2025 NBA summer league has been filled with exciting rookie debuts, young players looking to secure roster spots and plenty of chatter surrounding the upcoming season’s biggest storylines.
Las Vegas has seen plenty of highlights, including Cooper Flagg and the Dallas Mavericks triumphing over Bronny James and the Los Angeles Lakers in the No. 1 pick’s debut.
But plenty of other NBA storylines are already unfolding. Our NBA insiders have been on site, talking to front office staff and scouts as the future of the league performs ahead of the 2025-26 NBA season.
San Antonio Spurs’ Victor Wembanyama and his kung fu training, Josh Giddey and the Chicago Bulls’ contract stalemate and more were discussed as summer league roars on.
What was the talk of the tournament? Our insiders have you covered.
Wembanyama believes Kung Fu training was beneficial
We first spotted Victor Wembanyama stateside July 8, as he pedaled an exercise bike in the background while new Spurs addition Luke Kornet conducted his news conference in San Antonio at Victory Capital Performance Center. The sighting signaled a return to on-court business for Wembanayama, who had just returned from training with monks during a 10-day stay at a Shaolin temple in Zhengzhou, China, followed up by a vacation in Japan, where he produced a couple of viral moments.
Get used to hearing about unconventional training methods from Wembanyama this season.
Those close to the French phenom are quickly learning about his thirst for pushing boundaries physically and mentally. It’s precisely why he chose to train in China, according to sources, who said the 21-year-old wanted to put his body through a different method of training to learn more about himself.
According to sources, Wembanyama came away from that training believing it did him some good.
In addition to improved mental focus, Wembanyama believes some of the moves involved in kung fu training taught him more about how to achieve optimal body positioning through a better range of movement, which could prove beneficial on the court.
After leading the NBA in blocked shots last season (176), despite playing just 46 games because of deep vein thrombosis in his right shoulder, Wembanyama progressed well in his recovery and told French newspaper L’Équipe, “I’m officially cleared to return” in a story published Monday.
Wembanyama brought the crowd at summer league to its feet Thursday, when he strolled to his courtside seat alongside teammates Jeremy Sochan, De’Aaron Fox, Harrison Barnes, Julian Champagnie and Keldon Johnson with his Spurs leading the Philadelphia 76ers by more than 20 points in the second quarter of the club’s opener.
San Antonio won that game 111-70. — Michael C. Wright
The Jazz have parted ways with veterans Jordan Clarkson, John Collins and Collin Sexton this summer, clearing the way for Utah’s collection of young picks to develop and be evaluated during another season that is likely to end with the best possible lottery odds.
This has prompted a lot of scouts and executives to wonder whether the Jazz would trade 28-year-old Markkanen next, as new president of basketball operations Austin Ainge takes over as the primary decision-maker in the franchise’s rebuild.
That is not Utah’s intention, sources told ESPN.
It would be too much to describe Markkanen as untouchable, but the Jazz still project the All-Star forward as a key player in their future core.
Utah listened to offers for Markkanen last summer, but none of the talks with other teams ever came close to tempting CEO Danny Ainge and GM Justin Zanik to make a trade. The Jazz ultimately awarded Markkanen a five-year, $238 million maximum renegotiation and extension, allowing him to sign the deal last Aug. 7 and making him ineligible to be traded before last season’s deadline.
That contract isn’t a concern for Jazz governor Ryan Smith, whose roster is loaded with rookie deals. However, opposing executives said the money does dampen Markkanen’s theoretical trade value, particularly as he’s coming off the worst shooting season of his career, albeit in challenging circumstances.
It would take quite a haul for the Jazz to consider moving Markkanen, probably requiring him to restore his value by performing well for those kinds of offers to come the Jazz’s way.
The hope in Utah, however, is that Markkanen is still in a Jazz uniform when the franchise eventually becomes competitive again. — Tim MacMahon
Oladipo last appeared in an NBA game in 2023 with the Miami Heat, when he tore his left patellar tendon in a playoff game against the Milwaukee Bucks. The two-time All-Star, 33, was part of a well-attended private workout in Las Vegas on Monday morning, with a large contingent of NBA and European teams attending. Oladipo played full-court five-on-five in a group workout of international pros. Multiple team sources in attendance came away impressed, with Oladipo described as being in excellent shape as he pursues another comeback.
The No. 2 pick in the 2013 draft, Oladipo was named the NBA’s most improved player and made the All-NBA third team and All-Defensive team in 2018, a peak that was shortened by multiple knee injuries the following season. His long injury history has delayed his potential return, but there’s currently some consideration around the league that he might eventually work his way into a roster spot, as teams finalize plans to round out their depth entering the fall.
Oladipo expressed his enthusiasm for a possible return in a social media post Sunday. — Jeremy Woo
I feel so great right now!! Better than I felt in the last 7 years mind, body and soul. I know I am a fighter! I know I am a warrior! I have seen every lens this game and this league has to offer. I know I can help any team in any role win in any way! I also know the people want…
— Victor Oladipo (@VicOladipo) July 14, 2025
What does a gap year look like for the Indiana Pacers?
A Saturday afternoon tip-off between the Pacers’ and Oklahoma City Thunder’s summer league squads left many in the gym reminiscing about the epic NBA Finals that had concluded just a few weeks earlier. It also had many wondering what the 2025-26 season holds for Indiana.
After losing Tyrese Haliburton to an Achilles tear and Myles Turner as a free agent to the Bucks, the Pacers are facing an uphill battle to defend their Eastern Conference championship and rebuild their team. In the meantime, the Pacers are expecting an offense that could look much different next season and will almost certainly not be as high-octane without Haliburton running the show, team sources told ESPN. Instead, the Pacers are likely going to lean into the strengths of Andrew Nembhard as a ball handler. He doesn’t have the same burst as Haliburton, especially as a scorer, but is a good decision-maker with good timing in the half court.
A few executives also pointed to Bennedict Mathurin as someone they believe will pick up the scoring slack left by those two absences. They’ll be keeping a close eye on him this season to see how he handles a primary scoring role. — Jamal Collier
The stalemate between Giddey and the Bulls continues into another week as the market for restricted free agents remains cold. Giddey was present in Las Vegas and had lunch with Bulls coach Billy Donovan, sources told ESPN, and Bulls executives were scheduled to meet with Giddey’s agent during the week.
Multiple sources told ESPN they expect Giddey and the Bulls to eventually come to a contract agreement, and the two sides have had some positive discussions. Yet, Giddey has been seeking a contract for approximately $30 million annually. With little cap space available this summer, Giddey’s options for alternatives outside of Chicago dried up quickly, giving the Bulls leverage to hold off for a more team-friendly deal. — Collier
Execs ring the alarms on 2027 draft
After a banner 2026 class, executives are concerned about what’s next
Bleary-eyed executives have barely had a chance to turn the page on the 2025 NBA draft class. Still, they are already moving full throttle into the next draft cycle, with a busy summer in store headlined by FIBA tournaments, grassroots events, sneaker company camps and college practices.
The most forward-thinking of those executives are already ringing alarm bells in their front offices for the 2027 NBA draft, which appears to be an especially weak group of rising high school seniors and international players born in 2007 and 2008.
“This is one of the weakest high school classes I’ve seen in a long time,” one grizzled talent evaluator with extensive experience in the amateur youth space told ESPN.
“There might not be a single All-Star in this group, and after the first few prospects, I’m not sure how many NBA starters I see either from the other five-star recruits. New players always emerge, but by now we usually have a pretty good idea of who the most elite prospects are, and it’s looking like slim pickings, even more so than the weak 2024 NBA draft, which at least had several high-end international prospects we could point to.”
College coaches making the rounds at summer league have echoed similar thoughts, saying they’ve been largely underwhelmed by the lack of star power among prospects ranked at the top of the 2027 recruiting class. This is causing them to plan on being even more aggressive in the transfer portal rather than spending significant sums on five-star prospects who might not be good enough to make impacts as freshmen at the college level.
This development could also have major implications on how aggressive NBA teams decide to be in dangling 2027 first-round picks while potentially repressing the appetite for teams considering tanking their way to a high draft pick. It also puts significant pressure on rebuilding teams to ensure they are in position to land in the talent-rich top five of the 2026 draft, which features five All-Star or franchise-caliber prospects: high-schoolers Darryn Peterson, AJ Dybantsa, Cam Boozer, Nate Ament and Mikel Brown.
NBA teams are hoping to find new prospects who emerge at next week’s FIBA U18 EuroBasket tournament in Belgrade, Serbia. Last year’s event yielded six first-round picks, not including a seventh international prospect in Egor Demin, who would have participated had his Russian national team not been banned because of the war in Ukraine. — Jonathan Givony
The biggest surprise of the draft was the Portland Trail Blazers, who seemingly reached to take 7-foot-2 big man Hansen with the No. 16 pick a year after drafting 7-2 center Donovan Clingan in the lottery.
But in his first moments under the lights, his skill level impressed rival coaches and executives, particularly with his passing. He’s going to be a project, but it didn’t take long to see why Portland was interested in him. Some observers wondered how he will handle the pace in the NBA in the long term. But Hansen, who has said he’s a fan of Nikola Jokic, is going to remain a subject of interest heading into next season, especially in seeing how quickly he can adapt to the league — and how he and Clingan will coexist. — Tim Bontemps
The most interesting move to watch
As the NBA considers expansion, with Las Vegas and Seattle the most likely destinations, one battle to watch is which team might slide to the Eastern Conference to accommodate two newcomers in the West. Although that change is not imminent, that possibility seems particularly meaningful ahead of a season in which the gap between the two conferences could grow because of injured East stars Haliburton and Jayson Tatum (plus former Bucks guard Damian Lillard).
A team employee relayed that their front-office staff had once debated years ago how much they would trade to move from the West to the East, and the conclusion was “a lot.” But during Saturday’s ‘Hoop Collective’ live show in Las Vegas, new Timberwolves co-owners Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez were reluctant to make their case as one of the leading candidates.
“I think you’ve got to be careful what you wish for,” Lore said. “It will be what it will be.” — Kevin Pelton
