The Denver Nuggets have agreed to sign Gabe Brown to an Exhibit 10 training camp deal.
Brown went undrafted out of Michigan State this year.
In five Summer League games with the Oklahoma City Thunder, Brown averaged 8.8 points and 3.0 rebounds in 18.4 minutes.
The NBA has opened an investigation into a possible tampering violation committed by the Philadelphia 76ers centered on their signings of James Harden, P.J. Tucker and Danuel House.
Harden declined his $47 million player option to sign a one-plus-one contract with the 76ers at $33 million in Year 1 to give the team flexibility to sign Tucker and House.
Some have wondered if another deal with Harden is in place for the future, which would be a violation of league rules.
Tucker joined the Sixers from the Miami Heat on a three-year, $33.2 million deal.
Zavier Simpson has agreed to a deal with the Orlando Magic.
Simpson went undrafted in 2020 out of Michigan and played in four NBA games last season with the Oklahoma City Thunder. Simpson averaged 11.0 points, 5.3 rebounds and 7.5 assists in 43.5 minutes.
Simpson also averaged 14.6 points, 5.1 rebounds and 6.5 assists in 32.4 minutes over 35 G League games with the Blue.
The Sacramento Kings have signed Matthew Dellavedova.
Dellavedova last played in the NBA during the 20-21 season with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Last season in Australia, Dellavedova averaged 10.3 points, 3.1 rebounds and 4.8 assists in 25.6 minutes over 30 games.
LeBron James remains "extremely happy in Los Angeles despite the Lakers' back-to-back rocky seasons," sources tell Marc Stein of Substack.
James and his family relocated full time to Los Angeles in 2018 and they have become even more entrenched in the community.
"The prevailing thinking in league circles holds that only the chance to play elsewhere alongside son Bronny James, who will be eligible for the 2024 draft and continues to develop as an NBA prospect, would spur LeBron to push for an L.A. exit," writes Stein.
James is eligible for an extension on August 4th and he has three options available to him:
Because James will not be subject to the Over-38 rule, he cannot sign anything longer than a two-year extension.
Eric Paschall has agreed to a Two-Way deal with the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Paschall spent last season with the Utah Jazz.
DeMar DeRozan signed a three-year, $81.9 million contract with the Chicago Bulls last offseason. However, before that deal was signed, DeRozan dealt with uncertainty about his future and self-doubt about his free agency.
The five-time All-Star said that last summer didn't go as planned for him. At one point DeRozan thought he was headed to play for his hometown Los Angeles Lakers. That deal fell through, and that put him in a "dark place".
"Big names always kinda sign in the first day or two. I went a couple days into free agency with still such a question mark. Was I gonna go somewhere on a one-year deal? Was I gonna take the minimum? The narrative of it ... it put me in such a f*cked up place," DeRozan said. "I remember through that whole time it was three, four days I didn't leave out the room. I didn't see the sunset, I didn't see the sun come up ... I was depressed, it put me in a depressed mindset cause I didn't know what the f*ck was gonna happen."
DeRozan said the opportunity with the Chicago Bulls was one he was determined to make the most of.
“When the Chicago thing came around and I made that happen, it was such a relief. But at the same time, it angered me and put me in a very frustrating mental place. I’m about to demolish anything you gotta say about me,” DeRozan said. “I’m not going to say nothing. I’m just going to work my ass off. And I’m going to prove not just for myself but for anybody who feel like they get counted out, they get doubted or get told that they can’t do something.
“My whole career has kind of been based off that. But I never let it bring me completely down. It knocked me down. But I got back up. And for me, that moment of going to Chicago, I just told myself, ‘This is a new opportunity. I’m going to make the most out of it in every type of way.’”
Dwight Howard is still hoping to land a deal in the NBA for next season. If he doesn't, Howard has an interesting backup plan.
The eight-time All-Star says he's ready to start his WWE career if he can't find an NBA contract for this upcoming season. Howard said he's still passionate about basketball and that he has "several good years left" to play in the NBA.
The WWE Performance Center, where new wrestlers are trained, is located in Orlando. That symmetry with his NBA career wasn't lost on Howard. The three-time Defensive Player of the Year said, "Imagine after starting my NBA career in Orlando, if I started my wrestling career in Orlando?"
The Phoenix Suns retained Deandre Ayton when they matched his four-year, $133 million offer sheet with the Indiana Pacers. With the Suns not offering Ayton an extension before the season and any sort of deal in his restricted free agency, they signaled that they don't value him in a way we typically see for players of his caliber.
Many expected Ayton to depart the Suns this offseason in a sign-and-trade, but the Kevin Durant trade talks presumably made that scenario more difficult. Now, the Suns and Ayton will have to rehabilitate their working relationship.
"The weirdness of the Ayton situation, both the contract negotiations, the widespread perception, I'm talking widespread around the league that the bridge was pretty much burned between Ayton and the team," said Zach Lowe on his podcast.
"The comments that Monty Williams made after Game 7 when he pulled Ayton. There's clearly some mending of fences that has to happen there. Can it happen? Is this just a 'we're waiting it out until we can trade him' situation. That's another interesting human dynamic."
The Cleveland Cavaliers' latest offer to Collin Sexton in restricted free agency is worth approximately $40 million over three years, according to Chris Fedor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
Sexton is coming off a meniscus tear at the start of last season and has a qualifying offer of $7.2 million. While Sexton was injured, Cleveland's core of Darius Garland, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen crystalized.
"The offer I reported, the three-year around $40 million, I don't get the sense Collin and his camp would take that," said Fedor on the Lowe Post. "I don't think they would take a multi-year deal at that number. In fact, I think it would be more likely they would take the qualifying offer, go into unrestricted free agency next offseason. Try to rebuild the value before that. Show that you can be healthy. Show that the meniscus tear is behind you. Show you can adapt to a lesser sixth man role. All those different things. I think that is more likely than taking the multi-year offer that the Cavs have made at this point in time."
Sexton is represented by Rich Paul of Klutch Sports, who has a successful history of prolonged negotiations with restricted free agents.
Fedor also adds that there are many members of the Cleveland front office who prefer Caris LeVert over Sexton due to the size differential on defense.
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