NBA Season 2025-26

[Goldstar88]

It?s really weird seeing Horford play against Jrue right now.. Al is starting for GS. 

[Goldstar88]

Starting lineup for the Rockets tonight:
Sheppard, Thompson, Durant, Jabari Smith, Sengun.

[Who]

Starting lineup for the Rockets tonight:
Sheppard, Thompson, Durant, Jabari Smith, Sengun.

That is a good sign for Houston that Sheppard beat out Aaron Holiday for the starting PG slot. Sheppard failed do that last season.

[Moranis]

I was listening to some national show and the guest said Houston loves Sheppard and is expecting big things this year

[Goldstar88]

I was listening to some national show and the guest said Houston loves Sheppard and is expecting big things this year

Think they took him #3 overall, so they should be expecting a lot.

[Donoghus]

Shams Charania
@ShamsCharania
?
38s
Just in: USA Basketball is expected to name Erik Spoelstra as the new head coach of the men's national team, sources tell ESPN. Spoelstra succeeds Steve Kerr for the next World Cup and the 2028 Summer Olympics after serving as a lead assistant on Team USA's 2024 gold medal squad.

[Who]

The Indiana Pacers have signed guard Cam Payne to a training camp contract.

In a subsequent move, the team waived guard Delon Wright. Wright suffered a significant head injury during Tuesday's preseason game.

Interesting moves.

Delon Wright would be a good 3rd string PG for Boston. A big defensive PG. Something different to Pritchard / A Simons.

Indiana signed Monte Morris previously. So now they have Monte Morris and Cam Payne as backup / 3rd string PGs. I wonder if that means they intend to start McConnell in the backcourt alongside Nembhard rather than starting Nembhard at PG alongside Mathurin and keeping McConnell as their main backup PG.

[Who]

Other than Trae's unexpected passes, has anything surprised you about playing with him?"

Kristaps Porziņģis: "Yeah, he's a really good communicator - not just on the floor, but off it too. He's a cool dude, really genuine - that's just who he is. I can see why he's so good. It makes sense with how he carries himself. Of course, on the court, his playmaking is insane. You'll have moments like, 'Wow, how did he see that - How did he make that happen?' It's a privilege to play with him.

Nice to hear comments like that about Trae. He has a strange reputation. Some people claim his teammates hate playing with him. Others say they love playing with Trae.

[Who]

Christian Braun is expected to command a contract extension with the Denver Nuggets for at least $25 million per season, sources tell Jake Fischer of The Stein Line.

Braun, who is represented by Diego Arguelles, has until October 20th to agree to an extension, or otherwise become a restricted free agent in 2026.

That is a fair bit of coin for C Braun. I like his game except for his outside shooting. I'd hold off giving him a new contract until next summer. I would want to see more development in his outside shooting before giving him that much money.

[Goldstar88]

Christian Braun is expected to command a contract extension with the Denver Nuggets for at least $25 million per season, sources tell Jake Fischer of The Stein Line.

Braun, who is represented by Diego Arguelles, has until October 20th to agree to an extension, or otherwise become a restricted free agent in 2026.

That is a fair bit of coin for C Braun. I like his game except for his outside shooting. I'd hold off giving him a new contract until next summer. I would want to see more development in his outside shooting before giving him that much money.

The $20-25M/year seems about right considering his skill set. Braun averaged 15pts/5rebs/3ast with shooting splits of 58/40/83. Not sure what you mean about the 3pt shooting. Hes a career 38% from deep. Good defender, too.

[Who]

Christian Braun is expected to command a contract extension with the Denver Nuggets for at least $25 million per season, sources tell Jake Fischer of The Stein Line.

Braun, who is represented by Diego Arguelles, has until October 20th to agree to an extension, or otherwise become a restricted free agent in 2026.

That is a fair bit of coin for C Braun. I like his game except for his outside shooting. I'd hold off giving him a new contract until next summer. I would want to see more development in his outside shooting before giving him that much money.

The $20-25M/year seems about right considering his skill set. Braun averaged 15pts/5rebs/3ast with shooting splits of 58/40/83. Not sure what you mean about the 3pt shooting. Hes a career 38% from deep. Good defender, too.

Volume.

He shot 39.7% 3PT last year but on only 2.8 attempts per game in 33.9mpg. About 1 three point attempt every 11 attempts. This low volume despite teams regularly leaving him open and daring him to shoot.

He has to be able to shoot more often. Provide proper spacing. Stop teams cheating off of him and disrupting his teammates scoring opportunities.

[Vermont Green]

This feels like a lot to me for Braun, but all contracts feel like a lot to me.  All this report is saying is that he "is expected to command" this level of contract.  I am not even sure what this means.  Expected by who, his agent?

Braun has very similar career numbers to Hauser.  He had a nice jump last season, a jump in minutes and production.  Braun was 33 min / 15 pts in 2024-25.  Hauser was 22 min / 8-9 pts over the last couple of seasons.  So based on last season, Braun looks to be above Hauser.  Hauser may have a jump this season, with more opportunity for minutes and hopefully better health.

I would not want BOS to pay Braun $25M per, I think you can do better for that money, but who knows.  Braun feels like a 5th starter on a good team type of guy.  Is this now what 5th starters "are expected to command"?

[Goldstar88]

This feels like a lot to me for Braun, but all contracts feel like a lot to me.  All this report is saying is that he "is expected to command" this level of contract.  I am not even sure what this means.  Expected by who, his agent?

Braun has very similar career numbers to Hauser.  He had a nice jump last season, a jump in minutes and production.  Braun was 33 min / 15 pts in 2024-25.  Hauser was 22 min / 8-9 pts over the last couple of seasons.  So based on last season, Braun looks to be above Hauser.  Hauser may have a jump this season, with more opportunity for minutes and hopefully better health.

I would not want BOS to pay Braun $25M per, I think you can do better for that money, but who knows.  Braun feels like a 5th starter on a good team type of guy.  Is this now what 5th starters "are expected to command"?

The taxpayer MLE is $14M+. Some players are making $60M/year now. Braun is a starter for Denver so $20-25M/year seems right considering his production on both ends. I agree, the contracts are just insane now. Thank god Brad signed Hauser and Pritchard to long term contracts when he did. Those two are on very team friendly deals.

[Vermont Green]

This feels like a lot to me for Braun, but all contracts feel like a lot to me.  All this report is saying is that he "is expected to command" this level of contract.  I am not even sure what this means.  Expected by who, his agent?

Braun has very similar career numbers to Hauser.  He had a nice jump last season, a jump in minutes and production.  Braun was 33 min / 15 pts in 2024-25.  Hauser was 22 min / 8-9 pts over the last couple of seasons.  So based on last season, Braun looks to be above Hauser.  Hauser may have a jump this season, with more opportunity for minutes and hopefully better health.

I would not want BOS to pay Braun $25M per, I think you can do better for that money, but who knows.  Braun feels like a 5th starter on a good team type of guy.  Is this now what 5th starters "are expected to command"?

The taxpayer MLE is $14M+. Some players are making $60M/year now. Braun is a starter for Denver so $20-25M/year seems right considering his production on both ends. I agree, the contracts are just insane now. Thank god Brad signed Hauser and Pritchard to long term contracts when he did. Those two are on very team friendly deals.

So if your top 2 players are making about $60M, your 5th starter is at $25M, say $35M each for the 3rd and 4th starters, that is $215M for your staters.  Then say it is MLE level (say $15M) for 6th and 5th bench guys, that gets you to $245M.  The second apron is projected to be $208M for 2026-27.  This is why I can't see how you can pay 5th starters this much.

DEN specifically, in 2026-27, they have Jokic at about $60M, Murray about $50M, Gordan at $32M, and Johnson at $23M.  If you add in Braun at $25M, it puts them at $190M with just 5 players.  I guess you can stay under the second apron if all the other contracts are min or late pick rookie contracts.  But that is not going to buy much of a bench.

The top guys are still going to get the top contracts.  That is not going to change, at least I don't think it is going to change.  But I think 3rd starters and below are going to start seeing lower contracts.  And 5th starters much lower.  But as I said, I am usually wrong and contract end up higher than I think.