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Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
How hard will the Nets dip into the NBA restricted free-agency market?
The Brooklyn Nets head into the 2025 NBA offseason with a myriad of ways in which they can improve the roster, from the 2025 NBA Draft to free-agency. Brooklyn has four first-round picks to use in the upcoming Draft, but they will have to use free-agency to build the rest of the team around their incoming rookies, but it will be interesting to see how they approach free-agency. "Others around the league have wondered if Brooklyn would dip into the restricted free agent market this summer with players such as Josh Giddey, Jonathan Kuminga, Santi Aldama, and Quentin Grimes all available," HoopsHype's Michael Scotto wrote earlier in May. Free-agency in this current landscape in the league is usually not about the best players given that those guys usually have player options, but the restricted free-agents are the interesting cases. Advertisement Per HoopsHype, the best player available this summer that doesn't have a player option is Indiana Pacers center Myles Turner and the run that the Pacers are on right now in the Eastern Conference playoffs, it's safe to say that Turner is returning to Indiana. Giddey, who played for the Chicago Bulls this season, is coming off an impressive season as he averaged 14.6 points, 8.1 rebounds, 7.2 assists, and 1.2 steals per game while shooting 46.5% from the field and 37.8% from three-point land. Kuminga, who has had an uneven career during his time with the Golden State Warriors, is coming off a season with averages of 15.3 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 2.2 assists per contest while shooting 45.4% from the floor and 30.5% from deep. Aldama, who played power forward and center for the Memphis Grizzlies, has an interesting profile heading into restricted free-agency as he is averaging 12.5 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 2.9 assists per game on 48.3/36.8/69.1 shooting splits. Lastly, Grimes, who split last season between the Dallas Mavericks and Philadelphia 76ers, increased his status significantly since landing in Philadelphia as he averaged 21.9 points, 5.2 rebounds, 4.5 assists, and 1.5 steals per game while shooting 46.9% from the field and 37.3% from behind the three-point line. All four of these players are sure to get significant pay raises this summer, but it will be interesting to see if any of them will be in Brooklyn next season. This article originally appeared on Nets Wire: How hard will the Nets dip into the NBA restricted free-agency market?
New York Times
4 days ago
- Sport
- New York Times
NBA free agency 2025: Behind Kuminga and Giddey, small forward class is lacking
Small forward has been the NBA's hardest position to fill since roughly forever, and this season is no exception. It's an underwhelming offseason market, with a couple of restricted free agents with fingers-crossed projections for future glory leading the pack and basically no other starter-quality players. Even deeper down, it's hard to find value, as the market has only a few players who are worthy of even room-exception money. Advertisement As always, I've included all free agents and potential free agents due to player options, team options and non-guaranteed contracts, except for absurd cases. In particular, small forward is the home of the cheapo non-guaranteed contract for a solid rotation guy. Portland's Toumani Camara, Atlanta's Vít Krejčí, San Antonio's Julian Champagnie, Milwaukee's Andre Jackson Jr., Toronto's Jamison Battle and Washington's Justin Champagnie all have minimum or near-minimum deals that make absolutely no sense to cut. Here's how BORD$ evaluates the small forwards: Nobody. 1. Josh Giddey, Bulls, $34,768,411 (R) My formula spit out a fanciful number that would give pause to even the biggest Giddey fan. So instead, let me make the larger argument for why Giddey might be worth more than you think: He is unusually young for a player in this position. Despite having played for four years, Giddey won't turn 23 until October. Thus, his accomplishments to date on a rookie contract must be seen in the context of players who are usually at least a year or two older by this point in their NBA careers. No, he is not an All-Star or anything close to it. Yes, his defense is bad, he has no pull-up game to speak of and the 3-point shooting still comes and goes. That said, Giddey shot 37.8 percent from 3 last season on decent volume and hit 78.1 percent from the foul line; people talk about him like he's Tony Allen, but he requires defending at the arc. His biggest limitation, actually, is thepush shot, which may leave him struggling to generate a high volume of attempts even if he's making them consistently. Inside the arc, Giddey shot only 51.2 percent last season and did not have a notably high free-throw rate; that would trouble me more than the outside shooting if I were a Chicagoan trying to project ahead. Giddey also has some other subtle advantages, though; he's an awesome rebounder for a perimeter player, and his ability to play point guard at his size offers some interesting lineup options. Advertisement The Bulls will have the upper hand in any negotiation because Giddey is a restricted free agent, and because only one other team (Brooklyn) has significant cap space. Giddey is young, but it still seems unlikely that the Nets would commit a big heap of their cap space to trying to scare off Chicago from matching. Where does this dance end? I wouldn't quite go to the BORD$ number above, but something around four years and $100 million to $110 million feels right from both sides. 2. Jonathan Kuminga, Warriors, $24,030,341 (R) OK. … Let's talk about this. Kuminga represents the fundamental limitation with statistically evaluating free agents: You can only go by what contribution they made to their current team, but what you're trying to solve for is the player's value to their next team. Most of the time, those two numbers are close enough that the valuation problem isn't particularly challenging. However, for odd players or odd systems, the degree of difficulty multiplies. In Kuminga's case, we have a particularly notable example of that problem: An odd player and an odd system — magnified, in this case, by the player not fitting the system. Golden State's read-react, pass-and-cut system has made other tunnel-visiony on-ball shot-creators look much worse than they were before or after (see Russell, D'Angelo; Schröder, Dennis), and Kuminga may be another. Alas, we can't be totally sure, because Golden State is the only place he's ever played. Our entire body of work for evaluating Kuminga is in the context of his square-peg game and Golden State's round hole of an offense. To explain this statistically, there is a lot in Kuminga's track record that suggests maybe he just isn't all that good. Most notably, his career shooting marks are 33.2 percent from 3 and 69.6 percent from the line. He's just OK as a defender, seems to have poor instincts for reading the game at both ends and is prone to spectacular bouts of dribble blindness. The Warriors have pushed him to be a beast on the glass, but historically, players rarely change their stripes in this realm, and his rebound rate has stayed right around 10.0 percent his whole career — fine for a combo forward but unremarkable. Advertisement On the other hand, Kuminga has one marker that is off the charts: his free-throw rate. Drawing fouls at a high rate is an innate signal of talent (even if some grifting is involved) because players who do so are continually creating advantages that force defenses to react adversely, desperately or both. Kuminga drew 10 free-throw attempts per 100 possessions last season in a non-trivial sample of 1,144 minutes. That was the eighth-highest rate of free-throw earning in the league among players with at least 1,000 minutes played. In other seasons, it hasn't been as high, but Kuminga still has drawn an impressive 7.3 per 100 for his career. Last season, 17 NBA players played at least 1,000 minutes and earned at least 8.5 free-throw attempts per 100 possessions. Of those, 16 have played in an NBA All-Star Game. The other one is Kuminga. Even if you lower the bar to his career rate of 7.3 per 100, the list of players to clear the 7.0 mark is almost entirely past, present or future All-Stars (i.e., Franz Wagner). The three worst players on the list are Deni Avdija, RJ Barrett and Bennedict Mathurin. Of the 35 players besides Kuminga to clear 7.0 in at least 1,000 minutes last season, 28 have played in at least one All-Star Game. That's for one season, but we can also look at career marks. It's more challenging because free-throw rates have been declining overall; achieving Kuminga's free-throw rate was a less amazing feat, say, 20 years ago, when 21 different players did it. Historically, the one notable player to draw fouls at this high a rate year after year and not turn into an All-Star was Corey Maggette, who was a very good sixth man for several years with the Clippers. Is it possible Kuminga is just a reheated Magette? Sure, but even that player is probably worth a pretty significant investment. At any rate, you can see Golden State's dilemma. The Warriors have a talented 22-year-old who might prove to be very, very good in another team's system but seems highly unlikely to thrive in their own. Also, the Warriors would handcuff their other offseason options by re-signing Kuminga at any remotely market-level price, because it would push them to the first apron and require some limbo building the rest of the roster while staying below the second apron. Advertisement The best outcome for everyone would likely be a sign-and-trade that brings back small contracts and draft compensation, but that's always easier to theorize about in June than to execute quickly in July. One final note: Kuminga could also sign his qualifying offer of $10.2 million and become an unrestricted free agent next July, when there should be more cap space in the market. While this would be palatable in the very short term for the Warriors, the risk of his uncompensated departure a year from now likely incentivizes Golden State to keep this option off the table. Even if Kuminga doesn't fit, the Warriors would likely be better off with the Masai Ujiri Memorial Delayed Sign-and-Trade, re-signing him this summer to use in a trade package later. 3. Khris Middleton, Wizards, $13,254,774 (PO) Consider this a placeholder for any notion of the Wizards having Middleton opt out of his deal to sign a longer deal for less annual money. In reality, that arrangement makes sense only if the opt-out is to allow him to be traded to a contender. If you put a $13.3 million valuation on Middleton this season, and presumably less in future ones since he's 33, you're looking at a value of $35 million or so over the course of a three-year deal. Middleton is due $34 million for 2025-26, and he's not giving that up just to sign something 'fair.' So the real number in this case that his next team would be targeting is something like $55 million over the next three years. That contract would roughly match what Middleton would project to get by playing out this year and then signing a 'fair' two-year deal next summer, more or less. ('More' if you're Middleton and 'less' if you're on the team side, but you get the idea.) The other aspect of this, of course, is that somebody has to want Middleton on this deal badly enough to give something useful back to Washington, or to at least attach draft capital to a bad contract. (No, Milwaukee fans, 'Kyle Kuzma!' is not the correct answer.) All of which makes unlikely to happen. But if you're looking at opt-out-plus-sign-and-trade situations with Middleton, three years for $55 million seems like the sweet spot based on this BORD$ analysis. 4. Kelly Oubre, Sixers, $12,666,583 (PO) Oubre has a player option for $8.4 million for this coming season; based on this figure, he should decline it and sign a new deal for slightly more. Advertisement The Sixers have early Bird rights on Oubre, so they can re-sign him for up to $14.8 million for the coming season if they wish. Oubre's BORD$ value is less than that, and this analysis also probably overrates him relative to what the market is willing to pay (he was a free agent the past two summers and got the minimum and then the room exception). However, even if Oubre wasn't getting much of a raise, it might be worth it to him to opt out and re-sign a 'one-plus-one' deal with a player option for 2026-27, when there might be more cap-room money sloshing around. If his reps foresee a cold market, one can envision a scenario where Oubre cuts his cap number for 2025-26 slightly (say to $7.5 million) in return for a fall-back $8 million player option next year. 5. Duncan Robinson, Heat, $11,801,534 (NGPO) Welcome to one of the league's most interesting contracts, the 'double option' between the Heat and Robinson. Robinson has the option to pick up a $19.89 million contract for the coming season; however, only $9.89 million of that amount is guaranteed. There's little chance Robinson opts out of that number, since he'd get a $10 million guarantee plus whatever he got from his next team, even if Miami cuts him. However, the Heat can wipe $10 million off their cap number for the coming season by cutting Robinson, or $13.3 million if they stretch the obligation, but they would need to find another player to fill his spot. Because $9.89 million of the contract is functionally dead money for Miami, the key number here is $10 million. If you think Robinson is worth at least $10 million, you're better off taking him at $19.89 million for the coming season. If not, you're better off with a dead cap hit of $9.89 million. In this case, BORD$ slightly favors hanging on to Robinson. Of course, there is another, more practical reason to keep Robinson at this number: Dead money can't be used in a trade. However, as long as he's a living, breathing contract on their cap sheet, Robinson's $19.89 million can be part of an outbound salary package as the Heat go big-game hunting to try to upgrade their talent base. 6. Ziaire Williams, Nets, $10,323,868 (R) The 2021 lottery pick had a solid fourth season and will be 24 in September, fitting the timeline of a rebuilding Nets team. Brooklyn would have an incentive to figure out Williams' price for the coming season sooner rather than later; he has a cap hold of $18.4 million that will count against Brooklyn's $75 million in cap room until he is either re-signed at a lower number or renounced. Advertisement Williams also has a qualifying offer of $8.4 million that is required for Brooklyn to maintain matching rights; based on the BORD$ valuation here, it shouldn't be an issue for the Nets to post that offer. The most logical contract endgame would seem to be a multi-year deal for declining money, but the Nets may need to figure out how else they're using their cap space before determining exact figures on Williams. Also, look for his next contract to contain the maximum allowable 15 percent in bonuses that are 'unlikely' for cap purposes but attainable for Williams; that would let the Nets short the cap number on his contract and give them more cap space to work with. For instance, if they paid him $10 million but $1.5 million of it was a bonus for his team winning 27 games (the Nets won 26 last year), it would only count $8.5 million against this year's cap. 7. Jake LaRavia, Kings, $8,386,221 LaRavia's valuation is slightly higher than the most Sacramento can offer him ($5.16 million), a result of the Memphis Grizzlies not picking up his fourth-year option a year ago. The likely happy resolution here is a one-plus-one deal for that exact amount with a 2026 player option, which allows LaRavia to cash in a year from now if he has a good year but gives him some security for 2026-27 if things don't go well. Since I doubt LaRavia is at a level where another team would try to blow away the Kings with an eight-figure annual offer, and Sacramento can offer a decent shot to play the Kings should be in good shape here despite technically being unable to match strong offers. 8. Dalano Banton, Trail Blazers, $7,138,423 Banton is an odd player, a rail-thin 6-foot-8 ballhandler who struggles from the perimeter. His scoring inefficiency (49.7 true shooting percentage last season, 49.5 percent career) offsets some of his strengths as a distributor. He's likely not long for a crowded Blazers roster that is running into tax issues, especially if he has offers in other places for more than the minimum. He's 25 and has some fans from his last two stops (Toronto and Boston), but any team that needs wing size and more ballhandling is a potential landing spot … so, uh, most of them. 9. Taurean Prince, Bucks, $7,082,835 Prince offers a guaranteed blast through the NBA Cup bracket for whatever team signs him, but otherwise, he's overmatched as a starter, and his next team needs to keep him in a role as a third or fourth forward where his 3-and-sorta-D game is a better rotational fit. The Bucks could theoretically be that team, but Milwaukee has no Bird rights on Prince and would have to use exception money to keep him for anything more than 120 percent above his minimum, which comes to $4.4 million. He may have better offers elsewhere. 10. Talen Horton-Tucker, Bulls, $6,279,288 Pardon me while I violently disagree with my formula. BORD$ sees Horton-Tucker's age (still 24!) and bursts of shot creation and thinks maybe a breakout is just around the corner. Alas, we've all seen this movie enough that we know how it ends. Horton-Tucker is most likely looking at a minimum deal from his next employer, which may or may not be the Bulls. Chicago has no Bird rights on Horton-Tucker, incidentally, so if, for some wild reason, a bidding war erupts, the Bulls would have to use exception money to keep him. Advertisement 11. Brandon Boston Jr., Pelicans (TO) It's tough evaluating players who are trying to create offense on atrocious teams, but the eye test says Boston did well enough in this endeavor in New Orleans that he's worth keeping in the mix even when the real Pelicans come back this fall. He has a $2.3 million team option for the coming season; look for New Orleans to possibly decline it so it can offer him a longer deal for minimum-ish money instead. Either way, he seems sure to be back unless his contract is needed in a trade. 12. Justin Edwards, Sixers (TO) One silver lining in the Sixers' tire-fire of a season was the undrafted Edwards averaging 10.1 points per game in his rookie campaign. His deal has a team option for $1.9 million; the play here is for Philadelphia to decline it so the Sixers can sign him to a longer minimum or near-minimum deal this summer. As long as the first season doesn't pay more than 20 percent above his minimum ($2.45 million), the Sixers can sign him for up to four years as a non-Bird free agent without using any exception money. 13. Amir Coffey, Clippers Coffey fell out of the mix in LA once Kawhi Leonard came back, but the Clippers would have full Bird rights on him and can keep him without using exception money; it's certainly possible they keep him as a depth piece if no rotation-level positions are waiting for him in free agency. Another option with his Bird rights is for LA to sign him to a bloated one-year deal for use as a trade piece in-season, but the Clippers are close enough to the first apron that they'd have to think about all the implications of doing so. A more immediate possibility is doing the same but in a sign-and-trade; however, any such deal would cap the Clippers at the first apron. 14. Jae'Sean Tate, Rockets Tate is now a poor fit in Houston, with younger players who have the same general good-defense-iffy-offense profile but at a much higher level passing him. However, the 29-year-old is a solid option for any team that needs to add a wing defender to the back end of its rotation. Once the first wave of free agency with bigger contracts finishes, expect a lot of teams to circle back to Tate. 15. Gui Santos, Warriors (NGTO) Santos carved out a niche with Golden State in his second season, and the 22-year-old Brazilian is a just-good-enough shooter (33.8 percent career from 3) and hustles enough to offset some of his shortcomings as an individual defender. Advertisement The Warriors have a $2.2 million team option for the coming season that doesn't have any guaranteed money until late September. Golden State could potentially decline the option to sign him to a longer deal with early Bird rights, or it could pick up the option and use the flexibility that the virtually non-guaranteed money (he's owed $225,000 if not waived by Sept. 25) provides until the January guarantee date. Either way, he's likely done enough to be back. 16. Caleb Houstan, Magic (NGTO) The 22-year-old Houstan is perhaps the league's least athletic young player, but he shot 40 percent from 3 last year on a Magic team desperate for shooting. Presumably, Orlando will pick up his $2.2 million option since it isn't guaranteed anyway, and the Magic can waive or trade him later if their impending roster and tax crunch necessitates it. 17. Javonte Green, Cavaliers Green turns 32 in June and shot a career-worst 42.9 percent from the floor in 2024-25, but those numbers were skewed by playing in some ghastly Pelicans lineups before his buyout. The Cavs' apron issues will likely have them seeking out good minimum candidates, but even if Green doesn't return to Cleveland, his energy and athleticism should earn him a spot somewhere. 18. Jalen Wilson, Nets (NGTO) Wilson led the Nets in minutes last season (!) despite a meager 9.5 PER. His contract for the coming season is guaranteed for $88,075 if the Nets pick up the $2.2 million team option; in other words, they'll almost certainly pick up the option and then figure out later if they need to waive him for cap space purposes. Wilson is still two-way eligible; if Brooklyn needs the space, the Nets could decline the option or waive him and still bring him back on a two-way deal with a wink and a nod that they'd roster him later in the season. 19. Torrey Craig, Celtics The 34-year-old Craig was rotting at the end of the Bulls' bench before the Celtics liberated him late in the season, and injuries gave him some chances to play and show he could still move. He's a fit on a veteran team that needs a low-maintenance forward at the end of the bench — possibly in Boston again. 20. Kevin Knox, Warriors A perennial tease playing for his fifth team in four years, Knox is only 25 (he turns 26 in August), believe it or not, and likely did enough in his 84 minutes as a Warrior to earn one more chance at carving out a niche as a skilled combo forward. Advertisement 21. Doug McDermott, Kings McDermott shot 43.6 percent from 3 last year and is at 41.1 percent for his career, and unlike in his prime seasons, he actually launched enough from 3 (14.4 times per 100 possessions!) that his accuracy had real oomph. Alas, the 33-year-old McDermott no longer has the athletic juice to do much else and couldn't even carve out a rotation spot on a Kings team that was desperate for any useful forward. 22. Kessler Edwards, Mavericks Edwards finished last season on a two-way deal with the Mavs but is no longer two-way eligible. He's a robotic offensive player but has shown enough 3-and-D usefulness to be a viable back-end roster player, and at 24, he offers at least some hope that he can develop further. 23. Svi Mykhailiuk, Jazz (NG) Mykhailiuk has a non-guaranteed deal for $3.675 million that becomes fully guaranteed on June 30 and has two more non-guaranteed years after this one if the Jazz pick up that guarantee. You know where this is headed: The Jazz will see if they can use his contract as matching salary in a trade, in which case they'll give him a guaranteed-money golden parachute, and if not, they'll try to work out a deal to extend the guarantee date further into the summer. At some point, Mykhailiuk will either end up with guaranteed money as part of a trade to his next team, have the salary picked up so the Jazz can keep playing this game for another 12 months or be released and sign a partial guarantee with similar terms somewhere else. It's Year 8, and he's hung around this long with eight different teams this way. 24. Braxton Key, Warriors Key pulled off the rare feat of playing more playoff minutes (23) than regular-season minutes (11) after playing nearly all year in the G League and putting up strong numbers. He is out of two-way eligibility, and the Warriors aren't likely to have roster room for him at the start of the season. If Key doesn't want to try Europe, his pathway back to the NBA likely goes through the G League. 25. Cam Reddish, Lakers Reddish is only 25 and offers theoretical upside with his size, defense and ball skills. That said, coming off a year with a 7.4 PER and 40/25/61 shooting splits, he definitely has the burden of proof to convince his next employer. If he doesn't go overseas, he might need to work his way back through the G League. 26. Chuma Okeke, Cavaliers (TO) Okeke finished last season at the end of Cleveland's bench; he has a $2.5 million team option that the Cavs will surely decline unless it is needed in a trade. Given Cleveland's tax position, the team can't bring him back, and Okeke will likely need to find his next employment via a pit stop in the G League. Advertisement 27. DaQuan Jeffries, Hornets (NG) Jeffries has a non-guaranteed deal worth $2.7 million, and unlike Mykhailiuk above, the deal has no trigger date. As a result, look for the Hornets to keep him on the books until training camp in case his contract can be matching salary in a trade. He'll have his number guaranteed if he's in a trade but otherwise figures to be waived this fall. The 27-year-old Jeffries is a strong overseas candidate if he doesn't want to do a stint in the G League. 28. Joe Ingles, Timberwolves Ingles turns 38 in October and scored 15 points the entire season. He's a beloved locker room guy and a legendary trash talker, but this might be the end of the line. 29. Jordan Walsh, Celtics (NG) Walsh has a $2.2 million deal with Boston for this season but only $200,000 is guaranteed. He appeared in 52 games for the Celtics in 2024-25; alas, those games didn't go particularly well, with Walsh posting a 6.9 PER and shooting 27.3 percent from 3. He's a good athlete who will be on the court for his defense, but can Boston afford to use a roster spot on him when it likely is limited to 14 players and one of them (Jayson Tatum) will be a nonparticipant? If waived, Walsh would be in high demand as a two-way player; he remains eligible and is only 21 years old. 30. Chris Livingston, Bucks (NG) Livingston has a non-guaranteed deal for $2.2 million after two unremarkable seasons at the end of Milwaukee's bench. He's only 21 and still two-way eligible, and he's put up decent numbers in the G League. Milwaukee likely will keep him on the books until training camp in case his contract is needed in a trade, but if the Bucks waive him, he'd be a priority two-way pickup. 31. Maxwell Lewis, Nets (NG) Lewis has a $2.2 million deal with Brooklyn but only $100,000 is guaranteed; the Nets seem certain to waive him for the cap space. A second-round pick in 2023, Lewis struggled to gain traction in two seasons in Los Angeles and broke his leg within days of his trade to Brooklyn, but athletic 6-foot-7 guys don't grow on trees, and he's still two-way eligible. Somebody will take the plunge. Advertisement 32. Rayan Rupert, Trail Blazers (NGTO) Rupert has a $2.2 million team option for the coming season that also has a July 1 guarantee date; Portland could always pick up the option and then try to push back the guarantee date to see if it can use his contract in a trade. Bigger picture, Rupert may be running into the Portland roster crunch combined with his limited development since being picked in the second round in 2023. He's only 21 and has an alluring defensive toolset, but offensively, he may never get there; he has a career 6.8 PER and has shot just 41 percent on 2s in a 1,013-minute sample of NBA minutes. If waived, Rupert is two-way eligible and would be a target for any team that thinks it can hone his skills into a useful offensive player. 33. Trentyn Flowers, Clippers (R-2w) After surprisingly going undrafted in 2024, Flowers caught on with the Clippers and, as a 19-year-old, showed enough potential in 27 G League games to warrant another year in the program. 34. Harrison Ingram, Spurs (R-2w) The 48th pick in the 2024 draft, Ingram only played 35 minutes for the varsity but likely did enough in a strong G League campaign to earn another year in the program on a two-way. 35. Keion Brooks Jr., Pelicans (R-2w) Undrafted out of Washington, Brooks played 14 late-season games for the sinking Pelicans and did enough on those minutes (including shooting 59.2 percent on 2s) to warrant his return on a two-way at the least. 36. Luke Travers, Cavaliers (R-2w) A late second-round pick in 2023 and the owner of a glorious flowing mullet, Travers played only 88 minutes for the Cavs in his rookie season, but he put up solid numbers in the G League. He figures to be back in Cleveland on another two-way. (Top photo of Jonathan Kuminga: Ezra Shaw / Getty Images)
News.com.au
14-06-2025
- Sport
- News.com.au
‘I don't feel sorry for Josh': Luc Longley's telling Giddey praise amid $46m NBA call
Australian basketball legend Luc Longley is backing Josh Giddey to prove his doubters wrong and lead the Chicago Bulls back to NBA glory as the young Aussie awaits a monster payday. The 22-year endured a rocky start to his time at the Bulls after being traded from the Oklahoma City Thunder last off-season in exchange for defensive stopper Alex Caruso. Watch every game of The NBA Finals LIVE with ESPN on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Get your first month for just $1. Limited time offer. But Giddey went on a tear after the All-Star break after Chicago traded Zach Lavine, averaging 21.2 points, 10.7 rebounds and 9.3 assists — a near triple double — in the home stretch of the season. OKC went on to win a league-high 68 regular season games this year after Giddey's departure and the Thunder are currently trailing the Indiana Pacers 2-1 in the NBA Finals as they chase a championship with a formidable roster. But Longley, who was traded to the Bulls and won three championship as the starting centre playing alongside Michael Jordan in the 1990s, said he doesn't feel sorry for Giddey. 'I don't feel a single bit sorry for Josh,' Longley told ahead of the release of his new ESPN x Hahn documentary Lane Violation, which tracks his changing relationship with Andrew Bogut over the course of Bogut's career. Bogut, who won an NBA title with the Golden State Warriors, said the brutal nature of Giddey's benching by the OKC Thunder in last season's playoffs would sting. 'I mean he essentially got benched and was somewhat told that 'we can't win with him in the line-up',' Bogut told 'He's been on record saying he'd rather it happened now than in year seven, eight, nine, ten — and work out the kinks at an earlier age. 'But to some young guys that could derail you, that could mentally screw you.' Longley added about getting traded: 'It does, it motivates a lot of people. Certainly people love a story to rally behind and be motivated by.' Giddey became a near triple double machine in the back-end of the NBA regular season and the Bulls are expected to re-sign him as they are urged to lean into a rebuilding around a young core. 'He's bounced back even better for it and now you know second half of the year for him was phenomenal,' Bogut said. 'Chicago's gonna have to have to pay him, I think. I don't think they have any choice with the way the (salary) cap is.' Giddey and fellow Aussie Dyson Daniels, crowned the NBA's Most Improved Player, are set to receive massive contract extensions this off-season that will rocket the duo to the top of Australia's sporting rich list. Daniels and Giddey, who is a restricted free agent, are tipped to sign long-term extensions worth around US$30 million (A$46 million) per season. 'The money is just absurd,' Giddey's dad Warrick told Code Sports. If the Bulls can trade centre Nicola Vucevic this off-season, it would free up salary cap space to re-sign Giddey and build the team around the Aussie, Coby White, Matas Buzelis and Ayo Dosunmu. The Bulls have been in basketball no-man's land for several years — a regular in the NBA's play-in tournament — not bad enough to land a high draft pick but not good enough to challenge for playoff series wins. Chicago's six NBA championships came during Michael Jordan's time at the Bulls in the 1990s, and apart from Derrick Rose's MVP year and a couple of playoff runs, it's been a lean 27 years since the iconic franchise's last title. But Longley believes Giddey can help the Bulls rebuild and escape the NBA's purgatory in the middle of the standings. 'Yeah, I think his game can help.' Longley said. 'I think he's got a natural charisma that people like.' Longley highlighted Giddey's halfcourt buzzerbeater shot over the outstretched hands of LA Lakers stars LeBron James and Luka Doncic as potentially a pivotal moment in the point guard's career. 'I think that shot all by itself drew so much attention to the Bulls,' Longley said. 'For me, it was quite a poignant shot. 'I grew up with his dad playing basketball on national team and living in the Institute of Sport, and even still when I'm in Melbourne, I'm hanging out with his dad. 'So there's the Giddey connection. There's the Bulls connection. There's an Australian over there doing it the NBA. 'Then there's the fact it's over LeBron and Doncic — I particularly like the fact it's over the Lakers. It's just such a great shot. 'With Josh, I hope that they build the right pieces with him and around him. And I do believe in his appetite for it. 'I think he is supremely motivated by things more than money. He is deeply competitive.' The Lane Violation documentary follows the changing relationship between the only two Australian seven-footers to truly dominate in the NBA. When he was taken with the No. 1 pick by the Milwaukee Bucks in 2005, Bogut famously said he was not as slow as Longley and more athletic and competitive. Those comments didn't go down with well with Longley, who told Bogut to 'pull his head in' at the time. The towering centres went on to work together at the Australian Boomers and with the Sydney Kings, where Bogut has moved into an assistant coaching role.
Yahoo
14-06-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Should the Nets pursue Bulls' Josh Giddey in 2025 NBA free-agency?
The Brooklyn Nets have plenty of cap space to use in the 2025 NBA offseason and that will be the case even if they decide to retain some of their more important free-agents. Brooklyn would like to improve on a roster that went 26-56 during the 2024-25 season and with that being said, it's fair to wonder if they would pursue a player whose stock rose significantly. Chicago Bulls guard Josh Giddey will be a restricted free-agent this summer after spending the season with the Bulls following being traded by the Oklahoma City Thunder last offseason. Giddey, 22, seemed to raise his stock significantly after averaging 14.6 points, 8.1 rebounds, 7.2 assists, and 1.2 steals per game while shooting 46.5% from the field and 37.8% from three-point land. Advertisement One of the ways that the Nets can explore using their cap space, as noted by ESPN's Bobby Marks, is by using their money to go after restricted free-agents, such as Giddey, given that most marquee unrestricted free-agents are rarely let go by their incumbent teams without a trade. Given where Chicago is in the context of the league, they finished the season with a 39-43 record, they may be willing to let someone like Giddey walk if the price to keep him is too steep. HoopsHype's Michael Scotto reported in May that "the belief around the league is Bulls restricted free agent guard Josh Giddey hopes to command a similar five-year, $150 million deal to Orlando Magic guard Jalen Suggs and earn roughly $30 million annually or more." While paying Giddey $30 million per season would be a big investment for Brooklyn so early in the rebuild, it's important to note that figure may be the going rate for someone of his caliber. NBA insider Jake Fischer reported last week that Giddey is expected to remain with the Bulls due to the season that he had for Chicago along with the fact that the team might be trying to retool around Giddey after trading away DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine over the course of the campaign. Time will tell what the Bulls do in free-agency, but if they're willing to let Giddey walk, Brooklyn could have their point guard of the future. This article originally appeared on Nets Wire: Should the Nets pursue Bulls' Josh Giddey in 2025 NBA free-agency?
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Bulls rumors: Rival execs speculate on Coby White trade if Josh Giddey re-signs
The post Bulls rumors: Rival execs speculate on Coby White trade if Josh Giddey re-signs appeared first on ClutchPoints. Another crucial offseason is here for the Chicago Bulls, and there are a lot of question marks surrounding the team. It's unclear what this roster is going to look like at the beginning of next season, and looming decisions surrounding Josh Giddey and Coby White are a big reason why. Giddey and White were two of the most important players on this team last season, but it is sounding unlikely that both will be back in the Windy City next year. Advertisement Josh Giddey's late-season surge has really made things interesting for the Bulls this offseason. Giddey was always one of the better players on the team, but he was a different beast after the All-Star Break. He wasn't just one of the best players on the team, but he was one of the best players in the league. Giddey even won Eastern Conference Player of the Month in March. After Giddey's impressive close to the season, he is looking for a big contract this offseason, and a lot of people expect the Bulls to pay him. The thing is, that could result in the team losing Coby White. Some rumors are saying that the team isn't going to get both players back. 'This is outside speculative, but two different East personnel figures believe that the Bulls are unlikely to retain both Josh Giddey and Coby White,' Matt Moore said in a report. 'If Giddey gets locked in, White could be moved. I'm skeptical of that idea because that sounds like a radical concept for the Bulls and that doesn't sound like them. Saving money sounds like them, but not like this.' We'll see how much truth there is to that rumor as that is just the thought of a couple different people around the league, so it obviously doesn't guarantee anything. Still, there has been a lot of talk about the Bulls potentially trading White this offseason. If Giddey gets a big pay raise for the team, it might end up being the best option. Advertisement Coby White has been one of the best players for the Bulls during the past couple of seasons, and he certainly elevated his worth in the process. If the Bulls do lock down Josh Giddey and decide to trade White, he would be an attractive option for a lot of teams across the league. The Coby White/Josh Giddey decisions will be a huge part of this offseason for the Bulls, but they have a lot of other big things on their plate as well. It will be interesting to see what this roster is looking like when next season rolls around.
