Basketball Wiretap

The Miami Heat have acquired Norman Powell from the Los Angeles Clippers in a three-team trade involving the Utah Jazz. The Clippers will acquire John Collins, while the Jazz will receive Kevin Love, Kyle Anderson and a 2027 second round pick from the Clippers.

Powell is on a $20.5 million expiring contract from his five-year, $90 million deal initially signed with the Portland Trail Blazers. Powell will provide the Heat additional shot creation in the backcourt as he comes off a career-high average of 21.8 points per game when he was an All-Star candidate. 

Collins is also on a $26.6 million expiring contract from his five-year, $125 million contract initially signed with the Atlanta Hawks. Collins will give the Clippers more depth in the frontcourt. Last seasons, Collins averaged 18.9 points and 8.2 rebounds in 30.5 minutes over 40 games. 

The Clippers have also been linked with Bradley Beal if he gets bought out by the Phoenix Suns as expected, as well as with Chris Paul.

Love will be a buyout candidate for the Jazz as they continue their rebuild. 

The Denver Nuggets have informed Jonas Valanciunas and his representatives that they intend for him to honor his NBA contract. Valanciunas met with Panathinaikos in Greece over the weekend, and reportedly has a three-year, $12 million offer from the EuroLeague power.

The Nuggets are acquiring Valanciunas from the Sacramento Kings in exchange for Dario Saric in a pending trade. The veteran center is seen as an ideal backup for Nikola Jokic, which has been a troublesome spot for Denver in recent years.

Valanciunas is owed $10.4 million for this season, with a non-guaranteed $10 million contract for the 2026-27 season. It's unknown what the Nuggets plans are for the second year of Valanciunas' deal, but they expect him to be in Denver this season.

The Denver Nuggets will complete the trade to acquire Jonas Valanciunas from the Sacramento Kings, despite mutual interest between the veteran center and Greek club Panathinaikos. Denver is sending Dario Saric to Sacramento in exchange for Valanciunas.

The Nuggets are also determined to convince Valanciunas to stay in the NBA as their backup center behind Nikola Jokic. Valanciunas cannot sign with Panathinaikos unless Denver grants him his release.

It's been speculated the Valanciunas could give back some, or even all, of his NBA salary in a buyout to be able to sign in Greece. He reportedly has a three-year, $12 million deal from Panathinaikos.

The Indiana Pacers are acquiring Jay Huff from the Memphis Grizzlies. Indiana will send Memphis a second-round round pick, as well as the rights to swap a future second-round pick.

Memphis will clear a bit more room under the salary cap, as they create the room necessary to renegotiate-and-extend the contract of Jaren Jackson Jr.

The Pacers get some additional center depth on an affordable contract in Huff. In his most extensive NBA action last season, Huff averaged 6.9 points and nearly a block per game in 11.7 minutes per night off the Grizzlies bench.

The Washington Wizards are trading for Cam Whitmore of the Houston Rockets. Washington will send Houston two second-round picks for Whitmore.

The Wizards are continuing to rebuild around young players. The nearly 21-year-old Whitmore will give Washington another young forward option. In 98 games over two seasons, the 6-foot-7 forward has averaged 10.8 points and 3.4 rebounds in 17.4 minutes off the Rockets bench.

Houston continues to clear out space under their impending first-apron hard cap. The Rockets have several pending transactions lined up when the NBA's moratorium lifts at noontime on Sunday, July 6. Houston is acquiring Kevin Durant in a trade, Clint Capela in a sign-and-trade, Dorian Finney-Smith in free agency, and re-signing Fred VanVleet, as well as Jeff Green, Aaron Holiday and Jae'Sean Tate.

After teams around the league demanded high trade prices from the Los Angeles Lakers for available centers, Rob Pelinka turned to Deandre Ayton after he cleared waivers from the Portland Trail Blazers.

The Lakers held approximately $8 million from their midlevel exception while watching center options like Brook Lopez and Clint Capela sign elsewhere on the opening night of free agency. Teams with available centers kept their asking prices high when the Lakers called, sources said.

The elevated asking prices stemmed from teams knowing what the Lakers were willing to pay for Mark Williams in February's rescinded trade. That package included 2024 first-rounder Dalton Knecht, an unprotected 2031 first-round pick, and an unprotected 2030 pick swap.

The proposed Williams trade demonstrated the Lakers' desperation to find a center to pair with Luka Doncic. Five months later, the Lakers still lacked a solution at the position.

Ayton represents a flawed but talented option for the Lakers. The 2018 No. 1 overall pick was waived by Portland despite being on a maximum contract. Sources suggest Ayton could be a positive addition for the Lakers. He is arguably the second-best center to hit the open market this summer behind Myles Turner.

The Lakers also agreed to re-sign Jaxson Hayes as Ayton's backup on Thursday evening. Hayes served as the team's primary traditional center option last season before the Lakers' search for an upgrade.

LeBron James opted into his final contract year with the Los Angeles Lakers worth $52.6 million, but his future remains unclear following cryptic comments from his agent and a lack of any response at all from the team. The situation has become one of the biggest topics within NBA teams despite James not being a free agent.

James chose to collect his guaranteed money and maintain his no-trade clause rather than test free agency. The decision appeared to signal his intention to play an eighth season with the Lakers.

However, Klutch Sports CEO Rich Paul's statement to ESPN left room for interpretation about James' plans.

"We understand the difficulty in winning now while preparing for the future. We do want to evaluate what's best for LeBron at this stage in his life and career," Paul told ESPN's Shams Charania.

The Lakers have remained silent since Paul's comments. The organization has not issued a formal statement announcing James' option pickup, which sources suggest sent its own message.

Several teams made inquiries to gauge the situation, sources said. However, a trade remains unlikely due to James' large salary and no-trade clause protection. The concept of a contract buyout also lacks logical sense. James earned second-team All-NBA honors last season while helping the Lakers secure the Western Conference's No. 3 seed.

Few situations in recent memory can rival the current circumstances surrounding James and the Lakers. Until either party definitively closes the door on alternative scenarios, speculation will continue throughout the summer.

One executive noted that James could have created a "wild situation" by opting out entirely. Instead, the passive-aggressive nature of recent moves has left the basketball world guessing about his true intentions.

The Lakers were reportedly not interested in signing James to a contract that extends beyond the 2025-26 season and now essentially view him as an expiring contract as they build around Luka Doncic. This part of the situation could be part of James' potential unhappiness with the Lakers. Whether James and the Lakers end their partnership via trade now or in the 2026 offseason, the acquisition of Doncic at the trade deadline was when the two parties began moving apart.

The Washington Wizards have expressed serious interest in signing Golden State Warriors restricted free agent forward Jonathan Kuminga. The Wizards would have to complete a sign-and-trade for Kuminga, as they don't have the cap space to sign the forward to an offer sheet.

Kuminga has also received varying levels of interest from the Sacramento Kings, Miami Heat, Chicago Bulls, Milwaukee Bucks and Brooklyn Nets. Of that group, only the Nets have a path to create the cap space to make Kuminga an offer. The other teams would be looking at sign-and-trade scenarios, like the Wizards.

Kuminga's role was reduced with Golden State last season. He was injured for part of the year, then fell out of Steve Kerr's rotation. Kuminga averaged 15.3 points on 45% shooting, while grabbing 4.6 rebounds per game.

In the 2023-24 season, while being a regular starter, the 22-year-old forward averaged 16.1 points on 53% shooting. Kuminga played in 74 games that season with 46 starts.

The Golden State Warriors are looking for a "promising young player" and a first-round pick in exchange for Jonathan Kuminga, according to Anthony Slater of The Athletic.

The Kings offered Devin Carter, Dario Saric, and two second-round picks for Kuminga, though the Warriors felt that was a low-ball trade package.

The Wizards most recently registered interest in Kuminga, with the Heat, Bulls, Bucks, and Nets also showing different levels of interest.

Kuminga is searching for a situation where he would be a featured part of a core.

The two sides have plans to meet face-to-face during Summer League in Las Vegas.

Kuminga's return to the Warriors next season is also still on the table. 

The Warriors currently have the ability to match any deal Kuminga signs after extending a $7.9 million qualifying offer.

The Phoenix Suns are discussing possible trades for Nick Richards, Grayson Allen, and Royce O'Neale, sources told Jake Fischer of The People's Insider. 

It was also reported that the Suns held preliminary trade discussions with the Heat over Bradley Beal, though they ended without any traction. The Suns are now expected to buy out Beal. 

The Suns recently guaranteed Richards' contract for the 2025-26 season. 

Allen averaged 10.6 points and 3.0 rebounds while shooting 42.6% from three last season.

O'Neale averaged 9.1 points and 4.7 rebounds and shot 40.6% from three.