Pelicans’ Frank Jackson Suffers Broken Foot
SEPTEMBER 1, 10:35am: Jackson has undergone surgery on his foot and is expected to be sidelined for three or four months, sources tell Rod Walker of The Advocate (Twitter link).
AUGUST 31, 6:46pm: Pelicans rookie Frank Jackson has suffered a broken right foot and will undergo surgery on Friday, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link). Jackson suffered the injury during a workout on Wednesday and is expected to miss four months, per Tony Jones of the Salt Lake Tribune (Twitter links).
Jackson, 19, underwent surgery on the same foot in May to repair a stress reaction that hindered him for much of the 2016/17 college season. The injury forced him to miss the 2017 summer league.
Originally drafted 31st overall by the Hornets in the 2017 draft, Jackson was acquired by New Orleans in exchange for the draft rights to Dwayne Bacon (40th overall pick) and cash considerations.
Jackson averaged 10.9 PPG while shooting 39.5% from beyond the arc in his lone season at Duke.
Bucks Eyeing New Deal For Jason Terry?
With Spencer Hawes‘ contract waived and stretched, the Bucks are once again below the tax line and have a little added flexibility to sign a player or two. According to Gery Woelfel of The Racine Journal Times (Twitter link), a new deal to bring back free agent guard Jason Terry may be the next move for Milwaukee.
Woelfel has written about Terry’s free agency a couple times since the offseason begins, having noted back in June that the veteran had interest in re-signing with the Bucks. In July, Woelfel reported that Terry had received interest from other NBA teams, including a Western Conference club that made him a contract offer. However, a return to Milwaukee still may be in the cards.
Terry, who will turn 40 in two weeks, joined the Bucks for the 2016/17 season and was a solid part-time contributor for the club, averaging 4.1 PPG and 1.3 APG with a .427 3PT%. Terry’s veteran leadership and championship experience also make him appealing to team like the Bucks, whose core players are fairly young.
With Hawes no longer on the roster, the Bucks have 13 guaranteed contracts that total approximately $115.3MM. The tax line is at $119.266MM, so if Milwaukee signs Terry to a minimum salary deal and carries one more player on a minimum contract, the club would remain below that threshold.
NBA Draft Rights Held: Pacific Division
When top college prospects like Markelle Fultz or Lonzo Ball are drafted, there’s virtually no doubt that their next step will involve signing an NBA contract. However, that’s not the case for every player who is selected in the NBA draft, particularly for international prospects and second-round picks.
When an NBA team uses a draft pick on a player, it gains his NBA rights, but that doesn’t mean the player will sign an NBA contract right away. International prospects will often remain with their professional team overseas for at least one more year to develop their game further, becoming “draft-and-stash” prospects. Nikola Mirotic, Dario Saric, and Bogdan Bogdanovic are among the more notable players to fit this bill in recent years.
However, draft-and-stash players can be former NCAA standouts too. Sometimes a college prospect selected with a late second round pick will end up playing overseas or in the G League for a year or two if there’s no space available on his NBA team’s 15-man roster.
While these players sometimes make their way to their NBA teams, others never do. Many clubs around the NBA currently hold the rights to international players who have remained overseas for their entire professional careers and are no longer viewed as top prospects. Those players may never come stateside, but there’s often no reason for NBA teams to renounce their rights — those rights can sometimes be used as placeholders in trades.
For instance, earlier this summer, the Pacers and Raptors agreed to a trade that sent Cory Joseph to Indiana. Toronto was happy to move Joseph’s salary and didn’t necessarily need anything in return, but the Pacers had to send something in the deal. Rather than including an NBA player or a draft pick, Indiana sent Toronto the draft rights to Emir Preldzic, the 57th overall pick in the 2009 draft.
Preldzic is currently playing for Galatasaray in Turkey, and at this point appears unlikely to ever come to the NBA, but his draft rights have been a useful trade chip over the years — the Pacers/Raptors swap represented the fourth time since 2010 that Preldzic’s NBA rights have been included in a trade.
This week, we’re taking a closer look at the players whose draft rights NBA teams currently hold, sorting them by division. These players may eventually arrive in America and join their respective NBA teams, but many will end up like Preldzic, plying their trade overseas and having their draft rights used as pawns in NBA trades.
Here’s a breakdown of the draft rights held by Pacific teams:
Golden State Warriors
- Mladen Sekularac, G/F (2002; No. 55): Retired.
Los Angeles Clippers
- Maarty Leunen, F (2008; No. 54): Playing in Italy.
- David Michineau, G (2016; No. 39): Playing in France.
Los Angeles Lakers
- Brad Newley, F (2007; No. 54): Last played in Greece.
- Chinemelu Elonu, C (2009; No. 59): Playing in Greece.
Phoenix Suns
- Ron Ellis, F (1992; No. 49): Retired.
- Milos Vujanic, G (2002; No. 36): Retired.
- Cenk Akyol, G/F (2005; No. 59): Last played in Turkey.
- Dwayne Collins, F (2010; No. 60): Retired.
Sacramento Kings
- Alex Oriakhi, F (2013; No. 57): Playing in Uruguay.
- Dimitrios Agravanis, F (2015; No. 59): Playing in Greece.
- Luka Mitrovic, F (2015; No. 60): Playing in Germany.
Previously:
Information from Mark Porcaro and Basketball Insiders was used in the creation of this post.