Kawhi Leonard Won’t Play In Game 4
Kawhi Leonard will sit out Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals on Saturday, Clippers coach Tyronn Lue told Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN and other media members (Twitter link). Another prominent Clippers forward, Marcus Morris, will be a game-time decision.
Leonard hasn’t played since injuring his knee during Game 5 of L.A.’s second-round series against the Jazz.
The Clippers are officially calling Leonard’s knee injury a sprain, but few details have been released about the severity. There was concern last week that he might have damaged his ACL, but there’s been no confirmation one way or the other.
Leonard was averaging 30.4 PPG, 7.7 RPG and 4.4 APG in 11 postseason games prior to the injury.
Morris played 24 minutes in the Clippers’ Game 3 victory over Phoenix, contributing eight points and five rebounds in 24 minutes. He’s also been battling a knee issue.
The Suns lead the series 2-1.
Suns Forward Abdel Nader Cleared To Play
Suns forward Abdel Nader is expected to be available for Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals against the Clippers on Saturday, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets.
Nader underwent arthroscopic surgery on his right knee in late April. Nader was also sidelined for several games early in the regular season due to a concussion.
Nader appeared in 24 games this season, averaging 6.7 PPG while making a career-best 41.9% of his 3-point attempts. He hasn’t seen any action since March 21.
It’s unlikely that coach Monty Williams will play Nader at this stage of the postseason, but it does give him another wing option at his disposal. Nader will be an unrestricted free agent at the conclusion of the season.
2021 NBA Offseason Preview: New Orleans Pelicans
After trading away Anthony Davis in 2019, the Pelicans moved another longtime standout during the 2020 offseason, sending Jrue Holiday to Milwaukee. While New Orleans’ return in the four-team deal was heavy on draft picks that could pay off down the line, it also included veterans Steven Adams and Eric Bledsoe.
The idea was that the Pelicans weren’t giving up on their goal of making the playoffs in 2021 by trading Holiday, since they were getting two productive veterans in the deal — they even extended Adams as part of the trade, locking him up for two extra seasons.
However, instead of helping lead the Pelicans to the playoffs, Adams and Bledsoe struggled to fit in New Orleans. Adams and Zion Williamson weren’t a great match in the frontcourt, and Bledsoe’s efficiency cratered — his .421 FG% and .687 FT% were his worst marks since his rookie year.
Throw in the fact that new head coach Stan Van Gundy wasn’t able to deliver on his promise to turn the Pelicans’ defense around and it’s perhaps no surprise that the team didn’t take a step forward in 2020/21, falling out of play-in contention during the season’s final weeks.
The Pelicans’ Offseason Plan:
Van Gundy is gone after just one year, so the first item on the Pelicans’ offseason to-do list will be hiring his replacement. New Orleans is seeking a coach who can better connect with the young players on the roster — veteran assistants like Jacque Vaughn and Charles Lee are among the candidates receiving consideration.
Once the coaching search is over, president of basketball operations David Griffin will face a series of challenging offseason decisions, including the looming restricted free agencies of Lonzo Ball and Josh Hart. Both players are due for substantial raises, potentially creating a cap crunch for the Pelicans, who presumably aren’t eager to pay the luxury tax and would be approaching that threshold if they bring both RFAs back on fair-market deals.
Still, the Pelicans won’t want to lose their solid young players for nothing. Star forwards Williamson and Brandon Ingram have both expressed a desire to continue playing with Ball, in particular, and Hart has reportedly been a strong locker room voice for the young squad.
In order to comfortably re-sign both players and potentially use their mid-level exception, the Pelicans may explore trading Bledsoe and/or Adams to cut costs. Neither player is a positive asset at this point, but neither contract is so onerous that it can’t be moved.
While it’s never ideal for a rebuilding team to surrender draft picks in order to clear unwanted contracts from its cap, the Pelicans are uniquely positioned following their Davis and Holiday mega-deals to sacrifice a pick or two in a salary dump and not be significantly set back by it.
Ideally, they’d deal from their cache of second-round picks (they have four in 2021 alone), but if they need to include a protected first-rounder, the Pelicans should seriously consider giving up a selection previously acquired from the Lakers or Bucks. If they want to get back to the postseason sooner rather than later, it’s worth being aggressive this summer rather than waiting another year or two for those contracts to expire.
Salary Cap Situation
Note: Our salary cap projections are based on a presumed 3% increase, which would result in a $112.4MM cap for 2021/22.
Guaranteed Salary
- Brandon Ingram ($29,467,800)
- Eric Bledsoe ($18,125,000)
- Steven Adams ($17,073,171)
- Zion Williamson ($10,733,400)
- Jaxson Hayes ($5,348,280)
- Kira Lewis ($3,822,240)
- Nickeil Alexander-Walker ($3,261,480)
- Wesley Iwundu ($1,824,003)
- Naji Marshall ($1,517,981)
- Total: $91,173,355
Player Options
- None
Team Options
- Didi Louzada ($1,517,981): Non-Bird rights 1
- Total: $1,517,981
Non-Guaranteed Salary
- Wenyen Gabriel ($1,762,796)
- Total: $1,762,796
Restricted Free Agents
Lonzo Ball ($14,359,936 qualifying offer / $27,509,455 cap hold): Bird rights- Josh Hart ($5,236,739 qualifying offer / $10,473,477 cap hold): Bird rights
- Total (cap holds): $37,982,932
Two-Way Free Agents
Draft Picks
- No. 10 overall pick ($4,373,160)
- No. 35 overall pick (no cap hold)
- No. 40 overall pick (no cap hold)
- No. 43 overall pick (no cap hold)
- No. 53 overall pick (no cap hold)
- Total: $4,373,160
Extension-Eligible Players
- None
Unrestricted Free Agents / Other Cap Holds
- James Johnson ($24,070,650): Bird rights
- Willy Hernangomez ($1,669,178): Non-Bird rights
- Total: $25,739,828
Offseason Cap Outlook
Accounting for their nine players on guaranteed contracts, Louzada’s minimum-salary team option, and the cap hold for the No. 10 pick brings the Pelicans’ team salary to $97MM+. It seems safe to assume the club will try to retain at least one of Ball and Hart, if not both, so New Orleans appears likely to operate over the cap.
However, with so many variables in play, it’s tricky to project which exceptions the Pelicans might have access to. Re-signing Ball and Hart without cutting costs elsewhere would likely put team salary at the tax line, limiting the club to the taxpayer mid-level exception. But letting one of those RFAs go – or trading Adams and/or Bledsoe to save some money – could create enough flexibility for New Orleans to use the full mid-level and/or the bi-annual exception.
Cap Exceptions Available
- Mid-level exception: $9,536,000 2
- Bi-annual exception: $3,732,000 2
- Trade exception: $3,897,436
Footnotes
- Louzada will be eligible for restricted free agency if his option is declined.
- These are projected values. If the Pelicans are at or near the tax line, they may instead have access to just the taxpayer mid-level exception ($5.9MM).
Salary and cap information from Basketball Insiders and RealGM was used in the creation of this post.
Draft Notes: Workouts, Aluma, T. Williams, Hurt, McBride
The Timberwolves and Jazz are hosting pre-draft group workouts in Minneapolis from July 8-11, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link). According to Wojnarowski, the event will be open to all 30 NBA teams and the goal will be to have 48 prospects participate over that four-day period.
In past years when teams have brought in groups of prospects for pre-draft workouts, they’ve typically hosted six players at a time. If the event in Minneapolis follows a similar pattern, it could showcase two groups of six players apiece on each day from July 8-11.
Here’s more on the upcoming draft:
- Virginia Tech forward Keve Aluma is returning to school for another year, he announced on Twitter. Aluma had been testing the draft waters after 15.2 PPG and 7.9 RPG in 22 games (30.6 MPG) as a junior in 2020/21.
- Purdue forward Trevion Williams is also pulling out of the draft and heading back to school, per a Twitter announcement. Williams put up 15.5 PPG and 9.1 RPG in 28 games (25.1 MPG) for the Boilemakers as a junior this year, earning All-Big Ten honors.
- Duke forward Matthew Hurt has workouts on tap with the Celtics, Thunder, Pelicans, Lakers, Clippers, and Bucks, according to Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News (Twitter link).
- West Virginia guard Miles McBride has worked out for the Knicks and Celtics in addition to interviewing with several teams, tweets Alder Almo of Empire Sports Media.
Western Notes: Barea, Mavs, Wolves, Unseld, Warriors, Schröder
Jason Kidd, who has reached a deal to become Dallas’ new head coach, may not be the only former Mavericks point guard patrolling the team’s sidelines in 2021/22. According to Tim MacMahon of ESPN (Twitter link), J.J. Barea has had preliminary discussions about the possibility of joining Kidd’s coaching staff.
Barea has no formal coaching experience, having played in the NBA up until last year and in international leagues during the 2020/21 season. However, as MacMahon observes, the veteran guard has strong relationships with many members of the Mavericks’ organization – including Luka Doncic – and the team missed his presence this past season.
Another member of that 2011 Mavericks title team is also a candidate to join Kidd’s staff, according to Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News, who tweets that Jason Terry is in the mix for a role.
Here’s more from around the Western Conference:
- The Timberwolves have issued a press release announcing Chris Finch‘s front bench assistants for the 2021/22 season. Joseph Blair and Pablo Prigioni will return, while the team has also added Micah Nori, as was rumored earlier this month. Nori spent the last three seasons as an assistant coach in Detroit.
- Nuggets head coach Michael Malone said today that he’s been reaching out to teams with head coaching vacancies to advocate for his assistant coach Wes Unseld Jr. (Twitter link via Mike Singer of The Athletic). Unseld has been bypassed in past coaching searches, but Malone said he believes that’s “going to change this summer.”
- Anthony Slater of The Athletic weighs what the Warriors could do with the No. 7 and No. 14 picks in this year’s draft, exploring scenarios in which they trade up, move down, or deal one or both of their selections for veteran help.
- Within a mailbag for The Athletic, Jovan Buha tries to determine what a fair deal for Lakers UFA-to-be Dennis Schröder might look like, suggesting he’d be fine with $20MM per year on a shorter-term contract, but would be hesitant to go that high for four years.
Heat Notes: Spoelstra, Salary Cap, Robinson, Herro
Erik Spoelstra will have his first stint with USA Basketball this summer, according to Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press, who writes that the Heat head coach will have a role as the coach of the U.S. Select Team. That squad will be made up primarily of younger players and will practice and scrimmage against the Olympic roster. Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards will be among the players on that Select Team, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link).
While Heat star Jimmy Butler declined an invitation to play for Team USA, his teammate Bam Adebayo will be on the roster, and a number of other Heat players could end up representing other countries in Olympic qualifying tournaments or in the Tokyo Olympics. Spoelstra wanted to get involved as well, as Reynolds writes.
“I really just want to be a part of the program,” the Heat coach said. “I’m always pushing myself to get better in the offseasons; I go visit people and all that stuff. This is going to be a basketball immersion. I mean, the dinners, the team meetings … for where I am right now in my career, I think this is the perfect thing for a summer of development.”
Here’s more out of Miami:
- The salary cap won’t increase as much by 2022 as was once expected, complicating the Heat’s ability to open up a maximum-salary slot for a 10-year veteran next summer, writes Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. As a result, Jackson wouldn’t be surprised if the club signs some players to multiyear contracts this offseason, giving the club the flexibility to potentially acquire a star via sign-and-trade down the road.
- Duncan Robinson, a restricted free agent this offseason, said his summer priorities will be to work on developing a reliable two-point shot, getting to the foul line more, and “moving better” on defense. Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald has the details.
- Based on his conversations with league sources, Ethan Skolnick of Five Reasons Sports (video link) says he thinks there’s a 75% chance the Heat will trade Tyler Herro this offseason. Herro’s name came up in trade rumors prior to the March deadline, but the club was reportedly unwilling to include him in an offer for Kyle Lowry.
Suns Notes: Payne, Paul, Booker, Ayton
After turning in a couple big performances in the first two games of the Western Conference Finals – both Suns wins – Cameron Payne was forced to leave Game 3 on Thursday after playing just four minutes. The veteran point guard suffered a sprained left ankle, as Dave McMenamin of ESPN writes.
With Payne unavailable, the Suns leaned heavily on Chris Paul, who logged 39 minutes in his first game back after clearing the NBA’s health and safety protocols. Head coach Monty Williams admitted after the game that he didn’t plan to play Paul so much and that he’s hopeful Payne will be available for Game 4 on Saturday to back up the team’s All-NBA point guard.
“Not having Cam to spell Chris put us in a bit of a bind,” Williams said, per McMenamin. “So hopefully (Payne) can come back and play in the next game.”
Here’s more on the Suns:
- Paul, who spent eight days in isolation after testing positive for COVID-19, said he got the bad news last week from Suns senior director of health and performance Brady Howe, according to McMenamin. “I was laying in bed with my kids and got a text from Brady,” Paul said. “It is what it is. I dealt with it. Anybody with kids, anytime you’re going through something, the hardest part is being away from your kids and your family. Once you get over the shock of what’s happening, to hell with how and why. You just start figuring out how you can get better.”
- After breaking his nose in Game 2 of the Western Finals, Devin Booker received eight shots of a numbing agent and had his nose reset back into place prior to Game 3, says McMenamin. Booker had to wear a face mask in Game 3 and struggled mightily, making just 5-of-21 shots from the floor, but he said he wasn’t affected by the injury or the mask. “The nose feels fine,” Booker said. “We just lost the game.”
- The Suns faced some criticism over the years for passing on Luka Doncic with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 draft, but Deandre Ayton has developed into exactly what the team needed, according to Royce Young of ESPN. “He’s just turning into a really dominant player, on both ends of the floor,” Williams said of his center.
Knicks Considered Unlikely To Keep All Their Draft Picks
A number of rival executives don’t expect the Knicks to hang onto and use all three of their picks in the top 32 of this year’s draft, says Ian Begley of SNY.tv. New York currently controls the 19th, 21st, and 32nd overall selections, but there’s an expectation that the team will be active on or before draft night rather than standing pat.
“I can’t see them carrying three rookies on the roster (next season),” a member of an opposing team told Begley.
As Begley and Marc Berman of The New York Post observe, the Knicks have been meeting at this week’s combine with a number of prospects who are projected to be drafted in the late lottery, including Florida State’s Scottie Barnes, Duke’s Jalen Johnson, and UConn’s James Bouknight. That could be a hint that the club is mulling the possibility of packaging two or more of its picks in an effort to trade up in the draft.
Of course, as Bobby Marks of ESPN notes (via Twitter), it’s not uncommon for teams picking in the 20s to try to talk to lottery prospects at the combine, since they may not be able to get those players into their building for workouts later in the pre-draft process. As such, it’s probably presumptuous to read too much into a few interviews.
Still, Berman has previously reported that there have been talks within the organization about the possibility of moving up, potentially into the 12-13 range. If the Knicks start bringing in some of those upper-level prospects for workouts in the coming weeks, that would be a stronger sign that the team is seriously considering consolidating some of its draft assets in a trade.
New York could also include one or more of its 2021 draft picks in a deal for a veteran player if the right opportunity arises. The club projects to have plenty of cap room once free agency begins, so trading a pick for a player would be a viable option without having to worry about matching salaries.
The Knicks also hold the No. 58 pick in this year’s draft, but that selection is unlikely to move the needle much as a sweetener in any trade. If New York keeps it, it could be used on a player who would sign a two-way contract.
Coaching Rumors: Wizards, Morrison, Cassell, Pelicans, Vaughn, Carlisle
We haven’t heard about many candidates linked to the Wizards‘ head coaching job since the team announced Scott Brooks wouldn’t be returning for the 2021/22 season. However, it sounds like Washington’s search is moving forward.
Celtics assistant Scott Morrison told Peter Yannopoulos of RDS (Twitter link) that he has interviewed for the Wizards’ head coaching job. Morrison also interviewed for the open position in Boston before the team decided to hire Ime Udoka. With Udoka likely to bring in some new assistants, Morrison’s future with the C’s is unclear.
Meanwhile, Brian Windhorst of ESPN said on his Hoop Collective podcast that Sam Cassell and Wes Unseld Jr. are considered two of the leading candidates for the Wizards’ job (hat tip to RealGM). Cassell is currently an assistant with the Sixers, while Unseld – who has previously been mentioned as a contender for the Washington job – is a Nuggets assistant.
Here are a few more coaching-related updates and notes from around the NBA:
- Windhorst also said on his latest Hoop Collective podcast that Nets assistant Jacque Vaughn has emerged as a legit contender for the Pelicans‘ head coaching vacancy. “I’m not saying he’s going to get (the) job, because Charles Lee on the Bucks‘ staff is also going to be a strong candidate,” Windhorst said, per RealGM. “The word coming out of Chicago at the draft combine is that Jacque Vaughn, who is close to (Pelicans GM) Trajan Langdon… Jacque Vaughn is going to get a real serious look.” ESPN reported earlier in the week that both Vaughn and Lee were interviewing with New Orleans.
- On that same Hoop Collective podcast, ESPN’s Tim MacMahon suggested that former Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle may have felt threatened in Dallas by assistant Jamahl Mosley‘s close relationship with Luka Doncic (hat tip to RealGM). Carlisle’s endorsement of Jason Kidd for the job could be viewed through that lens. “I think Rick understood the perception of how (the endorsement of Kidd) might impact who he didn’t endorse,” MacMahon said, adding of Carlisle and Mosley: “I don’t think those guys will necessarily send each other Christmas cards.”
- Carlisle spoke to other teams with coaching openings before finalizing a deal with the Pacers, but Indiana was where the mutual interest was strongest, says J. Michael of The Indianapolis Star (subscriber-only article). According to Michael, Carlisle and the Pacers didn’t even meet face-to-face, completing their four-year deal over the phone.
Community Shootaround: Rockets Lottery Pick
The Pistons hit the jackpot in the lottery on Tuesday, getting the top pick for the first time in over 50 years.
They essentially flipped positions with the Rockets, who finished with the worst regular-season record, as Detroit entered the lottery in the No. 2 slot.
Pistons general manager Troy Weaver didn’t immediately commit to Oklahoma State guard Cade Cunningham, who has been considered by most pundits to be the top prospect in the draft.
Weaver blew up the Pistons’ roster in his first year on the job, so it’s not out of the question he’ll go outside the box and draft another player or trade down. But the most likely outcome is that the Pistons will select the player who has drawn comparisons to Luka Doncic, Penny Hardaway and another former Detroit lottery pick, Grant Hill.
That leaves Houston in an interesting spot. There’s three players generally considered candidates for the second spot – Gonzaga guard Jalen Suggs, USC big man Evan Mobley and G League shooting guard Jalen Green.
The most notable players on the Rockets’ roster are oft-injured guards John Wall and Eric Gordon, big man Christian Wood and All-Rookie First Team forward Jae’Sean Tate. So, there’s needs across the board and the rebuilding team could go in any number of directions.
If they want a solid two-player point guard with superior leadership skills, they could choose Suggs. If they want to a highly-skilled power forward built for the modern NBA game, they could grab Mobley. If they’re seeking a prolific scorer on the wing, they could snare Green.
That leads us to our question of the day: Assuming the Pistons take Cade Cunningham with the No. 1 overall pick in the draft, which player should the Rockets select at No. 2?
Please take to the comments section to weigh in on this topic. We look forward to your input.