Wizards Notes: Quickley, J. Smith, Draft, Facility
While they can’t meet in person with this year’s draft prospects, the Wizards are doing their homework on a number of players.
According to Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington, the team has spoken to Kentucky’s Immanuel Quickley and intends to interview Maryland’s Jalen Smith this week. The Wizards have also touched base with Arizona’s Zeke Nnaji, as we noted on Tuesday.
While much of the draft speculation involving the Wizards will focus on the team’s lottery pick, the club is also projected to hold the 37th overall selection. The three players listed above could be candidates for that pick — Smith is ranked 30th on ESPN’s big board, with Nnaji coming in at No. 34 and Quickley at No. 54.
Hughes also points out that even if the Wizards don’t get a chance to draft any of those players, it makes sense to get as familiar with them as possible. For instance, after working him out a couple times, the team was high on Moritz Wagner leading up to the 2018 draft. Although they couldn’t justify picking him at No. 15, the Wizards ultimately ended up acquiring Wagner from the Lakers in a trade a year later.
Here’s more on the Wizards:
- In a two-part series, Sam Vecenie and Fred Katz of The Athletic break down what a number of different draft scenarios would look like for the Wizards, who will likely end up at No. 9 or 10 if they don’t get lucky in this year’s lottery. The Athletic’s duo have Washington selecting Anthony Edwards at No. 1 and view Tyrese Haliburton, Cole Anthony, and Devin Vassell as some of the team’s potential options in the 9-10 range.
- Head coach Scott Brooks said during an NBA TV appearance earlier this week that as long as “everything goes as planned,” the Wizards will reopen their practice facility for individual voluntary workouts on Friday, tweets Katz. As Katz notes, not all the Wizards players are still in the D.C. area, but some are.
- In case you missed it, Rui Hachimura earned a spot on Hoops Rumors’ All-Rookie Second Team for 2019/20, based on your votes. Check out the full results of our All-Rookie polls right here.
NBA Return Gaining Momentum
10:11pm: The NBA said on today’s call that it plans to continue doing its homework over the next two-to-four weeks before making any decisions on whether to resume the season, Wojnarowski writes in his full report on today’s Board of Governors call. Sources tell ESPN that the league still isn’t sure exactly what a resumed season would look like or whether all 30 teams would participate.
The league office isn’t necessarily optimistic about rapid-response coronavirus testing becoming widely available over the next month, but will continue monitoring developments in testing types, as well as studying the trajectory of cases in reopening states and examining how other leagues that are restarting are handling positive tests, Woj adds.
Wojnarowski also reports that the NBA is hopeful that 22 of the league’s 30 teams will have their practice facilities reopened by next Monday.
9:36pm: There’s more optimism about the NBA resuming its season after commissioner Adam Silver concluded his call with the Board of Governors today, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.com reports (Twitter link). According to Wojnarowski, the conversation included significant detail on how other pro sports leagues are handling their respective returns.
Positive COVID-19 tests may not result in a re-suspension of the season. Woj adds that the discussion between Silver and the Board of Governors touched on how the league and players need to be comfortable with some positive tests. It remains to be seen how many positive tests would qualify as too many.
The league continues to look for ways to resume the campaign as safely as possible. Silver used the term “campus environment” when referring to what’s being called a bubble, Wojnarowski adds.
The NBPA has sent a memo to agents signaling the belief that players want to finish out the campaign. Many of the league’s stars are unified on that front as they look to find a way to resume play.
NBA Players Committee Begins Parsing Comeback Plans
The National Basketball Players Association has sent a memo to agents stating that there’s a sense that both the players and the league want to finish the 2019/20 season, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets.
NBPA president Chris Paul is joined by Russell Westbrook, Jayson Tatum, Kyle Lowry, and Dwight Powell on a committee that is working with the league on potential plans.
Paul reportedly held a call with many of the NBA’s superstars on Monday — including LeBron James, Stephen Curry, and Kawhi Leonard — discussing the coronavirus ramifications and the potential to resume the season. Those star players were unified in their desire to play out the 2019/20 campaign.
The NBPA polled players via text, asking them how they felt about completing the season. One player told Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times that he believes that the percentage is “70-30” of players who want to finish out the campaign.
“But 30% is a big number,” the player said. “And what do you say to somebody who says, ‘You know what, I just don’t feel safe?’ It’s hard to argue that. But there are reasons to argue that because I know the NBA would be one of the safest places to be at. That thing would be tight, clean, protocol, all that.”
Las Vegas and Orlando continue to be tossed around as options to hold clusters of games in order to reduce the risk of COVID-19 spreading through travel. However, the league hasn’t made any firm decisions yet.
“We have been approached by multiple properties regarding potential options for hosting NBA games, including MGM,” NBA spokesman Mike Bass said. “We have not engaged in any substantive discussions.”
Arizona To Allow Major League Sports
Arizona Governor Doug Ducey has announced (via Twitter) that major league sports can resume “limited reopening” on Saturday, May 16. For now, fans won’t be permitted to attend any games played in the state.
The Suns were aware of Ducey’s announcement and have planned to have their facility reopen as early as May 16 — when the state’s stay-at-home order expires — according to Mark Faller of The Arizona Republic. Phoenix’s players will be able to perform individual workouts, on a voluntary basis, within the guidelines the NBA has set forth.
While the news affects the Suns, it could be more impactful for the MLB, as the league is contemplating playing clusters of games in the state as it looks to start its season. The league’s owners recently finalized a proposal to send to the MLBPA which outlines a plan to return to play.
As a reminder, be sure to follow MLB Trade Rumors for the latest on baseball’s return and more!
Pacific Notes: Suns, Tatum, Warriors, Kings
Celtics forward Jayson Tatum spoke this week about being enamored by the Suns leading up to the 2017 draft and hoping to fall to Phoenix at No. 4. According to Tatum, a meeting with the Suns’ then-coach Earl Watson a few days before the draft helped sell him on the organization. Speaking on Monday to Jay King of The Athletic, Watson confirmed that he was high on Tatum during the pre-draft process.
As Watson tells it, he wanted Tatum badly enough that he had some “uncomfortable” conversations with team owner Robert Sarver, who preferred Josh Jackson. Watson tells King that he tried to get the Suns to do whatever it took to get in position to land Tatum.
“I was pushing Tatum,” Watson said. “Like, we had to move up for Tatum, we had to get Tatum. And ownership chose Josh Jackson. … I knew the two players were dynamically different, but my vision was what’s the best fit for Devin Booker. Booker and Tatum, I think a combination like that right now would have been completely different than anything in the NBA at that age.”
Although Watson’s story is compelling, John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 pushes back against the former head coach’s recollections of the 2017 draft. According to Gambadoro (via Twitter), the Suns had Tatum ranked ahead of Jackson on their board and would have drafted Tatum if they’d had the opportunity to do so.
As Gambadoro explains (via Twitter), since the Celtics initially controlled the No. 1 pick and had Tatum atop their board, the Suns had no avenue to move up to select the young forward. Presumably, when Boston swung a deal to move down to No. 3, the C’s had assurances that the Sixers and Lakers wouldn’t be trading out of the top two spots, which would have been Phoenix’s only path to Tatum.
Here’s more from around the Pacific:
- Teams around the NBA are reopening their practice facilities for individual voluntary workouts, but that won’t happen anytime soon for the Warriors, who are tentatively aiming for June 1, per Anthony Slater of The Athletic. As Slater observes, the last-place Dubs won’t have the same urgency to return to their building as some other California teams might, so they’re “waiting for the (government) order, not influencing it.”
- After Klay Thompson recently cautioned against assuming the Warriors‘ dynasty is over, fellow Splash Brother Stephen Curry conveyed a similar sentiment in an interview with Jermaine O’Neal (video link via Chris Montano). “It’s going to look different. It’s going to have a new cast of characters that are going to contribute at a high level,” Curry said. “But the DNA and the chemistry that us three (Curry, Thompson, and Draymond Green) have, we’re going to be in good shape coming out of this.”
- Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee takes a look at the financial toll that COVID-19 is taking on the Kings, who are preparing for the possibility of “tens of millions of dollars in uninsured losses.”
LeBron, Giannis, Curry, Other Stars United In Desire To Resume Season
NBPA president Chris Paul arranged a private conference call with a number of the league’s superstars on Monday to discuss the coronavirus ramifications and the potential resumption of the 2019/20 season, league sources tell Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports.
By the end of the conversation, per Haynes, those players were united in their desire to resume the season once the NBA ensures the necessary safety measures are in place and gets the green light. According to Haynes, LeBron James, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Stephen Curry, Anthony Davis, Kevin Durant, Kawhi Leonard, Damian Lillard, and Russell Westbrook were among the players on the call.
As Haynes explains, the group’s decision is expected to carry significant weight at a time when not all of the NBA’s players are necessarily on board with the idea of completing the 2019/20 season this summer.
Sources tell Yahoo Sports that many players on teams who are all but eliminated from playoff contention would prefer to just have the top eight clubs in each conference finish the season. The fact that stars outside the playoff picture, such as Curry and Lillard, are in favor of resuming play is significant.
According to Haynes, there was also some concern among players after Friday’s call that the NBA wouldn’t be able to guarantee player safety, with a coronavirus vaccine not expected to be available until 2021 at the earliest. Commissioner Adam Silver assured players that the league will do all it can to create the safest possible conditions, and it sounds like the stars on Monday’s call are satisfied with that promise.
Haynes notes that there are some players out of the playoff picture who are worried about a canceled season negatively impacting the league’s Collective Bargaining Agreement. That’s an issue we’ve touched upon in recent days, with Adrian Wojnarowski, Bob Myers, and Mark Cuban among those who have suggested that lottery teams will have to prioritize the “greater good” of the league, since the NBA and its players would benefit financially over the long term from playing as many games as it safely can this year and next.
As we relayed earlier this afternoon, the NBPA has reportedly begun reaching out to individual players to get their feedback on whether or not they want the season to resume.
Hiatus Notes: NBPA, Playoffs, Warriors, Fans
The National Basketball Players Association has begun to poll its members on whether or not they want to resume the 2019/20 season, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. As Woj explains, the NBPA’s regional representatives are among the union officials asking players a “yes or no” question about their desire to return to play amid the coronavirus pandemic. The union has assured players that their individual responses will be kept confidential.
While it may seem like a given that players on contending teams will want to resume the season, there’s certainly no guarantee that players on all 30 clubs feel the same way. Even among players who have a chance to win a title in ’19/20, there could be differences of opinion based on potential safety and health concerns.
With Major League Baseball working on its own plan for a potential return to play, pitcher Sean Doolittle published a Twitter thread on Monday outlining concerns that he and other players would have as they consider suiting up for the season. Doolittle’s thread goes more in-depth and lays out more specific concerns than those we’ve heard publicly from basketball players, but I’d imagine there are many around the NBA who share some of his reservations.
For what it’s worth, the NBPA said in a statement to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link) that the union “is not engaging in and has not authorized any formal poll of its players.” As such, it sounds like the outreach being described by Wojnarowski is informal.
Here’s more on the coronavirus situation and its impact on the NBA:
- A source tells Marc Berman of The New York Post that one scenario the NBA has discussed as it explores the resumption of the 2019/20 season would see the eighth seed in each conference up for grabs, with the current eighth through 12th seeds participating in a play-in tournament. As Berman explains, it would provide an incentive for a handful of teams who are currently out of the postseason picture, while not requiring the clubs at the very bottom of the standings to return and participate. Of course, it’s just one of many ideas the league has explored.
- The Warriors still don’t expect they’ll be one of the teams playing games if and when the NBA resumes its season, but that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t want to be involved, writes Anthony Slater of The Athletic. According to Slater, one Warriors coach suggested that playing a handful of regular season games in the summer could essentially function as a “replacement summer league” for Golden State.
- The NBA and NBPA are forming a “working group” and will have a call on Tuesday to discuss potential return-to-play scenarios, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic. Charania tweets that Chris Paul, Russell Westbrook, Jayson Tatum, Kyle Lowry, and Dwight Powell will be among the players on the call.
- In an interesting piece for The Athletic, Bill Shea explores how the pandemic will impact the way fans attend sporting events, once they’re allowed to reenter arenas and stadiums.
NBA Cancels 2020 G League Elite Camp
The NBA has canceled its 2020 G League Elite Camp, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). The event had been scheduled to take place from May 17-19, prior to the draft combine, so there was no expectation it would move forward as planned next week. However, it’s notable that it has been canceled rather than delayed, according to Charania’s report.
In a typical year, the Elite Camp would consist of 40 NBA G League invitees participating in the first half of the event before 40 top draft-eligible players (who weren’t invited to the combine) participate in the second half. The invites would have been sent out to players at the start of May.
[RELATED: Tentative 2020 NBA Draft Dates, Deadlines]
Last year, several draft-eligible prospects who took part in the G League Elite Camp were eventually drafted or received two-way contracts, including Cody Martin, Terance Mann, Justin Wright-Foreman, Tacko Fall, Dewan Hernandez, Oshae Brissett, and Tyler Cook, among others. The event gave non-combine players a chance to audition for NBA evaluators, so the fact that it won’t happen this year may result in some borderline prospects pulling their names from the draft pool.
A number of the G League players who participated in the 2019 Elite Camp also received NBA opportunities during the ’19/20 season, including Juan Toscano-Anderson, Mychal Mulder, and Norvel Pelle.
Draft Notes: Jones, Stanley, Oturu, Reed, Nnaji, Combine
A pair of early entrants out of Duke have signed with agents who aren’t NCAA-certified, officially signaling that they’ll go pro and remain in the 2020 NBA draft. Tre Jones has signed with BDA Sports, according to the agency’s Instagram account, while Cassius Stanley has joined ISE Basketball (Twitter link).
Both Blue Devils prospects had been expected to keep their names in the draft, so their moves to secure representation don’t come as a surprise. Both players are ranked in the top 50 on ESPN’s big board for 2020, with Jones coming in at No. 33 and Stanley at No. 50.
Here’s more on the 2020 draft:
- A couple more players on this year’s early entrants list have signed with agents and will remain in the draft. Minnesota big man Daniel Oturu has joined BDA Sports, per the agency (Instagram link). Meanwhile, DePaul’s Paul Reed has opted for Ron Shade of Octagon, tweets Evan Daniels of 247Sports.com. Oturu and Reed place 36th and 51st respectively on ESPN’s list of 2020’s top prospects.
- Arizona forward Zeke Nnaji has had virtual meetings with the Pelicans, Wizards, and Hornets so far, and has one lined up with the Jazz later this week, says Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News (Twitter link). A possible first-round pick, Nnaji is ranked 34th overall on ESPN’s big board.
- The NBA has sent teams ballots to vote on prospects they’d like to see participate in the 2020 draft combine, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). The combine, originally scheduled to take place next week, has been postponed indefinitely, but the league still hopes to hold it in some revamped form, either in-person or virtually.
2020/21 Salary Cap Preview: Oklahoma City Thunder
Hoops Rumors is looking ahead at the 2020/21 salary cap situations for all 30 NBA teams. Due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the NBA, it’s impossible to know yet where the cap for 2020/21 will land. Given the league’s lost revenue, we’re assuming for now that it will stay the same as the ’19/20 cap, but it’s entirely possible it will end up higher or lower than that.
After trading away Russell Westbrook, Paul George, and Jerami Grant last July, the Thunder seemed on track for a rebuild. However, even after spending the offseason stockpiling draft picks, Oklahoma City still had too much talent on its roster to bottom out.
Instead of returning to the lottery, the Thunder emerged as a no-doubt playoff team in the West, entering the hiatus with a 40-24 record that placed them fifth in the conference. Some form of rebuilding is probably still around the corner for the franchise, but it looks as if OKC will be able to remain competitive during that transition.
Here’s where things stand for the Thunder financially in 2020/21, as we continue our Salary Cap Preview series:
Guaranteed Salary
- Chris Paul ($41,358,814)
- Steven Adams ($27,528,088)
- Dennis Schroder ($15,500,000)
- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander ($4,141,320)
- Terrance Ferguson ($3,944,013)
- Darius Bazley ($2,399,160)
- Luguentz Dort ($1,517,981)
- Isaiah Roby ($1,517,981)
- Kyle Singler ($999,200) — Waived via stretch provision
- Patrick Patterson ($737,067) — Waived via stretch provision
- Total: $99,643,624
Player Options
- Mike Muscala ($2,283,034)
- Total: $2,283,034
Team Options
- Abdel Nader ($1,752,950) 1
- Deonte Burton ($1,663,861) 2
- Hamidou Diallo ($1,663,861)
- Total: $5,080,672
Non-Guaranteed Salary
- None
Restricted Free Agents
- Kevin Hervey (two-way qualifying offer / $1,445,697 cap hold): Non-Bird rights
- Total (cap holds): $1,445,697
Unrestricted Free Agents / Other Cap Holds
- Danilo Gallinari ($33,923,339): Bird rights
- Andre Roberson ($16,111,110): Bird rights
- No. 25 overall pick ($2,105,520)
- Nerlens Noel ($1,620,564): Early Bird rights
- Norris Cole ($1,620,564): Non-Bird rights 3
- Nick Collison ($1,620,564): Bird rights 3
- Raymond Felton ($1,620,564): Early Bird rights 3
- Jawun Evans ($1,445,697): Non-Bird rights 3
- Total: $60,067,922
Offseason Cap Outlook
A taxpaying team for all but one of the last six seasons, the Thunder are finally in position to remain below that threshold in 2020/21, even if the cap doesn’t increase.
Re-signing Gallinari would push team salary well beyond the cap, and even if they don’t bring him back, the Thunder figure to operate as an over-the-cap team. But there’s some flexibility here that Oklahoma City didn’t have in past seasons. That flexibility should only increase as pricey contracts for Paul, Adams, and Schroder expire in the next couple years.
Cap Exceptions Available
- Mid-level exception: $9,258,000 4
- Bi-annual exception: $3,623,000 4
- Trade exception: $10,389,997 (expires 7/10/20)
- Trade exception: $9,346,153 (expires 7/8/20)
- Trade exception: $1,620,564 (expires 1/25/21)
Footnotes
- If his team option is exercised, Nader’s salary remains non-guaranteed.
- If his team option is exercised, Burton’s salary becomes partially guaranteed for $1,174,336.
- The cap holds for Cole, Collison, Felton, and Evans remain on the Thunder’s books because they haven’t been renounced after going unsigned in 2019/20. They can’t be used in a sign-and-trade deal.
- These are projected values. If the Thunder’s team salary continues to increase, it’s possible they’d be limited to the taxpayer mid-level exception ($5,718,000).
Note: Minimum-salary and rookie-scale cap holds are based on the salary cap and could increase or decrease depending on where the cap lands.
Salary information from Basketball Insiders and Early Bird Rights was used in the creation of this post. Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.