Basketball News: 6-9-2026
0 views
Skip to first unread message
Dudley Dent
7:58 AM (6 hours ago) 7:58 AM
to Tiger Tracks
Auburn Basketball News: 6-9-2026
Former Auburn forward waiting out NBA trade rumors again:
https://www.al.com/sports/2026/06/former-auburn-forward-waiting-out-nba-trade-rumors-again.html
*****************************
Former Auburn forward waiting out NBA trade rumors again
By Mark Inabinett
al.com
The NBA season could end this week in a way that it hasn’t in 53 years – with the New York Knicks as league champions. The Knicks won the first two games in the best-of-seven title series against the San Antonio Spurs, with Game 3 on Monday night.
Former Auburn standout Isaac Okoro’s NBA season ended two months ago, and he expects this offseason to be much like the last few: He’ll be tuning out speculation about where he’ll be traded.
“I think I’ll just control what I can control,” said Okoro, who was traded by the Cleveland Cavaliers to the Chicago Bulls last offseason. “I’ll go into the offseason and try to figure out how I can be a better player for next season. It’s the NBA, it’s the business, and I can be traded again somewhere. I love being here, and I love the culture we’re trying to build, so I just have to try and control what I can control.
“But I’ve gotten used to it. I’ve only been traded one time. But in Cleveland, come every offseason, I felt like I could have been traded.”
As if right on cue, Chicago Sun-Times basketball writer Joe Crowley predicted last week that if the Bulls land North Carolina forward Caleb Wilson or Duke forward Cameron Boozer with the fourth selection in the NBA Draft on June 23, Okoro would be on his way to the Los Angeles Lakers for a package of draft picks.
The fifth player picked in the 2020 NBA Draft, Okoro had played five seasons with the Cavaliers when they traded him to Chicago for Lonzo Ball, who averaged 4.6 points in 35 games for Cleveland before being traded to the Utah Jazz, which immediately waived the guard.
Injuries cost Okoro 19 games in the 2025-26 season. But in his 63 games for the Bulls, he started 62 times and averaged 9.3 points, 2.7 rebounds and 1.6 assists in 26.9 minutes per game.
Only one Chicago player started more games than Okoro this season as the Bulls traded 10 players in a five-day stretch in February.
“It was definitely a unique season -- my most unique season yet,” Okoro said. “But it’s the NBA. You’re going to have guys that go down to injury, players moved, and that can’t be an excuse. There were games we should have won and didn’t. You can’t go back and think about, ‘Oh, we should have done this.’ You just got to be better.”
This offseason figures to be active for Chicago, too, after the Bulls went 31-51 in 2025-26 to miss the playoffs for the fourth season in a row.
Chicago hired Bryson Graham as executive vice president of basketball operations in May after firing Arturas Karnisovas from that position as well as general manager Marc Eversley. Coach Billy Donovan resigned after six seasons with the Bulls.
The senior vice president of basketball operations for the Atlanta Hawks when he joined Chicago, Graham is a former general manager of the New Orleans Pelicans.
The Bulls hold four picks in this month’s draft, tied with the Spurs for the most selections. Chicago has the fourth, 15th, 38th and 56th choices. The Bulls also could hit the free-agency period with money to spend depending on how Chicago handles its impending free agents.
“I think the roster, we’re in a developmental stage right now,” Graham said at his introductory press conference. “I mean, I think everyone in here knows that we’re not where we want to be. But we’ve got four picks in this year’s draft. We own all of our picks going forward. We’ve got a ton of second-round picks. And we’ve got a ton of flexibility this summer. And so we just want to be smart, and we want to be also creative and opportunistic, right?”
Okoro has one season remaining on a three-year, $33 million contract that he signed with the Cavaliers. In the 2026-27 season, Okoro will earn a base salary of $11.815 million.
Former Auburn forward waiting out NBA trade rumors again:
https://www.al.com/sports/2026/06/former-auburn-forward-waiting-out-nba-trade-rumors-again.html
*****************************
Former Auburn forward waiting out NBA trade rumors again
By Mark Inabinett
al.com
The NBA season could end this week in a way that it hasn’t in 53 years – with the New York Knicks as league champions. The Knicks won the first two games in the best-of-seven title series against the San Antonio Spurs, with Game 3 on Monday night.
Former Auburn standout Isaac Okoro’s NBA season ended two months ago, and he expects this offseason to be much like the last few: He’ll be tuning out speculation about where he’ll be traded.
“I think I’ll just control what I can control,” said Okoro, who was traded by the Cleveland Cavaliers to the Chicago Bulls last offseason. “I’ll go into the offseason and try to figure out how I can be a better player for next season. It’s the NBA, it’s the business, and I can be traded again somewhere. I love being here, and I love the culture we’re trying to build, so I just have to try and control what I can control.
“But I’ve gotten used to it. I’ve only been traded one time. But in Cleveland, come every offseason, I felt like I could have been traded.”
As if right on cue, Chicago Sun-Times basketball writer Joe Crowley predicted last week that if the Bulls land North Carolina forward Caleb Wilson or Duke forward Cameron Boozer with the fourth selection in the NBA Draft on June 23, Okoro would be on his way to the Los Angeles Lakers for a package of draft picks.
The fifth player picked in the 2020 NBA Draft, Okoro had played five seasons with the Cavaliers when they traded him to Chicago for Lonzo Ball, who averaged 4.6 points in 35 games for Cleveland before being traded to the Utah Jazz, which immediately waived the guard.
Injuries cost Okoro 19 games in the 2025-26 season. But in his 63 games for the Bulls, he started 62 times and averaged 9.3 points, 2.7 rebounds and 1.6 assists in 26.9 minutes per game.
Only one Chicago player started more games than Okoro this season as the Bulls traded 10 players in a five-day stretch in February.
“It was definitely a unique season -- my most unique season yet,” Okoro said. “But it’s the NBA. You’re going to have guys that go down to injury, players moved, and that can’t be an excuse. There were games we should have won and didn’t. You can’t go back and think about, ‘Oh, we should have done this.’ You just got to be better.”
This offseason figures to be active for Chicago, too, after the Bulls went 31-51 in 2025-26 to miss the playoffs for the fourth season in a row.
Chicago hired Bryson Graham as executive vice president of basketball operations in May after firing Arturas Karnisovas from that position as well as general manager Marc Eversley. Coach Billy Donovan resigned after six seasons with the Bulls.
The senior vice president of basketball operations for the Atlanta Hawks when he joined Chicago, Graham is a former general manager of the New Orleans Pelicans.
The Bulls hold four picks in this month’s draft, tied with the Spurs for the most selections. Chicago has the fourth, 15th, 38th and 56th choices. The Bulls also could hit the free-agency period with money to spend depending on how Chicago handles its impending free agents.
“I think the roster, we’re in a developmental stage right now,” Graham said at his introductory press conference. “I mean, I think everyone in here knows that we’re not where we want to be. But we’ve got four picks in this year’s draft. We own all of our picks going forward. We’ve got a ton of second-round picks. And we’ve got a ton of flexibility this summer. And so we just want to be smart, and we want to be also creative and opportunistic, right?”
Okoro has one season remaining on a three-year, $33 million contract that he signed with the Cavaliers. In the 2026-27 season, Okoro will earn a base salary of $11.815 million.
Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages