When the NBA’s 2024/25 league year begins this summer, players eligible for free agency will be able to begin negotiating and reaching contract agreements with suitors. In addition to those free agents, another group of players will also become eligible to sign new deals. For players who are entering the fourth and final year of their rookie scale contracts, the first day of the new league year (July 1) is the first day they can agree to rookie scale extensions. Those players, who were all 2021 first-round selections, will have until October 21 – the day before the 2024/25 regular season start ..read more

After testing the draft waters in 2023, Dayton’s DaRon Holmes II has once again entered the draft this year, according to David Jablonski of The Dayton Daily News, who says the junior forward filed his paperwork earlier this month. The No. 53 prospect on ESPN’s big board of 2024 prospects, Holmes has built an impressive NCAA résumé with the Flyers. He was named the Atlantic 10’s Defensive Player of the Year and co-Player of the Year in 2024 in addition to making the All-Atlantic 10 first team for a second consecutive season. He was also a consensus second-team All-American. Holmes averaged 20 ..read more

The Lakers lost their 11th consecutive game to Denver on Thursday night and are now one game away from being swept out of the postseason by the Nuggets for a second straight season. As Dave McMenamin of ESPN writes, it’s hard to blame Los Angeles’ two stars for the Game 3 loss — LeBron James and Anthony Davis combined for 59 points on 26-of-43 (60.5%) shooting to go along with 21 rebounds and 12 assists. “We’ve been — me and this guy [Davis] have been playing together for six years,” James said. “We’ve been to the mountaintop. We’ve been close to the mountaintop. We’ve played a lot of games. W ..read more

10:25pm: Robinson was seen exiting Wells Fargo Center wearing a walking boot, according to Yahoo Sports’ Jake Fischer (Twitter link). 10:02pm: Knicks center Mitchell Robinson exited Game 3 against the Sixers with a sprained left ankle, according to the team (Twitter link). Robinson was previously questionable before the game with an ankle issue. According to The Athletic’s Fred Katz, Robinson looked hobbled throughout the game (Twitter link). Even with him playing through the injury, losing Robinson is a huge deal for the Knicks with Joel Embiid on the other side of the court. Robinson is aver ..read more

Pascal Siakam has been everything the Pacers had hoped he’d be when they traded for him at the deadline, IndyStar’s Dustin Dopirak writes. In two playoff games with Indiana, Siakam is averaging 36.5 points, 12.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists while making 64.6% of his shots. He helped propel the Pacers to a Game 2 victory. “I just was taking what’s out there,” Siakam said after Game 2. “I don’t feel like I’m trying anything or forcing anything. Just playing within the flow of the offense. Just not thinking about anything and taking whatever is there.” With Milwaukee doing a solid job of defending Ty ..read more

Warriors superstar guard Stephen Curry won the NBA’s Clutch Player of the Year Award for the 2023/24 season, according to The Athletic’s Shams Charania (Twitter link). The Clutch Player of the Year is defined as the player who “best comes through for his teammates in the clutch” during the regular season. Curry beat out Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Chicago’s DeMar DeRozan for the honor. In his age-35 season, Curry averaged 26.4 points, 4.5 rebounds and 5.1 assists in 74 games while shooting 45.0% from the field and 40.8% from beyond the arc on 11.8 attempts per game. According ..read more

Sixers guard De’Anthony Melton is active and available for the team ahead of Game 3 against the Knicks (Twitter link via PHLY Sports’ Kyle Neubeck). Melton went through shootaround earlier today, per ESPN’s Tim Bontemps (Twitter link), but it’s unlikely he’ll have a big role after barely playing this calendar year. We wrote Melton could return earlier Thursday. “He’s always an impactful player when he’s out there,” teammate Tyrese Maxey said about Melton in a story penned by Neubeck. “One thing I can say as a co-worker and friend, he really works. There’s never been a moment that he’s bee ..read more

Last postseason, Max Strus and Gabe Vincent helped propel the Heat to a Finals appearance and priced themselves out of the Heat’s range in the offseason. Strus went on to sign a four-year, $62.3MM deal in a sign-and-trade with Cleveland while Vincent departed for the Lakers on a three-year, $33MM deal. A similar situation may be happening this year with Caleb Martin and Haywood Highsmith, according to Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald. Martin was instrumental in the Heat’s Eastern Conference Finals win over Boston last year, averaging 19.3 points and shooting 48.9% from three in that seven-gam ..read more

The Portsmouth Invitational Tournament wrapped up last week. The event, which showcases college seniors trying to boost their stock in front of NBA teams, saw two participants — Hunter Tyson and Toumani Camara — get drafted last year, notes Jonathan Givony of ESPN (Insider link). Washington State forward/center Isaac Jones was “the most productive player” at the 2024 PIT, Givony writes, and he’ll likely be invited to next month’s draft combine in Chicago as a result. The 23-year-old big man was a first-team All-Pac-12 member for the Cougars in 2023/24 and could be a second-round pick, Givony a ..read more

Bucks wing Khris Middleton sustained a right ankle sprain in the first quarter of Tuesday’s Game 2 loss to Indiana. He wound up playing 36 minutes, but he didn’t practice on Thursday and head coach Doc Rivers said “there’s a little” concern about Middleton’s availability for Game 3 on Friday, tweets Eric Nehm of The Athletic. “It’s another holding our breath situation, so honestly, I don’t know,” Rivers said (Twitter link via Nehm). Middleton has averaged 19.0 PPG, 7.5 RPG and 5.0 APG while shooting 53.6% from the field through two games (35.5 MPG). Milwaukee would certainly miss the three-tim ..read more