Atlantic Notes: Ingram, Tatum, Lillard, Sixers
Raptors forward Brandon Ingram has yet to suit up for his new team, but he’s confident that Toronto can mount a postseason run in 2025/26, per Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca (Twitter video link).
“I think we’re making the playoffs for sure,” Ingram said. “I think we try to build championship habits. I think what I saw in the second half of the season is, they play hard, they play really really hard on the offensive and defensive end.”
There’s more out of the Atlantic Division:
- Six-time Celtics All-Star forward Jayson Tatum has been actively recruiting Damian Lillard in the hopes that the nine-time All-Star guard will sign a multiyear deal with the team, reports Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe (subscriber link). Both players suffered Achilles tendon tears during this spring’s playoffs. Lillard was stretched and waived by Milwaukee, and while he could miss most or all of 2025/26, the 6’2″ vet has drawn widespread interest for what he could provide beyond the coming season.
- Beyond losing forward Guerschon Yabusele in free agency and selecting guard VJ Edgecombe with the No. 3 pick in this summer’s draft, the Sixers‘ roster has barely changed from the 2024/25 season, when the team went just 24-58, writes Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. Philadelphia has also brought in young players Trendon Watford and two-way signings Jabari Walker and Dominick Barlow, though none of them appear to be starting-caliber just yet. “We needed to get players in Jabari and Barlow — I’m just going through our later positions — and then Trendon are all sort of part of this, sort of push to get younger and more versatile,” general manager Daryl Morey said. “Trendon can guard multiple positions and he’s fairly unique in his ability to handle the pass, which I do think across the roster that’s a skill that we felt like we needed.”
- Morey has a youth movement in his backcourt, led by Edgecombe, Tyrese Maxey, and second-year guard Jared McCain, writes Kyle Neubeck of PHLY Sports (subscriber link). Restricted free agent Quentin Grimes will presumably be back, too. Who will start next to pricey All-Star Maxey next season? “It’s competition, man,” McCain told Neubeck. “That’s how we got to our position. So whatever it is, we’re all going to play. We’re all going to have fun playing, and I’m just excited to get out there with these guys, anybody who’s on our team.” Edgecombe noted that, whatever happens, the guards will support each other. “We’re all teammates at the end of the day, and we want what’s best for each other,” Edgecombe said. “So whoever coach does put in the game, we’re gonna rock with it.”
Sixers Notes: Morey, Embiid, Grimes, Yabusele, Edwards
After making the playoffs for seven straight years, the Sixers bottomed out in 2024/25 amid injuries to several key players, going just 24-58. With a little luck in the draft lottery, Philadelphia kept its protected first-round pick and moved up to No. 3, selecting former Baylor guard VJ Edgecombe.
As challenging as last season was, president of basketball operations Daryl Morey thinks the 76ers have an opportunity to make a significant move up the Eastern Conference standings in ’25/26 due to major injuries to star players and roster changes to rival teams, writes Tony Jones of The Athletic.
“I do think it’s open in the East,” Morey said in an extensive interview with select media from the Las Vegas Summer League. “I do think that’s a fair characterization. I do, obviously, think that we weren’t the only team that’s unfortunately gone through a lot of tough injuries. That’s opened some things up. But we’re going to have to prove that we’re with those upper-echelon teams in the East. But we do feel like if all things come together, we can be right there, and we’ve given ourselves a lot of flexibility to upgrade the team during the year, if things are going as well as we hope.”
Here’s more on the Sixers:
- While Morey says star center Joel Embiid is “on track” to be ready for the start of training camp, league sources tell Jones that the 31-year-old big man has not yet resumed on-court basketball activities. Still, Morey and the rest of the front office are optimistic that Embiid will be ready to suit up for the regular season opener.
- In his same session with reporters, including Jones, Morey seemed to confirm that Philadelphia offered Guerschon Yabusele a contract above the minimum using his Non-Bird rights, as our Luke Adams had previously speculated. Yabusele wound up signing a two-year deal with New York for part of the mid-level exception. Morey suggested the 76ers didn’t want to hard-cap themselves by using any portion of their taxpayer MLE before Quentin Grimes‘ restricted free agency is resolved.
- “Yeah, that sucked,” Morey said of losing Yabusele. “We offered Guerschon the most that we could that wouldn’t limit us and our ability to retain Quentin. That was above the minimum. I’ve seen reports saying that we only offered the minimum, and that wasn’t true. But it was definitely below what he ended up getting. We knew it would create a challenge for us. So we wanted to retain Quentin. We hope to work that out with his representation, and our focus was on making sure that happens. So, that did impact what we could offer Guerschon.”
- Philadelphia native Justin Edwards was one of the bright spots for the Sixers last season. After a solid rookie campaign, he re-signed with his hometown team on a new three-year deal. “I definitely think this has been a full-circle moment for me, playing in the place I grew up in,” Edwards told Jones of The Athletic. “What I want to do is continue to grow my game and to keep getting better. I want to be in the Rising Stars game next season.”
Atlantic Notes: Simons, M. Brown, Knicks, Edgecombe
The Celtics moved forward with their Jrue Holiday/Anfernee Simons swap earlier this week, completing the trade with Portland as a straight-up, one-for-one swap after exploring ways to expand the deal during the July moratorium. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean Boston is committed to having Simons on its roster to open the season.
“I have talked to other teams who have said the Celtics are actively trying to trade Anfernee Simons,” ESPN’s Brian Windhorst said on Wednesday’s episode of The Hoop Collective podcast (YouTube link). “Whether they can or not (remains to be seen).”
Swapping out Holiday’s $32.4MM cap hit for Simons’ $27.7MM figure will help the Celtics operate below the second tax apron in 2025/26. However, as Windhorst and his ESPN colleagues Tim MacMahon and Tim Bontemps went on to speculate, the club may be looking to cut costs more significantly in what will essentially be a “gap year.” Getting out of the luxury tax entirely would be a step toward resetting the repeater tax clock.
A team operating above the cap but below the tax aprons would only have to send out about $19.2MM in matching salary to legally acquire Simons and his expiring contract.
Here’s more from around the Atlantic:
- During his introductory press conference as the Knicks‘ head coach this week, Mike Brown said he’s not bothered by the fact that the team is essentially in championship-or-bust mode as he takes over the job. “Nobody has any bigger expectations than I do. My expectations are high,” Brown said, per Chris Herring of ESPN. “This is the Knicks and Madison Square Garden. It’s iconic. … I love and embrace the expectations that come along with it.”
- While a lack of reliable depth was an issue for the Knicks last season, Brown lauded president of basketball operations Leon Rose for continuing to add more talent to the roster after the team signed Jordan Clarkson and Guerschon Yabusele in free agency, as Zach Braziller of The New York Post relays. “Jordan, the things that he can do, especially offensively,” Brown said. “He’s a veteran guy. I know he’s hungry to win. He can score at all three levels. You’re excited with that coming to the table. He’s also a better play-maker than he’s given credit (for). I’m looking forward to seeing some of that, too, because I’m huge when it comes to touching the paint and looking to spray that basketball out to get your teammates easy shots. And then Guerschon, an unbelievable young man. His size, his versatility, he can play the four, the five, maybe some three, who knows?”
- No. 3 overall pick VJ Edgecombe missed the Sixers‘ first game of the Las Vegas Summer League on Thursday after being diagnosed with a left thumb sprain. He’s still taking part in on-court workouts and will have the injury reevaluated on Saturday, tweets Michael Scotto of HoopsHype.
Sixers Sign Dominick Barlow To Two-Way Deal, Waive Alex Reese
3:12 pm: The Sixers have officially signed Barlow and waived Reese, the team confirmed in a press release.
12:43 pm: The Sixers are waiving two-way forward Alex Reese, Michael Scotto of HoopsHype tweets. That will make room for Dominick Barlow, as the Sixers are adding him on a two-way deal, ESPN’s Shams Charania tweets.
Barlow, 22, has 96 games of NBA experience. He made a total of 61 appearances with San Antonio during the 2022/23 and ’23/24 seasons. Last year, Barlow appeared in 35 games with the Hawks, including four starts. He averaged 4.2 points and 2.4 rebounds in 10.7 minutes per night.
Atlanta declined its option on Barlow’s $2.2MM contract in late June, making him an unrestricted free agent. He had been promoted from a two-way deal to a standard contract in early March.
Reese appeared in 14 games with Philadelphia last season, averaging 5.3 points and 3.3 rebounds in 15.3 minutes per game. The 6’9″ forward was signed to a two-year, two-way deal in late February. He’s currently on the team’s Summer League roster but has recently been experiencing Achilles soreness.
Reese also spent extended time in the G League last season. He averaged 16.1 points, 6.9 rebounds, 1.8 blocks, and 1.2 steals per game for the Delaware Blue Coats and Rip City Remix, making 45.1% of his shots from the field and 39.3% from three-point range.
Reese played four seasons of college basketball for Alabama from 2017-21 prior to going undrafted. He initially spent a year away from the sport, then signed in Luxembourg during the 2022/23 campaign. He spent the 2023/24 season with the Rip City Remix.
Hunter Sallis and Jabari Walker hold the other two-way spots.
Groups Set For 2025 NBA Cup
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.
Atlantic Notes: R. Brunson, Celtics, Edgecombe, Edwards
Rick Brunson, Jalen Brunson‘s father, will remain on the Knicks‘ coaching staff but he’ll have a reduced role under new coach Mike Brown, Stefan Bondy of the New York Post reports.
Brunson has been on the staff of 2022, the same year that Jalen Brunson joined the Knicks as a free agent. He was Tom Thibodeau‘s top assistant last season, but Brown will hire his own associate head coach.
Darren Erman, Maurice Cheeks and Mark Bryant, who were also members of Thibodeau’s staff, are also expected to return under Brown, Bondy confirms.
We have more from the Atlantic Division:
- Offering transparency regarding the team’s offseason moves, Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens admitted the trades he’s made — including deals involving Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis — were designed to get the team under the second tax apron. “We’ve known for a long time that hard decisions were coming,” Stevens said, per Kyle Hightower of The Associated Press. “The second apron is why those trades happened. I think that is pretty obvious. And the basketball penalties associated with those are real. … So that was part of making the decision to push and put our chips on the table and go for the last two years.” However, he won’t call next season a rebuilding year. “That’s not going to be part of the lexicon in our building, and that’s the way we’re going to focus moving forward,” he said.
- It didn’t take long for the snake-bit Sixers to deal with another injury, though this one is minor. Lottery pick VJ Edgecombe is dealing with a left thumb contusion, which is affecting his Summer League status, Kyle Neubeck of PHLY Sports tweets.
- Sixers forward Justin Edwards earned a new three-year contract after going undrafted last year. Edwards is proud of what he’s accomplished. “Going undrafted, I didn’t let it determine the rest of my basketball life,” Edwards told Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer. “I just worked hard and did what I was able to do and got a contract out of it.”
Contract Details: KPJ, J. Smith, Wiseman, Schröder, Stevens
Despite the fact that the Bucks used their room exception to complete the signing, guard Kevin Porter Jr. received the exact value of the bi-annual exception on his new two-year deal, Hoops Rumors has confirmed. The first year is worth $5,134,000, with a second-year player option worth $5,390,700. The move leaves roughly $3.65MM on Milwaukee’s room exception.
A player who re-signs with his previous team on either a one-year contract or a two-year deal with a second-year option is typically awarded the right to veto a trade for the rest of that season. However, Porter is one of a few players, along with Lakers big man Jaxson Hayes, who have waived that right as part of their new deals.
Sixers guard Eric Gordon and Raptors wing Garrett Temple have also given up that right to veto a trade, Hoops Rumors has confirmed.
We have more details on some of the recently signed contracts from around the league:
- Jabari Smith Jr.‘s five-year, $122MM rookie scale extension with the Rockets declines in the second season before increasing in each of the final three years, notes Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic. That dip in 2027/28 comes during the season in which an extension for Amen Thompson figures to be hitting Houston’s books — it could also be the final year of Kevin Durant‘s contract, if he signs a two-year extension with the team at some point.
- James Wiseman‘s new two-year, minimum-salary contract with the Pacers, which features a second-year team option, is partially guaranteed for $1MM in 2025/26, Hoops Rumors has learned. If Wiseman’s option for ’26/27 is exercised, that year’s salary would be partially guaranteed for roughly $1.13MM.
- Dennis Schröder‘s three-year deal with the Kings, which is worth exactly the three-year value of the mid-level exception ($44,427,600), is partially guaranteed for $4.35MM in the third year, tweets Michael Scotto of HoopsHype. Although the contract fits into the MLE, Sacramento is believed to have used an existing trade exception to accommodate the acquisition of Schröder.
- Isaiah Stevens‘ two-way contract agreement with the Kings will cover two years, according to Scotto (Twitter link).
Where Things Stand In NBA Free Agency
We’re now into the second week of the NBA’s 2025/26 league year, and while free agency has been resolved for many top players, there are still a number of intriguing names who don’t yet have new contract agreements in place.
Let’s check in on where things stand for some of those players…
The restricted free agents
While they’re not the only four restricted free agents still on the board, there are four names who make up the top tier of notable unsigned RFAs, with each of them ranking among our top 10 free agents as of June 30. Those four players are Josh Giddey (Bulls), Jonathan Kuminga (Warriors), Quentin Grimes (Sixers), and Cam Thomas (Nets).
The restricted free agent market will likely play out very slowly this summer, given that there are essentially no teams (with the possible exception of Brooklyn) in position to sign any one of those players to the kind of offer sheet that would give the player’s current team pause. Here’s what we know about each of those four RFAs:
Josh Giddey (Bulls)
The expectation is that Giddey will remain in Chicago, so it’ll just be a matter of figuring out exactly what his next contract looks like. His camp is reportedly hoping to match (or, presumably, exceed) the five-year, $150MM extension that Jalen Suggs signed with Orlando last fall. Whether the Bulls are willing to go that high in terms of annual salary and/or years remains to be seen.
Jonathan Kuminga (Warriors)
The Kings, Wizards, Heat, Bulls, Bucks, and Nets were among the teams said last week to have expressed varying level of interest in a sign-and-trade deal for Kuminga. However, some of those teams have since made moves that will make Kuminga a less appealing – or practical – fit.
Sacramento has reportedly been the most aggressive suitor for Kuminga so far, having “floated” the idea a package that included 2024 first-rounder Devin Carter and two second-round picks.
But with no deal imminent, the expectation is that the 22-year-old and his camp will meet at the Las Vegas Summer League with interested teams, including the Warriors. A return to Golden State remains very much in play despite Kuminga’s up-and-down tenure in Golden State so far.
Quentin Grimes (Sixers)
The Sixers remain very confident that they’ll re-sign Grimes sooner or later and have “splashed cold water” on possible sign-and-trade scenarios, league sources tell Tony Jones of The Athletic. As with Giddey, it seems like the main question with Grimes isn’t where he’ll end up, but what his new contract with his current team will look like.
Cam Thomas (Nets)
We’ve heard very little since free agency opened about Thomas. In a Bleacher Report stream last Thursday (YouTube link), NBA insider Jake Fischer said the Nets guard “does not really have a market, to my understanding.”
Brooklyn is the only team in the league operating below the minimum salary floor, so it’s not as if the Nets are going to be outbid by a rival suitor — it certainly seems as if the only way Thomas ends up on a new team this offseason is if Brooklyn doesn’t want to bring him back.
The veteran unrestricted free agents
The next four highest-ranked unsigned players from our top-50 list after those four restricted free agents are long-tenured veterans. Here’s what we know about those players:
Chris Paul
The Clippers, Suns, and Bucks have been the teams most frequently linked to Paul in recent days. Milwaukee probably offers the best path to a starting role, which is something that’s reportedly important to the longtime NBA point guard, but he also wants to be close to his family in Los Angeles, which could give an edge to those two Western Conference teams.
Russell Westbrook
Another L.A. native who would reportedly like to play closer to home, Westbrook was said to be drawing legitimate interest from the Kings, but that was when it looked like Sacramento was going to trade Malik Monk. If that doesn’t happen, there may not be a spot on the Kings’ backcourt (or on the team’s cap) for Westbrook.
Al Horford
While Horford has been linked to several teams in the last week or two, the one constant has been the Warriors, who continue to look like the frontrunner to land the big man if he doesn’t retire. Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe (Twitter link) reported on Monday that Horford continued to mull his options, with no deal imminent.
I suspect Golden State wants to resolve its Kuminga situation before officially committing its taxpayer mid-level exception to Horford, since doing so would hard-cap the team at the second tax apron and potentially complicate its ability to match an aggressive offer sheet for Kuminga.
Malcolm Brogdon
Reporting on Monday indicated that the Clippers, Suns, Lakers, Warriors, Timberwolves, Bucks, Pelicans, and Kings have all conveyed at least some level of interest in Brogdon. With some other higher-profile guards still out there, Brogdon may be the Plan B for some teams, which would mean he’d have to wait for some of those other players to commit before his options really crystalize.
The two veteran guards who aren’t yet free agents
Damian Lillard is currently on waivers and Bradley Beal is still working on a buyout with the Suns, but the expectation is that both players will reach unrestricted free agency pretty soon.
Lillard is a bit of a wild card, since he’s likely to miss the 2025/26 season due to an Achilles tear. He hasn’t ruled out the possibility of signing with a team sooner rather than later, and there will certainly be no shortage of clubs who would welcome the opportunity to help him with his rehab process and get a leg up on retaining him for ’26/27. But he’s not the type of player who will help a team win in the short term.
Beal, on the other hand, is coming off a pretty solid offensive season and would become a much more valuable investment if he’s on a contract that’s closer to his minimum salary than his maximum. The Clippers, Lakers, Bucks, Timberwolves, and Warriors are among the teams believed to have interest in signing Beal.
With many of those clubs also eyeing Paul, Brogdon, or other guards, Beal may be the first domino to fall — if and when he finds a new team, the ones that miss out can shift their focus elsewhere in earnest. The Clippers are rumored to the favorites for Beal, per Kurt Helin of NBC Sports.
The trades that aren’t yet official
As our full breakdown of this offseason’s trades shows, there are only two agreed-upon deals that aren’t yet official: Denver’s acquisition of Cameron Johnson from the Nets, plus the Jonas Valanciunas/Dario Saric swap between the Nuggets and Kings.
There has been speculation that the Nuggets will combine both of those agreements into a single transaction to avoid creating a hard cap at the first tax apron. At the very least, as NBA insider Marc Stein tweets, Denver needs to get the Johnson/Michael Porter Jr. trade done before the deal with the Kings in order to be able to get below the first apron. That will allow the Nuggets to take back more salary than they send out for Saric.
The Nets may be thoroughly exploring scenarios for how to take full advantage of their current cap room before they finalize that trade with the Nuggets, since it will cut into their space significantly — swapping Johnson for Porter will use up $17MM+ of their room.
The delay on these deals is not an indication that the Valanciunas/Saric deal won’t eventually be finalized. Multiple reports have indicated it remains on track, despite Valanciunas’ reported desire to get out of his NBA contract and sign with the Greek team Panathinaikos. Multiple reports, including another one from Stein on Monday night (Twitter link), have also indicated that the Nuggets have told the veteran center they intend to keep him and want him to honor his contract.
For what it’s worth, a report from SDNA in Greece indicates that Panathinaikos was assured by Valanciunas’ representation that the Nuggets would let him out of his NBA deal and was surprised to find out that Denver hadn’t signed off on that plan at all.
Although those two Denver deals are the only ones we know about that aren’t official, that doesn’t mean there won’t be more trades still to come — the Clippers, Heat, and Jazz, for instance, agreed to a three-team trade on Monday and finalized it later in the day. It’s possible that more deals could be around the corner as teams and executives congregate for Summer League action.
Kyle Lowry Remains With Sixers On One-Year Deal
4:48 pm: Lowry’s new deal is now official, according to a press release from the Sixers.
“Kyle’s championship experience and Hall-of-Fame resume speaks for itself. He is a proven floor general with tremendous knowledge of the game that is a resource to everyone in the organization,” president of basketball operations Daryl Morey said in a statement. “It’s only fitting that his 20th NBA season will be right here in Philadelphia, the city he calls home.”
4:20 pm: Free agent guard Kyle Lowry has agreed to a one-year deal to return to the Sixers, ESPN’s Shams Charania tweets.
The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Keith Pompey predicted last month that Lowry would sign another contract with the team since the Sixers value the Philadelphia native for his leadership and mentorship of young guards like Tyrese Maxey and Jared McCain.
Lowry, 39, played on the veteran’s minimum last season and figures to do so again. He only appeared in 35 games last season, including 12 starts, averaging 3.9 points and 2.7 assists in 18.8 minutes per game.
Not too long ago, Lowry was once one of the highest-paid guards in the game. His NBA career dates back to 2006, when he was a late first-round pick with Memphis. He’s a six-time All-Star and won a championship with Toronto in 2019.
He only projects as an insurance policy for next year’s Sixers team with Maxey, McCain and first-round pick VJ Edgecombe likely ahead of him on the depth chart.
He’ll become the 12th player in NBA history to play 20-plus seasons and the second point guard to do so, Josh Lewenberg of TSN Sports tweets, joining Chris Paul.
Atlantic Notes: Lillard, Yabusele, Whitehead, Hetzel
Damian Lillard has a big decision ahead of him after unexpectedly finding himself on the free agent market while recovering from a ruptured Achilles. One of the teams that the soon-to-be 35-year-old is reportedly considering is the Celtics, who, like Lillard, find themselves in a surprisingly uncertain position for next season.
According to Ashish Mathur of Dallas Hoops Journal, Lillard’s time with Team USA could prove an important piece of his search for a new squad. Lillard and Celtics’ star Jayson Tatum, who is also recovering from a torn Achilles, grew close when they played together for the 2020 Olympic team.
Signing with the Celtics would give Tatum a companion in his rehabilitation process, while setting the team up for a deep 2026/27 playoff run once its star wing recovers. Given the team’s efforts to shed salary this summer, Lillard could represent a lower-cost acquisition with major playoff upside, depending on how he recovers from the injury.
We have more notes from around the Atlantic division:
- The Sixers let reserve Guerschon Yabusele go to the Knicks this summer, reportedly declining to offer a competitive contract to the French forward who played a key bench role last season. According to Keith Pompey of The Inquirer, this isn’t the first time the Sixers have declined to retain players considered to be important bench pieces. He points to Philadelphia allowing Jalen McDaniels and Georges Niang to walk in the summer of 2023, which was viewed as a mistake by fans at the time, but ultimately proved to be the correct move. President Daryl Morey is not known as overly sentimental when it comes to role players, but Pompey questions whether that approach might prove to be a mistake this time, especially with the uncertain health of Joel Embiid.
- Dariq Whitehead is not suiting up for the Nets at Summer League this year. Brian Lewis of the New York Post expressed surprise (via Twitter) about that decision, considering the difficulty Whitehead has had trying to bounce back from the injuries that have impeded his development over the last few years. Whitehead has only played 22 games with the Nets in his first two seasons, averaging 5.7 points and 1.5 rebounds while shooting 44.6% from three last season.
- The Nets‘ Summer League team will be coached by assistant coach Steve Hetzel, Lewis reports (via Twitter). This will be Hetzel’s second season as an assistant with the Nets, following a three-year stint as an assistant coach with Portland.