More HoopsHype Rumors

June 17, 2025 | 9:14 am EDT Update

Bill Simmons: You have a superstar on your team that you guys have been just trying to trade for the last month apparently by reports. Giannis Antetokounmpo is on eBay now! Does anyone make an offer? Doc Rivers: It’s so ridiculous. And I’ve heard all these reports, you hear all this stuff but you don’t like it when you hear it because you know it’s not true, Bill. But still, your players hear it and everybody else hears it. And I remember telling you the story when I was in Boston: I’m on a treadmill working out. That’s when I could run still on a treadmill. And they announced that the Boston Celtics are about to trade Rajon Rondo I think to the Lakers. And I was like, ‘What?!’ And it was absurd. Like we had never had any conversations, but Rondo heard it, you know? And so that’s the only thing I don’t like about all this now. I don’t know how many more times Giannis has to say he wants to be a Buck and he wants to win a title with the Bucks and it’s so cool to me because it’s not the way it’s done anymore. But with certain guys, I don’t think Steph Curry would ever leave Golden State ever and I’m hoping obviously Giannis feels the same way. That’s the way he’s been so far and it’s been great. It’s been awesome.

However, there are a couple of names I think the Knicks should consider and have had rumblings about considering. The first one is Luke Kennard. The soon-to-be 29-year-old is one of the best shooters in basketball and also sneakily could be a secondary or tertiary ballhandler for New York, which desperately needs that skill set on its roster. Over the last five seasons, Kennard has made at least 43 percent of his 3s while also attempting at least four per game. He’s a sniper. Plain and simple. Now, it’s likely the Knicks’ taxpayer midlevel exception might not be enough to get Kennard. It wouldn’t surprise me one bit if he’s offered more than $5.7 million annually from another team. However, he is a CAA client, so maybe New York and its CAA army works some magic.

Stephen Jackson on Malice at the Palace brawl: “I definitely regret it because that didn’t happen too. That incident cost me a lot of All-Star games. You know what I’m saying? $3 million and court fees and all that stuff. So, yeah, I definitely regret it. If anybody that was involved in that say they don’t regret it, they lying. I definitely regret it because it put a cloud over me, too. But what I don’t regret is being there for my teammate, right? You throw a beer in anybody’s face around the world, that’s assault. But it’s not assault when you’re dealing with a tall, black, rich, black athlete. You know what I mean? So, I get it. But I would rather be there for my friends and be known for that than being one of the guys walking off and one of my teammates getting stumped out in the stands.”