The Week That Was | NBA News & Notes | Remembering Frank Layden | The 1985 Kansas City Royals

The NBA landscape offseason continued with max deals for Oklahoma City Thunder players like Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams who are cornerstone players alongside Shai Gilgeous Alexander displaying why the Thunder will be tough to compete with for years to come.

Chet Holmgren signed a max deal of 250 million dollar contract for 5 years and Jalen Williams signed a 5-year,287 million dollar contract. There were a few trades such as the Washington Wizards traded Kelly Olynyk to the San Antonio Spurs for Malaki Branham, Blake Wesley and a 2026 2nd round pick.

Then there was a 3-team trade between the Los Angeles Clippers, Utah Jazz and the Miami Heat featuring Norman Powell going to the Heat, John Collins going to Los Angeles and finally Kevin Love ,Kyle Anderson and a 2027 Clippers 2nd round pick to the Jazz. On July 6th,the trade featuring Kevin Durant from the Phoenix Suns to the Houston Rockets was made official because there was history made such as the NBA's first ever 7 team transaction including other teams like Brooklyn Nets, Golden State Warriors, Atlanta Hawks, Los Angeles Lakers and Minnesota Timberwolves.

As for more max deals, Phoenix Suns' G Devin Booker signed a 2-year,145 million dollar contract extension through the 2029-2030 season. Orlando Magic Paolo Banchero has agreed to a 5-year,287 million rookie contract extension. The superstar salaries has skyrocketing due to the existence of the supermarket extension officially the designated veteran extension and a rising salary cap. In 2017,the new collective bargaining agreement created the supermarket tier of contracts. Players who been in the league for 7 to 8 years have been with the same team for the duration of their contract and have met certain awards criteria are eligible to sign extensions that start at 35% of the salary cap. Gilgeous Alexander became the 14th player to sign such a deal like the 285 million dollar deal. The supermax is an extra lucrative because of basketball inflation which has increased at a much greater rate than general inflation. The league's new TV deal comes into effect next season bringing with it a surge of new money.

In sad news in the NBA landscape, head coach Frank Layden of the Utah Jazz passed away at the age of 93. Layden was a colorful character featuring his sideline antics and sense of humor is what stood out in the NBA head coaching profession. He coached John Stockton and Karl Malone even though he never led them to the NBA Finals. Layden coached the Jazz from 1981-1989 including 277 wins the third most in the franchise history. He was the only coach in Jazz history to be named NBA Coach of the Year in 1984 and won executive of the year.

In the baseball retrospective 2025 marks the 40th Anniversary of the Kansas City Royals championship that was won in 1985 against the St Louis Cardinals in 7 games. George Brett was on this squad alongside ace pitcher Bret Saberhagen. This championship run was a culmination of the great Royals run that they had since the mid 70s up to the 1985 season quite frankly around 10 years reaching the playoffs 7 times with stars George Brett, Hal McRae and Willie Wilson. The Royals would not win another championship let alone a postseason appearance until 2014 and eventually win the 2015 World Series against the New York Mets: 4-1.