Should the Boston Celtics take French small forward Noah Penda in the 2025 NBA draft?
Should the Boston Celtics take French small forward Noah Penda in the 2025 NBA draft? The Celtics control the Nos. 28 and 32 picks of the '25 draft in the first and second round, respectively, and could need some cheap forward depth for the future. If Boston trades away backup 3-and-D specialist Sam Hauser into someone's cap space to save money on a potentially historic tax bill and pick up a draft asset or two, that need would be even greater.
Enter Penda, a 6-foot-7 forward weighing in at 225 lbs. in his 20th year. Playing overseas in France for Le Mans Sarthe, the Frenchman passes well and put up 10.2 points, 5.5 rebounds, 2.7 assists, just under a block, and 1.2 steals per game in 27.3 minutes per game.
The hosts of the CLNS Media "How Bout Them Celtics!" podcast, Jack Simone and Sam LaFrance, took some time on a recent episode of their show to talk over his fit in Boston. Check it out below!
If you enjoy this pod, check out the "How Bout Them Celtics," "First to the Floor," and the many other New England sports podcasts available on the CLNS Media network: https://ytubl.ink/3Ffk
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New York Times
21 minutes ago
- New York Times
Trade grades: Can Collin Sexton help the Hornets get more creative on offense?
The wheeling and dealing before free agency even begins is not over. A day before free agency officially opens, the Utah Jazz and Charlotte Hornets have reportedly agreed to a trade. The Jazz are sending guard Collin Sexton and a future second-round pick to the Hornets in exchange for veteran big man Jusuf Nurkić. Tony Jones confirmed the report. Advertisement The deal was first reported by ESPN. This is an interesting trade for both sides as they add needed depth at key positions, although it may lead to further trades or additions for either team. Let's examine it for the Jazz and Hornets before busting out the red pen and slapping some grades on this trade: One reason behind the Hornets' surprisingly mediocre offense last season was it being too reliant on LaMelo Ball. Players like 22-year-old Brandon Miller and Miles Bridges could run plenty of action, but the Hornets were fairly predictable in needing Ball to get things started. Entering this summer, getting another guard to initiate offense was a priority for the Hornets, especially after trading Terry Rozier in January of 2024. This trade accomplishes that. While Sexton isn't a straight-up lead guard, he has enough ability to initiate offense even alongside Ball to give head coach Charles Lee more options. Now, the Hornets can comfortably play Ball and Miller off-ball to begin offensive possessions, and utilize them on the move or have them attack off closeouts when Sexton forces the defense to collapse and recover. Sexton, who was part of the trade that sent Donovan Mitchell to the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2022, struggled during his first season in Utah. However, his last two seasons saw him find more of the groove you expect from him on the court. Over that span, he averaged 18.6 points and 4.6 assists with 48.4/39.9/86.2 shooting splits in 27.2 minutes per game. Those are incredible individual numbers, and replicating that kind of production next to Ball and Miller could provide the boost the Hornets' 29th-ranked offense needs. The offense suffered with Ball missing so much time (he was absent from 35 games), but it would have ranked only 21st in the NBA with his on-court offensive rating. So, this deal signals an improvement, but not enough for the Hornets to be truly competitive. The concern becomes how this team defends with Sexton and Ball in the backcourt together. Also, what are the Hornets going to do with their big-man rotation? The Hornets took 6-foot-7 Kon Knueppel with the fourth pick in last week's draft and traded 7-footer Mark Williams on draft night for a first-round selection that ended up being Liam McNeeley (29th overall), a wing out of UConn. Twenty-three-year-old Moussa Diabate, Grant Williams (26) and 19-year-old Tidjane Salaun (drafted sixth overall last year) are their sole big men currently under contract, and they're not really centers who can protect the rim. The Hornets clearly aren't done filling out this roster and rotation. Nurkić wasn't exactly a short-term or long-term solution at center in the first place. Sexton is an expiring contract next season, so we'll see if the Hornets treat this as a rental or can figure out a long-term agreement with him. Grade: B This is a little curious to me as a move for the Jazz. Technically, they could use a veteran backup center. And while Nurkić is no longer an effective starting big in the slightest, the Jazz don't need that with Walker Kessler employed. Nurkić struggled in a backup role with the Hornets after being traded by the Phoenix Suns before the deadline, but so did everybody on Charlotte. The team was worse with him off the floor than in his 18 minutes a game of playing. In a bit more structured of an environment sans blatant tanking, maybe he can be more effective in that backup role. Advertisement The Jazz also have a frontcourt of Kessler, John Collins (who picked up his $26.5 million player option), Lauri Markkanen, Kyle Filipowski and Taylor Hendricks, who can play plenty at power forward when healthy. There isn't a lot of room there for Nurkić to play there, but this team also isn't exactly shooting for the postseason. The Jazz should have their eyes on potential No. 1 pick AJ Dybantsa in the 2026 NBA Draft, as they still desperately search for a franchise guy to be the future of their team. They might already have drafted one in this year's fifth overall pick, Ace Bailey, but having two centerpiece options in Bailey and Dybantsa would be even better. Like Sexton, Nurkić is also an expiring contract. It just feels like Sexton is a more valuable player or option for a team looking to win than what the Jazz received back for him. Obviously, the trade market dictated differently, but it doesn't feel like the Jazz received much value here. This will free up shots and scoring opportunities for Bailey right away, but I'm not sure the Jazz are going to just hand him the ball to do as he pleases. Next season, they're going to provide way more structure until they lean hard into the tanking push. They'll try to establish some kind of two-man game and system with him and Markkanen. Nurkić comes in as a fun, solid veteran voice in the locker room to help out. He's just not a rim protector, and he's not a totally reliable offensive option. He does still pass the ball really well and can rebound. That will help in his minutes off the bench. I'm just a little surprised this savvy front office didn't get more for Sexton. Grade: C+
New York Times
25 minutes ago
- New York Times
Magic decline Moe Wagner's team option. Is finding a point guard next for Orlando?
The Orlando Magic on Sunday declined their $11 million team option on center Moe Wagner and their $2.1 million team option on Caleb Houstan for the 2025-26 season, setting the stage for team officials to pursue perimeter help when the league's free-agency period opens fully at 6 p.m. ET on Monday. Wagner, 28, had emerged as an NBA Sixth Man of the Year candidate last season before he tore his left knee's ACL in late December and underwent season-ending surgery. Houstan, 22, was one of Orlando's most reliable long-range shooters last season. Advertisement Wagner and Houstan become unrestricted free agents — unrestricted free agents who will be eligible to re-sign with the Magic. The team retains its Bird rights to both players. Precedent indicates that Wagner could return to Orlando. Last summer, the Magic declined their $8 million team option on him for the 2024-25 season; later in the offseason, Wagner and the team agreed to a two-year, $22 million contract that included a team option for the 2025-26 season. Wagner went on to average a career-high 12.9 points per game before his ACL tear. The Magic already have two centers under contract: Wendell Carter Jr. and Goga Bitadze. Carter and Bitadze are considered by league scouts as better defenders and rim protectors than Wagner is, but Wagner is a better scorer and 3-point shooter. Even after Orlando traded for Desmond Bane earlier this month, team officials are painfully aware that they need to make further moves to improve their 3-point shooting and upgrade their depth at point guard. The list of unrestricted free-agent point guards includes Chris Paul, Ty Jerome, Dennis Schröder, Malcolm Brogdon and Spencer Dinwiddie. But the potential target who might make the most sense — and whose contract may be the most affordable — for the cap-strapped Magic is Tyus Jones, 29. The Magic inquired about Jones' availability prior to the 2023-24 season's trade deadline when Jones played for the Washington Wizards on an expiring contract, league sources told The Athletic. Jones shot 41 percent from 3-point range during the 2023-24 season with the Wizards and shot an identical 41 percent from 3-point range last season as a member of the Phoenix Suns. Jones also is surehanded, regularly finishing among the league leaders in assist-to-turnover ratio. If Orlando is interested in Jones, and if he is interested in Orlando, he would provide the team with a more traditional point guard — and a contrast to incumbents Jalen Suggs and Anthony Black, who are elite defenders who on offense appear more comfortable at this stage of their careers as spot-up shooters (with 3-point shooting strokes that need to become much more consistent, especially in Black's case). Jones is comfortable as a pick-and-roll ballhandler, and he has one of the league's more lethal floaters. Advertisement Where Jones struggles is on defense. At 6-foot-1, he does not have the positional size that Magic officials prefer. Still, after the Magic's first-round playoff exit, president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman said, including in an interview with The Athletic, that he and his colleagues in the front office would consider sacrificing some of the team's defense for offense. In recent weeks, Orlando declined its team option on third-string point guard Cory Joseph, a reliable, if unspectacular, NBA veteran who became a starter late in the regular season and during the playoffs after Suggs underwent season-ending surgery to repair torn knee cartilage. Even when Suggs was healthy, forward Paolo Banchero and swingman Franz Wagner tended to be the Magic's lead ballhandlers and shot creators. Those responsibilities for Banchero and Wanger ramped up after Suggs was lost for the remainder of the season, leading to a relatively unimaginative offense that was predicated on recognizing — and attempting to exploit — favorable matchups. Three-point shooting was a severe problem for the Magic all season; the team finished last in the NBA in 3s made per game and last in 3-point shooting percentage. After the 2024 postseason, Banchero told reporters in Orlando that he hoped the Magic would find someone who could reduce the burden on himself and on Franz Wagner by serving as a table-setter on offense. Magic officials value Bane as a secondary playmaker and as an initiator in pick-and-rolls. But as this season's NBA Finals teams proved, title contenders can never have too many capable ballhandlers or too many 3-point shooters. That's why someone like Jones could be of value to Orlando. From a salary-cap perspective, declining the team options for Moe Wagner and Houstan should help the Magic add to their ballhandling and shooting depth. The downside of having such a promising nucleus of Banchero, Franz Wagner, Suggs and Bane is that promising players tend to receive high-level salaries. Orlando's quartet is no exception. Suggs, Bane and Franz Wagner each will earn salaries of $35 million-$38.7 million in 2025-26, putting Orlando perilously close to the league's first-apron threshold. Banchero is eligible this offseason to agree to a five-year, maximum-salary deal worth a total of approximately $247 million. Last season with Phoenix, Jones earned $2.1 million. Even if he can secure a raise this offseason, his asking price may be a price Orlando could afford. (Top photo of Moe Wagner: Nathan Ray Seebeck / Imagn Images)
Yahoo
40 minutes ago
- Yahoo
NBA free agent Malik Beasley under investigation regarding gambling allegations, AP source says
Detroit Pistons guard Malik Beasley looks on during a game against the Miami Heat in Miami on March 19. - Sam Navarro/Imagn Images/Reuters NBA free agent Malik Beasley is under investigation by the U.S. District Attorney's office regarding gambling allegations tied to league games, a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press on Sunday. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment on the matter. Advertisement 'We are cooperating with the federal prosecutors' investigation,' NBA spokesman Mike Bass said in a statement released to the AP and other outlets on Sunday. ESPN was the first to report on the investigation. 'There have been no charges against Malik,' Steve Haney, Beasley's attorney, told the AP. 'It's just an investigation at this point. We hope people reserve judgement until he's charged — or if he's charged. It's not uncommon for there to be a federal investigation.' The probe into Beasley comes 14 months after the NBA banned Toronto's Jontay Porter, who was linked to a prop bet investigation and eventually pleaded guilty to committing wire fraud. Advertisement This past season, The Wall Street Journal was first to report that Terry Rozier — then of the Charlotte Hornets — was under investigation for activity related to unusual betting patterns surrounding him in a March 2023 game. Rozier, now of the Miami Heat, has not been charged with any crime, nor has he faced any sanction from the NBA. Porter's ban came after a similar investigation into his performance and 'prop bets' — wagers where bettors can choose whether a player will reach a certain statistical standard or not during a game. The Porter investigation started once the league learned from 'licensed sports betting operators and an organization that monitors legal betting markets' about unusual gambling patterns surrounding Porter's performance in a game on March 20, 2024, against Sacramento. The league determined that Porter gave a bettor information about his own health status prior that game and said that another individual — known to be an NBA bettor — placed an $80,000 bet that Porter would not hit the numbers set for him in parlays through an online sports book. That bet would have won $1.1 million. Advertisement Beasley signed last year with the Pistons, taking a one-year contract for $6 million in the hopes of cashing in this summer as a free agent. A second person, speaking to AP on condition of anonymity because no deal was announced, said Detroit was 'very interested' in re-signing Beasley to a multi-year contract this summer. Those talks might be in jeopardy, given the uncertainty regarding the federal probe. He made a single-season, franchise-record 319 3-pointers in the regular season. He helped Detroit make the playoffs for the first time since 2019 and end an NBA-record 15-game postseason losing streak in the first round against the New York Knicks. Beasley averaged 16.3 points last season and has averaged 11.7 points over his career with Denver, Minnesota, Utah, the Los Angeles Lakers, Milwaukee and Detroit. He scored a career-high 19.6 points a game during the 2020-21 season with the Timberwolves. The Atlanta native played at Florida State and the Nuggets drafted him No. 19 overall in 2016. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at
