Advertisement - scroll for more content
After the Bucks lost to the Indiana Pacers in the first round of the 2025 playoffs, NBA insider Shams Charania of ESPN reported that Antetokounmpo was open-minded about leaving Milwaukee. “With the Knicks and all the other teams kind of keeping an eye on Milwaukee and what may or may not happen there, I think one of the reasons why he (Bridges) has not been extended yet is because once you extend him, you cannot trade him for six months,” Begley said on The Putback. “And I think until the Giannis stuff is fully settled, and I don’t think it’s fully settled yet, as much as I’m sure Bucks fans hate to hear that because I would hate to hear that if I was a Bucks fan, but I don’t think it’s fully settled yet. “And so as teams continue to keep an eye on that, continue to at least plan with that somewhere in the back of their mind, I think that’s why you haven’t seen Bridges extended yet. When he does extend, I think that would tell you Giannis is put to bed, is off the table in a sense.”
Jon Horst: I think the reason why I still love working with Doc and I’m excited to work with Doc is because I think we have a chance to win with Doc. I think he’s a championship-level coach. He’s the right coach to get us to where we want to go. We haven’t had the results yet in our two years together that we wanted. But it’s been two of the most adversity-filled seasons that I’ve been part of. And we’ve had two really successful regular seasons. To go through the things that we went through, if people actually look at the facts of what we went through over two years — we still finished with a fifth seed and a third seed. Near 50 wins in both seasons. And then we lost to the team that lost in the conference finals two years ago and the team that lost in Game 7 of the finals this year. We lost to a really, really good Indiana Pacers organization that deserves everything that they’ve got. I mean, that team had an unbelievable two-year run and they beat everybody; they didn’t just beat us.
James Johnson! How scary could he potentially be? He doesn’t seem like a scary guy... When you’re a big, ass-kicking guy, you’re either: A) “Because I have a hammer, everything’s a nail,” or B) You understand it, and you don’t look for conflict. He seems like the latter—but how scary could he be? Rick Carlisle (half-jokingly): Yeah, we gotta be careful—I don’t know where this show goes out to, exactly. But he’s undefeated. He’s an undefeated mixed martial arts guy. I think he’s been in eight or ten matches, something like that. And you know—one time I heard somebody talking to him, like: “Don’t be starting stuff or whatever...” And he said to me: “Coach, in my discipline—we don’t start things, we finish things.” And so... that’s all I really needed to hear. If I even needed to hear anything at all about it. He’s a special guy, you know?
Rick Carlisle: Look—losing Myles Turner is a significant loss for our team. The guy’s been a terrific player. He had a great season. And look, we were talking to them—or talking to them, meaning his agent—about him returning. And really, kind of out of nowhere, Milwaukee decided to waive Damian Lillard and stretch his contract—stretch his money out over whatever number of years you can do it by rule. And then they created space to sign Myles. I think what probably happened—and this is part of negotiation in any sport— A team will say: “Hey, look, we have this offer. It’s this much over this many years, but if we make this offer, we need to know that you’re going to take it and not shop it.” And so, I believe that’s probably what happened with Milwaukee. It was a number. It was a certain number of years. And they just jumped at it, and there was never a chance to counter. So—those things happen. And when they do, you just have to keep going.
Rick Carlisle: I had a nice conversation with Myles the day after. Wished him the very, very best. It was a special relationship that I developed with him over four years. I mean, he played the best he’s ever played. One of the reasons was—he got to play his natural position full-time. And so, that was great for him.
Advertisement
The Oklahoma City Thunder unveiled its full 2025 preseason schedule on Thursday, featuring six games—two at home and four on the road. The Thunder opens preseason play on Oct. 5 against the Charlotte Hornets in Charleston, South Carolina, followed by a back-to-back matchup with the Dallas Mavericks in Fort Worth on Oct. 6. Oklahoma City returns to Paycom Center for its home preseason debut on Oct. 9, once again hosting Charlotte. The team will then travel to face the Indiana Pacers on Oct. 11 and the Milwaukee Bucks on Oct. 14, before closing out exhibition play at home against the defending champion Denver Nuggets on Oct. 17.
Myles Turner on leaving Indiana: ‘At the end of the day, bro, it's not a Cinderella story, you know what I mean? I think that's what how people are trying to form this and though I think the way I viewed it is I wanted to be thankful, for just the people that rock with me the entire time, my 10-year journey in Indiana, but also let them realize that at this time I didn't made the best decision for my family made the best decision for me and myself going into my prime, and this is how I saw fit. Kyrie Irving: Wait, so there's a better version of Myles Turner? Myles Turner: Absolutely, I'm evolving.
Based on those charts, the best bets to reach $1 million per game first are players who will sign supermax deals after Gilgeous-Alexander, who was drafted in 2018. Among the 2019 draft class, Ja Morant is the only player to make an All-NBA team, and that was three years ago. It seems unlikely anyone in this draft class will qualify for the supermax. However, the 2020 draft class offers two top candidates for supermax qualification: Anthony Edwards and Tyrese Haliburton. It's unknown for Haliburton since he'll miss all of next season due to an untimely Achilles tear. But Edwards has made two All-NBA second teams in a row, putting him on track to sign a supermax in the summer of 2027, which could be worth up to four years and $345 million and rise above $82 million in the second season.
Advertisement
Tony East: "There was alignment issues, as far as me and them," Myles Turner says of negotiations with the Pacers when I asked. Wouldn't elaborate beyond that.
Shams Charnia: Free agent center Isaiah Jackson has agreed to a three-year, $21 million deal to return to the Indiana Pacers, CAA's Drew Morrison and Sam Rose tell ESPN. Pacers are excited about Jackson's development, return, and now lock in a young member of their core.
Michael Scotto: Just In: The Indiana Pacers and Isaiah Jackson have agreed to a three-year, $21 million deal, league sources told @hoopshype .
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement