NBA free agency in 2010: Everyone waited for LeBron James to make a decision.

NBA free agency in 2026: Everyone is waiting again for James to make a decision.

James was the biggest domino to fall in the NBA’s offseason player movement period 16 years ago when he decided to join Miami, and he may be the biggest domino to fall — at least in free agency — this summer as well. Free agency opens in the NBA on Tuesday evening, with James’ future atop the list of most intriguing storylines that will be solved over the coming days and weeks.

It seems like retirement isn’t happening yet, which would mean the NBA’s all-time leader in points scored, minutes played and games played coming back for a record-extending 24th season and potentially — when including playoff contests — appearing in the 2,000th game of his career.

His options would figure to include staying with the Los Angeles Lakers, returning to Miami or Cleveland (both would have interest for obvious reasons) or even thinking about moving elsewhere like Golden State and teaming up with longtime friends Stephen Curry and Draymond Green to chase one more title.

Green — who is not expected to leave Golden State — on Monday declined his $27.6 million option for next season, doing so to give the Warriors more maneuverability to add players in the coming days, a person with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press. The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because that detail was not revealed publicly by the team, and it raises the possibility that the Warriors might now have more of a selling point to pitch to James.

“When the time comes, you guys will know what I decide to do,” James said when the Lakers were eliminated this spring by Oklahoma City in a 4-0 sweep.

The time is coming.

The window when teams can begin officially talking with free agents — other than the ones on their own team, those talks could begin when the NBA Finals ended — opens at 6 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday, and deals could be flying not long afterward.

In most cases, any new deals cannot be executed until at least the end of the NBA’s offseason moratorium on July 6.

“This period we’re in right now, kind of from mid-May to mid-July, it’s a two-month sprint through the draft, combine, free agency, Summer League, all that,” Warriors general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. said earlier this month. “We’re super busy right now. But it’s a fun time of year. This is where we get to make decisions, shape the roster, do all that stuff.”

The NBA finalists — champion New York and runner-up San Antonio — both will have moves to make in the coming days, though they are expected to keep their cores largely intact.

Plenty of decisions and roster-shaping already has happened around the league, either by trades (such as the Giannis Antetokounmpo blockbuster) or teams re-signing or extending their own players (such as Trae Young’s $212 million deal with Washington and Austin Reaves’ $185 million deal with the Lakers).

Miami will land Antetokounmpo and Bobby Portis in a trade that sends Tyler Herro, other players and draft capital to Milwaukee, but that won’t be finalized until that moratorium date passes. But in the interim, the Heat will be looking to add shooters — Tim Hardaway Jr., whose father’s number is retired in Miami, and longtime Antetokounmpo favorite Khris Middleton make a lot of sense.

The Heat will be keeping Andrew Wiggins, who on Monday exercised his $30 million option for this coming season and, according to a person familiar with the talks between the sides, has agreed in principle on a $34 million deal for the following two seasons — with 2028-29 at his option.

More trades could be coming, with a person familiar with the negotiations confirming to the AP that Toronto has spoken with the Los Angeles Clippers on the possibility of Kawhi Leonard — who led the Raptors to the 2019 NBA title — returning to Ontario next season. And Boston is still believed to be holding talks about the possibility of trading 2024 NBA Finals MVP Jaylen Brown, who was the centerpiece of the Celtics’ ultimately futile offer to land Antetokounmpo in trade discussions with Milwaukee.

“Nobody has won more combined regular-season and playoff games since I entered the league 10 years ago,” Brown posted on social media over the weekend. He’s right: The Celtics have won 523 games with Brown in the lineup, including playoff contests, which is six more than Denver has won with Nikola Jokic over that span.

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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/nba

A Florida judge set a $1 million bond Monday for Detroit Lions player Terrion Arnold, who is accused of orchestrating the abduction and beating of three men who prosecutors believe he wrongly suspected of having stolen luxury goods and $100,000 in cash from him.

Prosecutors had wanted the cornerback held without bond on the eight felony charges he faces, including four counts each of kidnapping and assault. But Chief Circuit Court Judge Christopher Sabella granted bond to Arnold, who won’t be required to wear an ankle monitor because it would prevent him from taking the field for games and training.

The judge said Arnold already has a “paparazzi monitor,” referring to the photographers who have been watching his movements.

“If he shows up on a beach in Tahiti, he’ll be on social media,” Sabella said at the end of the bond hearing in Tampa.

Sabella said that although the charges are serious — each could bring a life sentence if Arnold is convicted — prosecutors are “not there yet” in having a strong case for Arnold’s guilt.

The judge did order Arnold to remain at his home in Tallahassee except for when he’s playing, training and traveling with the Lions. He also said Arnold cannot have any contact with other people tied to the case.

Prosecutors allege that Arnold had three men in their late teens, including his driver, held at gunpoint in a Tampa apartment, pistol-whipped and beaten in February after the luxury items and cash were reported stolen from an Airbnb in the area. Arnold initially set up the kidnappings by telling others he thought he knew who had stolen from him and saying he wanted to confront them, prosecutors allege.

“Our office remains committed to seeking justice for the three victims in the case who were beaten, robbed, and held against their will,” said Erin Maloney, a spokesperson for the state attorney’s office.

Denise White, the CEO of EAG Sports Management, which represents Arnold, said the judge’s ruling “confirms that there is very little evidence to even suggest any criminal involvement by Mr. Arnold.”

Former NBA player Malik Beasley has been indicted in the government’s sprawling investigation of illicit gambling on basketball games, accused of tailoring his 2024 performance with the Milwaukee Bucks to reward bettors and chip away at his own financial problems, authorities said Monday.

Beasley has been out of the NBA since playing with the Detroit Pistons in 2024-25. Another former NBA player, Ed Davis, was also charged in the indictment unsealed in Brooklyn federal court against six people.

U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. said they “turned professional basketball into a criminal betting operation.”

The schemes, he added, “erode the integrity of American sports and victimize the sports-watching public.”

Nocella said hundreds of thousands of dollars were wagered through popular gambling sites. The indictment says Beasley had financial woes, including millions of dollars in gambling losses, and had relied on Davis, a former teammate, for financial help.

“Malik maintains his presumption of innocence throughout this two-year investigation,” Beasley’s attorney, Steve Haney, said. “We ask that people reserve judgment until all the facts are known.”

In return for fixing his performance, Beasley got paid by his money-winning co-conspirators and his debts to Davis were reduced or eliminated, the indictment alleges.

In one example, according to the court filing, Beasley informed Davis that he would try to outperform the 3.5 prop line bet for rebounds in Milwaukee’s game against the Los Angeles Clippers on March 10, 2024.

With a second left, and the Bucks ahead by seven points, any shot by the Clippers would not have affected the outcome. But Beasley challenged the shot and then dashed past four players to grab the rebound as the horn sounded.

Beasley finished with four rebounds that night — an overperformance and a winning prop bet, the indictment states.

“What’s funny is after he got it he had a big sigh of relief,” a co-conspirator said in a text message, according to the indictment.

In other games, Beasley told Davis that he would underperform certain statistics, the government alleges.

The NBA said it would continue to cooperate with authorities.

“We take these allegations with the utmost seriousness, and the integrity of our game remains our top priority,” spokesperson Mike Bass said.

Beasley last played in the NBA for the Pistons in 2025, averaging 16 points per game. He is one of five players in NBA history with more than 300 3-pointers in a season, but he did not play in the league last season because of the investigation.

Beasley’s financial problems have been widely reported, including lawsuits by his Detroit landlord and payment disputes with a Milwaukee barber and Minnesota dentist.

Davis’ attorney did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment. He was an NBA journeyman who was primarily a backup in a 12-year career that got him roughly $48 million in gross salary. Davis and Beasley were teammates in Minnesota in 2020-21.

Paolo Zamorano, a sports agent who formerly represented Davis, was also charged with placing bets based on Beasley’s information. Defense attorney Ken Breen said Zamorano denies wrongdoing and “looks forward to his day in court.”

Authorities last fall announced a gambling sweep that led to the arrests of more than 30 people, including reputed mobsters and well-known basketball figures such as Chauncey Billups, a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame and coach of the Portland Trail Blazers at the time.

Billups is accused of participating in a conspiracy to fix high-stakes card games tied to La Cosa Nostra organized crime families that cheated unsuspecting gamblers out of at least $7 million. He has pleaded not guilty.

In April, former NBA player Damon Jones, 49, became the first person to plead guilty. He was accused of defrauding major sportsbooks, including DraftKings and FanDuel, and filching millions of dollars from unwitting poker players.

Jones was charged with selling or attempting to sell insider information to bettors based on his relationships in the NBA.

Another key figure is Terry Rozier, who was on the Miami Heat when he was charged in 2025. Rozier is accused of conspiring with friends to help them win bets on his performance during a 2023 game when he played for the Charlotte Hornets. He, too, has pleaded not guilty.

In 2024, former Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter pleaded guilty in a separate gambling case. Porter said he took himself out of games early so co-conspirators could win bets on his performance, saying he did it “to get out from under large gambling debts.”

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Associated Press writers Tim Reynolds in Miami and Michael R. Sisak in New York contributed to this report.

Pete Alonso played his 500th consecutive game this week, although if he wanted that to seem impressive to local fans, he probably picked the wrong city to play in.

Alonso, of course, joined the Baltimore Orioles this past offseason. Their franchise record for consecutive games is also the big league record of 2,632 by Cal Ripken Jr. Lou Gehrig held the record of 2,130 before it was broken by Ripken in 1995.

Alonso is now at 501 after Sunday’s game. That means you can still fit Gehrig’s entire streak into the gap between Ripken and Alonso. Before leaving the New York Mets for Baltimore, Alonso did set their franchise record of 416 consecutive games.

The only player with a longer active streak is Matt Olson, and unlike Alonso he’s on the verge of breaking his current team’s mark. Olson has played 864 straight games, the last 730 of which have come for the Atlanta Braves. The Braves’ record is held by two-time MVP Dale Murphy at 740. So Olson is on track to break the record July 10, on the road against St. Louis.

Olson would tie Murphy’s mark July 9 — exactly 40 years to the day from when Murphy’s streak ended.

Which still-existing franchise has the shortest consecutive games record? Aside from Ripken’s Orioles and Gehrig’s New York Yankees, which has the longest?

For the teams in the American League wild-card race, it’s hard to fall too far off the pace. The Toronto Blue Jays have lost six straight games, and they’re still only 2 1/2 games out of a postseason spot.

That doesn’t make this recent stretch of baseball any more palatable. Texas swept four straight from the defending AL champions, with the Blue Jays dropping the finale Sunday when they let Jarred Kelenic score the winning run all the way from second on a wild pitch in the ninth.

There isn’t much for Toronto to be happy about, especially at the plate. After finishing third in the majors in OPS last year, the Blue Jays are in the bottom 10 this season. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has only four home runs and George Springer is batting .220.

Junior Caminero hit three home runs and drove in six runs as Tampa Bay routed Kansas City 13-2 on Thursday. The Rays also took a combined no-hitter into the ninth inning of that game before Carter Jansen homered off Craig Kimbrel with one out.

Tampa Bay has hit just 74 home runs this season — only Miami and Boston have fewer — and Caminero has 22 of them.

It’s a three-pack this week, courtesy of the resurgent Phillies and a compliant Washington bullpen.

Tuesday: The Nationals lead 5-0 in the fifth and 8-6 in the ninth before allowing eight runs in the final inning for a 14-9 loss. Those eight runs came after the first two Philadelphia batters of the ninth struck out.

Wednesday: Again down to their last out with nobody on, Philadelphia rallies with Kyle Schwarber’s walk and Derek Hill’s two-run homer. The Phillies win 5-4.

Thursday: Down 5-0, the Phillies score two runs in the sixth, three in the seventh and five in the ninth for a 10-5 victory.

Washington’s peak win probabilities, according to Baseball Savant: 98.8% on Tuesday, 96.3% on Wednesday and 96.5% on Thursday.

The Nationals also blew an eight-run lead at San Francisco earlier this month. They’ve lost four games after leading by at least five — the most such defeats in baseball.

According to Sportradar, the shortest belongs to Washington. The franchise mark is held by the elder Vladimir Guerrero, who played in 276 straight games when the team was still in Montreal.

Aside from the Orioles and Yankees, the Chicago Cubs have the longest team record for consecutive games: 1,117 by Billy Williams. Not far behind are the Los Angeles Dodgers (1,107 by Steve Garvey) and Cleveland (1,103 by Joe Sewell).

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

By Martyn Herman

LONDON, June 29 (Reuters) – Men’s defending champion Jannik Sinner flirted with a first-round exit before passing a stern physical test on the opening day of Wimbledon but several seeds departed on a day when defeats for British players piled up.

With chief rival Carlos Alcaraz injured, Sinner is the big favourite to retain his crown but arrived with question marks over his stamina after collapsing to a shock second-round defeat at the French Open.

When he lost the first and third sets to Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanovic on Centre Court he looked in danger of becoming only the third defending men’s champion to lose in round one but battled to win 4-6 6-3 6-7(6) 6-2 6-3.

While Sinner lived to fight another day, men’s 11th and 12th seeds Casper Ruud and Andrey Rublev bowed out. Ruud was handed a tough draw in the shape of big-serving Pole Hubert Hurkacz and duly lost 6-4 6-2 7-6(7) while Rublev was edged out in a five-set cliffhanger against fellow Russian Roman Safiullin, losing a decider set tiebreaker 14-12 after missing two match points.

HOME HOPES QUASHED

There was heartbreak too for surprise French Open runner-up Maja Chwalinska as she lost 2-6 7-5 6-2 to Thai qualifier Mananchaya Sawangkaew on Monday after the Pole fell and hurt herself while on match point.

Japan’s Naomi Osaka once again dressed to impress and her tennis shone too as the 14th seed beat Elsa Jacquemot 6-1 7-5.

American fourth seed Jessica Pegula beat Darja Vidmanova 7-5 6-3 while Swiss 11th seed Belinda Bencic had far too much experience for young British wildcard Mika Stojsavljevic.

It was a grim day for the home nation.

Twenty-one players, including 12 wildcards, were in the first round draw but after Emma Raducanu withdrew with an injury on the eve of the tournament, she was followed on Monday by Jack Draper who announced he was also pulling out with an arm injury.

Six other home players did take to court but all six lost, including British number one Cameron Norrie, seeded 26, beaten in five sets by American qualifier Michael Zheng.

SINNER SURVIVES FALL AND BLOODIED FOOT

Sinner racked up his 94th Grand Slam match-win, equalling the Italian record of Nicola Pietrangeli, but shed plenty of sweat and a little blood in reaching that mark.

“It was a little tight in the beginning, I didn’t play at my best but I tried to get into it. It was my first official match on grass (this season) which is also a very important factor,” Sinner told the Centre Court crowd.

“I’m happy I turned it around because the third set was a very tough one to swallow.”

Sinner suffered a fall in the third set and later had blood stains on his white shoe from a broken toenail. He had a point to go two sets to one ahead but lost it and Kecmanovic pounced.

The Italian dominated from then and later said his foot injury was not serious despite the pounding it took during his third-longest match at Wimbledon at three hours and 30 minutes.

“I’m actually surprised that they let me keep playing because my all white outfit turned into a little red,” he added.

Court One fans expecting to see Raducanu in action were left disappointed as a duel between two more former U.S. Open champions Daniil Medvedev and Marin Cilic fell flat.

Cilic was made to look all of his 37 years as eighth seed Medvedev romped to a 6-1 6-2 6-4 victory.

Two of the new generation shone though. Brazil’s Joao Fonseca, cheered on by a large contingent of fans in yellow soccer shirts, beat Spanish veteran Roberto Bautista Agut 7-6(4) 6-4 6-3 while rising Spanish teenager Rafael Jodar, also aged 19, made an impressive debut, beating British wildcard Felix Gill 6-3 6-3 7-5.

(Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by Alison Williams)

By Martyn Herman

LONDON, June 29 (Reuters) – Women’s top seed Aryna Sabalenka began her latest attempt to claim her first Wimbledon crown with a routine 6-2 6-3 defeat of Serbian qualifier Teodora Kostovic on Monday.

Still smarting from an unsettling French Open exit, the world number one was laser-focused on Centre Court as she won the opening four games against the lowly ranked Kostovic.

She was eventually made to work and there was a minor blip when she dropped serve at 5-2 in the second set but it was only a temporary delay as she avoided any possibility of the sort of collapse she suffered in Paris against Diana Shnaider.

“I’m super excited to be back,” she told a crowd that included former England soccer captain David Beckham.

“I was happy I could close this match in straight sets. For the first match I feel pretty good, maybe eight out of 10.”

Sabalenka, a losing semi-finalist on her last three visits to Wimbledon, will take on American McCartney Kessler next.

(Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by Alison Williams)

Los Angeles Lakers guard Marcus Smart declined his $5.4 million player option for the 2026-27 season and will become a free agent, ESPN reported Monday.

Smart, 32, signed a two-year, $11 million deal with the Lakers in advance of the 2025-26 season. In 62 games (54 starts) last season, he averaged 9.3 points with 3.0 assists, 2.8 rebounds and 1.4 steals.

Over 12 NBA seasons, Smart has averaged 10.5 points with 4.4 assists and 1.6 steals in 697 games (441 starts) with the Boston Celtics (2014-23), Memphis Grizzlies (2023-25), Washington Wizards (2024-25) and Lakers.

A first-round draft pick (sixth overall) by Boston in 2014, Smart was the 2021-22 NBA Defensive Player of the Year.

–Field Level Media

Mets second baseman Marcus Semien is expected to miss a minimum of four to six weeks after the latest tests on his injured hip, the New York Post reported Monday.

The three-time All-Star has been diagnosed with a Grade 3 left hip flexor strain, per the report. He landed on the 10-day injured list Thursday after initially trying to play through the injury.

Semien, 35, is batting .214 with nine home runs and 29 RBIs through 80 games in his first season with New York. He was acquired in an offseason trade that sent outfielder Brandon Nimmo to the Texas Rangers.

Semien played in both games of Wednesday’s doubleheader against the Chicago Cubs and committed two of the team’s six errors in the second contest.

A career .252 hitter, Semien has 262 home runs, 830 RBIs and 145 stolen bases in 1,709 games with the Chicago White Sox (2013-14), Oakland Athletics (2015-20), Toronto Blue Jays (2021), Rangers (2022-25) and Mets. He won a World Series with Texas in 2023 and is a two-time Gold Glove winner.

In his extended absence, the Mets are expected to continue using Brett Baty as their primary second baseman with Ronny Mauricio also in the mix.

–Field Level Media

The Nashville Predators acquired forward Nils Hoglander from the Vancouver Canucks on Monday in exchange for a third-round pick in the 2029 NHL Draft.

Hoglander, 25, has two seasons remaining on a three-year, $9 million contract he signed with Vancouver in October 2024.

“We are excited to add Nils Hoglander to our mix,” Predators president of hockey operations and general manager Chris MacFarland said. “He is a 25-year-old experienced winger who is known for his relentless, high-energy style of play, bringing a consistent motor to the lineup night after night. We believe the player can come in and have a key role.”

Hoglander had two goals and three assists in 38 games last season. He did not play until Dec. 8 following surgery for a lower-body injury sustained during the preseason.

“We would like to thank Nils for his time in Vancouver, and we wish him the best with his new team Nashville,” Canucks general manager Ryan Johnson said. “Picking up another draft pick is important for us as we continue to try and accumulate assets for our rebuild.”

Hoglander has accumulated 120 points (60 goals, 60 assists) in 331 career games since the Canucks drafted him in the second round in 2019.

–Field Level Media

By Luc Cohen

NEW YORK, June 29 (Reuters) – Former National Basketball Association players Malik Beasley and Ed Davis have been indicted on gambling-related charges, U.S. prosecutors said on Monday, joining other professional athletes charged with rigging bets on player performance.

• The charges followed a string of cases that have raised concerns about the integrity of sports, amid an explosion of legalized sports betting in the U.S.

• Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn said that prior to three separate games in 2024, Beasley told Davis that he intended to overperform or underperform in certain statistical categories such as points or rebounding in exchange for the promise of a bribe.

• Davis then told several co-conspirators of Beasley’s plans, to allow them to place hundreds of thousands of dollars in wagers, many of which were successful, prosecutors said. The co-conspirators were also charged.

• Beasley played for the Milwaukee Bucks at the time. He had earned tens of millions of dollars since starting in the NBA in 2016, but had also accumulated multimillion-dollar gambling losses, prosecutors said.

• Steven Haney, a lawyer for Beasley, said in a statement, “Malik maintains his presumption of innocence throughout this two-year investigation. We ask that people reserve judgment until all the facts are known.”

• Lawyers for Davis did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

• Neither the NBA nor the Bucks immediately responded to requests for comment.

• Beasley and Davis were teammates on the Minnesota Timberwolves during the 2020-2021 season and maintained a close relationship, prosecutors said.

• Both will be arraigned in federal court in Brooklyn. No date has been set.

(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Matthew Lewis)