Vucevic On Trade Rumors: “I’m Happy Where I Am”
Following a 6-2 start this season, the Magic lost 21 of their last 28 games entering the All-Star break, fueling trade speculation about many of their most productive veterans, including standout center Nikola Vucevic. However, Vucevic doesn’t sound like someone who’s eager to leave Orlando, telling Mike Bianchi of The Orlando Sentinel that he loves being with the Magic.
“I’m happy where I am,” Vucevic said. “When I re-signed with the Magic, I knew it was going to be a process and I knew we weren’t going to turn into a championship team right away.
“… It’s unfortunate we’ve had all of these injuries. I think we are headed in the right direction, but we have lost two very important players — Markelle (Fultz) and J.I. (Jonathan Isaac) — for the season. If we were healthier, our goals would be much different and we could achieve much more. But that’s just part of the journey. Unexpected things are going to happen.”
Expressing loyalty to one’s team publicly isn’t uncommon even for a player who would prefer a change of scenery. But there’s reason to believe Vucevic’s stance is genuine. The All-Star center recently told Shams Charania of The Athletic that he likes the idea of building a legacy with one team, citing Damian Lillard‘s loyalty to the Trail Blazers as a point of reference.
Of course, Vucevic doesn’t have any veto power over a trade, so the Magic don’t need his approval to move him if they get an offer they like. And several teams – including the Celtics, Heat, Spurs, and Hornets – are said to have “significant” interest in the 30-year-old. Still, all indications are that Orlando isn’t looking to trade Vucevic and would require a massive return to consider making a deal.
For now, players like Evan Fournier, Aaron Gordon, and perhaps Terrence Ross appear to be more likely trade candidates than Vucevic, who is having a career year with 24.6 PPG and 11.6 RPG on .483/.412/.851 shooting. Vucevic is under contract through the 2022/23 season, so the Magic would have plenty of opportunities to consider moving the big man in future years if they hang onto him through the 2021 deadline.
Pistons GM Weaver Talks Deadline, Casey, Hayes, More
Speaking today to reporters, including James Edwards III of The Athletic and Keith Langlois of Pistons.com, Pistons general manager Troy Weaver said that he plans to remain aggressive at the trade deadline, but doesn’t anticipate it being nearly as eventful as the 2020 offseason, when the front office overhauled nearly Detroit’s entire roster.
“I wouldn’t expect a bunch of fireworks, but we’re going to be aggressive and comb the league and look at things to see if we can get better,” Weaver said. “But I don’t anticipate as much activity as we had in November. It would be kind of hard to top that.”
Weaver addressed a series of other topics during his media session, praising head coach Dwane Casey for the player-development work he has done this season and stating that there will be an update on injured point guard Killian Hayes (hip) next week. The Pistons’ GM added that the team intends to take a “long, long look” at Dennis Smith Jr. and that he likes what he has seen so far.
Here are a few more of the most notable quotes from Weaver’s presser, via Edwards and Langlois:
On whether anyone on the roster is off-limits via trade:
“No. Nobody is untouchable. … I learned, ‘Never say never,’ but there are some guys who are here to stay, so we’ll see. … I’ll say this guy is untouchable and then someone calls and offers four first-round picks. Strange things have happened.”
On whether Mason Plumlee might be traded at the deadline:
“Mason has been tremendous. Coach Casey … this was his No. 1 guy that he really wanted for our ball club because of the different skills he brings, experience and locker room presence, and Casey was dead on. This guy has been tremendous for us. He’s really helped the young guys, really stepped his game up.
“… As far as the trade deadline, I’m not sure what’s going to come our way with Mason. We’re extremely happy with him right now.”
On why Weaver uses the team “restore” rather than the more-common “rebuild”:
“My dad, he used to collect older cars, and he had a 1966 Monte Carlo that he was restoring. Before he passed, I would go out there and talk with him. He said, ‘You can only restore something that is great.’ That stuck with me.
“There’s been greatness in Detroit. Three championships. That’s why I wanted to use it. No slight to what I’m about to say, but the Timberwolves can’t restore. They don’t have three championships. They don’t have the greatness. The Atlanta Hawks can’t restore. The Detroit Pistons can restore. We want to restore greatness back in the franchise.”
Heat Notes: Leonard, Trade Targets, Robinson
The Heat are reviewing a video clip that shows center Meyers Leonard using an anti-Semitic slur during a Twitch live stream on Monday night while playing ‘Call of Duty: Warzone,’ writes Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel.
The NBA is also reviewing the incident, issuing a statement that reads, “We just became aware of the video and are in the process of gathering more information. The NBA unequivocally condemns all forms of hate speech.”
Leonard is out for the season with a shoulder injury and is a long shot to have his $10MM+ team option for 2021/22 exercised. If he was already in jeopardy of having played his last game for Miami, this video certainly didn’t help matters. So far, it’s unclear how the NBA and Heat will respond — a fine or a suspension seems like a possibility.
Here’s more on the Heat:
- A pair of veteran scouts who spoke to Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald agreed that the Heat’s roster is in need of a stretch four and said Sacramento forward Harrison Barnes and San Antonio forward Rudy Gay would be among their targets if they worked for the team. The Spurs would be open to listening on Gay, according to Jackson. The two scouts also identified Rockets forward P.J. Tucker and Kings forward Nemanja Bjelica as logical targets — Miami has been linked to both.
- With restricted free agency on tap this summer, Heat sharpshooter Duncan Robinson is putting in work to become a more complete player rather than just a three-point specialist. Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel takes a closer look at Robinson’s development.
- After a slow start to the season, the Heat won seven of their last eight games entering the All-Star break. Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald explores what the club needs to do to carry that success over into the second half, starting with keeping Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo healthy.
Chris Bosh, Paul Pierce, Rick Adelman Among 2021 Hall Of Fame Finalists
The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame has announced 14 finalists for the Class of 2021 election, according to a press release. These nine players and five coaches are the candidates to be named Hall-of-Famers when this year’s class is announced on May 16.
This year’s finalists are as follows:
Players:
- Chris Bosh
- Michael Cooper
- Yolanda Griffith
- Tim Hardaway Sr.
- Lauren Jackson
- Marques Johnson
- Paul Pierce
- Ben Wallace
- Chris Webber
Coaches:
- Rick Adelman
- Leta Andrews
- Bill Russell
- Marianne Stanley
- Jay Wright
Hardaway, Johnson, Wallace, Webber, and Andrews have been finalists in the past and are receiving consideration again this year. The other nine are first-time finalists, though Russell has – of course – already been inducted into the Hall of Fame as a player.
Among this year’s first-time finalists, Bosh, Pierce, and Adelman are a few of the most interesting names. Bosh earned 11 All-Star nods and won a pair of NBA championships before a blood-clotting issue cut his career short. Pierce made 10 All-Star teams and won a title (and a Finals MVP award) over the course of his 19 NBA seasons. Adelman, meanwhile, is the ninth-winningest coach in NBA history, with an all-time regular season record of 1,042-749 (.582).
Due to the coronavirus, 2020’s Hall of Fame induction ceremony couldn’t be held as planned last year and has been rescheduled for May 14-16. The Class of 2020 includes Kevin Garnett, Tim Duncan, and the late Kobe Bryant.
The ceremony for the Class of 2021 is scheduled to take place in September 2021, following May’s announcement of the inductees.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Hoops Rumors Chat Transcript: 3/9/2021
With the 2021 NBA trade deadline fast approaching, we’re holding weekly live chats to discuss the trade market, along with topics related to free agency, the salary cap, the Collective Bargaining Agreement, or any other NBA-related topics you’d like to discuss. Those chats will take place each Tuesday at 12:00pm central time (1:00pm ET).
The transcript for today’s live chat can be found right here!
Rockets Rumors: Oladipo, Tucker, Gordon, More
With the Rockets in the midst of a 13-game losing streak and their playoff chances dwindling, people around the NBA are wondering if general manager Rafael Stone will launch a full-scale rebuild this month in what could be a seller’s market, writes Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report.
One rival scout told Fischer that he keeps hearing the Rockets will hold a “fire sale” prior to this year’s deadline, while an assistant general manager predicted that the club will “burn the house down.” Another assistant GM told Bleacher Report that Houston has been starting to call teams about deals.
The Rockets haven’t had a sub-.500 season since 2005/06 and it’s unclear whether team owner Tilman Fertitta would have the patience for a multiyear rebuild. As Fischer explains, Houston still had playoff aspirations when it traded James Harden to Brooklyn in January — the decision to flip Caris LeVert for Victor Oladipo in that blockbuster deal was made in part due to the club’s belief that Oladipo would make more of an impact in the postseason race.
However, the Rockets also have incentive not to try to fight their way back up the standings, as their first-round pick will be swapped with either the Thunder’s or Heat’s pick (whichever is worse) if it doesn’t land in the top four. Even a last-place finish won’t guarantee that the Rockets hang onto their own first-rounder, but the lower they finish, the better their odds are of hanging onto a top pick that could help them secure a long-term franchise cornerstone.
Here’s more on the Rockets:
- Fischer suggests that if the Rockets hang onto Oladipo through the trade deadline, a sign-and-trade deal in the offseason appears to be the most likely outcome. “They’re too smart to just whiff and get nothing off of him,” a Western Conference official said. Still, getting anything of value in a sign-and-trade would hinge on Oladipo wanting to join a team that doesn’t have the cap room available to sign him outright.
- The Sixers are on a long list of potential suitors for P.J. Tucker, according to Fischer, who says the veteran forward would welcome the opportunity to join a 76ers team led by former Rockets GM Daryl Morey. League sources tell Bleacher Report that Houston could’ve gotten a late first-round pick from the Timberwolves in the 2020 draft for Tucker, but the team will be hard-pressed to get that strong a return now, since the 35-year-old has had a down year. “If they had a first for him now, he’d already be gone,” one GM said.
- Fischer adds that there has been a “long-whispered rumor” that the Nets and Rockets could make a swap involving Tucker and Spencer Dinwiddie. According to Fischer, wherever Tucker ends up, he’ll be looking for one last lucrative contract in the offseason, having turned down a two-year extension from the Rockets earlier in the season.
- There’s little expectation that the Rockets will trade Eric Gordon, sources tell Fischer. However, clubs may target some of the team’s other, more affordable wings, including Sterling Brown, Danuel House, Ben McLemore, and Jae’Sean Tate.
Blazers Rumors: Open Roster Spot, McCollum, Nurkic, More
The Trail Blazers have held their 15th roster spot open for the entire regular season so far, but hope to fill that spot in the coming weeks via the trade or buyout market, says Jason Quick of The Athletic. According to Quick, Portland will be looking to add a player who will “unquestionably be in the rotation for the remainder of the season.”
Quick cautions that the Blazers likely won’t make a major move like they did in 2017 when they acquired Jusuf Nurkic at the deadline — the goal will simply be to add a player who is more productive and/or reliable than back-of-the-rotation contributors such as Anfernee Simons, Nassir Little, and Rodney Hood.
A wing who can shoot would be an ideal addition, according to Quick, who notes that Bulls forward Otto Porter is a player that Blazers president Neil Olshey has liked for a long time. Porter would only be a realistic target if he’s bought out.
If Portland can’t find a wing who can shoot, the club may shift its focus to addressing the backup point guard spot, per Quick. Simons has been handling that role for much of the year and has shot the ball well, but his ball-handling has been a little shaky.
Here’s more on the Blazers:
- The Blazers still haven’t set exact dates for their respective returns, but there’s a sense that CJ McCollum (foot) and Jusuf Nurkic (wrist) are days, not weeks, away from getting back on the court, according to Quick.
- A source tells The Athletic that Portland isn’t considering signing big man DeMarcus Cousins, who reached the free agent market last month.
- In addition to having an opening on their 15-man roster, the Blazers also have an open two-way contract slot. However, the club has no plans to fill that opening, since any two-way player would just be “a warm body” on the bench, says Quick.
- The Blazers are about $1.8MM below the luxury tax line and are “adamant” about not crossing that threshold, which will be a factor in what trades they’re able to make and how much they’re willing to offer to players on the buyout market.
Draft Notes: Cunningham, Top Shooters, Todd, Nix
With the NBA G League season nearly over and the NCAA tournament around the corner, Oklahoma State guard Cade Cunningham remains atop experts’ big boards for the 2021 NBA draft. The freshman capped off an impressive regular season by being named the Big 12 Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year, as the conference announced in a press release.
Cunningham averaged 19.7 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 3.5 assists per game with a .455/.425/.854 shooting line in 22 contests (35.1 MPG) in his first – and almost certainly only – college season. He’ll get a chance to further cement his claim as 2021’s top prospect in this week’s Big 12 tournament and during March Madness. Oklahoma State was banned from the postseason for a year, but their appeal to overturn that penalty is still pending, making the program eligible for the NCAA Tournament.
Here’s more on the 2021 NBA draft:
- Sam Vecenie of The Athletic takes a look at the top shooters in the 2021 draft class, identifying WCC Player of the Year Corey Kispert (Gonzaga) as the No. 1 option. Joe Wieskamp (Iowa), Sam Hauser (Virginia), Isaiah Livers (Michigan), and Trey Murphy (Virginia) round out Vecenie’s top five.
- The G League Ignite’s season is over, as the NBAGL’s select team – which features projected top-five picks Jalen Green and Jonathan Kuminga – was knocked out of the single-elimination postseason by the Raptors 905 on Monday. Jonathan Givony of ESPN (Insider link) examines what we learned about the Ignite’s prospects in the G League bubble, writing that Isaiah Todd boosted his stock with his play down the stretch, while Daishen Nix struggled a little. Todd is considered a first-round prospect by many NBA teams, but Nix is looking more like a second-rounder than a potential lottery pick, Givony adds.
- The most recent big boards from Givony and Mike Schmitz at ESPN and from Jonathan Wasserman of Bleacher Report have plenty of similarities in the lottery, but there are a few notable differences. Connecticut’s James Bouknight is No. 6 on Wasserman’s board and just 11th on ESPN’s, while Tennessee’s Jaden Springer is ranked 12th by Wasserman and all the way down at No. 39 by ESPN. Meanwhile, ESPN ranks Auburn’s Sharife Cooper and Kispert as top-10 prospects, while Wasserman has them 17th and 18th, respectively.
NBA Trade Candidate Watch: RFAs-To-Be
With the March 25 trade deadline fast approaching, Hoops Rumors is taking a closer look at players around the NBA who are candidates to be moved this month, breaking them down into several categories based on their age, contracts, on-court value, and other categories. Today, we’ll zero in on players who will be eligible for restricted free agency at season’s end.
Players eligible for restricted free agency make for interesting trade candidates. On one hand, they generally don’t make a ton of money, making them tricky to include in a deal for an impact veteran whose salary must be matched. And many RFAs-to-be will require a significant investment when their contracts expire in a few months, which reduces their trade value.
Conversely though, if a team is unsure about its willingness to match an offer sheet for an RFA-to-be during a coming offseason, or if it knows that player isn’t in its long-term plans, it can make sense to explore the market in the hopes of getting something for that player, rather than letting him walk in a few months for nothing.
In one of 2020’s biggest trade deadline deals, the Timberwolves acquired Malik Beasley and Juan Hernangomez, then signed them to multiyear contracts as restricted free agents a few months later. In 2019, the Mavericks did the same with Kristaps Porzingis.
Who are the likeliest candidates among this year’s RFAs-to-be? Let’s dive in and take a look…
The top RFAs-to-be:
John Collins, Hawks- Duncan Robinson, Heat
- Lonzo Ball, Pelicans
- Lauri Markkanen, Bulls
- Gary Trent Jr., Trail Blazers
It’s a safe bet that the players in this group will do well for themselves in free agency this summer. Collins should get a maximum-salary offer or close to it; Robinson could command Davis Bertans– or Joe Harris-type money; and Ball and Markkanen have flashed enough of the upside that made them lottery picks to entice a team to make a big multiyear commitment.
The Hawks, Heat, Pelicans, and Bulls will have to decide how much they’re willing to pay to retain their respective players. If they’re worried the price tag will exceed their comfort level, trying to work out a sign-and-trade in the offseason could work — they could also match a summer offer sheet in the hopes of trading the player down the road. But it might be wise to gauge what they could get at this month’s deadline.
Of these four, I think Robinson is probably the least likely to be moved at the deadline — it would only make sense for the Heat to trade him if it’s part of a package for a star, and I don’t expect that sort of star to be available this month.
Ball, and Markkanen are more interesting trade candidates, though I won’t be surprised if the Pelicans and Bulls ultimately don’t feel as if the offers on the table are strong enough to accept. Rival suitors may believe they’ll be able to poach Ball or Markkanen away from their current teams with an aggressive offer sheet, lessening the need to give up assets for them now.
Trent is a key part of the Blazers’ rotation and one of the team’s top outside shooting threats, but it’s unclear if the team will be eager to invest big money in another guard. He’d be an appealing trade chip in a package for an impact player.
Collins is the most intriguing case in this group. Although the Hawks weren’t comfortable going up to the maximum salary when they discussed an extension last fall, I could see them matching a max offer sheet this summer to make sure they don’t lose him for nothing. If a team really wants Collins, now may be the time to make a play for him.
The wild cards:
- Devonte’ Graham, Hornets
- Kendrick Nunn, Heat
- Talen Horton-Tucker, Lakers
- Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk, Pistons
- Terence Davis, Raptors
- Malik Monk, Hornets
The first six names in this list are former second-round draft picks or undrafted free agents whose solid play has put them in line for significant raises on their next contracts. Those raises could come from their current teams, but it’s unclear whether they’re all part of the long-term plans for their respective clubs.
Graham, for instance, may be the odd man out in a backcourt that now features LaMelo Ball and Terry Rozier. Nunn has been in and out of the Heat’s rotation since last year’s playoffs, raising questions about whether he’s viewed as a long-term fixture in Miami.
Horton-Tucker was a preseason star in December, and while he’s been just okay during the regular season, he’s just 20 years old and has plenty of potential, so he’ll be a popular target in free agency. It remains to be seen whether the Lakers are committed to keeping him as part of an increasingly expensive roster.
Mykhailiuk is a talented young shooter, but he wasn’t acquired by the Pistons’ current front office, and GM Troy Weaver has almost entirely turned the roster over since he arrived — Mykhailiuk could be the next player shipped out.
Davis recently had domestic assault charges against him dismissed, but the Raptors’ front office may not view that outcome as an exoneration. That case could factor into the club’s enthusiasm for a new long-term deal with Davis.
The one player who doesn’t quite fit in this group is Monk. A former lottery pick, he looked for a long time like a disappointment at the NBA level and a player who wouldn’t be part of the Hornets’ future, but that changed, beginning in late January.
In his last 16 games, Monk has averaged 16.9 PPG with a .436 3PT%, and is making a strong case to receive a $7MM+ qualifying offer that seemed extremely unlikely just a few weeks ago. Presumably, Charlotte would still trade him in the right deal, but he has more value than just a salary throw-in now.
The players who probably won’t even become RFAs:
- Frank Ntilikina, Knicks
- D.J. Wilson, Bucks
- Justin Jackson, Thunder
- Terrance Ferguson, Sixers
This group is made up of players who are technically eligible for restricted free agency but probably won’t receive qualifying offers, and will instead become unrestricted FAs.
In some cases, these guys may end up as salary-matching filler in a deadline trade — the Sixers, for instance, could include Ferguson in a package to acquire a player who would actually see regular minutes. Ditto for Wilson and the Bucks.
Ntilikina and Jackson may still have a small amount of value if there are teams out there that believe they can get more out of these former first-round picks than their current clubs have. Ntilikina has at least shown he can defend at the NBA level, while Jackson is only a couple years removed from knocking down 35.5% of his threes as a regular rotation player (19.9 MPG) across 81 games.
Dennis Smith Jr. would have been included in this group as well, but he has already been dealt to a new team, with the Pistons auditioning him in advance of his free agency.
The full list of potential 2021 restricted free agents – including Josh Hart, Zach Collins, and others – can be found right here.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
And-Ones: ASG, Embiid, Simmons, J. Young, Singh
When word broke on Sunday that Sixers stars Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons had been ruled out of the All-Star Game due to being in close contact with someone who tested positive for the coronavirus, there was some concern that the NBA was at risk of its worst-case scenario – a COVID-19 outbreak at All-Star weekend – playing out. However, Embiid and Simmons didn’t have any contact with their fellow All-Stars and the game was able to take place as planned, with no other players affected.
Now, the NBA is expressing confidence that its mini-bubble in Atlanta for the All-Star Game was a success. As Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press writes, the league said in a statement on Monday that all players, coaches, and officials involved in the event were tested three times in Atlanta, including right before the game, and there were no positives.
As for Embiid and Simmons, there’s no indication so far that their close contact with a barber who tested positive will result in positive tests for them as well. Head coach Doc Rivers said after the game that his two stars continued to register negative tests and that he hopes that continues for a few more days (Twitter link via Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer).
“Both of them, their biggest concern would be if they could play the first two games when we get back,” Rivers said, per Reynolds. “So we don’t know the answer to that yet. That’s going to be really important for us. It would be tough to start the second half of the year and not have either one.”
Here are more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- Former NBA first-round pick James Young has signed with Hapoel Tel Aviv, the Israeli team announced today (Twitter link; hat tip to Sportando). It’s the second stint in Israel for Young, who played for Maccabi Haifa in 2019/20. The veteran wing played for the Westchester Knicks in this year’s G League bubble but hasn’t appeared in an NBA game since 2018.
- In an in-depth piece for HoopsHype, Yossi Gozlan explores what each team can and should do at the trade deadline, including which clubs can afford to be aggressive buyers or sellers, and which ones have more limited trade options.
- Michael Lee of The Washington Post takes a closer look at 20-year-old G League forward Princepal Singh‘s goal of becoming the first Indian-born player to appear in an NBA game, and why his development is important for a league trying to establish a foothold in India.