NBA D-League Assignments/Recalls: 4/7/2017
Here are Friday’s D-League assignments and recalls from around the league, as the NBADL postseason continues:
- In the wake of the Rio Grande Valley Vipers’ Game 1 win in the D-League playoffs on Thursday, the Rockets recalled Chinanu Onuaku, Isaiah Taylor, and Kyle Wiltjer to the NBA, the team announced today (Twitter link). The trio played a major role in Thursday’s victory, with Taylor scoring 24 points and dishing out nine assists, Wiltjer adding 17 points, and Onuaku snatching 18 rebounds.
- The Lakers have recalled rookie guard David Nwaba from the NBADL, the team announced today (Twitter link). The Lakers’ affiliate, the Los Angeles D-Fenders, was on the losing side in Thursday’s D-League playoff game, despite Nwaba’s team-high 22 points. The Vipers and D-Fenders will play Game 2 on Saturday, so Nwaba and the Rockets’ youngsters may be headed back to the NBADL within the next 24 hours.
Potential 2017 RFAs Whose Qualifying Offers Will Be Impacted By Starter Criteria
The NBA’s new Collective Bargaining Agreement, which will go into effect on July 1, 2017, includes a number of changes to the free agent process, including some that apply specifically to restricted free agents. However, one aspect of restricted free agency unaffected by the new CBA is what’s referred to as the “starter criteria,” which can affect how much an RFA’s qualifying offer will be worth.
Here’s how the starter criteria works: A player who is eligible for restricted free agency is considered to have met the starter criteria if he plays at least 2,000 minutes or starts 41 games in the season before he reaches free agency. A player can also meet the criteria if he averages either of those marks in the two seasons prior to his restricted free agency. For instance, if a player started 50 games in 2015/16 and 35 in 2016/17, he’d meet the starter criteria, since his average number of starts over the last two seasons exceeds 41.
A player’s ability or inability to meet the starter criteria can affect the value of the qualifying offer he receives as a restricted free agent, as follows:
- A top-14 pick who does not meet the starter criteria will receive a qualifying offer equal to the amount the 15th overall pick would receive if he signed for 120% of the rookie scale.
- A player picked between 10th and 30th who meets the criteria will receive a qualifying offer equal to the amount the ninth overall pick would receive if he signed for 120% of the rookie scale.
- A second-round pick or undrafted player who meets the criteria will receive a qualifying offer equal to the amount the 21st overall pick would receive if he signed for 100% of the rookie scale.
- For all other RFAs, the standard criteria determine the amounts of their qualifying offers.
Extending a qualifying offer to a player ensures that a team has the right of first refusal if he signs an offer sheet, and gives the player the option of signing that one-year QO. Generally, the value of a restricted free agent’s qualifying offer isn’t hugely important, since very few RFAs accept those offers outright. Still, those QOs can have an impact on a team’s salary cap outlook during July’s free agent period, so it’s worth checking in to see which potential RFAs will be eligible for higher or lower qualifying offers this summer.
Listed below are the top-14 picks on track for restricted free agency who have not met the starter criteria. These players will be eligible for qualifying offers worth $4,187,598.
- Alex Len (Suns)
- Nerlens Noel (Mavericks)
- Trey Burke (Wizards)
- Michael Carter-Williams (Bulls)
- Kelly Olynyk (Celtics)
- Shabazz Muhammad (Timberwolves)
Len and Noel had the worst QO luck this season. As the fifth and sixth overall picks in 2013, they would have been in line for qualifying offers worth about $6.4MM and $5.85MM, respectively. Instead, their QOs will be worth less than $4.2MM. Both players were very close to meeting the starter criteria too — they’ve started 77 games apiece in the past two years, so they’ll fall just short of the 82 required.
The players listed below are non-lottery first-round picks who will meet the starter criteria. That will make each of them eligible for a qualifying offer worth $4,588,840.
- Tony Snell (Bucks)
- Mason Plumlee (Nuggets)
- Tim Hardaway (Hawks)
- Andre Roberson (Thunder)
All four of these players were selected in the 20-26 range in the 2013 draft, and their QOs would’ve ranged from about $3.39MM to $3.22MM if they hadn’t met the starter criteria.
Here are the rest of the RFAs whose qualifying offers won’t necessarily be determined by the standard criteria:
- Undrafted power forward JaMychal Green (Grizzlies) has met the starter criteria, putting him in line for a QO worth $2,820,497 instead of the more modest amount he would’ve received as a minimum-salary player.
- Two players – Joe Ingles (Jazz) and Ben McLemore (Kings) – still have a chance to meet the starter criteria depending on how the season’s last four days play out. Ingles has played 1,848 minutes this season, meaning he would have to average about 38 MPG in Utah’s last four contests to reach 2,000, which is a tall order. McLemore may fall just short as well, as he currently sits at 79 starts over the last two seasons. He’ll need to start three of the Kings’ last four games in order to average 41 starts per year, but he has only been in Sacramento’s starting lineup twice since the start of March. (End-of-season update: Neither Ingles nor McLemore met the starter criteria.)
Draft Notes: Robinson, Blackmon, Clark, Sina
With the NCAA tournament over and the deadline for early-entry candidates inching closer, we can expect to hear word of more underclassmen declaring their intent to test the draft waters in the coming weeks. A year ago, 162 players initially entered the draft before more than half of them withdrew their names. This year, we’re almost halfway to 162, with plenty more to come.
With all sorts of freshmen, sophomores, and juniors putting their names into the draft pool, we don’t want to let any slip through the cracks, so here’s the latest round-up of early entrant news, including a couple reports from last week:
- Florida forward Devin Robinson has opted to enter the draft without hiring an agent, giving him the option of returning to the Gators for his senior year, according to Pat Dooley of The Gainesville Sun. Robinson, the 38th-ranked prospect on DraftExpress’ big board, is leaning toward going pro, but will make his decision after getting feedback in the coming weeks, says Dooley.
- Indiana junior guard James Blackmon Jr., who ranks 15th among Big Ten prospects according to DraftExpress, will test the draft waters. As Gregg Doyel of The Indianapolis Star reports, Blackmon has decided to enter the draft but won’t hire an agent. That will give him the option to withdraw his name, as he did a year ago after testing the waters.
- UMass junior swingman Donte Clark has declared for the draft, but will also put off hiring an agent in order to retain his NCAA eligibility for now, writes Matt Vautour of The Daily Hampshire Gazette. As Clark explains, he’ll make his draft decision first, then will decide whether to return to UMass for one more year or transfer to another program.
- Jaren Sina, a junior guard at George Washington, has decided to turn pro and will be represented by agent Misko Raznatovic, a source tells Sportando. Sina isn’t considered a top prospect by draft experts, but given his choice of agents, he likely intends to play international ball.
Jennings: Carmelo Trade Rumors Took Toll On Knicks
Although he’s headed to the playoffs as a top-four seed with the Wizards, Brandon Jennings spent most of the season with the Knicks, and said on Thursday that he thinks the constant trade rumors and speculation surrounding Carmelo Anthony had an effect on his old team in the weeks and months leading up to the deadline.
“It definitely took a toll, I think, on the team. Because it wasn’t even about basketball anymore, it was more about what was going on with Melo,” Jennings said, according to Ian Begley of ESPN.com. “… I think it was just a roller coaster, an emotional roller coaster for him this year with everything he had to deal with, which isn’t fair. For a player to wake up every day and you’re hearing trade rumors and you might be gone and this and that. It was like a two-week span where everybody was hitting your phone, (reading reports) about Melo leaving.”
The rumors surrounding Anthony began in earnest around mid-January, when Phil Jackson‘s longtime friend and confidant Charley Rosen published a column criticizing the Knicks forward. Although Rosen dismissed the notion that he was acting as Jackson’s mouthpiece, a handful of reports surfaced in the following weeks suggesting that the Knicks were reaching out to other teams to gauge their interest in the 10-time All-Star, in the hopes that he’d waive his no-trade clause.
Between mid-January and the trade deadline on February 23, the Knicks lost 12 of 17 games, though it’s a bit of a leap to assume that correlation equals causation — even before Rosen’s column was published, New York was off to a sluggish 18-22 start to the season.
Whether or not the constant trade talks had an impact on the Knicks’ on-court performance, Jennings says they weren’t fair to Anthony, as Begley details. In Jennings’ view, Carmelo had “a lot of pressure on him dealing with stuff with Phil.”
Anthony ultimately stayed put at the deadline, but the Knicks are expected to revisit trade possibilities in the summer, at which point Carmelo may be more open to accepting a deal.
Eastern Notes: Pistons, Wizards, Henson, McRoberts
Pistons center Boban Marjanovic and rookie power forward Henry Ellenson will get a long look during the last four games of the season, Aaron McMann of MLive.com reports. Marjanovic, who signed a three-year, $21MM contract as a free agent last summer, has played sparingly behind Andre Drummond and Aron Baynes. Marjanovic could have a bigger role next season if Baynes opts out of the final year of his contract. Ellenson, the team’s first-round selection last June, has spent most of the season with the team’s D-League affiliate in Grand Rapids, Mich. “We will still play our main guys, but we’ll get Henry and Boban in there every night,” coach Stan Van Gundy told the team’s beat reporters.
In other developments around the Eastern Conference:
- Power forward Jason Smith has proven to be a bargain pickup for the Wizards, according to J. Michael of CSNMidAtlantic.com. Smith, who played for the Magic last season, signed a three-year, $15MM deal as a free agent last summer. He’s averaging 5.6 PPG but is shooting 49.2% from 3-point range and 53.1% overall despite getting dropped from the rotation on occasion, Michael continues. His screening has also been a valuable asset, Michael adds.
- Bucks big man John Henson will lose $250K in bonus incentives because of his current thumb injury, Bobby Marks of The Vertical tweets. Henson needed to play in 60 games to collect the bonus. Henson signed a four-year extension in October 2015 that kicked in at the start of this season. The contract is worth between $44MM and $48MM, depending upon if Henson reaches certain incentives.
- Heat forward Josh McRoberts participated in his first contact practice on Tuesday since he was sidelined in late December with a stress fracture in his left foot, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald reports. Coach Erik Spoelstra is still uncertain if McRoberts will return this season, Jackson adds. McRoberts holds a $6MM option on his contract for next season.
NBA Projects $101MM Salary Cap Next Season
The NBA’s latest salary cap projection for the 2017/18 season is now $101MM, sources told Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical. That’s an increase of nearly $7MM over this season’s cap of $94.1MM but lower than previous projections. The tax level is projected to rise $8MM to $121MM next season, Wojnarowski adds. (Twitter links).
This is a slight drop from the projections that Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders reported in February. Pincus’ report projected a 2017/18 cap of $102MM with a tax threshold of $122MM. Previous projections had the cap for 2017/18 as high as $108MM, according to RealGM.com.
The somewhat modest increase in the projected cap means that teams will have a little less freedom to throw money around, compared to the free agent spending spree last summer. Players will still make substantial more money than just a couple of seasons ago. The cap was $70MM last season and hovered between $53.1MM in 2006/07 to $63MM in 2014/15.
Southwest Rumors: Anderson, Pelicans, Nowitzki, Spurs
Rockets power forward Ryan Anderson is expected to return to action this weekend after missing six games with a sprained right ankle, Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle reports. Anderson practiced without limitations on Thursday and could return as soon as Friday against the Pistons, Feigen continues. Anderson feels it’s important to return to action before the postseason, as he relayed to Feigen. “It’s super valuable for me, in my mind, to be out there before the playoffs, to get my wind back, get back to the flow of playing with the group,” Anderson said. “Obviously, we want to have our full group ready to go at the best we can be for the playoffs. We have a few games to do that. We’ll be good. The timeline’s working out well.”
In other developments around the Southwest Division:
- Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry believes his club can be a serious playoff contender next season if it re-signs unrestricted free agent point guard Jrue Holiday, William Guillory of the New Orleans Times-Picayune writes. Gentry is brimming with optimism that the trio of Holiday, DeMarcus Cousins and Anthony Davis can succeed after seeing the team go 8-5 over the past 13 games. “I think we’re light years ahead of where we were,” Gentry told Guillory. “We’ve got arguably two of the best 10 players in the NBA. Then you add Jrue to the mix, and hopefully that’s going to be somebody we can keep on our team, you’ve got guys that are a year older playing (together).”
- Dirk Nowitzki realizes the Mavericks are probably a few years away from being a serous contender again but he’s enjoying his mentoring role, according to Tim MacMahon of ESPN.com. The team holds a $25MM option on Nowitzki’s contract for next season and he looks forward to playing with an increasingly younger group at least one more year, MacMahon adds. “To turn this around, to be a franchise that plays for the championship, is going to probably take a few years again,” Nowitzki told MacMahon. “I’ve got to do what I can to keep this thing going and get the young guys to improve and see where we can take this next year.”
- New Mexico contacted Spurs assistant James Borrego regarding its head coaching job, Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical tweets. Borrego, an Albuquerque native, was the interim coach of the Magic in 2015 before joining Gregg Popovich’s staff.
Draft Notes: Ball, Fultz, Boatwright, Freudenberg
Potential top pick Lonzo Ball has hired Harrison Gaines as his agent, league sources told Shams Charania of The Vertical. It’s a curious choice, given that Gaines has no other NBA clients. However, Gaines will join Ball Sports Group, a new company created by Ball’s outspoken father, LaVar. The UCLA freshman point guard averaged 14.3 PPG, 6.7 APG and 4.7 RPG in his one-and-done season.
In other draft news:
- Ball and Washington freshman guard Markelle Fultz are in a virtual dead-heat to be the top pick, according to ESPN Insider Chad Ford. Speaking to executives and scouts from potential lottery teams, Ford determined that the Celtics, Magic, 76ers, Knicks, Timberwolves, Hornets and Pacers are more likely to select Fultz, while the Suns, Lakers, Pistons, Kings, Mavericks, Pelicans, and Nuggets appear to be leaning toward Ball. Kansas forward Josh Jackson and Duke forward Jayson Tatum could also jump into the picture after the lottery results are revealed and the winning team makes its final evaluation, Ford adds.
- USC sophomore Bennie Boatwright will test the draft waters but not hire an agent, according to the Trojans’ twitter feed. The 6’10” Boatwright averaged 15.1 PPG and 4.5 RPG during his sophomore campaign, including 18.0 PPG in three NCAA Tournament games. He’s ranked as the No. 75 overall prospect by Ford but does not appear on the DraftExpress Top 100.
- St. John’s forward Richard Freudenberg will return to Europe to pursue professional opportunities, Zach Braziller of the New York Post tweets. Freudenberg, a German native, averaged just 1.3 PPG and 1.3 RPG in his lone college season.
NBA D-League Assignments/Recalls: 4/6/17
With the NBADL playoffs now underway, here are Thursday’s D-League assignments and recalls from around the NBA:
- The Lakers assigned guard David Nwaba to their affiliate, the D-Fenders, according to the D-League team’s Twitter feed. Nwaba, who has become a rotation player for the Lakers, contributed 10 points, five rebounds and three assists in 29 minutes against the Spurs on Wednesday. The D-Fenders have a playoff game against the Rio Grande Valley Vipers on Thursday.
- The Rockets assigned point guard Isaiah Taylor and forward Kyle Wiltjer to Rio Grande, its D-League affiliate, according to the Rockets’ Twitter feed. Taylor and Wiltjer were sent down for the Valley Vipers’ playoff game against the Los Angeles D-Fenders. Taylor, a rookie out of Texas, made his NBA debut on Sunday, playing 15 minutes against the Suns. Wiltjer, who attended Gonzaga, has appeared in 13 games with Houston but none of his outings lasted more than six minutes.
Eastern Notes: Pistons, Raptors, Rondo
The Pistons are all but eliminated from playoff contention and coach/executive Stan Van Gundy plans on using the last few games to evaluate the team, Keith Langlois of NBA.com writes. “We’ll try to get to 10 guys a night,” Van Gundy said.
He added that he’s seen enough out of Aron Baynes, who’s been playing well lately. “We may occasionally give one of our guys who’ve been in the rotation a rest, but not all of ’em at the same time. The guy who will be affected the most – doesn’t mean he won’t play – is a guy who’s been playing really well, Baynes,” SVG said.
Here’s more from the Eastern Conference:
- The Raptors believes Serge Ibaka and P.J. Tucker have helped to alter the identity of the team, Dan Feldman of NBC Sports relays. “They gave us physical toughness,” coach Dwane Casey said, “that we haven’t had.”
- Bulls point guard Rajon Rondo is day-to-day with a sprained wrist, Sam Smith of NBA.com relays. Rondo won’t play tonight against the Sixers.
- John Henson is expected to return to the lineup over the last two games of the regular season, Sirius XM Radio passes along via Twitter. The big man has missed the last eight games for the Bucks with a thumb injury.