Within a look at the Jazz‘s potential depth chart, Andy Larsen of The Salt Lake Tribune says that Jordan Clarkson hasn’t drawn any real trade interest this offseason, so it appears the veteran guard will still be on Utah’s roster when the regular season tips off this fall. In Larsen’s view, Clarkson, Collin Sexton, and ..read more

The Trail Blazers’ rebuilding process is happening at a fortunate time in light of the NBA’s new restrictive apron provisions, writes Sean Highkin of The Rose Garden Report. With so many young players on the roster, Portland doesn’t face the immediate decisions that other teams have to deal with, but it’s only a matter of time until its recent draft picks become eligible for extensions. Highkin doesn’t believe the Blazers would have gotten nearly the same return for Damian Lillard if they had waited another year to trade him. Teams are placing a greater value on draft picks and are becoming le ..read more

Nets forward Jalen Wilson has been named the Most Valuable Player of the NBA’s Las Vegas Summer League, the league’s communications department tweets. Wilson averaged 21.8 points, 4.6 rebounds, 1.0 assists and 0.6 steals while shooting 47.3% from the field and 55.0% from 3-point range in five games in Vegas. His performances should solidify his spot on the team’s roster this upcoming season. The 23-year-old has a $1.89MM minimum-salary contract for 2024/25 that is currently just partially guaranteed for $75K. It increases to a partial guarantee of $325K if he makes the opening night roster. Od ..read more

Grizzlies guard Ja Morant has been cleared for all basketball activities, according to Damichael Cole of The Memphis Commercial Appeal. Morant, who missed the first 25 games of the 2023/24 season due to a suspension, returned to action in December and immediately provided a spark for the Grizzlies, who won six of nine games with the star point guard in the lineup. However, a labral tear in Morant’s right shoulder ended his season after those nine games. He has been recovering from surgery in the months since then. The Grizzlies were one of the NBA’s most injury-plagued teams in ’23/24, but hea ..read more

JULY 6: The trade sending Post’s rights from Portland to Golden State in exchange for cash is now official, according to announcements from both the Trail Blazers and Warriors. JUNE 27: The Warriors have agreed to reacquire the No. 52 pick from the Trail Blazers in exchange for cash considerations, per Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports and Sean Highkin of The Rose Garden Report (Twitter links). The Warriors used the pick to select center Quinten Post out of Boston College. As Highkin notes, Portland shipped out its No. 34 selection the Knicks for three future second-rounders, received cash from the ..read more

While the Kings are among the teams believed to have some interest in Pelicans forward Brandon Ingram, there has been a growing sense entering the weekend that Sacramento is more focused on free agent forward DeMar DeRozan, league sources tell Michael Scotto of HoopsHype. Earlier reporting from Adrian Wojnarowski named the Kings as a legitimate suitor for DeRozan, who would need to be acquired via sign-and-trade, with a third team likely taking on salary from Sacramento in the deal. Sean Cunningham of FOX 40 Sacramento (Twitter link) confirms there’s “mutual interest” between DeRozan and the K ..read more

The members of the U.S. Olympic team that will compete in Paris this summer have arrived in Las Vegas, writes Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press. Team USA will hold a pre-Olympic camp in Vegas from July 6-8 and will be joined by a 15-man Select Team for scrimmaging purposes. Led by LeBron James (two Olympic gold medals, 20 All-Star berths) and Kevin Durant (three gold medals, 14 All-Star berths), the 12-man Olympic roster is as formidable as any team USA Basketball has fielded in the 21st century, with 84 combined All-Star nods. It will make picking a starting lineup a challenging task for h ..read more

A pair of NBA superstars will match up this weekend in Greece as they look to keep their home countries’ Olympic hopes alive. The Greek national team, led by Giannis Antetokounmpo, will take on Luka Doncic and the Slovenians in the semifinals of one of four ongoing Olympic qualifying tournaments (link via ESPN). The winner of Greece vs. Slovenia will go on to face the winner of Croatia vs. Dominican Republic for a spot in the men’s basketball Olympic tournament in Paris. In total, four Olympic berths still remain up for grabs. The other semifinal matchups in Olympic qualifying tournaments arou ..read more

Center Donovan Clingan, the No. 7 overall pick of last month’s draft, has officially signed his rookie scale contract, the Trail Blazers announced in a press release. Assuming he signed for 120% of the rookie scale, which most first-rounders do, Clingan will earn $6,836,400 in 2024/25 and $31,085,018 over the next four seasons if his team options for years three and four are exercised. Clingan, 20, is a native of Bristol, Connecticut. He won back-to-back national championships with UConn in his two college seasons. He averaged 13.0 PPG, 7.4 RPG and 2.5 BPG in 35 games last season for the Huski ..read more

The Lakers are believed to have made a bid for Klay Thompson that would’ve been for more years and more overall money than the three-year, $50MM deal he accepted from the Mavericks, according to reports from Dan Woike of The Los Angeles Times and Tim MacMahon of ESPN on the Hoop Collective podcast (hat tip to RealGM). Los Angeles would have had to send out salary and assets in a sign-and-trade to make such an offer. The Lakers were “extremely intriguing” to Thompson, says ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. However, sources tell Wojnarowski that the Mavericks’ NBA Finals run and the financial advantage ..read more