their RSN to watch certain games in their local market. The proposal offers no local protections for RSNs.”

As Wojnarowski details, the NBA has also reportedly proposed that the league office receive an 8% cut of the revenue from that media deal, as opposed to 0.5% under the previous agreement. That would work out to about $6 billion over 11 seasons, beginning in 2025/26. Dolan said there has been no “sufficient justification” for that exponential increase.

“(There is no) transparency into how (the NBA) arrived at the sum, how these fees will be allocated or to what extent the league will utilize this purported revenue growth to incur new and incremental costs and further expand the league’s ever growing expense level,” Dolan wrote.

Dolan has long had an adversarial relationship with the league office and commissioner Adam Silver. He stepped down from his positions on the NBA’s influential advisory/finance and media committees last year, with reporting at the time indicating that the Knicks owner had been “increasingly critical” of Silver and the NBA on a number of issues.

The Knicks questioned Silver’s impartiality when they filed suit against the Raptors last year, arguing that the court system ought to rule on a dispute between the two teams due to Silver’s allegedly tight relationship with Raptors governor Larry Tanenbaum.

Dolan, who has also been a critic of the NBA’s revenue sharing system over the years, argued in his letter to the Board of Governors that the new TV deal will hurt local team sponsors and partners, since the visibility those sponsors receive in locally televised games won’t be afforded to them in national broadcasts. He added that “pride of ownership” is being sacrificed and that the league is becoming a “one size fits all, characterless organization” by taking away agency from its individual teams.

“The NBA has made the move to an NFL model — de-emphasizing and de-powering the local market,” Dolan wrote. “Soon, your only revenue concern will be the sale of tickets and what color next year’s jersey will be. Don’t worry, because due to revenue pooling, you are guaranteed to be neither a success nor a failure. Of course, to get there, the league must take down the successful franchises and redistribute to the less successful. This new media deal goes a long way to accomplishing that goal.”

The NBA’s Board of Governors is reportedly set to meet on Tuesday in Las Vegas. Dolan, who has declined to attend those meetings since stepping down from the league’s committees last year, wrote in his letter that he believes the Knicks’ concerns are “shared by many of our counterparts across the league.”

Seth Curry Returns To Hornets On One-Year Deal

Seth Curry is returning to the Hornets on a one-year deal, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN tweets. The signing is official, according to a Hornets press release.

Curry, who turns 34 next month, was waived by Charlotte last month before his $4MM salary for next season became guaranteed. It was noted at that time both sides were interested in exploring another contract. He’ll provide depth at the shooting guard spot.

The younger brother of Stephen Curry, Seth actually has a better career three-point percentage (43.1%) than his superstar sibling (42.6%). However, the 33-year-old – who obviously isn’t Steph’s equal as a play-maker or all-around scorer – is coming off a down year in 2023/24. He appeared in a total of 44 games for the Mavericks and Hornets, averaging just 5.1 points per game on .392/.352/.903 shooting.

The younger Curry, who was sent from Dallas to Charlotte in February as part of the trade package for P.J. Washington, was able to suit up for just eight games down the stretch for his hometown Hornets, as his season ended early due to a sprained ankle.

While the terms of Curry’s new contract weren’t reported, a minimum-salary agreement seems likely.

Knicks Sign Cameron Payne To One-Year Contract

8:06pm: The Knicks have officially signed Payne, the team’s PR department tweets.


6:20pm: The Knicks are signing reserve point guard Cameron Payne to a one-year contract, Chris Haynes of Bleacher Report and TNT tweets.

The Knicks are using the veteran’s minimum exception to sign Payne, Ian Begley of SNY TV tweets. The deal will be worth approximately just over $3MM.

Payne will immediately jump into the mix for backup minutes behind star floor leader Jalen Brunson.

Payne, 29, will be joining his seventh team since entering the league in 2015. He split his time between the Bucks and Sixers last season.

Milwaukee traded Payne and a 2027 second-round pick to Philadelphia for Patrick Beverley at the trade deadline. With Milwaukee, Payne appeared in 47 games and averaged 6.2 points and 2.3 assists in 14.9 minutes. With the Sixers, Payne saw action in 31 regular-season contests, averaging 9.3 points and 3.1 assists in 19.4 minutes. He also appeared in a handful of Philadelphia’s playoff games.

The addition of Payne makes it less likely that second-round pick Tyler Kolek will play a rotation role in his rookie year. Miles McBride is another candidate for regular minutes among the backcourt reserves.

The Knicks had also expressed interest in free agent point man Tyus Jones, according to Begley, who says that Payne’s playoff experience added to his appeal. The addition of Payne gives the Knicks 13 players on the roster, Begley notes (Twitter link), so at least one more move is coming.

Payne was arrested in Arizona this offseason after he made a false report and would not identify himself.

Knicks’ Mikal Bridges Expected To Sign Team-Friendly Extension

After being acquired in a blockbuster trade with the Nets, new Knicks wing Mikal Bridges is expected to “follow (Jalen) Brunson‘s lead” and sign a relatively team-friendly contract extension with New York when he becomes eligible to, according to veteran NBA reporter Marc Stein (Substack link).

As Stein writes, Bridges will be eligible for a less appealing ($72.5MM) two-year extension as of October 1. He will also be eligible for more lucrative three- and four-year extensions during the 2025 offseason. Either way, an extension isn’t imminent, since it isn’t even currently permitted.

Still, it’s a noteworthy development considering what the Knicks gave up to acquire Bridges — five first-round picks (four unprotected), one swap, Brooklyn’s own 2025 second-rounder, and veterans Bojan Bogdanovic, Shake Milton (sign-and-trade), and Mamadi Diakite.

The 10th pick of the 2018 draft, Bridges signed a four-year, $90MM rookie scale extension in October 2021, which kicked in starting in 2022/23. He will earn $23.3MM in ’24/25, followed by $24.9MM in ’25/26. A potential extension wouldn’t begin until ’26/27.

Bridges, 27, was the runner-up for the 2021/22 Defensive Player of the Year award, also earning a spot on the All-Defensive First Team that season. He starred in college at Villanova, playing alongside Brunson, Donte DiVincenzo and Josh Hart. That surely factors in with Brunson’s deal as well.

Bridges has yet to miss a game in his six-year NBA career. In 82 appearances last season (34.8 MPG), the 6’6″ guard/forward averaged 19.6 PPG, 4.5 RPG, 3.6 APG and 1.0 SPG on .436/.372/.814 shooting.

Wall, Thomas, Caboclo Seeking NBA Contracts

Former No. 1 overall pick and five-time All-Star John Wall is among the NBA veterans who are in Las Vegas this week in the hopes of finding their way back into the league. Making an appearance on ESPN’s Summer League broadcast on Sunday (YouTube link), Wall said he’s seeking a new NBA home after having not been on a roster since February 2023.

“My focus is to still work hard and come here and network and be around teams,” Wall said (hat tip to Nick Jungfer of Basketball Forever). Whatever role it is, I’m willing to accept. … If it’s going to a team and being a vet and teaching the young guys how to be a point guard, just to help, that’s a development I’m willing to do.”

Once a 20-point-per-game scorer who was consistently among the league leaders in assists, Wall dealt with a series of leg injuries – including a torn Achilles – and hasn’t played more than 41 games in a season since 2016/17. He appeared in 34 contests for the Clippers in ’22/23, but his shooting rates (.408/.303/.681) were well below his career averages and he has lost a step on defense. The 33-year-old was traded from Los Angeles to Houston at the 2023 deadline and was waived by the Rockets a few days later.

Another former All-Star guard who has struggled to hold a consistent NBA roster spot in recent years, Isaiah Thomas also appeared on ESPN’s Sunday broadcast (YouTube link) and told Cassidy Hubbarth that he continues to seek a new contract after finishing last season with the Suns. Thomas’ time with Phoenix in March and April represented his first stint in the NBA in two years.

“I’m a free agent right now. (I’m) talking to a few teams trying to see what the best opportunity is down the line,” Thomas said. “I want to play a year or two more. Just staying on the slow grind. Staying patiently ready. Knowing that I can impact an organization whether I play or not, and be super impactful each and every day. So I’m just waiting for the call.”

Like Wall, Thomas hasn’t played a full NBA season since 2016/17 and has been slowed by injuries since then — in Thomas’ case, a hip issue limited his availability for multiple years. In the seven years since he averaged 28.9 points per game in 76 starts for Boston in ’16/17, he has played just 115 total NBA games.

Meanwhile, former NBA first-round pick Bruno Caboclo, who has been out of the league since 2020/21, is also in Vegas in search of an NBA offer, according to a report from Mozzart Sport (hat tip to Eurohoops).

A 6’9″ forward, Caboclo never developed into a reliable role player in the NBA, but has excelled in Europe, earning All-EuroCup Second Team honors and winning a German League (Basketball Bundesliga) championship with Ratiopharm Ulm in 2023. The 28-year-old technically remains under contract with KK Partizan, but has been at odds with the Serbian club and reportedly doesn’t intend to return, per Mozzart Sport.

While it’s not uncommon for free agents to hold workouts for NBA teams in Vegas during Summer League, with so many league personnel in attendance, it’s unclear if Wall, Thomas, or Caboclo will be holding any such workouts or if they’re simply in town for networking purposes.

Cavs’ Darius Garland: “I Don’t Want To Be Traded”

A May report from The Athletic suggested that if Donovan Mitchell were to sign a contract extension this offseason, Darius Garland‘s agent Rich Paul was expected to have a conversation with the Cavaliers about possibly finding a new home for his client. However, even though Mitchell signed his extension, Garland is uninterested in initiating that conversation, as he told Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com (subscriber link).

“I don’t want to be traded,” Garland said. “Those are just rumors.”

Sources tell Fedor that Paul and Cavaliers head of basketball operations Koby Altman have spoken this offseason, but there has been no indication that Garland’s camp is seeking a change of scenery, and the team has made it clear it has no interest in moving the former All-Star.

According to Fedor, Garland was thrilled for Mitchell when his backcourt mate signed a lucrative new deal with Cleveland and was excited about the team’s hiring of Kenny Atkinson as its new head coach.

Garland has been in Las Vegas participating in some on-court workouts and meeting with Atkinson — during a dinner on Friday, the two men discussed offensive schemes and sets, as well as the 24-year-old’s role, Fedor notes.

“It sounds really good,” Garland said. “A lot of spacing and a lot of room for me and Don and all of the other guys to be able to thrive.”

Atkinson, who has spoken about Garland in glowing terms since being hired in Cleveland, shares his point guard’s enthusiasm.

“I can’t wait to work with them,” Atkinson said of the Cavs’ star guards. “I was a point guard and that’s the quarterback. Those guys are running the show and it’s such a huge position in this league. I identity with them. Huge fan of Darius. Always been a fan. Underrated. Underrated passer. I don’t think he gets enough credit for the feel. Then, Donovan we all know, he’s the real deal. The great ones have a different type of work ethic. He’s wired a little bit differently.”

Garland had a down year in 2023/24, as his averages of 18.0 PPG and 6.5 APG and his .446/.371/.834 shooting line were all below his career rates. But that was less about sharing the ball with Mitchell and more about other a handful of other factors, including a fractured jaw and the weight loss that resulted from drinking out of a straw for over a month. Garland’s grandmother also passed away, according to Fedor, which led to him leaving the team on off days multiple times.

“It was a lot,” Garland told Fedor. “Sometimes you just have to go through it. Always bumps in the road. This was a big speed bump. It was really tough last year. It was definitely a learning experience for me. Just tried to stay mentally locked in and tried to keep my head up and keep a smile on my face. I just had to stay mentally strong while going through a tough time in my life and having to fight adversity.”

Pelicans Sign Center Karlo Matkovic To Three-Year Deal

7:27pm: The signing is official, according to a press release from the Pelicans.


7:04pm: The Pelicans are signing 2022 second-round pick Karlo Matkovic to a three-year contract, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets. The third year will be a team option, Will Guillory of The Athletic tweets.

While Charania pegs the value of the contract at $4.9MM, a three-year, minimum-salary deal for a rookie would be worth approximately $5.4MM, so it sounds like Matkovic is getting the minimum via the second-round exception.

Matkovic provides depth at center for a team that lost Jonas Valanciunas in free agency. He played 34 games for the Slovenian club Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana last season, then joined the Birmingham Squadron. In 10 games with New Orleans’ G League squad, he averaged 17.3 points, 7.9 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.5 blocks in 31.3 minutes per contest.

Matkovic was selected 52nd overall in the 2022 NBA draft by the Pelicans and had remained overseas until his G League stint.

Matkovic, 23, had six points and six rebounds in 16 minutes in the Pelicans’ Summer League opener this weekend.

The low-cost signing will aid New Orleans regarding its luxury tax concerns, John Hollinger of The Athletic tweets. Matkovic will have a first-year salary of $1,157,153 in 2024/25.

Hornets Sign Taj Gibson To One-Year Deal

8:23pm: Gibson’s signing is official, the Hornets announced in a press release.


9:51am: The Hornets intend to sign veteran big man Taj Gibson to a one-year, $3.3MM contract, agent Mark Bartelstein tells ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).

Based on the reported terms, Gibson will receive the veteran’s minimum for a player with 10+ years of experience ($3,303,771), while Charlotte will carry a $2,087,519 cap hit.

The 26th pick of the 2009 draft, Gibson has spent the past 15 seasons in the NBA. He had a long stint with Chicago to open his career before playing for Oklahoma City, Minnesota, New York (twice), Washington and Detroit. He finished the 2023/24 season with the Pistons.

Gibson, 39, is no longer a top-tier reserve or a starter like he was in his prime, but he’s still highly valued for his locker-room presence, professionalism and leadership.

Charlotte has a new front office led by head of basketball operations Jeff Peterson and a new head coach in Charles Lee. The team has repeatedly mentioned work ethic as a point of emphasis this offseason, which is something Gibson is known for.

The 6’9″ forward/center holds career averages of 8.6 PPG, 5.8 RPG and 1.0 BPG in 965 regular season games, including 450 starts (23.5 MPG).