The decision is fluid, Friend adds, who hears the number could drop to three teams. Those five franchises are aware of the situation and most likely will offer their games over-the-air for free, if necessary. They would also each add a direct-to-consumer digital product.

We have more news from around the basketball world:

• The USA’s 3×3 team in the Olympics failed to challenge for medal contention at the Paris Olympics. Adding injury to insult, its most prominent member — former NBA guard Jimmer Fredette — suffered an adductor tear that will require a six-month recovery period, Eurohoops.net relays. Fredette revealed the injury on social media. “I had an injury that took place in the beginning minutes of our second game against Poland,” he wrote. “I tore two different ligaments completely in my adductor, which prevented me from being able to compete. This will lead me to have a recovery of around six months.”
• Another former NBA player, Chase Budinger, had his dreams of an Olympic medal dashed on Monday. Budinger and his beach volleyball partner, Miles Evans, won their first match against a duo from France but then lost to the Netherlands and Spain before falling to Norway’s Anders Mol and Christian Sorum, the defending gold medalists from Tokyo. Budinger will still cherish the memories, per ESPN News Services. “Playing in the Olympics, playing in this venue, will definitely be up there with some of my greatest basketball moments, for sure,” Budinger said.
• Will the Kyle Anderson and Isaiah Hartenstein additions prove disappointing to the Warriors and Thunder, respectively? Will Tyus Jones and Chris Paul end up as the biggest bargains in free agency? The Athletic’s Josh Robbins, Kelly Iko and Darnell Mayberry provide their insights and opinions on the free agent moves and trades made during this offseason.

“I could see Bailey supplanting Flagg for No. 1,” the executive told Michael Scotto of HoopsHype. “I think Bailey is more talented with the ball than Flagg at this point, but I think Flagg is a better overall player than Bailey now.”

Another executive compares Bailey to Paul George if he “hits his ceiling.” Dylan Harper, Bailey’s teammate at Rutgers, is ranked No. 3.

We have more from around the basketball world:

• XFinity subscribers will be able to watch their local NBA teams again this coming season, if they’re willing to fork up more money. Diamond Sports Group, which has gone through a lengthy bankruptcy process, and Comcast announced Monday they had reached a deal that makes 15 Bally-branded channels available again to Xfinity subscribers, The Athletic’s Dan Hayes reports. However, those fans will have to purchase the Ultimate TV package plan, which costs an additional $20 per month.
• The United States’ debut in Olympic 3×3 basketball was a flop, according to Kristie Rieken of The Associated Press. The Americans lost to Serbia 22-14 on Tuesday in Paris. Former NBA player Jimmer Fredette was limited to four points. The U.S. team failed to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics.
• Chase Budinger, a seven-year NBA forward, won his opening match in beach volleyball at the Paris Olympics. Budinger and his partner, Miles Evans, beat a French duo in straight sets, Jimmy Golen of the Associated Press relays. “It took me six years. It took me a long time to finally achieve this goal and I am here competing at the Olympics,” Budinger said. “And there is no better feeling.”

In other news from around the league and overseas:

• LeBron James will skip next week’s USA Basketball minicamp, Dave McMenamin of ESPN writes. It will be the first official session for USA Basketball with the Spurs’ Gregg Popovich as the head coach.
• Dwyane Wade could be a bargain for the Heat or another team still shopping for a free agent guard, according to another AP story. Wade could probably be signed in the $5MM range. Vince Carter, Michael Beasley and restricted free agent Marcus Smart are three other veteran free agents who could offer value at a bargain rate, the story adds.
• Former NBA forward Chase Budinger is pursuing a career in volleyball, Drew Ruiz of HoopsHype reports. Budinger is chasing an Olympic dream and has become a partner with two-time Olympian Sean Rosenthal on the AVP Beach Volleyball circuit. “That’s been a goal of mine since I was in high school, to be on an Olympic team and playing for the USA,” Budinger told Ruiz. Budinger’s NBA career ended after he played 17 games for the Suns in the second half of the 20015/16 season.
• Former NBA guard Mike James has signed a lucrative offer sheet with Italy’s Olimpia Milano through the 2021 season, international expert David Pick tweets. James started 10 games for the Suns last season and appeared in 32 games overall, averaging 10.4 PPG and. 3.8 APG. After getting waived, he played four games with the Pelicans before getting waived again. He then had a second stint with Greece’s Panathinaikos Athens and won a championship.

While Wojnarowski questions the decision to bring in a handful of players with spotty track records to fill such a vital role for a Pels team with playoff intentions, New Orleans will need to come up with a solution if they can’t quickly lock down Dante Cunningham.

As we discussed on Tuesday, the Pelicans are trying to bring Cunningham back on a minimum deal but are facing strong competition from Tom Thibodeau and the Timberwolves. Cunningham has served as a spot starter for the Pels on and off over the course of the past three seasons.

Of the three vets Wojnarowski mentions to have worked out for the franchise, it’s Smith who had the most significant NBA tenure but he’s also likely the least natural small forward of the three as well.

For nine seasons Smith helped anchor a Hawks team that gradually became one of the Eastern Conference’s most reliable contenders but things began to unravel when he signed a free agent deal with the Pistons ahead of the 2013/14 campaign.

Since then, Smith has bounced from the Pistons to the Rockets and Clippers and has found himself out of the league altogether since 2015/16.

Famously criticized for his tendency to shoot long twos, Smith’s inclusion in a Pelicans rotation already built around two traditional big men causes consternation and, in the eyes of Wojnarowski, won’t exactly help the franchise woo superstar Anthony Davis, whose name has come up as a coveted trade target for the Celtics.

Budinger, like Smith, hasn’t suited up for an NBA team since the 2015/16 season, while Webster hasn’t appeared in an NBA game since 2014/15.

“I still can’t believe that there is no basketball in Seattle!!” Allen wrote on an Instagram post that featured the hashtag #bringbackoursonics. “This city is too great not to have a hoops squad. Come on everybody we need to rally and bring the NBA back to Seattle. let’s make this happen people!!! The NBA misses traveling to Seattle, I know I certainly do!!!!!”

As we wait to see if Allen follows Russell Wilson‘s lead and officially joins a group trying to bring the NBA back to Seattle, let’s round up a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world…

• The NBA officially announced today that a record 24 teams will compete in the Las Vegas Summer League from July 7-17 this summer. While multiple Summer Leagues take place in July, the event in Vegas continues to be the most popular.
• As David Pick reports (via Twitter), Spanish team Baskonia made a roster move involving a former NBA player earlier this week, signing Ricky Ledo, a second-round pick in the 2013 NBA draft. According to Pick (via Twitter), the move to add Ledo was made because Baskonia feared that former NBA sharpshooter Chase Budinger would miss the rest of the season with an injury.
• Pick has another update on Baskonia, tweeting that the Spanish club is considering the possibility of hiring Pablo Prigioni as its future head coach. Although he played four seasons in the NBA, Priginoi spent most of his career in the Euroleague, spending a long stint with Baskonia in the 2000s. He recently retired as a player, and it appears coaching may be the next step for him.

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

• Now that Ray Allen has formally announced his retirement, what’s next for the future Hall-of-Famer? Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders explores that subject, recalling that when he spoke to Allen back in 2014, the veteran sharpshooter expressed interest in eventually getting into coaching.
• The Lakers were in Indiana last night to play the Pacers, and veteran forward Metta World Peace took the opportunity to express some remorse about his time in Indiana earlier in his career, per Baxter Holmes of ESPN.com. According to World Peace, he can “never forgive” himself for letting so many people in the Pacers organization down.
• Former second-round pick Orlando Johnson, who appeared in regular-season games with the Suns and Pelicans last season, has signed a three-month deal with Russian team UNICS Kazan, as relayed by Orazio Cauchi of Sportando. Johnson was in camp with the Bucks this fall, but didn’t make Milwaukee’s regular season roster.

Budinger signed a non-guaranteed contract with Brooklyn just prior to camp. The 6’7” Budinger, who was originally drafted in 2009 by the Pistons and then immediately shipped to the Rockets, has bounced around the league in recent years. After playing three seasons in Houston, he was a reserve for the Timberwolves for three consecutive campaigns.

He appeared in 49 games with the Pacers last season before he was waived in early March. He was quickly snapped up by the Suns and came off the bench in 17 games for them as the season wound down.

Budinger averaged 7.9 points, 3.0 rebounds in 19.7 minutes over 407 NBA games. A career 35.2% shooter from 3-point range, Budinger shot under 30% from beyond the arc last year for both Indiana and Phoenix, which cooled interest in him on the free-agent market. It’s possible now that Budinger, 28, has played his last NBA game.

Budinger and Gutierrez are the most notable names in the Nets’ list of Tuesday cuts. Budinger has logged more than 400 NBA regular season games over the course of his seven-year career, while Gutierrez has appeared in regular-season contests with three different teams in the last three seasons. Both players were on non-guaranteed contracts, however, and it seems neither will earn a spot on Brooklyn’s 15-man roster.

Beech and Mockevicius were also camp invitees, though they each received modest guarantees on their minimum salary deals — Mockevicius got $100K from the Nets, while Beech received $45K. Still, both players were viewed as long shots to make the club’s regular season roster as undrafted free agents, and seem like good bets to join the D-League’s Long Island Nets.

With 16 players still in the mix, the Nets have to make one more cut before opening night. The most likely candidate to be waived is Yogi Ferrell, the only other player on the roster who doesn’t have a fully guaranteed salary for 2016/17.

Here’s more from around the Atlantic:

• Raptors general manager Jeff Weltman is pleased with the team’s offseason, as he tells Ryan Wolstat of The Toronto Sun. Weltman pointed to the team’s 10 players who are 25 or under as a sign the franchise has “invested in youth,” and singled out first-round picks Jakob Poeltl and Pascal Siakam as rookies who could establish rotation roles.
• In the view of Bob Ford of The Philadelphia Inquirer, Joel Embiid‘s health will play a major part in solving the Sixers‘ logjam at center. If Embiid is healthy, it makes Jahlil Okafor more expendable, since Embiid can produce on offense. If Embiid isn’t healthy, it’s more imperative that the team hangs onto Okafor, who can score in the low post.
• Speaking on Tuesday to reporters, including Chris Forsberg of ESPN.com, new big man Al Horford said that it “feels right” to be playing for the Celtics, adding that he feels like the club is capable of winning a championship.

SEPTEMBER 21: With training camps set to begin next week, the Nets have added another veteran player to their roster, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical, who reports (via Twitter) that free agent forward Chase Budinger has reached an agreement with the team. Terms of the deal aren’t yet known.

Budinger, 28, spent last season with the Pacers and the Suns, appearing in 66 total games. He played a career-low 14.1 minutes per game and saw his production decline across the board — Budinger’s 4.1 PPG, .279 3PT%, and .696 FT% were all easily the worst marks of his career.

Still, heading into last season, Budinger was a career 35.8% from three-point range, and he could still provide a little value as a shooter off the bench. It’s not clear whether he’ll receive a guaranteed contract from the Nets, but he’ll likely have the opportunity to compete for a roster spot either way.

Brooklyn already has 15 guaranteed salaries on its books, and Budinger will be the 19th player the team is bringing to camp. However, the Nets are well below the salary cap – as well as the salary floor – and a handful of those guaranteed contracts are minimum-salary deals, so if someone has to be waived to make room for Budinger, it wouldn’t have a real impact on the club’s flexibility.

As I pointed out when I passed along that report, however, there has been no indication yet that the Thunder are actively exploring a Westbrook deal. Sean Deveney of The Sporting News writes today that Westbrook’s representatives haven’t received word of any trade talks, and they’d almost certainly be involved in that process — after all, any team acquiring the Thunder star would want to talk to his reps about whether he’d be willing to sign up for a long-term stay with that new team.

As Deveney notes, that doesn’t necessarily rule out an eventual Westbrook trade to Boston, but it probably means that the Celtics haven’t gotten serious about targeting him to this point.

Here’s more from Deveney on the Celtics:

• The consensus among front-office executives at the Summer League in Las Vegas is that the Celtics will attempt to make a major deal soon, says Deveney.
• Boston’s top trade target at this point appears to be Blake Griffin. According to Deveney, a three-way scenario has emerged that would involve the Celtics giving up picks in a deal to acquire Griffin, with the Kings getting involved and sending Rudy Gay to the Clippers. However, opposing front-office execs say the C’s are reluctant to give up their 2018 Nets first-round pick or their swap rights to Brooklyn’s 2017 pick.
• If the Clippers do move Griffin in a deal with the Celtics or another team, they’d want to land draft picks and a “frontline star” to keep them in contention, per Deveney. I’m not sure Gay would qualify as that sort of “star,” but perhaps Doc Rivers feels differently.
• According to Deveney, several front-office members around the NBA continue to bring up Kevin Love as a Celtics target, even though none of those execs believe that the Cavaliers will be inclined to move Love.
• Deveney adds (via Twitter) that the Celtics continue to look for shooting help, and have reached out to veteran free agent Chase Budinger.
• Meanwhile, Steve Bulpett of The Boston Herald hears from sources that, while the Celtics have expressed interest in Westbrook and Griffin in the past, there have been no recent trade discussions involving either player. However, he acknowledges that Boston remains “very much open” to a major deal, and says situations remain fluid.

• Clippers rookie Branden Dawson is in custody on $50K bail after police arrested him this morning on felony domestic violence charges, reports TMZ Sports. Dan Woike of the Orange County Register confirmed the arrest (Twitter links). The team recalled Dawson, last year’s 56th pick, from the D-League on Saturday.
• The contract Ty Lawson signed with the Pacers was a prorated minimum-salary deal that covers just the rest of this season, meaning he’s still on track to hit free agency this summer, notes Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders. He’ll see $265,068 from Indiana, meaning he came out slightly ahead after giving up $225K in his buyout with the Rockets.
• Pincus also lists the Pacers with a $5MM cap hit for the waived contract of Chase Budinger, indicating that he didn’t give up any of his salary to secure his release. Previous reports referred to the parting of ways as a buyout.

7:41pm: The Suns will give Budinger a prorated veteran’s minimum contract that runs through the end of this season, writes Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic. The signing is expected to take place after Budinger clears waivers on Monday.

SATURDAY, 5:04pm: The Suns intend to sign Chase Budinger provided he clears waivers, Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports reports (via Twitter). Phoenix has a roster count of 13 players after waiving shooting guard Sonny Weems earlier today, so no additional move is required to sign the swingman. Sean Deveney of The Sporting News and Candace Buckner of The Indianapolis Star first reported that the Suns were the front-runners to sign Budinger.

The small forward agreed to a buyout with the Pacers and officially hit waivers earlier today. Budinger, 27, appeared in 48 games for the Pacers this season prior to his release. He averaged 4.5 points, 2.5 rebounds and 1.0 assist in 15.0 minutes per night to accompany a shooting line of .419/.299/.708. The veteran shooter’s career numbers are 8.1 points, 3.1 rebounds and 1.2 assists.

Indiana was reportedly attempting to trade Budinger leading up to February’s trade deadline, but the Pacers found no takers for the remainder of his $5MM expiring contract. The Pacers acquired Budinger from the Timberwolves this past offseason when the plan was to move Paul George to power forward. While Budinger didn’t see much burn for Indiana, the Suns could benefit from his ability to stretch the floor with his outside shooting, though Budinger’s mark of 29.9% from deep on the season would be a career low if it stands.

There’s more out of the Central Division:

• The Pacers expect to finalize a deal with free agent point guard Ty Lawson on Sunday or Monday, tweets Candace Buckner of The Indianapolis Star. Lawson is still working out in Houston after the Rockets waived him Tuesday in a buyout agreement.
• Chase Budinger‘s brief stay in Indiana was a “dud,” Buckner tweeted after the Pacers waived the seventh-year small forward today. She also laments last summer’s trade that sent Damjan Rudez to the Wolves in exchange for Budinger, saying the Pacers gave up a badly needed 3-point shooter (Twitter link). She credits Budinger for being “a pro” during his time in Indiana, though he never fully understood what the organization expected from him (Twitter link).
• Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg says shooting guard Jimmy Butler, who has been out of action since February 5th with a sprained knee, is “ready to go” for tonight’s game, tweets Nick Friedell of ESPNChicago.com. Combo forward Nikola Mirotic, who had acute appendicitis and underwent surgery January 27th, is “close,” Hoiberg adds (Twitter link). Injured center Joakim Noah won’t play anytime soon, but he’ll rejoin the team for “leadership,” tweets K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune.
• The Pistons have shooting guard Jodie Meeks, who hasn’t played since suffering a right foot injury October 29th, listed as questionable for tonight’s game, tweets Keith Langlois of Pistons.com.

THURSDAY, 4:24pm: The Pacers and small forward Chase Budinger have reached an agreement on a buyout arrangement, Sean Deveney of The Sporting News reports (Twitter link) and Candace Buckner of The Indianapolis Star confirms (Twitter links). The agreement has been in place for a week and will be finalized on Friday, Buckner notes. Indiana needs to clear a roster spot for Ty Lawson, who is expected to sign with the team, Deveney adds. Because he will be waived after the March 1st deadline, Budinger will not be playoff eligible this season for any team that were to sign him.

Indiana was reportedly attempting to trade Budinger leading up to February’s trade deadline, but found no takers for the remainder of his $5,00,000 expiring contract. The Pacers acquired Budinger from the Timberwolves this past offseason when the plan was to move Paul George to power forward. But with Indiana utilizing George more often at his natural small forward spot as the season wore on, it cut into Budinger’s playing time significantly, as Buckner noted at the time.

Budinger has appeared in 48 games for the Pacers this season, including two starts. He is averaging 4.5 points, 2.5 rebounds and 1.0 assist in 15.0 minutes per night to accompany a shooting line of .419/.299/.708. The 27-year-old’s career numbers are 8.1 points, 3.1 rebounds and 1.2 assists.