Collin Murray-Boyles: Raptors sign 9th overall pick to rookie contract
South Carolina forward Collin Murray-Boyles, the ninth pick in the 2025 NBA draft, signed his rookie-scale contract with the Toronto Raptors on Tuesday, the team announced.
Murray-Boyles was named to the All-SEC second team, averaging 16.8 points, 8.3 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.3 blocks on 58.6% shooting as a sophomore. He was the first Gamecocks player since Jimmy Foster in 1983-84 to average at least 16 points and eight rebounds in a season.
He will make $6,332,520 next season, according to Spotrac.
The 6-foot-7 forward led the conference in field-goal percentage and ranked 21st nationally. He was the only player in a Power Four conference to average at least 16 points, eight rebounds, two assists, one steal and one block on 50% shooting from the field.
Murray-Boyles established himself as a lottery pick at South Carolina because of his defensive intensity, post presence and ability to make plays for others. He boasts a 7-foot wingspan that enables him to protect the rim and force turnovers.
The 19-year-old added a 3-point shot this past season, with inconsistent results after converting 9 of 34 from beyond the arc. The lefty has a smooth stroke and made it a point of emphasis throughout the predraft process to showcase his potential as a floor spacer.
Murray-Boyles is expected to suit up with the Raptors as they play at least five games in the NBA Summer League, beginning on July 11 against the Chicago Bulls (8 p.m. EDT, NBA TV).
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New York Times
11 minutes ago
- New York Times
NBA projects 7 percent growth for cap
NBA free agency is moving quickly but a number of key players remain, including a multi-time All-Star rehabbing a torn Achilles. Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images While everyone is focusing on free agency, the league sent out a memo to teams today saying that it is projecting 7 percent growth for the salary cap for the 2026-27 season. The league is pegging it, right now, at $165 million. And the projected tax level is at $200 million. Those are approximate estimates as of right now. But they're also worth keeping in mind since teams aren't just thinking year to year in the offseason. That 7 percent raise in the cap is a little smaller than originally projected. Most everyone was assuming it would be 10 percent because of the new national media rights deal. NBA teams will get about $140 million each in national media rights fees for the 2025-26 season, and it will go up to about $290 million. But payouts per team are not jumping quickly enough to keep everything going up 10 percent, probably in part because of a downturn in the local TV market. The Utah Jazz are guaranteeing Svi's Mykhailiuk's $3.68 million contract next season, per league sources. HoopsHype was first to report. Svi will be back with the Jazz for one more season. The Houston Rockets are re-signing veterans Jeff Green and Aaron Holiday to one-year deals at the veteran's minimum, team sources told The Athletic. To John's point below about Bobby Marks' report, so many contracts and extensions feature maximum eight percent raises. If the cap rises by only seven percent in 2026-27, that will mean many contracts will be growing faster than the cap. That changes the math for everything, and might lead to more regret from around the league. The more newsworthy salary-cap item is the report by ESPN's Bobby Marks that next year's cap will only rise by 7 percent, and not the maximal 10 percent. This is important because the same percentage raise impacts the tax and apron lines. Teams had budgeted for another 10 percent rise, but now must change their projections downward for the luxury tax and aprons by roughly $5 million apiece. There is something inherently funny about the NBA announcing the salary cap and luxury tax levels for the next season hours (or minutes) before free agency begins. Sure, this year, it didn't matter because it's been known for a while that the cap would just jump 10 percent from last year. But this actually has mattered in years past. The NBA and the NBPA spend about a week at the end of the fiscal league year hammering out the Basketball Related Income and getting these numbers. Then, they get it to the teams as soon as they possibly can. It's a very harried process. Every cent matters as teams do their financial planning, and it just happens to not be 100 percent clear until the end. Every team in the NBA had budgeted for this exact cap number. The year-to-year raises in the salary cap have a 10 percent celling under the 2023 CBA, while the league's new TV deal ensured that this year's number would have otherwise blown right pass that limit. The NBA has announced that the salary cap for the 2025-26 season will be $154.647 million. The luxury tax threshold is at $187.895 million. The first apron is at $195.945 million. The second apron is at $207.824 million. The non-taxpayer midlevel exception will be worth $14.104 million, the taxpayer MLE is $5.685 million, and the room MLE is $8.781 million. GO FURTHER NBA free-agency 2025 primer: Key free agents, explaining the aprons and more Getty Images G, Nets Age: 23 BORD$: $23,390,386 Much like D'Angelo Russell, Thomas' value is an extremely divisive topic because he is so dependent on generating tough 2-point jump shots and offers little in the non-scoring categories. However, he was more efficient last season (57.5 true shooting percentage), and his sheer shot-creation volume provides a solid floor for an offense. On a rebuilding team, the key variable in Thomas' favor is that he is still only 23, so theoretically, his best years remain ahead. The other, even more crucial variable is that his cap hold is only $12.1 million. As with Russell above, the Nets will do their other business and then sign Thomas' contract once they have absorbed other contracts into the rest of their cap room. (Note that they may agree on a contract earlier, but they can drag their feet on signing it and submitting it to the league.) Given that Thomas is basically free money against the cap and the Nets have little risk of ending up all the way into the tax, Brooklyn is pretty heavily incentivized to re-sign him to a front-loaded deal with 8 percent annual declines that would make him a favorable value in the final two years of the deal. For example, a four-year, $100 million deal would start at $28.41 million in 2025-26 — likely taking the Nets right to the tax line — but just $21.6 million in 2028-29 for Thomas' age-27 season. Thomas is a restricted free agent, but that distinction borders on irrelevant in a market where nobody else has cap space, and Thomas figures to make more than the nontaxpayer MLE. GO FURTHER LeBron? Harden? Kuminga? The Top 25 NBA free agents for the 2025 offseason A late entrant to the market after taking a buyout from Utah, Jordan Clarkson grades out as a good-minimum get, according to my BORD$ formula. He will have the chance to play on a team that is actually trying to win for the first time in three years. His shooting numbers dove south the past two seasons, and he made just 44.8 percent of his 2s in the 2024-25 season. He's also 33 years old and not exactly renowned for his defense. But Clarkson still provides a jolt of shot creation off the bench and can be hard to stop when he's cooking. Contenders in need of backcourt depth could do a lot worse. Getty Images G, Nets Age: 29 BORD$: $23,898,145 Russell's brand has taken a beating since he didn't fit in L.A. and has been exposed defensively in the postseason. But he's a good scorer and shooter whose shortcomings might be perceived differently if he were cast as a high-usage sixth man rather than a starting point guard. Russell was also outlier bad from 3 last year (a career low 31.4 percent), but that isn't the way to bet going forward. The Nets will have full Bird rights on him in addition to their jillions in cap space; while he doesn't exactly fit Brooklyn's timeline, re-signing him to use as a trade piece either in-season or next summer makes sense from a cap perspective and adds some floor for Brooklyn's offense as the Nets rebuild. Notably, if Brooklyn struggles to find other uses for its cap space, it could sign Russell to a bloated one-year deal with a non-guaranteed second year, one that would effectively operate as a trade exception to use in-season or even next summer. Russell's cap hold is $28 million, but the Nets could pay him the max if they wanted; as long as they set aside $28 million of their cap space for his hold, they can finish their other business and then go as high as they want on Russell. Note that keeping Russell and Cam Thomas (below) on their books would take the Nets down to $40 million in room — still likely plenty for what they have planned this offseason. GO FURTHER LeBron? Harden? Kuminga? The Top 25 NBA free agents for the 2025 offseason F, Grizzlies Age: 24 BORD$: $25,631,532 Aldama is a restricted free agent this offseason. Memphis is likely to bring back Aldama because his low cap hold is a key part of the Grizzlies' strategy. Memphis can park his $11 million salary-cap hold on its sheet and have enough space to renegotiate and extend Jaren Jackson Jr.'s contract, then coming back to re-sign Aldama to a new deal. The tricky part is how much they're willing to pay Aldama when he overlaps at an already strong position on the Memphis roster and other needs lay waiting. The counterargument would be that this is why Memphis has to re-sign Aldama. In addition to the Jackson strategy above, his contract would need to be the matching salary for virtually any starting-caliber player whom Memphis would acquire in-season. I don't think there's enough money out there this summer to hit the BORD$ figure above, unless the Nets get wild. However, something around three years and $60 million to $65 million — especially if it's a front-loaded deal with 8 percent annual declines — would give the Grizzlies enough cap ballast to keep all its trade options open down the line. GO FURTHER LeBron? Harden? Kuminga? The Top 25 NBA free agents for the 2025 offseason Cary Edmondson / Imagn Sources from three different rival teams have linked the Lakers to De'Anthony Melton as we near the official start of free agency. The expectation is that there's strong mutual interest. Melton, 27, missed the majority of last season with a partially torn ACL. Getty Images G, Kings Age: 25 BORD$: $24,714,831 Ellis has a non-guaranteed team option for 2025-26. Ellis is a valuable player on a cheapo contract for at least one more season, making just $2.3 million on the final year of his minimum deal. The Kings can extend his contract for up to four years and $85 million and absolutely should be looking at doing this given his 3-and-D profile. Even if Ellis overlaps some with Zach LaVine, an extended contract for him at $18 million to $20 million a pop should still have positive trade value. (Also, LaVine isn't good enough to be driving long-term strategy for a non-contender.) One other option for the Kings would be to 'decline-and-sign,' essentially throwing a bone to Ellis by declining his $2.3 million option for this year and turning it into a $14.5 million deal via early Bird rights, with a total package of four years and $65 million and a fourth-year player option. That could create a short-term tax issue for the Kings depending on some other roster choices, but long term, this is a much cleaner way to build the team over the coming seasons and removes some tax concerns in 2027 and 2028. GO FURTHER LeBron? Harden? Kuminga? The Top 25 NBA free agents for the 2025 offseason C, Pacers Age: 29 BORD$: $31,329,931 Myles Turner might be the most contentious free-agent negotiation of the summer. Between his unrestricted status, the lack of competing cap-space teams, the Pacers' accomplishments this season, Indiana's potential tax and apron issues if it pays him big money and the fact his deal cannot be extended before he hits free agency … all the ingredients seem to be there for a prolonged staredown that ends with hurt feelings. Turner's BORD$ value is $31 million; while there is no chance of him getting this much in a market with no viable alternate suitors, it does indicate a figure for the Pacers to at least approach if they want him to sign for multiple years. Is three years for $75 million to $80 million fair? Even at $25 million a pop, Turner's next deal would take the Pacers sailing past the first apron and represent a first-ever foray into the tax for Indiana. That's for 2025-26; extending Bennedict Mathurin could push the Pacers to the second apron in 2026-27. Some tough decisions will need to be made at some point about other spots on the roster, but if you're not willing to pay the luxury tax for the franchise's best team in a quarter century, sell it to someone who will. Finally, note that Turner is eligible for a no-trade clause, although I doubt he has the juice to get one. GO FURTHER LeBron? Harden? Kuminga? The Top 25 NBA free agents for the 2025 offseason Jayne Kamin-Oncea / Imagn With free agency a few hours away, the LA Clippers basically have only two spots on the roster that need to be addressed: ball handling and frontcourt help. Those were the areas that president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank outlined days after the Clippers were eliminated by the Denver Nuggets in the West quarterfinals. The 8-man rotation that finished the Clippers-Nuggets series is intact after the team agreed to terms with All-NBA point guard James Harden and veteran reserve forward Nicolas Batum. Both players declined their player options and secured raises for next season. The Clippers also have their last five draft picks who will be under team control: 2025 picks Yanic Konan Niederhauser and Kobe Sanders (a likely 2-way contract), 2024 second round pick Cam Christie, and 2023 picks Kobe Brown and Jordan Miller (nonguaranteed but fully expected to return). Amir Coffey and Ben Simmons are incumbent free agents, and while both were rotation players entering the postseason, they were both out of the mix by the end of the Denver series. In Coffey's case, he didn't play a single minute in the playoffs. Coffey and Simmons are both expected to get better offers elsewhere than they will from the Clippers, with Simmons in particular looking at teams with exceptions; he's not looking for a minimum deal. Veteran Patty Mills is also a free agent, while center Drew Eubanks has a nonguaranteed contract that could be used in a potential trade. What happens with Eubanks is to be determined, but he might be a long shot to make it to Week 1 if the Clippers add another veteran center. Teams can have a maximum of 21 players under contract in the offseason. The Clippers tendered one of last year's two-way contract players, Trentyn Flowers, so he is a restricted free agent who is expected to return. The other two-way contracts that ended last season, Patrick Baldwin Jr. and Seth Lundy, are still on those contracts. The Clippers also added undrafted rookies John Poulakidas and Jahmyl Telfort, though LA likes to wait to officially sign Exhibit 10 contracts while they do other business. So if the Clippers add two players, likely a backup point guard and a backup center, that will put them at 21 players, including Eubanks and the four 2025 rookies. LA has the nontaxpayer midlevel exception to work with, a little over $14 million. Look for them to use that on Harden and Ivica Zubac insurance. Any other positions would signal that a trade would likely be necessary to balance the roster. Adam Glanzman / Getty Images The Warriors' front office will be stationed in Los Angeles at the start of free agency, as has been their recent custom. They quickly pursued De'Anthony Melton at the start of last summer's free agency and, team sources said, they will be on the recruiting trail for veteran help again in the opening hours on Monday afternoon. Team sources have identified a stretch center as a high priority. Many in the league continue to link Al Horford to the Warriors as a preferred target. If the Warriors use the taxpayer midlevel exception (projected at around $5.7 million) on Horford or another free agent, they'll be hard-capped at the second apron, currently projected at $207.8 million. Page 2
New York Times
26 minutes ago
- New York Times
NBA free agency starts with a Bucks stunner. Plus: Fever win a title
The Pulse Newsletter 📣 | This is The Athletic's daily sports newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Pulse directly in your inbox. Good morning! Zach Harper's here to lead things off today. And we're sending best wishes to the 🐐, Red Panda. Get well soon! Big surprise news hit the NBA world yesterday morning: Myles Turner is leaving the Indiana Pacers for the Milwaukee Bucks on a four-year, $107 million contract. We thought, 'Wow! I can't believe he's leaving! The Pacers were supposed to make bringing him back a priority! And now Giannis Antetokounmpo is getting some unexpected help!' Advertisement Then we took a breath and wondered how in the Bernie Madoff the Bucks were going to be able to afford Turner. They didn't have the cap flexibility to outright sign someone like this, and Damian Lillard's $54 million contract next season (while he can't play due to an Achilles tear) was a big reason everybody started wondering if Giannis would finally ask for a trade to less-injured pastures. Then the other shoe dropped. The Bucks are waiving Dame and 'stretching' the final two years and $113 million owed to him. What does that mean for him and the Bucks and the money? Is this a good move? Will this work? I'm happy to talk to myself and answer these questions. What does waiving and stretching Damian Lillard mean? He's off the team. They've essentially cut him, but his money is guaranteed and still on the salary cap. 'Stretching' his money divides what's left on the deal over the next five seasons instead of the next two. Is that smart? It's a risk. They were going to have one-third of the cap eaten up by Lillard the next two seasons. He wasn't going to play one of those, and he probably wasn't going to be himself for much of the second season. Now, the Bucks have more flexibility, but about 15 percent of the cap each of the next five seasons is still dead money from Dame's deal. What does Dame do now? He's a free agent when he clears waivers. The 34-year-old can sign wherever he wants to sign. But he still has to rehab this serious injury and that usually takes about a year. Can the Bucks compete with Turner on the roster now? Things are better than they were. Turner replaces Brook Lopez, and he's a more versatile defender. They still don't have a lead guard and likely won't add anybody significant. They're hoping Kevin Porter Jr. converts the talent into consistency. Cleveland, Orlando, New York, Boston (still), Detroit, a healthy Philadelphia and maybe now Atlanta are all teams Milwaukee might be behind still in the crowded East. Advertisement This was all super helpful and you seem nice and fun and like you have great hair. Can I read more of your work? Thank you! Yes, you can! Subscribe to The Bounce, my free NBA newsletter! Thank you, Zach. Onward… Penn bans trans athletes Transgender athletes at the University of Pennsylvania will no longer be able to compete for the school's women's teams following a new agreement between the university and the U.S. Department of Education. The university will also strip transgender competitors of historical credit for past accomplishments, including the three program records set by transgender swimmer Lia Thomas in the 2021-22 season. Read more here. Upsets everywhere at Wimbledon An eye-popping number of seeded players crashed out in the first round at the All England Club — 13 on the men's side, a record, and 10 on the women's. Yesterday, No. 2 seed Coco Gauff fell to Dayana Yastremska of Ukraine, and compatriot Jessica Pegula (No. 3) lost to world No. 116 Elisabetta Cocciaretto. No. 3 seed Alexander Zverev was the highest-ranked men's upset, falling to world No. 70 Arthur Rinderknech. American Taylor Fritz, meanwhile, finished the job against Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard after their match was suspended Monday night. Our tennis staff has a full Day 2 roundup, plus today's best matches to watch. (Reminder: This and all links below are free to read.) More news 📫 Love The Pulse? Check out our other newsletters. 📺 MLB: Yankees at Blue Jays 7:07 p.m. ET on Prime Video Remember when Toronto was a mess this offseason? Vlad Guerrero Jr. is happy and the Jays are just one game back of the division-leading Yanks. This one is big for the standings and general morale. 📺 Gold Cup: USMNT vs. Guatemala 7 p.m. ET on FS1 The Americans are in good shape results-wise, but the vibes are still iffy with this crew. A win here does land them a spot in Sunday's final, though. A strong simultaneous viewing option: The USWNT has a friendly tilt against Canada at 7:30 p.m. ET (TNT, TruTV and Max). Get tickets to games like these here. I hope you had a lovely Bobby Bonilla Day. What's that? Catch up with our explainer, heavy on the deferrals. The Lakers are once again at the center of the NBA offseason, as Dan Woike wrote. Dan's been great. Make time for this one. Enjoyed the premiere of 'No Free Lunch,' The Athletic's newest podcast, where Ndamukong Suh chatted with Candace Parker about how WNBA players are maximizing their earning potential. Watch it here. Advertisement Great question in Richard Deitsch's mailbag: Does Fox hate college football? Read his answer on that and more. This was better than most GOAT debates we have today: Jim Rice made the case for the late Dave Parker as the best baseball player he's ever seen. After the Yankees announced their excellent George Costanza bobblehead, Brooks Peck put together some 2025 MLB bobblehead superlatives. I'm partial to the Swanson power couple tribute. Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith should probably be in the NFL right now. But despite accomplishing, well, nearly everything there is in college football, he insists he's not done. Most-clicked in the newsletter yesterday: The Club World Cup bracket. Most-read on the website yesterday: Our NBA offseason live blog. Checks out.
Yahoo
36 minutes ago
- Yahoo
LeBron James And Austin Reaves Reportedly Don't Like Playing With Luka Doncic
LeBron James And Austin Reaves Reportedly Don't Like Playing With Luka Doncic originally appeared on Fadeaway World. Luka Doncic has gelled well on the court with LeBron James and Austin Reaves during their short time as teammates on the Los Angeles Lakers, but NBA insider John Gambadoro claims all is not well. On the latest episode of the Burns and Gambo Show, Gambadoro stated that James and Reaves do not like playing with Doncic. "LeBron does not like playing with Luka," Gambadoro said. "Reaves does not like playing with Luka. Reaves does not like getting the ball with two seconds left on the shot clock. LeBron is not fond of playing with Luka. The Lakers are going to turn their attention to build around Luka, not LeBron. "So, this is Luka's team now," Gambadoro added. "... He'll probably come back, but I wouldn't say it's a guaranteed no-brainer LeBron comes back to the Lakers because there are guys that don't like playing with Luka." Gambadoro also wondered if James is struggling to handle the fact that a teammate of his is now the top dog for the first time in his career. All of this is quite interesting considering we haven't heard anything prior to this about any sort of discontent between them. James has spoken glowingly of Doncic's game and has never really thrown shade at his teammate at any point. The 40-year-old has done that to others in the past, but not to him. As for Reaves, a deeper look at his numbers suggests he should have liked playing with Doncic. In the games he played without the Slovenian this past season, he averaged 19.8 points, 6.3 assists, 4.3 rebounds, 1.3 steals, and 0.2 blocks per game while shooting 45% from the field and 36.2% from beyond the arc. When Doncic was playing alongside him, Reaves averaged 21.0 points, 4.8 rebounds, 4.8 assists, 0.8 steals, and 0.5 blocks per game. He was more efficient, too, shooting 47.9% from the field and 40.2% from beyond the arc. There were some concerns that Doncic's arrival might hurt Reaves on offense, but that hasn't been the case. The five-time All-Star has instead made life easier on the court for Reaves, as evidenced by those numbers. The only problem when it comes to these two playing together is that they're both not great defenders. The Minnesota Timberwolves repeatedly hunted them in the first round of the playoffs, and that contributed to the Lakers getting eliminated in five games. Reaves, however, dismissed those defensive concerns regarding himself and Doncic. He thinks the two of them, along with James, will create chaos next season. It's unclear if these three will be playing together in 2025-26, though. At first, there was talk about Reaves being traded this offseason as he could potentially hit free agency in 2026. It is expected that he will ask for a deal worth nearly $30 million per year, and that would be a significant financial commitment. That trade talk has died down a bit now, though, and James is now the one potentially headed to the exit door. NBA insider Shams Charania stated that he could leave the Lakers if he doesn't think they can compete for a title. Doncic looks to be the only one guaranteed to be with the Lakers long-term. The 26-year-old is widely expected to sign an extension in August, and the Lakers are making all their moves now with him in story was originally reported by Fadeaway World on Jul 2, 2025, where it first appeared.
