Appearing on the Showtime With Michael Cooper Lakers Podcast (YouTube link),Mavericks wingKlay Thompson saidKyrie Irving is the “toughest guy” he’s ever guarded and has “no weaknesses in his game,” asAshish Mathur of DallasHoopsJournal.com relays.
“It’s nice to be his teammate,” Thompson said of Irving. “You know, Kyrie and I had so many battles during those years at Golden State. We saw Cleveland four straight years in the Finals, three of them being with Kai.
“And I’ll never forget, I know you always used to check the best offensive player, and some nights there’s just nothing you could do when you’re guarding a guy likeMichael (Jordan) orLarry (Bird) orIsiah (Thomas). Same thing with Kyrie.”
Here’s more on the Mavs:
Former NBA sharpshooterMatt Thomas has signed with Fundacion CB Granada for the 2025/26 season, the Spanish team announced in apress release (hat tip toAlbert De Roa of HoopsHype).
Thomas, 31, appeared in 126 NBA games over three years from 2019-22, suiting up for Toronto, Utah and Chicago. He has spent the past two seasons in the EuroLeague with Germany’s ALBA Berlin.
In 21 EuroLeague contests in 2024/25, Thomas averaged 12.3 points while shooting 46.2% from long distance in 24.1 minutes per game. Granada went just 9-25 in Spain’s top domestic league (Liga ACB) last season.
Here are a few more international signings to pass along:
The men’s national teams of Greece and Poland have advanced to the round of 16 at EuroBasket 2025, according toFIBA, joiningFinland, Germany, Serbia and Turkey as clubs that have qualified.
Greece (Group C) and Poland (Group D) have both gone undefeated through three of their five group phase games. Greece moved on today with a win and a Cyprus loss (0-3).
The Greek squad, led by two-time NBA MVPGiannis Antetokounmpo (27 points on 9-of-11 shooting, eight rebounds, four assists in 25 minutes), cruised to a 41-point victory over Georgia, notesEurohoops. Georgia essentially threw in the towel before the game even began, resting centerGoga Bitadze (DNP-CD) and forwardTornike Shengelia (under four minutes of action).
“We had two options, to go to what’s 100% for us, or to try to keep ourselves healthy for the last two games,” Georgian coachAleksandar Džikić said postgame. “We decided to follow the second option. It was my decision, and we know what our goal is. We don’t like it, my players don’t like it, but today it was the smart thing to do.”
The Poles advanced to the knockout round by outlasting Iceland (0-3) in a close game on Sunday, perSportando. Poland was once again led by ex-NBA guardJordan Loyd (game-high 26 points) and veteran EuroLeague wingMateusz Ponitka (18 points, eight rebounds, eight assists) — both players have hadexcellent showings to this point.
In case you missed it, Antetokounmpo will reportedlyremain with Milwaukee to open the 2025/26 season after the team re-signed his older brotherThanasis Antetokounmpo to a guaranteed minimum-salary contract. Thanasis is also competing for Team Greece.
In asubscriber-only mailbag for Cleveland.com, Chris Fedor states thatMax Strus was slated to be theCavaliers‘ starting small forward this fall prior to suffering a Jones fracture in his left foot last week. The injuryrequired surgery and will sideline Strus for multiple months.
Fedor cautions that while the team gave a three-to-four month timeline for Strus to return to basketball activities, his actual absence will likely extend beyond that period. As Fedor observes, Jones fractures can be tricky and slow to heal, plus the Cavaliers typically take a cautious approach to injuries — it’s possible Strus might end up missing about half of the season.
Here’s more on the Cavaliers:
Lakers superstarLuka Doncic notched a rare triple-double in the EuroBasket tournament on Sunday. He scored 26 points, had 11 assists and grabbed 10 rebounds in Slovenia’s 86-69 victory over Belgium in Poland. According toThe Associated Press, the triple-double was the fourth in EuroBasket history since 1995 and fifth overall.
Doncic also became the youngest player to reach 400 career EuroBasket points sinceTony Parker in 2007.
“This is a normal day at the office for him,” Slovenia small forwardEdo Muric said of Doncic.“I’m even more glad that today we showed we can play good defense. And that we won.”
The Slovenian team lost to Poland and France in their first two tournament games.
“For me, I’d prefer he score 50,” Belgium coach Dario Gjergja said, perDan Woike of The Athletic.“To be honest, I’d prefer he score 50 but the others don’t execute … because he’s capable to make everybody better, never mind about quality around him. And this is why he’s a superstar.”
Doncic scored a combined 73 points in Slovenia’s first two games.
“It’s not about me being perfect. I think everybody, you know, we lose as a team, we win as a team,” he said.
Slovenia’s tournament schedule continues Tuesday against Iceland before the group stage concludes Thursday against Israel. The top four teams from each six-team group advance to the single-elimination portion of the tournament in Latvia.
Team USA squandered a 20-point second-half lead in the semifinals of the FIBA AmeriCup in Nicaragua, according to aFIBA press release.
The Brazilian team outscored the USA squad 34-9 in the last 10 minutes of a 92-77 win and avenged their prior loss in the Group Phase. With Saturday’s win, Brazil picked up its fourth victory in 11 AmeriCup matchups against the United States. The Brazilians will play in a second consecutive final.
Brazil will face Argentina for the championship on Sunday. Argentinadefeated Canada in the other semifinal matchup, 83-73. The United States and Canada will square off for third-place honors.
Bruno Caboclo, who played 105 games during his NBA career, sparked the Brazilian comeback, finishing with 20 points (11 in the fourth quarter), nine rebounds, and two blocks. He was limited to 24 minutes due to foul trouble.
Crvena Zvezda guardYago Santos finished with game highs of 25 points and 12 assists, whileLucas Dias played all 40 minutes and had a double-double (18 points, 13 rebounds).
Former NBA guardsLangston Galloway (22 points) andJavonte Smart (13 points, five assists) led the way for Team USA in the loss.
In a move to solidifyGiannis Antetokounmpo‘s desire to stay with theBucks, the franchise is re-signing his brother,Thanasis Antetokounmpo, on a guaranteed one-year, $2.9MM (minimum-salary) contract, ESPN’s Shams Charania reports (Twitter link).
The signing is official, according to a team press release relayed by The Athletic’s Eric Nehm (Twitter link).
According to Charania, after a summer of exploring options, Giannis Antetokounmpo — who is currently playing for Greece in the EuroBasket tournament — is staying in Milwaukee to start the season. This will quell speculation that the superstar might request a trade this offseason.
Naturally, if things don’t go well for the Bucks as the season progresses, that could always change. But having his brother back in the fold gives Giannis some added incentive to stay put.
Thanasis is also playing for Greece in the tournament. He wasmedically cleared to play again this spring after recovering from an Achilles tendon injury.
The 32-year-old underwent surgery in early May of 2024 after tearing his Achilles. He was a free agent this past season after signing mainly minimum contracts to play with his brother in Milwaukee.
Thanasis, who made two appearances with the Knicks in 2015/16, saw action in 196 Bucks games from 2019-24. He played 34 games during the 2023/24 season and has posted averages of 2.4 points and 1.6 rebounds in 7.7 minutes per contest over the course of his NBA career.
The Bucks will now have 15 players on guaranteed contracts, ESPN’s Bobby Markstweets. This could putAndre Jackson Jr.‘s roster status in jeopardy — the former UConn guard has an $800K guarantee on his $2,221,677 contract. It becomes fully guaranteed if he makes the opening night roster.
In addition to passing along news, rumors, and analysis on a daily basis, Hoops Rumors provides a number of additional features and resources that can be found anytime on the right-hand sidebar of our desktop site under “Hoops Rumors Features,” or on the “Features” page in our mobile menu.
Since those links are easy to overlook and aren’t readily accessible to our app users, we want to periodically highlight a number of our lists, trackers, and other features.
For instance, our lists of current free agentsby position/type andby team are constantly updated, as are our lists of 2026 free agents byposition/type andby team.
We have a number of features related to NBA trades, including a roundup ofthis offseason’s deals, a recap of thetrade exceptions currently available to teams, lists of the players who can’t be traded untilDecember 15 orJanuary 15, and details on which players canveto trades in 2025/26 and which players havetrade kickers.
We have info on how teams are usingmid-level andbi-annual exceptions in 2025/26, as well as which clubs arehard-capped and which have openroster spots. Ourfree agent tracker,two-way contract tracker andcontract extension tracker provide information on most of the deals signed this summer, while our list ofnon-guaranteed contracts by team helps provide a more complete picture of each team’s roster.
We’ve got details on how much this season’smaximum salaries,minimum salaries, andmid-level/bi-annual exceptions are worth, as well as more details onthe key cap figures for the 2025/26 season. We’ve also shared early projections formaximum salaries,minimum salaries, andmid-level/bi-annual figures for 2026/27.
TheHoops Rumors Glossary provides in-depth explanations on many concepts related to the salary cap and Collective Bargaining Agreement, presented in the simplest possible terms. We’ve updated the majority of our entries to reflect the changes made in the most recent CBA.
Finally, we’re in the process of breaking down all 30 teams’ summer moves in ourOffseason Check-In series.
Many of our features and trackers are cyclical and will be reintroduced as the year goes on. For example, during draft season next spring, we’ll be keeping tabs on all the early entrants for the 2026 NBA draft.
Be sure to check out the sidebar on our desktop site orour Features page for all of our current resources.
Bogdan Bogdanovic has been ruled out of the EuroBasket due to a ruptured hamstring muscle, according to reports fromEurohoops.net andBasketNews.com.
The Serbian Federation released a statement regarding Bogdanovic’s injury, which also revealed that the Clippers wing will return to the United States to receive treatment.
“Bogdanovic has been diagnosed with a ruptured hamstring muscle, which will prevent him from playing in the remainder of the European Championship. In agreement with Bogdan’s club, the Los Angeles Clippers, the captain will undergo intensive therapy in the United States in the coming period to recover as quickly as possible,” the statement read.
Bogdanovic, the captain of the Serbian national team, wasinjured on a drive to the basket late in the second quarter against Portugal on Friday. Bogdanovic was examined by the Serbian and Clippers medical teams, which determined the extent of his injury.
In two EuroBasket 2025 appearances, the 33-year-old averaged 9.0 points, 3.5 rebounds and 4.0 assists in 20 minutes per contest. Serbia has a 3-0 record in Group A and will now try to win the tournament without him.
The overriding concern for Bogdanovic now is whether his injury will linger into the NBA season. The veteran guard dealt with hamstring injuries early in the 2024/25 season, but played 30 games during the second half of the season for the Clippers, averaging 11.4 points and 3.2 assists in 25.0 minutes per game. He began the season with the Hawks, who dealt him to the Pacific Division club at the trade deadline.
Bogdanovic is set to make just over $16MM during the upcoming season and the Clippers hold a $16MM club option for the final year of his contract in 2026/27.
Players who are entering the fourth and final year of their rookie scale contracts were permitted to sign rookie scale extensions as of early July. Those players, who were all 2022 first-round selections, will have until the day before the 2025/26 regular season starts (October 20) to finalize long-term agreements with their current teams.
Players eligible for rookie scale extensions can sign new deals that run for up to five years, with those contracts taking effect beginning in 2026/27. If they don’t sign extensions during the offseason, those players will be eligible for restricted free agency in the summer of 2026.
Asour tracker shows, four players —Paolo Banchero,Jabari Smith Jr.,Chet Holmgren andJalen Williams — have already signed rookie scale extensions with their respective teams this offseason. A fifth —Blake Wesley — is no longer eligible after reaching abuyout agreement with Washington and subsequentlysigning a one-year deal with Portland.
Eight other 2022 first-round picks are ineligible rookie scale deals for various reasons.
That leaves 17 players — including Defensive Player of the Year runner-upDyson Daniels — who remain eligible for rookie scale extensions this offseason:
Ochai Agbaji (Raptors)While some of these players almost certainly won’t sign new deals, we should still see several more extensions signed before the October 20 deadline. There has been an uptick in rookie extensions over the past several offseasons as more teams look to lock up their promising young players in advance of free agency. Since 2020, at least 10 players have signed rookie extensions every year, topping out at a record-setting 14 in 2023.
