Draft Notes: Wizards, White, Garland
The Wizards will work out Coby White (North Carolina) and Nassir Little (North Carolina) on Monday, Chase Hughes of NBC Sports relays (Twitter link) Both prospects are options for the team at No. 9.
Jonathan Givony has White, who will be the highest-ranked prospect to work out for the Wizards, going to the Suns at No. 6 in his latest mock draft on ESPN. Givony places Little in Minnesota at No. 11.
[Related: Could The Wizards Be The “Right Situation” For Keldon Johnson?]
Kevin Porter Jr. (USC) was previously scheduled to take part in the workout, though he will no longer be in attendance. Here’s more on the upcoming draft:
- The Bulls will work out Darius Garland this week, Givony passes along (Twitter link). The Knicks, Lakers, Cavs, and Suns have either worked out Garland or plan to do so.
- Garland believes he’s the best point guard in the draft, as he tells Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com. “I humbly say this, I think I’m the best [guard] in the draft,” he told McMenamin. “I mean, I think I can do everything that an NBA team wants me to do.”
- Garland’s workouts with the Lakers was particularly impressive, a source tells McMenamin while referencing the point guard’s shot-making ability and deep range. The event took place prior to the Anthony Davis trade.
And-Ones: Davis, Knicks, Randle, Leonard
During the latest rounds of discussions involving a trade for Anthony Davis, the Knicks never made the Pelicans a formal offer, according to Marc Berman of the New York Post.
New York was undoubtedly interested in Davis, though talks were “preliminary” and “brief” since New Orleans began parsing offers a couple of weeks ago. Berman writes that the Knicks believed they could not match the Pelicans’ demands.
Davis had the Knicks on his preferred list of destinations along with the Lakers. Los Angeles ended up completing a deal with the Pelicans, sending Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, Josh Hart and a bounty of draft picks to New Orleans in exchange for Davis. New York couldn’t come close to that kind of offer.
“The Lakers had to get AD, otherwise it would’ve been a waste of LeBron — or whatever LeBron has left,’’ one NBA executive tells Berman.
Here’s more from around the league:
- The Knicks are fans of Julius Randle and the power forward could be a fallback option if the franchise fails to land stars in free agency, Berman passes along in the same piece. Randle will be an unrestricted free agent this offseason.
- Draymond Green flew to New York on Saturday to visit Kevin Durant and a source tells Berman (same piece) that the forward was visiting Durant as a friend and not as a recruiter for the Warriors.
- The Lakers will pursue Kawhi Leonard this summer, sources tell Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer. Los Angeles will look to add a third star to the Davis-LeBron pairing.
Nuggets Considered Anthony Davis Deal
The Nuggets weren’t one of Anthony Davis‘ preferred destinations but that didn’t stop Denver from conducting their due diligence on a potential trade, sources tell Mike Singer of the Denver Post.
The franchise came to the conclusion that Davis wouldn’t seriously consider staying in Denver long-term. Had the Nuggets had more confidence in their ability to retain Davis past the 2019/20 season, they would have been more aggressive in pursuing a trade.
The Pelicans needed Jamal Murray to be in any Davis-to-Denver deal, which was something the Nuggets were not willing to accommodate. Including Michael Porter Jr. in the deal may have also been required. Singer writes that no team could value last year’s No. 14 overall pick as much as the Nuggets since they are the only franchise that has seen him play as a professional. The league is expected to get a full look at Porter in summer league this offseason.
The Lakers could top any offer from the Nuggets or most teams because they knew Davis would want to stay with the franchise long-term. Denver couldn’t risk giving up core players for Davis regardless of how high the ceiling on a Nikola Jokic-Davis one-year run would be.
Julius Randle To Decline Player Option
Julius Randle will turn down his player option for next season and hit the free agent market, Shams Charania of The Athletic relays (Twitter link). The former No. 7 overall pick would have made slightly over $9MM during the 2019/20 season if he exercised his option.
Randle signed a two-year deal that contained the player option with the Pelicans last offseason. He arguably had his best season as a professional, posting career-highs in points (21.4) and player efficiency rating (21.0) while adding a 3-pointer to his game.
The decision to hit free agent does not necessarily mean that Randle won’t be back with the Pelicans. Regardless, New Orleans’ frontcourt will look much different next season with Anthony Davis out in Los Angeles and Zion Williamson on his way to town.
Lakers Optimistic About Adding Kyrie Irving?
The Nets appear to be the favorite to land Kyrie Irving, but other teams still hold out hope that they can sign the point guard. The Lakers remain optimistic that they could sign Irving, a source close to LeBron James told Sam Amick of The Athletic prior to the Anthony Davis deal.
For months, Irving has expressed a desire to play alongside Davis, sources tell David Aldridge of The Athletic. While the Lakers intend to bring in a third star, adding to the Davis-James pairing, it’s unclear where Irving ranks in the franchise’s preferred signings.
Kemba Walker is reportedly the top target. Jimmy Butler and Kawhi Leonard are other options, though both could be hard to pry from their incumbent team (and in Leonard’s case, the Lakers appear to be trailing the Clippers if he does depart Toronto).
Inking one of those players to a full max deal will be a challenge for the Lakers. The franchise is projected to have between $23.6MM and 27.7MM in cap space depending on whether Davis waives his trade bonus. If the team finds a taker for Moritz Wagner and Isaac Bonga (could be the Pelicans in revised Davis deal), the Lakers are looking at upwards of $29.4MM in room. The starting salary on a max deal for players like Irving or Walker is $32.7MM.
A path to opening up the amount needed to offer a full max deal involves the Lakers signing a free agent with cap space and then waiting until July 30 to officially complete the Davis trade. That would allow Los Angeles to aggregate the No. 4 pick’s salary in the Davis deal and operate as an over-the-cap team. Such a strategy would bring the Lakers roughly $32.5MM in room, assuming Davis waives his trade bonus. The figure remains slightly short of the max for this tier of players, though Los Angeles could make additional moves to get all the way there.
Brooklyn will have no issue offering Irving a full max deal. The Hornets possess Walker’s Bird rights and can offer him a super-max deal that tops out around $221MM in total value. Butler believes he’s getting a full max no matter which team signs him and the Raptors will hand Leonard whatever contract he wants should the Finals MVP decide to remain in the North.
The Lakers have an attractive situation for a star on the market. They can offer a title contender in one of the league’s premier markets and depending on Rob Pelinka‘s salary cap gymnastics, they may have to hope a star believes the situation is worth forgoing potential earnings.
Heat Notes: Team Needs, No. 13, Waiters
The Heat should be interested in acquiring wing players with length, Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel writes. The team’s current starting small forward, Josh Richardson, is listed at 6’6″ and in today’s NBA, that’s considered short for the position.
“The switch-ability is key,”an Eastern Conference scout tells Winderman. “That is critical, especially for the three-four. People, when they think about that, he’s going to guard threes, but can he guard fours?
“Players at the three…they tend to merge either way, either closer to fours or as wings. People do not talk about pure threes anymore.”
Here’s more from Miami:
- In a separate piece, Winderman wonders if Oregon’s Bol Bol is worth the gamble for Miami. The Heat own the No. 13 overall pick in the upcoming draft.
- The Heat could use the No. 13 overall pick to offload some payroll from the roster, Winderman hears (in an additional piece). Dion Waiters, who has been speculated as a trade target of the Warriors, and James Johnson stand as two possible candidates to be moved.
- Conditioning was an issue for Waiters this past season, Winderman notes. Coach Eric Spoelstra touched on it at the end of the season. “When he gets in optimal shape, he’s going to also be able to get to the basket when he needs to,” Spoelstra said. “He was still able to do that at times, not consistently enough during the course of a game and through contact and through fatigue.”
Draft Notes: No. 4, Garland, Hunter, Hawks
Despite the notion that there is a drop-off after the first three picks, there are a number of teams that see value in the No. 4 selection, Sam Vecenie of The Athletic hears. Venecie writes that Darius Garland is the player most frequently mentioned around the league as the fourth-best player in the draft.
The Bulls may be looking to move up into that No. 4 spot or at least that’s the chatter behind the scenes. A previous report implied that Chicago would be open to dealing any player or pick on the roster outside of Lauri Markkanen or Wendell Carter Jr.
Here’s more from Venecie on the upcoming draft:
- There’s no sense of who the Pelicans will pick at No. 4 should they keep the selection. If Venecie were making the pick, he’d take a hard look at De’Andre Hunter or Jarrett Culver, though the scribe notes that many around the NBA are not as high on Hunter as he is.
- Had the Lakers held onto the No. 4 overall pick, many within the league believed Garland would be the selection, with Venecie citing the prospect’s connection to Klutch Sports.
- New Cavaliers head coach John Beilein is a fan of Hunter, a source tells Venecie. It’s unclear what kind of influence the coach will have on the team’s draft decisions. It’s worth noting that Cleveland doesn’t need a point guard, having Collin Sexton installed as franchise’s future at the position.
- If Garland remains on the board at No. 5, Cleveland may have a more attractive trade asset on their hands. Phoenix at No. 6 is said to be in the market for a point guard and that could create urgency for another team to trade up to No. 5.
- The Hawks appear to favor Hunter, though they may need to trade up to take the Virginia product. Atlanta has the No. 8 and No. 10 overall in addition to four other selections in the top 44. The franchise has had talks with teams about moving up in the draft but they’ve also spoken with clubs about moving down.
Jimmy Butler To Decline 2019/20 Player Option
Jimmy Butler will decline his player option for the 2019/20 season and hit the free agent market, sources tell Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports. The Sixers have been expecting Butler to take this route.
Philadelphia remains “adamant” about retaining Butler and the franchise appears willing to do whatever is necessary to re-sign the 29-year-old. Butler has previously expressed that he’s confident a max contract awaits him in free agency.
The Lakers have real interest in prying Butler from Philadelphia. Los Angeles is hoping to place other stars around LeBron James this offseason. The starting salary on a potential max contract for Butler is projected to come in around $32.7MM. The Lakers will need to make an additional move to accommodate that figure, as we detailed in the team’s Salary Cap Digest.
Butler will be an unrestricted free agent and his cap hold of roughly $30.7MM will count toward the Sixers’ books unless they decide to renounce him or he signs elsewhere. He played 55 regular season games and 12 playoff contests after Philadelphia acquired him last fall.
Could The Wizards Be The “Right Situation” For Keldon Johnson?
The Wizards hold the No. 9 overall pick in next week’s draft, though they haven’t had many of the elite prospects in Washington for workouts. Keldon Johnson broke that trend, participating in drills at the team’s practice facility on Thursday. The former Kentucky Wildcat described the experience as “amazing” when speaking with Hoops Rumors and other media in attendance.
“I feel I really got to compete today. Got in a great workout. Great staff. I feel everyone was involved in it. … I just had an amazing time,” Johnson said.
Opinions on where Johnson will be drafted range from late-lottery pick to the early 20s. The 6’6″ wing is no. 19 on ESPN’s latest top 100 and Jonathan Givony has Utah selecting him with the No. 23 overall selection in his latest mock draft.
Johnson doesn’t worry about where he’s projected to go. He takes the same approach to invites regardless of what pick the team possesses.
“I don’t really look at it,” he said. “I just go into the workout open-minded. Whatever workouts I have, I go in there and kill [the workout] and go at whoever’s in front of me.”
Iowa State’s Cameron Lard was the only prospect to participate in on-court activities with Johnson. Many pre-draft workouts have upwards of six prospects. Others are merely individual workouts. The two-man workout calls for more one-on-one drills and showcases a different skill set.
Johnson, who scored 13.5 points per game at Kentucky last season, feels his ballhandling is an area of his game that’s underrated. The Virginia-native feels he can better showcase that ability at the next level and added that the tempo of the NBA suits his game. “It’s a lot of up-and-down. … I think I’ll transition well,” the 19-year-old said.
Johnson simply wants to go to the “right situation.” When asked to clarify, the prospect emphasized a place where he can learn. “Just come in, play, learn. Just listen to my coaches,” he said.
John Calipari‘s former recruit previously worked out for a bevy of teams, including the Celtics — owners of three picks in the top 22. He’ll head to Minnesota next, which will likely be his last workout before the NBA draft.
The draft process continues for Washington today. The Wizards will bring in six prospects, as the team relays on its website. Corey Davis (Houston), Jessie Govan (Georgetown), Jaylen Hands (UCLA), Lyle Hexom (Peru State), Jonathan Kasibabu (Fairfield) and V.J. King (Louisville) will participate in drills while Sekou Doumbouya (France) will simply meet with the team.
Wizards Preparing Massive Offer For Masai Ujiri
The Wizards will attempt to poach Masai Ujiri from the Raptors to become their head of basketball operations and may be willing to pay upwards of $10MM annually to pry him from Toronto, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.com reports. The Athletic’s Fred Katz and David Aldridge (Twitter link) hear from sources that the offer could be in the six-year, $60MM range.
Wizards owner Ted Leonsis is expected to reach out to Toronto’s ownership group to request formal permission to speak with Ujiri, Woj writes.
In addition to the massive financial package, Washington may offer Ujiri a lead role in Monumental Sports and Entertainment, the company that oversees the Wizards and the NHL’s Capitals.
The Wizards’ search for a top basketball executive has been on hold since the franchise was unable to come to terms with Nuggets president of basketball operations Tim Connelly. The team also interviewed Danny Ferry and Troy Weaver for the position, but interim GM Tommy Sheppard has been running the show since Ernie Grunfeld was let go.
After overseeing a perennial 50-win team in Denver, Ujiri moved on to Toronto in 2013, where he played a significant role in building this season’s championship roster. Ujiri made major moves for Kawhi Leonard, Danny Green, and Marc Gasol, while also acquiring under-the-radar contributors like Pascal Siakam and Fred VanVleet.