NBA Free Agency Rumors: Timberwolves will officially lose key player + latest on Lakers, Warriors

With the official start of the NBA free agency a few hours of just over 24 hours, let’s dive into some of the last rumors and report on what various players and teams will do when opened.

Wolves say “Hell Naw” to keep the key free agent

The most final update here is from Minnesota Timberwolves, which has concluded new agreements with Naz Reid and Julius Randle in recent days. However, the size of these contracts (four years and 125 million dollars for Reid, and three years, $ 100 million for Randle) still meant that the Wolves would, according to them, only the Nickeil Alexander-Walker Reserve would only exceed the door of financial prospect.

And in the aftermath of the new hike agreement, Jon Krawczynski of Athletics – Long the most connected voice to the rhythm of the Wolves – reported what many already suspected of being true, that Alexander -Walker will have to seek a day of pay elsewhere:

Alexander-Walker was a beloved contributor to the consecutive races of the Wolves Conference, but the new CBS and the rigorous apron penalties that came guaranteed that the over -qualified bench players as he will often quickly become an inaccessible luxury for their Sagnons teams.

Sunday morning, the veteran initiate of the NBA Marc Stein described the Pistons de Detroit and the Hawks of Atlanta as the “strongest contenders” to sign Naw away from Minnesota.

Did LeBron James have just launched a demand for trade?

LeBron James who opposes his option as a player of $ 52.6 million with the Lakers for next season has always been the expected result, but the quotes from his agent, Rich Paul, at the ESPN Charania ESPN following the decision certainly left the door open for many readings on his ultimate intentions (mine of accent):

“LeBron wants to compete for a championship,” Paul told Espn. “He knows that Lakers are building for the future. He understands that, but he appreciates a realistic chance to win everything. We are very grateful to the partnership that we have been with Jeanie for eight years [Buss] and Rob [Pelinka] And consider the Lakers as an essential element of his career.

“We understand the difficulty of winning now while preparing for the future. We want to assess what is best for LeBron at this stage of his life and his career. He wants to do each season where he has left, and the Lakers understand that it supports and wants what is best for him. »»

LeBron wants to win a title next year Followed by a statement that implies that the 40 -year -old does not believe that it is the intention that Lakers have for this season certainly say a lot. But if it is a commercial request, it is the one that Paul and LeBron do their best to ensure that James is not sentenced to a fine. Instead, these quotes brush the image of a star trying to spend his time with the lakers positively so that they do not take a reputation with his exodus, while allowing fans (and at the front office of the team) that he likes to try to compete for a title elsewhere when he approaches retirement.

The Lakers and James are both encouraged to work together here. For the Lakers, LeBron who seeks to move to a profession could in fact make them a huge favor even if it was not his intention, because that would allow them (at least in theory) to recover assets for him rather than him who simply retired and not leaving Los Angeles without anything. The movements required so that they reset around Luka Doncic were always going to be more difficult with the fact that LeBron earns so much money, and his request could let them begin to reset their books without having to ask him to take a payout or use one of his last seasons like a pseudo-year.

For James, Opting In keeps his clause without exchange, which gives him a little power on his next destination in a league with a limited ceiling space to add a salary of his size. However, his Opinion of Opinion also obliges him to try at least to play well with the Lakers so that the two sides can get out of this amicable partnership rather than tarnishing their two brands with a saga of ugly commercial request. The team will want to maintain their representative for having done the stars well and will therefore probably not play in Hardball, but in the end, always has the last word and does not have to send LeBron somewhere in exchange for bad money or a negative asset value.

We will see how it all shakes, but it seems that James and the Lakers are heading for a separation. The only question that remains beyond the (probably final) destination of the king is simple: who gets Bonny in the divorce?

Lakers can be in a more important overhaul than expected

LeBron Optant was not the only new Lakers contractual on the eve of the Libre agency. The Lakers advance and close friend of Dononic, Dorian Finney-Smith, withdrew from his player option of $ 15.4 million, allowing him to enter a free agency market where he is considered one of the best veterans targets. If Finney-Smith really leaves and James is sent elsewhere, it would be nearly $ 65 million in players from last year’s list that are no longer with the team, a massive change.

The players that the Lakers went up in any hypothetical James Trade would make sure that the Lakers do not just release as much ceiling space, but that could leave them for a year of transition around Luka … With their new star on the eve of eligibility for extension on August 2, so it is enough to say that this free agency will be an early test of their new star partner, and we say that the quantity of the quantity of its future The team, and to tell us about the quantity of the quantity of its future so is to commit you so that the team’s lot of doing a good on the fact that doing a lot of things about its future Doncic is working to do to offer a competitor around it.

Last on Jonathan Kuminga and the Warriors

In its history on the free agency options of Duncan Robinson, Anthony Chiang de Miami Herald was the last to note that Miami “a certain level of interest” for the Warriors, the limited free agent Jonathan Kuminga. It comes to the heels of Shams and Anthony Slater of Athletics By suggesting this week that the heat could be looking for a sign and an exchange for the former Warriors lottery choice.

Golden State can obviously choose not to participate in any sign and exchange to get Kuminga where he wants to go, and can match any offer given to him on an open market (dry) of a team that creates the ceiling space to give it one. But Kuminga could also call their bluff, take their qualification offer of $ 7.9 million for next season, then choose his own team next summer in free agency without restriction, so both parties have a certain degree of motivation to find a win-win here.

Elsewhere with the Warriors, the 2022 champion Gary Payton II would be unlikely to return to the free agency, with Monty Poole of NBC Sports reporting that a source told him that it was “doubtful” that Payton is back in Golden State.

“Golden State still loves him, and there is still a chance that he will be back,” said another source about the Warriors. “But they have a lot of mobile pieces as they work in the situation of Jonathan Kuminga, so that Gary could land elsewhere next season.”

Our own Joe Viray wrote for Golden State of Mind that this is an understandable update on the side of the Warriors due to the recent health history of Payton:

If Payton leaves, the Warriors will miss his peskinuse at the point of attack, unusual athletics in a frame of 6’3 ”, and his presence in the locker room. But the injuries and the inconsistency aforementioned in the field – as well as the prioritization of Kuminga and other potential acquisitions – can push Payton out of the organization which gave him the best section of his professional career.

The NBA free agency officially starts tomorrow, June 30 at 6 p.m., when free agents are allowed to negotiate contracts with all the League teams. These contracts cannot be officially signed before July 6, however, giving players and teams for several days to think about their best options while musical chairs are filling up and exchanging dominoes.