Raptors Waive Colin Castleton
The Toronto Raptors have waived center Colin Castleton. In 26 games (four starts) with Memphis, Philadelphia and Toronto last season, Castleton averaged 4.7 points, 4.7 rebounds, 1.1 assists and 16.6 minutes.
Castleton signed consecutive 10-day contracts with the Raptors in March before signing a standard NBA contract Apr. 13, the final day of the regular season.
LIV Golf to increase event purses from $25M to $30M in 2026
LIV Golf is growing its purses next season and focusing on the team aspect of its format.
LIV Golf does not appear to be going anywhere.
This has felt like the case for a while now, but continues to be an idea (seemingly) picking up momentum. Consider that on Monday it was reported by the Sports Business Journal that LIV intends to grow the purses for its events by $5M next season.
LIV Golf’s eye-popping purse sizes will get even bigger in 2026 as the league pumps more investment into its team operations. LIV’s current weekly purse of $25M will go to $30M in 2026, according to four sources familiar with the process, and the extra capital will go toward the league’s weekly team competition.
Currently, $5M of the weekly tournament purses are split among the teams; $3M to the winning team, $1.5M to second place and $500,000 to third. The remaining $20M covers the individual stroke play portion. Starting in 2026, the extra $5M will be spread out among all 13 teams based on finishing position.
LIV’s teams are set up to operate independently, signing their own commercial deals and players. The league owns a majority (75%) of the teams, while franchise captains own the remaining 25%.
LIV is expected to bring on more players this offseason, but the large signing bonuses of 2022 and 2023 are thought to be a thing of the past. Now, the financial onus is expected to be more on the teams to bring players aboard.
This is certainly a twist as far as LIV team competition is concerned. By establishing funds for the team element specifically it appears that LIV really wants to lean into that (that has been made rather obvious in the last couple of years).
Whether or not any merger happens with the PGA Tour continues to be a murky subject. For now LIV is moving forward and (according to the report) also looking to expand even more.
As you were.
Will Lewis Hamilton win a Grand Prix this season with Ferrari?
With one of his most successful races on tap it is a perfect time to ask: Will Lewis Hamilton win a Grand Prix this season?
Friday and Saturday were as difficult as it gets for Lewis Hamilton at the Belgian Grand Prix.
After being eliminated in SQ1 on Friday and then in Q1 on Saturday, due to a pair of “unacceptable” mistakes, Hamilton was left at a loss for words and apologized to his new team at Ferrari. “Then from my side, another mistake, so I’ve really got to look internally. I’ve got to apologize to my team, because that’s just unacceptable to be out in both Q1s. It’s a very, very poor performance from myself,” the seven-time Drivers’ Champion told Sky Sports F1 after qualifying on Saturday.
Sunday, however, was a different story.
Starting from pit lane after Ferrari made additional changes to his SF-25 — and lining up 18th on the grid — Hamilton charged through the back half of the field and finished seventh, despite tricky conditions that saw the race delayed for over an hour. Ferrari fitted a higher-downforce rear wing to his SF-25 in anticipation of the forecasted rain, which led to the pit lane start.
While Hamilton was frustrated that he could only complete 11 laps in wet conditions, perhaps minimizing the impact of the bigger rear wing, there were promising signs in his performance.
“I definitely feel confident going forward and learned more about the car today. I’ll set that up better for next week [in Hungary],” said Hamilton. “I don’t see why we can’t have better results moving forward.”
Hamilton has yet to secure a podium in a Grand Prix this season but has been knocking on the door in recent weeks, finishing fourth in both the Austrian Grand Prix and the British Grand Prix.
Now he heads to the Hungaroring, a track he has dominated over his career. Hamilton has won the Hungarian Grand Prix eight times — more than F1 driver — and been on pole position nine times at the Hungaroring.
This might be one of his best chances yet to score his first Ferrari Grand Prix win.
But whether it comes this weekend or at some point this season, will Lewis Hamilton win a Grand Prix this year with Ferrari?
Luka Doncic: 'Just visually, I would say my whole body looks better'
Nothing motivates the greats quite like the quest to prove someone wrong. When the Dallas Mavericks shocked the NBA by trading Luka Doncic to the Lakers, it was followed up by spin out of Dallas about GM Nico Harrison and the franchise’s concerns about Doncic’s lack of commitment to conditioning, taking care of his body and defense.
This summer, we have seen “skinny” Luka on social media as he works out to get in shape. Doncic spoke about that with Men’s Health Magazine.
Our digital cover star, Luka Doncic, ready to take his game (and the Lakers) to new levels of dominance. And this summer shred has been years in the making.https://t.co/aB19DY7rrLpic.twitter.com/bjVsf1ampI
— Men’s Health Mag (@MensHealthMag) July 28, 2025
” Just visually, I would say my whole body looks better…
“Every summer I try my best to work on different things. Obviously, I’m very competitive. This summer was just a little bit different, you know. It kind of motivated me to be even better…
“Obviously, be the best that I can be, take care of myself. This year, with my team, I think we did a huge step. But this is just the start, you know. I need to keep going. Can’t stop.”
The Mavericks were not wrong to have concerns about Doncic’s conditioning, it certainly has not been consistent throughout his career. (It’s still a massive leap from having concerns to trading a top-five player in the world as he enters his prime because of it.) Doncic has improved his conditioning in the past, but due to injuries and other reasons, it has never stayed at the level Dallas’ Harrison — a Kobe Bryant guy — expected.
What should scare the Mavericks is that they have just become the motivation he needed to genuinely change. If the disrespect from Dallas, combined with being on a new team and watching LeBron James’ commitment to his body and conditioning daily, changes Doncic’s habits, then the Mavericks have unleashed a monster on the league.
Doncic had spent the summer back in Europe with family and friends, but landed back in the United States in the last 48 hours for a Jordan Brand promotional shoe tour. After that tour, he returns to Slovenia to lead his national team in the EuroBasket that starts at the end of this month.
Doncic is eligible for a contract extension this summer: On Aug. 2, the Lakers can offer him a four-year, $223 million extension. They will, and Doncic is expected to re-sign with the team, although most likely on a three-year, $165 million max contract (or three plus a player option) because in three years he will have reached 10 years of service in the league and then can sign for up to 35% of the salary cap (the most the Lakers could offer right now is 30%). Expect that deal to be finalized before the season starts (possibly this week, while he is in the USA on a shoe tour, or perhaps closer to Lakers training camp).
Jazz’s Filipowski earns Summer League MVP
– Kyle Filipowski became the first Utah Jazz player to earn most valuable player honors in the NBA Summer League on Tuesday.
Haliburton: Rise in Achilles tears likely ‘bad luck’
Tyrese Haliburton said there’s no definitive answer as to why there were so many Achilles injuries last season, chalking it up mostly to bad luck.
🏀 Roster mistakes for every NBA team since 2020
Zach Kram examines the deals, trades and picks that all 30 NBA teams would like to take back from the 2020s.
How close 14 teams are to title contention
Is Dallas’ rebuild already complete? How close is San Antonio? We examine 14 teams that missed the playoffs.
Shaq details why ‘I f–king hate’ Rudy Gobert in wild rant as bad blood intensifies
Shaquille O’Neal’s longstanding feud with Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert took an even more drastic twist.
No traction toward deals with Warriors’ Jonathan Kuminga, Nets’ Cam Thomas in restricted free agency
Restricted free agency is a state of limbo that players try desperately to avoid, as the rules are heavily tilted in favor of the teams. This year, in particular, is tough because there were so few teams with cap space, meaning the player had even less leverage. If you need proof, the cases of the Warriors’ Jonathan Kuminga and the Nets’ Cam Thomas are perfect examples of how a player can get stuck in restricted free agency.
In the end, the smart money is on Kuminga and Thomas returning to play for their current teams, which could create an awkward dynamic. In both cases, it would be for considerably less money than they think they deserve, and on shorter contracts that could help facilitate a trade.
There have been updates on both in recent days, here is where things stand.
The pace of talks around the Warriors forward has picked up, but that doesn’t mean the sides are closer to a deal. While Warriors’ general manager Mike Dunleavy made what the team considered a fair offer, Kuminga told ESPN’s Anthony Slater that the offers the Warriors have made do not come close to what he is seeking.
But Kuminga hasn’t found anything they presented appealing, he said, so the drawn-out negotiations will remain motionless, likely keeping the Warriors’ other offseason business on pause. They are the only NBA team not to sign or trade for a player this summer.
There are two reasons why Kuminga is stalled: money and role. On the money side, Kuminga is reportedly seeking a contract in the $30 million a season range, while the Warriors are offering shorter deals, two or three years, in the low $20 million a season range. That’s a huge gap.
The other part is the role. Kuminga wants a larger one, to have the ball in his hands more, something he has not consistently had under Steve Kerr in Golden State (even after stretches where he has played well).
Draymond: “They can’t f****** stop you!”
Kuminga tied Chris Mullin’s franchise record for most shots made without a miss: 25 PTS (11/11 FG), 9 REB, 2 STL, 2 BLK in 29 MINS
— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) January 25, 2024
That’s why the original hope for both sides had been to find a sign-and-trade deal that would get Kuminga to a new situation and the Warriors a first-round pick and a player — except that trade was not out there. Phoenix remains interested and could offer Kuminga a larger role, but they lack a first-round pick to trade and are not exactly deep with talent they want to move anymore. Slater summed it up this way at ESPN.
“Kuminga is in search of a more guaranteed, consistent starting role and featured opportunity, sources said. That’s something the Suns and Kings have pitched. Kuminga would be a significant part of the Warriors’ rotation to open next season, and they’d need his supplementary scoring on nights when Steph Curry, 37, or Jimmy Butler, 35, rest. That’s something coach Steve Kerr has told Kuminga in recent weeks… But Kuminga no longer wants to be a secondary option or a fallback plan, fearing a minimization in important moments.”
In the end, the most likely outcome is Kuminga signing a two-year, $45-50ish million contract — then Kerr has to showcase Kuminga, even if Curry and Butler are healthy. The Warriors will need that added shot creation with their current roster, but it also showcases Kuminga as a potential trade asset at the deadline or next summer.
For now, with the NBA season almost three months away from starting, there is no pressure to finalize a deal quickly. So the stalemate continues.
Cam Thomas is a bucket getter — 24 points a game last season when healthy, shot 34.9% from 3, and is a guy who draws doubles — and he wants to be paid like an elite scorer.
The Nets don’t see it that way, and so the sides are at a stalemate. Thomas is hoping for a contract that averages more than $20 million per season, but the Nets have not offered anything exceeding $14 million per season, according to Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report.
“I have not heard that Brooklyn has offered Cam Thomas anything further than a two-year deal with a team option on the second (year) that I don’t believe is going much north – if north at all – of the $14.1 million mid-level exception…
“Cam Thomas thinks of himself as one of the most elite play-maker scorers in the NBA, and he wants to be compensated as such… I definitely believes he wants north of $20 (million per year).”
Where the disconnect lies in Thomas’ value concerns his level of efficiency in getting buckets and his defense, rather than anything else — teams think he is a one-trick pony, even if it’s a really good trick. Thomas got mad at The Ringer’s Zach Lowe when he said the league consensus on Thomas was that of an “empty calorie ball hog.” Thomas should not like that, but it doesn’t mean Lowe is wrong — that absolutely is the perception of Thomas, fair or not. Thomas said in his defense, “This is most likely the same consensus teams who can’t guard me and send double teams from jump ball . Why are we double teaming a guy who’s ‘not that good’ make it make sense please.” While nobody is saying Thomas is ‘not that good,’ the reason teams send doubles is that they don’t fear him passing out of it and making the defense scramble (there also isn’t a lot of other shot creation on the Brooklyn roster).
There is real value for Thomas around the league, but he needs to get out of Brooklyn, and right now, there is no trade that gets him to someone who will pay him. Expect the sides to settle on a two-year contract, one that (much like Kuminga) is very tradable at the deadline or next summer, to get Thomas somewhere he wants to be.