Bulls Won’t Extend Qualify Offer To Shaq Harrison
The Bulls will not extend a qualifying offer to guard Shaquille Harrison, making him an unrestricted free agent, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN tweets.
Harrison had a low-cost QO of $2,025,705 but Chicago chose to create a little more cap and roster flexibility rather than retain the 6’7” guard.
The undrafted Harrison, 27, began his career in Phoenix. He’s been with the Bulls the past two seasons. Last season, Harrison appeared in 43 games — including 10 starts — and averaged 4.9 PPG in 11.3 MPG. He shot 38.1% from long range.
The Bulls are reshaping their backcourt, as they’re also declining to extend a QO to a more prominent player, Kris Dunn. Both Dunn and Harrison are considered strong defenders but are somewhat limited on offense.
Chicago did make a qualifying offer to two-way player Adam Mokoka, according to Keith Smith of RealGM (Twitter link). That QO will be a two-way deal with $50K guaranteed.
Pelicans Hire Beyer, Hill, Walters For Van Gundy’s Staff
The Pelicans announced on Monday they have hired Bob Beyer, Casey Hill, and Rex Walters to join Stan Van Gundy’s staff, according to a team press release.
The addition of Beyer was previously reported and comes as no surprise. Beyer has a long history with Van Gundy, serving as an assistant in Orlando and Detroit for a combined nine seasons. He was on the Kings’ staff last season.
Hill was an assistant with the Clippers the past two seasons. Walters had a stint on Van Gundy’s staff in Detroit and served as an assistant at Wake Forest last season.
In another significant development, Van Gundy has promoted former WNBA great Teresa Weatherspoon to the staff. She was a two-way player development coach last season in New Orleans.
Longtime NBA players Corey Brewer and Beno Udrih have been hired as player development coaches. Fred Vinson has been retained as an assistant, while Darnell Lazare will remain as a player development coach.
Bulls To Give Valentine Qualifying Offer, Let Dunn Become UFA
The Bulls will extend a qualifying offer to swingman Denzel Valentine, Darnell Mayberry of The Athletic tweets, but won’t do the same for guard Kris Dunn, according to NBC Sports Chicago’s K.C. Johnson (Twitter link).
Valentine’s qualifying offer is worth $4,642,800 and Chicago’s decision will make him a restricted free agent. Dunn’s QO is $7,091,457 and by making him an unrestricted free agent, the Bulls rid themselves of his $16,044,021 cap hold. Dunn’s QO would have been identical to Valentine’s if he hadn’t narrowly met the “starter criteria.”
Valentine’s career was marred by a serious ankle injury which caused him to miss the entire 2018/19 season. He appeared in 36 games last season, including five starts, and averaged 6.8 PPG and 2.1 RPG in 13.6 MPG.
Chicago’s decision displays confidence that Valentine can regain the form he showed in 2017/18, his second NBA season, when he started 77 games and averaged 10.2 PPG while making 38.6% of his 3-point tries.
Dunn posted averages 7.3 PPG, 3.6 RPG and 3.4 APG in ’19/20 and was one of the league’s best defenders before a knee injury ended his season early. Dunn’s days in Chicago were numbered once the team drafted Coby White and signed Tomas Satoransky last season.
The fifth overall pick in the 2016 draft by Minnesota, Dunn was traded after his rookie season to the Bulls in the Jimmy Butler blockbuster. He had a disappointing run with the Bulls but he’s expected to have several bidders for his services, including the Clippers, according to Johnson.
Bucks’ Robin Lopez To Decline Option
Bucks reserve center Robin Lopez will decline his $5MM player option and become a free agent, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski tweets.
Lopez, 32, joined Milwaukee on a two-year, $9.2MM deal to back up his brother, Brook Lopez. Robin Lopez appeared in 66 regular season games last season, including five starts, and averaged 5.4 PPG and 2.4 RPG in 14.7 MPG. His playing time dropped dramatically in the postseason, as he only made three brief appearances.
Given his age and status as a role player, Lopez might be taking a gamble entering the free agent market. It suggests he’s confident he can get that amount or close to it in the open market or that he’s eager to get more playing time. Lopez had been a starter most of his career before his one-year stint with the Bucks.
Lopez’ decision frees up some much-needed cap space for Milwaukee, which is looking to make upgrades and convince Giannis Antetokounmpo to stay put.
Jerami Grant Opting Out, Will Become Free Agent
As expected, Nuggets forward Jerami Grant is declining his player option for the 2020/21 season and will become an unrestricted free agent, per Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link).
A report back in September indicated that Grant was expected to opt out of the final year of his contract with Denver, since he was a candidate to receive offers in the in the range of $14-16MM per year on the open market. His option was worth $9.35MM.
[RELATED: 2020 NBA Offseason Preview: Denver Nuggets]
Mike Singer of The Denver Post, who reported in October that Grant is expected to receive interest from the Pistons, Suns, and Hawks, said today (via Twitter) that the Nuggets remain confident about re-signing the veteran forward. Singer thinks that a deal in the range of $13.5-15MM annually might get it done.
Grant averaged 12.0 PPG and 3.5 RPG on .478/.389/.750 shooting in 71 games (26.6 MPG) for the Nuggets in 2019/20 and became a full-time starter in the postseason as the team made a run to the Western Conference Finals. His outside shooting ability and defensive versatility will make him one of this offseason’s most popular free agents.
For a full breakdown of this fall’s player option decisions, be sure to check out our tracker.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Avery Bradley To Receive Interest From Warriors, Bucks, Others
Lakers guard Avery Bradley is expected to be courted by the Warriors, Bucks, and a handful of other contenders, according to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports, who tweets that those clubs will try to lure Bradley away from L.A.
Although Bradley opted out of the NBA’s summer restart and wasn’t part of the Lakers’ playoff run, he was a key part of the club’s rotation for most of the season, starting 44 of his 49 games. He averaged 8.6 PPG and 2.3 RPG with a .444/.364/.833 shooting line in 24.2 minutes per contest and handled some of the toughest defensive assignments on the perimeter.
Bradley, who recently signed with a new agent, has a player option worth $5MM for 2020/21 and still could technically pick up that option. However, Dave McMenamin of ESPN wrote last night that the 29-year-old is expected to decline his option and reach free agency. If he’s anticipating interest from multiple contending teams, it makes sense that Bradley would go in that direction.
Assuming Bradley opts out, the Lakers would be able to offer a starting salary worth up to about $5.7MM using his Non-Bird rights. If they want to go any higher than that, they’d have to use some or all of their mid-level exception.
Anthony Davis, Rajon Rondo, and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope are also turning down player options for the Lakers this week.
Western Notes: Suns, Hardaway, WCS, Lakers, Thunder
The Suns are expected to finalize their trade for Chris Paul before the new league year begins on Friday, according to Kevin Pelton of ESPN.com. If that’s the case, the expectation is that Phoenix won’t use cap room this fall, opting to remain an over-the-cap team instead.
While that may prevent the Suns from making one bigger splash on the free agent market, it means the club will retain the flexibility to bring back one or more of Dario Saric, Aron Baynes, and Frank Kaminsky. Phoenix will also have the full mid-level ($9.3MM) and bi-annual ($3.6MM) exceptions available to make additional upgrades to its roster.
Here’s more from around the West:
- A Mavericks source who spoke to Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News (Twitter link) says the team thinks swingman Tim Hardaway Jr. will likely exercise his player option, while big man Willie Cauley-Stein may not.
- In addition to his previously reported workouts with Utah, Denver, Miami, and the Clippers, Arizona’s Zeke Nnaji has also auditioned for the Lakers, he said today (Twitter link via Eric Walden of The Salt Lake Tribune). However, Nnaji projects to be a late first-round selection, so he may no longer be an option for the Lakers now that they’ve traded the No. 28 pick.
- Former Thunder big men Nazr Mohammed and Nick Collison were involved in the team’s head coaching search process, according to Royce Young of ESPN, who tweets that Mohammed and Collison met with candidates to represent the player perspective.
- In a piece for ESPN.com, Royce Young takes a deep dive into the Timberwolves‘ draft preparations as they get ready to use – or trade – this year’s No. 1 overall pick.
Clippers Officially Announce Coaching Staff
The Clippers have officially announced Tyronn Lue‘s coaching staff for the 2020/21 season, confirming today in a press release that former Heat assistant Dan Craig has come aboard as L.A.’s associate head coach.
The team has also hired Kenny Atkinson, Chauncey Billups, Larry Drew, and former Bulls assistant Roy Rogers as assistant coaches. Rogers, who was let go by Chicago earlier this fall, reportedly drew interest from Doc Rivers in Philadelphia, but will instead join Rivers’ old team.
Previous reports had indicated that Craig, Atkinson, Billups, and Drew would be part of Lue’s staff.
Cam Hodges, Shaun Fein, Beau Levesque, and Dahntay Jones – who played for Lue in Cleveland in 2016 and 2017 – will also be part of the new-look staff in various coaching and player development roles, according to the team. Additionally, L.A. retained assistants Jeremy Castleberry and Brendan O’Connor.
“We have assembled a strong and experienced group of coaches with diverse backgrounds and perspectives,” Lue said in a statement. “They will provide our players with every opportunity to improve individually and excel as a team. As coaches, their skillsets are different, but they are all great teachers with a passion for player development, who understand how to impart their knowledge. I couldn’t be more excited to get on the court with this group.”
Kristaps Porzingis To Miss Start Of 2020/21 Season
Mavericks big man Kristaps Porzingis, who underwent surgery last month to repair the meniscus in his right knee, won’t be ready for the start of the 2020/21 season, president of basketball operations Donnie Nelson said today during an appearance on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas.
“We’re going to make sure that that’s 100 percent before we put him out there, so that’s going to be into the season before we are able to have him join us,” Nelson said, per Tim MacMahon of ESPN.
Nelson told ESPN that the Mavs are targeting January 1 as the date when Porzingis would be cleared to begin on-court activities. The 25-year-old will need some time to get up to speed after resuming basketball activities, so he may end up missing the first few weeks of the shortened season.
Porzingis suffered his knee injury in Game 1 of this year’s playoffs against the Clippers, though he was able to play two more games after that and the team didn’t announce the diagnosis of a torn meniscus until after Game 5.
Health problems have been an issue for Porzingis throughout his NBA career — he has missed double-digit games in each of his five professional seasons and was sidelined for the entire 2018/19 season due to a torn ACL. When he has been on the court, Porzingis has been a standout contributor for the Knicks and Mavs. In his first full season in Dallas in 2019/20, he averaged 20.4 PPG, 9.5 RPG, and 2.0 BPG in 57 games (31.8 MPG).
Meanwhile, Nelson also addressed the health of Dallas’ other recovering big man during today’s radio appearance, telling 105.3 The Fan that Dwight Powell is expected to be able to participate at least in a limited capacity when training camp begins, as MacMahon relays.
“We’re not going to rush, we’re going to do it the right way, but we’re pretty optimistic that he’ll be able to join us out of the gates,” Nelson said of Powell, who is returning from a torn Achilles.
Trade Rumors: Westbrook, Hornets, Holiday, Gordon
The first major domino of the NBA offseason has fallen, as the Thunder and Suns are set to finalize a deal that will send All-Star guard Chris Paul to Phoenix.
Kelly Oubre is one of the key pieces headed to Oklahoma City in that swap, and according to John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7FM (Twitter link), the Suns felt as if Oubre was expendable not only due to the emergence of Mikal Bridges and Cameron Johnson, but because they didn’t think they’d end up re-signing Oubre in free agency in 2021.
Meanwhile, while Paul is on board with being dealt to the Suns, Marc Berman of The New York Post hears that CP3’s top preference would have been a move to the Clippers. The veteran point guard had “mixed feelings” about a possible deal to the Knicks, Berman adds.
As we wait for more trade agreements to be reached, here are a few of the latest rumors from around the NBA:
- The Hornets appear to be the most likely landing spot for Russell Westbrook, according to Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer, who writes that team owner Michael Jordan wants to acquire the former MVP. However, sources tell O’Connor that Charlotte won’t put the No. 3 overall pick on the table in an offer to the Rockets.
- The Mavericks aren’t involved in the Jrue Holiday sweepstakes for now, according to Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News, who tweets that the Pelicans prefer to trade Holiday to an Eastern Conference team. Mike Singer of The Denver Post notes (via Twitter) that New Orleans’ apparent desire to send Holiday to the East might be posturing to try to drive up the price for a team like the Nuggets.
- Asked today about trade rumors involving Aaron Gordon, Magic president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman confirmed there have been “a lot of calls” on the forward (Twitter link via Josh Robbins of The Orlando Sentinel). However, he added that there’s an “amazing amount of misinformation that circulates and is unfounded.” A report last week suggested Orlando was trying to move up in the draft from No. 15 by attaching Gordon to the pick.
- In case you missed it, James Harden is rumored to be seeking a trade out of Houston.