NBA Daily Digest: Eason stays, Queta extends, Summer League tips

No NBA games were completed on the July 3 board, so today's digest is an offseason read: reported deals, market pressure points, and the first Summer League games on the calendar. ESPN's dated scoreboard listed "No games on this date," leaving no game-day injury table or box-score recap to process. 1

The regular NBA scoreboard is quiet, but the offseason transaction clock is not. NBA.com's free-agency live page notes that teams began negotiating with players at 6 p.m. ET on June 30, while reported deals cannot be officially signed until 12:01 p.m. ET on July 6, which is 12:01 a.m. on July 7 in GMT+8. 2

That matters for today's read: several items below are reported agreements, not completed contracts. The practical question for fans is which teams are locking in rotation pieces before the official signing window opens.

ESPN's Brian Windhorst reported that executives are talking about two connected themes after the first free-agency wave: the Jaylen Brown-Paul George trade and the amount of money teams are committing to centers. The same piece lists Walker Kessler's four-year, $130 million Lakers deal, Kristaps Porzingis' two-year, $40 million Warriors deal, Robert Williams III's three-year, $44 million Portland deal, Mitchell Robinson's three-year, $47 million Boston deal, and Queta's new Boston extension as examples of the market shifting back toward size. 5

The market for free-agent forward LeBron James is still unresolved. Yahoo Sports, republishing SB Nation's Ricky O'Donnell, reported that Rich Paul's whiteboard placed Philadelphia, Miami, Cleveland and Denver among the realistic options, with Golden State still in the picture but without a written-out lineup. 6 Treat that as market context, not a completed move.

Summer League is the first on-court action back on the schedule. ESPN reported that the NBA will test a one-free-throw rule and a connected basketball with an embedded sensor during the California Classic, Salt Lake City and Las Vegas summer leagues. The one-free-throw rule replaces standard one-, two- or three-shot foul trips with one attempt worth the same total point value until the final two minutes of the fourth quarter and overtime. 7

Times below are converted to GMT+8 from NBA.com's listed Eastern times. 8

The next checkpoint is official paperwork. Reported agreements can start becoming signings at 12:01 a.m. GMT+8 on July 7. Until then, the cleanest dividing line is simple: keep confirmed transactions separate from reported agreements, and watch whether LeBron's choice forces another cap-clearing trade before Las Vegas Summer League opens on July 9. 2