NBA free agency arrives on Monday (officially, we all know plenty is already done behind the scenes). Here are some of the latest rumors circulating around the league, starting in Phoenix, which has already had a busy offseason.
Booker expected to extend with Suns
Phoenix’s offseason checklist:
1) Trade Kevin Durant. Done.
2) Hire a new coach. Done (Jordan Ott is a deserving hire).
3) Have a strong NBA draft. Done (Khaman Maluach is a quality addition).
4) Trade Bradley Beal. Good luck with that (more on this below).
5) Extend Devin Booker. Working on it.
During the draft, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst talked about how Booker — the guy the Suns are now building around — was active in the coaching search and is talking with the Suns about a two-year, $150 million extension. He doesn’t have to sign that, but he can if he wants to show an extra level of commitment to the franchise. If that comes together, it would lock Booker in Phoenix on a what would now essentially be a five-year, $320 million contract. That is a serious commitment to their star.
So no, the Suns aren’t trading Booker anytime soon.
Beal open to trade but it’s unlikely
Bradley Beal is owed $110 million over the next two seasons and holds a no-trade clause that would let him reject a trade anywhere he doesn’t want to live and play. That means Beal is likely to be on the Suns next season, and new coach Jordan Ott will play him heavy minutes early in the season, hoping to raise his trade value.
Beal is “open” to a trade, Fred Katz reports at The Athletic, but that comes with conditions:
Beal would be open to the right trade that sends him to the right destination, but his preference is to remain in Phoenix, even if the team won only 35 games a season ago and just downgraded from Kevin Durant, who it dealt to the Houston Rockets last weekend.
Beal will make an average of $55 million each of the next two years, and this is a player most teams believe to be worth more like $15 million a season at this point in his career (Katz confirmed that for The Athletic). No team is taking on that extra cash without some draft picks as sweeteners, and it’s going to take a lot of them. Which is another reason a Beal trade is unlikely.
Some fans and media reports have suggested the Suns should waive-and-stretch Beal, which would open up a roster spot and spread his contract over the next five years ($22 million a season of dead money on the books). The problem, as Katz notes, is that because the Suns have already waived-and-stretched Nassir Little and E.J. Liddell, doing the same to Beal would put the Suns over the little-known rule that only 15% of a team’s cap space can be used on stretched players. The Suns could ask Beal to shave $13.7 million off his contract to facilitate getting waived, but Beal has shown zero interest in taking a haircut in the past.
The reality is that the Suns are going to stay in the Bradley Beal business for a while.
LeBron expected to pick up option
In recent years, the pattern has been for LeBron James to decline his player option, then re-sign a two-year contract with the Lakers that has a player option in the second year.
Not this summer, he is expected to pick up the second and final year of his contract at $52.6 million, reports Dave McMenamin of ESPN.
That does not mean this is LeBron’s final season — his 23rd — the report adds. Nothing has been decided on that front.
LeBron returning turns out to be the easy part of the offseason for Lakers GM Rob Pelinka. The Lakers and Dorian Finney-Smith need to work out a new contract, for one (he has a $14.1 million player option but is expected to turn that down, seeking more years and money). Then there is Luka Doncic. Come On Aug. 2, the Lakers will offer him a four-year, $229 million max extension, however, the expectation is that he will ultimately sign a three-year, $165 million extension that will have him hit free agency just as he reaches 10 years in the league and can then get a max of 35% of the salary cap. There are zero signs or expectations that Doncic is leaving the Lakers, he is by all accounts happy in his new home.
Gary Payton II likely out in Golden State
Payton is a fan and locker room favorite with the Warriors who was a key part of their run to the 2022 title. He is their best point-of-attack perimeter defender, and last season, in 62 games he averaged 6.5 points per game (in 15 minutes a night). He was a guy coach Steve Kerr leaned on in big moments.
He’s also going to be too expensive for the Buler/Curry Warriors to retain. He made $9.1 million last season and is looking for a healthy raise. One source summed it up to Monty Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area.
“It’s looking doubtful,” one source said Friday.
“Golden State still likes him, and there’s still a chance he’s back,” another source said of the Warriors. “But they have a lot of moving parts as they work through the Jonathan Kuminga situation, so Gary could land elsewhere next season.”
Pistons, Clippers interested in Nickeil Alexander-Walker
Minnesota has agreed to a deal to bring back sixth man Naz Reid, and the latest reporting suggests Julius Randle is next for a new contract with the team (Randle has a $30.9 million player option, the Timberwolves want to give him more years and total money, but at a lower per-year figure).
That leaves Nickeil Alexander-Walker as the guy without a chair when the music stops — Minnesota can’t afford to bring all three back with raises. The…
