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NBA Free Agency Moves

June 25th-June 29th:

• Paul George declined his $48M player option to become a Free Agent

• LeBron James declined his $51M player option to become a Free Agent

• Kentavious Caldwell-Pope declined his player option to become a Free Agent

• Kevin Love declined his player option to become a Free Agent

• Russell Westbrook picked up his player option to return to the Clippers

• D’Angelo Russell picked up his $19M player option to return to the Lakers

• Scottie Barnes signed a 5yr, $270M contract with Toronto

• Jamal Murray signed a 4yr, $209M contract with Denver

• Patrick Williams signed a 5yr, $90M contract with Chicago

• Bam Adebayo signed a 3yr, $166M contract with Miami

• Immanuel Quickley signed a 5yr, $175M contract with Toronto

• Royce O’Neal signed a 4yr, $44M contract with Phoenix

• OG Anunoby signed a 5yr, $212M contract with New York

• Nic Claxton signed a 4yr, $100M contract with Brooklyn

• Denver traded Reggie Jackson to Charlotte for 3 second round picks

• Atlanta traded Dejounte Murray to New Orleans for Larry Nance Jr, Dyson Daniels, and 2 first round picks

• Dallas traded Tim Hardaway Jr and 3 second round picks to Detroit for Quinten Grimes

• Brooklyn traded Mikal Bridges to New York for Bojan Bogdanovic and 4 first round picks

• Sacramento traded Davion Mitchell to Toronto for Jalen McDaniels

June 30th:

• Obi Toppin signed a 4yr, $60M contract to stay in Indiana

• Kentavious Caldwell-Pope signed a 3yr, $66M contract with Orlando

• James Harden signed a 2yr, $70M deal to stay with the Clippers

• Kevin Love signed a 2yr, $8M contract to stay with Miami

• Andre Drummond signed a 2yr, $10M contract with Philadelphia

• Chris Paul was waived by Golden State and will sign a 1yr, $11M deal with San Antonio

• Jonas Valanciunas signed a 3yr, $30M contract with the Wizards

• Mason Plumlee signed a 1yr, $3M deal with Phoenix

• Naji Marshall signed a 3yr, $27M deal with Dallas

• Derrick Jones Jr signed a 3yr, $30M deal with the Clippers

• Kelly Oubre Jr signed a 2yr, $16M deal to stay in Philadelphia

• PAUL GEORGE SIGNED A 4YR, $212M DEAL WITH PHILADELPHIA

July 1st:

• Tyrese Maxey signed a 5yr, $204M contract extension with the Sixers

• Isaiah Hartenstein signed a 3yr, $87M contract with OKC

• Tobias Harris signed a 2yr, $52M deal to return to Detroit

• Derrick White signed a 4yr, $126M contract extension with Boston

• Delon Wright signed a 1yr, $3.3M deal with Milwaukee

• Klay Thompson joins the Mavericks on a 3yr, $50M deal

• Nicolas Batum signed a 2yr, $10M deal to return to the Clippers

• De’Anthony Melton signed a 1yr, $13M deal with the Warriors

• Jayson Tatum signed the LARGEST CONTRACT IN NBA HISTORY, a 5yr, $314M extension with Boston

• Gary Harris signed a 2yr, $14M deal to stay in Orlando

• Mo Bamba signed a 1yr, minimum deal with the Clippers

July 2nd:

• Donovan Mitchell signed a 3yr, $150M contract to stay in Cleveland

• James Wiseman signed a 2yr deal with the Pacers

• Mo Wagner signed a 2yr, $22M contract extension with Orlando

• Jonathan Isaac signed a 5yr, $84M contract extension with Orlando

• Kemba Walker announced his retirement from basketball

• Kyle Anderson signed a 3yr, $27M deal with Golden State

July 3rd:

• LeBron James signed a 2yr, $104M contract to return to the Lakers

• Damion Lee signed a 1yr deal to return to the Suns

• Joe Ingles signed a 1yr deal with the Timberwolves

• Alec Burks signed a 1yr deal with the Heat

• PJ Dozier signed a 1yr deal with the Timberwolves

July 4th:

• Buddy Hield joined the Warriors on a 2yr, $21M deal as part of a sign and trade

July 5th:

• Franz Wagner signed a 5yr, $224M contract extension with the Magic

July 6th:

• Caleb Martin signed a 4yr, $32M deal with Philadelphia

• Malik Beasley signed a 1yr, $6M deal with Detroit

• Dario Saric signed a 2yr, $10M deal with Denver

• DeMar DeRozan joined the Kings on a 3yr, $74M deal in a sign and trade from Chicago. That trade sends Harrison Barnes to the Spurs, and Chris Duarte to the Bulls.

• Miles Bridges signed a 3yr, $75M deal to return to the Hornets

• Jordan McLaughlin signed a 1yr deal with the Suns

July 9th-July 16th

• Cade Cunningham signed a 5yr, $224M contract extension with Detroit

• Paul Reed was claimed from waivers by Detroit

• Kyle Lowry signed a 1yr deal to return to Philadelphia

• Saddiq Bey signed a 3yr, $20M deal with the Wizards

• Jalen Brunson signed a 4yr, $157M deal to stay with the Knicks, taking $113M less than he can make next year

• KJ Martin signed a 2yr, $16M deal to return to Philadephia

• Taj Gibson signed a 1yr, $3M deal with Charlotte

• Cam Payne signed a 1yr deal to play with the Knicks

• Seth Curry signed a 1yr deal with the Hornets

• Patrick Beverley is headed overseas, signing with Hapoel Tel Aviv BC of the Israeli Basketball Premier League

• Gary Trent Jr signed a 1yr deal with Milwaukee

Top remaining Free Agents:

• Spencer Dinwiddie

• Markelle Fultz

• Tyus Jones

• Luke Kennard

• Isaac Okoro

• Lonnie Walker IV

• Gordon Hayward

• Precious Achiuwa

• Cedi Osman

• Talen Horton-Tucker

• Jae Crowder

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Olympic Basketball

As team USA assembles to begin practicing to get ready for the 2024 Olympics, other teams have been qualifying to play. Giannis and Greece eliminated Luka and Slovenia from Olympic contention on their way to qualifying themselves.

Team USA is the heavy favorite to win the Gold, but teams like Canada and France are full of NBA talent and could cause an upset at any point. Then there are teams like Serbia and Greece who have NBA superstars and are gonna be nightmares to play against.

France has 14 current or former NBA players on their roster, including DPOY Rudy Gobert and freak of nature Victor Wembanyama. With the rules of international basketball differing from the NBA in that there’s no defensive 3 seconds, and you can hit the ball off the rim once it makes contact, facing Wemby AND Gobert will likely require outside shooting to deal with.

As of now, the US will face Canada in an exhibition match on July 10th at 10:30PM ET, Australia on July 15th at 12:00PM ET, and play Serbia on July 17th at 12:00PM ET.

The official Olympic games begin on July 28th, and the US will be facing Serbia as their first matchup at 11:15 AM ET.

Team USA is 2-0 through their first 2 exhibition games, with another happening at noon today. They beat Canada by 14 behind a team high 13 points from Anthony Edwards. Canada is thought to be the toughest opponent to face, as they have the most NBA talent outside of team USA. Australia gave the US a scare, rallying from down almost 20 to make the final score 98-92. Australia exposed the interior defense of the US starting 5, with this being former MVP Joel Embiid’s first olympic experience. Josh Giddey of all people was finding plenty of gaps in the defense, and caused a real problem. Today they play Serbia and 3-time MVP Nikola Jokic.

Summer League

Some top picks have been showing out, while others have been nothing but disappointing. Cam Whitmore continues his summer league dominance, showing why Houston needs to play him more. Houston seems to have another gem on their hands in #4 pick Reed Sheppard, who after 2 summer league games, has the 2nd best odds to win ROTY. Atlanta picked a good one with the top pick, Zaccharie Risacher. He’s shown a smooth game and he should fit well behind Trae Young. Bronny James hasn’t exactly been astounding, struggling with his offense. His defense has been solid, but if he wants to get actual run with the Lakers, he’ll need to improve on his offense. Even worse than Bronny has been Alex Sarr, the near consensus #1 player on most draft boards. He’s had a really rough start to his career. He is 8-41 from the field (19.5%) and 2-17 from 3 (12%). Those numbers are totaled after a scoreless 0-15 and 0-7 night for him. His offense was projected to be raw and he was a defensive prospect, but if this was the regular season, he’d have just had the worst game of all time. Don’t put TOO much stock into summer league games though, as rookie standouts Victor Wembanyama and Brandon Miller had terrible summer league starts.

Overtime Thoughts