David Lee Declines Player Option
As expected, Spurs big man David Lee has turned down his player option, Shams Charania of The Vertical tweets. The 34-year-old big man will hit the open market after posting a solid year off the bench for San Antonio.
After playing the 2016/17 campaign on a minimum salary contract, Lee is in line for a raise should he seek one, although his decision to opt out echoes that of fellow Spurs big man Pau Gasol and could possibly just be a means of freeing up cap flexibility for San Antonio.
In 18.7 minutes of action this year, Lee posted 7.3 points and 5.6 rebounds per game.
Pacific Notes: Lakers, Clippers, Russell, McGee
As free agency nears, the Lakers may avoid signing players to contracts that extend past 2017/18 for fear of eating into potential Paul George cap space, Justin J. Page of ESPN writes. The club is currently expected to have $18MM to work with this summer and potentially over $40MM next summer, depending on the status of Julius Randle.
Considering that the key here would be to retain flexibility to make a move for George when he officially hits free agency in 2018, the Lakers could zero in on players with one-year deals when the 2017 free agency period begins next week. Los Angeles could justifiably overpay for players in 2017/18 so long as they come with team options for anything beyond that.
Page also writes that fans can expect the franchise to continue shedding as much salary as possible, the primary target being Luol Deng and the $54MM remaining over the course of the last three years of his deal.
There’s more out of the Pacific Division:
- The Clippers ended up agreeing to pay $2MM for the Bucks draft pick that turned into Sindarius Thornwell at No. 48, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders tweets.
- Shortly after trading the No. 2 pick of the 2015 draft, Magic Johnson called to question D’Angelo Russell‘s leadership abilities. Per Baxter Holmes of ESPN, when Johnson introduced rookie Lonzo Ball at the Lakers’ practice facility, he implied that the team needed a leader and somebody that other players want to play with.
- After finding a seemingly impeccable fit with the Warriors, JaVale McGee is eager to remain in the Bay Area, Scott Reiss of KTVU tweets.
- As speculation mounts that LeBron James could be targeting a move to Los Angeles next summer, the battle between the Lakers and Clippers gains momentum. Mark Heisler of the Los Angeles Daily News points out that the potential pursuit of James may see L.A. legends Magic Johnson and Jerry West squaring off.
Knicks Notes: Rose, Artis, Porzingis
After impressing the Knicks in his exit interview, Derrick Rose may have secured himself a spot with the franchise next season, Charley Rosen of FanRag Sports writes. The free agent guard will, however, have to make some adjustments should the team re-sign him.
Rosen notes that Rose will have to learn to make quicker decisions with the ball and limit the amount of times he penetrates without a plan, something he was able to do with ease during the early stages of his career.
Should the veteran enthusiastically buy into the triangle and hone up his defense in a follow up season with the franchise, he could be the team’s short-term answer at point guard until rookie Frank Ntilikina is ready to take on a larger role.
There’s more out of New York:
- When the Knicks signed undrafted rookie Jamel Artis to a partially guaranteed deal this week, they landed a player who is eager to fill a role in the triangle offense, Adam Zagoria of FanRag Sports writes. “I’ll fit in that system very well. I’m a versatile player and I’m a shooter, so I can space the floor in the triangle,” he said.
- Count Malik Monk‘s poor fit within the triangle as one of the major reasons why the Knicks didn’t select him with their eighth overall pick, Moke Hamilton of Basketball Insiders writes. Frank Ntilikina, on the other hand, is precisely the type of player Phil Jackson prefers as his lead guard.
- Team president Phil Jackson is wary of building a future together with Kristaps Porzingis after the 21-year-old famously blew off his exit meeting with the franchise, Marc Berman of the New York Post writes. The worry, Berman notes, is to what extent Porzingis could damage the organization with future acts of rebellion.
Southeast Notes: Magic, Adebayo, Satoransky
While he may be years away from reaching his true potential, the Magic are pleased with their Jonathan Isaac pickup in Thursday’s draft, Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel writes.
In order to fully develop the sixth-overall choice, however, Orlando’s new front office will need to avoid some of the mistakes that their predecessors made, namely giving prospects playing time before they earn it.
Robbins adds that president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman and general manager John Hammond should look to add quality players that will be able to compete with Isaac for minutes, something current and past Magic players like Victor Oladipo, Tobias Harris and Elfrid Payton could have benefited from over the course of the last few seasons.
There’s more from the Southeast Division:
- A particularly impressive workout helped Bam Adebayo convince the Heat to take a chance on him with their 14th pick in Thursday’s draft, Ira Winderman of the Sun-Sentinel writes. “We had already seen enough after 20 minutes. But he wanted to stay out there. He was the last one in the gym. We notice things like that,” head coach Erik Spoelstra said.
- The Magic would be wise to mind the tone of their fan base and field a decent roster as soon as possible, Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel writes. While a new front office may be just embarking on a five-year tenure with the organization, fans of the franchise have already endured five years of losing seasons.
- On the surface, the Wizards trading for a backup point guard would appear to hurt Tomas Satoransky‘s stock with the franchise but Tim Frazier is a short-term solution, Chase Huges of CSN Mid-Atlantic writes. Satoransky remains the only guard on Washington’s bench signed past 2018/19.
- In a podcast with Alex Kennedy of Hoops Hype, Wizards point guard John Wall that he’s like to remain with Washington for the rest of his career. The eight-year veteran and All-NBA Third Team guard also says that he still feels as though he’s underrated.
Kings Notes: Joerger, Fox, Giles
With as many as five rookies on board for 2017/18, the only way to gauge head coach Dave Joerger‘s performance as the club’s head coach will be with time.
Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee writes that the the 43-year-old bench boss will need to show discipline and patience with his young roster, traits that would have serve him well during his stint as a minor league coach in the G League.
It could be years before Kings fans see just what players like De’Aaron Fox and Justin Jackson are capable of and that’s never a good thing for coaches at the professional level. As Jones notes, Joerger’s three predecessors didn’t even last two seasons.
Still, there’s been a culture shift in Sacramento and, in addition to this year’s rookie crop, the roster boasts numerous development projects ranging from 2016/17 mid-season acquisition Buddy Hield to sophomore Greek big man Georgios Papagiannis.
“There aren’t many teams who have had nine players in the first or second years of their contract,” Joerger said. “It hasn’t been done, but you have to give them time and keep our expectations that guys go out and compete hard every night and they get better everyday in practice.”
There’s more from the Kings:
- When fifth-overall pick De’Aaron Fox goes to work with his new Kings teammates he’ll do so with one big advantage; he actually knows his fellow rookies well already. Fox spoke with the Sacramento Bee’s Jason Jones in a recent media scrum.
- It didn’t take long for the basketball world to notice that the Kings brought home a good haul from the NBA Draft and, unsurprisingly, general manager Vlade Divac is happy with who they got. Divac spoke with the media, including Ailene Voisin of the Sacramento Bee.
- For better and worse, 20th-overall pick Harry Giles is drawing comparisons to former Kings forward Chris Webber, Ailene Voisin of the Sacramento Bee writes.
Stein’s Latest: George, Rockets, Spurs, Nuggets
News broke Sunday that the Cavaliers, Nuggets and Pacers had discussed a three-way deal that would have sent Paul George to the Cavs and Kevin Love to Denver ahead of the draft. As we wrote about earlie, one variation of the potential deal would have sent Kenneth Faried to Cleveland as well.
In an article published at ESPN shortly thereafter, Marc Stein – who sent the initial tweet Sunday night – goes into more details, sharing information about the pre-draft conversations that took place surrounding the Pacers forward.
Here are some highlights from Stein’s latest piece, co-written with Haynes:
- While the conversations between the Cavaliers, Nuggets and Pacers didn’t amount to anything before the draft, Cleveland haven’t abandoned its pursuit of the two-way All-Star. The Cavs legitimately believe that they could convince George to abandon his dreams of playing for his hometown Lakers, something he is expected to pursue when he hits free agency in 2018.
- In addition to Cleveland’s ongoing pursuit and the Celtics discussions that came to light on draft day, Stein and Haynes note that the Rockets and Spurs both aggressively pursued George deals before the draft as well.
- The Nuggets are looking to upgrade at power forward and it’s the reason why Love was included in the possible three-team deal. Denver similarly intends to make plays for pending free agents Blake Griffin and Paul Millsap.
- All of Faried, Wilson Chandler and Emmanuel Mudiay are said to be available. Big man Nikola Jokic and second-year guard Jamal Murray are supposedly untouchable.
- The pair also confirm what we wrote about on Friday following a Joe Vardon column at Cleveland.com; the Cavs are expected to pursue Carmelo Anthony should he be bought out by the Knicks.
Cavs, Pacers, Nuggets Discussed George, Love
7:32pm: Nothing appears imminent, as the aforementioned Vardon tweet implied, but Stein and Haynes have published an article with more information about what went down and some of the underlying motives. We’ve recapped it here.
7:12pm: An article published by Haynes and Stein over at ESPN specifies that the Cavs, Nuggets and Pacers discussed Love and George leading up to last Thursday’s draft. The Nuggets, the article states, were brought in to supply Indiana with young assets.
Stein and Haynes note that while this particular discussion didn’t end in a deal, the Cavs won’t abandon their pursuit of the Pacers All-Star.
6:48pm: The clubs are said to have had discussions involving Denver on draft night, Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com tweets. Vardon also adds that his source said it was “nothing serious”.
6:31pm: The Cavaliers, Pacers and Nuggets are in the midst of trade discussions involving Paul George and Kevin Love, Marc Stein of ESPN tweets. The three clubs have discussed a deal that would land George in Cleveland and Love in Denver.
Per Stein and ESPN’s Chris Haynes, the Cavs have “continued to pursue” George, something they were initially reported to be doing prior to the draft.
In one version of the potential deal, the Cavaliers could land forward Kenneth Faried, Haynes tweets.
News of the ongoing discussion comes after a week of speculation following George’s declaration that he would not be returning to the Pacers when he hits free agency next summer. When he informed Indiana president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard of his intentions, he revealed that he’d like to sign with his hometown Lakers in 2018.
Unless the Lakers make a move for him before then, however, a number of other clubs – including the Cavaliers – will eagerly look to acquire him as a one-year rental, the Celtics being a notable example that has already made an aggressive push to land him.
Jazz Possible Frontrunners For Teodosic
The Jazz could be the frontrunners to land the services of international free agent Milos Teodosic, Jody Genessey of the Deseret News writes. A Serbian publication recently declared as much and Genessey suggests that the point guard’s ties to head coach Quin Snyder could help facilitate a deal.
As we wrote about last week, Teodosic is said to be seeking a three-year contract worth between $25MM and $30MM. That’s a considerable raise over what he would likely receive from his current CSKA Moscow squad in Russia.
In addition to the fact that Snyder was CSKA Moscow’s assistant coach in 2012/13, the Jazz boast another connection in current assistant coach Igor Kokoskov, a native of Teodosic’s Serbia.
Finally, Genessey notes that of the three teams previously linked to Teodosic by ESPN – Utah, Brooklyn and Sacramento – the Nets have since traded for a point guard in D’Angelo Russell. Similarly, it’s worth noting that the Kings drafted point guard De’Aaron Fox fifth overall in Thursday’s NBA Draft.
Warriors, JaCorey Williams Agree To Deal
The Warriors are said to have reached an agreement with Middle Tennessee forward JaCorey Williams, Michael Scotto of Basketball Insiders reports. It’s unclear whether the deal is just for Summer League or one that will span into training camp.
Coming off of their second title in three seasons, the Warriors don’t exactly need reinforcements, but the 23-year-old big man averaged 17.1 points and 7.4 rebounds per game in college.
Should the agreement be for more than just a Summer League deal, there’s a chance that the parties could have come to terms on a two-way deal. Earlier today, of course, we wrote that the Warriors and Oregon’s Chris Boucher had agreed on a two-way contract.
Cavaliers Notes: Griffin, Luxury Tax, Rabb
Former Cavaliers general manager David Griffin wanted more autonomy when it came to managing his team’s roster, Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com says. The scribe responded to a question about Griffin’s recent exit in a mailbag with readers.
Per Vardon, franchise owner Dan Gilbert had a tendency to get in the way of trades and contracts and the philosophical differences between the two parties were evident.
Vardon confirms that Griffin was also seeking a significant raise but doesn’t suspect that any negotiations even reached that far considering that they didn’t appear to be on the same page to begin with.
- The $2MM reduction in payroll room the league hinted at with its latest salary cap projection could cost the Cavaliers as much as $10MM in luxury tax damage, Jeff Zilgitt of USA Today writes. The Cavs will be hit with the repeater tax in 2017/18.
- The Cavaliers had a deal on the table to acquire the 34th pick in the draft last night with the intention of drafting Ivan Rabb, Marc Spears of ESPN tweets. Rabb ultimately went 35th overall.
- The Cavaliers could look to add Carmelo Anthony and Dwyane Wade, writes Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com. While the scenario sounds, and probably is, farfetched, Vardon suggests that their personal ties to LeBron James could land them in Ohio if they are ultimately bought out by their respective clubs.