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Before taking the Rockets offer, the Suns had in-depth discussions with the Minnesota Timberwolves about moving Durant for a package that included star center Rudy Gobert, guard Donte DiVincenzo, promising forward Terrence Shannon Jr. and the 17th pick in this year's draft, sources told ESPN. Had that deal come to fruition, there was a place for Beal in the lineup, and the Suns might've made it a priority to keep him.
This is one of my favorite things—to see a player who maybe isn’t sure if they’re going to be taken or not in the first round, and to go anyway, to attend at Barclays Center, to be out in the stands. Can you take us through what was going through your head when you finally heard your name called? Yang Hansen: I mean, for sure, it’s a big shock for me. I was surprised when Adam called my name. That surprised me. I was just sitting there finishing my fried chicken. I didn’t even put my suit on. Suddenly they told me, "Hansen, Hansen—take your suit off." I said, "Huh?" And they just took it out, and suddenly when the camera caught me, I was still trying to make the suit look good. Before I touched my suit, I still used my T-shirt to clean my hands—I didn’t want the oil to mess up my suit.
Windhorst acknowledged that he is not worried about the status of his deal and aligned his focus on the NBA Playoffs and subsequent events surrounding the league, which has consisted of the NBA Draft, free agency and the ongoing NBA Summer League. Over the years, he has inked a number of contracts at ESPN and shared that he has not had a stressful situation because the deals are generally lined up with the start of the league season. “When our season ends in July, a lot of people are on vacation, so it is not unusual for this business to be taken care of later,” Windhorst said. “But I’m going to keep getting up and working for ESPN.”
Donatas Urbonas: Nassir Little — the No. 25 pick in the 2019 NBA Draft — has signed with the Chiba Jets of Japan’s B.League for the 2025-26 season, per sources. Little played five NBA seasons with the Trail Blazers and Suns. More 👇 basketnews.com/news-227943-na…
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Dwyane Wade: Getting a young guy like Ace Bailey, the talent that he has, you cannot pass him up, y'all. Like, there's no way. Even though the rumor mill was saying that he wanted to go to certain teams, there's no way you can pass him up, right? He's too talented. He's one of those he's one of those guys that just walk in the gym and he can get you 30. He just he's just one of those Melo-type of score-type of players, right? And so you had to get him. And so I thought Denny and you know and the staff did an amazing job of grabbing a young fella. And then we all know what we heard from a media standpoint, but ultimately, the young man and his family made their way down to Utah and he seemed excited to be there. He got right to the court.
Joe Dumars on giving up unprotected first rounder: 'I don't mind the criticism'
Social media has been going crazy over the trade you made to get the draft rights to Queen while trading a first-round pick. What would you say to the critics? (The Pelicans traded their 23rd pick in the 2025 NBA draft and an unprotected 2026 first-round pick to the Atlanta Hawks to acquire the 13th pick in the 2025 NBA draft, using it to select Queen.) I don’t mind the criticism. People say they don’t mind. But I really don’t mind. When you’re running a franchise, you make a determination of what you think you need to start growing your franchise. The opportunity presented itself that we could get two lottery picks, and to do that, you’re going to have to give up something. We gave up what we thought it would take to get these two lottery picks and we did. Now, I really don’t mind the criticism, the second guessing. I’ve done this long enough to understand that it just comes with the business. It’s just the sports world we live in. But we’re building a team to play it out. I believe in my guys. We’ll see how it plays out.
Rockets sign Cameron Matthews, waive Jeenathan Williams
The Houston Rockets today announced they have signed forward Cameron Matthews. Matthews (6-7, 235) was eligible for the 2025 NBA Draft following his graduate senior season at Mississippi State.
Andrea Bargnani: I didn't even know what the NBA draft was. And playing in the playing in the NBA when I was eight, nine, 10 years old was an unreachable dream. You were not even allowed to dream to play in the NBA when I was eight, nine, 10 because nobody was going from Italy to become an important player in the NBA. It never happened. I was dreaming about playing in Barcelona, playing in Real Madrid, in Panathinaikos, because that was my dream when I was growing up. So to answer your question, I didn't really feel the pressure of being number one.
Rich Paul: LeBron James has not asked for a trade
Dave McMenamin: Now, I've checked in with both the Lakers and LeBron's camp on this one. For the Lakers, it's business as usual. They have motivation to compete at the highest level and maximize not just LeBron's timeline, but they want to compete now with Luka Doncic. Some have said that the true cause of this situation was the Lakers not offering LeBron a contract beyond next season. But Rich Paul told me that they never asked for one. Paul also made it clear to me that LeBron has not asked for a trade. And Paul hasn't even discussed the possibility of wanting a trade in the future with the Lakers. Paul did tell me that four teams contacted him with interest in trading for LeBron. So now we wait. The Lakers have a full roster to have a decision to make on Shake Milton's contract by July 20th. They also have three expiring contracts in Rui Hachimura, Gabe Vincent, who's here tonight, and Maxi Kleber, plus their 2031 first-round draft pick they can use in trade scenarios. Now, I asked LeBron just before tip off if he'd like to join the broadcast to discuss everything, and he told me, quote, "I ain't got nothing to talk about, guys."
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Auburn basketball star Tahaad Pettiford was arrested early Saturday morning in Alabama on a charge of driving under the influence of alcohol, according to the Lee County Sheriff’s Office recent arrests database. Pettiford, 19, was booked into the Lee County Jail at 12 a.m. on Saturday before being released on a $1,000 bond.
Pettiford's arrest comes less than two months after he announced he was withdrawing from the NBA draft and returning to Auburn for his sophomore season. The 6-foot-1 point guard averaged 11.6 points and 3.0 assists as a freshman, helping lead the Tigers to an SEC regular season title, a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament and a Final Four appearance. Had Pettiford remained in the 2025 NBA Draft, he was projected to be selected somewhere in the late first or second round.
Michael Scotto: The Atlanta Hawks have signed Nikola Djurisic to a three-year, $5.95 million deal, league sources told @hoopshype . The deal includes $1.27 million fully guaranteed for the 2025-26 season. Djurisic was the No. 43 pick of the 2024 NBA Draft.
Cooper Flagg scored 10 points in his unofficial debut as a Maverick. While he wasn’t especially efficient, connecting on only 5 of 21 shots, he still provided several reminders of why he was the top pick in last month’s NBA Draft. “That might be one of the worst games of my life,” Flagg said. “But we got the win, so that’s what really matters to me. My teammates, they held it down. They did what they had to do.”
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