Atlantic Notes: Harden, Knicks, Jordan, Burks, Birch
Nets superstar James Harden still isn’t close to returning from a hamstring injury that has forced him to miss 11 straight games, Brian Lewis writes for the New York Post. Harden has taken minor steps in his recovery, but hasn’t done any high-intensity work.
“He’s here with us traveling,” coach Steve Nash said of Harden. “He was shooting (Tuesday) morning and just starting to build up what his capacity is. He’s not doing any high-intensity stuff, but he’s shooting and doing all his strength and rehabilitation work.
“So positive signs there, but still, I think, a ways to go.”
Despite dealing with injuries throughout the season, Brooklyn currently holds the best record in the Eastern Conference at 42-20. The team will be seeking its fourth straight win in a road game against the Pacers on Thursday night.
There’s more from the Atlantic Division today:
- Anthony Olivieri of ESPN.com details the Knicks‘ secret pursuit of Bulls legend Michael Jordan during his playing days. Jordan ultimately bypassed joining New York, spending 13 seasons with Chicago and two seasons with Washington.
- Knicks guard Alec Burks has rejoined the team after a stint in the NBA’s health and safety protocols, the club announced on social media. Burks has averaged 12.6 points, 4.5 rebounds in 44 contests (25.8 MPG) this season, but has missed the team’s last six games.
- Raptors center Khem Birch has fit in well with his new club in limited time, Eric Koreen of The Athletic writes. Birch most recently finished with 14 points, six rebounds and two blocks in a win over the Cavaliers, playing well on both ends of the floor. “He’s been a good factor here,” coach Nick Nurse said postgame. “I thought he was solid, too, defensively. I can remember maybe one double-team he went a little too quick on that they cut back door on us, but other than that, he was pretty mistake-free down there, too. So good game for him. He’s stringing ’em (together), playing well.”
Kevin Love Discusses Inbounds Incident
Cavaliers forward Kevin Love had no malicious intent behind his inbounds play that resulted in an easy Raptors basket in the team’s 112-92 loss to Toronto on Monday, he told USA TODAY’s Mark Medina.
The incident occurred toward the end of the third quarter after Raptors big man Freddie Gillespie bumped into Love, who subsequently traveled into the basket stanchion. Love, upset about a non-call, angrily swatted at the ball when a referee threw it to him to inbound. Raptors forward Stanley Johnson stole Love’s spiked pass on the play, dishing to a trailing Malachi Flynn for three.
The Cavaliers handled the matter internally and Love apologized for his poor attitude, according to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports.
“Not to say too much that could get me fined, but it was the officiating,” Love told Medina. “When I snagged that ball, I didn’t realize it wasn’t even inbounds. I was a little thrown off. I was going to go grab it and throw back into passing the ball to DG (Darius Garland) and move on. I get the optics. That’s something I have to take on the chin and understand that was a very bad look.”
Love, a 13-year veteran, has two years and $60.2MM remaining in his deal after the season. He was a valuable floor-spacer and locker room voice in the team’s championship run just five years ago. However, he has expressed his frustration on the court multiple times in recent years,
“I never want that to be who I am,” Love told reporters on Wednesday, as relayed by Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. “I don’t want to be here and defend my character. Everything I do comes from a good place. This isn’t woe is me. These guys ride with me. I apologized. We’ve moved on. We even talked about it today, but I mean I know the perception and the way people want to make this. Me being a leader for the team and I know I’m going to take that on the chin. I’m going to be a man and take it on the chin.”
The Cavaliers are just 21-40 with 11 games left on the schedule. The team ranks six games behind the Wizards for the No. 10 seed and has only seen Love play in 18 games this season due to injury.
Rondae Hollis-Jefferson Signs With Blazers For Rest Of Season
APRIL 28: The Blazers have officially signed Hollis-Jefferson to a deal for the rest of the season, the team announced in a press release.
APRIL 27: With the second 10-day contract he signed with the Trail Blazers set to expire, defensive-oriented reserve forward Rondae Hollis-Jefferson will ink a deal that will keep him in Portland for the rest of the 2020/21 season, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
Because a player is not permitted to sign a third 10-day deal with a team during the same season, it became decision time in a hurry for Portland.
Hollis-Jefferson was actually selected with the No. 23 pick by Portland out of Arizona in 2015, but the Trail Blazers traded him to the Nets before he ever suited up for them. He spent four seasons in Brooklyn before landing with the Raptors for the 2019/20 season.
The 26-year-old Jefferson has appeared in just five games (including one start) for the Trail Blazers this season, averaging a respectable 12.6 MPG, but the athletic forward could help shore up the club’s frontcourt with his ability to cover multiple positions on defense.
If Jefferson officially completes his new deal on Wednesday after his second 10-day expires tonight, he’ll make $245,031 over the course of the season’s final 19 days. Portland’s cap hit would be $210,895.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Knicks Eyeing Deal With Vildoza, No Longer Signing Shittu
The Knicks are expected to sign Argentinian guard Luca Vildoza to a contract before the end of the season, according to a report from HoopsHype (Twitter link).
Vildoza, who played for Baskonia in the EuroLeague this season, has reached an agreement with the Spanish club on a buyout from his contract, per HoopsHype. Chema de Lucas had said (via Twitter) that the Knicks were pushing to sign Vildoza, after Donatas Urbonas first reported earlier in the month that the 25-year-old was on New York’s radar.
Ian Begley of SNY.tv (Twitter link), who confirms that the Knicks are in talks with Vildoza, hears from sources that the club is also no longer completing its reported deal with Simisola Shittu. Shittu had been on track to sign a two-way contract with New York, but it seems that agreement has fallen apart.
It’s unclear if Vildoza would get that two-way deal instead or if he’d take Jared Harper‘s spot on the 15-man roster — Harper is currently on a 10-day contract that expires Sunday night, and it’s unclear if he’ll remain with the team for the rest of the season. A source tells Marc Berman of The New York Post that the Knicks are eyeing a couple other players in addition to Vildoza, so they could theoretically complete multiple signings.
Vildoza, 25, has been playing basketball professionally since 2012, having started his career with Quilmes in Argentina. He joined Baskonia in 2017 and has spent the last four seasons in Spain, playing a key role in the club’s backcourt. In 31 EuroLeague games in 2020/21, he averaged 10.1 points and 3.4 assists in 25.2 minutes per contest, posting a shooting line of .410/.376/.761.
As HoopsHype notes (via Twitter), Vildoza was also part of the Argentinian national team that won a silver medal at the 2019 World Cup.
Sixers May Renew Kyle Lowry Pursuit In Offseason
The Sixers weren’t able to pry Kyle Lowry away from the Raptors at last month’s trade deadline, but they plan to renew their pursuit of the veteran guard this offseason, sources tell Sam Amick of The Athletic.
As Amick explains, while the 76ers addressed their point guard spot by acquiring George Hill at the deadline, Hill has an expiring contract in 2021/22 and only has a partial guarantee ($1.28MM of $10MM+), so he’s not necessarily viewed as a long-term answer in that role.
The Sixers project to be over the cap this summer, so they’d need to negotiate a sign-and-trade in order to land Lowry, Amick notes. Completing such a deal would be a challenge — Philadelphia wouldn’t want to include Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons, or Tobias Harris in an offer for Lowry, but those three players earn a combined $100MM next season.
Teams that acquire a player via sign-and-trade become hard-capped at the tax apron for the rest of the league year. This year’s tax apron was $139MM and next season’s won’t be significantly higher, so the Sixers would be hard-pressed to accommodate lucrative contracts for Embiid, Simmons, Harris, and Lowry and fill out the rest of their 15-man roster without surpassing that threshold.
Landing Lowry at a rate far lower than his current $30MM salary would be an ideal scenario for the Sixers, but the six-time All-Star reportedly won’t be looking to take a pay cut, and he’s expected to be a popular target on this offseason’s free agent market, one general manager tells Amick.
“There’s teams with money and not a lot of players, so I think he’s going to do really well,” the GM said of Lowry.
The Raptors are also expected to make an effort to re-sign Lowry, and the Heat were known to be interested last month — Miami should have enough cap room to make a serious play for the 35-year-old if they so choose.
Kings Sign Damian Jones To Multiyear Deal
APRIL 28: Jones’ deal is now official, the Kings announced in a press release.
“Damian provides a defensive presence and has fit in nicely with our group,” general manager Monte McNair said in a statement. “We are excited to see his continued growth in Sacramento.”
The team also announced that Silva has been officially released, which accommodated the promotion of Chimezie Metu to the 15-man roster.
APRIL 27: Damian Jones‘ second 10-day contract with the Kings expired on Monday night, but the club won’t let him get away. According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter), Jones is signing a rest-of-season contract with Sacramento that will also cover the 2021/22 season.
Although the Kings have an open spot on their 15-man roster and don’t need to cut anyone to make room for Jones, they’ll waive forward Chris Silva, Wojnarowski adds.
Jones, 25, has played for more than half the teams in the Pacific this season, having started the year with Phoenix before he was released by the Suns in February. He later signed a pair of 10-day contracts with the Lakers, then joined the Kings for two more 10-day deals.
In total, Jones has appeared in 28 games (10.7 MPG) in 2020/21, averaging 3.1 PPG and 2.4 RPG with a .696 FG%. He had one of his best games of the season on Monday, putting up eight points and seven rebounds in a Kings win over Dallas.
As for Silva, he was acquired by the Kings in a deadline deal that sent Nemanja Bjelica to the Heat and never seemed to be in Sacramento’s future plans. He logged just nine total minutes across four games for the Kings, racking up more fouls (four) than points (two). He’ll become an unrestricted free agent if and when he clears waivers.
Once the Kings complete both transactions, they’ll still have one open spot on their 15-man roster, which they could use to complete another 10-day or rest-of-season signing.
Kings Promote Chimezie Metu To 15-Man Roster
11:33am: Metu’s deal is for three years, meaning the Kings used some of their mid-level exception to complete the signing, tweets Jones.
Metu received about $700K for the rest of the season, according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks, who tweets that the following two years are non-guaranteed.
11:17am: Kings big man Chimezie Metu has spent all of 2020/21 on a two-way contract, but with just 19 days left in the regular season, Sacramento is signing him to a standard contract, promoting him to the 15-man roster, reports Jason Jones of The Athletic (Twitter link). The team has confirmed Metu’s new multiyear deal, announcing it in a press release.
“Chimezie has worked hard this season and done a terrific job to earn his place on the team,” Kings general manager Monte McNair said in a statement. “He provides toughness and energy to the group. We are happy to watch his career develop in a Kings uniform.”
Metu, 24, initially came to training camp in December on a non-guaranteed contract, and while he didn’t earn a spot on the 15-man roster to start the season, the Kings liked him enough to bring him back on a two-way deal after he cleared waivers.
Metu has since emerged as a regular rotation player, appearing in 28 games (10.1 MPG) and averaging 5.1 PPG and 2.5 RPG. The former USC standout missed a chunk of the season after breaking his wrist on February 14, but he has appeared in all but one game since returning to action on March 24.
The Kings had one open spot on their 15-man roster before promoting Metu. They also intend to waive Chris Silva, opening up another spot in order to sign Damian Jones to a rest-of-season contract. Once all those moves are official, Sacramento will have a full 15-man roster, with an open two-way slot.
Although the exact terms of Metu’s new multiyear deal are unclear for now, the Kings could theoretically use their mid-level exception to sign him to a contract that goes beyond 2021/22 and/or exceeds the minimum. If they do, it would be the second time this season they’ve used a portion of their mid-level on Metu — his non-guaranteed camp deal was a three-year pact that took $1.6MM out of Sacramento’s $9.26MM MLE.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Raptors Sign Freddie Gillespie To Two-Year Deal
10:54am: The Raptors have officially signed Gillespie, the team announced in a press release.
According to Blake Murphy of The Athletic (Twitter link), next season’s salary is non-guaranteed. It has a $50K partial guarantee trigger date at some point, then would become fully guaranteed if Gillespie makes the regular season roster.
8:33am: The Raptors are set to sign big man Freddie Gillespie to a new contract after his second 10-day deal expired on Tuesday night, according to Shams Charania and Blake Murphy of The Athletic (Twitter link). Gillespie will receive a two-year contract from Toronto, per The Athletic’s duo.
Gillespie, who has appeared in 10 games for the Raptors this month, has made a strong impression both on and off the court during his first 20 days with the club. He averaged 5.3 points, 3.6 rebounds, and 1.0 block per game in 16.0 minutes per contest, racking up five blocked shots in just 14 minutes of action during Monday’s victory over Cleveland.
Last offseason, the Raptors re-signed Chris Boucher and added Aron Baynes and Alex Len to shore up a frontcourt rotation that no longer included Serge Ibaka and Marc Gasol. However, Len was waived early in the season, Baynes is no longer in the rotation, and Boucher is injured, leaving Gillespie as the team’s current backup center behind another recent addition, Khem Birch.
Because the Raptors used their full mid-level exception to sign Baynes and Len and don’t have a bi-annual exception available this season, they’re limited to the minimum salary exception on Gillespie, meaning they couldn’t have offered him more than two years or more than the rookie minimum.
Assuming he finalizes his new deal today, Gillespie will earn $116,903 over the final 19 days of the regular season. His salary for 2021/22 will be $1,517,981, though that figure likely won’t be fully guaranteed.
The Raptors will have a full 15-man roster once they officially re-add Gillespie. The club does still have an open two-way contract slot that could be filled before the end of the regular season.
For more on Gillespie’s unorthodox journey to the NBA, be sure to read our feature on the former Baylor standout from earlier this year.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Cavs Sign Jeremiah Martin To Two-Way Contract
APRIL 28: The Cavaliers have officially signed Martin to his two-way deal, a source tells our JD Shaw (Twitter link).
APRIL 22: The Cavaliers intend to fill their open two-way slot by signing free agent guard Jeremiah Martin to a two-way contract, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
Cleveland promoted two-way player Lamar Stevens to the 15-man roster last week, and a report at the time suggested that the club would sign a new two-way player soon.
Martin, 24, spent part of the 2019/20 season on a two-way contract with Brooklyn, averaging 7.1 points and 2.0 assists in nine games (11.0 MPG) for the Nets. He joined Brooklyn’s G League affiliate, the Long Island Nets, for the ’20/21 bubble season and played well, recording 18.5 PPG, 5.1 APG, and 2.3 SPG in 15 contests (31.8 MPG).
Once his deal with the Cavs is official, Martin will join Brodric Thomas as the team’s players on two-way contracts.
Taurean Prince Undergoes Arthroscopic Ankle Surgery
Cavaliers forward Taurean Prince has undergone arthroscopic surgery on his left ankle, the team announced today in a press release. The procedure took place on Tuesday in New York.
Prince had been experiencing ongoing discomfort in his left ankle for several weeks, and there had long been an expectation that he’d undergo surgery during the offseason. However, as was reported last week, he and the team opted to move up that procedure, completing it before the end of the 2020/21 season.
The Cavaliers didn’t provide a specific timeline for Prince’s recovery, simply stating that he has been ruled out indefinitely. It’s safe to assume his season is over and that he’ll aim to be ready by the fall, but the club says his return to basketball activities will be updated as appropriate.
Prince, who started the season in Brooklyn, was sent to Cleveland in the four-team James Harden trade in January. He has appeared in a total of 41 games for the Nets and Cavs this season, averaging 9.5 PPG and 3.5 RPG with a very solid .400 3PT% in 22.1 minutes per contest.
Prince will be entering a contract year in 2021/22 — his expiring $13MM salary could make him a trade candidate either in the offseason or at next year’s deadline.