Charania’s Latest: Nuggets, Nowitzki, Harkless, Crawford
Before they reached an agreement to sign Troy Daniels this week, the Nuggets considered a handful of other veteran free agents, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic, who identifies Iman Shumpert and Joakim Noah as two players who were on Denver’s radar.
Although the Nuggets chose Daniels for now, that doesn’t necessarily mean that they won’t add another free agent, such as Shumpert or Noah, before the playoffs begin next month. Daniels filled the 14th spot on Denver’s roster, so the team still has one more opening on its 15-man squad.
Here are a few more items of interest from Charania:
- The Mavericks have a standing job offer out to Dirk Nowitzki, but the longtime Dallas forward isn’t yet ready to take on a formal role with the franchise, says Charania. It’s not clear what sort of job the Mavs are offering Nowitzki — I imagine he’d have plenty of say in his role, depending on what interests him.
- After not buying out Maurice Harkless by March 1, the Knicks are expected to show interest in re-signing him this summer, sources tell The Athletic. Some playoff teams are planning to pursue Harkless as well, Charania adds.
- Despite not having played since last spring, Jamal Crawford remains committed to continuing his NBA career, according to Charania, who says the free agent guard – who turns 40 in two weeks – is in shape and ready to go if he gets an opportunity.
- Earlier today, we passed along Charania’s reports on the Lakers monitoring the market for shooting help, Joel Embiid‘s target return date, and a few pre-deadline trades that ultimately failed to materialize.
Lakers Sign Dion Waiters To Rest-Of-Season Deal
MARCH 6: The Lakers have officially signed Waiters, the team announced this afternoon in a press release.
MARCH 5: The Lakers and free agent guard Dion Waiters have agree to a deal that will cover the remainder of the 2019/20 season, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). Los Angeles has an open spot on its 15-man roster after waiving Troy Daniels on Sunday, so no corresponding move will be required.
After starting the season with Miami, Waiters was traded to the Grizzlies at the deadline last month and was subsequently waived by Memphis. The 28-year-old had a workout for the Lakers earlier this week and was said to have made a good impression during his visit with the team, leading to today’s contract agreement.
Waiters, whose stint in Miami was derailed by health issues and his off-court behavior, was suspended by the Heat three separate times this season and has only appeared in three games in 2019/20. In his three previous seasons with the club, he averaged 14.0 PPG, 3.6 APG, and 2.9 RPG with a .414/.365/.646 shooting line in 120 total games (28.7 MPG).
It remains to be seen how much Waiters will actually play in Los Angeles, but the team had been in the market for a little more play-making and scoring on the perimeter, which he can potentially provide. The Lakers were also said to be considering J.R. Smith, who auditioned for the club earlier this week too. Both players are represented by Klutch Sports, the agency that reps LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
Rich Paul, the head of Klutch Sports, has had multiple conversations with the Lakers about Waiters, according to Charania, who notes (via Twitter) that the team is willing to release the veteran guard if things don’t work out.
[RELATED: Lakers Still Monitoring Market For Shooting Help]
Although Waiters’ contract must be guaranteed at this point of the season, it sounds like the Lakers are taking a similar approach to the one they took when they signed Dwight Howard to a non-guaranteed deal last offseason. Howard has made the most of that bounce-back opportunity in Los Angeles — we’ll see if Waiters can do the same.
Having used their disabled player exception to sign Markieff Morris, the Lakers have no available cap exceptions worth more than the minimum, so Waiters’ new deal will be worth a prorated portion of the veteran’s minimum. If he officially signs tomorrow, he’ll earn $503,656 for the rest of the season, with L.A. assuming a cap hit of $375,385.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Jusuf Nurkic Plans To Return On March 15
Trail Blazers center Jusuf Nurkic intends to make his return to the court on March 15 against Houston, according to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports (via Twitter). Nurkic will be making his comeback nearly a year after suffering the devastating leg injuries that sidelined him for the end of the 2018/19 season and most of the 2019/20 campaign.
“I’m ready to help my team make the playoffs,” Nurkic told Haynes. “It’s time.”
Nurkic suffered compound fractures in his left tibia and fibula on March 25, 2019 against Brooklyn and has been working his way back since then. The Blazers never offered a concrete timeline for when he might return, but reports earlier in the season suggested it might happen around the All-Star break.
Although Nurkic didn’t hit that unofficial target, having reportedly strained his calf when he returned to practice in January, he remains on track to make it back well before the end of the regular season. Last week, the big man talked about needing more practice time to get up to speed — it sounds like that will happen before next Sunday.
A March 15 return would line up Nurkic to play in some or all of Portland’s remaining 15 games, though it remains to be seen how big a role he’ll have. In his conversation with Haynes, he acknowledged that getting used to the speed of NBA games will be a challenge after his year-long layoff.
“I’m not going to be playing 40 minutes,” Nurkic said. “But for me, mentally, I need to get these reps in before I can play (extended minutes). Physically, I’m good. I had a calf strain recently, which is normal for the injury I had. I’ve been pleased with where my rehab is going. I never doubted I’d be back, but I had to make sure I was 100 percent. I can’t wait for (March 15).”
Nurkic was having the best season of his NBA career in 2018/19 before the injury, averaging 15.6 PPG, 10.4 RPG, 3.2 APG, and 1.4 BPG in 72 games (27.4 MPG). This year, Hassan Whiteside has taken over starting center duties for the Blazers and leads the league with 3.1 BPG. Nurkic’s comments to Haynes suggest he’s willing to take a back seat to Whiteside in the season’s final month if it helps the team win.
“He’s my teammate,” Nurkic said. “I don’t know the plans going forward, but my mind is on how I’m going to help this team make the playoffs. We just need to sacrifice our games for the team’s good, do the little things that don’t show on the stat sheet and put our games together for possibly the playoffs. We have a chance, and when you have a chance, you’ve got to go get it.”
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Lakers Still Monitoring Market For Shooting Help
Even after reaching an agreement to have Dion Waiters fill their 15th roster spot, the Lakers continue to monitor the free agent market in search of shooting help, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic. J.R. Smith, who worked out for the team on Monday, is one of the players Los Angeles is keeping an eye on, says Charania.
The Lakers have been an average outside shooting team this season, ranking 15th in three-point percentage (35.9%) and 21st in made threes per game (11.2). Waiters, who has knocked down 36.8% of his threes since he arrived in Miami in 2016/17, may help improve the team’s shot-making off the bench. However, the Lakers apparently aren’t satisfied to simply add Waiters and call it a day — they’ll continue to consider possible upgrades.
Having already waived DeMarcus Cousins and Troy Daniels, the Lakers don’t have many more expendable players on their roster to cut for a new addition. Jared Dudley and Quinn Cook are probably the club’s most likely release candidates, though Dudley is considered a good locker-room presence and Cook has a small partial guarantee ($1MM) on his 2020/21 salary.
Of course, Charania also tweeted on Thursday that the Lakers would be open to the idea of releasing Waiters if things don’t work out between the two sides in the coming weeks.
Other shooters on the free agent market include Allen Crabbe, Ryan Broekhoff, Jamal Crawford, and Ryan Anderson, but not all of those players will fit the mold of what the Lakers are looking for. Smith’s connections – he’s represented by Rich Paul and has played with LeBron James – could also help give him an upper hand if L.A. does decide to bring in someone new.
Joel Embiid Hoping To Return Next Wednesday
Joel Embiid is hoping that he’ll be able to return to the Sixers‘ lineup next Wednesday against Detroit, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic. Embiid has been sidelined since February 26 due to a left shoulder injury.
Embiid, who suffered the injury in a collision with Cavaliers center Ante Zizic, was diagnosed with a sprain after an MRI showed no significant structural damage. That diagnosis was viewed as good news, and there has been an expectation that the big man will be able to return to action before Philadelphia’s other injured star, Ben Simmons, does.
[RELATED: Latest On Ben Simmons’ Injury]
Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer tweets that Embiid has resumed on-court activities and will be officially re-evaluated by the team on Monday.
Assuming Embiid can make it back on Wednesday, he’ll only miss one more game — the 76ers are scheduled to play in Golden State on Saturday night before getting three consecutive days off. If Embiid doesn’t hit his target date, a March 14 contest against Indiana would be his next chance to return.
Philadelphia is jockeying for playoff position in the East, so getting Embiid back for the team’s last 18 games would be a big help in that race. Currently, the 38-25 Sixers are 2.5 games back of Miami for the No. 4 seed and a half-game ahead of the No. 6 Pacers.
Mavs’ Protest Denied, Cuban Fined $500K By NBA
The NBA has rejected the Mavericks‘ petition to replay the final seconds of their February 22 loss to the Hawks, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter).
According to Wojnarowski, the league has also fined Mavs owner Mark Cuban $500K for his comments criticizing officiating and for coming onto the court twice in the final seconds of that game vs. Atlanta to confront the referees.
The NBA issued a press release confirming both the protest ruling and the fine. The league explained in its statement that the substantial fine being levied against Cuban is for “his public criticism and detrimental conduct regarding NBA officiating.”
The release described Cuban’s comments as “personal and demeaning to the league and its officiating staff,” adding that demeaning NBA employees creates “an intimidating workplace environment.” The league suggested that his comments represented an effort to “influence refereeing decisions,” which created “the perception of an unfair competitive advantage and thereby undermines the integrity of the game.” The full announcement can be found right here.
As we detailed last month, the Mavs filed their protest because they believed officials misapplied rules on a play in the final minute of the game vs. the Hawks. The play in question saw Mavs forward Dorian Finney-Smith block a Trae Young layup attempt, with Atlanta big man John Collins scoring on a putback. Initially, goaltending was called on Young’s shot, but when a replay showed the block was clean, referees allowed the follow-up basket, citing an inadvertent whistle and saying Collins was in a shooting motion before the whistle blew.
In his post-game comments, Cuban blasted not only that end-of-game call, but the NBA’s entire referee development program. However, the NBA stated today that the rules were not misapplied on Collins’ basket.
“The league’s investigation included an analysis of the game footage showing that the whistle began to sound one-fifteenth of a second before Collins gained possession of the ball,” the league acknowledged in its statement. “However, it is well-established by prior NBA protest decisions that a factual determination by game officials – including replay officials – that is shown in a post-game review to be incorrect is not a misapplication of the playing rules.
“While officials strive to get every call right, games cannot be replayed when, after the fact and free from the need to make rulings in real time, a different judgment about events on the playing floor can be made. For these reasons, Commissioner Silver found that the extraordinary remedy of granting a game protest and replaying the last portion of a completed game was not warranted.”
Even before today, Cuban had reportedly been fined more than $2MM by the NBA over the years, a history that likely played a part in the size of his latest penalty. It’s actually not the most substantial single fine Cuban has faced — the league hit him with a $600K fine in 2018 for publicly admitting to tanking, as Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News tweets.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Suns Pursued Gordon, Mavs Went After Gallinari At Deadline
Within his latest Inside Pass column for The Athletic, Shams Charania passes along details on several deals that were pursued but didn’t get done at the 2020 trade deadline, a month ago today.
According to Charania, the Suns made a “late push” for Magic forward Aaron Gordon, while the Mavericks did the same for Thunder forward Danilo Gallinari. Gallinari is on an expiring contract, but Gordon is under team control for two more years beyond this season and is expected to receive interest from multiple teams this offseason if Orlando is willing to move him, Charania says.
Elsewhere in the Western Conference, the Nuggets attempted to make a “major trade” just before the deadline, sources tell The Athletic. Charania notes that Jrue Holiday was a player of significant interest for Denver, though it’s not clear if he was the player the Nuggets were pushing for at the deadline. The Pelicans never showed any interest in moving Holiday, per Charania.
Finally, while we’ve previously heard that the Lakers made an offer for point guard Derrick Rose, Charania provides some additional details on that offer, writing that it included fan favorite Alex Caruso and draft compensation. The Lakers would have needed to include at least one more player in that package for salary-matching purposes. In any case, the Pistons weren’t interested in moving Rose.
Although nothing materialized on any of these fronts, there’s value in knowing which teams pursued which players, since many of them remain under contract beyond this season and could become trade targets again down the road. Someone like Gallinari, meanwhile, could be on Dallas’ wish list in free agency, assuming the Mavs didn’t simply view him as a rental.
Community Shootaround: 2020 NBA MVP Race
After winning the NBA’s Most Valuable Player award in 2019, Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo looks like the overwhelming favorite to do so again in 2020.
Antetokounmpo is averaging 29.6 PPG and 13.8 RPG, both improvements on last season’s numbers, while playing just 30.8 minutes per contest, his lowest mark since he was a rookie in 2013/14. In addition to his outstanding per-36 numbers, the reigning MVP is a candidate for Defensive Player of the Year, and his team holds the NBA’s best record by a comfortable margin, at 53-9. Milwaukee also has an eye-popping +16.7 net rating when Antetokounmpo is on the floor, tops in the league.
Antetokounmpo’s case for a second consecutive MVP award is obvious, and makes him the clear frontrunner. However, not everyone is prepared to hand him the trophy quite yet.
With the Lakers poised to take on Milwaukee on Friday night in a battle of the NBA’s No. 1 seeds, head coach Frank Vogel argued that LeBron James should be considered a frontrunner for the 2020 MVP award, as Dave McMenamin of ESPN writes. Vogel pointed to the intangibles James brings, including his leadership ability, as a factor for why the four-time MVP should receive serious consideration this spring.
“The body of work he’s put forth for our team I don’t really think it compares to anybody else,” Vogel said. “A lot of great performances throughout the year with other players, so I don’t want to take anything away from anyone else, but it’s pretty unbelievable what he does. What he means to us on both sides of the ball, defensive IQ and the way he impacts the game with his strength, athleticism, scoring the way he does, but also leading the league in assists. And the most important stat is how much we’re winning. So, to me, it’s his.”
In laying out James’ case for MVP, Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report highlights the extent to which LeBron drives the team’s entire offense with his scoring and play-making. As Pincus points out, the Lakers’ offense falls off a cliff when James sits and the defense gets a little worse too — the club has a +10.4 rating with the 35-year-old on the court, compared to -1.0 when he’s on the bench.
One advance scout who spoke to Mark Medina of USA Today said his vote would go to Giannis, but admitted that the race is close enough for him to be convinced either way. One NBA executive speculated to Medina that voters may not be inclined to choose a back-to-back winner: “My gut would be since Giannis won it last year, people would give it to LeBron.”
We want to know what you think. Does LeBron have a legit NBA shot, or is Giannis running away with the award? If you think the race is still up in the air, what would have to happen in the season’s final five or six weeks to seal the deal one way or the other? Are there any other candidates you think could emerge as realistic alternatives?
Head to the comment section below to weigh in with your thoughts!
Sixers Notes: Simmons, Embiid, Horford, GRIII
While Sixers center Joel Embiid has a chance to return from his shoulder injury within the next week, sources tell ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne that Ben Simmons‘ recovery timeline is harder to pin down. Simmons, who is dealing with a nerve impingement in his lower back, will be re-evaluated next week.
As Shelburne explains, the Sixers are waiting for the inflammation around Simmons’ nerve to subside. The club is hoping to get him back before the end of the season so he can get his feet under him again before the playoffs. But at this point, that’s “just a hope,” given the uncertainty surrounding the injury, Shelburne writes.
Here’s more on the 76ers:
- Shelburne’s ESPN article on the Sixers’ up-and-down season is worth reading in full, with head coach Brett Brown, GM Elton Brand, and big man Al Horford among those providing quotes. Brown, notably, expressed plenty of confidence that Embiid and Simmons are capable of not just co-existing and thriving, but of winning a title together. “I know these guys,” Brown said. “It’s like how my wife knows when my kids are going to get sick about two days before they get sick. When you’re a parent, you know your kids. And so I look at these two guys and I know they can win together. They can and they will.”
- In the wake of a report suggesting the 76ers may explore trading Horford in the offseason, Chris Mannix of SI.com asked a veteran NBA executive about the possibility. “I would be shocked if he has value,” the exec said of Horford. “They might have to include an asset for someone to take him off their books. He has not looked good this year. His movement, it just seems a step slow, on both ends. I think they have to try to trade him. He obviously can’t play with Embiid. The goal should be to divide that salary over a couple of players and make them deeper. But I don’t know how they are going to do that.”
- Glenn Robinson III, who expressed some confusion last week about what role the Sixers wanted him to play, is feeling a little better about his place in the rotation these days. As Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer writes, Robinson showed on Tuesday why the 76ers traded for him, scoring 25 points on 10-of-15 shooting. He said after the game that he’s continuing to “get a feel for my teammates.”
Bradley Beal Says He Wants To Finish Career With Wizards
When Bradley Beal signed a contract extension with the Wizards during the 2019 preseason, he only tacked one guaranteed year onto his previous deal, plus a player option for 2022/23. However, despite not opting for a longer-term contract that would secure his place in Washington for years to come, Beal says he has no plans to leave the Wizards.
“I hate change. If it happens, it happens,” Beal said in a piece for The Undefeated, as told to Marc Spears. “But if I can control it, I will finish in D.C.”
Beal was viewed as a potential trade candidate before he signed his extension last October. That deal took him off the trade market for the 2019/20 season, but there has been ongoing speculation that another losing season in Washington could prompt the star guard to push for a change of scenery within the next year or two. It doesn’t sound – for now at least – as if Beal is thinking about taking that route.
Despite displaying some occasional frustration with the Wizards’ season, Beal told Spears that the idea of sticking with one franchise and someday having his jersey retired appeals to him. Describing himself as “kind of loyal to a fault” and comparing himself to longtime Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard, Beal pointed out that it would be more rewarding to one day win a title with the Wizards than to jump ship to join a contender, especially since that path wouldn’t guarantee a championship either.
“I can sit here and say, ‘Yeah, I can go to Boston, I can go to Toronto, I can go to Miami’ … I can go everywhere everybody wants me to go,” Beal said. “But what would that look like? It wouldn’t necessarily be my team to where now I’m in a situation in Washington where I’m being built around.
“I know I’m going to have to take these bumps and bruises,” Beal said of the Wizards’ recent struggles. “I knew this last summer. I knew this, hell, the summer maybe even before that. You just got to grind it out, and stand true to who you are.”
Although the Wizards are just 22-39 this season, they rank ninth in the Eastern Conference and are on pace to exceed the win total oddsmakers projected in the preseason. They’ll get point guard John Wall back from his Achilles injury in the fall and may have a little cap flexibility this summer to add players who can complement their backcourt stars.