Kemba Walker is joining his hometown New York Knicks after agreeing to a buyout with the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday.
ESPN and The Athletic reported the move, which sees Walker leave the Thunder without playing a game.
The four-time All-Star was part of a June trade that saw OKC send Al Horford back to the Boston Celtics and receive the 16th pick in the 2021 NBA Draft.
The Thunder, who are building a young team after trading superstars Russell Westbrook, Paul George and Chris Paul in recent seasons, turned that selection into two more in a deal with the Houston Rockets.
Walker's exit gives OKC more minutes to dish out to prospects and sees the Knicks recruit the starting point guard they badly needed.
Elfrid Payton started 63 games last season but lost his place after 13 minutes, one point and one assist in the playoffs. Frank Ntilikina appeared fleetingly in three postseason games.
Derrick Rose was promoted to a starting role, having rediscovered some form leading the second unit, but the Knicks lost all three of his starts and badly missed his consistent contributions from the bench.
Rose has returned to Madison Square Garden on a three-year, $43million contract yet will likely now serve as back-up to Walker.
Walker is expected to fit into the $10m salary cap space left in New York following the Knicks' free agency business, which included the signing of the guard's former Celtics team-mate Evan Fournier.
Walker, who is only two years removed from an All-NBA Third Team season with the Charlotte Hornets, still had two years and $74m remaining on his previous deal before Wednesday's agreement with the Thunder.
The Knicks will be hoping for an offensive boost from Walker, who was born in The Bronx and went to high school at Rice in Manhatten.
The best defense in the league, giving up only 104.7 points per game, carried the Knicks to the playoffs for the first time in eight years, but they scored only 107.0 points on offense, ranking 26th, and lost to the Atlanta Hawks in the first round.
Walker scored 25.6 points and played all 82 games for the Hornets in a career year in 2018-19, earning the move to Boston.
But a series of injuries kept him from playing or performing consistently for the Celtics, while his usage rate last year fell to 26.3 per cent alongside ball-dominant duo Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.
Walker will get the opportunity to shine again in a prominent role at MSG, as long as he can stay fit.
DeMar DeRozan is headed to Chicago on a new three-year, $85million contract after the Bulls and San Antonio Spurs orchestrated a sign-and-trade deal, multiple outlets on reported Tuesday.
The Spurs received Thaddeus Young and Al-Farouq Aminu, who are both on expiring contracts, as well as a future first-round draft pick and two future second-round picks.
DeRozan, who turns 32 later this week, is one of the most consistent scorers in the NBA, averaging at least 20 points per game over each of the last eight seasons.
The 6ft 6in swingman averaged 21.6 points and a career-high 6.9 assists last season for San Antonio while shooting 49.5 percent from the floor.
DeRozan's game, however, has come under scrutiny by some due to his unwillingness to attempt and inability to make three-pointers.
He shot just 22.7 percent from beyond the arc in his three-season tenure with the Spurs.
The move is the latest for Bulls vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas and general manager Marc Eversley in an effort to end the franchise's four-season playoff drought.
Also joining Chicago will be point guard Lonzo Ball, who received a four-year, $85m contract Monday in a sign-and-trade deal that ended his tenure with the New Orleans Pelicans.
The Bulls also signed restricted free agent guard Alex Caruso after the Los Angeles Lakers declined to match Chicago's four-year, $37m offer.
Chicago were buyers at last season's trade deadline, acquiring former All-Star center Nikola Vucevic from the Orlando Magic, and are making an urgent push to build around Zach LaVine and win their first playoff series since 2015.
Always a dangerous scorer, LaVine achieved new levels of efficiency last season, shooting 50.7 percent from the field and 41.9 percent from three-point range, both career highs.
Chicago was thought to be in the market for a polished player or two this offseason, but many thought the team would need to part ways with a young asset.
But the Bulls' front office was able to add both DeRozan and Ball without giving up Lauri Markkanen, Patrick Williams or Coby White.
The Golden State Warriors and Stephen Curry agreed to a max contract extension, paying the two-time league MVP $215.4million over four years.
Added to his previous deal of $201m, signed in 2017, Curry becomes the first player in NBA history to ink multiple deals worth at least $200 million, ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported on Tuesday.
Curry will be 38 at the end of his new contract but has shown no signs of slowing down after averaging a career-high 32.0 points during the regular season to become the oldest NBA scoring champion since a 35-year-old Michael Jordan accomplished the feat in 1997-98.
The move comes during a crucial offseason for the Warriors after two straight injury-riddled campaigns have seen them fall short of a postseason berth.
Curry carried the Warriors in 2020-21 with Klay Thompson and 2020 second overall pick James Wiseman both suffering season-ending injuries.
Golden State general manager Bob Myers admitted he is not sure if Thompson will be healthy by the start of next season. The five-time All-Star tore his right Achilles before last season's training camp.
That came after Thompson missed the 2019-20 season with a torn ACL suffered in a Game 6 NBA Finals loss in June 2019 that gave the Toronto Raptors their first NBA title.
“I don't know that it'll be the start of the year,” Myers said. "We'll see more as camp gets closer. When I say start of the year, I mean Game 1. I don't know if that's realistic or not.
“What we're focused on is when do we expect Klay to be Klay, and I don't know if that'll be January, February, March. It's too early to say."
With Curry at 33 years old and Thompson and Draymond Green both 31, the Warriors have been connected to rumors of a win-now move that would add veteran talent, but Myers has yet to pull off such a blockbuster.
Wiseman, whose college career at Memphis was cut short due to eligibility issues, has played just 42 games since leaving high school and remains a raw prospect.
Myers has insisted that the club does not intend to trade Wiseman, however, saying he can be an asset in both the short and long term.
The Warriors left many pundits puzzled after last Thursday's NBA Draft, where they used the seventh overall pick on unpolished forward Jonathan Kuminga and the 14th overall selection on guard Moses Moody, leading to even more trade speculation.
There appears to be much left to accomplish this offseason for Myers and the Warriors, but a new contract extension ensures Curry will be the centrepiece of it all, just as he was for three NBA titles and five straight NBA Finals appearances from 2015-19.
Kyle Lowry is set to leave the Toronto Raptors to join the Miami Heat after the 35-year-old point guard revealed the free agency move on social media.
The six-time NBA All-Star, who has been with the Raptors since 2012, will reportedly join the Heat on a three-year deal. The deal marks the start of the NBA free agency period.
Lowry announced the deal on Twitter, posting "Miami Heat x Kyle Lowry Let's goo!!"
ESPN claims the deal is worth approximately $90 million, completing via a sign-and-trade with the Raptors.
Lowry holds records for most assists, most three-point field goals and three-point attempts for Raptors and is widely viewed as the best player in franchise history. He was part of the Toronto side which won the 2019 NBA title.
The veteran played in 601 games after joining Toronto in July 2012, behind only DeMar DeRozan (675) on their all-time list.
Lowry averaged 17.2 points, 5.4 rebounds and 7.3 assists per game in the 2020-21 NBA season.
The Heat reached the NBA postseason in 2020-21 but fell in the first round 4-0 to eventual champions, the Milwaukee Bucks.
Chris Paul and Kawhi Leonard are expected to decline player options for next season ahead of the NBA free agency period opening on Monday, but the veteran stars may stay with their teams.
After leading the Phoenix Suns to the NBA Finals, Paul will not exercise his $44million option for the 2021-22 season, The Athletic reported. ESPN added that the Suns are optimistic they will be able to re-sign the 36-year-old.
Yahoo Sports first reported Leonard would decline his $36m option with the Los Angeles Clippers and become an unrestricted free agent, but ESPN reports he is expected to remain with the Clippers on a new deal after suffering a season-ending knee injury during the playoffs.
Even if they end up staying where they are, those two will be the two biggest names on the open market beginning on Monday, but others figure to be available in trades.
Kyle Lowry of the Toronto Raptors may top that list as he is expected to move on from Toronto. ESPN reported that the Miami Heat's move to pick up Goran Dragic's $19.4m team option might have been designed to facilitate a sign-and-trade deal for Lowry.
Ben Simmons also could be on the move from the Philadelphia 76ers, but Bradley Beal now seems set to stay with the Washington Wizards after they sent Russell Westbrook to the Los Angeles Lakers in a draft-night trade.
A decade ago, the Dallas Mavericks stood atop the basketball world after Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Terry and company won the NBA Finals over a heavily favoured Miami Heat team that featured LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in their first season together.
With the Heat dynasty clearly on the rise and with the Mavs fielding a veteran roster already, Dallas decided not to make an earnest title defense and traded defensive anchor Tyson Chandler.
The Mavericks have yet to win a playoff series since those 2011 NBA Finals.
Despite postseason appearances in six of the past 10 seasons and the acquisition of a generational talent in Luka Doncic, owner Mark Cuban decided change needed to come in the 2021 offseason.
Gone is Donnie Nelson, who had been the general manager since 2002 and was the architect of that title team a decade ago.
Also gone is longtime head coach Rick Carlisle, who had been in place since 2008 and amassed a record of 555-478. Nonetheless, Cuban decided to change things up.
"The league has changed in the 21 years since I've been here," Cuban said. "Players have changed. How you build a championship team has changed. Sometimes you just have to look to have a different tool set."
Who is in charge?
Doncic and Nelson have a famously close relationship and the 22-year-old star was disappointed to see his longtime friend replaced by former Nike executive Nico Harrison as general manager.
While training with Slovenia in preparation for the Olympic Games, Doncic admitted he was less than thrilled by the move: "It was kind of tough to me. I really like Donnie. I know him since I was a kid and he was the one that drafted me.
"It was tough for me seeing that, but I'm not the one making decisions there."
This indicates that Cuban, who has long held the reputation as one of the most involved owners in American sports, was asserting his view of what the Mavs' leadership team should look like.
Yet moving on from Carlisle, long considered a leading NBA coach, appears to be a move targeted at appeasing Doncic. The young star had openly shown his disapproval with some of Carlisle's coaching decisions and substitution patterns, becoming increasingly prone to on-court displays of frustration.
Doncic may not quite wield the sway of someone like LeBron James, who has become the face of the "player empowerment era" in the NBA, but Cuban has wisely taken Doncic's input into consideration.
And as much as the hiring of a new leadership team represents a new era for the Mavs, Cuban is clearly trying to revive some of the magic of the 2011 squad.
Jason Kidd was named the team's next head coach, with it also announced that Dirk Nowitzki would begin a formal role as a front office advisor – two moves that also surround Doncic with mentors to help him progress into a champion.
The cornerstone
Doncic's career is off to an unprecedented start, and Dallas clearly intends to build around its multi-talented superstar well into the future. Doncic was the fastest in NBA history to reach 5,000 points, 1,500 rebounds and 1,500 assists, hitting those marks in 195 career games.
LeBron James took 228 games to reach those numbers. Michael Jordan needed 282 games.
Doncic has also improved every season since entering the league in 2018. Already a triple-double machine, he posted career-high efficiency in 2020-21 by shooting 47.9 per cent from the floor and 35.0 per cent from three-point range.
His game has started to mature, as well, especially as a scorer. Doncic is a child of the shot-efficiency era, and he has always gotten shots from the most efficient areas on the floor – at the rim, behind the 3-point line and at the free throw line. Those shots remain valuable, but Doncic has diversified arsenal of mid-range options by developing a variety of floaters and pull-ups. He shot 51.5 per cent from mid-range last season – better than mid-range maestro Devin Booker (51.2 per cent) – after shooting around 41 per cent in his first two seasons.
This bodes well as an indicator of future success in the postseason, when opponents' defenses are geared toward taking away the most efficient shots.
Doncic's numbers are virtually unassailable and make him almost a lock to win an MVP – if not more – at some point in his career. It can be hard to forget, though, that Doncic has only played three years in the NBA.
Giannis Antetokounmpo, although a less refined prospect when drafted, needed until his sixth season to win his first MVP and became a champion in his eighth season only after suffering heart-breaking losses, sanding away some rough edges in his game that made him vulnerable in the playoffs and evolving into a true leader.
Doncic's numbers may remain steadily impressive over the coming years, but he can still grow and develop in subtle ways as he matures. Kidd, a dynamic triple-double threat in his own playing days, will be responsible for overseeing Doncic’s growth.
"My job is to give him answers to the test," Kidd said of Doncic. "His imagination is at the highest level, which is a great thing to be a part of. I (as a young player) tried a lot of things, and I know I drove a lot of my coaches crazy. I won't get mad because I've been in those shoes."
Do the pieces fit?
With a .362 usage rate last season, Doncic shouldered the largest offensive burden of any player in the league. Kidd has already said publicly that the superstar will need more help from his team-mates going forward.
"Not having to bring the ball up every time and start the play," Kidd said. "When you look at the fourth quarter, he wears down at times."
Further evidence that Doncic will need more help is that he has exploded for more than 40 points in five of his 13 career playoff games, yet the Mavericks are just 2-3 in those games.
Kristaps Porzingis has been tabbed as the second option in Dallas but could end up in trade rumours sooner rather than later after a flaccid playoff performance, averaging just 13.1 points and 5.4 rebounds per game.
Despite largely considered a disappointment for not recapturing his peak form, Porzingis still plays an important role as a floor spacer on offense while defending bigger players. And while his numbers fall short of what is expected of a second option, his presence on the court makes Doncic better.
Porzingis spaces the floor and gives Doncic room to penetrate opposing defenses, allowing him to be more efficient while both scoring and assisting, while also shooting much better from any range with Porzingis on the court compared to when he sits.
Dallas' depth got worse last offseason with a disastrous trade that sent Seth Curry to the Philadelphia 76ers for Josh Richardson, who has failed to live up to his reputation as a defender and who is yet to match his 17-4-4 averages from his breakout season with Miami in 2018-19.
After a disappointing regular season, Richardson played just 13.4 minutes per game in the Mavs' first-round loss to the Los Angeles Clippers, averaging 4.9 points and shooting under 40 percent.
Curry, meanwhile, exploded in the postseason for Philadelphia, averaging 18.8 points and connecting on over half of his three-pointers on 6.8 attempts per game.
Richardson's defensive prowess also appears to be a farse, as the Mavericks allowed 113.0 points per 100 possessions with him on the court last season and only 107.7 with him on the bench.
Richardson appears to be a failed experiment, and Dallas will need to look elsewhere to find something resembling a third star.
Evolution or Revolution? Verdict: Evolution
The organisation has already undergone a massive transformation by ousting their longtime general manager and head coach in favour of a new direction, so it is fair to say that anything resembling a "revolution" has already taken place in the front office.
The Mavs' roster is far from a finished product, however, and Harrison will need to hit the ground running in his first general manager job. Dallas did not own the rights to any of its picks in the NBA draft, so he will have already assessed the need to look elsewhere to upgrade the roster around his young superstar.
The postseason failures and frequent injuries of Porzingis could lead the Mavs to the trade market, but opposing teams have also seen those weaknesses and have adjusted their assessments of him as well. Dallas may be better served by displaying some patience with a player who is still only 25 and has averaged over 20 points per game in three straight campaigns.
Milwaukee's 2021 title demonstrated that teams can still build patiently while developing players and Dallas may be one acquisition away – as the Bucks were with Jrue Holiday – from becoming contenders once again.
Russell Westbrook is preparing for life on a fourth different team in as many years, with LeBron James welcoming his new running mate to the Los Angeles Lakers following a blockbuster trade.
The Lakers overshadowed the NBA Draft by completing a deal to get Westbrook from the Washington Wizards, who receive Kyle Kuzma, Montrezl Harrell and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope in return.
The Wizards also got the 22nd pick in Thursday's first round – Isaiah Jackson was taken at that slot, then traded to the Indiana Pacers in exchange for point guard Aaron Holiday – while the Lakers gained two second-round selections in future drafts, according to reports.
For Westbrook, it means yet another fresh start. The 32-year-old ended his long association with the Oklahoma City Thunder when reuniting with James Harden at the Houston Rockets in 2019, only to then leave for Washington a year later.
Despite only spending one season with the Wizards, Westbrook declared his appreciation for all connected with the franchise in an Instagram post after news of the deal had emerged.
"Thank you DC! You welcomed my family and I with open arms from day one," he wrote.
"Everyone from the front office to the training staff, the coaches, my team-mates, and the fans. I’m grateful y'all took a chance on me and supported me every step of the way.
"I'm blessed to have been a part of such a stand-up organisation. It didn't take long to make a home in DC, and I will forever be grateful and appreciative of my experience with the organisation. Thank you."
LeBron, meanwhile, used his Instagram account to put up a picture of himself and fellow Lakers star Anthony Davis standing either side of the team's latest recruit, along with the caption "Brodie", which is Westbrook's nickname.
The addition is a move aimed at getting the 2019-20 NBA champions back into contention. The title defence did not go to plan last term, long-term injuries to their two stars leading to a struggle just to make the postseason. While they did qualify, the holders were knocked out in the first round by the Phoenix Suns.
As for Westbrook, his year with the Wizards included a key role in a late charge to make the playoffs via the play-in tournament, though they were beaten 4-1 in the first round by the Philadelphia 76ers, after which it was announced head coach Scott Brooks would be leaving his role.
Westbrook had broken an NBA record that had stood for 47 years during the regular season, moving beyond Oscar Robertson to top the list for career triple-double games.
He led the league for assists with 11.7 per game, as well as shooting 31.5 per cent from three-point range - his best return from deep sine the 2016-17 season. It will be fascinating to see how he fits into the Lakers' current roster, though it remains to be seen if they are finished making offseason moves just yet, considering free agency is around the corner.
There was speculation L.A. were also in negotiations to bring in Buddy Hield from the Sacramento Kings. The 28-year-old would add some much-needed outside scoring, seen as he is a career 40.6 per cent shooter from deep.
The Lakers finished at 35.4 per cent as a team from three-point range, ranking them 21st in the entire league. Caldwell-Pope was one of their more successful players when it came to taking aim from distance, finishing up at 41.0 per cent, but he has been moved on in order to add a new playmaking presence.
Westbrook, who is from California and played at UCLA during his college career, will earn $44.2million in 2021-22, then has a player option worth $47m for the following year.
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