Five Western FAs-To-Be Who Boosted Their Value In 2019/20
On Wednesday, we examined five 2020 free agents in the Eastern Conference who had impressive contract years, increasing their value right before they reach the open market. Today, we’re shifting our focus to the Western Conference, where there are many more than five candidates for this list.
Kings swingman Bogdan Bogdanovic, Clippers big man Montrezl Harrell, and Suns center Aron Baynes are among the players who had strong 2019/20 seasons and established themselves as desirable free agent targets. But we’re focusing on five different players in the space below. Let’s dive in…
Brandon Ingram, F (Pelicans) (RFA): Most of the players who would have been 2020’s top restricted free agents signed contract extensions last fall. It made sense that Ingram – who had yet to play a game for the Pelicans and whose 2018/19 season ended due to a blood clot issue – didn’t get one, but his play in ’19/20 showed that New Orleans would have been wise to take the risk. After averaging 24.3 PPG, 6.3 RPG, and 4.3 APG (all career highs) and emerging as an All-Star, Ingram may now require a maximum-salary investment once his rookie contract expires.- Dwight Howard, C (Lakers): Not only did Howard receive a minimum-salary contract from the Lakers last summer — the deal wasn’t even guaranteed. Although many NBA observers were ready to write off the eight-time All-NBA center a year ago, he has shown that he’s still got something left in the tank, averaging 7.5 PPG, 7.4 RPG, and 1.2 BPG in a part-time role (19.2 MPG) for the Lakers. Most crucially, he was willing to accept a career-low usage rate (14.2%) and remained healthy all season long, appearing in 62 of L.A.’s 63 games. It seems safe to assume his next contract will be guaranteed — it should be worth more than the minimum too.
- Jordan Clarkson, SG (Jazz): After making just 32.4% of his three-point attempts in 2018/19, Clarkson entered the season looking to shake a reputation as a high-volume, low-efficiency scorer who didn’t bring a whole lot else to the table. A move to Utah gave him the opportunity to do so, and he emerged as a key weapon off the bench for the Jazz, averaging 15.6 PPG on 48.2% shooting in 34 games (25.3 MPG) following his trade out of Cleveland. Clarkson may not get a raise on the $13MM+ salary he’s earning this season, but after making a case for Sixth Man of the Year, he should still do pretty well on his next deal.
- Malik Beasley, SG (Timberwolves) (RFA): Unlike Clarkson, whose stock rose when he got the opportunity to play important minutes for a playoff team, Beasley boosted his value when he was dealt from the Nuggets to the lottery-bound Timberwolves. Having been in and out of Denver’s rotation all season long, Beasley started all 14 games he played for Minnesota and fully took advantage of his regular role (33.1 MPG), averaging 20.7 PPG and 5.1 RPG with an impressive .472/.426/.750 shooting line. Beasley reportedly turned down a three-year extension worth more than $30MM last offseason, and while it seemed for much of the season like that may have been a mistake, he could now be in line for an even bigger payday with the Wolves.
- De’Anthony Melton, G (Grizzlies) (RFA): Melton’s basic stats – 8.1 PPG, 3.7 RPG, 3.0 APG, and .419/.316/.821 shooting – aren’t major improvements on the numbers he put up as a rookie in Phoenix. However, in his first season, he was thrust into a starting role for the bottom-feeding team Suns because they had few alternatives. In Memphis, Melton earned rotation minutes for a playoff contender. He was arguably the Grizzlies’ best perimeter defender, and his on/off-court splits reflected his value — the club had a +6.2 net rating when he played, compared to a -4.2 rating when he sat. A minimum-salary bargain this season, Melton is due a raise in restricted free agency.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
International Notes: P. Gasol, Olympics, Italy, EuroLeague
Asked if he’ll be able to hang on for an extra year to represent Spain in the rescheduled Tokyo Olympics, veteran NBA big man Pau Gasol told ESPN’s Zach Lowe, “I’m going to try” (video link).
Gasol explained that he has to focus on rehabbing his injured foot before determining whether or not he’ll be able to play, noting that it’s hard to get tests done at the moment due to the closure of facilities.
Lowe also asked Gasol whether he’s considering the idea of finishing his career by playing one last season in Spain, and while the 39-year-old center acknowledged that he has weighed the possibility, he stressed that if he’s able to make a comeback, the NBA would likely still be his first choice.
Here are more odds and ends from around the international basketball world:
- The qualifying tournaments for the rescheduled Tokyo Olympics will take place between June 22 and July 4, 2021, FIBA announced in a press release. Serbia, Croatia, Lithuania, and Canada will host those four qualifiers and are among the countries still vying for a spot in the Olympic men’s basketball tournament.
- The Lega Basket Serie A, Italy’s top basketball league, officially announced this week that the remainder of its 2019/20 season has been canceled, as Stefan Djordjevic of Eurohoops.net relays. The move had been expected. While Virtus Bologna ranked atop the league with an 18-2 record, no champion will be crowned.
- Even as basketball leagues around Europe cancel their seasons, the EuroLeague continue to hold out hope that it will be possible to complete its 2019/20 campaign in some form, as it announced today in a press release.
Hiatus Notes: Staying In Shape, Force Majeure, More
If the NBA does attempt to resume its 2019/20 season this summer, the amount of time players will get to get game-ready could be a key point of contention, especially since they’ll have to adjust to the intensity of the postseason almost immediately upon resumption.
During a recent appearance on the Wizards’ Off The Bench podcast, Dr. Daniel Medina, the Wizards‘ chief of athletic care and performance, addressed that issue. As Medina explained, it’s a challenge to keep players in peak physical condition when a potential return date has yet to be set. However, he acknowledged that they’re dealing with “young, healthy athletes,” and expressed optimism that they may only need a couple weeks to prepare.
“As every basketball fan knows, the biggest challenge, at this point when you stop, is tendon issues and chronic joint issues,” Medina said. “In that sense, the program that we have put together, and a lot of credit to our PTs, let’s have our guys not lose much muscle, have those tendons ready to be uploaded and if we’re given two or three weeks to ramp up, we’ll be ready to do it.”
Here’s more on the NBA’s hiatus and the issues that come along with it:
- Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report posits that reducing the number of teams required to resume the season from 30 to 16 – essentially just the playoff clubs – would give the NBA a more realistic chance to complete the 2019/20 campaign in a single city.
- If the NBA triggers the force majeure clause in the league’s Collective Bargaining Agreement and requires players to give back a portion of their salaries, that won’t apply to waived players with guaranteed contracts or players on two-way deals. According to Stefan Bondy of The New York Daily News (Twitter link), the NBPA clarified that point to agents in a conference call this week.
- David Aldridge of The Athletic takes an in-depth, behind-the-scenes look back at the night of March 11 in Oklahoma City, when the NBA had to make a quick decision not just to postpone the Jazz/Thunder game that was about to tip off, but also to suspend the entire season.
NBA Players To Receive Full April 15 Pay Checks
NBA teams will send full pay checks to players on the league’s next payment date, April 15, according to reports from Shams Charania of The Athletic and ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter links).
The league had previously proposed to the National Basketball Players Association that players accept a 50% pay check reduction beginning on April 15 due to the suspension of the season, with the NBPA counter-proposing that players take a 25% reduction beginning in mid-May. Today’s news doesn’t mean the union’s proposal won out, but – as Wojnarowski tweets – it does suggest that May 1 will be the next payment date to watch as negotiations between the two sides continue.
The NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement calls for approximately a 50/50 revenue split between the teams and players. For now, team owners are bearing the brunt of the NBA’s lost revenue due to the coronavirus pandemic, but that dynamic will have to shift at some point.
As cap guru Albert Nahmad and others have explained, in the event that regular-season and/or playoff games are canceled, the “force majeure” clause in the CBA would allow the NBA to recoup a portion of players’ salaries — approximately 1% per canceled game. However, as long as the remainder of the 2019/20 season is considered to be “postponed” rather than canceled, the league has little leverage to withhold players’ pay for the time being.
If they continue to receive their pay checks in full, players will likely put themselves in a position where they have to return some of that money to the NBA down the road – if and when games are canceled – to balance the revenue split. That’s especially true for players who only receive their annual salaries in 12 installments through May 1 instead of 24 installments through November 1, since those players have nearly been paid in full already for 2019/20.
Not all players will necessarily have to return money to the NBA in the coming weeks or months, even if games are canceled. Jabari Young of CNBC, who wrote earlier in the week about this issue, suggested that for players whose deals run beyond the current season, team owners may instead recoup a portion of their salaries over the length of those contracts.
More Notes, Details On Bulls’ Hiring Of Karnisovas
Once Arturas Karnisovas formally assumes control of the Bulls‘ front office, he intends to hire a person of color to be the team’s general manager, a league source tells Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports. Goodwill’s story comes on the heels of a Wednesday report which indicated that black executives around the NBA were upset that all five candidates known to have interviewed for the top Chicago job were white, including a couple who had made racially insensitive comments in the past.
According to Goodwill, the Bulls requested permission during their search process to speak to Thunder VP of basketball operations Troy Weaver, who is black, but were denied. Chicago also tried to interview Raptors GM Bobby Webster, a Japanese-American, but didn’t receive permission from Toronto.
As K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago tweets, the Bulls did hold an informal interview with former Chicago center Nazr Mohammed, who has worked in Oklahoma City’s front office. That interview wasn’t for the team’s top front office job though.
Bulls COO Michael Reinsdorf has made a series of diverse hires in the Bulls’ business operations department in recent years, per Goodwill, who hears that the younger Reinsdorf has spoken both publicly and privately about the importance of having a diverse staff.
Here’s more on the Bulls’ hiring of Karnisovas and on the Nuggets, who will lose their general manager:
- A source tells Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times that longtime executive VP of basketball operations John Paxson will continue to be a “sounding board” for the Reinsdorfs going forward, but will only weigh in on basketball decisions if asked by Karnisovas.
- The Bulls’ front office search had its flaws, but the team ultimately landed on a very promising candidate in Karnisovas, opines Jon Greenberg of The Athletic.
- Rockets GM Daryl Morey, who previously worked with Karnisovas in Houston, praised the Bulls’ choice and told Tom Haberstroh of NBC Sports (Twitter link via K.C. Johnson) that he’s happy to see the veteran exec get a shot to run a team. “Arturas is one of the best executives in the NBA,” Morey said. “I’m so happy he is getting this opportunity. He was instrumental in our success. I’m also thrilled he’s in the East now!”
- Nuggets president of basketball operations Tim Connelly and team owner Josh Kroenke were “instrumental” in helping Karnisovas land the Chicago job, a source tells Mike Singer of The Denver Post. In a separate story for The Post, Singer spoke to former NBA player Jared Jeffries, who worked with Karnisovas for four years in Denver’s front office and called the Bulls’ decision to hire him a “no-brainer.”
- Karnisovas’ departure leaves the Nuggets with a hole in their basketball operations department, and Nick Kosmider of The Athletic suggests that assistant GM Calvin Booth may be a candidate for a promotion.
Mississippi State’s Robert Woodard II Entering Draft
Mississippi State forward Robert Woodard II has elected to enter the 2020 NBA draft, informing Jonathan Givony of ESPN of his decision. His plan is to go pro and forgo his final two years of college eligibility, though he’s keeping his options open for now.
“I am going in to the draft with the intention of not going back to school,” Woodard told ESPN. “I am maintaining my eligibility because of the uncertainty about the dates and what workouts will look like, but I don’t look it at is as testing the waters. I am all-in with this thing.”
[RELATED: 2020 NBA Draft Early Entrants List]
After playing a modest role off the bench as a freshman, Woodard moved into the starting lineup and took an impressive step forward in his sophomore season, averaging 11.4 PPG, 6.5 RPG, and 1.1 SPG. In 31 games (33.1 MPG), he posted an impressive .495 FG% and .429 3PT%.
According to Givony, Woodard’s 7’1″ wingspan, “chiseled” frame, defensive versatility, and improving outside shot could make him an ideal combo forward at the NBA level. The youngster ranks 24th overall on ESPN’s big board, meaning he projects as a likely first-round pick.
NBA, ESPN Announce Details Of H-O-R-S-E Competition
As expected, Thunder guard Chris Paul, Hawks guard Trae Young, and Bulls guard Zach LaVine are among the players who will participate in the H-O-R-S-E competition being organized by the NBA, NBPA, and ESPN, per a press release.
According to the announcement, Jazz guard Mike Conley, former NBA stars Chauncey Billups and Paul Pierce, newly-elected Hall-of-Famer Tamika Catchings, and three-time WNBA All-Star Allie Quigley will fill out the eight-person field for the event.
The four quarterfinal matchups will air on Sunday evening (April 12), with Young facing Billups and Catchings facing Conley in group one, while LaVine goes up against Pierce and Paul squares off against Quigley in group two. The group one winners will face one another in the first semifinal next Thursday (April 16), with the group two winners competing in the second semifinal. The final will take place on the same night.
A coin toss will determine which player starts each matchup. Each player will be required to describe his or her shot attempt beforehand and dunking won’t be permitted. ESPN’s Mark Jones will serve as the event’s host, with each player attempting shots from his or her own home gym.
The event will raise more than $200K in support of coronavirus relief efforts.
Bulls Finalizing Deal To Hire Arturas Karnisovas
The Bulls are finalizing a deal with Nuggets general manager Arturas Karnisovas that will make him Chicago’s new executive VP of basketball operations, sources tell ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).
According to Woj (via Twitter), the Bulls offered the job to Karnisovas earlier in the evening on Wednesday and spent the night negotiating the details.
Karnisovas’ diverse background in basketball was said to appeal to the Bulls. Before working with Nuggets president of basketball operations Tim Connelly to build a contender in Denver, Karnisovas was part of the basketball operations department in the NBA’s league office and served as an international scout for the Rockets. He also had a successful EuroLeague career as a player and won a pair of bronze medals for Lithuania’s national team in the Olympics.
Karnisovas had been with the Nuggets since being hired as an assistant general manager in 2013. He was promoted to GM in 2017 and helped build a roster that won 54 games in 2018/19 and was on nearly an identical pace this year before the NBA suspended its season.
Momentum had been building toward Karnisovas landing the job throughout the week as he interviewed for the position and emerged as a frontrunner. He’ll now be tasked with hiring a new general manager and reshaping the Bulls’ front office, per Wojnarowski. With no end to the NBA’s hiatus in sight, the Bulls’ new exec should have plenty of time to evaluate the roster and weigh offseason options for the franchise.
Longtime Bulls executive VP of basketball operations John Paxson is expected to move into the background as part of the front office overhaul. While Paxson will likely assume an advisory position, he’d reportedly be willing to step down from the franchise altogether if Karnisovas and team ownership decide there’s no role for him. Meanwhile, a reassignment to the scouting department appears to be the most likely outcome for general manager Gar Forman.
Jazz GM Justin Zanik, former Hawks GM Wes Wilcox, and veteran executives Bryan Colangelo and Danny Ferry were among the other candidates to speak to the Bulls this week. Chicago was also said to have interest in Pacers GM Chad Buchanan, Raptors GM Bobby Webster, and Heat assistant GM Adam Simon, but they didn’t end up interviewing with the Bulls and will stay with their respective teams.
As for the Nuggets, it remains to be seen how Karnisovas’ impending departure will impact their front office. Assistant GM Calvin Booth could be among the candidates for a promotion as Denver looks to fill the hole created by Karnisovas’ exit.
Bulls Notes: Karnisovas, Zanik, Reinsdorf, Boylen
Nuggets general manager Arturas Karnisovas made a strong impression on the Bulls‘ front office during his interview today, a source tells Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times. Management plans to meet with Karnisovas again electronically in a few days, and he could be hired as soon as next week.
A few other prominent names emerged today from the team’s interview process and some of them may be added to the organization as well, Cowley adds, as chief operating officer Michael Reinsdorf is using the makeover to create depth in the front office. Cowley states that not all the interviews have been for the executive VP of basketball operations position, and some of them were just former executives that Reinsdorf wanted to gather information from.
The source says Jazz executive Justin Zanik also impressed Reinsdorf with his background in player relationships and salary cap knowledge. The Bulls may decide to hire several executives and have them manage separate departments.
There’s more tonight from Chicago:
- NBA writer Stephen Noh examines Karnisovas’ background in a story on The Patreon. His aggressive philosophy toward trades was shaped by his first NBA job with the Rockets more than a decade ago, where he worked with general manager Daryl Morey, former Sixers GM Sam Hinkie and current Timberwolves president of basketball operations Gersson Rosas. “They would call every team constantly and look for ideas of how they can make their team better.” Karnisovas said. “That’s what I took and still to this day, I believe in coming up with 100 ideas. Maybe one will stick.”
- Jeremy Woo of Sports Illustrated examines some of the challenges awaiting whoever gets hired to run the team. He believes there’s too much young talent in place for a complete overhaul, but veterans such as Thaddeus Young and Tomas Satoransky may be moved. A decision also has to be made on the fate of head coach Jim Boylen.
- Black executives around the league are upset that no African American candidates have been interviewed in the Bulls’ front office search, according to Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated. “It’s clear there is an underlying hypocrisy telling us the NBA is diverse, but when an opportunity comes, the process isn’t,” a black assistant GM said. “All we want is a chance. As a black man, all we want is a fair opportunity to show we are just as qualified.”
Lakers Notes: LeBron, Pelinka, Bryant, Green
In a conference call today with reporters, LeBron James said he has been training four or five times each day during the shutdown and shooting with his children on his outdoor court, tweets Mark Medina of USA Today. James also addressed the wait for the league to start playing again, saying he understands that the health of safety of everyone involved comes first, but he’s strongly hoping the season can be completed (Twitter link).
“I don’t think I’ll be able to have any closure if we’re not able to finish the season,” he said.
James referred to the pandemic as “a roadblock for all of us” and “a test,” adds Mike Bresnahan of Spectrum Sportsnet (Twitter link). With the Lakers holding the West’s best record, they have extra motivation to resume the season, but James said he hasn’t spoken directly to commissioner Adam Silver about the situation.
“(In a perfect world), it would be with fans in the stands,” James said. “It just makes the game that much better.” (Twitter link).
There’s more Lakers news to pass along:
- General manager Rob Pelinka takes inspiration from Kobe Bryant while dealing with the pandemic and its effects on the team, writes Mirjam Swanson of The Orange County Register. “He would always say that the trials of life are kind of when greatness is forged,” Pelinka said today during a Zoom call with reporters. “If you were on a knight’s journey with him and a huge fire-breathing dragon ended up in the pathway ahead, he would say, ‘OK, this is why this is good right now. We’re going to meet this challenge and here’s how we’re going to get around it and here’s how we’re going to defeat it.’ That was just his nature, that obstacles or hard times would lead somehow to growth, and I think that’s the way I’m going to look at 2020.”
- The Lakers are also using Zoom, a videoconferencing service, to allow their players to work out together even though they can’t be in the same place, according to Dave McMenamin of ESPN. The strength and conditioning staff delivers fitness equipment to the players for workout sessions. “These guys just have a great chemistry of being together,” Pelinka said. “So they’ve tried to stay as connected as possible in the ways they can, working out together virtually.”
- Danny Green said on his recent podcast that players will use “any means necessary … to try and salvage the season,” relays Scott Polacek of Bleacher Report. “Right now we’re fighting,” Green said. “Most guys think that for sure we’re going to have a season, it’s just going to start later than we expected, and just trying to get the next season to be pushed back is not going to be as easy as people think it’s going to be.”