NBA free agency 2025: Latest news, rumors, trades ahead of NBA Draft as Fred VanVleet stays with Rockets, Kyrie Irving reaches new deal with Mavs

Yahoo

6 hours ago

The Oklahoma City Thunder just won the NBA championship, but the other 29 teams don't have time to celebrate. The NBA offseason is already in full swing, with two significant trades already taking place ahead of the 2025 NBA Draft.
NBA free agency officially begins at 6 p.m. ET on Monday, June 30, when teams are allowed to start negotiating with free agents. Players can sign contracts beginning on July 6.
Advertisement
Kevin Durant and Jrue Holiday may find themselves with new teams, but they won't be the only players wearing new jerseys next season. Here are the latest moves, rumors and trades ahead of the 2025 NBA Draft.
June 25: Fred VanVleet stays with Rockets on two-year deal
The Houston Rockets reached a decision on guard Fred VanVleet. With the team considering an option, both sides instead decided to agree on a new, two-year, $50 million contract. The move ensures VanVleet will remain with the Rockets through the 2026-27 NBA season.
VanVleet had a $44.9 team option looming for the 2025-26 season. The Rockets declined that option to sign VanVleet to his new extension.
Advertisement
Since joining the team in 2023, VanVleet has averaged 15.9 points and 6.9 assists with the Rockets over two seasons.
June 25: Jazz forward John Collins uses player option
John Collins is sticking with the Utah Jazz for at least one more season.
Collins exercised his $26.5 million player option for the 2025-26 season on Wednesday afternoon, according to ESPN's Shams Charania.
Collins averaged 19 points and 8.2 rebounds per game last season, his second with the Jazz. The 27-year-old initially signed a five-year, $125 million deal with the Atlanta Hawks in 2021. With him using the player option to wrap up that deal, Collins will become an unrestricted free agent next summer.
Advertisement
June 24: Kyrie Irving reaches new deal with Mavs
Kyrie Irving declined his player option on Tuesday night and agreed to a new three-year, $119 million deal with the Dallas Mavericks. That will end up paying Irving about $40 million per season.
Though he had the chance to leave, Irving was never expected to make a move away from the Mavericks this summer. The nine-time All Star is currently recovering from a torn ACL he sustained in March, though the team hopes he'll be back in action by January.
The deal is the second one the Mavericks have made this week, following Daniel Gafford's new deal on Monday. The team also has the No. 1 pick in Wednesday's draft, where they're expected to take Cooper Flagg.
Advertisement
June 24: Celtics reportedly finalizing deal to send Kristaps Porzingis to Hawks in 3-team trade involving Nets
The Boston Celtics are finalizing a three-team deal with the Atlanta Hawks and Brooklyn Nets that sends Kristaps Porzingis to the Hawks, ESPN's Shams Charania reports.
Per the report, the Celtics are sending Porzingis and a second-round draft pick to Atlanta. The Hawks are sending Terance Mann and the No. 22 pick in Wednesday's NBA draft to the Nets. Atlanta will also send Georges Niang and a second-round selection to the Celtics.
The move is the second trade in two days for the Celtics after they dealt Jrue Holiday to the Portland Trail Blazers in exchange for a package that features Anfernee Simons and future second-round draft picks.
Advertisement
The trades by the Celtics are part of an effort to move salaries below the NBA's punitive second tax apron of $207,825,000. Boston is parting with core members of its 2024 championship team to do so. Like Holiday, Porzingis was a key contributor on that championship team that secured the franchise's first NBA title since 2008.
June 24: Pelicans reportedly trading CJ McCollum, Kelly Olynyk to Wizards for package including Jordan Poole
The New Orleans Pelicans are trading CJ McCollum and Kelly Olynyk to Washington Wizards for a package that includes Jordan Poole, ESPN's Shams Charania reports.
Per the report, the Pelicans are also sending a future second-round pick to Washington. In addition to Poole, the Wizards are sending the Pelicans Saddiq Bey and the No. 40 pick in Wednesday's NBA Draft. The deal signals a further roster overhaul of the Pelicans core after New Orleans traded Brandon Ingram to the Toronto Raptors during the season.
Advertisement
McCollum, 33, was a three-plus-year starter for the Pelicans after arriving via trade from the Portland Trail Blazers during the 2021-22 season. McCollum was previously Damian Lillard's backcourt running mate in Portland.
June 24: Matisse Thybulle picks up option, returns to Trailblazers
Matisse Thybulle is staying in Portland as he picked up his $11.5 million player option for the 2025-26 season, ESPN's Shams Charania reported on Tuesday.
The 28-year-old was traded to Portland from the Philadelphia 76ers during the 2022-2023 season as part of a four-team trade that also involved the New York Knicks and Charlotte Hornets. Thybulle signed a $33 million deal for three years the following offseason.
Advertisement
Thybulle's option comes after he played 15 games this past season and averaged 7.5 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.2 steals as the Blazers finished with a 36-46 record.
June 24: Knicks reportedly interviewing Timberwolves coach Micah Nori
The New York Knicks found another candidate for their head-coaching position. Minnesota Timberwolves assistant Micah Nori will reportedly interview for the role. Nori is a long-time assistant around the league, and has served in that role with the Toronto Raptors, San Antonio Spurs, Denver Nuggets and Detroit Pistons before joining the Timberwolves.
Nori is the third person the Knicks have interviewed for the role. Mike Brown and Taylor Jenkins each had formal interviews with the team. Of that trio, Nori is the only one without head-coaching experience.
Advertisement
June 23: Celtics reportedly trading Jrue Holiday to Trail Blazers for Anfernee Simons, draft picks
The Trail Blazers struck a deal with the Boston Celtics on Monday night to acquire Holiday, according to ESPN's Shams Charania. In exchange, Portland is sending guard Anfernee Simons and a pair of future second-round draft picks to Boston.
The deal, according to Charania, is only the beginning for the Celtics this offseason. The team is still engaged in trade talks 'surrounding multiple key players on the roster,' though further specifics are not yet known. Boston has significant work to do to avoid the luxury tax altogether, and it's likely that Holiday is simply the first player to go.
June 23: Khris Middleton reportedly picks up $33.3 million option to remain with Wizards next season
Advertisement
Middleton picked up his $33.3 million player option for the 2025-26 campaign on Monday, according to ESPN's Shams Charania. That is part of the initial three-year, $93 million deal he signed with the Milwaukee Bucks in 2023.
The Bucks dealt Middleton to the Wizards ahead of the deadline last season in a move that sent Kyle Kuzma to Milwaukee. Middleton ended up playing in just 14 games for the Wizards, who went 18-64 and missed the playoffs for a fourth consecutive year, while dealing with a knee injury. In total, Middleton averaged 11.9 points and 3.7 rebounds per game last season, his lowest numbers since his rookie campaign.
June 22: Suns trade Kevin Durant to Houston Rockets for Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks, draft picks
Advertisement
The Phoenix Suns traded Durant to the Houston Rockets, in exchange for Green and Brooks. Phoenix also received the No. 10 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft and five second-round picks as part of the trade.
The deal will not officially go through until July 6, per ESPN's Bobby Marks, due to a restriction in Green's rookie extension, which he signed last October. The second-round picks in the trade will stretch to 2032, per NBA insider Jake Fischer.
Durant will join an emerging Rockets team that is anchored by rising stars Amen Thompson and Alperen Şengün, as starters Green and Brooks are sent to Phoenix. The Rockets made the playoffs this season for the first time since 2020 as the No. 2 seed in the West. They lost in the first round to the Golden State Warriors.
June 21: Pat Connaughton picks up option, returns to Bucks
Pat Connaughton is comfortable in Milwaukee. The veteran guard reportedly picked up his player option to return to the team, ESPN's Shams Charania reported Saturday.
Advertisement
Connaughton had until Tuesday to make a decision on his $9.4 million option. The 32-year-old averaged 5.3 points and 2.7 rebounds with the team last season.
After starting his career with the Portland Trail Blazers, Connaughton has spent the past seven seasons in Milwaukee. He's mostly served in a backup role with the team, though is occasionally pushing into a starting spot. After averaging 22.3 minutes per game in his first six seasons with the Bucks, Connaughton saw that number drop to 14.7 minutes per game last season.
With Connaughton on board, the Bucks project to sit below the first apron. The team should still be "able to sign a player to the $14.1 million midlevel exception," per ESPN.