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

Between injuries and aging, it's been a tough couple of seasons for Bogdan Bogdanović.

The soon-to-be-34-year-old wing has averaged 9.8 points and shot 35.9 percent from deep since the start of the 2024-25 campaign. And he was limited to just 77 games in that stretch.

In that context, signing him feels like a bit of a risk.

But Houston's second unit could benefit from a little experience. Bogdanović can also provide some secondary playmaking too.

For a veteran minimum (the likely value here), he's almost certainly worth a shot.

Grade: B

It's going to take a pretty sizable offer sheet to dissuade the Utah Jazz from matching, but something over $30 million could do it.

The Brooklyn Nets have already used up a lot of the cap space they entered the offseason with, so that leaves the Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers as really the only teams that could offer the kind of money Tony Jones is reporting above.

He makes the most sense in L.A., who need a good rim runner to play alongside Luka Dončić. Is this the first big splash Rob Pelinka has in mind after LeBron James informed the team he's moving on?

This is an interesting deal.

Dean Wade has started a lot of games for the Cleveland Cavaliers over the years, but he turns 30 in November, has a career average of 5.3 points and has a barely-above-average three-point percentage.

In theory, a good floor spacer with size can open up a lot of possibilities for a rotation, but Wade's not consistent enough to really bend defenses.

And while he's generally been a pretty good positional defender, it's going to be tougher for him to keep up with NBA scorers as he ages into his 30s.

Grade: C

This is one of the first real head-scratchers of the day.

Zach Collins only played in 10 games this season. And over his last two, he's averaged 6.8 points and posted an even 0.0 box plus/minus.

It wouldn't have been all that surprising for the oft-injured Collins to be one of the last players signed this summer.

Instead, he's off the board on the first day and at an average annual salary that's higher than some of the better players who've also landed deals this offseason.

Grade: C-

The lack of cap space around the league is limiting free agents to some shockingly low-value deals. It's almost the inverse of 2016, when the cap spike led to news like Timofey Mozgov landing a four-year, $64 million deal.

The latest surprisingly low figure goes to Luke Kennard, who agreed to a two-year deal with the Phoenix Suns for $13 million.

In the wake of the Miles Bridges trade that cost Phoenix Grayson Allen and Royce O'Neale, the Suns were in dire need of some shooting. And Kennard absolutely provides that.

He just led the league in three-point percentage at 47.8 (his third time earning that crown) and has a career mark of 44.2 that ranks second all time.

Sprinkle in some underrated playmaking, and it's hard to see this deal as anything but a steal for Phoenix.

Grade: A

After a midseason trade from the Sacramento Kings, Keon Ellis averaged 8.3 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.3 threes in 24.8 minutes for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

And he instantly became one of their more reliable perimeter defenders.

Now, after the mini-breakout for a competitive team, he's headed back to a rebuilder for a decent bit of money.

With Michael Porter Jr. and Julius Randle both likely to play heavy minutes, Brooklyn needed some lower-usage guards or wings who could help on defense. And Ellis certainly checks those boxes.

And getting that for a salary that accounts for less than six percent of the cap is a good deal.

Grade: B+

Second-round pick Kobe Sanders showed more than enough as a rookie to earn a second contract.

He appeared in 68 games, averaged 19.9 minutes and shot 40.8 percent from deep. He even flashed some secondary playmaking ability.

He's already 24, so there may not be a ton of developmental runway left, but there may be a legitimate three-and-D wing here, and securing that possibility for four years and $11.2 million is well worth it.

Grade: A

You may not know much about Branden Carlson. He's only been in the NBA for two seasons. He wasn't drafted. And he barely saw the floor for the Oklahoma City Thunder.

But he's a legit seven-footer who's hit 53 threes in 734 career minutes (2.6 per 36 minutes) and has a high block rate too.

Taking a flyer on him, despite the fact that he's already 27, is well worth $2.5 million (a tiny fraction of the $165 million salary cap).

Grade: B+

This deal is for one year and the minimum, and at that price, it's a steal.

The five-year veteran averaged 8.5 points and shot 38.8 percent from three as a Timberwolves reserve last season.

And for a team that is pretty tight on spending power after the LaMelo Ball acquisition, getting that kind of production out of a minimum salary slot would be huge.

Grade: A

The Miami Heat's top priority in free agency was abundantly clear the moment they traded for Giannis Antetokounmpo. Having him and Bam Adebayo meant they'd need shooting everywhere else.

And now, they've found some in free agency.

Tim Hardaway Jr. was a Sixth Man of the Year candidate last season, averaged 13.5 points and shot 40.7 percent from deep.

If he shoots it like that for Miami, he'll be well worth $6.5 million for one year.

Grade: A

Quick announcements of a DeAndre Jordan signing have become something of a free-agency tradition, even if the big man is on the verge of his 38th birthday.

Jordan may not be able to provide the same on-court impact he once did, but he's still a good leader and brings plenty of experience to a team that needs it.

At the veteran minimum, even if Jordan plays fewer than the 199 minutes he logged in 2025-26, this is a fine investment.

Grade: B+

Ousmane Dieng showed some real promise for the Milwaukee Bucks down the stretch of this season, and the organization is rewarding him for it now.

When the Bucks declined his team option a few days ago, it seemed like they might move on from him, but it turned out to be the first step in securing him to a longer-term deal.

And it's not hard to see why.

Dieng is still young (he just turned 23), stands 6'9" and averaged 11.0 points after being traded to Milwaukee.

Grade: B+

...with news of the Chicago Bulls waiving Kam Jones.

It's not exactly the kind of fireworks we're used to seeing at the start of free agency, but the pre-agency period may have spoiled us a bit.

Most of the biggest moves of the offseason may have already happened.

Precious Achiuwa had what was almost certainly his best season in 2025-26, when he averaged career highs in points (10.1) and rebounds (6.7).

And now he's cashing in with a multi-year deal that will keep him with the Sacramento Kings.

His numbers don't jump off the screen, and he's pretty inefficient relative to his positional peers, but the average salary is low enough that it's not worth fussing over.

Grade: B-

The thing about restricted free agency is that the incumbent team essentially holds all the cards.

Even if Jalen Duren is ready to play somewhere else, it's not really up to him.

If the Pistons don't want to entertain sign-and-trades and are committed to matching whatever offer sheet he signs, Duren will continue to be a Piston.

LeBron James will turn 42 in December. That alone makes him at least a bit of a gamble, but LeBron was still a top-40 player last season. If he can stay relatively healthy, he'll almost certainly help whatever team signs him.

His vision hasn't betrayed him. His experience is unmatched. He's obviously not the athlete he once was, but LeBron can make up for that with his intangibles.

Add to that the certain economic boost his new team will get, and it wouldn't be surprising if several teams were legitimately interested.

Free agency hasn't even started yet, but we've already been treated to a bonkers NBA offseason.

Kawhi Leonard, Giannis Antetokounmpo, LaMelo Ball and Ja Morant are all on different teams. The Jaylen Brown domino seems like it could still drop.

After seeing how open the NBA has been over the last eight years, it's not surprising to see how many teams are chasing the title, but the volume of moves sure is.

An Anthony Davis trade has been one of the most heavily rumored possibilities for this offseason, but ESPN's Marc Spears says the team is "not interested in trading" AD.

And unless some team was willing to break the asset bank for him, this is the right approach from Washington.

If he and Trae Young are relatively healthy and AJ Dybantsa is NBA ready (all real possibilities), the Wizards could compete for a play-in spot as early as this season.

At first glance, $14 million for one year of Jock Landale sounds like a lot. And it probably is. Prior to his 2025-26 mini breakout, he had career averages of 5.4 points and 3.3 rebounds.

But 2025-26, when he put up 10.6 points and 5.7 rebounds in 22.1 minutes, while shooting 38.3 percent from three, is nothing to sneeze at.

And for a team with an inconsistent-shooting forward running the show in Jalen Johnson, having a reliable floor spacer logging minutes at the 5 makes sense.

So yes, there's probably a little understandable sticker shock here, but it's still less than 10 percent of the salary cap for a good fit, and it's for only one year.

Grade: B

Kawhi Leonard has been traded back to the Toronto Raptors. Here are the full trade details via ESPN's Shams Charania:

Toronto Raptors Receive:
Kawhi Leonard

Los Angeles Clippers Receive:
Brandon Ingram
Gradey Dick
Two first-round picks
One first-round pick swap
Two second-round picks

This is a deal that makes a lot of sense for both teams.

Toronto had assembled a core that looked like it could make regular playoff runs around Scottie Barnes, but lacked an alpha who could make them true title contenders. They owned all of their future first-round picks and had a plethora of young talent on the bench, making this roster an ideal trade partner for the Clippers.

Leonard has proven on multiple occasions that he can be the No. 1 option for a championship team, as he and LeBron James are two of just three players in NBA history to win Finals MVP with two different franchises, alongside Kareem Abdul-Jabaar.

The Raptors do have to worry about Leonard's durability, especially as he celebrated birthday No. 35 yesterday. What does an extension look like? Given his age and injury history, a max deal at this point would be extremely risky.

Still, this was a risk worth taking for a Raptors team that now has a starting five of Immanuel Quickley, RJ Barrett, Leonard, Scottie Barnes and Jakob Poeltl with a good, young bench highlighted by Colin Murray-Boyles.

Los Angeles should be happy with this trade as well.

The Clippers have completely re-tooled the roster in recent years, turning an aging core of Leonard, Paul George, James Harden and Ivica Zubac into Ingram, Darius Garland, Keaton Wagler (the No. 5 overall pick), Benedict Mathurin and future first-round picks.

Los Angeles is selling high on a healthy Leonard here coming off one of the best seasons of his career.

Both teams should feel really good, although the Clippers come away as slight winners given Leonard's injury concerns.

Grade for Raptors: A-

Grade for Clippers: A

Kawhi Leonard is officially returning to the Toronto Raptors seven years after winning Finals MVP and delivering the first title in franchise history.

Brandon Ingram and a pair of first-round picks highlight the return for the Los Angeles Clippers, as ESPN's Shams Charania reports.

James Harden opted out of his $42.3 million player option yesterday, with he and the Cleveland Cavaliers likely having another multi-year contract in place.

Harden has been eligible to re-sign with the Cavs, so why haven't we seen a new deal announced?

According to The Athletic's Joe Vardon, Harden is waiting to finalize his deal to give the Cavaliers more flexibility sign LeBron James. 

Cleveland is currently $18 million below the luxury tax line after Harden became a free agent, temporarily opening up the full $15 million mid-level exception. Using this would hard cap the Cavs at the first apron, a number they are just $26.7 million below. Obviously, that would only leave $11.7 million to pay Harden and fill out the rest of the roster, so Cleveland would need to offload some more salary somewhere else.

When NBA free agency opens at 6pm E.T. on Tuesday, LeBron James and his representatives will reportedly talk to a few teams, per ESPN's Ramona Shelburne.

It's worth noting that James took his time during free agency in 2010 (signing with the Miami Heat on July 8) and 2014 (coming back to the Cleveland Cavaliers on July 11), yet agreed to join the Los Angeles Lakers on July 1, 2018.

"Mind the Game" decided to randomly upload a clip of LeBron James and Stephen Curry talking about their 2024 Olympic team up together, despite the episode originally airing last November.

A coincidence, right?

Towards the end of the segment, James describes playing with Curry as "perfect" and that the greatest shooter of all time was the first player he reached out to when the Olympic roster was coming together.

It was a joy to see James and Curry share the floor and win gold for the US in 2024. Could they officially become NBA teammates now?

One day before LeBron James made it known that he would leave the Los Angeles Lakers in free agency, Bronny James' contract became guaranteed for $2.3 million.

With James now looking for a new team, what's Bronny's future look like?

The two have already made history by playing together, so some of that shine has worn off. The 21-year-old looked better in Year 2 yet and showed real flashes playing in the G League, although he's just not an NBA-caliber guard right now.

His $2.3 million salary would be easy to absorb via trade, however, if James makes that one of the requirements for a team to sign him. What Bronny wants matters too, of course, and we don't know if he wants to continue sharing a locker room with his dad or prefers some distance.

A sign-and-trade featuring James can't be ruled out yet either, as even the heartbroken Cleveland Cavaliers worked with him in 2010 to obtain some draft capital while the then 25-year-old got the contract he wanted. Bronny could always be included as part of this construction.

Even after LeBron James left the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2018, another Akron, Ohio native and former St. Vincent-St. Mary basketball alumni remained.

Brandon Weems is currently the Cavs assistant general manager and has worked for the organization since 2017. He's a childhood friend of James and former Fighting Irish teammate who the four-time MVP has praised publicly before.

Cleveland doesn't have a general manager at the moment, as former GM Mike Gansey left to become the president of basketball operations with the Philadelphia 76ers.

Weems is likely the favorite to become the Cavaliers new GM, another connection linking James and his former team in a potential reunion.

The Miami Heat are apparently joining the hunt for LeBron James, according to Jake Fischer of The Stein Line and Bleacher Report.

"He's been connected to Miami, a potential homecoming there once Giannis (Antetokounmpo) was traded to South Beach. There's plenty of talk around the league that they could see that reunion."

Per Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald, the Heat could only offer James roughly $11.5 million of their remaining mid-level exception.

LeBron James will not be returning to the Los Angeles Lakers, which is fantastic news for another California basketball team.

The Golden State Warriors "are at the front of the line in pursuit of LeBron James in free agency" according to The Stein Line's Marc Stein. He also reports that a potential trade for Anthony Davis is not mandatory to pull off in order to sign James.

The NBA on Prime's Chris Haynes reports that the Cleveland Cavaliers are interested in acquiring LeBron James for the NBA's all-time leading scorer to play a third stint with the franchise.

James leads the Cavs in nearly every statistical category and guided them to five NBA Finals, winning the 2016 title.

LeBron James has informed the Los Angeles Lakers that he'll pursue other options in free agency. According to ESPN's Shams Charania, the Lakers did express to James that they wanted him to re-sign.

The Lakers are armed with $52 million heading into free agency and had the power to pay him like no other contending team could. Obviously, money wasn't the first priority for James.

These were several hints during the regular season that this could happen.

A source close to James told ESPN's Dave McMenamin that the Lakers tried to "push him out the door" following the Luka Dončić trade last year. James also felt that the franchise was taking him for granted as he accepted a third offensive role to help the Lakers win.

Now, James gets ready to leave the Lakers in his 24th professional season.

LeBron James will officially play season No. 24. It just won't be with the Los Angeles Lakers.

Per ESPN's Shams Charania, James has informed the Lakers that he won't be returning to the franchise after eight seasons.

This isn't entirely unexpected, as James became the third offensive option behind Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves this past season. While a good team, the Lakers aren't in the same tier as the Oklahoma City Thunder or San Antonio Spurs in the West and didn't look like a title contender next year unless more significant help was brought in.

This was James' best chance to land another massive contract, however.

Other teams like the Golden State Warriors or Cleveland Cavaliers only have the mid-level exception of $15 million or taxpayer mid-level exception of $6 million to offer, meaning James would have to take a significant pay cut from the $52.6 million he earned with the Lakers this past year.

Even at age 41, James has officially captivated the NBA world in free agency while we await his next (and perhaps, final) destination.

The Portland Trail Blazers looked at their 2026-27 backcourt of Ja Morant and 36-year-old Damian Lillard coming off a torn Achilles and decided interior defense was probably important.

As a result, Robert Williams III has agreed to a three-year, $44 million contract extension to stay with the franchise, per ESPN's Shams Charania.

Williams is one of the NBA's best rim protectors when healthy, yet has played just 85 total games in three seasons in Portland. He did appear in 59 last season, averaging 6.7 points, 7.0 rebounds and 1.5 blocks in 17.1 minutes as the backup to Donovan Clingan. Williams even started sprinkling in some three-point shooting for the first time in his career, making 9-of-23 attempts (39.1 percent).

A three-year deal probably signals that last year's first-round pick, Yang Hansen, won't be ready to play meaningful NBA minutes anytime soon.

If Williams can stay reasonably healthy, this contract is fine, especially if the 28-year-old can continue to develop his outside shooting. This is still a hefty amount of money to pay a backup center, however, as Clingan looks like he's cemented as the future of the franchise at the position.

Blazers Grade: B-

Building back depth is perhaps the most important part of the Miami Heat's offseason after giving up so much in the trade for Giannis Antetokounmpo. The Heat is capped at the first apron as well, so there's limited spending power.

Bringing Simone Fontecchio back, presumably on a veteran minimum deal, is a no-brainer.

The 30-year-old brings size and shooting on the wing and should continue to secure a place in Miami's rotation. In 70 games last season, Fontecchio averaged 8.5 points and 3.0 rebounds across 16.8 minutes while hitting 37.5 percent of his threes.

The veteran forward should get even more open looks now when Antetokounmpo inevitably draws double teams and connected on 48.1 percent of his "wide open" (six feet or more between the nearest defender) shot attempts last season.

Heat Grade: B

The Golden State Warriors' grand plan of assembling the all-2010's team of LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Anthony Davis and Draymond Green has hit a few snags.

A two-year, $40 million contract extension for Kristaps Porziņģis has limited the Golden State Warriors' financially flexibility, as now the team may not be able to utilize the full $15 million non-taxpayer mid-level exception to try and sign LeBron James.

Another problem? The Warriors reportedly told Jimmy Butler that they won't trade him, according to ESPN's Brian Windhorst.

Butler (owed $56.8 million) would have to be moved to math salaries for Davis ($58.4 million). Getting Davis, a friend and former title-winning teammate of James, could be crucial to getting the four-time MVP to agree to take a pay cut to join Golden State.

A potential Kawhi Leonard trade is apparently very much financially motivated.

ESPN's Brian Windhorst reports that the Los Angeles Clippers have not offered any kind of extension to Leonard as he heads into the final year of his contract, a bit of a surprise considering how dominant the two-time Finals MVP was this past year.

Windhorst also states that the Toronto Raptors are willing to give Leonard an extension and that the 35-year-old is willing to sign one with the franchise where he delivered a title in 2019.

This could be the Clippers looking to sell high on Leonard as he enters the final few years of his career, especially coming off so many injury-plagued seasons in Los Angeles. The Charlotte Hornets pulled off a similar move recently, trading the oft-injured LaMelo Ball to the Minnesota Timberwolves while his stock was high.

According to ESPN's Brian Windhorst, a Kawhi Leonard to the Toronto Raptors trade could happen as early as today, with Brandon Ingram going to the Los Angeles Clippers.

"I think the Clippers and the Raptors have agreed on player compensation. I think it would be Brandon Ingram based on what I am told that would head to Los Angeles."

Ingram is due $40.0 million next season, getting the Raptors close to Leonard's $50.3 million salary. More salary would need to be included from Toronto to make a trade legal.

Windhorst notes that the two sides are still talking draft compensation, and that the Raptors have all four of their future first-round picks available to trade.