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The Lakers have signed some decent players in the wake of LeBron James’ departure, but former Lakers champion and coach Byron Scott is concerned with the team’s defense, given a lack of two-way personnel on the roster.

The Celtics are getting a veteran point guard who has spent 19 seasons in Memphis, Utah, and Minnesota, earning a reputation as one of the best teammates in the NBA. He is the Grizzlies’ all-time leader in points, assists, steals, 3-point field goals, and games played. Throughout those nearly two decades in the league, he has produced countless standout performances, including 27 30-point games, 108 10-assist games, and 94 double-doubles.

James Harden has agreed to a new three-year, $97 million contract to return to the Cleveland Cavaliers, with a player option for 2028-29 and a trade kicker

The Cavaliers, Nuggets and Clippers have agreed on a trade that will send Peyton Watson to Cleveland and Max Strus to Los Angeles

The Los Angeles Lakers reportedly won't complete building out their staff until the ownership situation is resolved.

The Cavaliers are said to covet even more financial flexibility if they can manufacture it either for their pursuit of Nuggets restricted free Peyton Watson or Hawks unrestricted free agent Jonathan Kuminga as well as the eventual re-signing of James Harden.

One source familiar with the process said Harden's new multiyear deal with the Cavaliers should be completed "soon-ish." As The Stein Line first reported in the below article on July 27, Denver's offers to Watson have been in the $70 million range over four seasons. Watson is believed to be seeking an annual average salary north of what teammate Christian Braun landed from the Nuggets last October in a five-year, $125 million rookie scale extension.

Looking to expand his physical capabilities, Victor Wembanyama reportedly spent his week training with Provence Rugby in France. The Spurs superstar participated in on-field drills to learn different movement patterns, reinforcing his reputation for using non-traditional training methods to enhance his performance in the NBA.

"Sometimes you don't even know when you've already watched the end," the 37-year-old Westbrook wrote on his post, which contained a video of his career narrated by actor Michael B. Jordan. "You had to be there. And now it's over."

The summer has seen so much change across the league. But there are still reasons for teams and their fans to worry.

The Sixers will open the season at Madison Square Garden, and James will face the Cavaliers in his first Philly home game.

Despite Harper breaking out in the postseason, it's likely Fox gets the nod considering his experience, ability to direct traffic and consistently facilitate the offense. Fox did that throughout the regular season, despite missing most of last offseason and the start of the regular season due to a hamstring injury.

After Fox's rough showing in the NBA Finals, team sources said the Spurs remain committed to the veteran, pointing out that San Antonio might have never reached the Finals without the point guard's contributions while playing on a high right ankle sprain.

Ultimately, though, sources said the decision between Fox and Harper will belong to Johnson and will be decided solely by what happens on the floor. Johnson mentioned wanting to experiment with playing all three guards together in some lineups. San Antonio did that in 18 games last season with disastrous results (minus-26.9 net rating). Still, the trio could improve with an entire offseason together

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The LA Clippers and Kawhi Leonard, who are currently under investigation for violations related to payments outside of the league’s salary cap, also received millions in a second undisclosed sponsorship deal, according to a report by the podcast “Pablo Torre Finds Out.”

The podcast, citing multiple anonymous sources inside the Clippers and the Intuit Dome project, reported that Leonard had a previously unknown deal with Daktronics, the company that manufactured the Intuit Dome’s Halo video screen and others in the sports world.

The Clippers have been under investigation by the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, with a focus on a $28 million endorsement deal given to Leonard by Aspiration, a now-bankrupt environmental company and former Clippers sponsor, since September. Clippers owner Steve Ballmer has maintained that he was defrauded by Aspiration and its co-founder, Joe Sanberg.

Sanberg was sentenced this past June to 14 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud.

Kawhi Leonard had a sponsorship with Clippers' scoreboard operator

Torre’s latest podcast, released Thursday night, cites multiple sources who said that Leonard was a Clippers spokesperson for Daktronics. It’s unclear when the contract began and ended. One anonymous source told Torre that the contract was for “millions of dollars.”

When the podcast asked the company to confirm if Leonard had an endorsement deal, it referred them to a spokesperson for a crisis management firm who said, “My understanding is Daktronics doesn’t have a deal with Kawhi right now.” When asked for clarification, the spokesman said, “I don’t know what the company wants to say, or can say, given the Wachtell investigation and all that.”

According to Daktronics’ website, the company produces video boards for several NBA arenas, including for the Phoenix Suns, Charlotte Hornets, Milwaukee Bucks, Detroit Pistons, Memphis Grizzlies and Brooklyn Nets. A search for “Kawhi Leonard” returned no results on the company’s website.

A spokesperson for the NBA didn’t respond to The Athletic’s request for comment on the latest allegations. The Clippers have also not responded to a request for comment.

The investigation into the Clippers and Leonard has dragged on since last fall. As part of the investigation, the law firm is examining if Leonard had a previously unreported endorsement deal with another company, according to multiple sources who spoke to The Athletic on the condition of anonymity in order to speak freely.

The results of that investigation are currently holding up a trade that would send Leonard from the Clippers to the Toronto Raptors, the team he left in free agency in 2019.

“The league did not pause the trade,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in July of the Clippers-Raptors deal. “The parties to the trade made a decision not to go forward given that the investigation remained open, and any possible impact on Kawhi or his contract was yet to be known. And so, they chose not to live with that uncertainty, but that was well-known before the trade was proposed. I don’t think there was any reason for people to believe that the status of Kawhi Leonard would change merely because he was traded. The investigation needs to run its course.”

Silver said earlier this summer that the investigation “can be wrapped up — and needs to be wrapped up — before next season.” If the NBA finds there was a violation of the CBA, it can fine the Clippers millions of dollars, strip them of first-round picks, penalize Ballmer and even void Leonard’s contract.

When Leonard became a free agent in 2019, his representatives, including his uncle Dennis Robertson, asked the Los Angeles Lakers for several impermissible benefits, according to multiple league sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity so they could candidly discuss the situation. Those included the use of private aircraft, a home, guaranteed off-court earnings and even an ownership stake in the team. The Lakers, according to those sources, informed Leonard’s team that those requests violated the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement and amounted to salary cap circumvention.

An anonymous Los Angeles Lakers executive said that having Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves made free agent pitches easy this offseason.

Lonnie Walker IV has agreed to a one-year, $3.3 million deal with the Denver Nuggets, agent George S. Langberg of GSL Sports Group told ESPN. Walker was with Maccabi Tel Aviv in the EuroLeague after last playing in the NBA in 2024-25 and now enters his 8th season in the league.

Phoenix Suns forward Dillon Brooks has agreed to a three-year, $73 million contract extension through 2029-30, Mike George of Klutch Sports tells ESPN. Brooks has become a key part of the Suns two-way, hard-nosed culture under Jordan Ott and lands a new guaranteed long-term deal.

Jaylen Brown made it clear that he is more than fine with sacrificing his role for the betterment of the 76ers.

Wembanyama had a blood clot that ended his season prematurely a year ago. What advice would you give him on hoping it becomes a one-time issue?

CB: Take your medicine. Make sure that he's staying on top of his regimen to make sure that doesn't happen again because it only takes one more time. It happened one more time for me, it happened twice, and I couldn't play anymore.

So I guess with him, just making sure he does everything necessary to keep that blood as thin as possible and take care of that body off the court.

You’ve talked openly about your experience dealing with blood clots; how are you health-wise?

CB: Yeah, I had an episode in January. I almost dropped dead pretty much and came back to life. I'm not joking. Yeah. I had another pulmonary embolism. It was in January. Yeah, yeah, this past year. I was in the hospital for a week. But, take your medicine. So, I'm taking my medicine every day, taking care of myself every day, and watching it. So, I mean, no symptoms came either, you know, so.

Yeah, you got to deal with it for the rest of your life. I thought I was past it. I am not. So, you know, it's just making sure I stay on top of my regimen.