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Tyler Kolek isn't young young, but he certainly has more of a developmental runway than most of the New York Knicks rotation. And last season, he averaged 8.7 assists per 75 possessions, while shooting 38.6 percent from deep.

He and Pacôme Dadiet seemed like the only real options for injecting a little youthful energy into the rotation.

So, it comes as a bit of a surprise that the Knicks are apparently shopping both in an effort to make room for Bruce Brown and James Wiseman.

According to longtime Knicks insider Ian Begley, the two veterans have a good chance to make the final regular-season roster, and the team may be willing to part with the younger guys to make that possible.

For a title contender, swapping experience for upside is generally fine, but the Knicks already have plenty among their current veterans. At this point, it seems more prudent to look for a little sustainability.

NBA fans and analysts apparently aren't the only ones excited by Aday Mara's big preseason for the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Friday, his Spanish club team, Basket Zaragoza, claimed it has him under contract and that it will hang onto him for 2026-27.

Unfortunately (for them), the Thunder appear willing to fight the claim and keep the incoming rookie in OKC for the foreseeable future.

It remains to be seen how thoroughly Basket Zaragoza wants to contest this. If they believe there's an enforceable contract, while the NBA does not, the only recourse may be the court system (whether that's here or in Spain is a question for another day).

ESPN's Anthony Slater dropped some reporting on Jimmy Butler and the Golden State Warriors on Friday that shed some light on both their past and potential future.

From the moment he went down with a torn ACL last season, Butler seemed like an obvious trade candidate. His contract, seemingly, became good for salary-matching purposes in a deal. And the Warriors had picks to pair with him, making a trade for a healthy star seem plausible.

But according to Slater, Golden State never seriously had the "appetite" to include those picks in trades involving Butler. It's unlikely that's changed now, as Butler's now just a few months away from returning.

So, while the start of the season could be awfully painful for the Warriors and their fans, a fully healthy Butler could at least push this team toward the play-in after the New Year.

It's hard to imagine things souring just a few months after winning the title, but this is sort of the normal course of business in the NBA now.

When a big-name player is eligible for a contract extension and doesn't get one, reporters and other teams start swirling overhead.

And if he declines his player option, Karl-Anthony Towns could enter unrestricted free agency as early as 2027.

If that happens, The New York Post's Stefan Bondy reported that the Los Angeles Clippers and Chicago Bulls could get themselves in the mix for KAT.

Now, it's harder to imagine the former, given the league's punishment for cap circumvention. If he leaves a recent title winner, Towns is going to want to go somewhere he has a chance secure another championship. And the Clippers' current lack of stars and future lack of draft picks (because of that punishment) limits their ceiling.

The Bulls, on the other hand, might be interesting. Their young talent is still a few years away from high-end impact, but a frontcourt of Matas Buzelis, Caleb Wilson and KAT would have loads of length, shooting and athleticism.

The Memphis Grizzlies have emerged as a hipster pick to exceed expectations, and it's not all that hard to see why.

Cameron Boozer looks like a five-year vet in preseason games. When he's on the floor with Zach Edey and Ty Jerome, Memphis will, at the very least, be competitive. And there's a fair bit of depth behind those three.

Given the last point, it looks like the Grizzlies may be willing to unload some talented players who may not be in line for rotation mintues.

In his latest post on The Stein Line, Jake Fischer reported "that the Grizzlies have been exploring potential trade markets for GG Jackson II and Walter Clayton Jr."

Either should be worth a shot from a team patient enough to develop them. Jackson is still just 21 and averaged 20.4 points over the last 18 games of his rookie season in 2023-24. Clayton is 23, won a national title in his last season in college and averaged 7.0 assists per 75 possessions as a rookie in 2025-26.

In a recent post on The Stein Line, "The People's Insider" Jake Fischer reported that the Lakers may be talking about a potential Dalton Knecht deal.

And if they were able to move him in exchange for anything (literally, anything) it would beat this fall's oft-rumored alternative: that L.A. might simply cut him.

According to Fischer, the target may be the Milwaukee Bucks' Jericho Sims, which would make sense. As currently constructed, Kevon Looney is the only true backup center on the Lakers, and even he's undersized. Sims would at least give the team some insurance at that position, while potentially sparing Sandro Mamukelashvili and Jarred Vanderbilt from having to play there.

Picking up Knecht would make some sense for Milwaukee too. At 25, he's two years younger than Sims. He'd fit among a building core of 6'6"-6'7", multipositional wings. He is, theoretically an outside shooter. Despite a down 2025-26, he still has an above-average three-point percentage for his career. There's work to do, but it's too early to give up on Knecht entirely.

This would certainly be a low-stakes deal, but it'd also have a good chance to be a win-win.