That music you hear in the background is the Jeopardy theme, playing while we wait for LeBron James to announce his decision. While LeBron’s dragged-out process has slowed the market, it has not slowed the rumors, here are some of the latest.
The Lakers will have 16 guaranteed contracts on the books once the Kevon Looney and Matisse Thybulle deals become official, meaning they have to shed at least one player from the roster before the season starts (league rules only permit carrying 15). The Lakers also are just under $2 million below the luxury tax line, according to Spotac.
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That hasn’t stopped Lakers president Rob Pelinka from calling Jonathan Kuminga to make his pitch, reports ESPN’s Anthony Slater.
“I can tell you that they keep calling Jonathan Kuminga. Obviously they have not made a lucrative enough offer for Kuminga to jump. But part of their pitch has been, ‘Hey, you can come start here potentially’… All I can tell you is Rob Pelinka keeps calling about Jonathan Kuminga.”
Slater’s report comes despite previous ones that sign-and-trade talks between the Lakers and Hawks have all but died, and that the Lakers and Kuminga were nowhere close to agreeing to a new contract number. It’s possible all that is true and Pelinka keeps calling anyway. The Lakers reportedly have offered two years, $20 million total, while Kuminga is looking for something at the very least north of the mid-level exception of $15 million a season.
Then there are the multiple problems of a sign-and-trade with Atlanta — the Hawks are not interested unless the Lakers throw in draft compensation that makes it worth their while. The Hawks are currently $4.9 million below the luxury tax with 17 players on the books (one of those is a partial guarantee), meaning Atlanta must trade or waive two players before the season starts — and Kuminga is not one of the guys on the books. Meaning if they do a sign-and-trade they add a player and salary to their books. The Lakers reportedly offered Jared Vanderbilt in the deal, but that doesn’t work for the Hawks on two fronts: 1) It puts them into the luxury tax this year, and Vanderbilt is not worth going into the tax for; 2) Vanderbilt has two guaranteed years left on his contract and the Hawks don’t want his $13.3 million for 2027-28 on the books. The Hawks might consider it for the swap rights to the Lakers’ 2032 first-round pick — the only first-round pick the Lakers can trade — but is Kuminga worth giving up that trade asset for?
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Lakers fans, remember how frustrated Steve Kerr was with Kuminga, trying to get him to play in their system and work off the ball to get open? With Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves, JJ Redick is going to ask a lot of the same things of Kuminga. So why is he suddenly a good fit?
D’Angelo Russell ended up in Memphis as part of the massive six-team trade that also saw Isaiah Stewart end up with the Grizzlies. While Stewart is part of the future plans in Memphis, Russell is not and the sides are working toward a buyout that would make Russell a free agent, reports Kelly Iko at Yahoo Sports.
Russell’s timeline — an experienced player with over 30 playoff games — simply doesn’t align with a rebuilding Grizzlies franchise seeking young, developmental talent centered around a core of Cedric Coward, Zach Edey and recent No. 3 pick Cameron Boozer.
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Russell would have interest on the open market. However, he has been inconsistent in recent seasons and has always been better with the ball in his hands rather than working off it (which is why he fell out of favor with Jason Kidd in Dallas last season, before the team traded him to Washington at the deadline). Last season he played in just 26 games, averaging 10.2 points and four assists a game, but shooting 29.5% from 3-point range. He will draw interest as a backup point guard, although he could wait until camps open and teams realize they need another point guard (or an injury hits them) and they come calling.
Expect to see this split between Russell and the Grizzlies to happen in the coming weeks.
Jalen Duren and the Detroit Pistons remain at an impasse, with Duren becoming this year’s poster child for why agents and players hate restricted free agency.
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As a reminder, coming off an All-NBA season where he averaged 19.5 points and 10.5 rebounds a game while playing high-level defense in the paint, Duren qualifies for a Rose Rule: 30% of the salary cap max for five years, $287 million. However, after a disappointing playoff run where he was largely a non-factor (or at least not near what was expected), he is willing to take the same deal Victor Wembanyama got at 25% of the cap, or five years at $239.2 million.
Except the Pistons reportedly are not putting that on the table. So Fred Katz of The Athletic asked 13 people from other front offices what they would offer Duren if they were in the Pistons’ shoes, and the offers were much lower than what Duren is seeking.
One executive believes he’s identified the fair deal for Duren and the Pistons: $204.5 million over five years… Yet, this exec is on the high end of the poll; $204.5 million, even though it’s far below his max, is the second-most guaranteed money any of the respondents suggested. The largest proposed deal was $230 million over five years. Two executives considered $200 million over five years to be fair. The two other five-year deals were for $190 million and $180 million.
All the others were lower than that, with some offering only four-year deals.
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Duren’s only leverage is to say he will play this season for the $9.6 million qualifying offer and become a free agent next summer, potentially leaving Detroit for nothing. The concern there is that not a lot of teams are lined up to have max cap space next summer. More concerningly would be leaving all that money on the table — things do sometimes go sideways. Even on the lower end of what might be offered, that is generational wealth. It’s a lot just to walk away from.
Which is what Detroit is counting on. Expect a deal to get done, eventually.
Other trade rumors
• New Orleans has had trade conversations with several teams about wing Jordan Hawkins, reports Marc Stein and Jake Fischer of The Stein Line. Memphis was one of the teams involved, according to the report. Hawkins was a lottery pick in the 2023 draft but has regressed each of the last two years, and last season averaged 5.1 points per game shooting 36.6% overall.
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• It’s worth noting the Pelicans continue to hold tightly to the wings teams are really calling them about, Trey Murphy III and Herbert Jones.
• Anthony Edwards and LaMelo Ball have been to France and are working out with Rudy Gobert, reports Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic. That’s a good sign for Timberwolves fans.
• The Houston Rockets re-signed veteran Jae’Sean Tate to a one-year, veteran minimum contract (partially guaranteed). His role decreased last season with the Rockets, he played in just 46 games and averaged 8.8 minutes a night.
• Houston may have the best free agent signing of the summer: assistant coach Chip Engelland. The shooting guru is leaving Oklahoma City to work under Ime Udoka in Houston, and it’s hard to overstate what a quality hire that is for the Rockets.
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