Larry Nance Jr. Talks Trade, Altman, Cavs
One of four players traded to the Cavaliers last Thursday, Larry Nance Jr. was almost certainly the one most familiar with the city of Cleveland. His father, Larry Nance Sr., played for the Cavs from 1988 to 1994, earning two All-Star nods during that time and eventually having his uniform number (22) retired by the franchise.
While the elder Nance said this week that he called up the Cavs after the trade to offer to unretire No. 22 for his son, Nance Jr. tells Alex Kennedy of HoopsHype that he didn’t want to claim his father’s old number. As Nance Jr. tells it, he wants fans at Cavs game to be able to point to that number in the rafters while they’re watching him on the court.
In his conversation with Kennedy, which is worth checking out in full, Nance Jr. also went into more detail on his trade from Los Angeles to Cleveland, explaining how he found about being traded and what his expectations are for the Cavs this season. Here are a few highlights from the discussion:
On how Nance found out he had been traded to the Cavaliers:
“Like everyone else, I was following Woj and had the tweet notifications set up just in case and just to find out what kind of stuff was happening. I had just woke up and I was going to wash my face, when I got the update that the Cavs and Lakers were in serious trade talks. I thought, ‘Oh? I don’t know who that could involve, but we’ll see.’ Not even 30 seconds later, I got a call from [Lakers general manager] Rob Pelinka and [head coach] Luke [Walton] and [president] Magic [Johnson] were in his office with him. They all broke the news to me and told me that I was going to Cleveland.”
On Koby Altman telling reporters that Nance was emotional about returning home:
“Yeah, I think he basically said I was crying and that’s a bit of a stretch (laughs). But I was excited! I don’t think anybody wants to get traded, but if I had to go anywhere, it doesn’t get much better than going home to play for a championship contender. I knew that it would probably be a good thing going forward, so I was definitely excited when I talked to him. Koby is a really good dude and we had a good talk.”
On his expectations for the Cavs this season:
“This team has been to the NBA Finals for three straight years and I think we got better with the trades. So, I mean, that’s where I’d love to end up. But, at this point, I don’t know [how good we can be]. I’ve been on one team for my whole career and that was the Lakers. Now, I’ve been on this new team for three days, so it’s kind of tough to tell.”
What NBA Teams Can Offer FAs This Season
It’s very rare for a free agent to sign a lucrative contract at this point in the NBA league year. Most players who have been on the free agent market for weeks or months won’t warrant more than a minimum salary contract, and the same can be said for the majority of the veterans who hit the buyout market this month after being waived by other teams — just this week, Joe Johnson and Brandan Wright signed with the Rockets for the minimum.
Still, there are exceptions to that rule. After being bought out by the Suns, Greg Monroe signed a one-year, $5MM deal with the Celtics, an offer that hardly any other team had the cap flexibility to make this late in the season. It remains to be seen whether more veterans as valuable as Monroe will become free agents in the coming weeks, but if they do, some teams are better positioned than others to make aggressive contract offers to those players.
In the space below, we’ve listed the exceptions or cap room available for teams to offer to free agents at this point in the season. This information comes with a few caveats:
- Mid-level, room, and bi-annual exceptions are declining in value every day. Since January 10, each exception has been reduced in value by 1/177th per day. As of today, 38 days have passed since January 10, so the $4.328MM room exception, for instance, is now worth about $3.399MM. We’ve noted the current values of each exception in the space below, but those values will continue to decline each day, so if you’re reading this post after February 16, please take that into account.
- While the figures below represent what teams could technically offer a player, other roadblocks may get in the way of clubs being able to offer that full amount. For instance, the Pelicans and Trail Blazers each have multiple exceptions available, but they wouldn’t be able to use them all — they’d run into a hard cap before doing so. A few other teams are on the verge of reaching the luxury tax line, which would complicate the use of their exceptions.
- This list doesn’t include traded player exceptions, since they can’t be used to sign players. However, TPEs can be used to claim players off waivers. The list of available trade exceptions can be found here.
With those disclaimers in mind, here are the means by which NBA teams can currently sign free agents:
Rockets Owner OK Paying Tax For Chance At Title
Even after signing Joe Johnson and Brandan Wright this week, the Rockets’ team salary remains slightly below the luxury tax threshold for 2017/18. Next season, however, if the team wants to re-sign players like Chris Paul, Clint Capela, and Trevor Ariza – not to mention possibly making a run at LeBron James – going well into tax territory is a virtual lock.
New Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta, who paid $2.2 billion to buy the franchise from Leslie Alexander before the ’17/18 season got underway, isn’t particularly looking forward to ponying up more money for a luxury tax bill, but he tells Sam Amick of USA Today that he’s ready to do so if it means having a legit chance to win championships.
“The NBA is a tough business,” Fertitta said. “And you can go from making money to losing money very quickly. Everybody has to remember, I did pay $2.2 billion for this team. I didn’t pay $80MM for it, okay? And I’m not worth $20 billion, but I have no problem paying luxury tax if I truly think that it truly gives me the chance to win the championship next year, okay?”
Fertitta’s comments suggest that he won’t simply hand over a blank check to team management — he pointed out that this year’s team is a legit championship contender without team salary going over the tax threshold, hinting that the league’s highest-paid teams aren’t always its best. Still, the Rockets owner has faith that GM Daryl Morey will help him invest his money wisely. According to Morey, the two men have already had conversations about next year’s payroll.
“We’ve talked through (the luxury tax),” Morey said. “We’re going to be in the tax next year, and…nothing’s going to hold him back from putting together a championship team. He obviously has the money; he just paid the highest amount ever for a team.”
Wolves Notes: Franchise Valuation, Rose, Saunders
The Timberwolves only ranked 27th in Forbes’ most recent list of NBA franchise valuations, but like the 29 other teams in the league, Minnesota has a perceived value of at least $1 billion, coming in at $1.06 billion. For Wolves owner Glen Taylor, who bought the team for $88.5MM back in 1994, that’s a staggering figure.
“It never occurred to me that anything like this would happen,” Taylor told Sid Hartman of The Star Tribune. “But it has been, especially in the last few years, partly due to the big contract we got on TV, but just everything — the advertisements, sponsorships have gone up, attendance has gone up every year, and therefore the value has gone up.”
While Taylor was reportedly seeking a successor at one point to take over control of the franchise, a deal with Steve Kaplan fell through, and the Timberwolves’ majority owner has since re-committed to his investment in the team. Taylor, who is 76 years old, won’t control the Wolves forever, but it doesn’t seem as if he has any desire to sell anytime soon — particularly with the club in position to claim a playoff spot for the first time since 2004.
Here’s more out of Minnesota:
- While the Timberwolves have been linked to Derrick Rose since he was traded from Cleveland to Utah – and subsequently waived – Taylor says his club hasn’t had any plans to sign the former MVP, according to Hartman. “If we could find the right person to fit into our team and have some ability to play, get out there on the floor, we are certainly going to look at it,” Taylor said. “We kept one slot open all year long just in case that possibility occurred. But as of today we don’t have anybody in mind.”
- Earlier today, we passed along word from Taylor – via Hartman – that the Timberwolves are willing to accommodate a Shabazz Muhammad buyout.
- The late Flip Saunders, who served as the head coach and president of basketball operations for the Timberwolves, was honored by the franchise with a banner on Thursday night, as Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN details. Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic took an in-depth look at the Wolves’ decision to honor Saunders, and what he meant to the organization.
Adam Silver Explains Lakers’ Tampering Fine
After being fined $500K for tampering with the Pacers and Paul George during the 2017 offseason, the Lakers were once again penalized by the NBA last week for violating the league’s anti-tampering rules. During a Thursday appearance on ESPN’s The Jump, commissioner Adam Silver explained the thinking behind the $50K fine the Lakers received after Magic Johnson made a few seemingly innocuous comments about Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo.
“Context is everything, and there had been a prior issue with the Lakers early this season,” Silver said. “And the message is — not just to Magic but to all the executives in the league is — stop talking about players on other teams.”
The NBA’s anti-tampering rules leave some room for interpretation, and generally allow coaches and players to discuss other teams’ players without fear of reprisal. However, the league appears to be drawing a harder line when it comes to executives like Johnson discussing those same players.
“We’d love to hear [former] players like Magic Johnson talk about how great young players are in the league,” Silver said. “But there’s enough commentary out there. And I think, when on balance, just asking them to refrain from that one aspect of talking about other players, isn’t that big a deal.”
Silver also addressed a few other topics during his appearance on The Jump, including why the All-Star draft wasn’t televised and the NBA’s reaction to an apparent increase in injuries across the league this season. Be sure to check out ESPN’s full breakdown for those comments.
Timberwolves Open To Shabazz Muhammad Buyout
A report earlier in February indicated that Timberwolves swingman Shabazz Muhammad hoped to be traded or waived before last week’s trade deadline. While neither of those things happened, the Wolves remain open to accommodating Muhammad’s departure, majority owner Glen Taylor tells Sid Hartman of The Star Tribune details.
“Shabazz hasn’t gotten out on the floor to play very much, so he’s disappointed,” Taylor said. “He would like to get with a team that he could put in more minutes and show his skill-set. We have given the OK that if he finds such a team he can go to and wants to walk away, [he can] get out of our contract.
“My goal is I wish he could get out there; he just hasn’t had the year he anticipated or that we anticipated,” Taylor continued. “Because of that, and we’ve had so many close games, it’s hard for us to find the minutes for him. I still like him and think our fans like him. He has a different style of playing than anybody else. But on the other hand, if he can find another team that I think tells him he can get on the floor for sure, I think we’ll cooperate.”
Muhammad, 25, looked like a promising young prospect for Minnesota back in 2014/15, when he averaged 13.5 PPG on .489/.392/.717 shooting. However, his numbers – and his role – have declined since then. This season, he has played very sparingly for the new-look Wolves, averaging 3.7 PPG on .385/.211/.710 shooting in 31 games (9.6 MPG). The former lottery pick is also one of the NBA’s least effective facilitators, recording 0.5 APG in 266 career contests.
An unrestricted free agent in 2017, Muhammad sought a raise but ultimately had to settle for a two-year, minimum salary contract to return to Minnesota. The second year of that deal is a player option, which would become guaranteed if the Wolves were to waive Muhammad outright — it’s not clear if he’d be willing to give up some or all of that option salary to accommodate his release.
March 1 is the deadline to watch for the Wolves and Muhammad, who wouldn’t be playoff-eligible for a new team if he’s waived after that date.
Community Shootaround: Knicks’ Head Coaching Job
As we outlined in an earlier Knicks post, Stefan Bondy of The New York Daily News wrote today that it’s “hard to envision a scenario” in which head coach Jeff Hornacek is back next season. Hornacek is in his second year at the helm and the Knicks have struggled to a 54-87 record under his watch. The roster has been in a constant of flux, the front office has been at odds, and Hornacek has taken the brunt of the blame.
Since 2014, the New York has had four head coaches, with Mike Woodson, Derek Fisher, Kurt Rambis and Hornacek holding down the position. However, the Knicks have not enjoyed a winning campaign since the 2012/13 season and have seemingly been building for the future for half a decade.
The rest of this season is all but over as the Knicks sport the ninth-worst record in the NBA and are likely out of the playoff picture after franchise star Kristaps Porzingis went down with a season-ending torn ACL. With solid young long-term pieces such as Frank Ntilikina, Emmanuel Mudiay, and Tim Hardaway Jr. in place, the front office – along with Hornacek – has stressed that this year is designed to prepare for the future.
If that is the plan, is Hornacek the man to lead the Knicks into the future? Do you think the Knicks should move on from Hornacek? If the team does make a change, who do you feel would be the right coach for the current roster? Sound off in the comments below!
Southwest Notes: Spurs, Holiday, Cousins, Wright, Mavericks
Spurs chairman and co-chief executive officer Julianna Hawn Holt has filed for divorce from former chairman and CEO Peter Holt, Tom Orsborn and Patrick Danner of The San Antonio Express-News write. The couple has been married for more than 30 years and their separation has raised questions about the Spurs’ future.
However, there is no intention to sell the franchise, which is valued at nearly $1.6 billion, according to a report released by Forbes.
“We are dedicated and committed to continued success,” Julianna Hawn Holt said in a statement to KSAT-12 in San Antonio, tweets Marc Stein of the New York Times.
Check out other Southwest Division news and notes:
- In the Pelicans‘ win over the Lakers on Wednesday, Jrue Holiday reached 2,075 minutes on the season, reaching the minutes criteria bonus in his contract. Holiday will earn $255K thanks to the incentive, which had already been considered “likely,” tweets ESPN’s Bobby Marks.
- The Pelicans hit a rough patch after 2018 All-Star DeMarcus Cousins suffered a season-ending ruptured Achilles, losing five out of six games as they adjusted to life without their starting center. However, a three-game winning streak keeps the team’s playoff hopes alive heading into the All-Star break, Scott Kushner of The Advocate writes.
- Former Mavericks owner and co-founder Don Carter passed away on Wednesday, per The Associated Press. He was 84 years old.
- Free agent addition Brandan Wright does not have a defined role with his new team but Rockets head coach Mike D’Antoni knows his purpose, Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle relays. “Insurance, mostly,” D’Antoni said. “He’s to me the type of center we like. He’s long, vertical spacing and athletic, can run. He’s another kind of Clint (Capela). We have Nene and Tarik (Black) being one type and them being another type. That’s the depth. He’s a good guy. He’s going to be a good locker room game. All that’s positive.”
Pacers Notes: Oladipo, Culture, Jefferson
The Pacers have been riding a wave of overachievement in the first half led by 2018 All-Star Victor Oladipo. With the departure of Paul George — who was dealt for Oladipo — the Pacers entered the season without a franchise star and dimmed playoff hopes. Thus far, the team is in playoff position and Oladipo is happy to be the leader, ESPN’s Mike Wells writes.
Ownership’s faith in the current roster was best demonstrated when the Pacers stood pat at the deadline. No moves were made the roster was given a vote of confidence to continue its mission. And, on this mission, the leader is a player who has developed into a possible franchise mainstay.
“After what we went through with somebody who didn’t want to be here, to have someone who really wants to be here is so rewarding and refreshing,” owner Herb Simon said to ESPN. “His whole spirit brought life into the whole team and the whole organization. So we love that.”
Check out other Pacers notes below:
- General manager Kevin Pritchard was active on the phones during the deadline but a request from six Pacers players to not break up the roster swayed his opinion, NBA.com’s Mark Monteith writes. “Unless we knew we could really help the team I wanted to make sure there were no disruptions,” Pritchard said. “Our culture means everything.”
- Al Jefferson is no longer the starting center who averages a near double-double, but he has an invaluable presence as a veteran on a young, overachieving team, Clifton Brown of the Indianapolis Star writes. Cory Joseph vouched for Jefferson’s ability and revealed a nickname he came up with for the veteran when he was in Utah. “Instant Buckets,” Joseph said. “That pump fake? When I was in San Antonio, we played Utah in the playoffs. I’d always be on the bench like, ‘Don’t jump.'”
- In case you missed it yesterday, Hoops Rumors also caught up with Jefferson to discuss why he is happy to stay in Indiana and why the team “can do something special.”
Pacific Notes: Ball, Chriss, Harrell, Randolph
When the Lakers drafted Lonzo Ball, they acquired a package deal that included his outspoken father, LaVar. In his rookie season, Lonzo has fielded questions about his father’s critiques of the Lakers, the Big Baller Brand, and his brothers’ basketball careers.
ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne outlines a tense, if not somewhat hostile, environment since the Ball infiltrated the Lakers organization. Among the issues Shelburne reports: The Lakers didn’t allow the family’s production team to film games for their ‘Ball In The Family’ Facebook show for free, charged Lonzo regular price for tickets, and privately admonished LaVar when poor reviews of BBB’s products were directed to the team.
While the organization has stayed mostly silent in regards to LaVar’s comments, privately, the team views him as a major distraction. One official tells Shelburne that LaVar is viewed as someone that, “reaches out with one hand and slaps us with the other.”
It has been a tumultuous, injury-filled rookie season for Lonzo, but he has shown signs of promise. While it remains to be seen whether he’ll deliver promise on that promise to an extent that makes his father’s presence worth tolerating, Magic Johnson has plenty of confidence in the partnership and no regrets about drafting the young point guard.
“He’s everything we thought he would be and more,” Johnson said. “Things are gonna work out for the Lakers and for Lonzo.”
Check out other Pacific Division news and notes below:
- While it appeared that Marquese Chriss turned a major corner less than two months ago, his game has seemingly regressed back to rookie status in his second season with the Suns, Scott Bordow of Arizona Central Sports writes.
- Acquired in last summer’s Chris Paul trade, Montrezl Harrell has played well for the Clippers and has solidified his role as the backup center. It’s not easy to pinpoint one specific thing Harrell does well, but he says he just maximizes his minutes, Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times writes. “I just took the minutes I had and made the best of it when I got in,” Harrell said. “I just kept working on my game, off the court and on the court.”
- In spite of his team’s youth movement, Kings veteran Zach Randolph has played more than expected in recent weeks, which has allowed him to get into a groove offensively, Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee writes. “You get a good rhythm,” Randolph said. “Especially something that I’m not used to, the team developing our young players. So you get into a good rhythm, it’s important, playing and getting that feel.”