Draft Notes: McClung, Wright, Faulkner, Olaniyi
After testing the 2020 NBA draft waters, Georgetown’s Mac McClung has decided to withdraw his name from consideration. However, he won’t be returning to the Hoyas. According to ESPN’s Jonathan Givony, McClung has requested to enter the transfer portal and will become “the most sought-after transfer in the country.”
“It was a number of different events that made me feel I had no choice but to transfer from Georgetown,” McClung told Givony. “I really wanted to stay, but things throughout my career made me realize that I couldn’t.”
Georgetown head coach Patrick Ewing said last week that McClung would be returning to Georgetown for the 2020/21 season, prompting McClung’s agent to clarify that the guard was still testing the draft waters. McClung told ESPN that mix-up wasn’t a deciding factor in his decision to transfer, but admitted it confused NBA teams and impacted his pre-draft process. McClung reportedly had virtual meeting with at least 11 clubs.
Here are a few more draft-related updates:
- Having signed with NCAA-certified agent Chris Emens, Colorado’s McKinley Wright can continue to test the draft waters while maintaining his college eligibility, tweets Jeff Goodman of Stadium. Wright is still deciding whether to go pro or return to school for his senior year.
- Western Carolina’s Mason Faulkner will withdraw from the NBA Draft and return to school, Goodman tweets. Faulkner averaged 17.7 points per game last season.
- Elijah Olaniyi will also withdraw from the draft, Goodman reports (Twitter link). Olaniyi played for Stony Brook last season, though he plans on transferring.
- Former front office executive John Hollinger identifies a list of players he’d be willing to bet on making it in the NBA, as he writes for The Athletic. Hollinger has LaMelo Ball atop his list.
Luke Adams contributed to this post.
Enes Kanter Plans To Eventually Join WWE
Even if the NBA never comes back, Enes Kanter won’t be without a job. The Celtics center has been offered a deal to compete in the WWE and he plans on accepting it after his basketball career is over, as he tells Shams Charania of The Athletic (video link).
Kanter previously explained to JD Shaw of Hoops Rumors why he felt an attachment to professional wrestling.
“I’m very serious about it. I feel like it’s my world,” Kanter told Shaw last season. “You just got to go out there, talk trash, troll people. Lifting, I love lifting. It’s just fun, man. I don’t want to stop my sports career when I’m done with basketball. A lot of people go into broadcasting, coaching, but I want to continue opening the door in sports. That’s why I’m very serious about it.”
Kanter has been in contact with the WWE for some time, as he has relationships with some of the wrestlers in the league. The 27-year-old still has plenty of basketball left in the tank. In his eight-year career, the 2011 No. 3 overall pick has appeared in 634 games, averaging 11.6 points and 7.7 rebounds per contest.
NBA, NCAA Indefinitely Postpone Early Entrant Withdrawal Date
The NCAA and NBA have indefinitely postponed the early entrant withdrawal date for draft prospects, the NCAA announced in a statement. It was originally scheduled for June 3.
Usually, it’s the date that college underclassmen would need to withdraw their names by in order to retain NCAA eligibility. Typically, it falls 10 days after the draft combine. With the combine postponed indefinitely, the news doesn’t come a major shock.
“This modification is being made with the health and well-being of our student-athletes in mind, along with their ability to make the most informed decisions during this uncertain time, and is based on the recent announcement by the NBA to postpone the 2020 NBA Draft Combine,” NCAA senior VP of basketball Dan Gavitt said in a statement.
The NBA’s own withdrawal deadline falls 10 days before the draft and had been scheduled for June 15. That date, which is generally the one to watch for international prospects, will presumably be pushed back indefinitely as well.
The league still hopes to hold a combine, whether it’s an in-person or virtual event. The NBA has also postponed the draft lottery, but hasn’t yet officially moved back the June 25 draft.
And-Ones: Game Ball, Mo Williams, Zion, Kobe
The NBA will be making a change to its on-court product starting in 2021/22 that figures to be felt by players — even if it’s hardly noticed by fans. According to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports, the NBA’s long-standing relationship with Spalding is coming to an end, as the two sides have mutually agreed to part ways. The league has reached a deal with Wilson to produce the NBA’s official game ball, starting in ’21/22.
As Haynes details, the NBA has been using Spalding balls since 1983, though Wilson manufactured the league’s game balls before that. Wilson, which will also begin producing balls for the WNBA and G League, is already the official game ball of the NCAA tournament.
According to Haynes, the NBA and NBPA will have a significant amount of input on the new game ball, and the leather and product specifications will remain unchanged, which should go a long way toward creating a smooth transition from Spalding to Wilson.
Here are more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- Former NBA guard Mo Williams has been hired by Alabama State as the school’s new men’s basketball head coach, according to a press release from the program. Williams, who had previously been an assistant coach at California State University at Northridge (CSUN), had a 13-year NBA career, earning an All-Star spot in 2009 and a championship in 2016, his final season.
- The legal battle between Pelicans forward Zion Williamson and his former marketing representative – Prime Sports Marketing president Gina Ford – took another interesting step forward this week, as Ford’s attorneys are pushing to get Williamson to admit he accepted unauthorized benefits at Duke. Dana O’Neil and Diamond Leung of The Athletic and Michael McCann of SI.com have shared informative breakdowns explaining what to make of the latest developments in the case.
- The facility previously known as the Mamba Sports Academy is dropping the “Mamba” moniker, announcing that it will retire that part of the name and “raise it to the rafters” in honor of the late Kobe Bryant. After initially stating that the decision was made out of respect for Kobe’s legacy, Sports Academy later clarified that “it was a mutual agreement made in accordance with the wishes of (Bryant’s) estate.”
Florida Governor Says State Open For Sports
After Arizona Governor Doug Ducey announced on Tuesday that professional sports (without fans in attendance) will be permitted in his state beginning this weekend, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis made a similar announcement on Wednesday (video link via Andy Slater of Fox Sports 640 South Florida).
“All professional sports are welcome here for practicing and for playing,” DeSantis said during a news conference, per ESPN. “… What I would tell commissioners of leagues is, if you have a team in an area where they just won’t let them operate, we’ll find a place for you here in the state of Florida. Because we think it’s important and we know it can be done safely.”
Given the number of unknowns surrounding the reopening of professional sports leagues and all the work those leagues are doing to understand the risks of resuming play, DeSantis’ assertion that “we know it can be done safely” seems somewhat dubious. Still, the fact that the state of Florida is willing to accommodate professional sports could be good news for commissioner Adam Silver and the NBA.
If and when the league makes its own determination that the 2019/20 season can be safely resumed, games are expected to be played in one or two “bubble” locations. One of the top candidates to host that “bubble” is Walt Disney World near Orlando, so the fact that Florida’s state government is seemingly on board removes one potential roadblock for the NBA.
Kings, Pacers, Heat Among Latest Teams To Reopen Facilities
Teams around the NBA continue to reopen their practice facilities to accommodate voluntary individual workouts for their players. The Kings, Pacers, and Heat are among the latest teams to do so.
As James Ham of NBC Sports California details, Sacramento opened its facility on Monday, and a handful of players have already taken advantage of the opportunity to get some work in.
The same thing happened in Indiana this week, according to J. Michael of The Indianapolis Star. Michael’s source didn’t identify the specific players who have been back at St. Vincent Center, but said some players have returned to the facility, even as many staffers still aren’t cleared to enter the building.
As for the Heat, they reopened their facility at AmericanAirlines Arena on Wednesday, writes Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun-Sentinel. All but three of Miami’s players are still in the South Beach area, per Winderman, so a number of those players figure to make use of the building.
The Cavaliers, Trail Blazers, Nuggets, Jazz, Hawks, and Raptors are among the teams that have also opened their respective facilities. Raptors forward Malcolm Miller confirmed today that he was the first player back at the club’s facility in Toronto earlier this week (Twitter link via Blake Murphy of The Athletic).
As the list of teams with reopened facilities grows, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported on Tuesday night that the league believes 22 of its 30 teams will have their building opened back up by next Monday (May 18). However, situations remain fluid.
For instance, the Wizards had reportedly targeted this Friday to reopen their practice facility. That target date is now up in the air, since the stay-at-home order in Washington, D.C. has now been extended through June 8, tweets Fred Katz of The Athletic.
Players who have been given the green light to participate in individual workouts at their teams’ facilities face restrictive guidelines. They can only work out for an hour at a time, with no more than four total players in the building. They also must undergo temperature checks before entering the facility and are required to wear a mask when not engaged in physical activity.
Players Eligible For Rookie Scale Extensions In 2020 Offseason
When the NBA’s 2020/21 league year begins in November, players eligible for free agency will be able to begin negotiating and reaching contract agreements with suitors. In addition to those free agents, another group of players will also become eligible to sign new deals.
For players who are entering the fourth and final year of their rookie scale contracts, the first day of the new league year (November 21) is the first day they can agree to rookie scale extensions. Those players, who are almost exclusively 2017 first-round selections, will have until December 21, the day before the 2020/21 regular season starts, to finalize long-term agreements with their current teams.
Players eligible for rookie scale extensions can sign new deals that run for up to four – or five – years, with those contracts taking effect beginning in 2021/22. If they don’t sign extensions during the coming offseason, those players will be eligible for restricted free agency in the summer of 2021.
A year ago, nine players eligible for rookie scale extensions signed new deals between July 1 and the start of the season. That number was a little higher than usual, likely because few teams projected to have significant cap room available in 2020. Still, we should have at least that many viable candidates for rookie scale extensions this time around, even if that doesn’t mean they’ll all sign new contracts.
Here are the players who will be eligible to sign rookie scale extensions during the 2020 offseason:
- Bam Adebayo (Heat): Extended
- Jarrett Allen (Nets)
- OG Anunoby (Raptors): Extended
- Lonzo Ball (Pelicans)
- Tony Bradley (Sixers)
- John Collins (Hawks)
- Zach Collins (Trail Blazers)
- Terrance Ferguson (Sixers)
- De’Aaron Fox (Kings): Extended
- Markelle Fultz (Magic): Extended
- Josh Hart (Pelicans)
- Jonathan Isaac (Magic): Extended
- Justin Jackson (Thunder)
- Luke Kennard (Clippers): Extended
- Kyle Kuzma (Lakers): Extended
- T.J. Leaf (Thunder)
- Lauri Markkanen (Bulls)
- Donovan Mitchell (Jazz): Extended
- Malik Monk (Hornets)
- Frank Ntilikina (Knicks)
- Dennis Smith Jr. (Knicks)
- Jayson Tatum (Celtics): Extended
- Derrick White (Spurs): Extended
- D.J. Wilson (Bucks)
The following players were either selected in the first round of the 2017 draft or signed their rookie scale contracts in ’17 along with the players listed above. However, they aren’t eligible for rookie scale extensions this year for the reasons noted:
- Harry Giles: Fourth-year option declined by Kings in 2019.
- Josh Jackson: Fourth-year option declined by Grizzlies in 2019.
- Tyler Lydon: Third-year option declined by Nuggets in 2018.
- Anzejs Pasecniks: Never signed rookie scale contract; rights renounced by Sixers in 2019.
- Justin Patton: Third-year option declined by Timberwolves in 2018.
- Caleb Swanigan: Fourth-year option declined by Kings in 2019.
- Guerschon Yabusele: Waived by Celtics in 2019.
- Ante Zizic: Fourth-year option declined by Cavaliers in 2019.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Knicks Notes: Anthony, Head Coach, Free Agency
As they prepare for the 2020 NBA draft, the Knicks have “extensively” scouted North Carolina point guard Cole Anthony, a source tells Ian Begley of SNY.tv. Anthony, who currently ranks 11th on ESPN’s big board, could be an option for New York if the team doesn’t move up in the draft lottery. Currently, the Knicks are most likely to land at No. 7 or 8.
Begley cautions that just because the Knicks are doing a ton of homework on Anthony, that doesn’t mean they’ll draft him or even that they’re targeting him. After all, the club is also said to be keeping a close eye on RJ Hampton and is likely monitoring several other lottery prospects too.
Still, the Knicks’ potential interest in Anthony is worth keeping in mind. A report back in February – shortly after the team reached agreed to hire new president of basketball operations Leon Rose – suggested the Knicks intended to target a scoring point guard in the draft. And Anthony, who grew up in New York, has talked about having interest in joining the franchise.
Here’s more on the Knicks:
- In a mailbag for SNY.tv, Ian Begley discusses RJ Barrett‘s future, the Knicks’ draft plans, possible offseason trade targets, and more. Responding to one question about the head coaching situation, Begley says that he knows Tom Thibodeau is a strong candidate and that he expects Mike Miller to get an interview, but he’s not certain yet about any other specific candidates.
- Mike Vorkunov and Danny Leroux of The Athletic explore which players might be good options for the Knicks in free agency and discuss whether pursuing a Chris Paul trade would make sense for the organization. Leroux isn’t in favor of going after Paul, pointing to a few veteran point guards on the free agent market who would come at a more reasonable cost, albeit without CP3’s upside.
- In case you missed it over the weekend, we previewed the Knicks’ salary cap situation for the 2020/21 league year.
Southeast Notes: Magic, Hawks, Heat, Jones
After initially targeting Tuesday as the date for the potential reopening of their practice facility, the Magic delayed that target date to Wednesday, tweets Josh Robbins of The Athletic.
While there’s a chance that the team hits that target date and opens its facility today, Orlando is still waiting on coronavirus test results for some of its asymptomatic players and staffers, according to Robbins, who tweets that the Magic are in a “holding pattern” for the time being.
Although their plans remain fluid, the Magic appear likely to allow players to conduct individual workouts at their facility soon, something the Hawks did earlier this week.
Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has questioned the need to reopen his team’s facility, since his players have their own workout equipment and hoops, and the NBA is limiting players to an hour at a time at practice facilities. But Hawks general manager Travis Schlenk sees value in making his team’s facility available to players, as Chris Kirschner of The Athletic writes.
“You can certainly get a lot out of this,” Schlenk said. “You can get individual skill work, form stuff. For us, the focus this week is to really just get the guys back in the building and be able to get out of the house. It’s more the mental side than the physical side of things that we can get out of this. I’ve told the coaches that this isn’t the week to prove you’re the best individual coach in the league. This week is about getting the guys in here, getting their bodies moving.”
Here’s more from around the Southeast:
- Outside of the young core building blocks on their roster, it’s not clear how many of the Hawks‘ current complementary pieces might be keepers. Chris Kirschner of The Athletic digs into that subject by examining which of the team’s free-agents-to-be are most (and least) likely to return. In Kirschner’s view, Skal Labissiere and Jeff Teague are at least decent candidates to re-sign, but DeAndre’ Bembry, Treveon Graham, and Damian Jones probably aren’t.
- Speaking at a “virtual luncheon” earlier this week, Hawks CEO Steve Koonin said the franchise has committed to paying all of its full-time and part-time employees through at least the end of the fiscal year on June 30, per Tim Tucker of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
- In his latest mailbag, Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel explores what it would take for the Heat to lose Derrick Jones in free agency this offseason and how the team would replace his minutes in that scenario.
- We rounded up a handful of Wizards-related items earlier today.
Latest On Potential Resumption Of NBA Season
The idea of the NBA resuming its 2019/20 season seemed to take a positive step forward on Tuesday evening as a result of a pair of news items. As we relayed, the NBPA sent a memo to agents informing them that the union’s sense is that players want to finish the season. Meanwhile, commissioner Adam Silver spoke to the league’s Board of Governors and conveyed a sense of optimism about the resumption of the season, suggesting that a decision might be possible within the next two-to-four weeks.
Both of those stories include several important details on the discussions that the league and its players are having, but we’ve got a few more related notes to pass along this morning. Let’s dive in…
- The NBA world is generally in agreement that it makes sense to wait until the “last possible minute” to make a decision on the season, in order to gain as much info as possible before then, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski said this morning during a Get Up appearance (video link). However, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic, there’s a sense that a decision can’t be put off until July. In other words, that decision is likely to be finalized in June.
- Wojnarowski and Charania both note that executives and players around the NBA – even on lottery teams – understand the financial ramifications tied to the decision on whether or not to complete the season. That understanding contributed to an “overwhelming” support among players for resuming and finishing the season, per Woj and Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press.
- According to Reynolds, the poll conducted by the NBPA on players’ desire to resume the season gave a “clear sense” that players would like to play not just the postseason but at least some of the regular season as well.
- However, Reynolds cautions that the methodology of the NBPA poll – including how many players responded – is unclear. And Marc Berman of The New York Post (Twitter link) hears from a source that there was some internal miscommunication in the union and that the poll was unauthorized. For what it’s worth, one player told The Los Angeles Times that he thought about 70% of players were in favor of completing the season, which wouldn’t exactly qualify as “overwhelming” support — but that could have just been a rough estimate.
- Once the league formalizes its plans for a return, it will aim to standardize coronavirus testing among the 30 teams, tweets Wojnarowski. “The biggest issue is the number of tests, and we can’t take tests from those who need it,” one source involved in Tuesday’s Board of Governors call told Charania.
- Silver also said on Tuesday’s call that if one positive test is enough to shut down the season, then “we probably shouldn’t go down this path,” tweets Wojnarowski. That means, as noted on Tuesday, that the league is prepared for some number of positive tests — it’s not clear how many would be too many.