Magic Sign Ignas Brazdeikis For Rest Of Season
Following the expiration of his 10-day contract on Tuesday night, Ignas Brazdeikis has signed a new rest-of-season contract with the Magic. The team announced the deal in a press release.
Brazdeikis, 22, appeared in five games during his first 10 days with the Magic, averaging a solid 10.0 points and 4.6 rebounds on .432/.500/.700 shooting in 28.4 minutes per contest.
The second-year wing, who was selected 47th overall in the 2019 draft, previously spent time with the Knicks and Sixers, but only appeared in 14 total games for those two clubs, logging limited playing time at the NBA level. Of Brazdeikis’ 210 career NBA minutes, 142 have come during his brief stint with the Magic.
With Brazdeikis back under contract, Orlando is once again carrying 18 players (including two-ways). Although 17 is the usual limit, the Magic have been granted a hardship exception allowing them to carry an extra player, due to all the injuries the team is dealing with.
Potential Lottery Pick Alperen Sengun Enters 2021 Draft
Turkish big man Alperen Sengun has submitted paperwork entering his name into the 2021 NBA draft pool, he tells Jonathan Givony of ESPN.
Sengun, 18, is considered one of the best international prospects in this year’s draft class, currently ranking 14th overall on ESPN’s big board. Givony describes the young center as a “dominant interior scorer” who has the ability to protect the rim, crash the boards, and create scoring opportunities for teammates. NBA scouts have compared him to players such as Kevin Love and Domantas Sabonis, Givony notes.
Sengun’s performance for Besiktas in Turkey this season has helped increase his stock, solidifying him as a projected first-round pick. In 29 Turkish League games (28.3 MPG), he has averaged 19.2 points, 9.4 rebounds, 2.5 assists, and 1.7 blocks per contest, with a .646 FG%.
“At the beginning of the season, I didn’t think my performance would be this high, but with every passing game I felt I could do more and more,” Sengun told ESPN in an email. “I believe that there are no limits for me to get better as a basketball player.”
As Givony details, Sengun intends to play for Turkey in the Olympic qualifying tournament in late June. The Tokyo games overlap with the July 29 draft, but if Turkey doesn’t earn a spot in the Olympics, Sengun would focus on preparing for the draft, including perhaps working out for NBA teams if in-person auditions are permitted.
2021 Draft Combine To Take Place In Person In Chicago
The NBA is moving forward with plans to hold the 2021 draft combine in person after having to conduct a virtual combine in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter links).
When the NBA previously announced its plans for the combine, it cautioned that the pre-draft event would be subject to “evolving public health conditions.” Those conditions will certainly still be monitored and considered, but for now, the outlook for an in-person combine looks good.
According to Charania, the plan is for the combine – which is scheduled for June 21-27, as we detailed on Tuesday – to return to Chicago and to take place at Wintrust Arena and Marriott Marquis. It will include the following:
- Team interview sessions
- Shooting drills
- Half-court drills
- Five-on-five games
- Strength/agility testing
- Player measurements
- Medicals
According to Charania, a total of 10 personnel members per team will be permitted to attend the on-court portion of the combine, which is consistent with the guidelines from 2019. Up to six team personnel members will be allowed to attend in-person interviews with prospects, Charania adds.
With over a month to go until the combine begins, we’re still a few weeks away from getting a clear idea of which players will be in attendance. The NBA typically sends out invites to about 60-to-80 top prospects after getting feedback from teams on which players they want to see. Often, players who project to be top-five picks will only participate in a portion of the combine or skip the event altogether because they’re comfortable with their expected draft position.
Sixers Sign Gary Clark To Two-Way Contract
6:55pm: The Sixers have officially signed Clark, the team announced in a press release.
1:34pm: The Sixers are set to sign free agent forward Gary Clark to a two-way contract, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link). Philadelphia opened up a two-way slot last week by waiving Mason Jones.
Clark, who began his career with the Rockets in 2018 after going undrafted out of Cincinnati, has since appeared in a total of 130 games for Houston, Orlando, and Denver, averaging 3.3 points and 2.6 rebounds in 14.6 minutes per contest.
The 26-year-old signed a two-year, $4.1MM contract with the Magic last fall, but was traded to the Nuggets along with Aaron Gordon in March. Because his 2021/22 salary of $2.1MM was non-guaranteed and he was essentially a throw-in in that trade, Clark became expendable and was waived last month, clearing the way for Denver to sign Austin Rivers.
Barring an unexpected development, Clark won’t be part of the Sixers’ rotation in the playoffs, but he could see some action in the team’s final few regular season games, depending on when his two-way deal is finalized. He’ll also provide a little extra depth on the wing in case the team has to deal with injuries in the playoffs.
The Sixers will have a full 17-man roster once Clark’s deal is official.
2021 NBA Draft Dates, Deadlines To Watch
We’re still more than two-and-a-half months away from NBA draft day, but before we get to July 29, there are several other important dates and deadlines on the calendar. Here are some of those dates and deadlines worth keeping an eye on:
May 30 (11:59pm ET): Deadline for early entrants to declare for the draft
College players and international early entrants have until the end of the day on May 30 to submit their names into the 2021 NBA draft pool. They can withdraw their names later if they decide they’re not quite ready to go pro, though if college players want to maintain their NCAA eligibility, they must put off hiring an agent who’s not certified by the NCAA.
In a typical year, once the early entrant list is set, NBA teams can begin conducting or attending workouts for those players. However, with COVID-19 still looming as a factor, it’s not clear what form pre-draft workouts will take in 2021.
June 19-21: NBA G League Elite Camp
After having to cancel this event in 2020 due to the pandemic, the NBA will bring it back in 2021.
In 2019, the Elite Camp – having recently been revamped by the NBA – consisted of 40 G League invitees participating in the first half of the event, followed by 40 top draft-eligible players (who weren’t invited to the actual combine) taking part in the second half. It’s unclear if the format will remain the same this year.
June 21-27: NBA draft combine
This week-long event allows NBA teams to get a first-hand look at many of the year’s top draft-eligible players. According to the league, the plan for this year’s combine is to conduct five-on-five games and strength and agility testing, though that’s subject to “evolving public health conditions.”
The combine is often particularly important for early entrants who have yet to decide whether or not to stay in the draft. The feedback they get at the combine could go a long way toward dictating whether they keep their names in the draft or return to school for another year.
June 22: NBA draft lottery (8:30pm ET)
The 2021 draft lottery will be the third one that uses the new format, which was introduced in 2019. With the lottery odds flattened out, the NBA’s worst team will only have a 14% shot at the No. 1 overall pick, as opposed to the 25% chance it had prior to ’19.
The new system has provided some excitement during the past two draft lotteries, as five of the eight teams that claimed top-four picks in 2019 and 2020 entered the night without a top-six spot in the lottery standings.
Our reverse standings provide a glimpse at what the pre-lottery draft order could look like.
July 7 (11:59pm): NCAA early entrant withdrawal deadline
College underclassmen (and, this year, seniors) who want to retain their NCAA eligibility will have to withdraw their names from the draft pool by July 7. NBA rules call for a later withdrawal deadline, but the NCAA has its own set of rules that say the deadline is 10 days after the combine.
An early entrant could technically wait until after July 7 to withdraw from the draft and could still retain his NBA draft eligibility for a future year. However, he would forfeit his amateur status in that scenario, making him ineligible to return to his NCAA squad.
July 19 (5:00pm ET): NBA early entrant withdrawal deadline
This is the NBA’s final deadline for early entrants to withdraw their names from the draft pool and retain their draft eligibility for a future year.
By this point, we generally know whether an NCAA underclassman kept his name in the draft or not, but this is an important deadline for international players, who aren’t subject to the same restrictions as college players. We’ll likely hear about several international early entrants withdrawing from the draft during the days leading up to July 19.
July 29: NBA draft day
The most exciting few weeks of the NBA offseason unofficially get underway on draft day, which is often when some of the first major trades of the summer are completed and we get a sense of which direction certain teams are heading.
It’s also worth noting that the hours and days after the draft ends will be hugely important for many of this year’s draft-eligible prospects — a ton of players who aren’t selected with one of the 60 picks in the draft will reach agreements shortly thereafter to play for an NBA team’s Summer League squad, to attend training camp with a club, or to sign a two-way contract.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Southwest Notes: Olynyk, Terry, Hayes, Grizzlies
Since Kelly Olynyk arrived in Houston, the Rockets have won just four of 26 games, but the veteran big man has played some of the best basketball of his career during that stretch, averaging 18.9 points and 8.6 rebounds on .561/.382/.850 shooting in 24 games (31.7 MPG). That hasn’t been lost on him, as Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle details.
“I’ve had a good opportunity here to play my game,” Olynyk said. “I’ve come in to help these young guys. Their style of offense is great for me. … It definitely factors in (to be) somewhere you can be yourself, play basketball the way you’ve always played. It’s been great here. I’ve loved it, the opportunities, the players, the coaches. I’ve really enjoyed it. It’s obviously shown on the court.”
Olynyk will be an unrestricted free agent at season’s end, and Rockets head coach Stephen Silas believes the 30-year-old would be a fit in Houston going forward, per Feigen. While Olynyk sounds interested in that possibility, he acknowledged that he’ll have to consider a number of factors once he reaches the open market.
“Obviously, money is a factor at some point,” Olynyk said. “But fit, how you’re fitting, style of play. Obviously, you want to win, but you also want to help somebody win. You don’t want to go and kind of get lost in a shuffle. You want to go and contribute and help a team grow and win and do something special. … Then, obviously, you’ve got to look at one year versus two or three or four. There’s a bunch of factors that weigh into it. You try to make the best decision that you can.”
Here’s more from around the Southwest:
- Mavericks rookie guard Tyrell Terry, who has been out since the All-Star break for personal reasons, said on Instagram this week that he plans to be “back and better than before,” as Callie Caplan of The Dallas Morning News tweets. While it’s not clear when Terry will be available again, his Instagram post included the message, “I will see y’all soon!”
- Second-year Pelicans center Jaxson Hayes has made some positive strides this season, according to Christian Clark of NOLA.com, who says Hayes’ next step for continued growth is to establish more consistency. The big man will make $5.35MM in 2021/22 and New Orleans will have to decide later this year whether to pick up his $6.8MM option for 2022/23.
- Given how well the Grizzlies have performed without some key players for long stretches of the season, anything less than a playoff spot should be considered a disappointment at this point, says Mark Giannotto of The Memphis Commercial Appeal. The way the Grizzlies close the season will also determine how they move forward in the offseason, Giannotto opines.
LeBron James Targeting Wednesday For Return
MAY 11, 2:30pm: James has decided to rest his ankle for one more day and is now targeting Wednesday vs. Houston for his return, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Dave McMenamin (Twitter link).
MAY 10, 7:35pm: James is listed as out for Tuesday’s game, though Jovan Buha of The Athletic notes that he was listed as out against Sacramento before his previous return from injury (Twitter link).
MAY 10, 9:31am: Lakers star LeBron James is aiming to return from his ankle injury on Tuesday vs. the Knicks, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
A source tells Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link) that James has had two “really good days of workouts at a high level” and feels great. If James is unable to get back on the floor on Tuesday, he’d target Wednesday vs. Houston for his return, per Charania and Haynes.
James, who missed 20 games due to a high ankle sprain, came back on April 30 and played in two games before that ankle injury sidelined him again. He has been out for the team’s last four contests.
Although the Lakers are fighting to avoid finishing in seventh in the West, the team is more focused on making sure LeBron and fellow star Anthony Davis are healthy for the postseason, rather going all-out to move up to sixth and avoid the play-in tournament.
Still, getting James back in the lineup before the regular season ends would help get him up to speed and build chemistry among the club’s top lineups, which would benefit the Lakers whether they finish sixth or seventh.
Currently, Portland is a game ahead of the Lakers for the No. 6 seed and also controls the tiebreaker. L.A. has four winnable games left (vs. NYK, vs. HOU, at IND, and at NOP), but even if the Lakers finish 4-0, they’d have to count on the Blazers losing at least two of their remaining games (vs. HOU, at UTA, at PHX, vs. DEN) in order to pass them in the standings.
Eastern Notes: Schofield, Magic, Cavs, Heat, Pacers
Word broke last Thursday that the Magic intended to sign Admiral Schofield to a 10-day contract using a hardship exception, but two days later, we learned that the deal had fallen through.
As Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN explains (via Twitter), there were “inconsistencies” in Schofield’s COVID-19 testing that held up his signing and forced the Magic to move on. Orlando ended up bringing back Donta Hall, while Schofield was eventually confirmed to be negative for the coronavirus, per Wojnarowski.
It’s a tough break in what has been a difficult season for Schofield. After spending his rookie season with the Wizards, the 24-year-old was traded and waived in November, struggled in the G League after being selected first overall in the NBAGL draft, and – barring a last-minute signing – ultimately won’t end up playing any NBA games in his second professional season.
Here are a few more notes from around the Eastern Conference:
- Joe Vardon of The Athletic argued on Monday that the Cavaliers made a mistake by signing Anderson Varejao to a ceremonial contract rather than trying to develop a young prospect using that roster spot, but Evan Dammarell of Forbes says the Cavs have already proven this season that they’re capable of developing young talent, based on the growth of youngsters like Dean Wade, Lamar Stevens, and Mfiondu Kabengele. While I’m not sure that’s a convincing case to not try to develop another player, it’s worth noting that Varejao was signed using a short-term hardship exception — if the Cavs had opted for a prospect instead, they wouldn’t have been able to sign that player to a multiyear contract.
- Victor Oladipo (knee) still isn’t traveling with the Heat on their current road trip, but the recent return of Tyler Herro to the backcourt has given the team a boost, writes Khobi Price of The Sun Sentinel.
- Scott Agness of Fieldhouse Files makes the case for why letting veteran assistant coach Dan Burke go was the worst move of the Pacers‘ 2020 offseason, while J. Michael of The Indianapolis Star suggests that Pacers swingman Kelan Martin – who began the season on a partially guaranteed contract – has earned more playing time.
Crowded All-NBA Field Will Impact Several Contract Situations
When Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer shared his early All-NBA picks this week, he rightly pointed out that limiting the field to 15 players will leave a number of worthy candidates on the outside looking in. O’Connor had to exclude worthy contenders such as Devin Booker, Zion Williamson, Jaylen Brown, Ben Simmons, Jimmy Butler, Russell Westbrook, Trae Young, Jrue Holiday, and Kyrie Irving from his three All-NBA teams.
Among the other players left off the top 15 by O’Connor were Donovan Mitchell, Zach LaVine, Bam Adebayo, and De’Aaron Fox. Those players are especially notable because an All-NBA spot this season would either substantially increase the value of the contract extensions they signed last offseason or would put them in line for a significantly more lucrative extension this summer.
Jayson Tatum, who earned a spot on O’Connor’s All-NBA Third Team, is in the same boat. Like Mitchell, Adebayo, and Fox, he signed a rookie scale extension that includes Rose Rule language, which could bump his starting salary from 25% of the cap to 30% of the cap.
Here are how those players, who signed five-year, maximum-salary contract extensions last offseason, will be affected by whether or not they earn All-NBA honors. These are projected values based on a 3% salary cap increase.
| Player | No All-NBA | All-NBA |
|---|---|---|
| Donovan Mitchell | $163,000,590 | $195,600,710 |
| Jayson Tatum | $163,000,590 | $195,600,710 |
| Bam Adebayo | $163,000,590 | $185,820,675 (First Team only) |
| De’Aaron Fox | $163,000,590 | $169,522,180 (Third Team) * |
* Fox’s deal would be worth $182,560,660 if he makes the All-NBA Second Team and $195,600,710 if he makes the First Team.
Fox probably has no chance at making an All-NBA team, given the competition at guard and the Kings’ spot in the standings. The other three players here have better cases, but Adebayo is likely a long shot, making Mitchell and Tatum the most realistic candidates. They’d only need to sneak onto the Third Team to increase the projected value of their new five-year deals by more than $32MM.
As O’Connor writes, Tatum has a clearer path to an All-NBA spot than Mitchell based on his position. The guard spot is absolutely stacked this season — Mitchell would have to beat out at least one of Luka Doncic, Stephen Curry, Damian Lillard, Chris Paul, Bradley Beal, and James Harden, as well as all the guards mentioned at the top of this story. As good as he’s been, he may be left out.
While Tatum, Mitchell, Adebayo, and Fox have already negotiated “super-max” language into their contracts and are now trying to guarantee a salary increase by earning All-NBA honors, a handful of players will become eligible for a higher maximum salary on a new extension if they make an All-NBA team this year. An All-NBA spot would either make them eligible for a Rose Rule extension or a Designated Veteran Extension.
Here are those players, along with the projected contract extension they’d become eligible for with an All-NBA nod. These projections are on the conservative side, since they’re based on annual salary cap increases of just 3%.
| Player | Max extension with All-NBA spot |
Year it would begin |
|---|---|---|
| Nikola Jokic |
Five years, $242,098,25 | 2023/24 * |
| Joel Embiid |
Four years, $187,000,032 | 2023/24 |
| Zach LaVine |
Five years, $235,046,855 | 2022/23 |
| Luka Doncic | Five years, $201,468,730 | 2022/23 |
* Jokic would have to wait until the 2022 offseason to sign a super-max extension. The others could sign extensions during the 2021 offseason.
Embiid is still under contract for two more years beyond 2020/21, which is why he’d only be able to tack on four new years to his current deal instead of five. Jokic is in a similar spot, but because he’ll only have six years of NBA service at the end of this season, he’d have to wait until 2022 to officially sign an extension, at which point he’d be eligible for five new years instead of just four.
Doncic’s potential extension has the lowest average value of any of these hypothetical deals because he’d only be eligible for a starting salary worth 30% of the cap, instead of 35%, due to his limited years of NBA service.
MVP candidates Jokic, Embiid, and Doncic all look like pretty safe bets to make an All-NBA team this spring, and I imagine the Nuggets, Sixers, and Mavericks will be ready to put super-max extension offers on the table for their respective stars as soon as they’re eligible to sign them.
As for LaVine, he likely won’t make an All-NBA team, which may be a relief for the Bulls — deciding whether or not to offer LaVine a standard maximum contract could be a difficult decision in its own right. If he were eligible for a super-max, that would make negotiations even more challenging.
Assuming LaVine doesn’t earn All-NBA honors, he’d only be eligible for a four-year, $104.83MM extension this offseason. However, the Bulls could go higher than that if they renegotiate his 2021/22 salary using their cap room, or if they wait until the 2022 offseason — as a free agent, LaVine would be eligible for a five-year contract worth up to $201.47MM (projection based on 3% annual cap increases) if he re-signs with Chicago, even without All-NBA honors.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Timberwolves Sale Negotiations Continue Beyond 30-Day Window
When a group led by former MLB star Alex Rodriguez and tech entrepreneur Marc Lore reached a tentative agreement to buy the Timberwolves from current owner Glen Taylor last month, the two sides entered into a 30-day exclusive negotiating window to finalize the terms of the deal.
That 30-day window has now closed, and Rodriguez, Lore, and Taylor have yet to complete their agreement, as Brian Windhorst of ESPN writes. However, the parties continue to negotiate in good faith in the hopes of hammering out a deal, Windhorst adds.
As Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic observes (via Twitter), the end of the 30-day window didn’t represent a deadline to finalize the sale. It simply gave the two sides a month to focus on completing a deal without Taylor considering other potential buyers.
Now that the window has closed, Taylor could theoretically look elsewhere, but it sounds like he remains focused on the Rodriguez/Lore group. The two sides may agree to extend the exclusive negotiating window, Windhorst notes, though that hasn’t been done yet.
Taylor has entered into exclusive negotiating windows in the past with interested parties and hasn’t closed a deal in those instances. However, he never got as far down the road with any of those previous suitors as he has with Rodriguez and Lore.
As we detailed last month, the two sides have agreed on a valuation of the franchise in the $1.5 billion range, which would include the WNBA’s Minnesota Lynx in addition to the Timberwolves.
The two sides have also agreed on a plan to have Rodriguez and Lore initially come aboard as minority partners before assuming majority control by the 2023/24 season. According to Windhorst, one issue that has been at the center of discussions in recent weeks has been a guarantee that Taylor will cede his majority control of the franchise by a specific date.
It still appears that the parties will eventually work out the specific terms and agree to a deal, but until the sale is official, it’s a situation worth monitoring.