On-Off Basketball

Some news:

I am excited to announce I have accepted a position with the Phoenix Suns! As such, On-Off Basketball will be discontinued, and I won’t be having any public basketball material.

I greatly enjoyed running this site and appreciate all that supported it!

A quarter courtside would disabuse any attentive viewer of so many BS narratives about the NBA. Such as

* they don’t play hard
* they don’t play defense
* the game isn’t physical anymore
* nobody runs anything
* “I could score in an NBA game”

Why NBA rookie contract extensions are harder now and what to expect with 2022 class

New for @theathletic.com - Rookie contract extensions for the class of 2022. Why the new CBA makes it harder to complete them, and what plausible deals might look like for the 17 players who are still eligible to sign them.
www.nytimes.com/athletic/652...

Chris Boucher 2025 Offseason Preview | On-Off Basketball

Chris Boucher is signing a one-year minimum contract with Boston. Boucher was one of my “best minimum contract guys” heading into free agency, so I like this for the Celtics.

www.onoffbasketball.com/2025faboucher

NBA all-in tiers: What all 30 teams are chasing in 2025-26 Not everyone can be all-in for the title in 2025-26. See each franchise's priority No. 1 for the upcoming season.

Teamed up with @timbontemps.bsky.social to bring back our "all-in tiers" evaluating NBA team timelines and what they're attempting to do this season: www.espn.com/nba/story/_/...

#NBA Eastern Conference Power Rankings, w/ plenty of notes & numbers...

www.nba.com/news/offseas...

We graded every NBA team's offseason: Which teams got an A and which got an F? Kevin Pelton hands out offseason grades for each of the NBA's 30 teams. Who passed, and who scraped by?

With the heavy majority of the NBA's offseason moves complete, I handed out grades to 29 teams ... with one remaining incomplete: www.espn.com/nba/story/_/...

NBA Summer League disappointments: Nets’ draft class, the Pelicans and more Questions about Brooklyn's draft strategy didn't fade after the Nets' summer-league showing in Vegas.

New for @theathletic.com - My biggest disappointments from Summer League

www.nytimes.com/athletic/651...

Jared Butler 2025 Offseason Preview | On-Off Basketball

Jared Butler is signing a one-year, non-guaranteed contract with the Suns. He has shown some nice flashes for the Wizards and 76ers the past couple years, and has a real shot at making the opening night roster.

www.onoffbasketball.com/2025fajbutler

Cooper Flagg, Johnny Furphy’s dunk and other 2025 NBA Summer League standouts The conventional wisdom is that everything you see on the court in Vegas is a mirage, but that's not entirely true.

New for @theathletic.com - the best of Summer League, including Cooper Flagg, the Furph's dunk, baskets that didn't count, and more ...

www.nytimes.com/athletic/650...

Regrading the biggest moves of the 2024 NBA offseason, one year later NBA expert Kevin Pelton looks back at 10 of the biggest trade and free agency moves and regrades them.

Took a look back at 10 important moves from the 2024 NBA offseason a year later, including one I don't think has gotten enough scrutiny, the Nets' deal to reacquire their own first-round picks from the Houston Rockets: www.espn.com/nba/story/_/...

Grading 30-plus NBA deals, including Booker's historic -- and risky -- extension Kevin Pelton breaks down the most impactful signings, including max deals for Booker, Gilgeous-Alexander and Banchero.

Grade for the Clippers adding Bradley Beal and analysis of what his buyout means for the Suns: www.espn.com/nba/story/_/...

Isaiah Jackson 2025 Offseason Preview | On-Off Basketball

Isaiah Jackson re-signs with the Pacers for 3-years, $21 million, so his starting salary will likely be right around what his Qualifying Offer was. Excited to see him back healthy and see what kind of impact he can have with Myles Turner gone.

www.onoffbasketball.com/2025faijackson

Using rough math, after the John Collins trade, the Jazz could create enough cap space to throw a 4-year, $81M offer sheet at Jonathan Kuminga or Quentin Grimes.

If Kevin Love agrees to a buyout and gives back $3.6M (his minimum salary), the offer sheet could be about $96M

This (finally) aligns the NBA with the NCAA on last-second shots. The NCAA actually goes farther: "A FGA is not charged if an unsuccessful shot is taken near the expiration of time for a period *or for the shot clock*, and it is the statistician’s opinion that the shot was a desperation shot ... ."

Jock Landale 2025 Offseason Preview | On-Off Basketball

This was pretty expected, even before all the other Rockets offseason activity. Teams with light depth at center could take a look at signing Landale

www.onoffbasketball.com/2025falandale

Winners (Hawks), losers (July) and more (Lakers) from NBA free agency's first days

New for @theathletic.bsky.social - Winners, losers and in-betweens from the first 48 hours of free agency

And the biggest loser is ... July

www.nytimes.com/athletic/647...

2025 Free Agents | 2025 Offseason Preview | On-Off Basketball

Free Agency summary updated for the Spencer Dinwiddie and Dante Exum signings. Everything should be up to date for all reported signings as of now

onoffbasketball.com/2025fa

Trey Lyles 2025 Offseason Preview | On-Off Basketball

The Kings are likely left with just minimum contracts available to fill out the roster and stay below the luxury tax. That makes Trey Lyles pretty available as a solid combo big

www.onoffbasketball.com/2025falyles

Precious Achiuwa 2025 Offseason Preview | On-Off Basketball

Precious Achiuwa probably can't go back to New York unless it's just on a minimum contract, so I'm interested to see where he lands. I have always liked him more than the league seems to have, but he could be a solid addition for some team.

www.onoffbasketball.com/2025faachiuwa

2025 Free Agents | 2025 Offseason Preview | On-Off Basketball

There aren't many free agents remaining that are more than minimum-salary players. The main ones are the restricted free agents (Kuminga, Giddey, Thomas, Grimes) and the old guys (Horford, CP3, Westbrook).

Full summary here:

www.onoffbasketball.com/2025fa

Tre Mann 2025 Offseason Preview | On-Off Basketball

Tre Mann re-signed with Charlotte on a 3-year, $24 million contract, which was close to the 2-year, $15 million I had projected for him.

www.onoffbasketball.com/2025fatrmann

Give me all the moments of Legs and UD breaking down film on ESPN like this.

Remember the old NFL Matchup show? I wish ESPN would do something like that for the NBA. I'm always looking to get better with learning the game and Legs is awesome at breaking it down!

Josh Minott 2025 Offseason Preview | On-Off Basketball

Josh Minott hasn’t gotten many NBA minutes early in his career, but he’s still young and has some potential.

www.onoffbasketball.com/2025faminott

This feels very “low-upside, high-downside” for the Raptors

Sandro Mamukelashvili 2025 Offseason Preview | On-Off Basketball

The Toronto Raptors get a stretch big on a two-year minimum contract in Sandro Mamukelashvili. I think he could get real minutes in Toronto.

www.onoffbasketball.com/2025famamuke...

The site should be up-to-date as of now! Check it out to see who has signed, how that compared to my projection, and who hasn’t signed, plus analysis of each player to learn more about them

Guershon Yabusele 2025 Offseason Preview | On-Off Basketball

I had the right contract for Guershon Yabusele (1+1 at the Taxpayer MLE, so $11.7M), but thought he would stay in Philly.

www.onoffbasketball.com/2025fayabusele

Myles Turner 2025 Offseason Preview | On-Off Basketball

Myles Turner goes to Milwaukee in the most surprising signing of free agency so far. He got 4-years, $107 million. I had Turner projected for 4-years, $100 million.

www.onoffbasketball.com/2025faturner