Cavaliers, Pistons Among Definite Deadline Sellers
Because there’s now a potential path to the postseason for the top 10 teams in each NBA conference (via the new play-in tournament), it’s taking longer this season for clear sellers to emerge on the trade market, writes Shams Charania of The Athletic.
“Most teams are still in the playoff chase, which makes everyone bunched together and the trade market less active,” a high-ranking team official told The Athletic.
However, as Charania reports, at least two teams at the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings look like definite sellers, according to rival teams. The 13th-seeded Cavaliers and the 15th-seeded Pistons appear to be open for business.
Cleveland’s most obvious trade candidate is Andre Drummond, who has been pulled from the rotation as the team looks to find a taker for him. According to Charania, there have been some exploratory calls on Drummond, with the Bulls among the teams to express some interest, but there’s still skepticism that the Cavs will find an appealing deal for the big man, who has an unwieldy $28.75MM cap hit.
Drummond isn’t the only Cavalier on the trade block. The club has also been open to discussing JaVale McGee, Cedi Osman, and Taurean Prince, according to Charania, who hears that multiple teams have inquired on the Cavs’ wing players. Collin Sexton, Darius Garland, Jarrett Allen, and Isaac Okoro are viewed as the club’s core pieces and are presumably off-limits.
Like the Cavs, the Pistons have an expensive big man who is sitting out as the team attempts to move him. However, Blake Griffin, who is making more than Drummond ($36.8MM) and has another guaranteed year left on his contract, will be even harder to trade. Sources tell Charania and James Edwards III of The Athletic that Detroit will likely work toward a buyout with Griffin.
Veteran shooting guard Wayne Ellington is expected to draw interest from contenders on the trade market and should be a far more valuable trade chip than Griffin, given his affordable minimum salary and his strong production in 2020/21 (10.6 PPG, .435 3PT%).
According to Edwards, combo guard Delon Wright and big man Mason Plumlee have also registered interest from rival teams, but both players are under contract beyond this season, so the Pistons won’t necessarily feel compelled to move them. As Edwards explains, while Detroit will be a deadline seller, the sense around the league is that GM Troy Weaver won’t be as aggressive this month as he was during his first offseason on the job, when he remade nearly the entire roster.
Jazz Stars Mitchell, Gobert Blast Officiating After Loss To Sixers
Following a tight 131-123 overtime loss to the Sixers in a battle of No. 1 seeds on Wednesday, Jazz stars Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert were among those critical of the officiating, suggesting the referees affected the outcome of the game, as relayed by Sarah Todd of The Deseret News and Tim Bontemps of ESPN.
“It’s tough to go out there and see how we fight and compete, and to have a game like that taken from us,” Mitchell said, after praising the Sixers for their performance. “Now, I’m never ever one to blame a ref, to blame an official – I can say I could have done more – but this is getting out of hand. There have been games like this that we’ve won; there have been games like this that we’ve lost. But this whole refereeing stuff. … We’re nice, we don’t complain, we don’t get frustrated, we fight through things, and the fact (is) that we continually get … screwed, in a way, by this.
“We won this game, in my personal opinion. You know?” Mitchell went on. “But like I said, I’m going to give them credit. They won. Whatever. Cool. But it’s been a consistent thing, and the question is, ‘Can we do it? Can we sustain it? Are we for real No. 1?’ And, yeah, the hell we are. And it’s getting f—ing ridiculous that this is what is happening.”
Mitchell was called for a pair of technical fouls in overtime — the second came after he yelled at the game’s officials for what he believed was a missed foul call. The 76ers, who shoot more free throws than any other team in the NBA, had way more opportunities from the foul line than the Jazz on Wednesday, going 27-for-35, compared to 14-of-19 for Utah.
“Our guys are not able to get calls everybody else in the f—ing league gets,” Gobert said. “We know we are the Utah Jazz, and maybe some people don’t want to see us go as far as we can go, but it’s disappointing. Three times in a row, Mike Conley is going to the rim, and they’re grabbing him right in front of the officials, and there’s no calls. And on the other end, there are calls that are invisible that are being made.”
Gobert went on to say that the way the Jazz are treated by officials is “disrespectful,” and that he hopes they feel “ashamed” if they rewatch the game. The All-Star center also pointed to Utah’s small market as one reason he believes the team isn’t getting a fair whistle.
“I don’t want to say that, but I really believe it” Gobert said. “… That’s why I told the guys: ‘When you’re a small market, you’ve got to be better than just better. You’ve got to be elite, and you’ve got to control what you can control.'”
The Jazz’s 27-9 record is the NBA’s best mark by a full three games, so if the team has been held back at all by the officiating in the first half, it hasn’t shown up in the standings.
While the NBA never suspends players for complaints about officiating, fines aren’t uncommon, so it’s probably safe to assume Mitchell and Gobert should prepare to write checks to the league.
Community Shootaround: Checking In On Western Playoff Race
Given the truncated nature of the NBA’s 72-game 2020/21 season, the standings in each conference figure to significantly fluctuate all year long, with any multi-game winning streak or losing streak more likely than ever to shake up the playoff picture.
Still, as we near the halfway point of the regular season, the Western Conference standings are – at least for the time being – easy enough to split into tiers.
The 27-8 Jazz are in a tier of their own at the top. Their 3.5-game lead over their next-closest competitor is the biggest margin between any two teams in the conference besides the gap between the 14th and 15th seeds. That cushion should allow Utah to have a bad week or two without necessarily falling out of the top spot in the West.
The next tier is currently made up of three Pacific teams, the Suns (23-11), Lakers (24-12), and Clippers (24-13). They’re all separated by a half-game and are at least three games ahead of any other team in the conference.
The two Los Angeles teams were expected to be here, and they comfortably hold top-four seeds despite having star players (Anthony Davis, Kawhi Leonard, and Paul George) miss some time due to injuries. Phoenix, on the other hand, is something of an upstart — expectations had increased for the Suns following their 8-0 run at last summer’s bubble and the offseason acquisition of Chris Paul, but few expected them to hold the No. 2 seed in the West with the All-Star break around the corner.
The Western Conference’s third tier consists of six teams bunched together within two games of each other, from the No. 5 Spurs (18-13) to the No. 10 Mavericks (17-16). Others in this group include the Trail Blazers (19-14), Nuggets (20-15), Warriors (19-16), and Grizzlies (16-15).
It remains to be seen whether the NBA’s new play-in format for the final two postseason spots in each conference will make this race more or less interesting. Having six clubs vie for four playoff berths would’ve been entertaining in its own right, but the play-in tournament adds a new wrinkle.
Assuming the Jazz, Suns, Lakers, and Clippers hang onto playoff spots, that will only leave two guaranteed postseason berths for the six “third-tier” clubs. The teams that finish in the 7-10 range would enter the play-in tournament, where the Nos. 7 and 8 teams would need to win one game to advance, while the Nos. 9 and 10 teams would have to win two.
Entering the season, the Mavs, Blazers, and Nuggets were viewed as the likeliest playoff teams from this group, but San Antonio and Memphis have substantially exceeded expectations, and Golden State has admirably overcome the loss of Klay Thompson. If pressed, I’d probably consider Denver and Portland the favorites to claim the fifth and sixth seeds, but this should be a fascinating race.
A few clubs further down in the standings have the potential to shake up the postseason picture too, but it’s hard to get too enthusiastic about the 7-28 Timberwolves or the 11-22 Rockets, both of whom are mired in horrible slumps, or the 14-20 Thunder, who are ostensibly rebuilding. The 13-21 Kings have also been hit hard by a recent cold streak and have a lot of ground to make up.
That leaves the Pelicans (15-19), who are the most intriguing wild card outside the Western Conference’s current top 10. All-Star forward Zion Williamson and 2020 All-Star Brandon Ingram give New Orleans a dangerous one-two punch on offense, but the club will need to tighten up its defense to make a run — the Pelicans’ 116.1 defensive rating ranks 29th in the NBA.
With the first half of the NBA season about to come to an end, we want to get your thoughts on where things stand in the Western Conference playoff race.
- Will the Jazz finish the season as the No. 1 seed?
- Will the Jazz, Suns, Lakers, or Clippers fall out of the top four?
- Which teams do you view as the best bets to claim the top six seeds in the conference?
- Which four clubs do you expect to take part in the play-in tournament?
- Will the Pelicans or another team currently in the bottom five force their way into the top 10? If so, which team are they knocking out?
Head to the comment section below to share your two cents!
Bucks To Sign Myles Powell To Two-Way Contract
The Bucks intend to sign former Seton Hall guard Myles Powell to a two-way contract, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
Powell, who went undrafted in 2020, joined the Westchester Knicks for the G League season and has played well at the Walt Disney World bubble, averaging 17.8 PPG, 3.8 APG, and 1.8 SPG with a .448/.446/.818 shooting line in 13 games (28.1 MPG).
The NBA is expected to loosen the rules for players on two-way contracts this season, removing the restrictions that limit them to 50 regular season games and make them ineligible for the playoffs. So once Powell officially signs with Milwaukee, he should be eligible to play in the rest of the team’s regular season and postseason games.
The Bucks currently don’t have a two-way slot open, so they’ll have to waive either Mamadi Diakite or Jaylen Adams to make room for Powell.
Adams has logged just 18 minutes for Milwaukee this season and Diakite has yet to make his NBA debut, but both players have impressed at the G League level — Adams put up 20.9 PPG and 5.2 APG with a .401 3PT% in 34 games for the Wisconsin Herd last season, while Diakite averaged a double-double (18.5 PPG, 10.4 RPG) with 2.1 BPG and a .580/.500/.750 shooting line in 12 games for the Lakeland Magic before being recalled today.
Western Notes: Thunder, Rockets, Morey, Doncic, LeBron
Over half of the NBA’s teams are either currently hosting fans at their home games or have announced plans to do so soon. However, the Thunder won’t be joining that list. The team sent out an email to season ticket holders confirming that fans won’t be allowed to attend games at Chesapeake Energy Arena for the rest of the season, as Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman tweets.
“The decision was based on several factors,” the Thunder said in their email, according to Mussatto (Twitter link). “The ultimate one being that the overall health and safety of our fans and our community is the most important thing to us.”
Let’s round up a few more items from around the Western Conference…
- Multiple sources within the Rockets organization believe that former general manager Daryl Morey decided to leave the team last fall in part because he expected James Harden would want out, reports Tim MacMahon of ESPN. According to MacMahon’s sources, Morey had expressed reservations last summer about his ability to “keep James happy” without the assets necessary to keep upgrading the roster.
- Mavericks guard Luka Doncic has been downgraded to doubtful for Wednesday night’s game vs. Oklahoma City, but a source tells ESPN’s Tim MacMahon that Doncic is still expected to play in this weekend’s All-Star Game even if he sits out tonight. Doncic is also tentatively on track to participate in the Skills Challenge.
- Lakers star LeBron James, who ranks fourth in the NBA this season in total minutes played, will sit out the second half of the team’s back-to-back set on Wednesday, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). According to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin, James will receive treatment on his left ankle, but like Doncic, he expects to play in Sunday’s All-Star Game.
NBA Announces 2020/21 Rising Stars Rosters
Due to the coronavirus pandemic and the pared-down nature of the NBA’s 2021 All-Star weekend, a Rising Stars Game showcasing the league’s top rookies and sophomores won’t be played this year.
However, the league has still announced the rosters for the event, via NBA Top Shot, naming the 20 players who would have been selected to participate if the game was taking place. Here are those rosters:
U.S. Team:
- LaMelo Ball (Hornets)
- Anthony Edwards (Timberwolves)
- Tyrese Haliburton (Kings)
- Tyler Herro (Heat)
- De’Andre Hunter (Hawks)
- Keldon Johnson (Spurs)
- Ja Morant (Grizzlies)
- Michael Porter Jr. (Nuggets)
- Zion Williamson (Pelicans)
- James Wiseman (Warriors)
World Team:
- Precious Achiuwa (Heat) 🇳🇬
- Nickeil Alexander-Walker (Pelicans) 🇨🇦
- Deni Avdija (Wizards) 🇮🇱
- RJ Barrett (Knicks) 🇨🇦
- Facundo Campazzo (Nuggets) 🇦🇷
- Brandon Clarke (Grizzlies) 🇨🇦
- Luguentz Dort (Thunder) 🇨🇦
- Rui Hachimura (Wizards) 🇯🇵
- Theo Maledon (Thunder) 🇫🇷
- Mychal Mulder (Warriors) 🇨🇦
The 20-man group includes eight rookies and 11 sophomores. The 20th player, Porter, made the cut as a sophomore since he missed his entire rookie season in 2018/19 due to an injury — this is technically his third year of NBA service.
Eastern Notes: Rose, Pistons, Hayward, Diakite, Bamba
Knicks point guard Derrick Rose was sidelined for Tuesday’s game due to the NBA’s health and safety protocols, but it sounds like he shouldn’t miss additional time. According to Steve Popper of Newsday, Rose registered an inconclusive COVID-19 test and was held out for precautionary reasons.
Rose has since returned multiple negative results and was cleared to accompany the team on its flight back home. As long as he continues to test negative today and tomorrow, the former MVP will be able to play in the Knicks’ final first-half game against Detroit on Thursday, says Popper.
Despite Rose’s absence on Tuesday, the Knicks have been relatively fortunate so far this season not to be significantly affected by the coronavirus. No Knicks players have tested positive for the virus since the regular season began, and the club’s only postponement came when its opponent – San Antonio – was dealing with a COVID-19 outbreak.
Here’s more from around the Eastern Conference:
- The Pistons are among the latest teams to announce plans to bring a limited number of fans back into their arena. According to a press release, Detroit will permit up to 750 fans at Little Caesars Arena starting on March 17. That number may increase later in the season.
- After missing two games due to a right hand contusion, Hornets forward Gordon Hayward has been upgraded to probable for Wednesday’s game, per the team (via Twitter). Charlotte could give Hayward another full week of rest by holding him out tonight, but it sounds like he’s ready to return.
- The Bucks have recalled rookie two-way forward Mamadi Diakite from the G League, the team announced today in a press release. Milwaukee’s own NBAGL affiliate isn’t active this season, but Diakite had been playing very well for the Lakeland Magic, averaging a double-double (18.5 PPG, 10.4 RPG) with 2.1 BPG and a .580/.500/.750 shooting line in just 27.7 minutes per contest (12 games).
- Although he didn’t get into the Magic‘s last game on Monday, center Mohamed Bamba has been told to expect a steadier stream of minutes going forward and is eager to take advantage of the opportunity, as Roy Parry of The Orlando Sentinel details. Bamba has played just 149 total minutes in 16 games so far in 2020/21.
Atlantic Notes: Celtics, Ainge, A. Rivers, Raptors
After falling two games below .500 last Wednesday, the Celtics have turned things around in the last week. Boston won its third straight game on Tuesday night, as an impressive victory over the Clippers put the team back over .500 and into the No. 4 seed in the East.
Still, an 18-17 record represents an underwhelming first half for a team that was widely viewed as one of the top threats to come out of the East entering the season. In his attempt to determine what’s gone wrong with the Celtics, Tim Bontemps of ESPN spoke to executives who pointed to Kemba Walker‘s slow start as one factor the club has struggled to overcome.
“He can still provide value,” one Western Conference executive said of the Celtics’ point guard. “But is he worth $35 million? Is he worth that number? That’s tough (to build around) if he isn’t.”
The general consensus among Bontemps’ sources is that the Celtics will need to make some sort of trade before the deadline if they want to have a legit chance to make a deep playoff run this spring. President of basketball operations Danny Ainge has been reluctant to make in-season trades in the past, with one Western executive suggesting the C’s will only make a move “if they think they’re going to bury you.” However, given how well Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown have played, the time looks right for Boston to try to upgrade its roster and get its rising young stars some help.
“There comes a time where you have to do something to keep your stars placated and show that you’re trying, especially when they’re young and early in their primes,” one East executive told Bontemps. “You have to make that commitment to them.”
Here’s more from around the Atlantic:
- With Ainge facing some criticism for the Celtics‘ up-and-down season and the team’s lack of depth, Zach Kram of The Ringer takes a closer look at the veteran executive’s résumé to determine whether or not the bad moves have outweighed the good ones over the last decade.
- Even without Derrick Rose and Elfrid Payton available on Tuesday, veteran guard Austin Rivers couldn’t crack the Knicks‘ rotation, writes Marc Berman of The New York Post. After not being on New York’s bench at all on Saturday, Rivers has been there for the team’s last two contests, but he hasn’t actually gotten onto the court since he played a couple garbage-time minutes on February 13. He’s a candidate to be moved at the trade deadline.
- While the Raptors‘ greatest need may be at center, the team could very well explore the market for wings and/or forwards this month as well. With that in mind, Blake Murphy of The Athletic considers some possible targets for Toronto, including Thaddeus Young, P.J. Tucker, and James Ennis.
Mavericks, Nuggets Eyeing J.J. Redick?
A pair of Western Conference playoff contenders are potential suitors for J.J. Redick, according to Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer, who said in an episode of The Mismatch podcast that the Mavericks and Nuggets have “some level of interest” in the Pelicans‘ sharpshooter (hat tip to Sportando).
When Redick’s name first surfaced in trade rumors in January, a handful of Atlantic teams were identified as his most likely landing spots, with the Nets, Knicks, Celtics, and Sixers all named as possibilities. The thinking was that the 36-year-old would prefer to be closer to his family in Brooklyn.
While the Pelicans would like to do right by Redick, they presumably won’t just send him to an Atlantic team for nothing if a Western club like the Mavs or Nuggets makes a stronger offer. Redick and Eric Bledsoe were said earlier this week to still be very much available.
Redick, who has a $13MM expiring contract, got off to a very slow start this season, but has shot the ball well since falling out of the rotation for three games at the end of January. In his last 14 games, Redick has averaged 8.7 points in 16.3 MPG and has knocked down 49.0% of his 3-point attempts.
Dallas and Denver each have a handful of salaries in the range of Redick’s on their books, though some of those players wouldn’t be expendable. James Johnson‘s $16MM expiring contract would be the Mavs’ most logical outgoing piece, while the Nuggets may prefer to move Gary Harris, who is still owed a $20.9MM guaranteed salary in 2021/22.
Seventeen More NBA Players Become Trade-Eligible
Most NBA players who signed new contracts as free agents during the 2020 offseason became eligible to be traded as of February 6, but a small subset of players were still ineligible to be dealt until today, March 3.
These players all met a specific set of criteria: Not only did they re-sign with their previous team during the offseason, but they got a raise of at least 20%, their salary is worth more than the minimum, and their team was over the cap, using Bird or Early Bird rights to sign them.
As Bobby Marks of ESPN confirms (via Twitter), the following players fit that bill and are eligible to be traded as of today:
- Joe Harris (Nets)
- Denzel Valentine (Bulls)
- Note: Valentine has the ability to veto a trade.
- Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (Lakers)
- Anthony Davis (Lakers)
- De’Anthony Melton (Grizzlies)
- Pat Connaughton (Bucks)
- Malik Beasley (Timberwolves)
- Juan Hernangomez (Timberwolves)
- Brandon Ingram (Pelicans)
- Michael Carter-Williams (Magic)
- Jevon Carter (Suns)
- Dario Saric (Suns)
- Rodney Hood (Trail Blazers)
- Jakob Poeltl (Spurs)
- Chris Boucher (Raptors)
- Fred VanVleet (Raptors)
- Davis Bertans (Wizards)
A few of these players aren’t realistic candidates to be traded — Davis, Ingram, and VanVleet, for instance, aren’t going anywhere this month. But many of them are role players who would probably be available in the right deal, so it’s worth noting that the restrictions on them have lifted.
Only a small handful of players on standard contracts around the NBA remain ineligible to be dealt. That group of players includes the seven who are on active 10-day contracts, since a player on a 10-day deal can’t be traded. Here’s the rest of the list:
Trade-eligible as of March 18:
- LeBron James (Lakers)
Trade-eligible as of March 23:
- Taj Gibson (Knicks)
Not eligible to be traded this season:
- Giannis Antetokounmpo (Bucks)
- Paul George (Clippers)
- Rudy Gobert (Jazz)
- Monte Morris (Nuggets)
- Alex Len (Wizards)
Gibson and Len signed after the regular season was already underway, so their restrictions will last longer than the ones on players who signed during the offseason. The others in this group signed veteran contract extensions that exceeded the extend-and-trade limits in the Collective Bargaining Agreement, making them ineligible to be dealt for a few months.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.