Hoops Rumors Live Chat: 9/9/2026
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Luke Adams
1:01
Hi all! Welcome to the new day/time for our weekly live chats.
Thanks for submitting questions early. Let's dive right in.
Grizz
1:01
Do you see Taylor Hendricks as part of the rotation to start the season? Is he even in Memphis’ long term plans?
Luke Adams
1:04
I think he'll get a chance to show that he should be part of the Grizzlies' plans going forward, but I don't think they're necessarily counting on that at the moment. I didn't get the sense Hendricks was viewed as a major part of the return for Jaren Jackson Jr., and I'd be shocked if he signed a rookie scale extension this offseason.
Seamhead
1:04
What is the actual penalty for a team like the Nuggets to go into the season over the 2nd apron? I know the tax implications can be big, but they're only a bit over. What are the other reasons for them to go under?
Luke Adams
1:07
No penalty really. They're prohibited from doing certain things in trades and free agency (using any portion of the MLE, aggregating salaries, sending out cash, etc.), but I don't think they're planning on doing any of those things in the short term anyway, so there's no real urgency for them to duck below the second apron this fall.

I do think if the opportunity arises, they'll have interest in getting below it at the trade deadline. If they're still above the second apron at the end of the season, their 2034 first-round pick would become "frozen" (ie. ineligible to be traded), which would be a hindrance if they're seeking upgrades around Jokic next offseason and beyond.
William
1:08
Hi there, are the lakers going to do any further move or not; if they have try , why have they fail ? . Thanks.
Luke Adams
1:10
The Lakers would presumably love to find a way to make some sort of 2-for-1 or 3-for-1 trade for a quality rotation-caliber wing using some back-of-the-roster guys (Vanderbilt, Knecht, Hardy, etc.) and a couple of their remaining draft assets.

They were trying to do something like that for Kuminga, but it'll be challenging for them to make a deal at this point, since those players they want to move don't have any value on their own (some have negative value) and their draft assets (a small handful of second-rounders and one first-round swap) are very limited.
Guest
1:11
knicks 15th roster spot?
Luke Adams
1:12
Will be open. Their 14th roster spot? I still expect them to use it on a third center. Going into the season with just Towns and Drummond as my options at the five would make me nervous.

No great options out there in free agency though, and finding a viable trade has been tough going. Maybe they add someone like a Drew Eubanks on a non-guaranteed deal for now and reassess their trade options a couple months into the season.
Chance 99
1:12
Are you surprised Julian Reese hasn't caught on with someone yet? Seems like a good young prospect.
Luke Adams
1:14
It took him until the end of February to find a two-way deal last season, and his numbers for the Wizards were artificially inflated by the fact that he was playing such a significant role on a tanking team.

That's not to say that he doesn't deserve another shot on a two-way contract in 2026/27, but I'm not shocked that he hasn't found a new opportunity yet.
Josh
1:14
Is the “comeback thing” new? Guys like victor oladipo and ben simmons seeking out new opportuities or has that been around?
Luke Adams
1:16
As multi-time All-Stars, Oladipo and Simmons are higher-caliber players than the usual guys seeking NBA comebacks in their early-to-mid 30s, but it's definitely not a new phenomenon. Dozens of guys get pushed out of the league every year, and most of them think they still deserve to be in the NBA.
Just Curious
1:16
For teams over the cap but under the aprons, what is the general trade exception rule now? Is it salaries need to be within 25% or $5 million, or something like that?
Luke Adams
1:22
I'll try to keep this is as simple as possible, but here's how I'd explain the expanded traded player exception:

A team is permitted to take back up to 200% of its outgoing salary, plus an additional $250K...

... Unless the gap between the outgoing and incoming salary exceeds $9,096,000, in which case the team can take back its outgoing salary plus $9,096,000...

... However, a team is permitted to take back 125% of its outgoing salary plus an additional $250K if the gap between its outgoing and incoming salary exceeds $9,096,000.

These rules only apply to teams operating below the first apron. Teams in apron territory can't take more than salary than they send out.
1:23
For example, if a team is sending out $7MM, it could take back $14,250,000 (200% + $250K).

If a team is sending out $14MM, it could take back $23,096,000 ($14MM + $9,096,000).

If a team is sending out $40MM, it could take back $50,250,000 (125% + $250K).
SpursFan
1:23
Two questions about the Spurs. First, do you see Dylan Harper playing more than 22 minutes a games this season? Second, is Dylan Harper a better point guard than De’Aaron Fox?
Luke Adams
1:25
Harper was at 22.6 MPG in the regular season last year and 26.7 MPG in the playoffs, so 22+ definitely seems like a safe bet this season. I'd take the over on 25 MPG too.

I'd say Fox is the better PG right now but if I had to just take one of the two for the next 5-10 years, I'd want Harper.
Miami
1:25
Why does everyone keep saying Miami has no shooters?  I’m counting 5 of the top 40 in 3pt% made last season.
Luke Adams
1:29
The three questions I'd ask of the Heat's top shooters are:

  1. Can you provide value beyond your shooting? (Klay, Fontecchio)
  2. Can you sustain your career-best shooting from last season? (THJ, Wiggins)
  3. Can you shoot enough to be a real threat? (Davion Mitchell)

It's not that they have no shooting. It's mostly a question of whether the shooting they do have is sustainable and whether it's enough.
Trey Kaufman-Renn
1:29
Any update on my status? Am I going back to college or Minny?
Luke Adams
1:30
Looks like you were just granted a temporary restraining order to go back to college. The NCAA's gonna keep fighting it but I suspect the Wolves won't be too bothered if you want to spend a season as a domestic draft-and-stash player.
SGA
1:30
How will OKC use their last open roster spot?
Luke Adams
1:32
I doubt they'll be in any rush to do so. It made sense to try to use it on a guy like Spencer Jones who could actually be a rotation piece (and who you could potentially hurt a conference rival by poaching). But I don't see any free agents out there anymore who would play consistent rotation minutes for OKC, so the Thunder are probably better off staying flexible, avoiding the extra tax penalties, and filling that spot at or after the trade deadline.
1:33
If they do fill it entering opening night, I'd expect them to use it on a wing on a non-guaranteed contract.
Laker Fan
1:33
Hi Luke - Why don't the new owners of the Lakers replace Jeannie Buss as governor with onr of the new minority owner and end this Buss family drama so the Buss family go on Bravo with their own reality show
Luke Adams
1:34
It's unclear whether the agreement between Jeanie and Mark Walter to keep her in the governor role will carry over to the new owners and whether it's legally binding. My assumption is that it must be, since I can't imagine they want her in that role badly enough to voluntarily deal with all this family drama.
Cam Christie
1:35
I'm going cut, right?
Luke Adams
1:35
Unless the Clippers make more trades to clear their roster crunch, then yeah, it's hard to see how you make the cut for the regular season.

I bet the Clippers would like to keep you on a two-way deal, but you'd have to clear waivers first.
Devin Carter
1:36
Am I even going to make the Hawks roster? Why bring in Nembhard right after me, and especially having just drafted Flemings
Luke Adams
1:37
Well, the Hawks got a second-round pick for taking on your contract, so I imagine the deal was more about the draft pick than about you specifically.

Having said that, they may have still envisioned having you on the roster as a 14th or 15th man at that point, not knowing that the opportunity to acquire Nembhard would arise a couple weeks later.

As I wrote today, I think you'll probably be a victim of the Hawks' roster crunch.
Pels fan
1:37
AJ Johnson, Trendon Watford, Kobe Bufkin, Christian Koloko, Caleb Houstan... 2 get the last spots, 3 get cut. I'm hoping we keep Watford and Johnson
Luke Adams
1:40
I'd view Watford as the clubhouse leader for one of those spots. He's the only one of the five whom the Pelicans voluntarily gave guaranteed money to this offseason (even if it's just a small partial guarantee).

The Pelicans would probably love for Johnson to step up and prove he deserves the other spot, but he really hasn't shown much in his first couple NBA seasons to make me think he'll be the best option of those other four. We'll see.
Bob G
1:40
Hi Luke…how does Kelly Oubre get 2 for 16 mil and Quentin Grimes get 4 for 60 mil ?  Both are my former Sixers guys and those contracts seem out of whack …
Luke Adams
1:42
Grimes is four years younger and has shown a little more upside. But he also had the good fortune of being coveted by a team with plenty of cap room to spare, whereas Oubre ended up with a team limited in what it could offer due to its hard-cap situation.

I had Grimes a few spots higher than Oubre on my top 50 free agents list this summer, so I'm not shocked he got the better contract, but I'm with you that the gap was surprisingly large.
Haliburton
1:42
if cavs are near the 1st apron and apparently they can't sign any 15th player on minimum deal, do they have to stay at 14 players whole season and playoffs or is there a way around, if they can get around, who is most likely to in your opinion and what do they need in a player?
Luke Adams
1:45
Based on their current cap situation, they'll have room as of April 9 (three days left in the season) to sign a 15th man. So at the very least, they'll have a full roster for the playoffs.

It's possible their cap situation will change in the coming months though. I expect that if they make any in-season trades, it'll be a priority to trim their payroll by $1MM or 2MM during the process to give themselves a bit more flexibility with the back of the roster.
Just Curious
1:45
Looking back on the Clippers investigation over the last several months, many of the NBA's top sports analysts and writers, including some on this site, expected the team to receive minimal penalties. What do you think happened here? What was behind the skepticism that Silver would act on  the substantial evidence that Torre accumulated? How did we get mislead?
Luke Adams
1:49
I was skeptical that the NBA would come down hard on the Clippers in large part because it didn't really fit Adam Silver's track record as commissioner. I've found him to lean more lenient than draconian and figured that if the league wasn't able to find a smoking gun in its investigation, he wouldn't want to go to war with the Clippers over it.

But the investigation actually turned up much more evidence than I expected (substantiating a lot of Torre's reporting and adding new details), and it seemed like the NBA may have been irked to some extent by the arrogant way the Clippers handled the process (lying to investigators, trying to spin their own narrative through the press).
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