G League’s Top Pick Willie Reed Out For Season
Veteran big man Willie Reed, the top selection in this year’s G League draft by the Jazz’s G League affiliate, the Salt Lake City Stars, has suffered a season-ending shoulder injury (link) that will foreclose any chance of the 28-year-old returning to the NBA this season.
Reed, who has played for four teams during his three-year NBA career, holds career averages of 4.9 points and 3.8 rebounds per game in 152 career contests.
It was noted last month that the Warriors evaluated signing Reed after losing backup big man Damian Jones to injury, so it’s possible that another team would have been interested in his services moving forward as well, especially considering the possibility of now being able to offer a 10-day deal.
In 21 games with the Stars this season, Reed posted impressive averages of 20.1 points, 11.3 rebounds, and 1.8 blocks per game.
Kings In Position To Be Active At Trade Deadline
Sacramento remains the only team in the NBA to have any cap space on its 2018/19 payroll, and as the February 7 trade deadline fast approaches, this means that the Kings are positioned to be a major player in the trade market, if they so choose, writes James Ham of NBC Sports California.
That being said, the Kings aren’t interested in taking on any long-term deals with their cap space unless a player on a long-term deal can help the team win now and in the future. Additionally, the team is reportedly not interested in taking on any expiring contracts to help another club save money unless assets are attached to said contract.
So, what do the Kings want? Per Ham, the Kings are motivated to add more length and size at the small forward position, while also interested in adding a veteran point guard to bring off the bench in a back-up/potential mentorship role for budding star De’Aaron Fox.
[RELATED: Kings Among Teams Interested in Jeremy Lin]
In addition to their $11MM in cap space, the Kings have the expiring contracts of Zach Randolph, Kosta Koufos, and Ben McLemore to worth with. Swingman Iman Shumpert is also in the final year of his contract, but has provided a veteran spark to a young team still competing for a playoff spot. Then again, Shumpert is only 6’5″ and plays small forward. As mentioned above, the team is interested in adding length to that position, so Shumpert could also be expendable if an attractive enough deal comes along.
As for the Kings’ current assets, Sacramento has no interest in moving any of its young talent (e.g. Fox, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Marvin Bagley, or Buddy Hield) unless it means the team is making a massive long-term investment in a star-level player. And even then, the aforementioned core group of youngsters is close to untouchable.
In Ham’s view, general manager Vlade Divac should look to be active, as Sacramento has worked hard to be a player in the trade market and is the only team with cap space to use. However, the Kings should also be wary of using that cap space to take on future money that could eat into future cap room. Ultimately, Ham would be surprised to see no moves made before the deadline.
Rockets Sign James Nunnally To 10-Day Deal
5:02pm: The Rockets have signed Nunnally to a 10-day deal, per an official release from the team. In anticipation of the signing, Nunnally had the following to say, per Kelly Iko of The Athletic.
“I thought I would sign with (the Rockets) after meeting them on July 1st in LA. It didn’t happen. Now over six months later, I was going to make a decision today to go to a great Euroleague situation and the Rockets called last night. Crazy 24 hours! I am very excited.”
9:26pm: The Rockets are expected to fill the opening on their 15-man roster by signing veteran sharpshooter James Nunnally to a 10-day contract, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
A source confirms to Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle (Twitter link) that the Rockets are “heading in that direction.” Feigen first reported on Tuesday that Houston would likely sign a veteran wing to a 10-day contract, identifying Nunnally as a candidate.
After playing in Europe for the past two seasons, Nunnally signed with the Timberwolves during free agency, as Minnesota was looking to add players that could space the floor and provide solid defense. However, Nunnally was not a regular part of the rotation and rarely saw the court during his time with the Wolves, who waived him last week before his full 2018/19 salary became guaranteed.
The 28-year-old wing only played 64 minutes this season, averaging 2.1 points per game while knocking down 38.5% of his 3-pointers. Despite his limited role in Minnesota, Nunnally received offers from multiple teams in Europe when he became a free agent again this month, according to Feigen, who hears that the former UC Santa Barbara standout is “giving up a lot” by opting instead for a 10-day contract (Twitter link).
Nunnally may get an opportunity to play a little more over the next 10 days in Houston than he typically did in Minnesota, given the Rockets’ injury and depth issues. While Eric Gordon‘s return appears imminent, the Rockets are missing Chris Paul and Clint Capela due to injuries, while Danuel House has returned to the G League for now and Carmelo Anthony remains away from the team.
The Rockets will incur a cap hit worth just over $76K for Nunnally’s 10-day deal, which will slightly increase the club’s projected year-end tax bill.
Wendell Carter Jr. Dodges Significant Thumb Injury
In a relatively innocuous tweet earlier this afternoon, the Bulls announced that rookie big man Wendell Carter Jr. hurt his left thumb in last night’s loss to the Lakers in Los Angeles. However, several reports surfacing since then indicated that the injury to Carter’s thumb may have been far worse than the team’s tweet originally let on.
Minutes after the Bulls’ initial tweet on the subject, K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune reported that there was internal concern that Carter’s thumb injury was “significant” and the the team was waiting on further test results. He followed that report up with a tweet that the Bulls hadn’t ruled out a broken thumb, which would have required surgery.
Meanwhile, the Chicago-Sun Times reported that Carter was believed to have suffered an injury known as gamekeeper’s thumb, which generally requires a recovery time of 4-6 weeks, depending on the severity of the damage to the ulnar collateral ligament (UCL).
However, Johnson is now reporting that the aforementioned further test results have come back and that Carter’s UCL is intact, meaning the thumb is simply sprained and will not require surgery. As the previous reports indicated, the Bulls initially feared Carter could miss weeks, so the fact that they can now call their prized rookie day-to-day is a huge relief for the team during an otherwise injury-plagued season.
Latest On LeBron James, Lakers
LeBron James won’t travel with the Lakers on the team’s upcoming two-game road trip to Oklahoma City and Houston, the club announced today in a press release. However, James – who continues to recover from a groin injury – has been cleared to practice once the Lakers return next week.
ESPN’s Dave McMenamin first reported that James would miss at least two more games, noting that the four-time MVP hasn’t officially been ruled out for Monday’s showdown vs. the Warriors. LeBron won’t have much practice time under his belt at that point though, so returning for that game would be a best-case scenario.
In a conversation with Sam Amick of The Athletic, agent Rich Paul said that James hasn’t targeted any specific return dates and won’t get back on the court until he’s fully healthy. Stressing that “we’re not on nobody else’s timeline,” Paul noted that he and his client don’t want to risk re-injury by coming back too soon.
According to Paul, doctors initially estimated that James would miss between three and six weeks. The injury occurred just over three weeks ago, so LeBron remains right on track, and won’t let the Lakers’ recent slump accelerate his timeline.
“Obviously he cares (about the team’s struggles),” Paul said. “The man wants to play. He’s f—ing itching to play, but he can’t put himself in that situation. It’s just, you’ve really got to do the right thing and it has zero to do with his age, or the fact that he’s played 16 seasons – nothing to do with that. This is a tendon. It’s not a shoulder, or an ankle, or an elbow. The smart thing to do is to do the smart thing. You can’t allow media, or the fact that the team might be losing, to dictate what’s best for you, and we won’t. He’s progressing. He’s not ready yet.”
Here’s more on LeBron and the Lakers:
- James’ groin issue is already the worst injury of his 16-year career. He’s also on track to set a new career-high in games missed — he has never sat out more than 13 in a single season, and if he misses Monday’s game against Golden State, it would be 14 in 2018/19. Joe Vardon of The Athletic takes a closer look at how LeBron is coping with a rare health problem.
- The Lakers’ struggles without James have – perhaps unfairly – increased the pressure on head coach Luke Walton, whose seat appears hotter than ever before. Multiple sources tell ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne, however, that Lakers management “continues to project support” for Walton, both publicly and privately.
- Walton shouldn’t be blamed for the Lakers’ recent slide, according to Bill Plaschke of The Los Angeles Times, who suggests that president of basketball operations Magic Johnson and GM Rob Pelinka should take responsibility for assembling a mismatched roster.
Warriors Notes: Offseason, Cousins, McCaw
Within an article looking ahead to the Warriors‘ offseason plans, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst cites sources who say that the franchise is internally projecting a nine-figure increase in revenue when it moves to the Chase Center in San Francisco next season. In other words, Golden State won’t hesitate to re-sign Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson to lucrative new deals even if it pushes the club way into luxury-tax territory for the next few years.
Of course, while Thompson is considered a strong bet to stick with the Warriors, there’s no guarantee that Durant will follow suit, so Windhorst’s article focuses in large part on what the front office’s Plan B will be if Durant signs elsewhere. As Windhorst outlines, retaining Thompson is a must in that scenario, and it might make sense for the Dubs to take a long look at Draymond Green‘s future. Green will be eligible for free agency in 2020 and will likely be seeking a substantial raise, so Golden State may want to decide in advance whether it makes sense to invest in him long-term.
Here’s more on the Warriors:
- DeMarcus Cousins remains on track to make his Warriors debut this Friday in Los Angeles, head coach Steve Kerr confirmed on Tuesday (Twitter link via Anthony Slater of The Athletic). Cousins is expected to immediately slide into the starting lineup at the five upon his return from an Achilles tear.
- Even before he began his rehabilitation, Cousins spent time talking to a number of current and former NBA players who suffered Achilles tears to learn how to best approach his recovery and healing process, writes Mark Medina of The Bay Area News Group. “I wasn’t really looking for a specific answer to get through it,” Cousins said. “I wanted to see what each guy’s mindset was and compare it to my own.”
- After the Warriors lost Patrick McCaw to the Cavaliers – and then the Raptors – Marcus Thompson II of The Athletic took a deep dive into McCaw’s time in Oakland to try to pin down exactly why the young wing wanted to leave. According to Thompson, the first issue that harmed McCaw’s trust in the Warriors was when they brought in Nick Young during 2017’s free agent period and declared an open competition for the backup shooting guard spot, since he felt he had earned those minutes with his play in 2016/17.
Examining Stalemate Between Rockets, Danuel House
The Rockets made an effort to lock up two-way player Danuel House to a standard NBA contract on Tuesday, but the two sides ultimately couldn’t reach a deal, prompting the team to instead use its open roster spot to sign James Nunnally. Nunnally’s 10-day contract is expected to be finalized later today.
It’s a somewhat surprising outcome. House had been an important part of Houston’s rotation over the last couple months, averaging 9.0 PPG and 3.6 RPG with a .458/.390/.818 shooting line and playing solid defense in 25 games (24.8 MPG). Now, because he has reached the limit for the number of days a two-way player can spend in the NBA, he’ll be relegated to the G League most of the rest of the way, unless he and the Rockets can find common ground on a new deal.
So why exactly wasn’t House promoted to the Rockets’ 15-man roster? Before we can answer that question, it’s worth revisiting the team’s options for the third-year swingman:
- Unilaterally convert his two-way contract into a one-year, minimum-salary contract.
- Offer him a two-year, minimum-salary contract using the minimum salary exception.
- Offer him a three-year contract using some of the taxpayer mid-level exception.
- Keep him in the G League, where he’ll be ineligible to appear in NBA games until at least March 24 and won’t be playoff-eligible.
There were initially some conflicting reports on what the Rockets offered House, but agent Raymond Brothers told Tim MacMahon of ESPN.com (Twitter link) that the team’s proposal was a three-year, minimum-salary deal. Houston would have to use part of its mid-level exception to complete the signing, since the minimum salary exception can only be used for one- or two-year contracts. When House and Brothers passed on that offer, the Rockets offered the same three-year, minimum-salary deal, fully guaranteed.
“We rejected both offers and asked the Rockets to convert him for the remainder of the season,” Brothers said. As MacMahon observes, House and Brothers want the opportunity for the 25-year-old to reach restricted free agency this summer, rather than having him play on a minimum-salary contract for multiple years.
The Rockets, meanwhile, don’t want to set a precedent of converting two-way contracts into standard one-year deals for players they spend time developing, MacMahon tweets. Houston would prefer a multiyear commitment from those players, as Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle confirms, and feel that a guaranteed three-year, $4.16MM offer is fair, since that’s more guaranteed money than most second-round picks – or even late first-rounders – receive.
It’s an interesting standoff. It may look like a poor decision by House to play out the season in the G League, where he’ll continue earning his very modest two-way salary rather than an NBA salary. He’s passing on more guaranteed money than he has earned so far in his NBA career, and will spend at least the next couple months playing for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers rather than a potential Finals contender.
Still, as cap expert Albert Namhad tweets, accepting Houston’s offer would also mean House takes the minimum salary through his age-27 season. If he believes he can get a better offer in the offseason, it may be worth it to wait. Remaining on his two-way contract will put him in line for restricted free agency in July.
As for the Rockets, they could end the stalemate at any time by unilaterally converting House’s two-way contract into a standard minimum-salary deal, which is the option House and Brothers prefer. Perhaps it would set an unfavorable precedent in Houston going forward, but every case is different and few two-way players are likely to have the same sort of impact in the future that House has had this season. If the Rockets want to maximize their playoff chances and they don’t find a wing capable of matching House’s impact, they may have to bite the bullet and convert his contract at some point.
January 15 was the deadline to sign players to two-way contracts, but House and the Rockets will have until April 10, the final day of the regular season, to work out a deal. Houston simply won’t be able to sign a new two-way player if House is promoted to the 15-man roster.
If House and Brothers don’t relent and accept a multiyear contract, the most likely path may be one suggested by Nahmad (via Twitter). As he points out, the Rockets could recall House from the G League after the Vipers’ season ends (March 24 at the earliest), and then could convert his two-way deal into a standard contract at the very end of the season (April 10).
That would significantly limit the money Houston would owe House this season, it would allow him to play in the postseason, and it would put him on track for restricted free agency this summer. It may not be a perfect outcome, but it’d be a reasonable compromise.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Southeast Notes: Schroder, Kemba, McGruder, Wizards
Returning to Atlanta this week for the first time since he was traded from the Hawks to the Thunder last summer, Dennis Schroder didn’t mince words when he spoke about heading from Atlanta to Oklahoma City. As Erik Horne of The Oklahoman relays, Schroder suggested that he welcomed the move to a contender after growing tired of the Hawks’ rebuilding efforts.
“I wanted to be in a winning-mentality organization,” Schroder said before Tuesday’s game between the Thunder and Hawks. “You just can’t go out there and try to lose. I’m a competitor and I try to give everything out there. I want the organization to feel the same way. Right now with our organization, all the players in the locker room, all of the coaches, they’ve got a winning mentality. That’s what makes it fun, when you go out there and go to war with your brothers. There’s nothing better than that.”
Despite Schroder’s veiled shots at the Hawks, it was Atlanta that had the last laugh on Tuesday. The Hawks overcame Schroder’s 21 points and six assists to beat the Thunder in a 142-126 barn-burner. Atlanta’s offensive outburst included a pair of 45-point quarters.
Here’s more from around the Southeast:
- In an interesting and in-depth feature for Bleacher Report, Jonathan Abrams explores Kemba Walker‘s situation in Charlotte, including his upcoming free agency. While Walker didn’t drop any bombshells regarding his future, he said he remains very interested in helping the Hornets reach new heights. “I do want to be the first to accomplish a lot of the goals that have never been accomplished around here,” Walker said. “Yeah, I do think about that. Just because I know a lot of things haven’t been accomplished here, and this is my eighth season here now. … I want to help accomplish those goals and help get this organization far—as far as possible.”
- Rodney McGruder, who will be a restricted free agent this summer, started his 41st game for the Heat on Tuesday. As ESPN’s Bobby Marks tweets, that means McGruder has now met the “starter criteria” for RFAs, which will increase the value of his qualifying offer from $1.93MM to $3.02MM.
- After falling to 13-23 and losing John Wall for the season, the Wizards‘ season looked over. But since then, the club has won five of eight games, including impressive victories against Oklahoma City, Philadelphia, and Milwaukee. As Ben Standig of NBC Sports Washington details, that puts the Wizards at a crossroads with the trade deadline fast approaching. In a separate story, Standig takes a closer look at whether Washington should buy, sell, or stand pat.
Cavs Sign Cameron Payne To Second 10-Day Deal
After Cameron Payne‘s initial 10-day contract with the Cavaliers expired overnight, the team has re-signed him to a second 10-day deal, according to a press release. As a result of the move, Cleveland once again has a full 15-man roster.
Payne, a former first-round pick, who has spent most of his NBA career with the Thunder and Bulls, joined the Cavaliers on January 6 and has appeared in four games with the club. The fourth-year point guard earned a longer look from Cleveland by recording 8.8 PPG and 2.8 APG with a .500/.400/.750 shooting line in those four games (17.8 MPG).
Payne’s new contract will run through January 25, covering the Cavs’ next six games, including tonight’s contest in Portland. Once the deal expires, the team will have to decide whether to re-sign Payne to a rest-of-season deal or let him walk — a club can’t sign a player to more than two 10-day contracts in a single season.
Like Payne’s first 10-day contract, this deal will have a cap hit of $85,468, increasing his total cost for the Cavaliers to $170,936.
For a full breakdown of this season’s 10-day contracts, active or otherwise, be sure to check out our tracker.
Grizzlies Applied For Disabled Player Exception
January 15 was the final day for NBA teams to apply for a disabled player exception for the 2018/19 season, and before that deadline passed, the Grizzlies submitted a request for a DPE, tweets Omari Sankofa II of The Athletic.
If a player is seriously injured, his team can request a disabled player exception to replace him. In order for the exception to be granted, an NBA-designated physician must determine that the player is “substantially more likely than not” to be sidelined through at least June 15. In the Grizzlies’ case, it’s Dillon Brooks who is expected to be out until the summer.
[RELATED: Dillon Brooks to miss rest of season]
If granted, the disabled player exception allows a club to add a replacement player for 50% of the injured player’s salary, or for the amount of the non-taxpayer’s mid-level exception, whichever is lesser. Brooks’ salary is $1,378,242, so assuming Memphis receives a DPE for him, it will be worth a very modest $689,121.
A disabled player exception can be used to sign a free agent, claim a player off waivers, or acquire a player in a trade. Because it’s designed to replace an injured player for a single season, a DPE can only be used to sign or acquire a player on a rest-of-season contract. The deadline to use it is March 11.
Disabled player exceptions generally go unused, and that will likely be the case for Memphis too, especially given the team’s proximity to the luxury tax line. Still, it doesn’t hurt to apply for the exception, as the club has an open spot on its 15-man roster.
The Grizzlies don’t have their mid-level exception or bi-annual exception available, so even a small disabled player exception could come in handy — the minimum salary exception is declining in value every day due to proration, meaning $689K may actually be worth more than the minimum, depending on when it’s offered and how many years of experience the player has.
Memphis is the third team to apply for a disabled player exception this month, joining the Wizards (John Wall) and Mavericks (J.J. Barea).