Central Notes: Thibodeau, Blatt, J.R. Smith
It’s well-known throughout the NBA that the Bulls would grant other teams permission to interview Tom Thibodeau if they asked, but no team has done so this year, reports K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune. Johnson believes that suggests the options for Thibs to coach elsewhere next season are fading and sees Chicago’s slow-paced approach to Thibodeau so far this offseason as a sign that the team isn’t opposed to simply paying off the $9MM left on his contract and parting ways with him. There’s more on the Thibodeau drama amid the latest from the Central Division:
- There is indeed a set-off clause in Thibodeau’s contract, so the Bulls would recoup at least part of that money — and as much as 100% of it if his contract is like that of most coaches, as Ken Berger of CBSSports.com recently detailed — if the Bulls fire him and he ends up with another job, Johnson reports in the same piece. Still, it’s unknown how owner Jerry Reinsdorf, who Johnson refers to as an occasional “oasis” of sorts for Thibodeau amid the coach’s squabbles with management, wants the situation to play out, Thibs received more pushback from players this year than ever, Johnson adds.
- Cavs owner Dan Gilbert insists that the team never considered firing coach David Blatt, in spite of a report to the contrary and another that indicated the organization was concerned by Blatt’s uneven early season performance, as Gilbert said to Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group. The owner said his confidence never wavered about the coach who’s in his first NBA job. “It really didn’t,” Gilbert said. “I don’t care what the expectations were, especially after we changed coaches twice in two years. This was a guy with a long-term record of success. You have to at least give a season, maybe more than just one. I think it would have destabilized the entire franchise and it would have been bad.”
- Cleveland received permission from the Knicks to talk to J.R. Smith prior to trading for him in January, and he impressed upon the Cavs that he was excited for the chance to play with them, writes Frank Isola of the New York Daily News. Smith later said that he would walk to Cleveland to play with LeBron James, Isola adds amid a story that casts the Cavs as a long-term threat atop the Eastern Conference.
Offseason Outlook: Phoenix Suns
Guaranteed Contracts
- Eric Bledsoe ($13,500,000)
- Markieff Morris ($8,000,000)
- P.J. Tucker ($5,500,000)
- Marcus Morris ($5,000,000)
- Alex Len ($3,807,120)
- T.J. Warren ($2,041,080)
- Reggie Bullock ($1,252,440)
- Archie Goodwin ($1,160,160)
- (Michael Beasley — $777,778)1
Non-Guaranteed Contracts
- Jerel McNeal ($947,276)2
Options
- Danny Granger ($2,170,465 — Player)3
Restricted Free Agents/Cap Holds
- Brandon Knight ($8,884,793) — $4,790,680 qualifying offer
Unrestricted Free Agents/Cap Holds
- Marcus Thornton ($12,862,500)
- Brandan Wright ($9,500,000)
- Gerald Green ($6,650,000)
- No. 13 pick ($1,773,200)
- Earl Barron ($947,276)
Draft Picks
- 1st Round (13th overall)
- 2nd Round (44th overall)
Cap Outlook
- Guaranteed Salary: $41,038,578
- Non-Guaranteed Salary: $947,276
- Options: $2,170,465
- Cap Holds: $40,617,769
- Total: $84,774,088
The regression of the Suns this past season was easy to see coming, in some respects. Phoenix’s 2013/14 squad overachieved markedly after it appeared bound for the dregs of the Western Conference, particularly after the Marcin Gortat trade. The Suns took a risk in the offseason, loading up the backcourt with a four-year sign-and-trade deal for Isaiah Thomas and finally, after a protracted negotiation, a five-year contract for Eric Bledsoe. Both moves came in spite of the presence of Goran Dragic, who was entering the final season of his deal before a player option, and in spite of the team’s decision to draft Tyler Ennis 18th overall. It shouldn’t have been a shock when Dragic made it clear he wouldn’t re-sign and that it would be in Phoenix’s best interest to trade him.
It was nonetheless surprising to see the Suns not only accommodate Dragic but also, in separate deals, ship out Thomas and Ennis, too. They took in Brandon Knight, but he’s set for a fat raise in restricted free agency this summer, unlike Thomas or Ennis, neither of whom can elect free agency until 2018. Knight is probably a more valuable player than either of them, but it’s almost certain that he’ll command more than the two of them will make put together next season. The Suns laid a lot on the line to acquire Knight and it would be unseemly for the team to just let him walk away in free agency after he made it into only 11 games post-trade, as I argued when I looked at Knight’s free agent stock. The position that Phoenix seems to be in strengthens the leverage that agent Arn Tellem has. Several GMs told Michael Scotto of SheridanHoops during the season that Knight would be worth $12MM a year, and it would take only one GM to drive his price even higher than that.
At least Knight appears uninterested in subjecting Phoenix to the protracted drama that played out prior to the Bledsoe signing last year, and Knight also told the Suns that he doesn’t mind playing with Bledsoe, as Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic wrote. The interest in a new deal between the Suns and Knight is mutual, though there are no guarantees. The Suns would be able to clear maximum-level cap room if they don’t bring back Knight, and GM Ryan McDonough said as the season ended that the team would be aggressive in pursuit of a star. McDonough has made it clear that he thinks highly of Knight, but if the price isn’t right, there are other options. The weather is indeed warm in Phoenix, but it remains to be seen whether there would be enough on the roster without Knight there to attract top-tier free agents to a team that just finished 39-43 and in 10th place in the Western Conference. The Suns, devoid of all but Bledsoe from their once-crowded stable of point guards, would need more than just the insertion of a star to truly contend.
A steal at No. 13 in the draft wouldn’t necessarily help this summer, but it would better Phoenix’s chances in the coming free agent frenzy of 2016. Kansas small forward Kelly Oubre has high upside and would help give the Suns more punch on the wing if he pans out. Kentucky shooting guard Devin Booker, if he’s available, would give the Suns the dead-eye three-point threat they lack after a season in which they finished 20th in three-point percentage. Texas center Myles Turner would probably be worth the gamble here, while Will Sammon of Hoops Rumors suggests the Suns as the best fit for Frank Kaminsky in his profile of the Wisconsin center. Both would serve as alternatives in case Alex Len doesn’t live up to having been the No. 5 overall pick in 2013. Our Eddie Scarito suggests another small forward, Arizona’s Stanley Johnson, in the Hoops Rumors Mock Draft, and he’d surely be a local favorite.
Phoenix will probably use free agency to address whatever need it doesn’t take care of in the draft. The Suns could wait to re-sign Knight and keep his cap hold at nearly $8.9MM to lend themselves greater flexibility, though that would be tricky with the threat of an offer sheet from another team looming. The Suns, with their existing guaranteed salaries, would have close to $55.9MM on the cap with a new deal for Knight at a starting salary of $12MM, the cap hold for the 13th pick, and a pair of roster charges for open roster spots if Phoenix were to strip down and renounce its other free agents. That figure would rise to about $58MM if Danny Granger opts in. That’s $9.1MM away from the league’s $67.1MM cap projection, well shy of max-level flexbility, but fodder enough for some intriguing additions.
Danny Green could swing to small forward and would shore up Phoenix’s long-range game, though it may well require most, if not all, of that $9.1MM to snag him. Mike Dunleavy would be a cheaper option who could do the same if the Suns can tempt him away from the Bulls. Amar’e Stoudemire had an “extremely high” interest in rejoining the Suns before he signed instead with the Mavs after his buyout from the Knicks, so he seems obtainable for depth inside. Still, Phoenix and Brandan Wright have mutual interest, according to Coro, though Wright’s bloated cap hold of $9.5MM makes him a candidate to be renounced. That doesn’t mean that the Suns wouldn’t re-sign him, but rather that Phoenix would be more likely to do so via cap room or an exception instead of his Bird rights.
Kevin Bradbury, the agent for Gerald Green, offered a few vitriolic remarks in response to Jeff Hornacek’s criticism of Green’s defense, and the swingman at the time was unsure if the Suns wanted to re-sign him after a year in which his minutes dipped sharply. Green said at season’s end that he had a conversation with president of basketball operations Lon Babby that left him optimistic that the Suns want to bring him back, so he, like Wright, may well eat up roster room and salary that would otherwise go to outside free agents. Green’s $6.65MM cap hold isn’t as large as Wright’s, but it’s quite conceivable the Suns renounce Green, too, and circle back to try to re-sign him at a smaller number. There would also be value in keeping those cap holds and operating above the cap. Staying above the cap would give the Suns access to the $5.464MM mid-level instead of the $2.814MM room exception, and since the Suns have a $5.5MM trade exception, they could in essence have two mid-level exceptions. They couldn’t use the trade exception to sign anyone outright, but they could use it to acquire a player via sign-and-trade, floating an offer of a heavily protected second-round pick or a longshot draft-and-stash prospect at a team that’s going to lose its free agent anyway.
Whomever the Suns sign won’t move the needle much if they re-sign Knight at market value, so trades are the primary vehicle for Babby, McDonough and company to make a significant upgrade. The trade exception wouldn’t be enough to acquire a marquee player, but it could help the Suns facilitate a multiplayer deal involving a star. The trade market is nonetheless so far devoid of stars, particularly since DeMarcus Cousins seems off-limits. Roy Hibbert, if he opts in, and Lance Stephenson, Hibbert’s former Pacers teammate, might be among the most noteworthy names in play via trade. Stephenson’s recalcitrance would be a difficult sell to a front office that made its standards for personal and professional conduct clear in the press release announcing Michael Beasley‘s departure from the team two years ago. Hibbert could lift a middle-of-the-pack Suns defense as ranked by NBA.com points per possession data, but the Suns may not be enthusiastic about trying to accommodate his more than $15.514MM salary with Len still developing.
The Suns seemed on the cusp of jumping into the Western Conference elite a year ago, but that would have required a lot to break their way. Phoenix instead took a step back this season, but the team is still better off than where it seemed to be at the beginning of 2013/14. The realistic goals this summer involve hanging on to Knight at a price that’s a cut below the max, making marginal upgrades to weak spots on the roster, and maintaining flexibility for the whirlwind summer of 2016, when the salary cap zooms skyward. Accomplish all of that, and the Suns will have a realistic shot to become a title contender by opening night in 2016.
Cap Footnotes
1 — The Suns waived Beasley in September 2013 and used the stretch provision to spread his remaining guaranteed salary over the next three seasons.
2 — McNeal’s salary becomes fully guaranteed if he remains under contract through July 21st.
3 — The cap hold for Granger would be $2,492,400 if he opts out.
The Basketball Insiders Salary Pages were used in the creation of this post.
Northwest Notes: Pleiss, Wolves, Matthews
A disproportionate number of this year’s lottery picks are headed to the Northwest Division, where four of the five teams have one top-14 selection apiece. Those picks will go into vastly different circumstances. The Timberwolves will welcome the No. 1 overall choice to a bottom-up rebuild, the Nuggets have the seventh pick to add to a volatile mix, the No. 12 pick has a chance to help the resurgent Jazz slip into the playoffs next season, while the Thunder are primed to use the No. 14 pick to help fuel a run at the title. Here’s the latest from around the Northwest:
- Jazz draft-and-stash center Tibor Pleiss took to Facebook to deny that he’s headed to Germany’s Bayern Munich, saying that he’s comfortable playing for Barcelona in Spain, as Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia translates. Nikos Varlas of Eurohoops.net reported earlier this week that Barcelona was expected to convey him to Bayern Munich. Still, David Pick of Eurobasket.com hears that Pleiss isn’t satisfied with his role for Barcelona (Twitter link), and his discontent there appeared to be a factor when Pleiss and the Jazz were reportedly in talks about a deal this past season.
- University of Minnesota point guard Andre Hollins will work out for the Timberwolves soon, reports Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities (Twitter link). Hollins is the 103rd-best prospect according to Chad Ford of ESPN.com, and Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress has him outside the top 100, too, ranking him as the 53rd-best senior.
- The Columbian’s Erik Gunderson figures a fair offer from the Trail Blazers to Wesley Matthews would entail a $9-10MM salary, but Mike Richman of The Oregonian believes it would be stunning to see Matthews wind up with less than $10MM per year, as they write in a collaborative piece.
- Injuries helped limited Mitch McGary to only 32 appearances this season, but last year’s 21st overall pick is nonetheless showing signs of having been another steal for the Thunder in the late first round, as The Oklahoman’s Darnell Mayberry examines.
Magic, Kings, Celtics Interested In Kosta Koufos
The Magic, Kings and Celtics are interested in soon-to-be free agent Kosta Koufos, sources tell Aris Barkas of Eurohoops.net. The Grizzlies would like to keep the Ohio native who also has Greek nationality, though that will have much to do with Memphis’ pursuit of a new deal with Marc Gasol, Barkas hears. The Grizzlies are aware of the desire Koufos has to play a starting role, as Marc Stein of ESPN.com recently wrote, and such a gig wouldn’t be open to Koufos in Memphis if Gasol re-signs.
The interest from Sacramento and Boston dates back to earlier this season, when Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com identified the Kings as among the teams that had called Memphis about trading for the former 23rd overall pick. The Celtics were also one of many who made Koufos trade proposals to the Grizzlies, according to Stein. Orlando is the apparent newcomer among the suitors, but the presence of center Nikola Vucevic, whose incentive-laden, four-year, $48MM extension kicks in next season, would seemingly make the Magic an odd choice for Koufos. Vucevic played occasionally at power forward in the past, as Basketball-Reference shows, but it would nonetheless be a difficult fit if Koufos is to see starter’s minutes. Cousins has played exclusively at center in the NBA, but his athleticism makes him a candidate to see time at power forward if the Kings land Koufos. The Celtics have Tyler Zeller, Jared Sullinger and Kelly Olynyk, among others, jockeying for time on the interior, but Koufos would have as clear a shot at a starting job in Boston as he would anywhere.
The Kings, Celtics and Magic all have the capacity to open enough cap room to give the Mark Termini client a significant raise on this season’s $3MM salary. Sacramento, with about $53MM in commitments, has the least amount of flexibility, but even that provides ample breathing room against a projected $67.1MM cap. The Grizzlies have Koufos’ Bird Rights and can spread their financial offer to the 26-year-old over five years, an advantage other teams don’t have, though just how much of an edge that would really give Memphis remains to be seen.
Hawks Rumors: Budenholzer, Carroll, Millsap
The Hawks crashed to earth in the conference finals after the high of a 60-win joy ride through the regular season, but a sweep at the hands of the Cavs hasn’t shaken the faith that coach and acting GM Mike Budenholzer has in his team. Paul Millsap, DeMarre Carroll, Pero Antic, Elton Brand and John Jenkins will become free agents this summer, when the Hawks have only about $39MM against a projected $67.1MM cap. Budenholzer wasn’t anxious to talk about the future so soon after Tuesday’s loss, but he made it clear that he’s not dreaming of changes, as Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution relays.
“I will say that this is a hell of a group and to bring them back would be a huge priority,” Budenholzer said.
Here’s more from Atlanta:
- League sources tell Kevin Arnovitz of ESPN.com that Carroll is liable to see $50MM on a four-year deal this summer, with a chance for that figure to come in even higher if a front office is particularly enamored. The expectation is that Millsap will command the max or close to it, Arnovitz adds. Previous estimates for Carroll have come in at $8-9MM annually and $9-12MM a year.
- The tight-knit fabric of the Hawks will be a lure to re-sign with the team, Millsap admitted in the wake of Atlanta’s elimination Tuesday, notes Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com (on Twitter). “This team is family, this team is close and that will play into the decision,” Millsap said.
- Purpose and well-defined roles helped Carroll ascend from journeyman to sought-after free agent, as Eric Weiss and Kevin O’Connor of DraftExpress examine.
Atlantic Notes: Marks, Hodges, Hollis-Jefferson
The Nets and assistant GM Bobby Marks have parted ways, as Marks confirmed via his Twitter account (hat tip to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports). It’s believed the Nets are set on cutting costs across the board and staff cuts are underway, Wojnarowski tweets. Indeed, the austerity measures have been ongoing for months and the Nets progressively reduced their player payroll throughout the season, NetsDaily’s Tom Lorenzo writes. Brooklyn is poised to pay the luxury tax for the fourth straight season, triggering repeater penalties, if it keeps Brook Lopez and Thaddeus Young as GM Billy King has said the team wants to do.
The team appears ready to explore moves to reduce salary elsewhere on the roster, as Marc Stein and Mike Mazzeo of ESPN.com wrote earlier today. The well-respected Marks, who drew praise today from agent Brian Bass (Twitter link), among others, was a Nets employee for two decades. Here’s more from around the Atlantic Division:
- Knicks interim D-League coach Craig Hodges is expected to be back with the Westchester team as an assistant coach next season, returning to the role in which he spent most of this past season under now-fired head coach Kevin Whitted, reports Adam Johnson of D-League Digest. Still, there’s been no formal decision, a league source tells Johnson. Hodges, who spoke with Zach Links of Hoops Rumors this past fall, would like to come back, and the ball is in the Knicks’ court, a source tells Links (Twitter link). The name of Joel Abelson, director of basketball ops for New York’s D-League affiliate, keeps coming up as a potential head coaching candidate for the team, Johnson adds.
- Arizona small forward Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and Brazilian point guard George Lucas are among the draft prospects to whom the Nets have spoken, notes Robert Windrem of NetsDaily (Twitter link).
- Maryland shooting guard Dez Wells has worked out for the Celtics, tweets Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders.
Mutual Interest Between Mavs, Ty Lawson
TUESDAY, 3:21pm: A pursuit of Lawson isn’t on the forefront of the Mavs’ priorities, reports Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com (Twitter link), citing the point guard’s off-court issues.
MONDAY, 3:08pm: Ty Lawson has been eyeing the Mavs and the team reciprocates the intrigue, as Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders hears (Twitter link). Lawson hinted at a desire to play for Dallas in a since-deleted Instagram exchange last month, but the Nuggets, who have Lawson under contract through 2016/17, hold sway.
Chris Broussard of ESPN.com reported shortly before the deadline that the Nuggets were trying to trade the speedy point guard, but Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports and Christopher Dempsey of the Denver Post heard that Denver was merely listening to pitches. The Nuggets wanted multiple first-round picks if they were to part with Lawson, sources told Grantland’s Zach Lowe at the time. The Mavs already owe their 2016 first-rounder to the Celtics as part of the Rajon Rondo trade.
Rondo’s failure to take command of the point guard position in Dallas would no doubt be at the root of any push the team might make for Lawson. Mavs coach Rick Carlisle acknowledged even before the playoffs were done that the Mavs aren’t expected to re-sign Rondo, who’ll be a free agent as of July 1st. Dallas has Devin Harris on a long-term deal, and Raymond Felton reportedly told the team that he’ll opt in, but there’s no clear-cut starter for next season at the point in Dallas, particularly with J.J. Barea also set for free agency. The Mavs are reportedly poised to make runs at big men LaMarcus Aldridge and DeAndre Jordan, leaving little capacity for the team to sign a point guard of equal caliber.
The Celtics and Nuggets engaged in exploratory talks about Lawson before the deadline, as Lowe reported, which was around the same time that the Bucks were being linked to him as well, as Kyler wrote then. Kings coach George Karl would love for the Kings to acquire Lawson, a person familiar with Karl’s thinking told Bleacher Report’s Howard Beck in February, though that was before Vlade Divac took command of Sacramento’s front office. Lawson clashed with ex-Nuggets coach Brian Shaw, Karl’s replacement in Denver, Lowe heard, and there was tension and frustration between Lawson and the Nuggets at the deadline, according to Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders. Shortly thereafter, Nuggets GM Tim Connelly implored Lawson to “grow up.”
Lou Williams Hires Wallace Prather As Agent
Soon-to-be free agent Lou Williams has hired agent Wallace Prather of Perennial Sports and Entertainment, Prather tells Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). This season’s Sixth Man of the Year had been with Leon Rose of the Creative Artists Agency. Williams said toward the end of the season that he wanted to re-sign with the Raptors and was optimistic that his camp and the team would work out a deal.
Prather’s clients include Derrick Favors and, along with Brian Dyke of Shibumi Sports, Josh Smith. Prather also represents Jordan Adams and Anthony Morrow, as the Hoops Rumors Agency Database shows. Favors just finished year one of an incentive-laden four-year, $48MM extension with the Jazz, while Smith is drawing from both a four-year, $54MM contract he signed with the Pistons in 2013 and the one-year deal for the $2.077MM biannual exception he inked with the Rockets in December upon his release from Detroit. Morrow signed a three-year, $10.032MM deal with the Thunder this past offseason, the same summer in which Adams joined the Grizzlies on a rookie scale contract after going 22nd overall in the 2014 draft.
Williams, with Rose’s representation, signed a three-year deal with the Hawks in 2012 for the value of the non-taxpayer’s mid-level exception worth a total of nearly $15.7MM. A torn ACL prematurely ended his first season with Atlanta, and he struggled to regain his form after coming back last season. The Hawks shipped him to the Raptors in a cost-cutting move last June, and he blossomed in Toronto, scoring a career high 15.5 points per game, 5.1 better than his output last season.
Hawks Notes: Millsap, Carroll, Offseason
There are “whispers” that a sprained right shoulder that’s been nagging Paul Millsap since the end of the regular season might require surgery in the offseason, when he’s set to become a free agent, according to Bleacher Report’s Howard Beck. Millsap was vague about his free agent plans to Grantland’s Jonathan Abrams, but agent DeAngelo Simmons, Millsap’s uncle, had praise for the Hawks.
“Atlanta has treated us well,” Simmons said to Abrams. “They’ve treated us like first class. We’ve gotten a lot of support from them, so we’re excited to be a part of a great organization.”
The team is quietly optimistic about its chance to re-sign Millsap, as USA Today’s Jeff Zillgitt reported last week. There’s plenty more on the Hawks, who remain committed to their team-oriented roster approach even as they face an 0-3 hole against LeBron James and the Cavaliers. Here’s the latest:
- Millsap is in line with Atlanta’s philosophy, and made it seem as though he’s planning on sticking around in comments that Michael Lee of The Washington Post relays. “We don’t care what anybody else thinks,” Millsap said. “We feel like we’re a really good team. No matter what happens, still going to be confident. We feel like we’re going to do something special, whether it be this year, next year, or whenever. We’re going to stick to this.”
- Rival executives believe DeMarre Carroll could command $9-12MM a year on his next contract, as the execs tell Beck for the same piece. An executive who spoke recently with Michael Scotto of SheridanHoops pegged Carroll’s next salary at somewhere in the $8-9MM range. The Hawks are set to have competition for Carroll from teams including the Lakers, Celtics and Pistons, as Sean Deveney of The Sporting News reported last week.
- Millsap could get $16MM annually or more, Beck adds, though it’s uncertain if that figure also comes from executives or is merely Beck’s educated guess.
- The Hawks need another shooter, another big man, and most of all, to learn from the experience of going deep in the playoffs, writes Jeff Schultz of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Latest On Nuggets, Ty Lawson, Kenneth Faried
Ty Lawson and Kenneth Faried are losing confidence in the Nuggets, and both have let the team know that unless it hires an inspiring name to fill the coaching vacancy or makes a significant trade, they’d rather be dealt away than go through rebuilding, as Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders writes in his NBA AM piece. There was mutual trepidation between Faried and the Nuggets even as the sides signed a four-year, $50MM extension this past fall, Kyler hears.
Lawson and Faried, like many Nuggets players, were vocal in their support of Melvin Hunt after he took over the coaching job on an interim basis from the fired Brian Shaw, with whom Lawson had reportedly clashed. Lawson told Kyler in March that Hunt was “giving everybody confidence” and had all the Nuggets on the same page. Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post wrote around the same time that Faried was particularly ecstatic about Hunt and that he and his teammates would vote unanimously to remove Hunt’s interim tag and formally make him the team’s coach. Kyler writes in his latest piece that major changes to the roster might nonetheless bode well for Hunt’s chances of staying in the job, since Nuggets management sees him as a viable head man for a rebuilding team. Hunt’s chances of keeping the job have improved of late, as Marc Stein of ESPN.com reported last week. Team president Josh Kroenke said last week that a “period of transition” was on its way and that the club would take an “aggressive” approach to finding the roster it wants.
Some within the Nuggets organization weren’t on board with the Faried extension, as Kevin Arnovitz of ESPN.com reported in November, a few weeks after the deal was signed. Arnovitz added that Nuggets brass consented to the extension in part because of the positive publicity it would generate, in spite of their doubts about Faried’s ability. The Nuggets were nonetheless hesitant to include Faried or Lawson in trades as of January, as Chris Mannix of SI.com wrote then, though people around the league sensed as the trade deadline approached that the Nuggets would part with them for a strong offer, according to Grantland’s Zach Lowe. The Celtics and Nuggets engaged in exploratory Lawson talks, as Lowe reported at the same time.
The Mavs and Lawson have mutual interest, as Kyler reported Monday, though Lawson has two more seasons left on his contract, so the Nuggets have leverage. Kings coach George Karl would love it if Sacramento traded for his old point guard, a person close to Karl told Bleacher Report’s Howard Beck, as Beck wrote in February. Lowe heard at the deadline that Denver wanted multiple first-round picks if it was to relinquish the former 18th overall pick. That was in spite of the tension and frustration between Lawson and the Nuggets organization that Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders reported, as well as GM Tim Connelly‘s call, shortly after the deadline, for Lawson to “grow up.”