Mavs, Shawn Marion Interested In New Deal
Shawn Marion is held in “extremely high esteem” by the Mavericks, and Marion would like to return to the team he’s played for over the past five seasons, reports Tim McMahon of ESPNDallas.com. Dallas unsurprisingly doesn’t want to shell out a salary close to the more than $9.3MM he’s made this season with his 36th birthday looming next week, McMahon writes, but it appears as though the Mavs are eager to bring him back at a rate closer to market price.
The Mavs have long been fond of Marion’s perimeter defense, having lobbied for him to win the Defensive Player of the Year award two years ago, and they’re dismayed that the league’s coaches have never voted him to an NBA All-Defensive team, according to McMahon. His defense was never more necessary than it’s been this season, when the Mavs have featured defensive liabilities Jose Calderon and Monta Ellis on the perimeter, and Marion has taken turns guarding Tony Parker, Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili in the first round.
“We’d love to have five Marions and put them out there and guard all of their guys,” coach Rick Carlisle said.
Dallas has hung on to Marion the past two seasons, even as he represented one of the team’s best trade chips. McMahon suggests leaguewide interest in Marion will be high, naming the Heat, for whom Marion played in parts of two seasons, as a possible suitor. It appears as though McMahon is merely speculating, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see contending teams offer mid-level exception money to the Dan Fegan client. I’m not sure he’ll warrant the full value of the non-taxpayer’s mid-level, which calls for a starting salary of $5.305MM, but a salary akin to the taxpayer’s mid-level amount of $3.278MM seems like a fit.
The Mavs have about $28.2MM in commitments for next season, though that doesn’t include a new deal for Dirk Nowitzki. Dallas envisions making another run at marquee free agents, but to open up cap flexibility, it’s possible the team winds up renouncing its Bird rights to Marion if he doesn’t quickly strike a deal for a discounted salary, which would reduce his cap hold. Such a maneuver would limit the Mavs to the $2.732MM room exception, but if Marion’s interest in returning is strong enough, that might be enough.
Magic Pick Up Options On Hennigan, Vaughn
10:00am: The team has officially announced the moves on its website.
“Rob and Jacque have worked extremely hard in establishing a culture which embodies teamwork, hard work, hunger for success and humility,” Martins said in the team’s statement. “With their strategic direction and leadership we feel we are headed in the right direction which will allow us to achieve our goals of contending in a long term sustainable fashion.”
9:30am: The Magic have decided to exercise their 2015/16 team options on GM Rob Hennigan and coach Jacque Vaughn, reports Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel (Twitter link). Both came aboard during the 2012 offseason, when Hennigan made the Dwight Howard trade his first signature move. That kicked off a rebuilding project that’s seen the Magic win just 20 games in 2012/13 and 23 games this past season, but today’s moves signal that the DeVos family, who own the team, and CEO Alex Martins are satisfied with the team’s course.
Hennigan was just 30 years old when the team hired him away from the Thunder, where he’d spent four seasons, the last two as Oklahoma City’s assistant GM. He netted Nikola Vucevic, Maurice Harkless and Arron Afflalo, among others, in the Howard trade, and those three have played key roles for the Magic the past two seasons. Orlando has three first-round picks coming its way as a result of the Howard trade. Hennigan used the team’s own 2013 first-rounder to take Victor Oladipo second overall this past June, and the guard turned in a productive rookie season even as he adjusted to the team’s experiment of using him at point guard.
Hennigan also scored with his acquisition of Tobias Harris in the J.J. Redick trade this past summer. Still, the GM has had his share of disappointments, too, trading Josh McRoberts for Hakim Warrick in 2013 and failing to find takers for the expensive contracts of veterans Hedo Turkoglu, Glen Davis and Al Harrington, all of whom the Magic waived.
Vaughn, another useful presence who’s still just 39, joined the team after serving as an assistant coach with the Spurs, the organization that gave Hennigan his start in the NBA. The team ranked near the bottom in both offensive and defensive efficiency in Vaughn’s first season, but the Magic made strides defensively this year, finishing 13th in points allowed per possession, according to NBA.com.
Latest On Wolves Coaching Search
9:33am: Izzo is still “very high” on Saunders’ list of candidates, according to Chris Mannix of SI.com, who seconds Zgoda’s take that the Michigan State coach’s denial of interest in taking an NBA job this year left some wiggle room (Twitter link).
FRIDAY, 9:02am: The Wolves haven’t yet abandoned their pursuit of Hoiberg, Wolfson tweets. That’s in spite of Saunders saying last week that Hoiberg wouldn’t be jumping to the NBA. Wolfson doesn’t expect the team to pursue Karl (Twitter link).
WEDNESDAY, 12:22pm: A source tells Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports that Stan Van Gundy won’t reciprocate the Timberwolves’ interest in him for their coaching vacancy, and Tom Izzo says he’s not jumping to the NBA this year. There are other candidates for the job, but the search has been slow-going, as Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities reports.
The Wolves have been primarily eyeing college coaches, though top targets Izzo and, as we passed along earlier, Fred Hoiberg are apparently out of the running. There are candidates with NBA experience in the mix, too, including George Karl, and Wolfson hears that Karl would indeed have interest and is hoping that the Wolves contact him, contradicting an earlier report that he wouldn’t want the job. Still, the Wolves haven’t reached out to Karl or Lionel Hollins, another among the previously mentioned candidates for the position, Wolfson writes.
The Wolves wouldn’t have interest in Scott Brooks of the Thunder, if he came available, and Wolfson reiterates that Minnesota wouldn’t want Frank Vogel, either. Former Raptors coach Sam Mitchell would like the Wolves job, but Minnesota isn’t interested, Wolfson writes. The Wolves probably won’t go after Warriors assistant Lindsey Hunter, Wizards assistant Sam Cassell, or Rockets assistant J.B. Bickerstaff in spite of their ties to the organization, according to Wolfson.
President of basketball operations Flip Saunders is still a “name to monitor,” Wolfson writes, even though he’s downplayed the idea that he’d take over the coaching position. He’s said he’d “never say never” to the job on multiple occasions. Saunders and, even in his comments today, Izzo have been somewhat vague in their insistence that they won’t be on an NBA bench next season, as Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune notes (on Twitter).
Phil Jackson Tells ‘Melo He Expects To Hire Kerr
Knicks president Phil Jackson told Carmelo Anthony that he fully expects to hire Steve Kerr as the team’s coach, according to Chris Herring of The Wall Street Journal. Herring hears that the newly minted executive never mentioned the idea of anyone else coaching the team during his meeting with the soon-to-be free agent this week. Jackson plans to be “visible and available” on the sidelines during training camp, as he told Anthony in an attempt to dispel any concerns the Knicks star might have had about Kerr’s inexperience as a coach, Herring writes.
The Lakers don’t view Kerr as a candidate for their coaching vacancy, believing he’s too far along with the Knicks, reports Marc Berman of the New York Post. The Knicks have been wanting to close on a deal with Kerr shortly after the first round of the playoffs concludes this weekend, but Kerr reportedly doesn’t want to go so fast. The TNT broadcaster met with Jackson this past weekend, but he said that he and Jackson still had plenty more to discuss.
Multiple reports suggested that Kerr would prefer to work for a team on the West Coast, but more recently Lute Olson, Kerr’s college coach, said that he didn’t believe that was the case. Sources told Ken Berger of CBSSports.com this week that Kerr doesn’t intend to use other openings as leverage against the Knicks, or vice versa, and will either accept or reject the Knicks job on its own merits, given his loyalty to Jackson, who coached him on the Bulls in the 1990s.
Jackson also spoke with Anthony about his plans for free agency this summer, and Herring hears that Anthony wasn’t upset by Jackson’s recent remark that he hoped ‘Melo would be “true to his word” about accepting a discount to re-sign with the team. Still, the meeting suggests that Jackson is nonetheless planning a strong recruiting effort to keep the high-scoring forward in New York, Herring writes.
Offseason Outlook: New York Knicks
Guaranteed Contracts
- Tyson Chandler ($14,596,888)
- J.R. Smith ($5,982,375)
- Raymond Felton ($3,793,693)
- Iman Shumpert ($2,616,975)
- Pablo Prigioni ($1,662,961)
- Tim Hardaway Jr. ($1,250,640)
Options
- Amar’e Stoudemire ($23,410,988, Early Termination)
- Carmelo Anthony ($23,333,405, Early Termination)*
- Andrea Bargnani ($11,500,000, Early Termination)
Non-Guaranteed Contracts
- Lamar Odom ($1,448,490)
- Shannon Brown ($1,310,286)
- Jeremy Tyler ($948,163)
Free Agents / Cap Holds
- Toure’ Murry ($1,016,482 — QO)**
- Cole Aldrich ($915,243)
- Kenyon Martin ($915,243)
- (Earl Barron $915,243)
- (Mike Bibby $915,243)
- (Baron Davis $915,243)
Draft Picks
- None
Cap Outlook
- Guaranteed salary: $29,903,532
- Player and early termination options: $58,244,393
- Team options: $0
- Non-guaranteed salary: $3,706,939
- Cap holds: $5,592,697
- Total: $97,447,561
This summer will have a lot in common with the winter of 2010/11. That was the last time the courtship of Carmelo Anthony took center stage, and the specter of Anthony’s free agency this summer figures to once more dominate the back page headlines in New York and our pages here at Hoops Rumors. Anthony made it clear before the season that he intends to decline his lucrative player option for 2014/15 and hit free agency, and he’s maintained that stance ever since. He said at the All-Star break that the Knicks were his preference and that he’d be open to the idea of taking a discount to remain in New York, but he added that he wants to hear the team’s plans to return to contention before making his final decision.
Anthony has repeated those remarks as well, though it seems that he’s more concerned with what the team can do next season than in the long term. That puts pressure on Knicks president Phil Jackson, just weeks into his first job as a team executive. Anthony and the Zen Master met this week to discuss ‘Melo’s free agent plans for the first time and talk about Steve Kerr, whom Jackson has zeroed in upon for the team’s coaching vacancy. Kerr would be a first-time coach, meaning that he and Jackson, neophytes in their jobs, would have the task of squeezing a significant improvement out of a 37-win team that offers precious little roster maneuverability.
The Knicks have less than $30MM in guaranteed salary for next season, but that number is almost certain to more than double, since Amar’e Stoudemire and Andrea Bargnani appear to be locks to opt in. That would bring the team’s commitments to about $64.8MM, roughly $1.6MM more than even the new, more optimistic projections for next season’s salary cap. That means the team would be capped-out regardless of where or for how much Anthony decides to play next season. Anthony’s return would almost certainly bring the team over the tax threshold for a third straight season, putting them in line to pay sharply escalating repeat-offender tax penalties in future years.
Such expenditures matter little to the high-revenue Knicks, who gave Jackson a five-year, $60MM contract, making him the most highly paid basketball executive in the league’s history. Where paying the tax hurts the Knicks is with the loss of the full mid-level exception, the bi-annual exception, and the chance to accept players who agree to a sign-and-trade. New York will only have the $3.278MM taxpayer’s mid-level exception at its disposal, and the minimum salary, to attract free agents from other teams.
The Knicks are also without either a first- or second-round draft pick this year. The earliest first-round pick that Jackson can offer teams in a trade is the Knicks’ 2018 selection because of the Stepien Rule. New York has little in the way of intriguing young players to offer outside of Iman Shumpert, whom the team dangled at multiple points this past season, nearly sending him to the Clippers at the deadline. Shumpert is eligible for a rookie scale extension this summer, but he doesn’t appear to hold the promise of turning into a star as most of the players who receive such extensions do. Jackson seems higher on Shumpert than the front office did under GM Steve Mills, who gave up his title of president when Jackson came aboard. Of course, Jackson, who made a habit of manipulating his team through the press when he was a coach, might have planted the assertion that he values Shumpert to better leaguewide perception of the 23-year-old as a trade asset, but that scenario is probably far-fetched. Still, the prospect of trading Shumpert represents one of the team’s clearest avenues for an upgrade.
Tyson Chandler, Cole Aldrich, Tim Hardaway Jr. and Toure’ Murry are also reportedly among Jackson’s favorites. Chandler suffered an injury early this season, and his play dropped off when he returned. He was a frequent critic of former coach Mike Woodson this year, fueling speculation that he might ask for a trade, but the arrival of Jackson and a new coach presents an opportunity for Chandler to reset. The question is whether the 31-year-old can resuscitate his game and again provide the elite defensive presence that was so critical to New York’s 54-win season in 2012/13. If Jackson senses he can’t, Chandler would become a trade chip whether he wants to leave New York or not. It might not be too hard to find takers for him, since he’s only under contract for one more season, and the risk of taking him on wouldn’t be too severe.
Hardaway would be another attractive trading piece after a strong rookie season. Still, given Jackson’s rumored affection for the guard and his potential for growth, he’d probably help the team more than whatever he could net in a trade, unless a team is willing to overpay for him. J.R. Smith began to play better toward the end of the season, but for the most part he was an albatross whose trade value bottomed out. Unless Jackson wants to send him out for little in return just to remove him from the locker room, Smith seems destined to remain a Knick.
New York’s late-season signing of Lamar Odom was clearly tied to Jackson’s history with the troubled forward, but it also signals what lies ahead in the offseason. His non-guaranteed contract is worth the minimum salary, but it’s the minimum for a veteran of 10 or more seasons in the league, worth more than $1.448MM. Odom’s chances of becoming a useful NBA player again seem remote, but that won’t matter if Jackson needs to use him to make the salaries match in a trade this summer. He can insert Odom into a trade, and the team that acquires him can simply waive him without owing him a cent. The Knicks can also cut him loose before opening night without him counting toward the team’s salary, so it’s a low-risk investment.
Jackson and, if hired, Kerr may hold out hope that the triangle offense will significantly help a team that’s too often reliant on Anthony’s isolations, but for Anthony to get his wish of an improved roster by next season, Jackson probably knows that trades are his best option. His assertion that Anthony should be “true to his word” and give the Knicks a hometown discount matters little for the team’s 2014/15 math. Jackson must exhibit the same aplomb with executives from opposing teams that he did with his players in his years as a coach to help the Knicks make a quick return to prominence.
Cap footnotes
* — Anthony has said repeatedly that he intends to opt out and become a free agent. In that case, his cap hold would be $22,458,402.
** — Murry’s cap hold would be $816,482 if the Knicks do not tender a qualifying offer.
ShamSports was used in the creation of this post.
And-Ones: Union, KJ, Bulls, Young, Huestis
Adam Silver’s response to the Donald Sterling fiasco united the players association, according to Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com, and it also facilitated a stronger relationship between the union and the league, as acting union executive director Ron Klempner sees it.
“The league and the players recently have been working more closely together across the board, not just through this event,” Klempner said. “Our player programs staffs have experienced something of a thaw. Everyone feels more secure and confident, knowing that we can work together with the league on projects that will benefit the players.”
Bleacher Report’s Ric Bucher has a different take, believing the players’ response to Silver’s ruling was an act of capitulation, and that they missed an opportunity to boycott games until Sterling was officially stripped of Clippers ownership. Just how the Sterling mess plays out remains to be seen, and there’s more on the union amid our latest look around the NBA:
- Sacramento mayor Kevin Johnson, who’s serving the players in an ex-officio capacity, isn’t a candidate to take the union’s full-time executive director position, given his rising stock as a politician, Windhorst writes in the same piece.
- It seems the Bulls will have to make a choice between Kirk Hinrich and D.J. Augustin, but GM Gar Forman isn’t ruling out the possibility of bringing them both back, as Sam Smith of Bulls.com notes.
- Kentucky shooting guard James Young, one of 75 early entrants for the draft, has chosen Jay Z and his Roc Nation Sports agency for his representation, notes Zach Braziller of the New York Post.
- The Jazz will likely work out fellow draft prospect Josh Huestis, tweets Tony Jones of The Salt Lake Tribune. The small forward from Stanford told Hoops Rumors about his preparation for a chance in the NBA, as we detailed in this morning’s prospect profile.
- Terrence Williams didn’t last long in Puerto Rico, as Brujos de Guayama has released him just a few weeks after he joined the team, reports Emiliano Carchia of Sportando. The former 11th overall pick last played in the NBA with the Celtics in 2012/13.
Lakers Intend To ‘Make A Splash’ With New Coach
3:18pm: The Bulls are likely to deny the Lakers permission to speak with Thibodeau, according to USA Today’s Jeff Zillgitt (Twitter link).
1:43pm: The Lakers will ask the Bulls for permission to interview Tom Thibodeau, reports Dave McMenamin of ESPNLosAngeles.com (on Twitter).
1:08pm: The Lakers will interview George Karl, Jeff Van Gundy, Byron Scott, Kurt Rambis, Ollie and Calipari, tweets Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times.
11:44am: The Lakers are going after marquee names and want to “make a splash” with their coaching search, with Connecticut’s Kevin Ollie and Kentucky’s John Calipari at the forefront, report Marc Stein and Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com. They apparently plan to reach out to Calipari even though he denied interest in the vacancy this morning. The Lakers nonetheless intend to hold back and focus on the draft and free agency while they gauge the coaching market, Stein and Shelburne write.
The Lakers are also considering the notion of holding off on a decision in case a high-profile free agent signals he wants to join the team, sources tell the ESPN scribes. In that case, the free agent would be able to influence the team’s choice of coaches.
Stein and Shelburne say the Lakers are also considering Derek Fisher, for whom the job reportedly holds “tremendous appeal.” Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, who passed along the news of Fisher’s interest earlier, wrote that Kobe Bryant would not be the decision-maker for the team, but the Lakers are expected to consult with their 35-year-old star, according to Stein and Shelburne.
The Lakers plan to interview Mike Dunleavy Sr., who held the head coaching job for the team in the 1990s. Stein and Shelburne also mention the team’s interest in a number of candidates Shelburne listed earlier today. While the team is going after the two coaches from this year’s title game, Stein and Shelburne say the Lakers don’t have plans to reach out to Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski, whom they’ve targeted when the position has come open in the past.
L.A. Notes: Magic, Rivers, Farmar, D’Antoni
Magic Johnson earlier this week denied interest in buying the Clippers, but he’s apparently changed his mind, judging by his remarks Wednesday, as Ben Bergman of 89.3 KPCC reports (hat tip to Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia).
“I will be owning an NBA team sometime,” Johnson said. “Is the Clippers the right situation? Of course. It’s one of the premiere franchises.”
The teams of Johnson’s past and perhaps his future have been most prominent in news across the league this week, and there’s more this afternoon on both the Lakers and the Clippers:
- Doc Rivers hasn’t made it entirely clear whether he intends to return to the Clippers, but he says he has no interest in making the jump across Staples Center to coach the Lakers, observes Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times (Twitter link).
- Jordan Farmar was a fan of Mike D’Antoni, but the soon-to-be free agent point guard doesn’t find the Lakers any less attractive now that the coach has resigned, as Farmar tells Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News. “I want to be a Laker,” Farmar said. “I like playing for Mike. Whether it’s Phil Jackson, Mike D’Antoni or whoever else coaches this team, that won’t deter me from wanting to be a Laker.”
- D’Antoni reportedly would like another NBA coaching job, but the general sentiment leaguewide is that his success with the Suns was an aberration, writes Sean Deveney of The Sporting News. A GM who spoke to Deveney called D’Antoni a “one-trick pony.”
- There seems to be a decent chance that the Clippers will sell for more than $1 billion, but It will take more than money to buy the team, as James Rainey and Nathan Fenno of the Los Angeles Times examine.
- Cavs guard Jarrett Jack believes every player in the league should boycott practices and games next season if Donald Sterling still owns the Clippers by then, as Jack said today on 95.7 The Game, tweets Diamond Leung of the Bay Area News Group.
Cap Holds
The Lakers have committed only about $34.1MM in guaranteed money to player salaries for 2014/15, but that doesn’t mean the team will have nearly $30MM to spend on free agents. Each of the Lakers’ own free agents will be assigned a free agent amount or “cap hold” until the player signs a new contract or the Lakers renounce his rights.
The following criteria are used for determining the amount of a free agent’s cap hold:
- First-round pick coming off rookie contract: 250% of previous salary if prior salary was below league average; 200% of previous salary if prior salary was above league average
- Bird player: 190% of previous salary (if below average) or 150% (if above average)
- Early Bird player: 130% of previous salary
- Non-Bird player: 120% of previous salary
- Minimum-salary player: Two-year veteran’s minimum salary, unless the free agent only has one year of experience, in which case it’s the one-year veteran’s minimum.
A cap hold for a restricted free agent can vary based on his contract status. A restricted free agent’s cap hold is either his free agent amount as determined by the criteria mentioned above, or the amount of his qualifying offer, whichever is greater. Kent Bazemore and Ryan Kelly are set for restricted free agency this summer. Both earned the minimum salary this year, so if they were unrestricted free agents, their cap holds would only be worth next year’s minimum. Their status as restricted free agents bumps their cap holds to the amount of their qualifying offers — $1,115,243 and $1,016,482, respectively. The Lakers can knock their cap holds down to the minimum if they elect not to tender qualifying offers to them, making them unrestricted free agents.
No cap hold can exceed the maximum salary for which a player can sign. That’s why Pau Gasol‘s cap hold will be less than 150% of his salary this season even though the Lakers hold his Bird rights. Gasol made slightly more than the maximum salary for a veteran of 10 or more years this past season. There’s a decent chance that the maximum salary for 2014/15 could be higher than $20,250,143, which is 105% of what Gasol makes now, but it certainly won’t go high enough to allow for a cap hold worth 150% of Gasol’s pay from this season.
The Lakers have an even more unusual case in MarShon Brooks, who was traded twice this season. They have his Bird rights, but the Celtics declined the fourth year team option on his rookie scale contract before the season, so the Lakers can’t pay him more than what he would have made in the option year. That rule is in place so a team can’t circumvent the rookie scale and decline its option so it can give the player a higher salary, and it applies even if the player is traded after the option is declined, as in the case of Brooks. The Lakers faced a similar dilemma with Jordan Hill two years ago. In these cases, the cap hold is equal to the amount of the fourth-year team option.
If a team holds the rights to fewer than 12 players, cap holds worth the minimum rookie salary ($507,336) are assigned to fill out the roster. So, if Nick Young opts out of his contract and the Lakers choose to renounce their rights to all of their free agents and players on non-guaranteed contracts, the team would have three players and about $34.1MM left under contract. However, nine holds worth $507,336 would be added to the team’s cap, reducing its total cap space by about $4.6MM.
Cap holds aren’t removed from a team’s books until the player signs a new contract or has his rights renounced by the club. For instance, since John Salley never signed elsewhere after reaching free agency after the 1999/00 season, and the Lakers have never renounced him, the Lakers still have a minimum salary hold for Salley on their cap. It’s been so many years since the Lakers have gone under the cap that there’s been no reason for them to renounce their rights to players who retired long ago. Keeping those cap holds allowed the Lakers some degree of cushion to help them remain above the cap and take advantage of the mid-level exception and trade exceptions, among other advantages afforded cap teams. There’s a strong chance that Salley, Mitch Richmond, Brian Shaw, Karl Malone and others will disappear from the Lakers’ list of cap holds this summer with the team finally poised to open cap space.
The general purpose of a cap hold is to prevent teams from using room under the cap to sign free agents before using Bird rights to re-sign their own free agents. If a team wants to take advantage of its cap space, it can renounce its rights to its free agents, eliminating those cap holds. However, doing so means the team will no longer hold any form of Bird rights for those players — if the team wants to re-sign those free agents, it would have to use its cap room or another kind of cap exception.
Note: This is a Hoops Rumors Glossary entry. Our glossary posts will explain specific rules relating to trades, free agency, or other aspects of the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement. Larry Coon’s Salary Cap FAQ and ShamSports were used in the creation of this post.
A Version of this post was initially published on May 1st, 2012, by Luke Adams.
Coaching Rumors: Kerr, Messina, D’Antoni
There are four head coaching vacancies in the NBA, or five, if you count the Pistons, for whom John Loyer finished the season as interim coach. Others may follow once the first round of the playoffs concludes in a few days, so the coaching market is in full gear. Here’s the latest:
- Steve Kerr won’t use other openings as leverage against the Knicks and team president Phil Jackson, sources tell Ken Berger of CBSSports.com. Lute Olson, Kerr’s former college coach, rejects the notion that Kerr prefers a West Coast job and thinks he’s more than likely to accept an offer from the Knicks, as Olson tells Marc Berman of the New York Post.
- Sources tell Nikos Varlas of Eurohoops.net that Ettore Messina has already told CSKA Moscow that he’ll leave this summer, but Varlas hears Messina is more likely to wind up as a Spurs assistant than an NBA head coach next season. Messina has drawn mention as a candidate for head coaching jobs with the Lakers and Jazz this year.
- Mike D’Antoni is still interested in coaching, a source tells Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times. Bresnahan writes that the portion of next year’s $4MM salary that the Lakers agreed to pay him even though he resigned is less than $2MM, but Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com hears that it’s more than that (Twitter link).
- Reports have indicated that Mark Jackson and the Warriors never engaged in extension talks, but Tim Kawakami of the Bay Area News Group hears that they briefly discussed the subject this past summer. Jackson is set to enter the final year of his contract next season, though it’s unlikely he’ll return for 2014/15 barring a long playoff run.