Atlantic Notes: Knicks, Mitchell, Tatum, Embiid, Reed
The Knicks can deal up to eight first-rounders, including up to four unprotected picks, in a potential trade with the Jazz for Donovan Mitchell. They could add at least three first-round swaps, as well as young talents such as RJ Barrett, Quentin Grimes, Immanuel Quickley and Obi Toppin.
Those factors give New York an edge over other potential suitors for Mitchell, Fred Katz of The Athletic writes. Katz breaks down possible offers from the Wizards, Heat, Raptors, Hornets, Kings and Hawks — the other teams reportedly interested in a Mitchell deal — and how the Knicks might top them.
We have more from the Atlantic Division:
- Jayson Tatum is brimming with confidence the Celtics will win the title next season, fortified by the additions of Malcolm Brogdon and Danilo Gallinari, he told The Athletic’s Jared Weiss. “I mean, what kind of teammate would I be if I said no?” he said. “We got this close, and we added two really good players. I think it makes us better.” Tatum is staying out of the way of other potential moves, including chatter regarding a Kevin Durant blockbuster. “(President of basketball operations Brad Stevens) lets me do my thing. I let him do his thing,” he said. “In all honesty, that’s his decision and that’s his job.”
- Winning the Most Valuable Player award would be a best-case scenario for the Sixers’ Joel Embiid next season, Kyle Neubeck of PhillyVoice.com writes. The worst case scenario, beyond a significant injury, would be the superstar center growing disenchanted with the franchise’s inability to get over the hump in the postseason.
- A best-case scenario for Sixers reserve Paul Reed, according to Neubeck, would be a more modest goal — getting more minutes and bringing youthful energy and production. A worse-case scenario would be for the Sixers to lose trust in Reed and wind up overusing P.J. Tucker at the ‘five’ spot before the postseason.
No Changes To U.S.-Canada Border Rules For Unvaccinated NBA Players
The NBA informed teams today in a memo that, as things currently stand, players who are unvaccinated against COVID-19 without a valid medical reason will remain ineligible to play games in Toronto for the 2022/23 season, according to Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report (Twitter link).
Fischer’s report is missing some key contextual information. For one, the policy that prevents unvaccinated players from playing in Toronto wasn’t implemented by the Raptors or the NBA, but by the Canadian government, which has restrictions against non-residents entering the county without being vaccinated.
Last season, there were no exemptions from this rule for NBA players, and it appears that won’t change going forward.
It’s also worth noting that the United States has a border policy on unvaccinated travelers that’s virtually identical to Canada’s (it’s why, for instance, tennis star Novak Djokovic isn’t expected to be eligible to play in the U.S. Open later this month). However, since most NBA travel takes place domestically within the U.S., that policy doesn’t prevent unvaccinated players from suiting up in any cities besides Toronto unless that city has a specific vaccine mandate of its own, as New York did for much of the 2022/23 season.
There has been no indication that the Canadian government will drop its vaccination requirement for travelers anytime soon, which is presumably why the NBA sent out a memo to teams now reminding them of that policy. But if that requirement is amended or dropped at some point during the 2022/23 season, there’s no reason to believe the NBA would institute any new restrictions preventing unvaccinated players from traveling back and forth across the U.S.-Canada border.
A huge majority of NBA players are vaccinated against COVID-19 — the exact percentage was estimated last season to be around 97%. So only a small handful of players, including Nets star Kyrie Irving, figure to be affected by the border policy.
Kings Agree To One-Year Deal With Quinn Cook
The Kings are signing point guard Quinn Cook to a one-year contract, ESPN’s Marc Spears tweets.
Cook played for the G League Stockton Kings last season. He’ll compete for the third point guard spot behind De’Aaron Fox and Davion Mitchell, so he’s no lock to make the 15-man roster.
His main competition appears to be Matthew Dellavedova, who will enter training camp with a non-guaranteed deal.
The Kings’ interest in Cook was reported last month.
Cook has played for New Orleans, Dallas, Golden State, the Los Angeles Lakers and Cleveland. He was a member of two championship teams — the Warriors in 2018 and Lakers in 2020.
He didn’t play in an NBA game last season but saw action in a combined 23 games for the Lakers and Cavaliers during the 2020/21 season. In 188 career games, he’s averaged 6.4 PPG and 1.6 APG in 14.1 MPG.
With the G League Kings, Cook appeared in 11 games and averaged 23.5 PPG and 5.9 APG.
Nets Owner Tsai Publicly Supports Marks, Nash
Nets owner Joe Tsai went on social media Monday night to declare his support for the team’s front office and coaching staff, apparently closing the door on the possibility of Kevin Durant wearing a Brooklyn uniform again.
On his Twitter account, Tsai stated “Our front office and coaching staff have my support. We will make decisions in the best interest of the Brooklyn Nets.”
Tsai met with the disgruntled superstar forward in London on Saturday. Earlier on Monday, The Athletic’s Shams Charania reported that Durant reiterated his trade request at that meeting, declaring he would only withdraw it if Tsai fired general manager Sean Marks and head coach Steve Nash. Durant, who is entering the first year of a four-year max extension, told Tsai that he doesn’t have faith in the team’s direction.
It would have been stunning for an owner to bend to his superstar’s wishes and fire the GM and coach, then essentially let the player pick the replacements. So Tsai’s decision to publicly back Marks and Nash isn’t surprising.
The franchise’s approach to Durant’s trade request remains to be seen. There’s speculation that Durant made the ultimatum to put pressure on the front office to lower its trade demands. It’s also uncertain whether Durant will show up if he’s still on the roster during training camp.
Eastern Notes: Lowry, Murray, Banchero, Grant, Turner
Kyle Lowry‘s name has surfaced in trade rumors, mainly due to the Heat’s interest in Kevin Durant. In a recent podcast with longtime NBA All-Star Vince Carter, Lowry says he doesn’t feel the need to address trade talk (hat tip to Anthony Chiang and Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald).
“I hear it. I don’t respond to it,” Lowry said. “I have my social media, but I’m not even on my social media right now, to be honest with you. I only did this interview because you’re my man.”
Lowry’s salary could prove valuable if Miami is successful in dealing for Durant or another high-priced star such as Donovan Mitchell. Lowry, who is entering the second year of a three-year, $85MM contract, has not considered retirement, saying he’ll play “until I can’t.”
“This is how I think personally. When you tell your brain something, it starts to do it,” he said. “So for me, I’ll say: ‘I’m going until I can’t.’ Why not? Until I don’t want to wake up at 5 or 6 in the morning to go work out.”
We have more from the Eastern Conference:
- New Hawks guard Dejounte Murray and the draft’s top pick, the Magic’s Paolo Banchero, exchanged words on and off the court after taking the court at Isaiah Thomas‘ annual summer pro-am, Kurt Helin of NBC Sports relays. Murray faked out Banchero before doing a self alley-oop, then took to social media to give the rookie more grief. Banchero responded by saying that Murray had unfollowed him, while adding some choices words of his own.
- When the Pistons signed Jerami Grant to a three-year contract two years ago as a free agent, many observers were baffled as to why the rebuilding team took that route. In hindsight, it worked out quite well for Detroit, Keith Langlois of Pistons.com writes. Grant’s professionalism and work ethic rubbed off on the Pistons’ young players and the subsequent trade with Portland this summer helped GM Troy Weaver make a draft-night deal for lottery pick Jalen Duren.
- Despite being the subject of trade rumors for months, Pacers center Myles Turner loves Indiana and is excited to play with Tyrese Haliburton, according to HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto. Haliburton is the first true pass-first point guard Turner has played with, Scotto notes. Turner is entering his walk year and will be an unrestricted free agent next summer.
Mojave King Signs With G League Ignite
Mojave King has signed with the G League Ignite, ESPN’s Jonathan Givony tweets.
King, 20, averaged 18.0 PPG and 3.3 APG in the New Zealand NBL for the Zerofees Southland Sharks this summer. He’s also played for Adelaide and Cairns in the Australian NBL.
King, who was born in New Zealand, is an NBA Academy alumnus looking to improve his draft prospects by joining the Ignite.
Projected 2023 No. 2 overall pick Scoot Henderson has committed to play for the Ignite, as well as French wing Sidy Cissoko, 6’10” Canadian forward Leonard Miller and Nigerian Efe Abogidi.
At the NBA Academy Games in Atlanta in July 2019, King averaged a tournament-high 19.2 PPG. He turned down several Division I schools before signing with the NBL.
Contract Details: Muscala, Harden, Blazers, More
The new contract that veteran forward/center Mike Muscala signed with the Thunder is essentially identical to the one he signed with the team in 2021, Hoops Rumors has learned.
Muscala’s new deal covers two years and has matching $3.5MM cap hits in each of those two seasons for a total of $7MM. The first year is guaranteed, while the second year is a team option. All of those details also applied to the two-year, $7MM contract he signed in ’21.
The Thunder chose to decline Muscala’s $3.5MM team option for 2022/23 back in June, but will now pay him that exact salary next season, with another $3.5MM team option for ’23/24. Since Oklahoma City had Muscala’s Bird rights, the club didn’t have to dip into its mid-level exception to complete the signing.
Here are a few more details on recently signed contracts from around the NBA:
- James Harden‘s new two-year contract with the Sixers will pay him exactly $33MM in 2022/23 and includes a 2023/24 player option worth $35.64MM. The two-year, $68.64MM pact includes a 15% trade kicker.
- The training camp contracts that Norvel Pelle and Isaiah Miller signed with the Trail Blazers include Exhibit 10 language. That gives Portland the option of converting either contract into a two-way deal before the regular season begins.
- The new two-way contracts signed by Duane Washington (Suns) and Trent Forrest (Hawks) are each just for one season.
Nets’ Durant Reportedly Reiterates Trade Request, Gives Tsai Ultimatum
In a face-to-face meeting with Nets owner Joe Tsai in London on Saturday, star forward Kevin Durant reiterated his desire to be traded and gave Tsai an ultimatum, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic.
According to Charania, Durant told the Nets owner that he needs to choose between trading him or firing general manager Sean Marks and head coach Steve Nash. Durant said that he doesn’t have faith in the team’s direction, sources tell The Athletic.
Charania says his sources described Saturday’s meeting as “transparent and professional,” adding that the Nets have “direct knowledge of the reasons behind Durant’s request” and have reason to believe he’ll be resolute in his stance. People around the NBA have speculated about the possibility that the two-time Finals MVP won’t report to training camp if the Nets don’t make a deal within the next seven weeks, per Charania.
Sources tell The Athletic that Brooklyn has spoken to nearly every team in the NBA about a possible Durant trade, but no club has met the Nets’ “sky-high” asking price. According to Charania, the Celtics, Heat, and Raptors are widely viewed as the most legitimate suitors for the 33-year-old, who is entering the first season of a four-year, maximum-salary extension.
Charania cites sources who say that Tsai and the Nets have “made clear privately that they will take every last asset from a team that trades for Durant.” However, it’s hard to see how the team has the leverage to make that sort of deal, given these latest developments in the summer saga.
Of course, Marks and Nash held their current positions when Durant signed that four-year extension a year ago, and the star forward was believed to have played a role in Nash’s hiring in the first place, back in 2020. It’s unclear why Durant has soured to such a significant extent on Brooklyn’s leadership group.
It’s possible Durant’s dissatisfaction is related, at least in part, to the team’s handling of his good friend Kyrie Irving. The Nets refused to allow Irving to be a part-time player during the first half of last season when vaccine requirements prohibited him from playing home games. The club then opted against offering Kyrie a lucrative long-term extension this offseason.
While recent reports have indicated that Irving plans to be a Net to start the 2022/23 season, there’s a belief that Brooklyn will seriously consider trading him if and when the team finds a Durant deal it likes.
Checking In Again On Unsigned 2022 Draft Picks
We’re about a month-and-a-half removed from the 2022 NBA draft, and – as our tracker shows – 46 of the 58 players selected on June 23 have signed their first NBA contracts.
The 12 unsigned players are as follows:
- Toronto Raptors: Christian Koloko, F/C
- Detroit Pistons: Gabriele Procida, G
- Cleveland Cavaliers: Khalifa Diop, C
- New Orleans Pelicans: E.J. Liddell, F
- Denver Nuggets: Ismael Kamagate, C
- Indiana Pacers: Kendall Brown, F
- Minnesota Timberwolves: Matteo Spagnolo, G
- New Orleans Pelicans: Karlo Matkovic, F
- Washington Wizards: Yannick Nzosa, C
- Golden State Warriors: Gui Santos, F
- Cleveland Cavaliers: Luke Travers, G/F
- Milwaukee Bucks: Hugo Besson, G
Most of these prospects will likely spend the 2022/23 season playing in non-NBA leagues around the world. Procida, Diop, Kamagate, Spagnolo, Matkovic, Nzosa, Santos, Travers, and Besson are all good bets to be draft-and-stash players.
That essentially just leaves three 2022 draftees in limbo: Koloko, Liddell, and Brown.
A player selected within the first five picks of the second round, like Koloko was, virtually always receives a multiyear contract that includes at least a year or two of guaranteed money. It’s hard to imagine that won’t be the case for Koloko, despite the Raptors‘ roster crunch. Toronto already has 13 players on guaranteed contracts, with three players on partial guarantees vying for a regular season spot, so if Koloko signs, it would leave one fewer spot up for grabs.
It’s worth noting that once Koloko officially signs, he’ll be ineligible to be traded for 30 days, so it’s possible the Raptors are keeping their options open in case their Kevin Durant trade talks with the Nets get serious.
Toronto may also be mulling whether to use a portion of its mid-level exception to sign Koloko to a contract that spans three or four years. Taking that route, instead of signing him to a two-year, minimum-salary contract, would ensure he remains under team control for an extra season or two, but would hard-cap the Raptors for the 2022/23 season, since the club already used $6MM of its MLE to sign Otto Porter.
Liddell, meanwhile, suffered an unfortunate break to begin his professional career, tearing his ACL during the Las Vegas Summer League. Before he sustained that injury, the question was probably whether Liddell would receive a standard contract or a two-way deal. Now, the question is whether New Orleans still willing to sign him to a two-way contract or whether the team wants to use that slot on someone who could actually contribute on the court in 2022/23.
If they fill their two-way slots, the Pelicans would probably like to see Liddell sign a G League contract and spend the season rehabbing with the Birmingham Squadron before he signs his first NBA deal a year from now.
As for Brown, it remains to be seen whether he’ll begin the season on the Pacers‘ standard 15-man roster or on a two-way deal. For now, Indiana could go in either direction, but the club could be waiting to see whether there are any more trades to be made before training camp begins — if the Pacers were to complete a deal involving Myles Turner and/or Buddy Hield, the number of players they receive in that trade would have an impact on whether or not there’s room on the standard roster for Brown.
For example, if Indiana send Turner and Hield to the Lakers in exchange for Russell Westbrook and draft assets, then bought out Westbrook, it would open up two extra spots on the projected 15-man roster. In that scenario, signing Brown to a three- or four-year standard contract would make sense.
Hawks Sign Trent Forrest To Two-Way Deal
The Hawks have filled their open two-way slot by signing free agent guard Trent Forrest to a two-way contract, the team announced today in a press release.
[RELATED: 2022/23 NBA Two-Way Contract Tracker]
Forrest, 24, signed a two-way deal with the Jazz in 2020 after going undrafted out of Florida State. He spent most of the next two seasons on two-way contracts in Utah, eventually earning a promotion to the standard roster on the last day of the 2021/22 campaign in order to make him playoff-eligible.
Forrest has appeared in 90 regular season games at the NBA level in his first two professional seasons, including 60 in 2021/22. He averaged 3.3 PPG and 1.8 APG in ’21/22, making 49.0% of his shots from the floor in 12.8 minutes per contest. He even earned six starts in the backcourt over the course of the season.
The Jazz had the opportunity to give Forrest a qualifying offer in June to make him a restricted free agent, but chose not to, so he hit the market as an unrestricted free agent.
Having officially signed Forrest, Atlanta now has 16 players under contract. Of those 16 players, 13 have fully guaranteed standard contracts, while Tyrese Martin has a partially guaranteed deal and Forrest and Chaundee Brown are on two-way pacts.