Month: June 2025

The NBA is expected to have a volatile offseason with contrast between the two conferences, along with second apron concerns amongst multiple teams, creating an environment that fosters a number of major trades. The Eastern Conference is suddenly fairly wide open after the Cleveland Cavaliers disappointed in the playoffs while the Boston Celtics will be without Jayson Tatum as they also reset their roster due to second apron machinations. In the Western Conference, the Oklahoma City Thunder have now proven themselves as fulfilling their potential with three young stars in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren to go with a supporting cast and a number of future picks.

The Phoenix Suns, Minnesota Timberwolves and Celtics are each expected to pursue trades that drop them below the second apron. The Suns have been expected to trade Kevin Durant dating back to trade deadline week.

“You have a sandwich effect-the second apron pressing down,” said ESPN’s Brian Windhorst on The Hoop Collective Podcast. “The teams are in the second apron: Phoenix, Minnesota, Boston trying to get out of it. I think all three of them are going to try to get out of it. You got a couple of teams headed into the second apron-I think Cleveland, one more-but the second apron is not where you want to be for long. So you’re going to constantly have teams at the top, you know, potentially squeezing out talent.

“And then you have some teams that have kind of gone all-in over the last couple of years, don’t like their hand, and are going to maybe try to exit out. There’s a few that I suspect could see 13 teams trying to win in the West next year, and they go, ‘You know what?’ Actually, probably 14 teams, because I think Portland probably thinks it can win after the way they finished. I don’t know if they’ve got enough talent to compete, but [Chris] Finch the other day said it was 15. I’m not there yet.

“So, but let’s just-let’s just throw the Blazers a bone and say there’s 14 teams. Is there a team or two in there that’s like, ‘I don’t like our standing here, and if there’s 14 teams trying to win, maybe we should not…’ I’m not going to call those teams’ names out, but I have a suspicion that, you know, that they could be in seller mode.

“So you have some teams that are having to lose players because of salary. You have some teams that are ravenously trying to move up. And you have some teams that may try to sell because they see too many buyers. And what you got right there is a marketplace.”

Shams Charania recently said that this could be the craziest NBA offseason in league history.

“People are saying that this-the amount of activity and calls happening in the league right now is at a much higher volume than has been in years past,” added Windhorst.

The Toronto Raptors have emerged in league circles as a team with ambitions to make a major move this offseason. This maneuvering comes on the heels of their trade for Brandon Ingram at the deadline along with the Boston Celtics expected to take a step back next season due to the Jayson Tatum injury and luxury tax concerns, along with the potential availability of Giannis Antetokounmpo.

“I don’t want to get too far afield from this, but since this has come up, the Raptors are a team that is starting to make noise within the league about looking for a big fish,” said ESPN’s Brian Windhorst on Sunday’s Hoop Collective Podcast. “And, you know, I think because-and I don’t want to get away from this, but I’ve started it myself-if you’re an Eastern Conference team that’s in the middle of the pack, you’re looking at the teams in front of you going, ‘Some of them may not be able to come together, may be able to stay together.’ Boston is hurt, and so there are some teams that sniff the ability to make a move, and I think Toronto is one of those teams.

“And so naturally, any team that wants to make a move this summer, especially a team in the Eastern Conference, you’re going to have Giannis on the board. But Toronto, I think, is going to try-from their initial conversations, teams in the league are getting the impression that Toronto is going to try to do something.

“I had an executive tell me yesterday that he thinks this could be-could be, could be-an explosive summer. You know, just as Shams [Charania] said the other day, but like, this-you know, this is the whole league. People are saying that this-the amount of activity and calls happening in the league right now is at a much higher volume than has been in years past.

“I know it does not mean it’s going to happen, but Toronto is one of those teams that is sitting there on the balls of its feet, which is interesting.”

The Raptors have reset their roster around Scottie Barnes over the past few years by letting Fred VanVleet walk in free agency along with their trades of OG Anunoby and Pascal Siakam. Toronto acquired Immanuel Quickley and RJ Barrett in the Anunoby trade with the New York Knicks.

The Raptors have four outright first round picks available to trade along with three swaps and one protected pick. Masai Ujiri previously made a blockbuster trade for Kawhi Leonard in 2018 that led to their title in 2019. At his end of season media availability, Ujiri spoke of the team’s A-plus culture and guaranteed they’d win another championship.

Zion Williamson has been accused of rape in addition to “sexual, physical, emotional and financial” abuse over the span of a relationship lasting from 2018 to 2023, according to a lawsuit.

The court filing details two alleged incidents of rape in 2020, the first taking place that September in Beverly Hills, California. According to the complaint, the woman told Williamson “she was tired and wanted to go to sleep” but Williamson told her she could not go to sleep without having sex with him. He then allegedly pinned her down with her hands behind her back and raped her. The filing added that Williamson threw the woman’s phone across the room afterward and choked her.

A second rape allegedly occurred in October 2020, also in Beverly Hills. The woman says she was “violently raped” after expressing plans to visit a friend in San Diego. In both instances, the woman accused Williamson of taking her phone for “a period of time.”

The lawsuit accuses Williamson of “threatening to kill” the woman and her family members multiple times. The woman is seeking monetary damages with a source telling ESPN she is seeking “anywhere from $18 million to $50 million.”

“We take these allegations with the utmost seriousness, and we unequivocally deny them,” Williamson’s attorneys at Barrasso Usdin Kupperman Freeman & Sarver LLC said in a statement. “The allegations contained in the complaint are categorically false and reckless. … This appears to be an attempt to exploit a professional athlete driven by a financial motive rather than any legitimate grievance.”

The woman’s attorney, Sam Taylor II, who is with the Lanier Law Firm in Los Angeles, said they would be “very cautious about litigating this in the press.”

Williamson’s contract for the 25-26 season becomes guaranteed on July 15th.