Latest NBA Rumors, Live Updates Ahead of Bronny Roster Decision, Rookie Scale Extension Deadline

For the last couple weeks, much has been made of the Los Angeles Lakers' preseason roster crunch. They still have to shed at least one more player to get to the maximum number on the roster.

And for a while now, it's looked like Dalton Knecht would be the odd man out. On Monday, the idea of trading Knecht for a big man resurfaced, but that wouldn't reduce the number of players on the team (unless LA attached another contract to Knecht's), and CBS Sports' Sam Quinn wonders if that path to the final 15 even makes sense.

As he enters his third NBA campaign, Bronny James looked dreadful in the Lakers' preseason. At this point, there's little to no evidence he's an NBA player. So, if LA could indeed unload him into some team's cap exception for a phony second-round pick (think something that's top-55 protected or something like that), it would certainly make sense.

And if Knecht were still on the roster for the first few weeks of the season, he might be able to juice his own trade value a bit.

In recent years, the Sacramento Kings traded both De'Aaron Fox and Tyrese Haliburton. And just this weekend, we learned that Ben Simmons, who was in the midst of a comeback to the NBA, ruptured his Achilles.

Now, the team is in dire need of some playmaking help, so it should come as little surprise they're in the market for a point guard.

One option could be Walter Clayton Jr., who, based on recent reports, is available.

Clayton struggled to hit shots as a rookie, but he did average 7.0 assists per 75 possessions and led Florida to the national title in his last season in college.

For a team that is far from likely to even threaten for a play-in spot this season, the 23-year-old Clayton is worth a flier (and probably a little patience).

Less than a month after taking pictures with the team on media day, it looks like Koby Brea's run with the Phoenix Suns is over.

The 41st pick in the 2025 draft, Brea only appeared in 12 games last season, but his 43.3 three-point percentage (on just 30 attempts) is a reminder of why he was drafted in the first place.

In five seasons in college, he shot 43.4 percent from deep, and some team in need of an infusion of outside shooting could take a flier on him.

The Oklahoma City Thunder have all three of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren signed to monster deals. That makes pretty much any other market-rate contract tough to fit onto the books.

But that wouldn't have made it wise to let Cason Wallace walk, even if he didn't give the organization a steep discount to sign him longterm.

In the end, his extension is for five years and $139 million (an average annual value of $27.8 million). The deal starts in 2027-28, with a salary just shy of $24 million or around 14 percent of the salary cap.

In a vacuum, that's not bad, but SGA, Williams and Chet's money will eat up over $150 million of the $176 million cap. NBA teams can obviously exceed that number by signing their own players and using cap exceptions, but it's going to be tough to avoid the penalties that come from the luxury tax and aprons.

Still, Wallace doesn't even turn 23 till November. He figures to be the starting 2-guard on a title contender this season. He already has an All-Defense nod and a top-seven finish in Defensive Player of the Year voting. Allowing him to play out this season with a bigger role and then entering restricted free agency was a worse path for the Thunder.

And OKC has exactly the kind of team that's worth accepting cap penalties for.

It's not hard to formulate an argument that the Thunder are the best team in the NBA right now, and Wallace will be key in chasing a second championship.

Grade: B+

You may think that subheader is a little tongue-in-cheek (and it is), but Dwight Powell really was an institution for the Dallas Mavericks for over a decade.

And on Monday, his 12-year run with the organization likely came to an end.

Powell is, remarkably, fifth in Mavericks history in games played, sixth in rebounds and 10th in blocks.

In his latest post at The Stein Line, veteran reporter Marc Stein indicated that Orlando Magic guard Anthony Black may not get an extension today, but that doesn't mean his days with the team are numbered.

"As The Stein Line first reported last Sunday, however, Orlando's Anthony Black is not expected to join [the group of players on rookie contracts who are eligible for an extension] after scant discussion between the sides to this point. The Magic remain big fans of the 22-year-old and don't want to trade him, league sources say, but Orlando also knows that its payroll can't withstand another pricey long-term deal with Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner, Jalen Suggs and Desmond Bane all on long-term pacts and each of them making between $32.4 million (Suggs) and $41.8 million (Wagner) this season."

That, of course, means that some other Magic player could potentially be on the move between now and February.

If Orlando wants to have any flexibility while eventually signing Black to a longer-term deal, one of the aforementioned veterans may have to be traded.

And a slow start to the season could accelerate that timeline.