Basketball: the main stories of 18.09.2026

Utah have settled their backcourt before camp opens: Keyonte George has agreed a five-year extension worth $157.5m, terms reported by Shams Charania and the only item on the day's wire carried by two outlets rather than one. It dwarfs the other extension of the window — Saddiq Bey's three years and $55.5m in New Orleans, also from Charania. For a club that has spent two summers gathering young guards, this decides which of them the rotation is built around, and takes the question off the table for five seasons.

Both Super Cups produced losses for the sides who went in as holders or favourites. CSKA gave up the ball in the second half and lost 82-90 to Lokomotiv-Kuban, with Kirill Elatontsev scoring 12 points against his former club and saying nobody in the dressing room had raised the subject; the league's general director Ilona Korstin put the win down to Lokomotiv's energy. Zenit's 76-100 defeat by Anadolu Efes ended their hopes of the final. In Abu Dhabi, Fenerbahçe led and lost 90-92 to Olympiacos, after which Sarunas Jasikevicius said the potential was visible but the points were given away too cheaply. All four reports rest on single outlets.

• Denver agreed a two-way deal with Cam Whitmore, whose last season in Washington ran to 21 games after a thrombosis diagnosis in January.
• Cleveland promoted Brandon Weems to general manager, the seat Mike Gansey left for Philadelphia.
• Euroleague chief Chus Bueno said the rules may be tightened after the Thomas Walkup row; one outlet reports PAOK held another round of talks over joining the competition.
• Mike James said he was essentially a Barcelona player before Xavi Pascual's exit undid it — a day after he explained how he ended up at Efes.
• Panathinaikos owner Dimitris Giannakopoulos repeated his intention to sign Nikola Jokic; Eurohoops counted six Euroleague players earning more than LeBron James's $3.8m.
• Jackie Young scored a career-high 35 against Seattle, 22 of them in the first quarter; Rhyne Howard's 129th three of the season set a WNBA record in Atlanta's 103-59 win, in which Angel Reese took 30 points.
• Adem Bona sprained his left foot and will be reassessed at the start of Philadelphia's camp.
• Mitchell Robinson missed his Boston presentation after his brother was hit by a car.
• Toronto's staff for 26/27 includes Jeremy Castleberry, Kawhi Leonard's personal trainer; Shaquille O'Neal graduated from the FBI National Academy as an honorary special agent.
• Patrick Beverley aimed another round at Ben Simmons, who signed a one-year deal with Sacramento on Thursday.
• Tonight: Minnesota host New York, Toronto meet Indiana.