Two Former OKC Thunder Reserves Earn Contacts in Free Agency
Two Former OKC Thunder Reserves Earn Contacts in Free Agency
A pair of players who were on Oklahoma City's roster to start the 2025-26 season signed with new teams.Randall Sweet|Apr 12, 2026; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder center Branden Carlson (15) runs down the court during a game against the Phoenix Suns at Paycom Center. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
The Oklahoma City Thunder roster will look different heading into the 2026-27 NBA season.
After making minimal roster changes following the team's championship run, trading Dillon Jones and drafting Thomas Sorber and Brooks Barnhizer, OKC has made more significant moves following the 2025-26 campaign.
The Thunder drafted Aday Mara, Bennett Stirtz and Otega Oweh and traded Isaiah Joe and Aaron Wiggins. Additionally, Oklahoma City declined the team option for Kenrich Williams, which could mean the veteran also has a new home next season.
Joe, Wiggins and potentially Williams aren't the only players who started the 2025-26 season with OKC that will be on new teams to start the 2026-27 campaign.
After two seasons in the Modern Frontier, Branden Carlson signed a one-year deal with the Portland Trail Blazers worth $2.5 million, according to Shams Charania.
Free agent 7-footer Branden Carlson has agreed to a one-year, $2.5 million deal to sign with the Portland Trail Blazers, sources tell ESPN. Portland picks up a big man who has developed in the OKC Thunder system over the last two seasons, finalizing a deal with @PrioritySports'… pic.twitter.com/N1XunKYLW3
Carlson spent both of his years with the Thunder on a two-way contract, and now has a standard deal with a team who reached the playoffs in 2025-26. Through his first two years in the NBA, the 27-year-old appeared in 74 games, making 4 starts and averaging 4.9 points and 2.4 rebounds while shooting 49.8% from the field and 34.9% from beyond the arc in 9.9 minutes per game.
During the 2025-26 season, Carlson averaged 5.8 points and 3 rebounds per game while shooting 52.7% from the field and 36% from 3-point range. The Utah product joined Oklahoma City as an undrafted free agent in the 2024 draft class and developed into a solid depth piece.
Now, Carlson has the chance to earn a more regular role as a stretch big man with Portland.
Former Thunder wing player Ousmane Dieng also earned a new contract on the first day of free agency. Dieng was traded to Milwaukee during the 2025-26 season to help OKC create a roster spot for Jared McCain after the Thunder acquired the former Philadelphia guard.
Dieng averaged 11 points, 4.6 rebounds and 3.6 rebounds while shooting 42.3% from the field and 33.1% from deep in 30 contests with the Bucks. The 23-year-old's performance helped Dieng land a three-year contract worth $17.5 million, per Charania.
Free agent forward Ousmane Dieng has agreed to a three-year, $17.5 million deal to return to the Milwaukee Bucks, sources tell ESPN. Dieng had a strong finish to last season after his trade from OKC, and now Bucks officials finalize the deal with agents Michael Tellem of Excel… pic.twitter.com/9xFxjthnNW
The four-year veteran was selected with the No. 11 pick in the 2022 NBA Draft and appeared in 136 games with OKC, making 2 starts and averaging 4.2 points, 2.1 rebounds and an assist per game while shooting 42.3% from the field and 30.6% from 3-point range.
Dieng remains with the Bucks as the team enters a new era following the Giannis Antetokounmpo trade.
Randall Sweet is a 2022 Oklahoma University graduate who has formerly written for the Norman Transcript and OU Daily. Randall also serves as the Communications Coordinator at Visit OKC.
Sweeney, 28, stunned in an all-denim look while posing on the beach for a 4th of July campaign, which launched on Wednesday, July 1. The Euphoria star rocked a denim Bow-Front Vest, which retails for $54.95, featuring adjustable halter straps, a plunging neckline and straps that tie in the front.
Sweeney paired the look with low-rise Micro Shorts ($49.95), which were complete with a dark wash and distressed finish.
For glam, the Anyone But You star stunned with dewy skin, sun-kissed cheeks, long lashes and lined, pink lips. Her blonde bob was parted down the middle and styled in beachy waves.
American Eagle
In one pic, the It Girl closed her eyes and beamed for the camera while sitting in the sand. She also looked over her shoulder in another pic, with her hands in the back pockets of her cheeky bottoms.
Sweeney also looked her best in a promotional video. In the clip, she danced on the beach while lighting sparklers. “Syd for Short,” a message across the screen read.
This isn’t the first time Sweeney has posed for American Eagle. In July 2025, she went under fire for modeling a denim jacket and pants with the double entendre, “Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans.”
The statement quickly sparked debate about race and beauty standards for the double play on “genes.”
Sydney Sweeney has teamed up with American Eagle again for a sexy summer campaign following her previously controversial ad with the company. Sweeney, 28, posed for the brand’s “Syd for Short: American Eagle Jean Shorts” ad, which launched on Wednesday, April 15. In the campaign, the Euphoria actress looked her best in a pair of […]
American Eagle responded to the backlash in August 2025, writing via Instagram, “‘Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans’ is and always was about the jeans. Her jeans. Her story. We’ll continue to celebrate how everyone wears their AE jeans with confidence, their way. Great jeans look good on everyone.”
At the time, a source exclusively told Us Weekly that “Sydney thinks this whole thing has been blown out of proportion.”
The insider added, “She’s focusing her energy on work, including being back on set with her Euphoria family.” (The Euphoria season 3 finale aired on May 31.)
Trump's Annual Earnings Skyrocketed to $2.2 Billion in 2025 ... for Some Reason
July 1, 2026
Donald Trump speaking to the press before boarding Air Force One for his first flight on the Boeing 747-8 gifted by Qatar, at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, July 1
SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images
Making money is hard. Just ask Donald Trump. Back in 2022, House Democrats released years of the then-former and now-current president’s tax returns, which showed that Trump the entrepreneur was significantly less successful than The Art of the Deal would have you believe. They painted a picture of a floundering businessman who was doing his best to dodge taxes and scrape together income, something Trump mastered throughout his long career.
But now, it appears that Trump has finally found an industry that works: open corruption, crypto scams, and nepotistic crony capitalism that siphons off wealth, rakes in gifts, and feeds them into his personal coffers. He just needed to become president of the United States.
Trump revealed in financial disclosures this week that he has made $2.2 billion in 2025, up from $622 million in 2024, the year before he returned to the White House. The astronomical sum includes a diverse portfolio of investments and businesses, but is mostly comprised of one brazen cryptocurrency scam: World Liberty Financial, a crypto company that offers the $TRUMP memecoin. Trump made a staggering $1.4 billion on crypto last year, fueled both by getting his supporters to buy into $TRUMP and a massive private deal in which a UAE-linked investment firm paid almost $500 million for a 49 percent stake in World Liberty Financial.
But let’s break down what that means in simple terms. One: Trump sells a memecoin to his followers, using his personal social media channels to boost it. This is basically the same scam Trump has been running for years. If you’ve been on his mailing lists since 2016, you’ve been inundated with ads for physical Trump coins, digital trading cards, and all sorts of commemorative and allegedly collectible memorabilia. Crypto is essentially the same grift, with the added flavor that Trump can pass it off as an “investment” opportunity, something that may pay dividends for the everyday Americans who are duped into buying it. Trump has also taken a host of actions benefiting the crypto industry — and thus, his and his family’s finances — since retaking office, while touting the industry publicly.
Trump claims that he isn’t “involved” in the running of these businesses, which is about as flimsy of an excuse as you can get. “We have funds that run that money,” he told reporters on Wednesday.
Q: Your financial disclosure shows you had a very lucrative year last year. What message does this send to average Americans?
TRUMP: Well, you know, I don't get involved. We have funds that run my money
Q: But you are benefitting. We're talking billions of dollars
In reality, Trump and his family are the only ones getting rich. But it’s the other half of that windfall that’s even more concerning. While garden-variety crypto-grift is bad, the dark money investment in a Trump-owned company by a firm that is linked to the government of the UAE suggests that foreign influence could be playing a large role in the growth of Trump’s personal fortune. In other words, he’s basically getting a payout from the government of another nation.
This isn’t the first time Trump has engaged in open corruption with members of a foreign nation. His comments about his financial disclosure on Wednesday came on the tarmac in front of his new private plane, also known as Air Force One, which was paid for and gifted to him by the Qatari government, and retrofitted with hundreds of millions of taxpayer money.
“You want a Pulitzer Prize? A picture of the plane.” Trump joked.
Trump took his first flight on the Qatari-gifted jet shortly after. “Frankly, we couldn’t build a plane like this because we wouldn’t be willing to spend the kind of money necessary,” Trump said. “They spent top dollars.”
The plane is valued at roughly $400 million. The government will not retain ownership of the plan after Trump leaves office. It will instead be gifted to his presidential library.
New on Pluto TV in July 2026 — The Full List of Free Movies and TV Shows
Like Tubi, Pluto TV is one of streaming’s best deals. It offers tons of new content each month, all for the low, low price of absolutely nothing. Now that’s a deal I’ll gladly accept.
The ad-supported platform has outdone itself in July, offering an array of classic movies and shows as well as live events, from sports ot Grand Ole Opry concerts.
Editor’s note: All the movies listed below are now available to stream unless otherwise noted.
Action and Adventure
Three Kings Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation XXX Tango & Cash Parker (2013) Tears Of The Sun Top Gun Driven Vantage Point The Commuter The Expendables 2 The Expendables 3 The Expendables 4 The Expendables Danger Close Sabotage (2014) Colombiana Cinco De Mayo: La Batalla (2013) Civil War Platoon Walking Tall (2004) Contract To Kill Everly Forces Speciales (2011) The Last Man (2019) Muay Thai Fighter Salvable The Stranger (2010) Stratton The White Storm Free Fire A Prayer Before Dawn Walking Tall: The Payback Hercules (2014) Navy Seals
July is the heart of summer, which usually means 4th of July fireworks, delicious BBQs and record heat waves. It also means a month full of great streaming content, at least on Netflix. The popular streamer is set to drop some of its highest-profile original movies and TV shows of 2026, plus classics like A […]
Sci-Fi and Fantasy
The Matrix Reloaded The Matrix Revolutions The Matrix Gravity After Earth Hollow Man Big Fish Flatliners (1990) Johnny Mnemonic Moon The Time Machine Light Of My Life Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts Ex Machina Everything Everywhere All At Once Transformers: Age Of Extinction Warchief Area 51 Judgment Day Escape From New York Survival Code Timeline High Life Under The Skin The Green Knight Stargate (1994) America 3000
Drama
The Right Stuff Awakenings The Fisher King The People Vs. Larry Flynt Drumline Do The Right Thing Amistad The Cider House Rules The Diving Bell And The Butterfly The Four Feathers (2002) The Queen Salmon Fishing In The Yemen The Virgin Suicides Dead Again Frida Nico, 1988 Margot At The Wedding My Life So Far Nebraska O (Othello) American Dreamer Filly Brown Lady Macbeth (2016) Moonlight 20th Century Women Weightless Jayne Mansfield’s Car Philomena Submarine This Must Be The Place Where’d You Go, Bernadette? (2019) American Honey Mississippi Grind The End Of The Tour The Last Black Man In San Francisco The Last Movie Star The Sea Of Trees Not Without My Daughter A Good Person All These Small Moments Evelyn Fool For Love Jinn (2018) Maine On The Count Of Three A Few Good Men
Crime and Thrillers
Angels & Demons Collateral Zodiac Inferno (2016) Money Train The Net (1995) Premonition (2007) Snatch (2000) Trapped (2002) Wild Things Black Rain Ride The Night Listener Girls In Prison Nightcrawler The Substitute 2: Schools Out (1998) Affairs Of State Beast The Bedroom Window Burn Confidence Escape From Pretoria Every Secret Thing Knock Knock (2015) Love Lies Bleeding Thelma & Louise Like Minds Manhattan Night Stone The Super (2018) Tenderness Skiptrace Blaze You Out Blood Out Catch Hell Free Ride (2013) Legendary Assassin Lucky Number Slevin The Pursuit Of D.B. Cooper Senorita Justice The Substitute 3: Winner Takes All The Substitute (1996) Thief Of Hearts Enemy Remember The Bling Ring Dark Places Cut Bank Hot Summer Nights Low Tide Zola Mojave The Eternal Daughter The Adderall Diaries Under Fire (1983) Cop Dangerous Game (1993)
Romance and Musicals
Clueless Sleepless In Seattle Steel Magnolias (1989) You’ve Got Mail Across The Universe Breakin’ All The Rules First Knight Marie Antoinette The Sweetest Thing While You Were Sleeping Adore The Back-Up Plan Bride & Prejudice The Fighting Temptations Kate & Leopold Sidewalks Of New York Southside With You Flashdance Hear My Song Last Night My Boss’s Daughter Playing By Heart Sirens 50 First Dates Maid In Manhattan Bella La Boda De Valentina In The Mix Jackie & Ryan The Sun Is Also A Star My Days Of Mercy Dr. T And The Women Stage Mother A Ghost Story The Souvenir Tommy’s Honour
Peacock is having a quiet month in July compared to other streamers like Netflix and HBO Max, but that doesn’t mean it’s not offering must-see content. Watch With Us has been a huge fan of Jennifer Garner since Time of Your Life (remember that Party of Five spinoff?), and we’re pumped for her newest streaming […]
Comedy
Friday The Friday After Next Next Friday National Lampoon’s European Vacation National Lampoon’s Vacation Kingpin Code Name: The Cleaner Adaptation Real Genius Ashby Crocodile Dundee The Foot Fist Way Gambit I Got The Hook-Up A Night At The Roxbury The Weather Man Crocodile Dundee II Crocodile Dundee In Los Angeles Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star Dysfunktional Family Like A Boss Mother (1996) Superstar Ace Ventura: Pet Detective Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls Barbershop (2002) Barbershop 2: Back In Business Barbershop: The Next Cut Beauty Shop All Of Me Best Of Times Dummy Highway What’s Cooking Never Goin’ Back A Glimpse Inside The Mind Of Charles Swan III Funny Pages Men At Work Adventures Of Priscilla Queen Of The Desert
Horror
Christine (1983) Disquiet Pet Sematary II The Uninvited Darkness Pet Sematary (1989) After.Life American Carnage The Cabin In The Woods Fear Of Rain Ginger Snaps The Witch The Blackcoat’s Daughter Lamb You’re Next The Messengers The New Daughter Parents Dead End (2003) 247 Degrees Fahrenheit After Darkness Aftershock Alone In The Dark Among The Shadows Barrens Blood Creek Bloodline Boy Eats Girl Candyman III Chained Children Of The Corn: Runaway Day Of The Dead: Bloodline Demonic The Dentist 2 The Dentist Dracula 3000 Dreamkatcher Embrace Of The Vampire Fangoria: Blood Drive Fangoria: Blood Drive II Fear Clinic Fertile Ground The Fog Ginger Snaps 3 Gothic Grace Hatchet House Of The Dead (2003) In Fear Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer Jack Goes Home Kill Theory La Nina De La Mina The Little Mermaid (2024) Martyrs (2015) Night Of The Demons Night Of The Living Dead 3D (2006) Open Your Eyes Patrick: Evil Awakens The Possession (2012) Pulse III: Invasion Rambler Shivers Speak No Evil Spectre Strangeland Summer Camp (2016) Tamara To Let Toolbox Murders The Vatican Tapes Los Visitantes (2014) Waxwork Waxwork II: Lost In Time Witch Hunt (2019) Yakuza Apocalypse The Monster Woodshock Too Scared To Scream After Midnight (1989) Asylum (2008)
Classics and Westerns
American Outlaws Blue Hawaii The Disorderly Orderly The Family Jewels Hatari! The Gambler (1974) Real Life (1979) Cinderfella Daisy Miller Last Of The Red Hot Lovers Lifeguard Murder On The Orient Express Paradise, Hawaiian Style Plaza Suite The Great Escape The Ballad Of Lefty Brown Ulysses The Producers Park Row Visit To A Small Planet First Cow Woman Walks Ahead Tom Sawyer (1973) Apache The Charge Of The Light Brigade (1968) The Jackie Robinson Story
Kids and Family
Hook Kicking & Screaming Bon Voyage Charlie Brown (And Don’t Come Back) Bandslam Golden Shoes Merlin And The Book Of Beasts The Secret Garden (2020) Touchback Wonder Park Napoleon (1997)
New Channels
Big Brother Live
This July, Pluto TV brings back its Big Brother Live category to coincide with the premiere of Big Brother season 28 on CBS on July 9. Fans can tune in 24/7 to five dedicated live channels streaming straight from inside the Big Brother house, including four room-specific feeds and a quad-view channel that captures every angle. From whispered alliances to shocking blindsides, no moment is off-limits. Plus, the Big Brother single-series channel streams past seasons around the clock, making it easy to relive iconic moments or catch up before the latest drama unfolds.
Live Events
MONSTER JAM WORLD FINALS — Monster Jam Channel
July 2–4.
Three nights of live coverage from Salt Lake City, including Qualifying, Day 1 and Championship action from the Monster Jam World Finals.
WNBA — ION
Live games on Fridays in July.
July 3: Minnesota Lynx at New York Liberty; Chicago Sky at Las Vegas Aces
July 10: Dallas Wings at Toronto Tempo; Chicago Sky at Los Angeles Sparks
July 17: Seattle Storm at Indiana Fever; Connecticut Sun at Phoenix Mercury
July 31: Dallas Wings at Washington Mystics; Indiana Fever at Portland Fire
Are you ready to return Runway? Not the runway, but Runway, the fictional magazine where Meryl Streep‘s Miranda Priestly reigns supreme? The Devil Wears Prada 2 finally arrives on Hulu in July, and you’re invited to the fashion movie event of the year – as long as you have a subscription. Miranda isn’t the only […]
BOXING — DAZN Ringside
July 16: Live Press Conference — Eubank vs. Papot
July 17: Live Weigh In — Eubank vs. Papot
July 18: Live Prelims — Eubank vs. Papot
July 22: Live Open Workout — Joshua vs. Prenga
July 23: Live Press Conference — Joshua vs. Prenga
July 24: Live Weigh In — Joshua vs. Prenga
July 25: Live Prelims — Joshua vs. Prenga
GRAND OLE OPRY — Live Music Channel
Live performances every Saturday in July.
July 4: Kelsea Ballerini
July 11: Keith Urban
July 18: Blake Shelton
July 25: Reba McEntire
WOMEN’S SPORTS — AWSN
Live events throughout July.
Coverage includes the Suncorp Super Netball Grand Final, Professional Softball League, Women’s Softball World Cup, Women’s Baseball World Cup, and Women’s Football Alliance championship events.
GREAT AMERICAN BLOCK PARTY 250 — CBS News 24/7
Live coverage of the Great American Block Party 250 Independence Day celebration on July 4.
RANDALL SWEET
