The Clippers will bring in some first-round candidates for a pre-draft group workout on Wednesday, league sources tell Michael Scotto of The Athletic (Twitter link). According to Scotto, Miles Bridges (Michigan State), Kevin Knox (Kentucky), Aaron Holiday (UCLA), and Mitchell Robinson will participate in the session.
The Clippers currently hold the 12th and 13th overall picks in the draft, presenting a number of potential opportunities and directions for the club. Bridges and Knox are viewed as two potential lottery picks who may still be on the board at No. 12, while Holiday and Robinson are ranked slightly lower on most big boards.
Let’s round up a few more Western Conference notes…
- Speaking last week to reporters, Nuggets president of basketball operations Tim Connelly said the team will target a strong defensive player with two-way versatility with the No. 14 pick, and didn’t rule out the possibility of trading or waiving highly-paid players to maintain cap flexibility. Matt L. Stephens of The Denver Post has the story and the quotes.
- The Jazz and Suns are among the teams that could show interest in power forward Nemanja Bjelica this summer, a source tells Orazio Cauchi of Sportando. Bjelica is eligible for restricted free agency, so the Timberwolves have the chance to match any offer he receives, assuming they extend a qualifying offer.
- Bosnian wing Dzanan Musa, a potential first-round pick who will be keeping his name in the 2018 NBA draft, has workouts on tap with the Trail Blazers, Nuggets, Spurs, and Jazz, tweets Scott Agness of Vigilant Sports.
- Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News passes along word of a few more of the players who participated in the Timberwolves‘ veteran mini-camp on the weekend, tweeting that that Hollis Thompson, Dorell Wright, and Jordan McRae took part, among others.
- Veteran guard Rodney Stuckey is participating in a free agent mini-camp with the Trail Blazers, a league source tells Michael Scotto of The Athletic (Twitter link).
Denver needs to clear salary & players to make room for the new Jokic contract, have to, no other way about he is the man in Denver, cannot risk upsetting him & he walking for free next summer, I read somewhere that in that case if Lakers don’t go for DMC, they would be crazy for Jokic.
No big deal, they have his Bird Rights. At worst, they’ll be over tax line by about 10-12 mm for one season. If that bothers them, and it likely will, they can stretch the last year of 1 or 2 of the 3 eight figure expiring contracts they have. With only 2 eight figure contracts on the books (Harris and Plumlee) after next season (before adding Jokic), the stretching won’t have adverse consequences in the out years.
The Lakers can go after who they please (even as nobody significant has bought their pitch since Shaq), they have less shot at Jokic than the Knicks have at LeBron.