If you're an NBA fan, this is likely your least favorite time of year. There is no basketball being played, no upcoming draft to be excited about, and most of the big ticket free agents are already off the board.
Never fear, though, because, while it may have down periods, the NBA news cycle never truly stops, and we are here to recap some of the latest rumors circulating around the league.
The Washington Wizards aren't joking around
The Washington Wizards have occupied the doldrums of the Eastern Conference for the last eight seasons, never winning more than 35 games and only managing one playoff appearance in that time.
However, it seems they are tired of losing. Last season, they traded for Trae Young and Anthony Davis, and now, it appears that they are in the hunt for another former All-Star.
If you hadn't already guessed it, that player is DeMar DeRozan, who is still deciding where he will start the 2026-27 NBA season after being waived by the Sacramento Kings.
According to NBA Insider Marc Stein, the Wizards, along with a myriad of other teams (like the Miami Heat and Denver Nuggets), are in the hunt for the perennial bucket-getter's services.
For the Wizards, they have a ton of young players they want to develop, but as they learned last season, if you don't have reliable veterans to stabilize them, things can get quite messy (like surrending 83 points to Bam Adebayo, messy). DeRozan would be a great role model for 2026 first overall pick, AJ Dybantsa, while also providing insurance in case the BYU product isn't ready to produce right out of the gate.
The Bennedict Mathurin sweepstakes
When we said that most of the marquee free agents have already been signed, we weren't telling the whole truth. There are still three significant restricted free agents awaiting a new deal: Peyton Watson, Jalen Duren, and Bennedict Mathurin.
To this point, it feels like the Mathurin sweepstakes is the one getting the least amount of publicity. Namely, because the team he played for last season (the Los Angeles Clippers) seems to be waiting for the Watson situation to play out before seeing if they should re-sign Mathurin.
Fortunately, Stein also provided some updates on the matter. While returning to the Clippers is still an option (even after they re-signed Bradley Beal), the New Orleans Pelicans, Chicago Bulls, and Milwaukee Bucks are all firmly in the hunt for his services.
To this point, Mathurin has been best used as a sixth man, given his volatility as a scorer and inability to consistently provide value in other areas. However, he is just 24 years old and could (theoretically) blossom into a true starting caliber player in the right environment.
Russell Westbrook really did go out on his own terms
Last week, future Hall of Famer Russell Westbrook decided to hang it up after 18 seasons in the association. In the video announcing his retirement, it was mentioned that Westbrook was going out on his own terms.
The skeptic in me wondered if this was actually true. After all, Westbrook was an unrestricted free agent at the time, and there was no intel that any teams were seriously interested in bringing in the former MVP.
We now have said intel. In his aforementioned substack, Stein mentioned that the Wizards made a two-year offer to Westbrook to bring him back to the team he spent the 2020-21 campaign playing for. However, Westbrook did not like the terms of the offer/the projected role the team outlined for him, so he declined it.
You have to respect Westbrook for staying true to himself and calling it a career before the league could force him to do so.
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