2026 NBA Rumors Live Blog with Latest News, Trade Buzz and Grades

Kevon Looney's scoring average plummeted to a shockingly low 2.8 points last season. He shot 41.7 percent from the field.

But his experience, effort on the boards and a hint of passing ability could still make him an intriguing option for some team in need of frontcourt depth.

And he almost certainly wouldn't cost more than the veteran minimum.

You can't really analyze this deal for the Oklahoma City Thunder without looking at the rest of their offseason.

By unloading both Aaron Wiggins and Isaiah Joe into other teams' cap space, OKC created enough flexibility to extend Hartenstein without causing too many short-term problems.

Now, the Thunder can continue to lean on Hartenstein's passing and rebounding whether he's anchoring a bigger frontcourt with Chet Holmgren or playing without him.

His impact in either role has been solid for the Thunder.

Grade: B+

Giannis Antetokounmpo helped his family members secure millions of NBA dollars, but it looks like the Miami Heat are going to approach his time with the team a little differently.

According to ESPN's Ramona Shelburne, there are no plans to sign one of Antetokounmpo's brothers to a contract.

And that makes sense. In an era in which depth is as important as it's ever been, serious teams can't really afford to use roster spots on players who can't contribute on the floor.

It doesn't make a ton of sense for a veteran on a pretty small player option to want to stay with the Milwaukee Bucks right now.

If Tyler Herro stays on the roster through the start of the season, they might not be among the worst teams in the league, but it's also tough to imagine them higher than the top 10.

It's understandable for Gary Trent Jr. to think he'd have a better shot at high-level games if he went elsewhere. And it wouldn't be surprising if a handful of suitors would be interested in a career 38.7 percent three-point shooter.

Declaring anyone the "heart and soul" of a team is obviously cliched, but it absolutely applies to Jose Alvarado.

And getting him to re-sign for an amount right around the $4.5 million he would've made from accepting his player option is a clear win.

His raw numbers (7.4 points, 3.4 assists and 1.0 steals in 19.9 minutes last season) may not leap off the screen, but there really isn't anything to measure his effort and craftiness on both ends, and what that does for the crowd.

Especially with Landry Shamet and Mitchell Robinson potentially leaving this summer, bringing Alvarado back to the championship core feels crucial.

Grade: A

Things seem to be relatively quiet on the "LeBron back to the Lakers" front, so we can probably expect to hear about plenty of other suitors over the next few weeks.

Most recently, The Ringer's Zach Lowe floated the possibility of LeBron landing on LA's other team.

"I don't know if this has been decided yet, but someone who would know told me... that the Clippers are telling or behaving I guess as though they're going to have cap space in the offseason," Lowe said. "...They can open about $20 million but they have to cut some options and renounce some guys."

LeBron's side has mostly signaled that he doesn't want to take a huge discount, so signing for the "little brother" franchise for under $20 million seems unlikely.

But if he's really available, expect several teams to take a shot.

Bogdan Bogdanović turns 34 in August, and he's coming off a pretty rough campaign by his standards. In 2025-26, he put up a career-low 7.4 points, shot 34.7 percent from deep and only appeared in 23 games.

But he was also hampered by injuries for most of the season. And if he's relatively healthy, he could still be a solid, experienced reserve for a team in need of a shooter.

And that may be what the Los Angeles Clippers are trying to sell some suitor on in coming weeks.

Some team with an excess of second-round picks may be able to land a little firepower for the second unit.

Before agreeing to trade for Charlotte Hornets point guard LaMelo Ball, the Minnesota Timberwolves reportedly had their eyes on a different prize: Boston Celtics wing Jaylen Brown.

However, the Celtics' asking price was too prohibitive, according to Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic. They reportedly wanted a package including Rudy Gobert, Naz Reid (whom the Wolves later sent to Charlotte) and "similar pick compensation" that the Wolves gave up for Ball.

"That was just too much for the Wolves to pay for a soon-to-be 30-year-old forward who, while being a better overall player than Ball, wasn't as clean a fit next to Edwards," Krawczynski added.

It's worth noting that Brown would have been significantly more expensive, too. Ball is earning only $40.8 million this coming season, while Brown is earning nearly $57.1 million.

Trading for Brown would have hard-capped the Timberwolves at the second apron—much like trading for Ball did—so the $16-plus million gap between their salaries could have made a huge difference. Had the Wolves acquired Brown, they would have needed to rebuild their entire frontcourt with limited financial resources.

Considering the price they paid to acquire Ball, the Wolves likely have no regrets about bowing out of Brown trade talks. Meanwhile, the Celtics continue to look for a suitor for the 2024 Finals MVP, as it appears increasingly likely that he will not return to Boston.

With the smell of champagne still wafting in the New York air after the Knicks snapped their 53-year championship drought, team governor James Dolan declared during a mid-June radio appearance that they "cannot go into the second apron" in 2026-27.

The Knicks' front office reportedly begs to differ.

"Dipping below the second apron would lead to much of its depth flocking elsewhere, which is why, despite Dolan's desires, it wants to go over the second apron, according to league sources, who were granted anonymity to speak freely," Fred Katz of The Athletic reported. "But so far, Dolan has not changed his mind."

The Knicks are heading into the offseason with more than $207 million in salary on their books, which puts them less than $15 million below the second apron with five open roster spots.

Both Mitchell Robinson and Landry Shamet are set to become unrestricted free agents this offseason. The Knicks have the ability to re-sign both, but doing so might push them over the second apron.

If the Knicks' front office can't convince Dolan to cross that threshold, the reigning champions will have some tough decisions to make in the coming days.

Welp, so much for a potential Jalen Duren sign-and-trade.

Earlier Friday, both Sam Amick of The Athletic and Marc Stein and Jake Fischer of The Stein Line reported that Duren was interested in exploring sign-and-trade opportunities due to a wide gap in negotiations with him and the Pistons. However, the Pistons don't appear interested in that.

Duren is a restricted free agent, so the Pistons have the right to match any offer sheet that he signs with another team. They might effectively be daring him to find another team that's willing to offer him closer to what he wants financially. Given the dearth of teams with cap space, that's a reasonable gamble.

Granted, it might also blow up in their faces.

Duren could always take his one-year, $9.6 million qualifying offer and become an unrestricted free agent in 2027. Some teams might also create cap space out of nowhere, similar to what the Milwaukee Bucks did last summer by waiving and stretching Damian Lillard so they had the cap space to sign Myles Turner.

Either way, Duren's status will be a major storyline to monitor heading into free agency.

When the Cleveland Cavaliers acquired James Harden ahead of this year's trade deadline, they made it clear that they envisioned a long-term partnership with him.

We may soon learn what they had in mind.

"Cleveland should soon have a verbal agreement on a new multi-year deal with James Harden, who has been expected to swap his $42.3 million player option for next season (which is only partially guaranteed for $13.3 million) for a longer pact," Marc Stein and Jake Fischer of The Stein Line reported Friday.

Teams are allowed to negotiate with their own free agents ahead of the official start of free agency on June 30, which is how the Los Angeles Lakers and Charlotte Hornets already came to terms with Austin Reaves and Coby White, respectively. It seems as though Harden may be next in line.

How much of a discount Harden takes will be the big story worth monitoring, particularly as Cleveland navigates its proximity to the second apron.

The Oklahoma City Thunder's offseason salary dump continued Friday.

There are a few ways the Pistons could go about adding Joe without sending out salary, although they figure to loop this into the Isaiah Stewart salary dump that they agreed to with Memphis on Wednesday.

For OKC, this is purely about financial relief. Joe is an elite marksman—he shot 41.5 percent from deep during his four years with the Thunder—but their backcourt is loaded between Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Cason Wallace, Alex Caruso, Jared McCain and the newly drafted Bennett Stirtz. Given their financial situation, Joe was a luxury that they could no longer afford.

Their loss is the Pistons' gain. Detroit has been hunting all offseason for additional shooting to put alongside Cade Cunningham. Tyler Herro and Norman Powell are higher-volume scorers than Joe, who profiles as more of a three-point specialist, but acquiring him for only two second-round picks is a bargain.

This is a clear win for Detroit and a necessary evil for OKC as it looks for ways to trim its payroll.

Before the Milwaukee Bucks agreed to trade Giannis Antetokounmpo to the Miami Heat on Monday, the bidding had come down to Miami and the Boston Celtics.

Those weren't the only teams interested in the Greek Freak, though.

According to ESPN's Ramona Shelburne and Jamal Collier, the Bucks "canvassed the league for months, fielding offers and presenting them to his front office and ownership group, then getting feedback from Antetokounmpo's camp as to whether he'd be willing to extend his contract with those teams."

Antetokounmpo's unwillingness to extend with certain teams caused "at least four strong bids" to fall apart, Shelburne and Collier added.

They didn't specifically name any teams, although given the Portland Trail Blazers' reported interest in Giannis—and his reported lack of interest in signing an extension with them—it seems safe to assume they were one of them.

The Charlotte Hornets agreed to trade LaMelo Ball to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Thursday for a package headlined by Naz Reid and an unprotected 2033 first-round pick.

They might not be done with their roster makeover. On SportsCenter, ESPN's Shams Charania revealed that Hornets forward Miles Bridges is "getting a ton of interest around the league" in the wake of the Ball trade.

Bridges is heading into the final season of his three-year, $75 million contract and is set to earn only $22.8 million this year. His counting stats dipped slightly last season amidst the emergence of Brandon Miller and rookie 2-guard Kon Knueppel, but he still averaged 17.1 points, 5.8 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.9 made threes in only 31.0 minutes per game.

Between Bridges, Reid, Grant Williams and Tidjane Salaun, the Hornets suddenly have a logjam at power forward. They also have Ryan Kalkbrenner and Moussa Diabaté at center, and they just spent the No. 14 overall pick on Washington big man Hannes Steinbach.

It would not be a surprise to see the Hornets move on from Bridges as they look to retool their roster around Miller and Knueppel in the post-Ball era.

Despite falling short in their attempt to land Giannis Antetokounmpo, the Boston Celtics are still reportedly exploring trades involving star wing Jaylen Brown.

On Friday, ESPN's Shams Charania revealed what the Celtics have been asking for.

After the first round of the draft wrapped up Tuesday night, team president Brad Stevens stopped short of pledging that Brown would be on the Celtics next year.

"Jaylen Brown is a big part of us," Stevens told reporters. "I'm never going to predict the future. Every indication, everything I think about, over the last few years, has been building around those guys. You never know. But at the same time, the one thing I want to make very clear is how valued he's always been. He's been amazing. He's been an amazing teammate and a great person to be around."

At this point, it seems like a matter of when, not if, the Celtics trade Brown.

Fresh off a breakout season that resulted in his first All-Star and All-NBA nods, Detroit Pistons center Jalen Duren is in line for a major payday this offseason. However, the soon-to-be restricted free agent struggled in the playoffs, which may be giving Detroit pause in negotiations.

According to Sam Amick of The Athletic, Duren "was underwhelmed by the Detroit Pistons' initial offer in restricted free agency and is planning to explore sign-and-trade scenarios when they are permitted on Tuesday."

Since Duren made an All-NBA team, the Pistons are allowed to offer him a max contract beginning at 30 percent of the salary cap rather than 25 percent. Based on the projected $165 million cap, Detroit can offer him a five-year max deal worth up to $287.1 million, while other suitors can offer no more than a four-year, $177.4 million contract.

Marc Stein and Jake Fischer of The Stein Line reported that there's "an early gulf" in negotiations between Duren and the Pistons. Amick added that "the gap between the sides is large enough that Duren is considering ways to land elsewhere, with the sign-and-trade route deemed preferable to signing an offer sheet with another team that the Pistons could, and likely would, match."

Stein and Fischer mentioned Boston Celtics wing Jaylen Brown as one potential Pistons target in a Duren sign-and-trade.

The Detroit Pistons are up to something. What that is remains unclear for now.

The Pistons are reportedly eyeing ways to add shooting this offseason after their offense bogged down in the playoffs. However, two of their potential targets—Austin Reaves and Coby White—are already off the board.

According to Marc Stein and Jake Fischer of The Stein Line, Miami Heat guard Norman Powell, Milwaukee Bucks guard Tyler Herro and Oklahoma City Thunder guard Isaiah Joe could all be on Detroit's radar.

The Thunder already traded Aaron Wiggins to the Atlanta Hawks in a salary dump, and Joe might be next. The Bucks just acquired Herro in the Giannis Antetokounmpo trade, but he might not be long for Milwaukee. And the Heat might have trouble re-signing Powell given their financial constraints in the wake of the Giannis trade.

The Pistons already salary-dumped Isaiah Stewart onto the Memphis Grizzlies, which suggests they have something up their sleeve. Which shooter they add remains to be seen.