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And-Ones: Media Rights, Seattle, Vegas, 2025 Draft, Offseason

July 19th, 2024 at 8:50pm CST by Luke Adams

The NBA’s new media rights agreements with Disney (ESPN/ABC), NBC, and Amazon won’t give those partners matching rights during the next round of negotiations in 11 years, industry sources tell Mike Vorkunov and Andrew Marchand of The Athletic. For instance, if the NBA were to reach an agreement on a rights deal with Netflix in 2035, Amazon wouldn’t be given the right to match Netflix’s offer.

The league presumably didn’t want to deal with that complication again in its next media rights negotiation period, given how Warner Bros. Discovery’s matching rights have affected this year’s talks. Warner Bros. Discovery (the parent company of TNT Sports) reportedly intends to exercise its matching rights on Amazon’s new package of games. The league, in turn, is expected to challenge WBD’s interpretation of those rights, which could result in a legal battle.

The NBA’s new media deals will go into effect at the start of the 2025/26 season and will run through ’35/36.

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If Seattle gets a new NBA team in the next round of expansion, the ownership group that controls the NHL’s Seattle Kraken is considered the significant frontrunner, but the bidding for a Las Vegas franchise looks more wide open, according to Randall Williams and Kim Bhasin of Fortune.com, who hears from two sources that the total price tag – including building a new arena – could reach $7 billion. The company that owns the Red Bull brand is among the groups with interest in a Las Vegas team, per Williams and Bhasin.
Jonathan Wasserman of Bleacher Report has published his “way-too-soon” mock draft for 2025, with Duke forward Cooper Flagg at No. 1, followed by Rutgers guard Dylan Harper. Baylor wing V.J. Edgecombe, Rutgers swingman Ace Bailey, and UNC guard Drake Powell round out Wasserman’s top five.
In an Insider-only story for ESPN.com, Bobby Marks takes a look at each team’s most impactful transaction of the offseason so far and what moves might still be coming before the regular season tips off.

And-Ones: Beverley, Second Apron, 2025 Mock, Egan, Plumlee

July 14th, 2024 at 9:50pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Could Patrick Beverley play overseas next season? The longtime NBA point guard has garnered the interest of Israel’s Hapoel Tel Aviv, according to a Walla report (hat tip to Sportando).

Beverley, 36, is an unrestricted free agent. He played for the Bucks last season and made highlights for the wrong reasons in the playoffs. He fired a basketball multiple times at Indiana spectators and received a four-game suspension that he’ll serve at the start of the 2024/25 season if he’s in the NBA. Beverley had stated a preference to re-sign with Milwaukee.

The veteran guard played in the Ukraine, Greece and Russia before setting roots in the NBA in 2013.

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While many NBA observers have noted the second apron restrictions during this offseason, The Ringer’s Howard Beck makes a case that the negative impact of those aprons has been somewhat overblown. It should benefit the smaller market teams who don’t have the ability to go deep into the luxury tax, as the Warriors and Clippers have in recent years, Beck writes, noting that could help the league overall in its aim of competitive balance.
Yes, highly-touted Cooper Flagg ranks No. 1 in The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie’s 2025 mock draft, but there are plenty of other standout prospects, in Vecenie’s estimation. Rutgers guard Dylan Harper and forward Ace Bailey, France’s Nolan Traore and Baylor guard V.J. Edgecombe are the other prospects who make Vecenie’s early top five.
Longtime NBA assistant Hank Egan is the recipient of this year’s Tex Winter Assistant Coach Lifetime Impact Award, the National Basketball Coaches Association announced (Twitter link). Egan, 86, most recently coached in the league with Cleveland from 2005-10.
Suns center Mason Plumlee has been elected as a Secretary-Treasurer for the Players’ Association, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski tweets. Plumlee will begin a three-year tenure as part of the union’s leadership.

And-Ones: Porter, Pate, Adams, 2025 Mock, Ownership Changes

July 3rd, 2024 at 8:14pm CST by Tristan Tucker

Former Raptors forward Jontay Porter is being charged with a federal felony in connection to the sports betting scandal that caused him to be banned from the NBA in April, according to a report from The Associated Press.

While a specific court date and charges haven’t been specified, the case is known to be related to an existing charge of four men who schemed with a player to cash in on tips from said player (Porter) regarding his plans to exit two games early. The four men appeared in court in June, but haven’t yet entered pleas. They were charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, according to the AP.

The NBA’s investigation into Porter found that he tipped off those four men about his health and then exited one game with illness, causing anyone who bet his unders to cash in. He also gambled on games he didn’t play in, including against his own team.

Porter appeared in 26 games with the Raptors last season on a two-way contract. He is not permitted to sign another NBA contract, as per his ban.

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With the G League Ignite shut down, projected 2025 first-round pick Dink Pate is signing with the G League’s Mexico City Capitanes for next season, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Pate became the youngest professional basketball player last season at age 17 — he was not eligible for the 2024 draft because he doesn’t turn 19 until the 2025 calendar year. In 31 games with the Ignite last season, Pate averaged 8.0 points, 3.8 assists and 2.9 rebounds per contest. The G League formally announced the move in a press release (Twitter link).
Alabama’s men’s basketball program is hiring Pistons assistant coach Brian Adams as an assistant under head coach Nate Oats, according to Wojnarowski (Twitter link). Adams had NBA experience with both the Sixers and Clippers before joining Detroit midway through last season. He’s served as a collegiate assistant at Harvard and Marist as well.
Duke’s Cooper Flagg is ESPN’s top prospect for 2025, but a pair of Rutgers guards aren’t far behind in a mock draft from Jonathan Givony and Jeremy Woo (ESPN+ link). Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper sit at No. 2 and 3, respectively, in the mock, and are each currently viewed by some teams as the top prospect in the class. Givony and Woo name Pate, Duke’s Tyrese Proctor, South Carolina’s Collin Murray-Boyles and UConn’s Alex Karaban as some of the top returning players to watch.
The NBA has made a change to its ownership rules, according to The Athletic’s Mike Vorkunov. Ownership groups are no longer allowed to have governors rotate control. The Bucks did this with Marc Lasry and Wes Edens, with Lasry serving as governor until he sold his share with Edens taking over in 2028. The Hornets are doing the same with Rick Schnall and Gabe Plotkin. Those two franchises will be grandfathered in, according to Vorkunov, meaning they aren’t impacted by this rule change.

And-Ones: Watanabe, Japan, Risacher, McDonald’s All-Americans, All-Stars

January 25th, 2024 at 10:54pm CST by Tristan Tucker

Japan won its first FIBA World Cup game in 17 years in 2023, and Suns wing Yuta Watanabe was a big part of that team. Watanabe reminisced on his summer in a conversation with HoopsHype’s Sam Yip, expressing optimism for Japan’s future in basketball.

“If I’m going to retire in five, six years in a realistic world, we [are probably] not going to be one of the top teams in the world in five years, but I think at least we will be good enough to compete against those great teams,” Watanabe said. “I mean we did a good job against Germany and Australia in the World Cup. We lost by 20 but we won the second half. I think in five, six years we gonna be there to compete against those teams.”

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French wing Zaccharie Risacher is making a case to be one of the first players selected in the 2024 draft during a historically productive season, ESPN’s Jeremy Woo writes (ESPN+ link). Risacher boasts a mix of positional size, scoring, play-making, defense and smarts, according to Woo. His physical profile is similar to that of Shane Battier and Ziaire Williams. Woo breaks down the rest of Risacher’s game, explaining why he could go No. 1 overall and considering which teams might make sense for him.
The 2024 McDonald’s All-American Game roster was unveiled on ESPN on Tuesday, and it features potential 2025 No. 1 overall picks Cooper Flagg and Ace Bailey (Twitter link via ESPN’s Jonathan Givony). Kentucky commit Boogie Fland, Duke commit Isaiah Evans, Washington commit Zoom Diallo and Rutgers commit Dylan Harper are among others featured on the rosters.
Ahead of the All-Star starters being unveiled earlier Thursday, The Ringer’s Michael Pina broke down his official starter ballot, as well as who he thinks the reserves should be. Pina voted for Tyrese Haliburton, Joel Embiid, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jayson Tatum, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Nikola Jokic and Luka Doncic, all of which mirrored the official selections. However, Pina had New York’s Jalen Brunson over Milwaukee’s Damian Lillard on his ballot. He also picked the Lakers’ Anthony Davis and the Clippers’ Kawhi Leonard over LeBron James and Phoenix’s Kevin Durant. Check out the rest of his selections here.