NBA Aims For Fans In Arenas, Reduced Travel Next Season
The NBA is looking toward having fans in the stands and reduced travel next season rather than holding games in “bubble” or campus facilities, Shams Charania of The Athletic reports.
The amount of fans to be allowed in arenas is yet to be determined but the league would prefer in-market competition, Charania continues.
In recent weeks, the projected start date for next season has been pushed back.
Originally projected for the beginning of December, commissioner Adam Silver expressed skepticism for that target date last month. Silver told the league’s Board of Governors during a conference call on Thursday that the season won’t start earlier than Christmas, while NBPA executive director Michele Roberts suggested that opening night may not happen until the new year.
The league will announce next season’s structure with eight weeks‘ notice of the start date, Charania adds.
The NBA also had a call with the league’s 30 GMs on Friday.
The league still hopes to play a full 82-game regular season schedule but the dates for games and other events remain in flux.
In-Person Interviews With Draft Prospects Allowed Next Month
The NBA will allow teams to hold in-person interviews with this year’s draft prospects in mid-October, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN tweets. For the time being, in-person workouts will still be prohibited, Wojnarowski adds.
The in-person interviews are the second half of a two-step process for the Draft Combine, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets. From mid-September to early October, in-market medicals and virtual interviews will be held. The league has also given the go-ahead for on-court drills, Charania adds.
The draft itself is still tentatively scheduled for November 18 but that’s still subject to change, Wojnarowski reports in another tweet. It’s also still expected that the draft will be held virtually, allowing teams to have “war rooms” at their facilities, Wojnarowski adds.
It has been a long and strange journey for draft prospects and NBA front office executives and scouts due to the coronavirus pandemic. Normally, teams are busy in the spring evaluating prospects at the combine as well as at their practice facilities. Thus far, the only communication between this year’s draft class and NBA personnel has been done remotely.
The draft lottery was moved from May to August 20, with the Timberwolves winning the right to make the first pick. The draft was originally scheduled on June 25.
Danuel House Leaving NBA Campus, Done For Season
The NBA announced today in a press release that it has concluded its investigation into Rockets forward Danuel House following an apparent violation of campus health and safety protocols. According to the league, the investigation found that House had an unauthorized guest in his hotel room “over multiple hours” earlier this week.
“Mr. House is leaving the NBA campus and will not participate with the Rockets team in additional games this season,” the Rockets said in their statement.
As we detailed in a pair of stories on Wednesday and Thursday, the league’s probe into the Rockets was focused on the belief that a female COVID-19 testing official entered the team hotel without authorization for several hours late on Monday night.
When asked about the incident, the staffer reportedly implicated Tyson Chandler and another Rocket, but those players were cleared and the investigation focused on House, who was held out of Games 3 and 4 of Houston’s series vs. the Lakers as he quarantined. The league was said to have circumstantial evidence implicating the forward.
House “vehemently denied” violating the league’s safety protocols, but the Rockets and the NBPA were essentially powerless during the investigation, since the NBA is in charge of medical and safety protocols. That was a source of frustration for the Rockets, who were “blindsided” by the investigation, per Ben Golliver of The Washington Post.
“If it was a star player, there’s no way (the NBA) would handle it this way,” a person close to House with direct knowledge of the investigation told Golliver. “They want to make an example out of somebody.”
Another source told Golliver that the NBA was “prioritizing their perception of safety over everything else.”
House is a key rotation player for Houston, having averaged 11.4 PPG and 5.8 RPG on .435/.358/.769 shooting in the Rockets’ first nine playoff games (31.0 MPG). The Rockets have lost both games with House sidelined and find themselves in a 3-1 hole that may be too big to climb out of — especially without an important role player.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
2020 NBA Offseason Preview: San Antonio Spurs
Hoops Rumors is previewing the 2020 offseason for all 30 NBA teams. We’re looking at the key questions facing each club, as well as the roster decisions they’ll have to make this fall. Today, we’re focusing on the San Antonio Spurs.
Salary Cap Outlook
Unless DeMar DeRozan unexpectedly opts out and the Spurs don’t re-sign Jakob Poeltl and/or Bryn Forbes, the odds of the team creating any cap room are slim. On the other hand, bringing back DeRozan, Poeltl, and Forbes might put San Antonio into luxury-tax territory unless the club cuts costs elsewhere.
I don’t expect Spurs ownership to pay the tax for the current roster, so perhaps the team will let Poeltl or Forbes walk or trade one of its many veterans on expiring contracts. Depending on certain roster decisions, San Antonio could have the non-taxpayer mid-level exception ($9.26MM) and bi-annual exception ($3.62MM) available, but may ultimately be limited to just the taxpayer MLE ($5.72MM).
Our full salary cap preview for the Spurs can be found right here.
Roster Decisions To Watch
Options:
- DeMar DeRozan, player option: $27,739,975 (Oct. 13 deadline)
Non-Guaranteed Contracts:
- Trey Lyles ($5,500,000)
- Note: Partially guaranteed for $1MM.
- Tyler Zeller ($2,436,046)
- Chimezie Metu ($1,663,861)
Two-Way Contracts:
- Drew Eubanks (expiring)
- Quinndary Weatherspoon (expiring)
Free Agents:
- Bryn Forbes (Bird)
- Marco Belinelli (Early Bird)
- Jakob Poeltl (RFA; Bird)
2020 Draft Assets
First Round:
- No. 11 overall pick
Second Round:
- No. 41 overall pick
The Spurs don’t make a habit of trading away draft picks – or stockpiling extra ones – so it comes as no surprise that their only two selections in the 2020 draft are their own.
Three Key Offseason Questions
1. Will the Spurs run it back again with DeMar DeRozan and LaMarcus Aldridge?
DeRozan and Aldridge were as efficient as ever on offense in 2019/20. DeRozan’s .531 FG% was easily a career high, while Aldridge enjoyed the best three-point shooting season of his career (.389 3PT% with 1.2 makes per game).
However, DeRozan is now 31 years old and Aldridge is 35. Both players are entering potential contract years, with DeRozan considered likely to exercise his $27.7MM player option for 2020/21. And San Antonio is coming off a 32-39 season — that’s the team’s worst record and the first time it has missed the playoffs since 1997.
On top of all that, the Spurs reportedly shopped Aldridge at this year’s trade deadline, and there were rumblings shortly thereafter that DeRozan wasn’t thrilled with his situation in San Antonio. In other words, all signs point to the team considering the idea of seeing what it can get for its two veterans on the trade market this offseason and handing the reins to its young up-and-comers.
Still, the Spurs have never really shown a taste for making biggest splashes on the trade market unless their hand is forced, as it was in the case of Kawhi Leonard. And the aforementioned report which said the club shopped Aldridge at the deadline also noted that rival teams believed San Antonio’s asking price was far too high. It may be difficult for the Spurs to extract a ton of value for DeRozan at $27.7MM or Aldridge at $24MM.
Gregg Popovich‘s status is also an X-factor here. He turns 72 years old in January and presumably doesn’t plan to coach the Spurs for a whole lot longer. Would a pivot to the team’s youth be what San Antonio’s longtime head coach and president of basketball operations has in mind for his final year(s)?
2. Is this Gregg Popovich’s last year with the Spurs?
While we’re on the subject, it’s worth considering what exactly Popovich’s future holds, since it could have an impact on how the Spurs approach the next year or two.
In recent years, there had been a general perception – unconfirmed by Popovich – that the Spurs’ head coach would stick around through 2020, then coach Team USA at the Tokyo Olympics as a possible last hurrah.
The coronavirus pandemic has complicated matters. Not only have those Olympics been postponed until 2021, but there’s uncertainty about whether NBA players and coaches will even be able to fully participate, since a delayed ’20/21 season could very well overlap with the rescheduled Olympics.
Assuming the NBA can figure out a plan to either finish its season before the Olympics or include a break in its schedule to accommodate them, it seems likely that Popovich will still coach Team USA as long as he can safely do so. And it sounds as if the Spurs expect Popovich back on their sidelines for the 2020/21 season.
While it may look a little different than what we initially envisioned, perhaps the original theory – that Popovich will coach the Spurs up until the Olympics and then call it a career after the Tokyo games – is still in play.
Of course, even if the upcoming season is Popovich’s last, it’s possible it won’t have a major impact on the franchise’s roster decisions. It probably wouldn’t fit Popovich’s style to seek out any sort of win-now moves for his final go-round — I could just as easily see him embracing a partial rebuild before handing things off to a successor such as Becky Hammon, Will Hardy, or Tim Duncan.
Either way, Popovich has had such a hand in shaping the Spurs’ culture over the last 25 years that it will be fascinating to see how the team transitions out of his tenure and looks to carry over that culture to a new era.
3. Will Jakob Poeltl and Bryn Forbes be back?
Poeltl, who was one of the players the Spurs acquired in the Leonard blockbuster, will be a restricted free agent this offseason and is entering his age-25 season. Forbes, who just turned 27, has been a full-time starter for San Antonio in each of the last two seasons.
As I noted above, re-signing both players to market-value deals would potentially put the Spurs in tax territory if no cost-cutting roster moves follow. Still, I’d be a little surprised if the team lets either player get away.
Poeltl’s numbers per 36 minutes (11.5 rebounds, 2.9 blocks) show his value as a rebounder and rim protector, and it feels as if he has more room to grow. The Spurs’ front office will want to recoup as much value as it can from the trade that helped send the Raptors to a championship. With the ability to match any offer sheet for Poeltl, San Antonio should retain him.
As for Forbes, he has been one of the Spurs’ most reliable three-point shooters over the last two seasons, knocking down 40.8% of his attempts during that stretch as the club ranked 30th and 28th in three-point tries.
San Antonio’s backcourt is loaded with young players, but Forbes is capable of sliding up to the three and playing alongside a pair of guards. Since he’ll be unrestricted, there’s no guarantee he won’t look for a new deal elsewhere, but the Spurs have a history of overpaying a little to retain their own guys if they really want them back.
Assuming both Poeltl and Forbes are re-signed, the most logical way for the Spurs to shed some money would be to move one of their veterans on expiring contracts. Besides DeRozan and Aldridge, Rudy Gay ($14.5MM) and Patty Mills ($13.3MM) would also fit that bill.
Information from Basketball Insiders and ESPN was used in the creation of this post. Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Cavs Rumors: Avdija, Toppin, Thompson, More
Maccabi Tel Aviv forward Deni Avdija, who won the Israeli League’s MVP award this year, should be considered one of the leading candidates to be drafted by the Cavaliers at No. 5 overall, according to Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com.
As Fedor explains, the Cavaliers have done “extensive work” on Avdija, who fits the team’s culture both on and off the court. General manager Koby Altman, director of scouting Brandon Weems, and assistant GM Mike Gansey all made trips overseas to see him play prior to the season shutting down, while head coach J.B. Bickerstaff has reached out to former players Omri Casspi, Tyler Dorsey and Tarik Black for intel on their Maccabi Tel Aviv teammate, writes Fedor.
It’s possible that Avdija will be gone by the time the Cavs are on the clock — sources tell Fedor that the previous Bulls regime “loved” the Israeli forward and probably would’ve taken him at No. 4, though it’s unclear if the new decision-makers in Chicago are as high on him.
The Cavaliers also like Isaac Okoro and Devin Vassell, so if all three wings are still on the board at No. 5, it won’t be an easy decision, according to Fedor, who adds that forward Obi Toppin is “very much in play” at that spot as well.
Here’s more from Fedor on the Cavs:
- There’s no specific mandate from team owner Dan Gilbert for the Cavs to stay out of the tax going forward, but the team would prefer to do so and that will play a role in roster decisions, according to Fedor. Long-term financial considerations may also dissuade the team from taking on an exorbitant multiyear contract such as Tobias Harris‘ or Al Horford‘s in any trade, Fedor adds.
- Given the money already on the Cavs’ books for 2020/21, the team is unlikely to re-sign Tristan Thompson and use the full mid-level exception this offseason, according to Fedor in a separate story. Cleveland may have to choose one path or the other, per Fedor, who thinks the team should prioritize Thompson.
- One source estimated to Fedor that the odds of Thompson returning are 50-50. “I believe there’s a chance of him re-signing in free agency,” another source close to Thompson told Cleveland.com. “He hasn’t necessarily played his final game there.”
- If Thompson departs and the Cavs do look to use their MLE, Derrick Jones and Pat Connaughton are among the free agents they may target, Fedor writes.
Grizzlies Hire Sonia Raman As Assistant Coach
The Grizzlies have added a new assistant coach to Taylor Jenkins‘ staff, announcing today in a press release that they’ve hired Sonia Raman, MIT’s longtime women’s basketball head coach.
“We are beyond excited to welcome Sonia to the Memphis Grizzlies,” Jenkins said in a statement. “She has a high basketball IQ and a tremendous ability to teach the game, as well as a strong passion for the game. She is going to be a great addition to our current coaching staff.”
Raman, who spent 12 years running the woman’s basketball program at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, led the team to its first-ever NEWMAC championships in 2018 and 2019, as well as a pair of NCAA tournament berths. She’ll take the spot on the Grizzlies staff vacated by Niele Ivey, who left this spring to become the new women’s basketball head coach at Notre Dame.
According to former Grizzlies executive John Hollinger, sources told The Athletic that Raman “blew away” the Grizzlies during the interview process with her “Xs and O’s knowledge and personal skills.” She joins a group of assistants that also includes Brad Jones, Neven Spahija, Vitaly Potapenko, David McClure, and Scoonie Penn.
Five 2020/21 Player Option Decisions To Watch
Based on the limited spending ability that many teams around the NBA will have in free agency this offseason, the general belief is that most veterans who have player options for the 2020/21 season will pick up those options, taking the guaranteed money rather than rolling the dice on the open market.
In many cases, that decision is a no-brainer — Hornets forward Nicolas Batum isn’t about to turn down his $27MM+ option to try his luck in free agency. However, there are several players who will have trickier decisions. In those cases, the player’s option salary might be in the neighborhood of his projected value in free agency, incentivizing him to see if he can do better in free agency.
Alternately, a player might decide that declining an option and taking a small pay cut for the 2020/21 season is worth it in order to secure a longer-term deal. Grizzlies center Jonas Valanciunas took this path a year ago, passing on a $17.6MM option in favor of a three-year contract worth $15MM per year.
Today, we’re taking a closer look at five players whose option decisions won’t necessarily be simple ones. Let’s dive in…
Evan Fournier, Magic ($17,150,000): If not for the coronavirus pandemic, Fournier’s free agency would have been well-timed, as he’s coming off perhaps his best season as a pro (18.5 PPG, 3.2 APG, .467/.399/.818 shooting). Even if he can’t secure a raise, Fournier could be a good candidate for a Valanciunas-esque multiyear deal that greatly increases his future guarantee while locking him into an annual salary below $17.15MM. But there aren’t many teams that have the cap room to accommodate such a deal, and I’m not convinced Orlando wants to keep making long-term commitments to veterans from its middle-of-the-pack squad after signing Nikola Vucevic and Terrence Ross to four-year deals.- Jerami Grant, Nuggets ($9,346,153): After a slow start in Denver, Grant emerged as a key contributor for the Nuggets, averaging 12.0 PPG with a .389 3PT% and strong, versatile defense. If he opts out, there should be teams willing to pay him the full non-taxpayer mid-level exception, which will work out to about $40MM over four years. The question will be whether Grant, who is still just 26 years old, wants to wait until 2021 to pursue a long-term contract, in the hopes that more teams will have money to throw around at that point. If the Nuggets or a team with cap room shows a willingness to give him a multiyear deal exceeding the MLE this year, that might be his best bet.
- Avery Bradley, Lakers ($5,005,350): With the Lakers seemingly ticketed for a spot in the Western Conference Finals, this would normally be an opportunity for Bradley to show off his value in advance of a bigger offseason payday. Instead, having opted out of the restart, he hasn’t appeared in a game since March. Bradley, who is a strong perimeter defender and isn’t a liability on offense, could probably secure a modest raise in free agency, but opting in would be the safe play — especially given his long layoff.
- JaMychal Green, Clippers ($5,005,350): Given that he plays alongside a pair of All-Stars and two Sixth Man of the Year winners, it’s easy to overlook Green, but the veteran forward is a regular role player for one of this year’s top title favorites, averaging 16.4 MPG in 10 playoff games. While he doesn’t get many looks on offense, he’s a reliable three-point shooter and a good team defender. Still, due to the leaguewide cap situation, he’s not a lock to get a raise on the open market. He also seems to enjoy playing for the Clippers, so he may be leaning toward picking up his option.
- Austin Rivers, Rockets ($2,436,046): Rivers is no star, but any regular rotation player who is earning the minimum is a bargain. Even if he ultimately ends up sticking with Houston or signing a minimum-salary deal with another team, it probably makes sense for Rivers to turn down his option and explore the open market — declining his option and signing a new minimum deal would likely only cost him about $100K. He could also very well do better than the minimum, unless his playoff struggles (.315/.267/.857 shooting) tank his value.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Pacific Notes: Cassell, Kings, Lakers, Warriors
While Tyronn Lue has gotten a ton of head coaching buzz this summer, Clippers head coach Doc Rivers believes another one of his assistants, Sam Cassell, also deserves consideration, observing this week that Cassell has a high basketball IQ and his paid his dues, tweets Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN.
“Sam Cassell should be a head coach, period,” Rivers said.
Cassell hasn’t been linked to any current coaching openings, but perhaps Rivers’ endorsement will inspire teams to take a closer look at his potential candidacy.
Here’s more from around the Pacific:
- Trajan Langdon has already withdrawn from consideration for the Kings‘ head of basketball operations job and there’s an expectation that a second candidate will likely pull out soon too, a source tells Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee. Sachin Gupta, Adam Simon, Calvin Booth, Monte McNair, and Wes Wilcox are the other execs who have been linked to the job, with interviews set to begin next week, per Anderson.
- The Lakers didn’t end up forming a “Big Three” last offseason after acquiring Anthony Davis to join LeBron James, but head coach Frank Vogel said after Thursday’s Game 4 win over Houston that the team’s defense is its de facto “third star,” as Dave McMenamin of ESPN relays. “That’s as powerful a weapon there is in one of these playoff runs. It’s as powerful as a superstar,” Vogel said. “If you have an elite defense, that can be your third star, so to speak.”
- NBC Sports’ Tom Haberstroh is skeptical that the Warriors have a chance to acquire Marcus Smart in an offseason trade, but points to Kris Dunn as another defensive-minded guard who could be of interest to Golden State on the free agent market. Grant Liffmann of NBC Sports Bay Area has the details.
Roberts Skeptical 2020/21 Season Will Start In December
The NBA reportedly informed its Board of Governors this week that the 2020/21 season won’t begin any earlier than Christmas Day. While starting next season on December 25 – typically one of the biggest days on the NBA’s calendar – might seem ideal, NBPA executive director Michele Roberts isn’t sure it will be possible.
“I do think we’ll have a season, but I don’t think it will begin in December,” Roberts told David Gelles of The New York Times.
There’s reportedly a consensus hope among the NBA league office and team owners that the ’20/21 season can tip off in late-December or at some point in January. However, Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer tweeted on Thursday that he wouldn’t be surprised if the season doesn’t begin until February or even March. The league and the players’ union will both have to sign off on a revamped schedule.
One of the NBA’s top priorities for next season is getting fans back into arenas, since a significant chunk of the league’s revenues are tied to ticket sales and in-arena purchases. Roberts is hopeful that can happen, but acknowledged to Gelles that even if there are advances in coronavirus testing and treatment in the coming months, the idea of filling arenas next season is probably unrealistic.
“There will be a revenue drop,” Roberts said. “I do see a possibility of there being some reopening of some arenas. But if we’re lucky we will see 25 percent of the revenue that ordinarily comes through gate receipts, etc. That’s optimistic. Hopefully we can soften the blow, but I don’t see us packing arenas.”
Although Roberts is optimistic that some arenas will be able to accommodate fans – even if it happens later in the season and with a significantly reduced capacity – she suggested that some “bubble-like environment” may be necessary to start the season, given the state of the coronavirus pandemic and how successful the Walt Disney World bubble has been this summer.
“I suspect that we will have a hybrid environment, maybe with division bubbles that last for a certain number of months, and then we stop,” Roberts told Gelles. “But the concept of putting our players in a bubble for an entire season is unrealistic.”
Nets Notes: Coaching Staff, KG, Durant, Harris
New Nets head coach Steve Nash and the team’s front office are seeking out assistants to join the former two-time MVP’s coaching staff, including Lakers assistant Phil Handy, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic.
2019/20 interim Nets head coach Jacque Vaughn will stay on staff as the team’s lead assistant during the 2020/21 season. Nash, an eight-time All-Star, joined the Nets staff last week in a surprising hire.
Here are more notes out of Brooklyn:
- Former Nets forward (and Hall of Famer) Kevin Garnett, a 15-time All-Star, has said that he believes Brooklyn should look to trade for a high-level scoring wing like Bulls shooting guard Zach LaVine or Wizards shooting guard Bradley Beal to join current Brooklyn All-Stars Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, according to Kristian Winfield of the New York Daily News.
- Kevin Durant expressed his enthusiasm for new coach Steve Nash‘s addition to the Brooklyn sideline, per Andrew Lopez of ESPN. “His insight for the game, his communication, how he communicates the game of basketball is definitely going to help me as a player develop and it’s going to help the rest of the team,” Durant said in a new episode of Pelicans swingman J.J. Redick‘s “The Old Man and the Three” podcast.
- The addition of Nash may help convince Nets sharpshooter Joe Harris to stick around as he enters unrestricted free agency this summer, according to Brian Lewis of the New York Post. “I met with him the other day, grabbed a coffee with him and [team president] Sean [Marks],” Harris said during a recent conversation with “The JWilly Show” podcast. “And he just talked about how he felt about me as a player and wanted me to come back and be in Brooklyn.”