And-Ones: Oakley, Perkins, EuroLeague, Expansion Draft
Knicks owner James Dolan and former player Charles Oakley have been ordered to mediate their dispute by a federal appeals court, according to Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News. A conference call has been scheduled for March 31, requiring that Dolan and Oakley to attend with their attorneys. The order, which was uncovered by sports legal analyst Daniel Wallach, is the latest development in Oakley’s civil lawsuit. Oakley sued Dolan for defamation, assault and false imprisonment after he was arrested and banned from Madison Square Garden in 2017.
We have more from around the basketball world:
- Former NBA center and ESPN analyst Kendrick Perkins has been ordered by his physician to lose weight or risk becoming diabetic, he tweets. Perkins said he’s gained 75 pounds since retiring two seasons ago. Perkins appeared in one game with Cleveland in 2017/18 season, his lone NBA outing since a 37-game stint with New Orleans in the 2015/16 season.
- Former Wizards forward Chris Singleton said the EuroLeague should use a March Madness-style format to complete its season, Sportando’s Nicola Lupo relays. Singleton suggested splitting the 18 teams into two groups with a host city for each group. The No. 8 and 9 seeds in each group would play an extra game. A third city would then host the EuroLeague Final Four. Singleton plays for Anadolu Efes in Turkey.
- How would an expansion draft look? NBC Sports conducted a mock expansion draft for mythical Seattle SuperSonics and Flint Tropics franchises. See which players Kurt Helin and Dan Feldman selected for their teams here.
Pacific Notes: James, Warriors Wings, Warriors Draft, Suns
LeBron James indicated during an Instagram Live appearance that he’d like to finish out his career with the Lakers, Dan Feldman of NBC Sports relays. James is in the second year of his four-year pact with the Lakers, though the final year at $41MM is a player option. Answering a question on Instagram, James said, “What NBA team would I never play for? I’m still playing, man. Hey, I’ve got to keep all my options open, man. But right now I’ll tell you one thing: I don’t want to go nowhere besides be here, baby. Be a Laker for the rest of my life.”
We have more from the Pacific Division:
- The Warriors will likely sign a veteran free agent wing during the offseason using the taxpayer mid-level exception, Anthony Slater of The Athletic speculates. Maurice Harkless, Jae Crowder, Josh Jackson, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Marvin Williams are possibilities, as is a reunion with Glenn Robinson III. Among members of the current roster, Damion Lee is the most likely to stick behind Andrew Wiggins and Klay Thompson, Slater adds.
- The Warriors will be looking in the lottery for a player who can jump right into their rotation, Monte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area reports. The team’s director of player personnel, Larry Harris, told Poole of the plan. “Yes, we’ll try to find someone who can come in play right away,” Harris said. “But we also know that when you’re picking this high, a lot of guys are 18, 19, 20 years old. To expect them to come in and be contributors right away, we’re not so naive to think it won’t take time. But we feel there are some players in this draft, up high, that have the ability to come in and play some minutes.”
- Renovations for the Suns’ Talking Stick Resort Arena and construction of their new practice facility are expected to remain on schedule despite the suspension of the season, according to Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic. The $45MM practice facility is projected to be completed by August. The $230MM arena renovation project is scheduled to have 65% of the upgrades done going into next season.
Payment Of Players Uncertain Beyond April 1
The NBA has not committed to paying players in full beyond April 1 during the suspension of play, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski tweets.
The next checks are scheduled to be issued on April 1. The following payment would be due on April 15 and a league memo sent to teams on Friday said it would provide “additional guidance” on the April 15 checks.
“Force Majeure” language in the Collective Bargaining Agreement allows for a percentage of contracts to be withheld in extreme circumstances.
The NBA and the Players Association have discussed the issue, Wojnarowski adds in another tweet. The NBA can withhold 1/92.6th of a player’s salary per cancelled game — about 1% of his annual salary.
International Notes: Bogut, France, Slovenia, Jeter
Former NBA center Andrew Bogut says players in Australia’s NBL were “used like pawns” in the league finals, according to an Associated Press report. His team, the Sydney Kings refused to fly across the country for Game 4 due to the coronavirus pandemic. Their opponent, Perth, had a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five series and was eventually awarded the title. Travel restrictions were coming into effect across Australia when the Kings decided against taking the flight. “It’s something the NBL needs to learn from,” he said. “The disappointing thing is that it was left up to the players to decide.”
We have more from around the basketball world:
- The French LNB plans to complete its season when the pandemic subsides, according to Nicola Lupo of Sportando. The LNB is evaluating several different formats if the season resumes, Lupo adds.
- The Dutch Basketball League Eredivisie has decided to cancel the rest of the season and the Slovenian league has taken the same action. Neither league will crown a champion, according to the two posts from Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia.
- Former NBA guard Pooh Jeter has returned to China and is eager to play again next month, he told Marc Spears of The Undefeated. Jeter has played there for eight years and is under quarantine there after flying back from the U.S. “It will definitely be exciting to play again,” he said. “I know China. And China definitely wanted to show it did things the right way.”
Central Notes: Love, Pacers, Forman, Nance
The Cavaliers continue to value Kevin Love highly and don’t regret giving him a four-year, $120MM contract extension, according to Chris Fedor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Love’s attitude and play improved once J.B. Bickerstaff replaced John Beilein as head coach after the All-Star break. The Cavs don’t feel the need to dump salary this offseason, Fedor continues, so in any Love deal they’d want some combination of draft picks and young players.
We have more from around the Central Division:
- The coronavirus pandemic could impact renovations planned for the Pacers‘ Bankers Fieldhouse prior to next season’s All-Star game, Scott Agness of The Athletic writes. Some work has already begun but the renovations were scheduled to ramp up once the season ended. Phase one (of three) is supposed to be completed before the All-Star Game but if Indiana’s games resume this season and last into July, it could impact those scheduled renovations prior to next season.
- Bulls GM Gar Forman has essentially been reduced to a lead scout, Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times reports. The franchise is expected to overhaul its front office once the league shutdown is lifted. Forman will lose his GM title and will have no decision-making authority once the restructuring is completed, Cowley adds.
- Cavaliers big man Larry Nance Jr. is especially concerned about COVID-19 due to other health factors, as Kelsey Russo of The Athletic explains. Nance was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease as a teenager. Since the illness is treated with immunosuppressive medication, he is more susceptible to infections in general. “You’d hear every now and again somebody say like, ‘Oh we’re blowing this out of proportion, it’s not that big of a deal.’ And for me, it was like, ‘What?’ This is a huge deal,” Nance said.
Duke’s Tre Jones Expected To Enter Draft
Duke sophomore point guard and ACC Player of the Year Tre Jones is expected to declare for the draft, Jacob Polacheck of Zagsblog.com relays.
Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski said on The 247Sports College Basketball Show podcast that among the team’s draft prospects, “Obviously, Tre Jones we know is going to go, whenever he announces.”
Jones averaged 16.2 PPG, 6.4 APG and 1.8 SPG during the regular season. He’s currently ranked No. 33 overall and No. 12 among point guard prospects on ESPN’s Best Available list.
As a freshman, Jones averaged 9.4 PPG and 5.3 APG and then tested the draft waters before deciding to return to school. Jones was also considered a potential late first-round pick prior to pulling his name out of the draft.
Northwest Notes: Mitchell, Taylor, Sikka, Nuggets
The Jazz are hopeful that time will heal the fractured relationship between Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert, Tony Jones of The Athletic reports. This could be the biggest challenge for Jazz coach Quin Snyder and the front office in recent years, Jones continues, with Gobert having one year remaining on his contract and Mitchell potentially headed to restricted free agency after next season. Mitchell has been frustrated with Gobert for his careless actions prior to both testing positive for the coronavirus, Jones confirms.
We have more from the Northwest Division:
- Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor remains optimistic the league can resume the season, Sid Hartman of the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports. “I’m really hopeful. I think we’re going to do it, if it’s at all possible,” Taylor said. “This is a health issue that we have no control over, but I think for our players and our fans, I would like to see us take a break and hopefully we can get back in 30 days and finish the season. I think the playoffs, they’re just so much fun and so important to our fans and our players.”
- Timberwolves vice president of basketball performance and technology, Robby Sikka, was well ahead of the curve in terms of preparing the team for the coronavirus, as Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic details. Sikka warned players to wash their hands and to avoid close contact with ill people as far back as late January. Sikka was hired by president of basketball operations Gersson Rosas last summer to prioritize player health and wellness. He’s been integral in drawing up plans to help the organization get through the pandemic, including daily checks on the players.
- The Nuggets need to acquire another impact player to become true contenders, Joel Rush of Forbes.com argues. They’d have to be willing to move Will Barton, Gary Harris or any bench player outside of Michael Porter Jr. this offseason to accomplish that goal, Rush adds.
Coronavirus Updates: Scouting, TV Deals, Preparations
Preparations for the draft will continue even though practice facilities will be closed indefinitely starting on Friday, according to Bobby Marks of ESPN. Scouts will do their work remotely by watching tape, doing background checks, and holding weekly conference calls. There remains plenty of uncertainty regarding the date of the draft, whether a combine will eventually be held and if individual workouts will be conducted at some point (Twitter links).
We have more coronavirus-related news:
- NBA teams are still receiving payments from their national broadcast partners, AT&T Inc.’s Turner and Walt Disney Co.’s ABC and ESPN, Scott Soshnick of Bloomberg reports. Those agreements pay the league about $2.6 billion annually. However, the value lost by the networks due to the suspension of play must be made up over the life of the deals, which run through the 2024/25 season. The exact value must be negotiated, and might include more games or additional advertising, Soshnick continues. Disney stands to lose approximately $700MM in ad revenue should the season be canceled, while Turner — which also holds the rights to NCAA men’s basketball championship — could lose $960MM in ad revenue.
- The league began making preparations in late January for the spread of the coronavirus, Ramona Shelburne of ESPN details. The NBA sent at least three memos to team officials in February, urging them to prepare for the pandemic in North America. Those preparations set in motion a series of protocols that had the NBA and its teams at the front of the line for testing by the time the Jazz’s Rudy Gobert became the first player that was diagnosed with COVID-19.
Eastern Notes: Haliburton, VanVleet, Presti, Thompson
Iowa State sophomore Tyrese Haliburton might be the safest lottery pick for the Knicks among the guard prospects, ESPN analyst Seth Greenberg told Marc Berman of the New York Post. Haliburton was averaging 15.2 PPG, 5.9 RPG, 6.5 APG and 2.5 SPG before a wrist injury cut short his season. There isn’t any guard on par with Ja Morant in the draft, according to Greenberg, but Haliburton is a pure point guard who doesn’t carry any baggage.
We have more from around the Eastern Conference:
- The Raptors would probably be willing to pay unrestricted free agent guard Fred VanVleet $17-20MM annually to retain his services, Blake Murphy of The Athletic opines. The market for VanVleet could drop significantly if the salary cap is lowered, with only a handful of teams having the ability to sign him using their space. VanVleet’s best option may be to secure long-term money from the Raptors since they hold his Bird rights, Murphy adds.
- It’s doubtful the Bulls would make a serious run at Thunder GM Sam Presti during their planned front office restructuring, according to K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago. Not only is it unknown whether Presti would be interested in a high-level front office role with the club but it would probably take $8-10MM annually to land his services, Johnson continues, and the Bulls historically haven’t forked up that kind of money. Presti would also likely want to bring in some of his own people, which would add to the tab, Johnson adds.
- A sign-and-trade is the most likely outcome for Cavaliers center Tristan Thompson when he becomes an unrestricted free agent, Chris Fedor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer opines. It’s increasingly likely that Andre Drummond will exercise his $28.7MM option, relegating Thompson to a bench role. The Cavs might want to bring back Thompson on a team-friendly contract, but if they draft a center that would also change the equation. Thompson has earned the right to test the market and a sign-and-trade could give him a chance to maximize his value and playing time, Fedor adds.
Two Lakers Players Test Positive For Coronavirus
8:14pm: JaVale McGee has tested negative, Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports tweets. The veteran center has asthma and battled pneumonia last season.
6:58pm: The Lakers plan to test a small group of coaches and staffers who had close contact with the players, according to ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne. Both of the players with positive tests are currently asymptomatic, in quarantine and under the care of a team physician, according to the team’s Twitter feed (Twitter link).
6:25pm: A pair of Lakers players have tested positive for the coronavirus, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets.
The number could grow as the team could test other players who were not tested on Wednesday morning, Charania adds.
The amount of players and personnel testing positive for COVID-19 throughout the league continues to rise at an alarming rate.
The news regarding the Lakers players broke just minutes after the Sixers revealed that three members of their organization – not necessarily players – tested positive.
With the addition of the Lakers duo, nine NBA players are known to have tested positive for COVID-19 so far: Jazz stars Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert, Pistons big man Christian Wood, former MVP Kevin Durant, and three other unidentified Nets players and the Lakers pair. Adding the trio from the Sixers and a member of the Nuggets’ organization who has also tested positive, the total number of NBA players and personnel with the coronavirus has jumped to 13.
[UPDATE: Marcus Smart tests positive for coronavirus]
In their last four games before the stoppage of play, the Lakers played Philadelphia, Milwaukee, the Clippers and Brooklyn.