The Raptors are among the teams who “highly value” Duke center Khaman Maluach ahead of this month’s NBA Draft, sources tell Jake Fischer of The Stein Line (Substack link). However, it remains to be seen if the 7’2″ big man will be available at No. 9, which is the lottery pick Toronto currently controls.
If Maluach — who is ranked No. 6 on ESPN’s big board — is unavailable, rival teams have gotten the impression the Raptors might target a different center, Fischer writes. For what it’s worth, Derik Queen (No. 13), Joan Beringer (No. 15) and Thomas Sorber (No. 18) are the next three centers on ESPN’s board.
Here are a few more items of interest from Fischer’s latest rumor round-up:
- As we relayed on Friday evening, Fischer pointed to Raptors wing RJ Barrett as a potential salary-matching piece if Toronto decides to make a play for Kevin Durant. Citing sources, Fischer also confirms a report from Michael Scotto of HoopsHype stating that Barrett’s name came up in the Brandon Ingram trade talks between the Pelicans and Raptors. Toronto ultimately acquired Ingram in February by sending New Orleans Bruce Brown, Kelly Olynyk, one first-round pick and one second-rounder.
- New head coach Jordan Ott intends to meet with the Suns‘ current assistants in the coming days, according to Fischer, who says there was a “strong belief” during the search process that Phoenix would ask associate head coach David Fizdale to remain on staff under the new hire. However, it’s unclear if Fizdale will be amenable to that arrangement after receiving multiple interviews for the head coaching job. Cavaliers assistant DeMarre Carroll — who has worked with Ott on three different teams — and Mavericks assistant Jared Dudley are also viewed as candidates to join Ott’s staff, Fischer writes.
- Following up on a report from his Stein Line colleague Marc Stein, Fischer hears former Suns and Raptors head coach Jay Triano is finalizing a contract to join the Mavericks as an assistant under Jason Kidd. The Knicks are interested in speaking to Kidd for their coaching vacancy, though Dallas would have to grant New York permission for that to happen.
Why would JKidd leave the opportunity to have one of the most heralded #1 picks in the last decade? This is the most unrealistic coaching scenario I could imagine for the Knicks.
You’re right, Cupp is a guy that could make a job attractive. It’s what’s in Dallas after Cooper that makes the job unattractive.
Kyrie will be out most or all of next year. When he does come back, between his age and the injury he suffered, who knows what he’ll be able to offer moving forward.
Davis is no guarantee on staying healthy either, and is not someone you can expect to lead a team to the playoffs. The rest of the supporting cast isn’t all that exciting either.
Davis is likely, and Kyrie is definitely untradeable currently, so there’s really no way to reshape the team.
If the team was a couple years into a rebuild with some exciting younger players and was adding Cooper, that job may look more appealing. Unfortunately, that’s just not where the Mavs are right now.
Disagree. They wanted to shape the team around defense and the bigs. Then Flagg fell in their laps. I don’t think it’s all about Kyrie.. but he should be back by Feb/Mar anyway. The Mavs have a bright future.
Their big three are in their mid-30’s. Kyrie’s injury and the fact that he’ll be 34 when he returns doesn’t bode well for him returning to form. Klay is slowing, and AD is always a question mark health and toughness wise.
Guys like Gafford, Dinwiddie et. al are solid players, but they are roll players.
I appreciate your opinion, but I just can’t agree with you on it. If you’re a Mavs fan, hopefully I’m wrong.
Not a Mavs fan (or Kyrie fan for that matter), but I think ppl calling for the demise of the Mavs are off base. We’ll see. Point was it would be surprising to me, if Kidd leaves Dallas now.