Adam Silver Talks Play-In, ’21/22 Start Date, Arena Capacities
During an appearance on Friday’s episode of Keyshawn, J-Will and Zubin on ESPN Radio (video link), NBA commissioner Adam Silver made it clear that his preference would be for the play-in tournament to be a mainstay for years to come, as long as the teams and players are on board.
“I haven’t made any secret that I want it to be (around long-term),” Silver said, per ESPN’s Tim Bontemps.
The Lakers/Warriors play-in game on Wednesday was a major ratings success, becoming ESPN’s most-watched NBA telecast since the 2019 Western Conference Finals, per a press release. Silver acknowledged that not all of this year’s play-in games have been on the same level as that one, but suggested that the positive effects of the play-in format go beyond this week’s TV ratings.
According to Silver, the format resulted in a higher quality of play – and stronger ratings – during the final few weeks of the regular season as teams battled for positioning in the standings.
“(It) was causing teams, who frankly otherwise may have thrown in the towel some number of weeks back, to fight for those last playoff spots,” Silver said.
Here’s more from the NBA commissioner:
- Silver confirmed today that the NBA’s plan is for the 2021/22 season to begin at its usual time in October. That would mean two consecutive shorter-than-usual offseasons in 2020 and 2021, but Silver pointed out that the break this summer wouldn’t be as brief as it was a year ago.
- Silver believes we could see sellout crowds – or close to it – for the NBA Finals in July, as Bontemps details. “I think it’s very possible that come July, when our Finals will be, you’ll see essentially full buildings,” Silver said. The commissioner, who added that “close to 80%” of the NBA’s players have received COVID-19 vaccinations, cautioned that the league will still be “fairly conservative” about filling seats on or near the court.
- Silver took exception to the idea that the NBA needs its big-market teams to play well to be successful, suggesting that superstars like Giannis Antetokounmpo can turn even small-market clubs like the Bucks into marquee franchises (video link). He also explained why the NBA fined Hawks coach Nate McMillan for suggesting the league wants to see the Knicks do well: “Nate’s a veteran coach and he knows better. He’s trying to inspire his team to try and suggest the league would somehow prefer some teams over others, and it’s just not the case. He knows it and he’s just got a young team and wants to get them going.”
Key 2021 NBA Offseason Dates, Deadlines
With the 2020/21 NBA regular season in the books, half of the league’s teams have shifted their focus to the offseason, and others will soon follow suit. With that in mind, it’s time to retire our list of the NBA’s key in-season dates and deadlines for the ’20/21 campaign in favor of an updated offseason calendar of the most important dates facing teams and players in the coming months.
With the help of information from ESPN’s Bobby Marks, here’s a breakdown of many of the NBA’s important dates and deadlines for the next few months:
May 25
- NBA conducts random tiebreakers for lottery and draft positioning (link).
May 30
- Deadline for early entrants to declare for the NBA draft (10:59pm CT).
- Note: For more information on draft-related dates and deadlines, check out our full breakdown.
June 19-21
- NBA G League Elite Camp (link).
June 21-27
- NBA draft combine.
June 22
- NBA draft lottery.
July 7
- Last day for early entrants to withdraw from the NBA draft and retain their NCAA eligibility (10:59pm CT).
July 19
- Deadline for all early entrants (including international players) to withdraw from the NBA draft (4:00pm CT).
July 22
- Latest possible end date for the NBA Finals.
July 23 – August 8
- Tokyo Olympics.
July 29
- NBA draft day.
August 1
- Last day for decisions on player, team, and early termination options (some individual contracts may require earlier decisions).
- Last day for teams to make qualifying offers to players eligible for restricted free agency.
August 2
- Last official day of the 2020/21 NBA league year.
- Last day for players eligible for veteran extensions in 2020/21 to sign them.
- Teams can begin negotiating with free agents (5:00pm CT).
August 3:
- Official start of the 2021/22 NBA league year.
- Moratorium period begins.
- Restricted free agents can sign an offer sheet.
- Teams can begin signing players to rookie scale contracts, minimum salary contracts, and two-way contracts.
- Teams can begin exercising the third- or fourth-year team options for 2022/23 on rookie scale contracts.
August 6
- Moratorium period ends (11:01am CT)
- Teams can begin officially signing players, extending players, and completing trades (11:01am CT).
- The two-day period for matching an RFA offer sheet signed during the moratorium begins.
August 8-17
- Las Vegas Summer League (link).
August 13
- Last day for teams to unilaterally withdraw qualifying offers to restricted free agents.
There are a number of minor NBA offseason deadlines that typically land in July or August, which we’re still waiting to hear about.
For instance, in a normal league year, August 31 would be the last day for a team to waive a player and apply the stretch provision to his current-year salary. Our working assumption is that deadlines like that one will be moved back by a few weeks along with the rest of this year’s offseason dates, but we don’t know the specific details yet.
There were also several traded player exceptions created during last year’s free agent period whose expiry dates may be moved forward so that they better line up with the 2021 free agent period. We’ll wait for further clarity on those TPE expiry dates as well.
Scoot Henderson To Play For G League Ignite
Another top high school prospect has committed to the G League Ignite, as five-star recruit Scoot Henderson announced today that he’ll reclassify from the class of 2022 to the class of 2021 and will join the NBAGL’s developmental team, writes Adam Zagoria of Forbes. The G League has confirmed Henderson’s commitment.
Henderson is a 6’3″ point guard who attended Kell High School in Marietta, Georgia. He had been ranked by ESPN as the No. 7 overall prospect in the 2022 recruiting class.
According to Zagoria, Henderson decided to go the G League route rather than attending a college such as Auburn or Georgia. He also received an offer from the Overtime Elite league.
“You know how every kid has their own path?” Henderson told Jonathan Abrams of The New York Times. “My main goal was just to get to the NBA and be there for a very long time. The fact that I have an opportunity to go there and I’m one step away from it, it’s just huge. And I took that opportunity.”
Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter links), who says the 17-year-old is believed to be the youngest professional player in American basketball history, hears from sources that Henderson’s G League deal will be worth $1MM — the contract will cover two years, since Henderson still won’t be draft-eligible until 2023.
Henderson will join an Ignite squad that has also received commitments from guard Jalen Hardy, forward Michael Foster Jr., and China’s top prospect, center Fanbo Zeng.
And-Ones: Overtime Elite, Two-Way Rules, Barbosa, Lottery
The Overtime Elite league for top high school prospects has secured its first two commitments, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, who reports that Matt Bewley and Ryan Bewley, a pair of 6’9″ twin brothers from Florida, are signing with Overtime Elite.
Matt and Ryan, high school juniors who are ranked third and 12th overall by ESPN among recruits in the class of 2023, are expected to earn in the seven figures over the course of their respective two-year contracts, sources tell Wojnarowski.
Jonathan Givony of ESPN, who tweets that Overtime Elite has been “extremely active” in attempting to recruit top high school prospects this spring, notes (via Twitter) that the league is aiming to end up with about 30 players by the time it starts up in September. The league has been approaching 2021 high school grads with offers of two-year contracts and reclassification to 2022, according to Givony.
Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- In an Insider-only article for ESPN.com, Brian Windhorst and Kevin Arnovitz explore which new rules and other innovations implemented for the NBA’s 2020/21 season may stick around beyond this season. According to the ESPN duo, the baseball-style two-game series that became common this season are unlikely to be as frequent going forward now that fans are being allowed back into arenas, but the league has been gauging teams’ interest in keeping the rules related to expanded eligibility for two-way players.
- Former NBA guard Leandro Barbosa, who currently works as a player mentor coach on the Warriors‘ staff, will play in the BIG3 this summer, a source tells Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated (Twitter link).
- Zach Harper of The Athletic takes a look at what’s next for this year’s lottery-bound NBA teams, while Jonathan Wasserman of Bleacher Report identifies the Cavaliers, Kings, and Warriors as some teams that should consider either trading their lottery picks or trading down if they don’t land a top-four pick.
Pacers Notes: Bjorkgren, McDermott, Turner, Draft
Following a Thursday loss in the East’s final 2021 play-in game, the Pacers‘ season is over, raising questions about the future of head coach Nate Bjorkgren. Although he was just hired last fall, Bjorkgren is said to be very much on the hot seat after a tumultuous, disappointing season in Indiana. For his part, the first-year coach was evasive on Thursday when asked whether he expects to be back.
“My focus is on the players right now,” Bjorkgren said, per J. Michael of The Indianapolis Star (Twitter link). “I’m not thinking about myself. I’m really not. I just want to do what’s best for these guys.”
It’s decision time for the Pacers, according to Scott Agness of Fieldhouse Files, who advises not to be surprised if the club takes a little time to make a call on Bjorkgren’s status, one way or the other.
Bob Kravitz of The Athletic suggests that Bjorkgren probably took a banged-up Pacers team about as far could be realistically expected, but if he’s to return for the 2021/22, there must be changes — “both with Bjorkgren himself and with his coaching staff,” Kravitz writes.
As we wait on the Pacers’ decision, let’s round up a few more notes out of Indiana…
- While it’s possible that Bjorkgren was the problem for the Pacers, Gregg Doyel of The Indianapolis Star isn’t entirely convinced of that, and writes an offseason roster shakeup might not be the worst idea for the organization.
- Most of the Pacers’ key rotation players are under contract for next season, but Doug McDermott is one important contributor who will be an unrestricted free agent this summer. McDermott addressed his situation after Thursday’s game, as J. Michael of The Indianapolis Star relays (via Twitter): “I want to be a Pacer. It’s been a great three years. It’s been a great place to call home. I hope I can continue that.”
- Although Myles Turner‘s toe injury didn’t heal in time for him to rejoin the Pacers before they were eliminated from postseason contention, he’s hoping to be healthy enough to compete for a spot on Team USA’s Olympic roster this summer, he tells Sean Deveney of Forbes.
- As we outlined earlier today, the Pacers are now in line for the 13th pick in the 2021 draft, as long as their position isn’t affected by the lottery results. Nat Newell of The Indianapolis Star, noting that Indiana’s two most recent lottery picks were Turner and Paul George, examines the recent history of the No. 13 pick to get an idea of what sort of player the team could realistically land.
Towns Says He’d Like To Spend NBA Career “With One Team”
Teams around the NBA are constantly monitoring superstars on lottery teams in case they become disgruntled and request a change of scenery. One player whose situation has drawn some attention in that regard is Karl-Anthony Towns, whose Timberwolves have made the postseason just once since he was drafted in 2015.
However, speaking to reporters this week, Towns said that he’d like to follow in the footsteps of players like Kobe Bryant and Tim Duncan, who spent their entire NBA careers with a single franchise.
“I hope to have a career like Kobe, with one team,” Towns said, per Shahbaz Khan of of Timberwolves.com. “Like Tim and Kobe, where it’s one team and try to bring as many championships as possible.”
Towns, who averaged 24.8 points and 10.6 rebounds per game in 50 contests (33.8 MPG) in 2020/21, acknowledged that there have been plenty of “rocky” patches during his six years in Minnesota, both on and off the court. However, he gave no indication that he’d like to move on from the team that selected him with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2015 draft.
“I just really am happy that I’m able to still be here playing for this amazing city and state and be able to stay here and affect change in the community,” Towns said. “I’m just so happy that I’ve been given a chance to play here in Minnesota all these years.”
Towns still has three guaranteed years on his maximum-salary deal beyond 2020/21. As such, president of basketball operations Gersson Rosas still has some time to work on building a team capable of contending before the 25-year-old has to make a decision on his next contract. However, with the Wolves set to lose their first-round pick either in 2021 (top-three protected) or 2022 (unprotected), Rosas will have to get creative as he considers possible avenues to upgrade the roster.
Latest On NBA’s Lottery Standings, Draft Order
On Monday, we took an in-depth look at what we knew about the NBA’s 2021 draft lottery standings and projected draft order so far based on the regular season standings, and what was still to be determined based on play-in results, random tiebreakers, and the lottery results.
With the play-in tournament nearly over, we can fill in a few more gaps. Let’s dive in…
Lottery standings
Having been eliminated from playoff contention, the Pacers will be at No. 13 in the lottery standings, giving them a 1% chance at the first overall pick and a 4.8% shot at a top-five selection, per Tankathon.
A tiebreaker will be necessary to determine whether the Spurs or Hornets get the edge in the lottery standings, but they’ll occupy the Nos. 11 and 12 spots in the lottery standings. The winner of the tiebreaker – to be conducted next Tuesday – will have a slightly higher chance of earning the first overall pick (1.8% to 1.7%) and a top-four pick (8.5% to 8.0%).
The No. 14 spot in the lottery will be held by the loser of Friday’s Warriors/Grizzlies play-in game.
Draft order
Having clinched playoff spots, the Wizards and Celtics will draft 15th and 16th, respectively, in the first round.
The winner of tonight’s Warriors/Grizzlies play-in game will draft 17th, while the Lakers will be part of a Tuesday tiebreaker to determine their exact position — they could draft as high as 21st and as low as 23rd.
If the Lakers had missed the postseason, teams like the Heat, Knicks, and Hawks each would have been pushed down one spot in the draft. Since L.A. made it, those teams will stay put, starting with Miami at No. 18.
Notable traded second-round picks
On Monday, we focused on what would happen with 2021’s traded first-round picks. So many of this year’s second-round picks have been traded that we’re not going to run through all of them in this space (you can check our tracker for the full details), but here are a few notable second-round swaps worth flagging:
The Pacers traded their second-round pick to the Nets with 45-60 protection. Because Indiana’s second-rounder is going to land at No. 44, that pick will be sent to Brooklyn rather than being protected.
The Bulls, who will be involved in a first-round tiebreaker with the Pelicans (and Kings) to determine their spots in the lottery standings, also have the ability to swap second-round picks with New Orleans. In the event of a random tiebreaker, the second-round order is always the inverse of the first-round order — for instance, if Team A wins a first-round tiebreaker over Team B, then Team B would get the higher pick in the second round. But in this case, the Bulls could win the first-round tiebreaker, then use their second-round swap to make sure they pick ahead of the Pelicans in both rounds.
Because the Warriors‘ first-round pick will fall in the top 20, Golden State will keep it and will instead have to send the Timberwolves’ second-round pick to the Thunder to complete last year’s Kelly Oubre trade. That pick will be No. 36.
The Suns had agreed to send their second-round pick to the Grizzlies if it landed between 31-35 and to the Nets if it landed between 36-60. It’ll go to Brooklyn, since it’s the No. 59 overall selection. Memphis is simply out of luck, as Phoenix’s obligation to the Grizzlies is now extinguished.
The Bucks will get the first pick of the second round (No. 31), since the Rockets have the ability to swap their second-rounder for Milwaukee’s first-rounder (No. 24).
Other early second-round picks that will change hands include the Pistons‘ No. 32 pick (to the Knicks), the Cavaliers‘ pick at either No. 34 or 35 (to the Pelicans), and the Raptors‘ No. 37 pick (to the Pistons).
Injury Notes: D. Mitchell, Barton, R. Williams, Kleber
Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell returned to practice on Thursday and told reporters that his goal is to be available for Game 1 of the playoffs this weekend, per the team’s official site.
“That’s the goal,” Mitchell said. “Barring any setbacks — god forbid, knock on wood. The goal is to be out there and helping my teammates to try and win a championship. That’s been the goal all year.”
Discussing his right ankle sprain today, Mitchell admitted that missing the last 16 games of the season as he rehabbed that injury has been a “tough process,” adding that the sprain “wasn’t as minor as it was made out to be” by some.
The Jazz will learn their first-round playoff opponent on Friday, when either the Warriors or Grizzlies win the final play-in game of 2021.
Here are a few more injury updates from around the NBA:
- Nuggets swingman Will Barton, who has been sidelined since straining his hamstring on April 23, participated in parts of Wednesday’s practice and is aiming to return during the team’s first-round series, league sources tell Mike Singer of The Denver Post. Head coach Michael Malone said today that he’s unsure whether Barton will be ready to go for Game 1, Singer adds (via Twitter).
- Celtics big man Robert Williams is considered day-to-day due to his nagging toe injury, tweets Chris Forsberg of NBC Sports Boston. Williams didn’t practice today and head coach Brad Stevens doesn’t expect him to return to practice on Friday either.
- If he’s healthy, Mavericks forward Maxi Kleber figures to spend a lot of time guarding Clippers star Kawhi Leonard in the first round, as Callie Caplan of The Dallas Morning News writes. However, a sore right Achilles tendon complicates Kleber’s status. He went through parts of Wednesday’s practice and the Mavs are evaluating him daily, per head coach Rick Carlisle (Twitter link via Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News).
Nate McMillan Fined By NBA For Comments About Knicks
Hawks head coach Nate McMillan has been fined $25K by the NBA for “detrimental public comments asserting bias,” the league announced today in a press release.
As Chris Kirschner of The Athletic relays, McMillan was fined for comments he made during his session with reporters on Wednesday, when he was asked about national media members picking the Knicks to defeat the Hawks in round one of the playoffs.
“I’ve talked about that to the team a lot,” McMillan said. “I’ve gone as far as saying, ‘The league wants this. They need this.’ New York is a big market. It’s a big market for the league. New York has been out of the playoffs for a number of years. This is a team that our league — they want to see. … I think the NBA is excited about them being back in the playoffs.”
McMillan was essentially just reiterating a widely-held belief that the NBA prefers to see teams in large market with huge fanbases succeed, as he went on to liken the Knicks to the Lakers and Celtics.
While McMillan’s comments seem relatively harmless, it’s understandable that the NBA didn’t appreciate the implication that the league might make an effort to push the Knicks past the Hawks — especially when that implication came from Atlanta’s head coach.
Poll: Play-In Winners For No. 8 Seeds
While some games in the NBA’s play-in tournament have been a little more exciting than others, the end result of all four has been the same so far: the higher seed has advanced.
That means we’ve got a pair of No. 8 vs. No. 9 matchups on tap, with the final playoff spot in each conference on the line, starting on Thursday night with the Eastern Conference….
Indiana Pacers (9) at Washington Wizards (8)
Given the way the last month of their respective seasons played out, the red-hot Wizards looked like a safe bet to earn a playoff spot, while the inconsistent, injury-plagued Pacers seemed to be a candidate for an early exit. But Washington couldn’t knock off Boston on Tuesday, and a shorthanded Indiana squad dominated Charlotte, setting up an elimination game between the two teams for Thursday.
Bradley Beal and Russell Westbrook fueled the Wizards’ 17-6 finish to the season, but neither player looked quite like himself on Tuesday. Beal, still bothered by a hamstring injury, scored 22 points on 10-of-25 shooting, a subpar night by his lofty standards. Westbrook was worse — after averaging a monster line of 23.0 PPG, 14.0 APG, and 13.5 RPG in Washington’s final 23 games, he shot just 6-of-18 on Tuesday and had nearly as many turnovers (4) as assists (5).
To advance on Thursday, the Wizards will need more from their two backcourt stars and from $80MM man Davis Bertans, who missed all seven of his 3-point attempts on Tuesday and was a game-worst minus-23.
As for the Pacers, even without key players like Caris LeVert, Myles Turner, and T.J. Warren available, they put up 144 points in their win over Charlotte. But the Hornets had backed into the play-in tournament, losing 15 of their last 21 games of the regular season, and were dealing with injury absences of their own, including standout forward Gordon Hayward. Indiana will face a more difficult challenge on Thursday and will no longer benefit from home-court advantage.
What do you think? Will the Wizards or Pacers win on Thursday and clinch the East’s No. 8 seed?
Which team will secure the No. 8 seed in the East?
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Washington Wizards 63% (413)
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Indiana Pacers 37% (242)
Total votes: 655
Trade Rumors app users, click here to vote.
Memphis Grizzlies (9) at Golden State Warriors (8)
The Warriors defeated the Grizzlies on the last day of the regular season to earn the No. 8 seed in the play-in tournament. On Friday, just five days later, they’ll be looking to repeat that result to clinch the No. 8 seed for the playoffs.
Although the Warriors couldn’t pick up a win on Wednesday, their performance against the defending-champion Lakers showed why they’ll enter Friday’s game as the favorites. The Dubs held the Lakers to 40.7% shooting and led for most of the night, but a miracle LeBron James three-pointer broke a tie in the game’s final minute.
Stephen Curry and Andrew Wiggins, who combined for 58 of Golden State’s 100 points on Wednesday, may need a little more help on Friday, but the fact that Los Angeles couldn’t slow down Curry (37 points on 12-of-23 shooting) even with so much defensive attention on him is an encouraging sign for the Warriors.
The Grizzlies shouldn’t be ruled out, however. While the final score in Wednesday’s 100-96 win over San Antonio was close, Memphis dominated the minutes that Ja Morant (+20) and Jonas Valanciunas (+26) played and figure to lean heavily on that duo again on Friday.
The Grizzlies’ chances of hanging with Golden State and pulling off the upset hinge not only on Valanciunas’ ability to punish the Warriors inside like he did the Spurs (23 points, 23 rebounds), but on Memphis’ ability to play good defense while the veteran center is on the court. In Sunday’s loss, Valanciunas racked up 29 points and 16 boards, but the Grizzlies posted an awful 127.0 defensive rating during his 36 minutes.
What do you think? Will the Warriors or Grizzlies win on Friday and lock up the No. 8 seed in the West?
Which team will secure the No. 8 seed in the West?
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Golden State Warriors 80% (796)
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Memphis Grizzlies 20% (193)
Total votes: 989
Trade Rumors app users, click here to vote.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.