Latest Details On NBA G League Bubble
Seventeen teams have indicated that they plan to participate in the NBA G League bubble, according to Jonathan Givony of ESPN, who notes that the G League Ignite select team will be the 18th squad.
While we don’t yet have a full, official list of the teams participating in the G League bubble, Ridiculous Upside has done a good job passing along reports (including some of ours) and providing new details on which clubs are in and out. Their list includes 13 teams believed to be in, not counting the Ignite, as follows:
- Agua Caliente Clippers of Ontario (Clippers)
- Austin Spurs (Spurs)
- Canton Charge (Cavaliers)
- Delaware Blue Coats (Sixers)
- Fort Wayne Mad Ants (Pacers)
- Lakeland Magic (Magic)
- Long Island Nets (Nets)
- Memphis Hustle (Grizzlies)
- Oklahoma City Blue (Thunder)
- Raptors 905 (Raptors)
- Salt Lake City Stars (Jazz)
- Santa Cruz Warriors (Warriors)
- Westchester Knicks (Knicks)
G League expert Adam Johnson says the Greensboro Swarm (Hornets), Iowa Wolves (Timberwolves), and Erie BayHawks (Pelicans) are also expected to take part (Twitter link).
The G League reportedly asked for teams to volunteer to opt out, since bringing 29 franchises to the bubble wouldn’t have been logistically possible, so the clubs passing on the bubble aren’t necessarily doing so because they’re not interested in participating.
Teams opting out of the bubble who signed players to Exhibit 10 contracts before the season will be given the option to loan or “flex” those players to another G League team for the bubble and will be responsible for paying all expenses for those players, Givony explains.
The Wizards, for example, aren’t expected to have the Capital City Go-Go play in the bubble, but will likely use the Pelicans’ affiliate – the BayHawks – as their temporary affiliate for their former Exhibit 10 players, such as Caleb Homesley, Marlon Taylor, and Yoeli Childs, tweets Fred Katz of The Athletic.
A G League draft would take place in January, according to Givony, who reports that players whose returning rights are held by non-bubble teams would temporarily be dispersed to other clubs in that draft. If non-bubble teams don’t want to “flex” their former Exhibit 10 players to G League teams participating in the bubble, those players will also enter the draft pool, says Givony.
Stefan Bondy of The New York Daily News reported earlier this week that the tentative start date for the G League season is February 8. Adam Zagoria of Forbes (Twitter link) shares a more detailed breakdown of the proposed timeline, which would see G League players and staffers begin an “at-home” quarantine period on January 13.
Givony confirms that teams participating in the bubble still expect to play a minimum of 12 games apiece (not including the playoffs), as was reported in November.
Finally, Givony reports that the G League is making adjustments to its roster rules to make it easier for NBA teams to recruit and sign veterans with five or more years of NBA experience. Each team will be able to designate an “NBA Vet Selection” who fits that bill, and won’t have to navigate the NBAGL’s complicated waiver process to add that player, per Givony.
As Johnson tweets, the rule will be a one-off for this season and will allow – for instance – the Warriors to add Jeremy Lin to their Santa Cruz affiliate, like they wanted to.
Two New Positive COVID-19 Tests Among Players Since Dec. 16
The NBA’s coronavirus testing program has turned up two new confirmed positive tests among players since the last update on December 16, the league and the players’ union announced today.
According to the press release from the NBA and NBPA, 558 players were tested during that time, though some of those players are no longer under contract, as roster limits decreased on Monday from 20 players to 17 for the regular season.
The league and the players’ union don’t specify which players tested positive for COVID-19, but it’s possible both of this week’s affected players are Rockets. The NBA said in a Wednesday press release that three Houston players had returned positive or inconclusive tests. Ben McLemore and KJ Martin are believed to be two of those players, per reports — the third isn’t known.
The NBA and NBPA announced on December 16 that there was one new positive test among 549 players during the previous testing window.
NBA Teams With Open Roster Spots To Start Season
Now that the regular season is underway, no NBA team is carrying more than 17 players in total — 15 on standard contracts and two on two-way deals. However, not every team is making use of all 17 roster spots available to them.
Currently, 12 of the league’s 30 teams have at least one open roster spot, either on their regular roster or in their two-way slots.
Those dozen teams have different reasons for not carrying a 15th man on their standard roster. For some clubs, the decision is likely financially motivated, since an open roster spot means not having to pay an extra player.
Some teams may want to maintain the roster flexibility that an open roster provides — it can allow a club to act quickly and decisively in the event of an injury or a two-for-one trade opportunity.
A handful of teams actually can’t add a 15th man at this point, since they’re too close to their hard cap and won’t be able to fit another minimum-salary contract below that hard cap until later in the season.
With the G League season not yet underway, a healthy team may simply decide there’s no point in filling the 15th spot with a developmental player who won’t see any game action. That may also be the reason why some teams haven’t yet filled both their two-way contract slots.
Listed below, with the help of our roster counts breakdown, are the teams that aren’t carrying full rosters.
Teams with an open 15-man roster spot:
- Charlotte Hornets
- Houston Rockets *
- Los Angeles Clippers *
- Los Angeles Lakers *
- Milwaukee Bucks *
- Minnesota Timberwolves
- New Orleans Pelicans
- Portland Trail Blazers
- San Antonio Spurs
- Utah Jazz
Note: An asterisk (*) denotes that the team can’t currently sign a 15th man due to the hard cap.
Teams with an open two-way slot:
- Detroit Pistons
- Phoenix Suns
- Portland Trail Blazers
Wolves Notes: RHJ, Taylor, Vanterpool, Russell, Towns
Speaking to Darren Wolfson of SKOR North, Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor praised Rondae Hollis-Jefferson‘s performance during training camp and the preseason, explaining that the team’s decision to release him was an “insurance policy” for roster flexibility.
“If we’d (retained Hollis-Jefferson), then we’d have the roster. We wouldn’t have any room for any movement at all,” Taylor said. “And I just think that you want to go into this year leaving a little bit of flexibility to see if you get some injuries or something like that, that you can bring in somebody to fill it.”
While Taylor’s point is a fair one, it’s worth noting that Hollis-Jefferson had a non-guaranteed contract, as do Jaylen Nowell and Naz Reid, who remain on the roster. So even if the Timberwolves had carried a full 15-man roster into the regular season, they would’ve had some flexibility to make changes if necessary prior to February’s league-wide salary guarantee deadline.
Here’s more on the Wolves:
- Although Taylor has done his due diligence on a potential sale of the franchise, he suggested in his conversation with Wolfson that no agreement is close and acknowledged that he could still own the club a year from now. “There’s probably a good possibility that could happen,” Taylor said.
- Within his discussion with Wolfson, Taylor also said he expects Timberwolves assistant coach David Vanterpool to eventually become an NBA head coach and said that president of basketball operations Gersson Rosas remains on the lookout for trades that could upgrade Minnesota’s roster.
- Ricky Rubio started in place of D’Angelo Russell in the Wolves’ opener because Russell was late for his coronavirus test on Wednesday, writes Patrick Reusse of The Star Tribune. As Reusse notes, Russell tested negative and ended up playing 33 minutes, but the Wolves’ decision not to start him sent a message that they expect their players to strictly follow COVID-19 protocols.
- Following the death of his mother and several other loved ones this year, Karl-Anthony Towns is playing with a heavy heart and is no longer the “happy-go-lucky” player he was during his first five seasons in the NBA, Jon Krawzyncski writes for The Athletic. “You may see me smiling and stuff, but that Karl died on April 13,” an emotional Towns said following the Wolves’ win on Wednesday. “He’s never coming back. I don’t remember that man. I don’t know that man. You’re talking to the physical me, but my soul has been killed off a long time ago.”
James Harden Likely To Be Available On Saturday
Following James Harden‘s violation of the NBA’s health and safety protocols, the NBA will require the Rockets star to conduct a four-day quarantine that began on Tuesday, as Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reports (via Twitter).
Harden must self-isolate through Friday and continue to test negative for the coronavirus in order to receive clearance to resume participating in practices, games, or other team activities, as Mark Berman of Fox 26 Houston tweets. He won’t be able to travel with the team but would be eligible to return for Saturday’s game against the Trail Blazers as long as he doesn’t break quarantine or test positive for the virus.
An NBA investigation found that Harden violated the league’s COVID-19 protocols when he attended an indoor party of 15 or more people. Typically, a player who misses a game for violating those protocols would lose 1/72nd of his salary — in Harden’s case, that would be nearly $573K per game.
However, the Rockets/Thunder game on Wednesday was postponed because Houston also had eight other players unavailable for COVID-19 or injury reasons unrelated to Harden. As a result, it appears the 31-year-old may not actually miss any games as a result of his violation and won’t face any league discipline beyond a $50K fine. A player who is fined an amount greater than $50K is allowed to file a grievance.
It remains to be seen how long several other Rockets players will have to remain isolated or how many negative tests they’ll require, tweets Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle. Positive or inconclusive tests for KJ Martin and another unknown player reportedly triggered contact tracing protocols for John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, Jae’Sean Tate, and Mason Jones.
The Rockets still have seven other healthy, available players on their roster, so as long as Harden is cleared following his four-day quarantine, the team will have at least the league-mandated minimum of eight players available for Saturday’s game vs. Portland.
Northwest Notes: Barton, Boylen, Blazers, Thunder, Gobert
Nuggets wing Will Barton made it clear multiple times earlier this month that he believes he deserves to be a starter. However, after coming off the bench in Wednesday’s opener, Barton said he’s happy for Michael Porter Jr. – who has been promoted to the starting lineup – and is prepared to accept his new sixth man role, as Mike Singer of The Denver Post writes.
“My concern is not about (starting) anymore once I channel my energy to where it has to be,” Barton said. “That’s where I am, so I’m locked in right now, I’m coming off the bench. I’m not trying to worry about if I’m gonna start again. Right now I’ve got a job to do, and that’s my focus is to come off the bench and try to change the game for us and still help us win games.”
While Barton may not have started the Nuggets’ opener, he got the opportunity to finish it, playing all five minutes of overtime in Denver’s loss to Sacramento.
Here’s more from around the Northwest:
- The Trail Blazers brought in former Bulls head coach Jim Boylen for a three-week consultation to help Portland’s coaching staff implement a more aggressive defense, says Jason Quick of The Athletic. “I was intrigued with his ideas and what he did in Chicago,” Blazers head coach Terry Stotts said of Boylen. “And we will be using some of the things he talked about and augmenting some of his other things with what we already do.”
- Even after stockpiling future draft picks for a second consecutive offseason, the Thunder may not be done, according to John Hollinger of The Athletic, who points out that the team could continue to extract draft assets in deals for Al Horford, George Hill, and Trevor Ariza, or by using a pair of giant trade exceptions to accommodate salary dumps.
- ESPN’s Lisa Salters conducted an in-depth interview with Jazz center Rudy Gobert, discussing his path to the NBA, how it felt to become the league’s “patient zero” for COVID-19, and his relationship with Donovan Mitchell, among other topics. “We had conversations as grown men, and we told each other what we had on our minds,” Gobert said of mending his relationship with Mitchell. “And the end of the conversation was that our goal was to win a championship together and, you know, I thought it was really mature from both of us to come out of the conversation like that.”
Players To Lose 1/81.6th Of Salary For Each Game Missed Due To COVID-19 Protocol Violation
JANUARY 12: Players who miss games due to COVID-19 protocol violations will actually forfeit 1/81.6th of their salary for 2020/21, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).
DECEMBER 24: When an NBA player is suspended, he generally loses 1/145th of his salary for each game he misses. A long-term suspension of 20 games or more forces the player to forfeit 1/110th of his salary per game. The penalty for missing a game this season due to a violation of COVID-19 protocols is even more severe.
According to Marc Stein of The New York Times (Twitter link), the NBA will dock a player 1/72nd of his salary for each game he misses as a result of violating the league’s coronavirus protocols. The number is based on the 72-game season.
This penalty would have applied to James Harden if the Rockets‘ game against the Thunder had been played on Wednesday night, since the NBA determined the former MVP violated health and safety protocols by attending an indoor party of 15 or more people.
However, that opening-night contest was postponed because several other Rockets players were unavailable due to positive or inconclusive tests (or subsequent contact tracing) and the club didn’t have eight healthy players available. Since the game will be rescheduled, if possible, Harden didn’t technically miss it. As such, he was instead hit with a $50K fine by the NBA.
It’s not yet known how many negative coronavirus tests Harden will have to return before he’s cleared by the NBA to play following his COVID-19 protocol violation. If he hasn’t yet received clearance for the Rockets’ game on Saturday in Portland, it would cost him significantly more than $50K — 1/72nd of his $41,254,920 salary works out to $572,895 in lost money for each game he misses due to a protocol violation.
Harden is one of the NBA’s highest-paid players, so even though the 1/72 ratio applies to everyone equally, only a small handful of other stars would lose as much as $573K per game for violating the NBA’s health and safety protocols. A player earning the rookie minimum of $898,310, for instance, would be docked $12,477 for each game missed.
Southwest Notes: Bledsoe, Spurs, Caboclo, Richardson
Though new Pelicans starting point guard Eric Bledsoe faces a tall task in replacing fan favorite guard Jrue Holiday, he still will prove a dependable starter for a New Orleans team with a good chance to at least qualify for a play-in game, as William Guillory of the Athletic details.
“The same role (Holiday) had here, I’m kind of in. But at the same time, I’ve still got to play my game,” Bledsoe said. “(My role is) defense, helping guys get better … trying to be a leader and going out there to help them win games.”
Guillory expects Bledsoe, a two-time All-Defensive Team selection who relies on a killer first step to score, to help lead a supercharged backcourt alongside Lonzo Ball. That tandem scored a combined 34 points on a 10-of-21 shooting from the floor tonight in a 113-99 defeat of the Raptors.
There’s more out of the Southwest Division:
- Ahead of the Spurs‘ 2020/21 season, John Hollinger of the Athletic previewed the club’s outlook. Hollinger notes that 30-something veterans LaMarcus Aldridge, DeMar DeRozan, Patty Mills and Rudy Gay could control the ball for extended stretches of possessions, though the advanced age and short-term contracts of most of those players are increasingly at odds with the timeline for the team’s younger prospects.
- Rockets big man Bruno Caboclo agreed to push back the deadline for his 2020/21 salary to become fully guaranteed to February 27, 2021 (the league-wide deadline), according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks (via Twitter). It had previously been scheduled to become guaranteed today.
- Now on his third team in three seasons, new Mavericks swingman Josh Richardson will be expected to guard the opposing team’s toughest perimeter players, according to Callie Caplan of the Dallas Morning News. Richardson has the length and speed to convincingly defend several positions.
Southeast Notes: Heat, LaMelo, Magic, Avdija
John Hollinger of the Athletic reviewed the 2020 offseason for the Heat and previewed the 2020/21 season for the club, which opened tonight against the Magic in Orlando. Hollinger notes that the team’s 2020 offseason seemed to prioritize future assets over building for the immediate present, despite the fact that Miami made the Finals this season.
The Heat will be able to carve out about $30MM in available cap room for the 2021 offseason, Hollinger projects. Hollinger also expects the team to use its roster, loaded with expiring contracts and intriguing players on cheap contracts, to improve ahead of the playoffs.
There’s more out of the Southeast Division:
- The Hornets have long been waiting to add a new young player capable of generating the kind of buzz a high-upside prospect at the level of rookie point guard LaMelo Ball, the No. 3 pick in the 2020 draft, according to Andrew Carter of The Charlotte Observer. Hornets head coach James Borrego was skeptical that Ball, the youngest son in a famous family, could enthusiastically buy in to the team concept he was hoping to build before a workout convinced him otherwise. “Just a genuine spirit, an authentic spirit,” Borrego said. “He would ask as many questions as we would ask.”
- The Magic are hoping to take the next step in their evolution as a playoff club with the chemistry developed through years of continuity, despite the absence of recently-extended forward Jonathan Isaac, according to Roy Parry of the Orlando Sentinel.
- The Wizards were apparently so set on drafting rookie forward Deni Avdija that they at one point almost made a deal with the Bulls to move up to the No. 4 pick, but determined the cost was too high, per Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington. The Wizards did not anticipate that Avdija would last long enough to be available at No. 9.
Harden Fined $50K For COVID-19 Protocol Violation
Rockets All-Star guard James Harden has been fined $50,000 by the NBA due to his violation of the league’s coronavirus-related health and safety protocols, according to a press release. The league will not suspend Harden, Marc Stein of the New York Times tweets.
Stein adds that the timeline and the number of required negative COVID-19 tests required for Harden to return remain up in the air. Harden has tested negative for the coronavirus over the past three days after a social media video of the eight-time All Star recently attending an indoor party emerged.
Interestingly, Bobby Marks of ESPN adds (via Twitter) that $50K is the maximum price permitted for a fine before an NBA player can file a grievance with the league. The fine will not make much of a dent in Harden’s wallet, as the star guard is set to earn $41.25MM this season.
The Rockets have been the big news story of the day, after the NBA announced it was postponing Houston’s first game, a bout against the Thunder, earlier this afternoon. Harden remains hopeful to be traded from the team he led to the cusp of a Finals appearance in 2018, the same year he was named league MVP.