Domantas Sabonis Talks Extension, Fit With Myles Turner
Domantas Sabonis has one year remaining on his rookie deal with the Pacers. The big man believes there’s a good chance he’ll sign an extension this offseason, but he’s remaining patient.
“Like my dad said: You did your job. You did your best and now you just have to wait. Now I can’t do anything. I just need to be patient and wait,” Sabonis said (via international journalist Donatas Urbonas’ Twitter feed).
The 23-year-old is arguably best-suited to play the five, which is also Myles Turner‘s best position. With Turner, who signed a four-year extension last season, in the fold and the Pacers drafting center Goga Bitadze in the first round of June’s draft, it’s fair to wonder about Indiana’s plan for Sabonis. The 23-year-old isn’t worried about the overlap with Turner.
“We know it can work,” Sabonis told Urbonas (Twitter link). “I think we were a good fit last season. We just need more time. Not only a few minutes per game, but a whole season or at least half of it. There are going to be better and worse games, but we need trust and everything will be fine.”
Celtics Notes: Walker, Smart, Stevens
Kemba Walker has gotten a chance to bond with some of his new Celtics teammates at Team USA’s training camp in Las Vegas, as Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com relays.
“I’m the new guy; they already know each other,” Walker said. “They are just kind of reeling me in and getting me acclimated to how things go. With four of us here now, it gives us an opportunity to play with each other and learn each other’s tendencies.”
Marcus Smart, Jayson Tatum, and Jaylen Brown are all attending the camp. Coach Brad Stevens also made an appearance. Boston had some chemistry concerns last season, but the team is excited about turning to a new chapter.
“It can only be positive for us because it’s chemistry added,” Brown said about the four players’ experience at Team USA’s camp. “I just want to hoop. I don’t want any politics. We’re artists and this season is a new canvas.”
Here’s more from Boston:
- Walker is a lock to make Team USA’s roster and Tatum has a strong chance to make the squad as well, Windhorst adds in the same piece. Smart and Brown each making the team is not as much of a sure thing. “We’re all grateful to be here,” Tatum said. “Hopefully, all four of us make it; that would be amazing. Me and [Brown] play one-on-one all the time, and we’ve always tried to push each other and it’s been that way since day one. Ultimately, we have the same goal with our teams and here.”
- Smart has missed several days of practice with a left calf injury and he’ll be re-evaluated next week, as the AP’s Tim Reynolds tweets. “Right now, for me, I’m trying to grow as a player… taking those precautions,” said Smart (via Chris Forsberg of NBC Sports). “Last year, or two or three years ago, I probably would have still been out there trying to fight through it. It’s nothing serious so we just want to make sure it doesn’t turn into anything serious.”
- Stevens said the Celtics have moved past their issues from last season, as Forsberg passes along in a separate piece. “We turned that page a long time ago. That’s what you should do after a season. I think, whether you had success or it wasn’t as good as you want, you learn from it and move on,” Stevens said.
Lance Stephenson To Play In China
AUGUST 8: Stephenson’s deal with Liaoning is now official, tweets Carchia.
AUGUST 1: Lance Stephenson is taking his talents abroad. Liaoning of the Chinese Basketball Association will add the veteran shooting guard, according to Emiliano Carchia of Sportando. It will be a one-year, $4MM deal, reports Chris Haynes of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link).
Stephenson played for the Lakers last year on a one-year, $4.45MM deal, in what many considered a surprising development. During his lone season in Los Angeles, he scored 7.2 points per game and made 37.1% of his shots behind the arc on nearly three attempts per game.
The nine-year veteran was drafted No. 40 overall by the Pacers in the 2010 draft. He spent his first four seasons in the league in Indiana and returned for a second stint during the 2016-17 campaign. He also made stops in Charlotte, Los Angeles (playing for both the Clippers and Lakers at points in his career), Memphis, and New Orleans.
Stephenson is the latest in a string of veteran players who are headed to the Chinese Basketball Assocation after spending part or all of the 2018/19 season in the NBA. Ekpe Udoh, James Nunnally, and Ian Clark are also reportedly joining Chinese teams.
Michael Beasley Receives Five-Game Suspension
If free agent forward Michael Beasley signs with an NBA team, he’ll have to sit out his first five games with that new club. According to Shams Charania of The Athletic (via Twitter), the NBA has hit Beasley with a five-game suspension for violating the league’s anti-drug policy.
Beasley, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2008 draft, spent most of the 2018/19 season with the Lakers after signing a one-year contract with the club last summer. However, his role in Los Angeles was limited. He appeared in just 26 games, averaging 7.0 PPG and 2.3 RPG in 10.7 minutes per contest.
The Lakers sent Beasley to the Clippers along with Ivica Zubac in exchange for Mike Muscala in a deadline deal in February. The Clippers subsequently released the 30-year-old, making him an unrestricted free agent. He joined the Guangdong Southern Tigers in China to finish the season.
A free agent again this offseason, Beasley hasn’t generated much buzz. His suspension probably won’t be a deal-breaker if an NBA team has interest in signing him, but for a player who was already having trouble finding a new home, it represents another red flag.
James Young To Play In Israel
Former first-round pick James Young has signed a contract with Israeli team Maccabi Haifa, the club announced in a press release.
The 17th overall pick in the 2014 draft, Young appeared in just 95 total games for the Celtics and Sixers during his first four professional seasons. He hasn’t appeared in a regular season NBA game since March 2018, though he averaged 18.9 PPG and 5.1 RPG with a .424/.422/.811 shooting line in 19 contests last season for the Wisconsin Herd, Milwaukee’s G League affiliate.
Young is only 23 years old (24 next Friday), but is a long shot at this point to realize the upside that NBA evaluators saw when he came into the league out of Kentucky. Still, if he plays well in 2019/20 in Israel, perhaps he’ll have an opportunity to make it back to the NBA down the road.
Omri Casspi, Quincy Acy, and Johnathan Williams are among the other NBA players who have signed with Israeli teams so far this offseason.
Sixers Sign Isaiah Miles
The Sixers have officially signed free agent forward Isaiah Miles to a contract, the team announced today in a press release. While terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, it’ll be an Exhibit 10 contract, per Kyle Neubeck of The Philly Voice (Twitter link).
Miles, who went undrafted out of St. Joe’s in 2016, has played professionally overseas of the last three years. He has spent time with teams in France and Turkey, having played for Limoges CSP in 2018/19. In 50 games (22.9 MPG) for the French club, he averaged 9.6 PPG and 3.7 RPG, knocking down 41.4% of his three-point attempts.
The Sixers have a bit of history with Miles, having added him to their Summer League roster in 2017 and 2018. He played for the Magic’s Summer League team this year, but is now on track to head to camp with Philadelphia.
After signing Miles, the 76ers have just one spot left on their 20-man offseason roster. They have 14 players on guaranteed deals, a pair on two-way contracts, and three on non-guaranteed pacts. As noted above, Miles – the 19th man under contract – will join Trey Burke and Christ Koumadje as players without fully guaranteed salaries.
And-Ones: Schedule, 2020 Free Agency, Draft
The NBA revealed today that it will announce its full regular season schedule – and national television schedule – for the 2019/20 season on Monday, August 12 at 3:00pm eastern time.
The dates for a handful of notable games have already been reported. We relayed the Christmas Day matchups last week, and Shams Charania of The Athletic notes (via Twitter) that the Raptors are expected to receive their championship rings on opening night (October 22) when they host the Pelicans and No. 1 pick Zion Williamson.
Charania also provides the dates for a handful of notable star/team reunions, including Anthony Davis and the Lakers visiting New Orleans and Kyrie Irving and the Nets traveling to Boston — both of those games will happen on November 27.
As we wait to find out what the rest of the 2019/20 schedule will look like, here are a few more items from around the basketball world:
- After a wildly entertaining 2019 free agent period, the odds are slim that we’ll see the same level of fireworks involving star players in 2020. In an Insider-only article for ESPN.com, Bobby Marks previews 2020’s free agent period, noting that outside of Anthony Davis and the top restricted free agents – all of whom are likely to stick with their current teams – next year’s best free agents will be vets like Kyle Lowry, DeMar DeRozan, and Andre Drummond.
- The NBA is ramping up its mental health program, as Sam Amick of The Athletic details. Sources tell Amick that the league issued a memo to all 30 teams on Wednesday to inform them of changes that must be made prior to the start of the 2019/20 season. Among those changes? All teams will be required to make at least one or two mental health professionals – and a licensed psychiatrist – available to players.
- In an appearance on ESPN’s The Jump (video link), draft expert Jonathan Givony previewed this year’s rookie class and identified some of the top incoming college freshman. Givony also notes that several of the projected top players in the 2020 draft class will be playing in Europe or – like R.J. Hampton and LaMelo Ball – in Australia.
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Notable Free Agent Guards Still Available
We’re nearly six weeks into the NBA’s 2019 free agent period, and the market has been just about picked clean. None of our top 50 free agents of 2019 remain on the board, and news of free agent signings within the last week or two has focused primarily on non-guaranteed training camp invitees.
Still, our list of remaining 2019 free agents features some interesting names. Roster spots around the NBA are becoming scarce, but a number of unsigned players could help out contending teams. Some of these players could sign in the coming days or weeks, while others may have to wait for injuries to open up opportunities.
In a series of posts, we’ll be taking a closer look at some of the most noteworthy free agents still on the board, breaking them down by position. That series starts today with a list of some of the most intriguing veteran guards on the open market.
Let’s dive in…
Shaun Livingston: When Livingston was waived by the Warriors a month ago, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski said the veteran point guard was “determined” to continue playing. If that’s the case, it’s surprising that a player with his championship experience hasn’t found a new NBA home yet. A June report had indicated that Livingston would seriously consider retirement, so that scenario shouldn’t be ruled out. Golden State will likely offer him a role with the team if he chooses to retire.- Jeremy Lin: Although he was a member of the NBA champion Raptors last season, Lin wasn’t part of the club’s postseason rotation, playing garbage-time minutes in eight playoff games. The 30-year-old expressed frustration with his free agency last month, wondering aloud if the NBA has “given up” on him. However, he also doesn’t appear ready to seriously pursue overseas options — talks with CSKA Moscow reportedly broke down in late July.
- J.R. Smith: Although he sat out most of the 2018/19 season, Smith was technically under contract with the Cavaliers up until last month. He’s a free agent now and met with the Bucks before they signed Kyle Korver. I expect a team in need of outside shooting help to roll the dice on Smith at some point in the coming months, but that’s not a lock.
- Jamal Crawford: The only update we’ve heard on Crawford so far this offseason is that the Suns renounced his free agent rights. However, he said back in the spring when the regular season was winding down that he had no plans to retire this year, so the lack of summer rumors doesn’t mean he has given up on finding a new NBA contract. In April, the 39-year-old said that finding a good fit would be his top priority this offseason. We’ll have to wait to see if that fit is still out there for him.
- Chasson Randle: Randle emerged as the Wizards’ backup point guard following John Wall‘s injury last season, and played pretty well in a part-time role, averaging 5.5 PPG and 2.0 APG with a .400 3PT% in 49 games (15.2 MPG). That performance hasn’t earned him a new NBA contract yet, but given how few point guard options are left on the market, I’d expect a suitor to come calling this fall, especially once clubs start to get hit by injuries.
Raymond Felton, Devin Harris, and Jose Calderon are among the other veteran point guards still available. All three have been productive backups in the past, but they’re now 35, 36, and 37 years old, respectively. Their days as regular rotation players are probably nearing an end, if they’re not over already.
Isaiah Canaan never seems to be any team’s first choice as a backup at the point, but he has suited up in regular season games for six different clubs over the last four seasons. It wouldn’t be surprising if he adds a seventh (and maybe an eighth) team to that list in 2019/20. Isaiah Briscoe, who briefly claimed the backup role in Orlando last season before suffering a torn meniscus, could be an interesting developmental project for a team if he’s healthy — he’s only 23 years old.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Kyle Kuzma Believes He Can Be Lakers’ Third Star
Although the idea of securing a trio of star players was popular among NBA teams for much of the last decade, 2019 was the offseason of dynamic duos. Kawhi Leonard and Paul George teamed up for the Clippers; Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving became Nets; and James Harden and Russell Westbrook joined forces for the Rockets.
The Lakers, of course, lined up their own star duo by pairing LeBron James and Anthony Davis. However, Kyle Kuzma believes he’s capable of evolving into the sort of star that could give the Lakers a “Big Three,” as he tells Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN.com.
“I don’t feel no pressure, but I believe that I am capable of being that superstar,” Kuzma said. “I put a lot of work in. My progress through my journey shows that I can be there. I developed every single year, dating back to college, and I don’t see that development stunting at all.
“Last year I didn’t shoot the ball well, and I still averaged almost 20 [points per game],” Kuzma added. “If I can shoot the ball well and keep developing the facets of my game defensively, I don’t see why I can’t [be that third star].”
Kuzma, 24, averaged 16.1 PPG with a .450 FG% and .366 3PT% as a rookie in 2017/18. While he increased his scoring rate to 18.7 PPG last season, he’s right that he struggled from beyond the arc — his 3PT% dipped to just .303.
Currently, Kuzma is competing for a spot on Team USA’s World Cup roster. If he makes the 12-man roster, he’d be in position to benefit from the play-makers on the roster and get plenty of open three-point looks. Even if he doesn’t make Team USA’s final roster – or doesn’t play much in China – he’s looking forward to a similar experience in Los Angeles this season.
“I’ve never been a ball-dominant guy,” Kuzma told Youngmisuk. “I’ve always played off the ball. It is going to be a little bit easier, going to have a lot of open shots. It is my job to trust my summer workouts and what I’ve done. Just breathe, focus and knock those shots down, because I’m going to be open.”
The 2019/20 season will be a crucial one for Kuzma, who will become eligible to sign a rookie scale extension during the summer of 2020. If he doesn’t ink a new deal a year from now, he’ll be on track for restricted free agency in 2021.