In 2015, Goran Dragic signed a five-year, $85 million contract that paid him $14.78 million in year one —  21.1 percent of the cap. In 2025, if the cap goes up the maximum 10 percent each summer, a player signing for that same percent of the cap would make $33.38 million during the 2025-26 season — and be worth roughly $193.6 million over five seasons, assuming the same eight percent annual raises. Expect salaries to keep rising. If a supermax contract kicked in that summer, at that same salary-cap amount, that player would get about $57.6 million for the 2025-26 season — that’s more than $9 million more than Steph Curry made this season as the league’s highest-paid player. Then, it’ll keep going up $4.6 million each season for the length of the deal, amounting to a five-year deal worth nearly $334 million. -via The Athletic / July 20, 2023

In a recent interview with NBA Today following his celebrity golf triumph in the ACC, Curry was asked about his interest to potentially play for the United States in next year’s Olympics in Paris. The Golden State Warriors superstar, in response, can only drop an anticipating word for international hoop fans. “That’s the one piece of the resume that coach [Steve Kerr] always likes to joke that I don’t have,” Curry said. “He’s already kind of recruiting for next summer… “I have no idea what the next summer will look like. It obviously is an extra bonus that coach Kerr is leading that charge. I love to play for him any day of the week. We’ll see how it goes come summer of 2024. -via TalkBasket / July 18, 2023

Just hours after etching her name in the history books, Ionescu issued a challenge to Curry with a 2-word tweet. “Shoot out??” Ionescu playfully asked the Golden State Warriors star on Twitter. It didn’t take long for Curry to respond. During his Monday appearance on NBA Today, Malika Andrews asked the 2-time MVP whether he preferred winning a golf tournament or winning a three-point contest. Curry, who’s fresh off sealing a golf title at the American Century Championship, vocalized that he’s now gunning for Ionescu’s record. “Now, I’ve got to go after Sabrina’s record. I’ve got something to shoot for now that she went crazy with 37 points in their All-Star Weekend. So, I guess we’ve got to settle that one for sure, who’s the better three-point contest shooter,” Curry answered. -via Larry Brown Sports / July 18, 2023

Clutch Points: “We could have got drafted 42nd to Detroit, but declined that to put me in LA… I didn’t really have to hear my name called… It was all about playing the long game.” Austin Reaves really bet on himself by going undrafted 🙌 (via @shobasketball) pic.twitter.com/9GPMj10WBd -via Twitter @ClutchPointsApp / July 20, 2023

That’s certainly the impression the Lakers left in July. One league source told Heavy Sports, “He’s exciting. There’s excitement that he could follow Austin Reaves’ footsteps, what he did the last couple of years,” referring to the Lakers’ undrafted breakout star at shooting guard, who averaged 13.0 points in 64 games last year. “The opportunity is going to be there,” Christie told Heavy Sports. -via Heavy.com / July 18, 2023

Marc Stein: “I’m putting it on record right now: Austin Reaves will be an All-Star at some point soon.” — Lakers coach Darvin Ham to @ChrisBHaynes and me on Part II of his #thisleague UNCUT visit. The rest of the pod from @CaesarsPalace just dropped … listen here: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/thi… -via Twitter @TheSteinLine / July 13, 2023