Central Notes: Gilbert, Turner, McMillan, M. Williams
Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert won’t be involved with the team’s draft preparations as he continues to recover from a stroke, writes Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. Gilbert is still in a Detroit-area hospital, and Quicken Loans CEO Jay Farner issued a statement today suggesting that the recovery might be lengthy.
“Dan’s recovery is a process that will take time — but we are all confident that he will meet this challenge head on as he always does,” Farner wrote.
Sources tell Fedor that Gilbert has already approved an aggressive spending plan if GM Koby Altman believes it’s necessary to improve the team. That includes taking back a sizable contract to get rid of J.R. Smith, who was exiled from the team after playing just 11 games this season. Cleveland owns picks No. 5 and 26 in the draft and will reportedly try to buy into the second round.
There’s more from the Central Division:
- Competing for a spot on Team USA for the FIBA World Cup tournament will give Pacers center Myles Turner another shot to gain recognition after being left off the All-Defensive team, notes Scott Agness of The Athletic. Turner led the league in total blocked shots with 199 and blocks per game at 2.7, but didn’t receive first- or second-team honors. Two of Turner’s teammates, Lithuanian center Domantas Sabonis and Canadian guard Cory Joseph, will be in China for the tournament.
- Pacers coach Nate McMillan was slated to be an assistant to Gregg Popovich on Team USA, but he withdrew after Indiana was scheduled for a trip to India in early October, Agness adds in the same piece. The World Cup title game is September 15, and McMillan wants to focus on his NBA responsibilities. “My first priority is the Pacers,” he said. “I committed to USA Basketball before I got the schedule next season for us.”
- Former Heat guard Matt Williams was invited to a free agent mini-camp with the Pistons, tweets Nicola Lupo of Sportando. Williams appeared in three games as a two-way player for Miami during the 2017/18 season before playing this year in Finland and Greece. Forward Marc Loving, formerly of Ohio State, also received an invitation (Twitter link). He played in the G League this season.
Sixers Notes: Marjanovic, Butler, Harris, Workouts
Boban Marjanovic only spent a half season with the Sixers, but it was enough to make him want to stay. In an interview with the Serbian website Zurnal (translated by Stefan Djordjevic of EuroHoops), Marjanovic said his preference in free agency is to remain in Philadelphia.
“ I don’t know what will happen. … I should, almost 90 percent, stay in Philadelphia but that’s not known yet, just speculation,” he said. “It was nice for me there, so why not.”
“The team is great, the players are talented,” Marjanovic added. “I think we had a chance to be the team playing the Finals this year but we had that bad luck of conceding the last-second basket. The city lives for basketball and sports in general. They have hockey, baseball, football, they follow everything, everything is organized until the very end and everybody knows who and what you are. Wherever you appear, everybody recognizes you because they follow all of it. A very nice experience.”
There’s more news from Philadelphia:
- The Sixers are in position to get another top free agent if they lose Jimmy Butler or Tobias Harris, writes Derek Bodner of The Athletic. If Butler leaves and they keep Harris, it would only take a small move to reach $38.15MM in cap space ( 35% of the cap), such as trading away Jonah Bolden‘s nearly $1.7MM salary or the No. 24 pick. If Butler stays and Harris goes, they can only get to $30MM in cap room by renouncing all their other free agents. They can reach a 30% max slot by finding a team willing to take Zhaire Smith and their first-rounder without sending any salary back.
- The Sixers are busy with workouts ahead of the June 20 draft. Today’s session featured Purdue’s Carsen Edwards, Delaware’s Eric Carter, Fairfield’s Jonathan Kasibabu, Buffalo’s C.J. Massinburg, Michigan’s Charles Matthews and Mississippi State’s Quinndary Weatherspoon, tweets Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. Tomorrow, Philadelphia will welcome Temple’s Shizz Alston Jr., Australia’s Harry Froling, Alabama’s Donta Hall, Wake Forest’s Jaylen Hoard, Gonzaga’s Josh Perkins and Belmont’s Dylan Windler (Twitter link).
- Villanova’s Phil Booth and Eric Paschall will both participate in a session on Saturday, Pompey writes in a full story.
Wizards Targeting Raptors’ President?
The Wizards may be delaying their search for a new executive so they can make a run at Raptors president Masai Ujiri, writes Fred Katz of The Athletic.
No permanent head of basketball operations has been hired in Washington since former president of basketball operations Ernie Grunfeld was dismissed in early April. The Wizards offered the job to Nuggets president Tim Connelly last month, but he elected to stay in Denver. There has been little reported movement since then, leading to speculation that Ujiri is the next target.
Katz notes that owner Ted Leonsis and consultant Mike Forde, who is leading the search team, haven’t reached out to the Raptors to request permission to interview Ujiri, and that likely won’t happen until the NBA Finals have wrapped up. Ujiri is a candidate for Executive of the Year after pulling off bold trades for Kawhi Leonard and Marc Gasol that helped Toronto reach the championship round for the first time.
Katz doesn’t believe Washington can win a bidding war for Ujiri because the Raptors are owned by Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, which is one of the wealthiest companies in the sports industry and has a pattern of giving Ujiri whatever he has asked for, including a G League team and a new practice facility. The Wizards also can’t compete in terms of basketball success, as they missed the playoffs this season and seem a long way from reaching the Finals.
However, they may be able to appeal to Ujiri with the prospect of living in Washington, D.C., giving him a chance to increase his involvement with Giants of Africa or the NBA’s new pro league in Africa, along with being in the same city as his close friend, former President Barack Obama.
With Ujiri still under contract for the next two seasons, the Raptors could demand a heavy price in exchange for letting him leave. Sources tell Katz that they asked for two first-round picks when Ujiri talked to the Knicks a few years ago and they received a second-rounder from the Magic when former GM Jeff Weltman went to Orlando in 2017.
Klay Thompson Won’t Play In Game 3
7:52pm: Thompson will be held out of Game 3, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic. This will be the first playoff game he has missed in his career. Livingston will start in his place.
4:46pm: Warriors management wants Klay Thompson to miss tonight’s Game 3 of the NBA Finals and rest his injured hamstring, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. However, Thompson insists he’s healthy enough to play, and the decision probably won’t be made until game time.
Thompson suffered a hamstring strain in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s Game 2 while landing on a 3-point shot. An MRI conducted Monday revealed the injury to be a mild strain, and he is officially listed as questionable for tonight. If the Warriors hold him out, Quinn Cook and Shaun Livingston will likely see increased minutes.
Injuries continue to haunt the Warriors as they seek a third straight NBA title. Kevon Looney is out for the rest of the series with a non-displaced cartilage fracture on the right side of his collarbone, Kevin Durant remains sidelined with a strained calf and Andre Iguodala is still battling the effects of a calf injury.
Warriors Notes: Cousins, Iguodala, Durant, Williams
DeMarcus Cousins felt like quitting the game after being sidelined by a torn quad in the Warriors‘ first-round series against the Clippers, according to an ESPN story. In an interview today on ESPN’s “The Jump,” Cousins talks about the frustration of suffering another injury so soon after recovering from a torn Achilles.
“I was just ready to quit,” he said. “Like, throw the towel in. … Human nature is the first thing. It’s like, ‘Why? Why me? Why now? What did I do wrong? Why do I deserve this?’ And that’s not always the case. It’s usually [that] it’s repaying you for the next moment. This is you putting your armor on. Slowly but surely. Because your next moment’s gonna be even tougher.”
Cousins’ return to action was gradual, as he played just eight minutes in Game 1 of the NBA Finals. But he was a key contributor in Game 2 with 11 points, 10 rebounds and six assists in 28 minutes. The injury-plagued Warriors may need more performances like that to pull out the series.
“I had to dig deep,” Cousins said of the recovery process. “I had to do some soul-searching and, you know, throughout both injuries, it was times where I just — you know, like, ‘Forget it.’ Like, I’ll just take my time with it and whatever happens, happens. … I just couldn’t go out that way.”
There’s more Warriors news as Game 3 approaches:
- Andre Iguodala addresses the topic of retirement in an interview with Marc Stein of The New York Times about a book from the veteran forward that will be released this month. “I have a good idea how much longer I want to play,” Iguodala said. “I’m keeping it to myself, but it’s going to be soon. I can play four or five more years. But I won’t.” Iguodala, 35, has one more season on his current deal at nearly $17.2MM, so it seems safe to say he’ll at least be back next year.
- Coach Steve Kerr told reporters that Kevin Durant had good workouts yesterday and today, but hasn’t attempted to play in three-on-three or five-on-five games, tweets Ben Golliver of The Washington Post. Durant will practice tomorrow with some of the team’s younger players in hopes of returning for Friday’s Game 4.
- Add Golden State to the list of teams that brought in Tennessee’s Grant Williams for a pre-draft workout, tweets Josh Robbins of The Athletic.
More Names Revealed For Team USA World Cup Tryouts
Team USA’s training camp roster for the FIBA World Cup will be announced next week, but four players have already been confirmed, tweets Marc Stein of The New York Times.
Anthony Davis, James Harden, Donovan Mitchell and Kemba Walker will definitely be part of the team, while the other 14 slots are still being worked out. The roster will be trimmed to 12 when the players gather in Las Vegas in early August to prepare for the tournament, which takes place from August 31 to September 15 in China.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski drops a few more names in a full story on the World Cup tryouts, which sources tell him are also expected to include Damian Lillard, C.J. McCollum, Bradley Beal and Kevin Love. Others planning to be part of the camp include Eric Gordon, Jayson Tatum, Khris Middleton, Brook Lopez, LaMarcus Aldridge, Andre Drummond and Kyle Kuzma.
P.J. Tucker will attend training camp as well, tweets ESPN’s Tim MacMahon, and league sources tell Woj that Paul Millsap also plans to be there. Other names leaked for the camp are Tobias Harris (Twitter link from Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer) and Myles Turner (Twitter link from Scott Agness of the Athletic).
Zion Williamson, expected to be the first pick in the draft later this month, has been invited to camp as part of the 10-man select team that will scrimmage against the 18-man roster, Stein tweets. Williamson will be given a chance to play his way onto the final roster if he has a standout performance in that role, according to USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo (Twitter link).
The select team will also include John Collins and Marvin Bagley, tweets Tim Bomtemps of ESPN.
The camp will be held from August 5-8, with exhibition games to follow before the start of World Cup play. Gregg Popovich will serve as head coach.
Heat Notes: Haslem, Johnson, Waiters, Anderson, Allen
Veteran big man Udonis Haslem is training hard three or four days a week with the intensity of someone who wants to play next season, a source tells Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald.
While his longtime teammate Dwyane Wade called it a career at the end of the 2018/19 campaign, Haslem remains undecided on his future. He said during the season that he was leaning toward playing another year, and based on Jackson’s latest report, it sounds like that scenario remains very much in play.
Haslem doesn’t have a contract for next season, but the Heat have shown in recent years that they’re willing to keep bringing him back on one-year, minimum-salary contracts, despite the fact that he no longer sees much playing time for the club.
Here’s more on the Heat:
- James Johnson and Dion Waiters are considered available on the trade market this offseason, according to Barry Jackson. While I expect a number of Heat veterans to be “available” in trade talks, it’s telling that Johnson and Waiters are the ones specifically mentioned by Jackson. They both have multiple years left on their contracts, which indicates that the Heat may be looking to carve out more cap room for 2020 in addition to gaining extra flexibility in 2019.
- Jackson writes that the Heat are expected to buy out Ryan Anderson before July 10, when his salary for 2019/20 would become fully guaranteed. While Jackson’s wording suggests that the Heat might ask Anderson to give up a little salary, the team likely wouldn’t push too hard for that, since the veteran sharpshooter previously agreed to reduce his guarantee for next season.
- The Heat are expected to hire Malik Allen as an assistant coach on Erik Spoelstra‘s staff, tweets Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press. Allen, who began his NBA playing career with the Heat, would fill the position that opened up when Juwan Howard left for Michigan.
- I previewed the Heat’s offseason earlier today.
Vince Carter Plans To Retire After 2019/20 Season
After announcing in April that he intends to return for the 2019/20 season, Vince Carter has now confirmed that next season will be his last in the NBA. Carter made the announcement during an appearance on The Jump on ESPN (video link via Chris Montano of DefPen).
“I’ve got one more [year] in me,” Carter said, later confirming to Rachel Nichols that he doesn’t plan to play beyond ’19/20.
Despite turning 42 in January, Carter continued to be a productive rotation player in Atlanta in 2018/19, averaging 7.4 PPG and 2.6 RPG with a .419/.389/.712 shooting line in 76 games (17.5 MPG) for the Hawks. Head coach Lloyd Pierce also praised the veteran swingman for helping to create a “different atmosphere” in the Hawks’ locker room.
Carter will be an unrestricted free agent this summer, so he’ll need to sign a new contract with Atlanta or catch on with a new team once the new league year begins.
Assuming he doesn’t have any trouble finding an NBA contract, Carter will become the first player in league history to play for 22 seasons, breaking the record that he and Dirk Nowitzki tied this season. Robert Parish, Kevin Willis, and Kevin Garnett also had 21-year NBA careers.
Over the course of his 21 NBA seasons, Carter has averaged 17.2 PPG, 4.4 RPG, and 3.2 APG with a .437/.374/.798 shooting line in 1,481 games for the Raptors, Nets, Magic, Suns, Mavericks, Grizzlies, Kings, and Hawks. He has also appeared in another 88 postseason contests, averaging 18.1 PPG in those games. Carter ranks 20th on the NBA’s all-time scoring list.
Celtics Rumors: Horford, Ainge, Kyrie, Rozier, Herro
If Al Horford opts out of his contract this month, he’s probably unlikely to top his $30MM+ player-option salary on the open market, but he should be able to top that total figure on a multiyear deal. That’s a scenario that intrigues the Celtics.
Speaking today to reporters, including Mark Murphy of The Boston Herald, C’s president of basketball operations Danny Ainge said that restructuring Horford’s contract into a longer, more cap-friendly deal is a “priority” for the club this summer.
NBA rules don’t technically allow teams to restructure contracts to reduce cap hits in the same way that NFL franchises can. But if Horford turns down his player option, he and the Celtics could essentially start from scratch on a new deal — it wouldn’t be a restructuring so much as a brand new contract. If the C’s are able to negotiate a starting salary in the range of, say, $20-25MM, it would create some added cap flexibility for the coming offseason.
Here’s more on the Celtics:
- Despite suffering a mild heart attack last month, Ainge said he’s feeling good and will continue to lead the Celtics going forward, writes Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe. “My role is not going to change,” Ainge said.
- We passed along some of Ainge’s comments on Kyrie Irving in an earlier story, but Boston’s president of basketball operations offered a few more observations on the All-Star point guard. As Himmelsbach relays, Ainge said he had no regrets about the risk the Celtics took when they acquired Irving in 2017, and dismissed the idea that Kyrie was largely to blame for the club’s struggles in 2018/19. “We had a lot of reasons the team did not succeed this year,” Ainge said. “Kyrie deserves his share of the blame, but not any more than anybody else. There’s a lot of guys that didn’t handle things the right way and didn’t make the sacrifices that needed to be done for the benefit of the team. So I think that they’re all going to learn from it, including Kyrie.”
- Ainge praised restricted-free-agent-to-be Terry Rozier, despite the fact that Rozier has publicly griped about the role he had with the Celtics this season. “I think that if Terry was in the right circumstance and the right role, I think he would love playing in Boston,” Ainge said, per Himmelsbach.
- Ainge also acknowledged that the Celtics will consider draft-pick trades and told reporters that Brad Stevens continues to meet with candidates to replace assistant coach Micah Shrewsberry, according to Murphy and Himmelsbach.
- Chris Forsberg of NBC Sports Boston tweets that the Celtics worked out Kevin Porter Jr. (USC), Luguentz Dort (Arizona State), Tyler Herro (Kentucky), Talen Horton-Tucker (Iowa State), Nickeil Alexander-Walker (VA Tech), and Skyler Flatten (South Dakota State) on Tuesday. Herro made a strong impression, per Aaron Torres of FOX Sports (Twitter link).
2019 NBA Offseason Salary Cap Digest Series
As we approach the 2019 NBA draft and free agent period, Hoops Rumors has been examining each team’s cap situation, breaking down the guaranteed salaries, non-guaranteed salaries, options, free agents, and cap holds on the books for each of the league’s teams.
We’re also previewing each club’s offseason in more depth, but these salary cap digests provide a bare-bones look at where teams are at with their spending, how much cap room they figure to have this summer, and which players may not be safe, given their contract situations.
You can find the link to your favorite team’s offseason salary cap digest below. You can find this post anytime on the right-hand sidebar of our desktop site under “Hoops Rumors Features,” or under “Features” in our mobile menu.
EASTERN CONFERENCE
Atlantic
Central
Southeast
WESTERN CONFERENCE
Northwest
Pacific
Southwest